Rockstar and Karazhan Part 2
Friday night marked Rockstar’s return to Karazhan. Once again we were having some troubles filling the raid at the assigned time; hopefully that problem is alleviated as time goes by. Rockstar doesn’t like being kept waiting. On this night Predictys would be swapping in and out as needed with Radiantys…tonight’s card starts with Maiden of Virtue and then the Curator.
As we lined up the start the trash pulls, someone was walking around and got aggro from the patrol in the Maiden’s hallway. Very careless. If you’re new (or even veteran), why would you go farther than the tank? If you’re stealthed and marking or assigned to check something, then you can go past the tank. If you’re not stealthed, there is no reason to go past the tank. I immediately jumped in and took aggro from both members of the patrol, and hoped the healers would notice and jump into action. Luckily for me, they did, and we survived with no deaths. We waited for the rest of the group to arrive.
We quickly cleared through the hallway leading to the Maiden, and had a quick briefing on what would ensue. With a holy Paladin in the group, Blessing of Sacrifice was now on the table. Radiantys did a great job of keep that on me during the fight, and the heals were good through Repentance. At the very end of the fight, Radiantys was killed, but Seraphyne kept up the heals for the last bit of time.
On this night, Maiden of Virtue got one-shotted in 2 minutes, 22 seconds. She dropped the Iron Gauntlets of the Maiden (needed by Rockstar) and the Bracers of Maliciousness (needed by Calithis).
Because Opera Event was already cleared, we moved through the empty chambers to begin clearing to the Curator. The pulls involving the Arcane Anomaly and Syphoners were educational for a lot of people. We had spotty deaths, this person on this pull, or that person on that pull…I focused on tanking the Arcane Anomaly while the others burned down the other mobs. And then it was time for the big event…Curator.
I was a little surprised to see that Trivia called for the DPS to be more spread out. There were a couple of rogues and a cat Druid in the group…with that much melee DPS I figured they would use a cluster strategy. But no matter…I can watch and learn. I pulled the Curator and spun him right at the requested spot (the tip of the third diamond in the floor). Seraphyne was on my left wing providing my with heals.
Tanking the Curator is really a simple task. I’m left alone with him, spamming my best threat-generating moves and trying to do as much “damage” as possible. I have no idea what DPS tanks or high-end tanks are supposed to be capable of, but it seems like I’m very consistently in the 200-230 DPS range…with not a lot of room to improve on that. I was able to call out the Evocation state, but ideally I’d like to be able to call out how many Astral Flares have spawned, so that people have a better idea where we’re at in the phase.
We one-shotted the Curator in 5 minutes, 5 seconds. I died right at the 5 minute mark, literally just before the Curator was killed. The Curator dropped the Gloves of the Fallen Hero (won by Lofkalar) and the Wrynn Dynasty Greaves (needed by Rockstar).
We had a short break and continued. The clearing was moving flawlessly. When we got to the bookcase leading to Terestian Illhoof and killed the demon trash, the group decided to take a shot on Illhoof. I was dubious, because we had no Warlock in the group. I was even more dubious about this attempt when the strategy was unfolded…the two mages in the group were going to be trading off AoE duties on the imps. I’ve heard this strategy works, but I’m skeptical. The key is DPS to the Demon Chains in this fight, and losing two mages doesn’t help that out. Mage AoE against infinite spawns of imps seems counter-productive due to the extensive mana drain that ensues.
We had another one of those moments where someone carelessly aggros the mobs because they’re not paying attention and just walks too close to them. As a tank, I have to sigh and immediately jump into the mobs…I burned my Challenging Shout picking up those imps standing right at Illhoof’s doorway because of someone’s mistake. Then we jumped into the Illhoof fight, and had a wipe after several minutes. This let people have a chance to use their macros to target the Demon Chains and see how things work. Just like our withdrawal from the Maiden on our previous night, we withdrew from Illhoof after one “experimental” attempt. Onwards to the Shade.
Time was winding down, but we wanted to have one experimental attempt on the Shade of Aran as well. The fight required a long explanation…survivability is of course stressed in the fight, as well as the DPS race, but of course that isn’t clear until you actually jump into the fight and see how it works.
We did okay…the attempt lasted over 2 minutes…Radiantys learned that when the Shade uses Arcane Explosion, you MUST immediately get to the edge of the room. No time for an extra heal. I think Lofkalar learned a similar lesson with moving out of the Blizzard effect. For me as a tank, it’s a bit depressing because the Shade seems to have a random aggro table. I ended up being unable to tank and able to do a meek 215 DPS.
The group did pretty well for the second night in Karazhan…two more one-shotted bosses (including our first look at Curator). We had a couple of looks at the Illhoof and Shade fights. Overall, I’m happy with the group’s ability to destroy trash, improvise in emergency scenarios, and analyze boss fights. Big things to work on are refraining from careless aggro (on both trash AND bosses) and focusing on the clearing speed of the raid.
On this night I would have to spend 300g on stamina gems and enchants for my new gloves and leggings, but I am extremely pleased to do it.
Rockstar Downs Attumen
Rockstar poses in front of the slain Attumen…this is the first kill for Rockstar. Predictys tanked Midnight and Rockstar tanked Attumen.
Rockstar and Karazhan Part 1
Through an amazing series of events, Rockstar has found himself in the position of being the main tank for Karazhan Group 3 of the Ysera guild Eternal Force. And tasked in the off tank position is friend feral Druid Predictys, also of Eternal Force. Rockstar’s tanking experience is pretty limited…I’ve done about a dozen regular instances, about three heroics, and this would be my first raid. There’s a lot to know in tanking Karazhan, and hopefully the pieces of gear I’ve been collecting over the previous weeks wouldn’t let me (or the group) down too badly.
The first night was Wednesday night. Most first-night Karazhan runs clear through Curator as a goal, plus or minus one boss as the night progresses. Four members of the group had never been in Karazhan before at all. I think everyone was cautiously optimistic, and we would all have to wait and see. Trivia, rogues officer of Eternal Force, would be leading the raid. Predictys and I were promoted to help play with the marks.
It took forever to get the group assembled and ready to roll. Once we got started, the trash clearing to Attumen was pretty smooth. The shackles were good, the trapping was good, and I was able to rotate targets pretty effectively. I felt I was able to build threat pretty effectively.
The Attumen fight was terrific. We one-shotted him in 3 minutes, 44 seconds with no deaths occurring. Predictys of course tanked Midnight, and I picked up Attumen effectively (meaning I intercepted him and took aggro before he could get a shot off on our healers). Using a Disarm and then a Shield Slam against him is pretty satisfying. Rockstar actually attained Friendly status with the Violet Eye as Attumen was slain. Attumen dropped the Harbinger Bands (needed by Lofkalar) and the Spectral Band of Innervation.
We began clearing trash towards Moroes. Trivia put marks on all of the patrolling undead, and Rockstar got a chance to begin the pulls. Between myself, Predictys, and a couple of rogues, no one was dying on the AoE pulls on the stairway…this is a spot for frequent caster deaths. Eternal Force skips the groups composed of all elites, and lets them despawn after Moroes is dead.
Tanking the Moroes fight is great…there’s not too much to do. This fight emphasizes DPS (for dropping the first pair of adds and burning Moroes) but showcases the healers (who have to keep re-shackling, remove Blind effects, heal the tanks, and keep heals up on whoever receives a Garrote). Predictys and I simply have to bash and smash Moroes to keep his attention between Vanishes. We used Calithis, a second Druid, to tank the first couple of adds while DPS burned them down. The group then shifted to Moroes. Rather than exit the room after killing Moroes, Eternal Force chooses to down the remaining adds.
We one-shotted Moroes in 3 minutes, 55 seconds. At the end of the fight, both of our healers Seraphyne and Pithicus were down. Moroes dropped Edgewalker Longboots (needed by Calithis) and the Crimson Girdle of the Indomitable (needed by Rockstar). That belt marks the first loot for my Warrior in Karazhan. The group was doing very well.
Clearing towards the Maiden of Virtue ran smoothly. We didn’t have a Warlock to help with banishing the demons, but that was okay. We shackled the undead and brought the demons forward in the kill order. We got to Maiden, and talked through the fight. It was pretty awkward, because we didn’t have a Paladin in the group to help with Blessing of Sacrifice. A few healing responsibilities were discussed, the option of me bringing Maiden to a healer was discussed, and we decided to give it a single try to see what happened. The result was a quick wipe, with Rockstar down at the end of the second Repentance. Trivia called for a tactical withdrawal, and we would re-visit the Maiden when we had a Paladin in the group the next time.
So, we went to Opera. Clearing to the Opera Event is always pretty fun (at least for me). I love fighting Spectral Performers, especially when they use their Spotlight ability. I was able to experiment with some chain pulls, as the coming and going of patrols in this area allows that to some extent. I’m already looking for ways the tank can chain pull to keep the pace of the group moving right along.
We drew Big Bad Wolf for the Opera Event…this is the simplest in terms of what needs to happen, although it might be the most difficult event to execute properly. But the group was pretty good…we dropped the Big Bad Wolf in one shot (3 minutes, 18 seconds). Sure, several people died (including myself), but this is one of those events where it doesn’t matter so much, as long as there is at least one healer still alive. The Big Bad Wolf dropped Big Bad Wolf’s Paw (needed by Amrys) and the Earthsoul Leggings (needed by Calithis).
Because of time constraints, this is where the raid was called. We didn’t get to Curator, but that’s okay. We were able to one-shot three bosses, which was excellent. We were also able to concede defeat on Maiden of Virtue without a Paladin, but at least the group was able to see how the fight works. All in all, the group did extremely well. With a little more attention to punctuality and a lot less talk between trash pulls, this group was moving as smoothly as any of the others I’ve ever been in.
For now, I’ll have to get a couple of stamina gems for my new belt.
Karazhan With Eternal Force
Illustra used GEM to sign up with one of the Eternal Force teams running Karazhan. They allow her to come along (despite her Fury guild tag)…I don’t know if it’s because they recognize Illustra as an ex-External Force member, or if it’s because she kicked ass in Gruul’s lair, or if it’s because they know she has some sort of relation with Rockstar, who is now a member of Eternal Force. Whatever the reason, I got a chance to run last night.
The previous team had cleared through the Opera Event, so we entered through the side entrance and cleared towards the Curator. The team was veteran, and the DPS was good…there were 2 Rogues and 2 Shamans in the group, so I figured they would use more of a “cluster” strategy with Curator. That turned out to be the case. The Astral Flare were lights out, we downed them so fast through the first two Evocations. I ended up mis-timing a Curse of Doom…will have to work on that. The Hunter was afk taking care of some business for 90% of the fight, so we were essentially 9-manning this fight. The Curator was dropped in 5 minutes, 7 seconds, and dropped the Dragon-Quake Shoulderguards and the Gloves of the Fallen Champion.
We cleared further, and to my surprise, this group stopped to do Illhoof. Most groups that I’ve run with skip him and save him for later, or at least until after killing the Shade of Aran. In any event, this was my first time doing Illhoof on my Warlock…my role would be relatively simple…spam Seed of Corruption on Terestian Illhoof himself, allowing the detonations to burn down the imps. We had 2 Paladins in the groups…I was in the main tank’s group (Amaraa, a protection Paladin), and she was using the Fire Resistance Aura. That was the only FR I was using (outside of my imp’s Fire Shield buff), and did not have the benefit of Concentration Aura. I did have a shadow Priest in my group, so I’m sure that helped a great deal with the healing. I got sacrificed one time, but the group was able to rescue me with relative ease (yay!). Terestian Illhoof dropped The Lightning Capacitor (taken by Sango) and the Cincture of Will (taken by Sango). The fight lasted 4 minutes, 39 seconds.
We cleared the last little bit towards the Shade of Aran. This would be another one-shot fight, as we dropped him in 4 minutes, 55 seconds. I love being able to not worry about threat in this fight, and just unload on Shade. Personally I was able to banish an elemental, fear an elemental, and even burn down a third elemental during a Flame Wreath phase. That’s Warlock power. The Shade of Aran dropped the Mantle of the Mind Flayer and the Drape of Dark Reavers (taken by Trivia).
We then cleared to the Chess Event. I took a pawn starting in front of a rook, moved straight forward, and was able to kill (or help kill) an opposing pawn and rook. Just as I was killed, the game was won, so I didn’t have a chance to control a second piece. I didn’t really even get a chance to watch the rest of the action on the board. The chest yielded the Heart-Flame Leggings (taken by Delynn) and the Bladed Shoulderpads of the Merciless (taken by Osbourne).
The group wanted to skip Netherspite, as we had only a single tank. So we moved forward to make an attempt on Prince Malchezaar. We would end up wiping twice and defeating him on the third try. The first attempt was ended early when most of the melee died very early on due to an inferal landing just behind them and wiping them out. The second attempt was ended early when the main tank when down very suddenly. Now I was second in threat, and someone was suggesting I passed the tank in threat, causing the tank to die during Enfeeblement. It’s possible, but I’m not 100% sure. My Grim Reaper shows 5 hits of 2500 or more in rapid succession over the space of 1 second. But it’s also possible my Curse of Doom ticked and lofted me over the tank in threat (I had to burn Soulshatter earlier in the fight). The third attempt lasted 5 minutes, 58 seconds (with me throttling back quite a bit)…Prince Malchezaar dropped the Stainless Cloak of the Pure Hearted (taken by Seraphyne), Malchazeen (taken by Dronos), and the Helm of the Fallen Champion (taken by Osbourne).
So many successes under our belts tonight…we retraced our steps and went out to the terrace to summon Nightbane. This group uses the technique where everyone is on a single side (versus two groups on opposite sides). We would end up wiping once, returning, and be victorious on the second attempt, which lasted 11 minutes, 17 seconds. Nightbane dropped the Ironstriders of Urgency and the Robe of Elder Scribes (taken by Sango).
For Illustra, Nightbane also dropped the Blazing Signet. With the Earthen Signet in the bank, Illustra must now go back to heroic Slave Pens and complete The Cudgel of Kar’desh. Illustra will then be allowed to enter Serpentshrine Cavern (officially).
Illustra PUGs Karazhan, Nabs T4 Gloves
Illustra was lurking on the LFG channel last night, investigating the various groups looking for members. As usual, I checked the Karazhan channel, as my save hadn’t been used yet this week. A Warrior named Tokimo was in the channel, with an elaborate message that stated a Warlock was needed for “tonight’s Kara run”. I was intrigued, so I said I’d be available for a run, and available for as long as necessary. Tokimo agreed, and said we’d be running from 8PM to about 2AM. Awesome.
Tokimo and most of the others in the PUG are from a small guild called Deadly Intent. Checking back in my records (chronicled here at this site), I’ve run with Milye, a holy Priest from this guild. Skills seemed solid, so my impression of the guild through its members has been good thus far. Tokimo said that most of the group has seen early Karazhan, although they’re still new. The goal was to get through Shade and Chess…maybe a crack at Prince. They were happy to have me along, as I would enable a more reasonable attempt at the Illhoof fight.
We started pretty much at the appointed time, which was nice. The interesting thing about this PUG is its composition. There was a single Priest (Milye), and four Paladins. They have a protection Paladin (Syman), a retribution Paladin (Mizanna), and a holy Paladin (Caffelatte). Another holy Paladin (Angellica of the Mysterious Misfits) was along as part of this PUG. Tokimo and Syman would be the tanks, with a feral Druid (Aillwind) in cat form and tank-in-reserve. Rounding out the DPS crew would be myself (affliction Warlock), Airamus (fire Mage), and Bolyen (Hunter). Altogether, a very rounded group.
We quickly cleared through to the first boss fight. The first attempt on Attumen was disappointing for me, because Attumen was never picked up…a major mistake. I watched as he ran through our clothies, one-shotting them each. Me included. The appointed tank never saw him, never picked him up. The second attempt was perfect…as it should have been all along. Attumen dropped the Steelhawk Crossbow (needed by Bolyen) and the Handwraps of Flowing Thought (needed by Airamus).
We cleared very quickly and efficiently to Moroes. The patrolling elites were basically chained to improve clearing speed. I was disappointed with the AoE fights, because I expect the Paladins (we had 2 in each group) to be on the ball with the proper auras. I expect Devotion Aura and Retribution Aura for single pull or double pull fights…but Devotion Aura and Concentration Aura for AoE pulls. For these pulls, I didn’t have the benefit of Concentration Aura at all.
I’ve never attempted Moroes without 2-3 Priests in the group, as their shackles are necessary to contain the adds. We used a single shackle in the Moroes fight…the other three were burned down as quickly as possible (which seemed an eternity to me). The mana-drainer was the second to go down, and I wonder how much mana damage she was able to accomplish while we were burning down the healer add.
No dwarves were present in the group, but we had four Paladins available to shield and heal as needed. Moroes was burned down by the DPS classes…the fight took 6 minutes and 46 seconds. That is a good amount of time for Moroes. Moroes dropped the Edgewalker Longboots (needed by Aillwind) and the Crimson Girdle of the Indomitable (needed by Syman).
We cleared towards Maiden…I got a chance to get some banish duty in. With so many Paladins eligible for cleansing, I figured we’d have an easy time attempting Maiden. The Maiden of Virtue fight went well, but we were victorious on the second attempt. I was a little uncomfortable with the position-jockeying of the tanks and Maiden…normally I like to see Maiden tanked in a stationary spot (the exact center of the room). Nevertheless, we downed her in 2 minutes, 59 seconds. The Maiden of Virtue dropped the Bands of Nefarious Deeds (needed and won by Illustra) and the Mitts of the Treemender (Angellica won the shard).
The group was making decent time, and we cleared towards the Opera event. Maybe this is how they normally do it, but mobs were being tanked in the spotlight. On every other occasion I’ve been through here, conscious efforts are made to keep mobs out of the spotlight…but to each his own. Tonight’s Opera event was…Romulo and Julianne. Tokimo did a quick explanation for the group, and we started. I tried to keep my mana managed as best as I could…I thought I was burning too quickly during the first phase (Julianne only). The healing was great, the aggro management was great…phase 3 came, and things were doing well. With this group, the leader called out percentages on both bosses, and DPS was spread between them. We tried keeping them at similar health levels, and it worked out well (surprisingly!). We killed Julianne first, and then Romulo very quickly after. Romulo and Julianne dropped Despair (needed by Mizanna) and the Beastmaw Pauldrons (disenchanted). The fight lasted 5 minutes, 56 seconds.
Encouraged by these victories, we cleared the money mobs on the way to the Curator. As we pulled and cleared Arcane Anomaly and Syphoner packs, we had back-to-back drops…Grips of Deftness (disenchanted) and Design: Glinting Noble Topaz (Caffelatte won the free roll).
And then at last, the Curator fight. Again…a new experience for me. Outside of the tank, we had 2 Paladins and a feral Druid…that’s a lot of melee DPS. So we used the bunching strategy…we all bunched up on one of the diamond patterns. I brought some of the Major Arcane Protection Potions; I ended up using 3 over the course of the fight. The DPS to the flares was good through the first two Evocations…we got behind a bit and had 2-3 flares up before the third Evocation. We were persistent, healing was good, my mana conservation was decent, and we burned him down. The fight lasted 7 minutes, 20 seconds. The Curator dropped Gloves of the Fallen Hero (needed on and won by Illustra) and the Wrynn Dynasty Greaves (needed by Syman).
Deadly Intent is a very generous guild…they permit everyone who needs an item to express interest on it. Rolls from those who haven’t yet received an item get priority. In the case of the Gloves drop…we had 1 Hunter, 1 Mage, and 1 Warlock. And we had each received an item…so free roll for all 3 of us on the Gloves. My 83 cleared the rolls of the others. Tier 4 Gloves for me! I’m very grateful.
Bolstered by a one-shot to the Curator, we had a quick break and continued. We quickly and efficiently cleared to the Shade of Aran’s chamber. Deadly Intent had never cleared Shade before…he was their point of contention. They had done Curator and Chess, had attempted Nightbane and Illhoof, but had never actually beaten Shade. The fight was a good one. I did everything I could as a Warlock. I got off a Banish and a Fear during the elementals phase. I provided Healthstones and advised their use after the polymorph. I provided a constant stream of DoTs and Shadowbolts to the Shade. We ended up dropping him in one shot. The fight lasted 6 minutes, 1 second…a breakthrough for Deadly Intent. The Shade of Aran dropped the Boots of the Incorrupt (disenchanted) and the Pendant of the Violet Eye (needed by Airamus).
It was around this time, the wonderful Ysera servers were having issues. Four members of the group were disconnected, and login issues were popping up. After 45 minutes of waiting and trying different things, messages from Blizzard appeared at the login screens. Tokimo and Caffelatte elected to call it for the evening, and try again the next day. So…I missed out on free badges at Chess, and the opportunity to help the group on the four remaining bosses. Oh well, a great run for Illustra this week!
Terestian Illhoof First Kill Photo
Apex of War, a Ysera guild, scores its first kill of Terestian Illhoof. With this kill, the guild has now officially cleared the Karazhan instance for the first time.
Nightbane First Kill Photo
Apex of War scores its first guild kill on Nightbane. The victorious attempt turned out to be a grueling thirteen and a half minute stretch…that’s a lot of opportunities to burn trinkets and drink mana potions.
Apex of War Brings Down Nightbane
The two final bosses of Karazhan are Nightbane and Prince Malchezaar. At this point in time, they are of similar difficulty (in previous releases, Nightbane was much more difficult). But now Apex of War has defeated them both.
We put together an impromptu raid group, which included a newly-keyed Shaman with little Karazhan experience.
We took several shots on him…the first attempt had him down to 54%, which I would call a warm-up attempt, to let everyone finally see (or remember) how this fight works. I don’t think any thought we were going to one-shot him cold.
The second attempt was excellent…we got him down to 4%, despite the 2 Warlocks dying in the opening minute of the fight. This attempt was just above 13 minutes, and I ended up burning 6 Super Mana Potions. The Shaman admitted to not having burned any of his trinkets to help out. We were so close, we should have had this one. The tank was fully healed when he went down…he suffered back to back crushing blows within the same second (literally) time frame.
On the third attempt, we had him around 50% when the instance server crashed. The (only) nice thing about this is we weren’t dead upon return, we were simply located outside the instance. All of the trash had been reset, so we had to reclear to Nightbane. Mercifully, that isn’t very far.
On the fourth attempt, our tank started the fight (mistakenly) without his weapon and shield equipped. Standing so far back as a Hunter, I wasn’t sure what was going on, when Nightbane landed and didn’t go after the tank. I commanded my bear to Growl, and ended up sacrificing him. The tank was able to equip weapons and take aggro, but I knew with my pet down I was going to be gimped for the fight. We got Nightbane to 50% with this poor start.
The fifth attempt was the charm, and ended up lasting 13 minutes and 33 seconds. I used almost 30 Super Mana Potions and 8 Super Rejuvenation Potions over the course of these fights. I’m glad to achieve progression.
Nightbane dropped the Robe of Elder Scribes (needed by Darkmaidenn) and the Ferocious Swift Kickers (needed by Kruenor). I’m happy to say, the boots are already gemmed and enchanted.
As the only Hunter in the group, it fell to me to apply Misdirection to the tank as Nightbane landed on the ground to begin each Phase 1. After some experimentation, I think it’s best to apply Misdirection as the last skeleton is being slain…and to spend the time looking up to target Nightbane (my macro wasn’t working for some reason) and fire shots while he is still in the air. I think this made for a smoother transition.
Congratulations to Apex of War.