Rockstar Versus Heroic, Take Two

Rockstar’s first foray into a heroic instance (at the request of guild mates) didn’t go so well…heroic Underbog ate him up. But hey, that was two weeks ago. This time Rockstar returned, not to heroic Underbog, but to heroic Slave Pens. (And I’ll be sure to cut my teeth here in a PUG, saving myself from guild embarrassment.) This PUG comprised of myself (70 protection Warrior), Reznroth (70 Rogue) of Learn To PvP, Supernewb (70 Mage) of Fury, Tullus (70 holy Priest) of Apex of War, and Starskey (70 Hunter) of Wisdom.

Tullus in his healing gear can probably generate a good deal of threat, and my task was to make sure I had aggro and he did not. On the second trash pull, I failed at doing that, and Tullus was killed. That’s the thing with heroics; there isn’t much room for error. With the way that mobs hit on cloth, one hit can take a healer out of action. So no mistakes allowed. Well, we would die a few more times along the way.

After that incident, we did well clearing through to the first boss…confidence was building at this point. Of course, we skipped as many pulls as possible. The Coilfang Defenders ended up being a pretty good fight. I had to get a couple of hits on cross and ended up having to stun him as he went after our Priest, but I had been saving the stun for exactly that moment.

Pulling Mennu the Betrayer was clean, and I kept aggro at all times. The group burned him down quickly, and Mennu the Betrayer dropped Mennu’s Scaled Leggings (needed by Reznroth). Mennu represents Rockstar’s first downed boss in a heroic dungeon. We continued clearing towards the second boss. All of these pulls were actually flawless.

I tanked Rokmar the Crackler near the farthest point in his path, not intentionally, but just because my run speed is slow. It didn’t really matter. Just as with the Mennu fight, I held Rokmar’s aggro for the duration of the fight. Tully was able to keep me healed pretty easily (at least that’s my view), despite the nature of Rokmar’s debuff. Rokmar applies the Griveous Wound debuff, which deals periodic damage indefinitely…until that player has been fully healed. This means overheals help in this fight! Rokmar the Crackler dropped a Vivid Chrysoprase (needed by Supernewb) and the Ironscale War Cloak (needed by Rockstar). At the moment, I can’t sacrifice the defense on my current cloak, but maybe in the future I can make use of this when the defense on my other pieces improves.

The next few groups of mobs would cause many wipes. Initially the group elected to skip the large pull in the center of the cavern. We circled around the perimeter of the cavern and prepared to fight the 4-pull on the near side of the ramp. A resisted frost trap led to a full wipe on the group. The second attempt was not much better…a errant fear caused one of us to run into the optional pull we skipped, and resulted in another full wipe of the group. Before we wiped again, we decided to clear the center.

We cleared the center group, and the near-side group on the ramp we had troubles with earlier. We skipped the optional far-side group on the ramp, and went after the four-pull that patrols the final corridor. When we engaged them, I used Demoralizing Shout by habit. Even as I pressed the key I knew my mistake…at least two, maybe three slaves aggroed to me, and I was getting whacked. Everyone but the Mage had to run back…no idea how the Mage survived the fight.

We were able to clear the final trash pull, but Naturalist Bite died during the fight…we would remain unbuffed for the fight with Quagmirran. On the first attempt fighting Quagmirran, the Rogue ended up positioning himself out of line of sight from the Priest…the ramp leading underwater is a tricky place to stand. I should have had Quagmirran turned a bit quicker, I like to position him facing a ninety-degree angle away from the group. Because we didn’t have the Rogue’s DPS on the boss, we ended up running out of healer mana, and died with the boss at under ten percent health.

Take two, no problems. Quagmirran was quickly DPSed down, since everyone was alive…Quagmiran dropped a Primal Nether (needed by Tullus), the Boots of Blasphemy (taken by Supernewb), the Band of Ursol (taken by Starskey), the Shackles of Quagmirran (taken by Reznroth), and a Resplendent Fire Opal (needed by Rockstar). A fair run overall, considering the difficulty, but I made a lot of mistakes, and have plenty to work on for future runs…need to watch the use of shouts in the Coilfang dungeons.

January 21, 2008 | Filed Under Instances, Journal, Slave Pens | Leave a Comment 

Too Many Wipes in Heroic Steam Vaults

Illustra responded to a PUG needing a Warlock for heroic Steam Vaults. I did get a Primal Nether out of it, but that’s probably the only good thing I have to say…dying six times in what is basically a pretty straightforward heroic instance isn’t my idea of a good time.

The group consisted of myself (70 Warlock), Thundazz (70 protection Paladin) of MidKnights, Babusska (70 resto Shaman) of Digital Gathering, Sryanna (70 Mage) of MidKnights, and Torture (70 Shaman) of MidKnights. In my opinion, for a really smooth ride through Steam Vaults, you need at least two forms of reliable crowd control.

The first wipe came on the tricky corner pull, where the four naga mobs are pulled around the corner into the tunnel, while making sure the patrolling elementals group doesn’t get aggro. Apparently the tank didn’t have some macro in place, and ended up never tanking skull. This meant a silence got placed on the healer. Despite Warlock power, I couldn’t save everyone through this.

By the time we made it to the first boss, most of the group had died at least twice. Luckily I was present to banish one of the adds from the first boss. The fight with Hydromancer Thespia went well (and by well, I mean everyone was alive at the end of the fight). Hydromancer Thespia dropped the Scintillating Coral Band (needed on by Thundazz). At this point, we had a roster substitution. Artemax (70 Hunter) of Empyrean came in to replace Sryanna, who had somewhere else to be. Losing a Mage and gaining a Hunter is a notch down on the “reliable crowd control” scale…so I think we all had more reason to be skeptical about this group’s chance at success.

As we cleared the few naga in the tunnel full of slaves, we unbelievably died on the third pull from the second boss. On this pull, two nagas and one slave should be brought down pretty quickly. Skull went to the slave, the Hunter was given a naga to trap, and the paladin tank should presumably pick up skull and cross. The problem is, the Hunter’s playstyle is “drop trap first, pull mob to it” and the tank’s playstyle is “I’ll drop consecrate wherever I feel like it”, and it’s obvious what happened. A lot of the cause for wipes on this run was the tank’s consecration blowing out our crowd control.

The fight with the second boss was flawless. We seemed to be having a classic case of one-shotting bosses, and wiping on every other trash pull. Mekgineer Steamrigger dropped the Recoilless Rocket Ripper X-54 (not sure who picked this up).

We cleared towards the final boss, but not without problems. Along the way, there were several deaths, and we would have a full wipe on the first pull through the open doorway leading into the final room. Not sure is line-of-sight issues on the ramp played a part, but the careless consecration or bad trap placement cause a melee naga to clock the casters in one shot. About this time, Torture had to take off (only 3 pulls left!). He was replaced by Lumar (another 70 Hunter) of MidKnights. With two Hunters in the group able to lay down traps, the final two trash pulls were flawless. That would have helped us throughout the instance.

We put one shot on Warlord Kalithresh. Warlord Kalithresh dropped a Primal Nether (won by Illustra), the Sash of Serpentra (needed by Babusska), the Beast Lord Leggings (needed by Lumar), the Wrathtide Longbow (needed by Lumar), and a Shifting Tanzanite (needed by Thundazz). All in all, I made a small profit (considering what a nether is worth), but the run was poorly executed (Illustra died six times, and wasn’t the leader in the deaths category) and consequently took much more time than necessary.

The damage output was the following:

January 16, 2008 | Filed Under Instances, Journal, Steam Vaults | Leave a Comment 

First Piece of Bold

Rockstar tanked for another Steam Vaults run last night. The group was comprised of myself (70 protection Warrior), Arkalas (70 Mage) of Fury, Kromthefuzzy (70 holy Paladin) of Keepers of the Faith, and Briannori (70 Shaman) and Ambyrayne (70 Hunter) of Cera Calda.

I ran once before with Kromthefuzzy…my PUG journal states that he like the yell over Vent.

We cleared up to the first boss without any issues. A quick look at the gear of the group, it seemed like everyone had been through this instance (and the more difficult ones), so I figured everyone had the strategy down. I pulled Hydromancer Thespia, created some threat on both adds, slapped Thespia once or twice, and tanked the skull. I like to turn the bosses and mobs away from the group for good practice, and so I can keep an eye on what people are doing. When the Paladin and the Hunter died in a Lightning Cloud rather than move out of it, it was quite disappointing. I don’t enjoy wiping in normal level instances.

We killed Hydromancer Thespia on the second attempt, and she dropped the Incanter’s Gloves (needed on by Arkalas). I also noticed that Kromthefuzzy doesn’t fully heal the tank after the fight. I’m a relatively new tank and maybe I don’t know the etiquette…but every instance group I’ve tanked for previously, the healer heals the tank to full health after fights. I think it’s great, because then I’m ready to pickup any trash some fool accidentally aggros in the dungeon. Kromthefuzzy is not one of those healers.

Clearing to the second boss was easy. Along the way, one of the trash mobs (was it a Coilfang Sorceress?) dropped Design: Khorium Band of Frost. Rockstar got it, because he was the only jewelcrafter in the group. I believe that’s my first BOP jewelcrafting design.

The fight with Mekgineer Steamrigger was business as usual. Arkalas and the Hunter’s pet worked the adds, while I kept the boss in check. I noticed Kromthefuzzy getting into the fight and taking a few swings on the boss. Unusual for most holy Paladins, who are content to monitor the healing situation full time. Mekgineer Steamrigger dropped the Earth Mantle Handwraps (Kromthefuzzy won the shard).

We cleared to the final boss without losing anyone. The Shaman was really testing my ability to tank…he was during pretty intense damage before I could build a lot of threat. I ended up using my Taunt within the first few seconds of every trash pull just to keep the mobs off of him. I suppose I should have let him have a few to himself, to get the idea. Maybe next time. And maybe a bit worse, Kromthefuzzy and Briannori aren’t using a threat meter, or at least it wasn’t enabled. As far I’m concerned, that’s an indicator of a less-than-serious attitude about the game.

We were able to one-shot Warlord Kalithresh. Warlord Kalithresh dropped a Primal Nether (needed by Arkalas), the Sash of Serpentra (Ambyrayne won the shard), and the Gauntlets of the Bold (needed on by Rockstar). These Gauntlets represent my first piece of the Bold armor set. I’m looking forward to collecting the other pieces…the shoulders and the chest would make a huge difference in my tanking ability. Between the gloves and the jewelcraftig design, this was a great run for me.

I did not remember to get the damage metrics for this run.

January 10, 2008 | Filed Under Instances, Journal, Steam Vaults | Leave a Comment 

Steam Vaults With Crowd Control

Rockstar led a group through normal Steam Vaults last night. This was the run being put together by Dorino, the 70 Hunter from Fury (see my previous post for my first impression of Dorino). The group consisted of myself (70 Warrior), Dorino, Krum (70 shadow Priest) of Invictus, Supernewb (70 Mage) of Fury, and Elian (70 restoration Druid) of Les Survivants. The only reason I joined the group was because Krum, a member of Invictus, asked me to tank. In terms of progression, Invictus is one of the top guilds on the Ysera server. As expected, he would prove to be the most talented member of the group.

Having reliable crowd control is a nice tool at the tank’s disposal. It’s very nice being to choose from different type of crowd control to apply to the specific need at hand. As such, our group had the ability to sheep, to ice trap, and to mind control…probably that’s the best combination outside of 2 sheeps and a mind control.

Clearing to the first boss (using the most efficient pathing) was simple. Rockstar led the way, marking and tanking. Along the way I was sure to “test” each DPS member, by forcing them to use their crowd control technique at least once so I could gauge ability. Everyone seemed competent enough.

As we setup for the first boss encounter, Dorino says “I’ve never beaten this boss before.” I think of what someone new to the instance might say, “I’ve never done this boss fight.” To say that you’ve never beaten Hydromancer Thespia (at level 70!) means you’ve chosen your party members very poorly, have no idea about basic combat techniques, or just flat out suck at playing your class. My mind pondered the possible reasons, but no time for that. I tagged the boss and the two adds, and kept aggro on all three. The shadow Priest was quick to aggro the boss, but luckily I was just as quick taunting the boss back to me. Dorino and Elian ended up dying in this fight (possibly from the Lightning Cloud?). Hydromancer Thespia dropped the Moonrage Girdle.

Of course no one really needed it, and my intention was to pass on any greed or shard. But I became quite annoyed to see Dorino type “I’ll take it to sell, I owe my friend 600g.” Come on, what the hell is this? This Hunter acts like no else “needs money”, and justifies his taking the item to his large debt. He thinks no one else had to purchase riding skills? No one else needs a mount? And next time, finish the god damn fight alive. We had not yet obtained the key fragment (which is the reason Dorino was here in the first place), and I was extremely tempted to boot him from the group. Miraculously my temper receded.

As we cleared towards the second boss, we had a break on the bridge leading into Mekgineer Steamrigger’s room. The mage asked to regain some mana (he was at about 10%). Dorino was fooling around significantly close enough to the Leper Gnomes that he triggered their aggro. You can call me an elitist, but this guy is one of the worst n00bs I’ve seen in a long time. We survived the encounter easily, but my objections are with the technique.

I let the mage handle the adds in the boss fight, and requested the Hunter’s pet help out. We downed Mekgineer Steamrigger pretty easily. The Mask of Penance finally dropped (Krum won the greed roll), which is the first time I’ve seen it drop since I’ve been writing these posts.

Clearing towards the final boss was flawless, and it was enjoyable to use a skull and three crowd control markings. Typically I take down the Coilfang Oracle (the healer) first, have a second caster sheeped, frost trap one of the warrior types, and then mind control the other warrior type. Clearing four-mob trash pulls in this fashion is very quick.

I thoroughly explained the final boss fight, and how the aquariums had to be destroyed immediately. When I pulled Warlord Kalithresh, he emoted about five seconds into the fight (strange) and I started beating on the fish tank. I saw no other damage being directed to the tank. Kalithresh moved to fight someone else, I know not who. I didn’t care, I kept working the fish tank (which was not destroyed). Kalithresh enraged, but it didn’t matter. We had a wipe on our hands.

We ran back…when I got back, I saw that Dorino and Supernewb (the two members from Fury) hadn’t even bothered to release and run with us. I’m disgruntled to see two people who helped to cause the wipe (by not shifting DPS to the aquarium) further hinder progress by forcing the healer to mana up, revive them, and mana up again. Dorino is a real tool.

I stated the instructions for the fight once again, and started the fight. This time, we killed Warlord Kalithresh before the third tank was destroyed, which is nice. Warlord Kalithresh dropped the Ring of the Silver Hand (greeded by Rockstar; despite it being a Paladin ring, I needed the defense) and the Breastplate of the Righteous (Elian won the greed roll).

The damage output was the following:

January 7, 2008 | Filed Under Instances, Journal, Steam Vaults | Leave a Comment 

First Attempt Tanking The Steamvault

Rockstar expanded his tanking experiences by entering the Steamvault last night. The group was composed of Rockstar (70 protection Warrior), Zadrun (70 holy Paladin) and Arkalas (70 Mage) of Fury, Nazca of Eternal Force (70 Shaman), and Shadowalkerr (70 Hunter). Everyone had done Steamvault numerous times, except for the hunter, who was on his initial run. Most of the group was looking for the second key fragment, and elected for the speed clear over the full clear.

The group was capable of plenty of damage. With sheeping and ice trapping at the group’s disposal, crowd control was not really an issue. We cleared up to the first boss without any problems. Zadrun has been able to keep up with healing and cleansing during the Bog Overlord fights.

The fight with Hydromancer Thespia was a nice opportunity to demonstrate that I could pick up the boss and two adds and retain aggro from all three. I wasn’t sure whether or not healer aggro would cause one of the elementals to peel off from the main fracas, so I tried rotating through all three mobs, putting 1 or 2 shots on each. The thought process behind my effort this fight, was tab target, hit once or twice, and make sure I’m not standing in the Lightning Cloud. I was never caught in the Enveloping Winds…I’m not sure if this was because I was never the recipient of this debuff, or if it was dispelled so quickly I didn’t notice. Hydromancer Thespia went down pretty quickly (and the adds subsequently despawn) and dropped the Scintillating Coral Band (needed by Arkalas).

Clearing to the second boss was very clean. I’m glad to be attempting the second boss fight as a tank finally; I’ve done it so many times as a DPS class. I was wondering whether or not I’d have to worry about the adds. At least with this group, the answer was yes. Early on in the fight I focused on Mekgineer Steamrigger. I earned plenty of threat on him early on (although not everyone was using Omen). In the later stages of the fight, the pace seemed to be dropping on DPSing the boss, so I started using Thunderclap and Cleave a bit more frequently to interrupt the healing performed by the adds. By the time it was finished, I was concentrating solely on the adds, using Heroic Strike and Cleave when possible. Mekgineer Steamrigger ended up dropping the Recoilless Rocket Ripper X-54 (needed by Shadowalkerr).

At this point in the instance, most of the annoying fights are finished. So I was feeling pretty good about things. We cleared towards the final boss. No deaths, things were going pretty well. When we started the fight with Warlord Kalithresh, I wasn’t sure how well it would go. I know what to do as far as the kiting goes, but I hadn’t decided about the aquariums. I figured I would target the aquariums as well, and give it one or two whacks, and then resuming attacks on the boss. And that’s what I did.

We were very close on destroying the first aquarium…I’m not sure what happened on that. I’m glad I hit the fish tank twice myself. My camera angle and my attention are too closely focused in on the boss, so I’m not able to tell how quickly the DPS guys were able to swing their attacks onto the tank. I’m guessing the Hunter was slow in the rotation. The second and third fish tanks were brought down in a much more timely fashion. I also attacked those tanks, but probably didn’t have to.

Arkalas learned about the Spell Reflection shield that Kalithresh uses. For caster types, this is a fight where you must occasionally back off spellcasting for a bit. Take a mana potion, or just let some of the mana regenerate, or just adjust your physical position to be ready to attack the next aquarium. I’m not if would be worthwhile to do any melee attacks. Just be patient and wait for the shield to wear off.

Warlord Kalithresh dropped the Breastplate of the Righteous (greeded by Rockstar) and the Fathomheart Gauntlets (needed by Nazca). Overall, this Steamvault run was a good one…the tank never died.

The damage output was the following:

The Hunter was a bit low. This may be partly due to gear (comparatively), and partly due to effort in keeping one mob ice trapped. With the group effort, it wasn’t a problem, and hopefully this run gave Shadowalkerr quite a bit of experience in this instance.

Rockstar is very close to Revered reputation with Cenarion Expedition at this point. The tanking necklace that would be available at that reputation level will be a nice gear upgrade.

January 3, 2008 | Filed Under Instances, Journal, Steam Vaults | Leave a Comment 

Perfect Run Through Heroic Underbog

Illustra picked up a PUG tonight that was looking for an extra dps…the goal was heroic Underbog. The party consisted of myself (70 Warlock) and three members of Voltage. Tanking was Haume, a 70 Paladin. Healing was Elendrill, a 70 Shaman. Livgren, a 70 Druid, and Mysticknight a 70 Shaman from the guild Endless rounded out the dps crew.

Running with two Shamans is an interesting experience. That makes for a lot of totems. I’m never sure what the range of the effects those totems provide is, or even if they vary between totems, but it seemed like the tank never brought the mobs close enough to the area of effect. But everyone certainly knew what they were doing. I honestly couldn’t tell if we were in normal or heroic, until I pried up the first Badge of Justice. Everything was in easy mode…I was free to Shadowbolt away without risk of aggro.

We cleared to Hungarfen pretty quickly…he dropped the Boggspine Knuckles. Apparently Mysticknight is changing Shaman specializations, and was coming in here after this item, so it’s nice to have someone need on it.

As usual, we brought Ghaz’an down from his platform and tanked him against the cavern wall. The casters stacked on top of the resto Shaman, and the poison cleaning went to work. Ghaz’an went down very quickly and dropped the Dunewind Sash. I won the shard on that.

Swamplord Musel’ek was also quite easy, the Paladin tank kept aggro nicely the entire time. Normally I get charged or frozen or something several times, interrupting lots of spells. I think the entire fight, I was frozen in ice traps twice, but the rest of the time I was able to cast away. Swamplord Musel’ek dropped Hands of the Sun.

And of course, just around the corner is the Black Stalker. In the opening phase of this fight, he lifted me high into the air. But for Warlocks, it’s not a huge deal. I got off Curse of Agony and Corruption on him, and then unloaded two Shadowbolts before I landed to the ground. Tanking was not a problem, healing was not a problem, dps certainly was not a problem. The Black Stalker dropped a Primal Nether (won by Haume), the Argussian Compass (needed on by Livgren), the Stormsong Kilt (needed on by Mysticknight), and the Mana-Etched Pantaloons (Illustra won the shard).

All in all, this was a flawless run, it was really quite terrific. The damage output was the following:

December 19, 2007 | Filed Under Journal, The Underbog | Leave a Comment 

Steam Vaults End Boss Run

I picked up a PUG for a normal Steam Vaults run…when it’s late night and there’s not much going on, some of the groups aren’t the greatest, but oh well. Another shot at that tailoring pattern.

This group was composed of myself (70 Warlock), Ashlight (70 Paladin) tanking and Natashee (68 Priest) healing from “Vagabond”, and Edela (70 Hunter) and Peggyweggy (70 Rogue) from “Draumaless”. I saw Edela was geared in quite a few pieces of level 60 PvP gear. It’s never good when someone drops out on a final boss attempt…various causes might be small healer mana pool, or maybe too little dps. It could have been any of these. As we lined up to attempt the boss, I small a gnome corpse on the ground, someone named Manevil.

I think the matter was too little dps…we missed destroying the first two tanks. It wasn’t on me, because I switched immediately, and got off 2 shadowbolts and a corruption. The soulstone was used and we made a second attempt. We downed the first tank, but missed the second and third tanks…we held out for a bit. The healer used all his mana, and Kalithresh was only at about 30%. The tank went down, I got all my dots on, and somehow the hunter was able to pick up his damage.

Ultimately everyone was killed except for the Rogue and Hunter…I thought for sure it was going to be a second wipe. We ran it back in and looted. Warlord Kalithresh dropped the Beast Lord Mantle (needed by Edela) and the Gauntlets of the Bold (won by Natashee).

I only managed to get the stats for the victorious attempt. The damage output was the following:

This tells me a few things.

First of all, to be considered a competent player in a dps class, you must simply out-dps the tank. Sure, Peggyweggy is a Rogue, but come on, Kalithresh doesn’t bounce back and forth between party members. Mobs stick to Paladin tanks like glue. And considering she was alive for the entire fight, 15% of the total damage is ridiculously low.

Second of all, I’m the MVP here. As a Warlock, you have to spend about half of the fight hanging back and not casting spells, because Warlord Kalithresh uses a spell reflect sheld for about a third to a half of the fight. I was casting spells until the tank went down, and spent part of the fight dead…and still came out way on top in damage output. A Hunter and a Rogue should be eating up the boss’s health during those spell shield intervals. I’m not sure what was going on there.

December 18, 2007 | Filed Under Journal, Steam Vaults | Leave a Comment 

Hydromancer Thespia

Hydromancer Thespia is a naga, and is the first boss encountered in the Steam Vaults wing of Coilfang Reservoir. She is a level 72 elite in both normal and heroic mode.

Hydromancer Thespia awaits with two Coilfang water elementals. Each of these is capable of sending a Water Bolt Volley (900 frost damage to everyone in range and line of sight, 1900 frost damage in heroic). Typically these must be crowd controlled (banished or feared) or immediately killed.

She has two abilities I think most people are familiar with.

Lightning Cloud - this is a deadly area-of-effect spell she casts instantaneously. The initial damage is 1600-2000, and the damage-over-time effect is 1500-2500. In heroic mode, she casts two such clouds at once.

Enveloping Winds - this is a debuff (which can be dispelled) that effectively disables a random player for 5 seconds.

Hydromancer Thespia drops the following in normal and heroic mode:

In heroic mode, Hydromancer Thespia drops the additional items:

December 17, 2007 | Filed Under Coilfang Reservoir, Instances, Steam Vaults | Leave a Comment 

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