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.
Kruenor Versus The Razza
Today Kruenor and Stryker (his pet Ravager) attempted The Razza in the Dire Maul arena. They emerged victorious. The Razza dropped Lazy Alizabeth’s Pendant and the Lordly Armguards.
LF1M Heroic Mechanar, Lock Needed
Ah, heroic Mechanar…the bread and butter instance for Warlocks. This is how Warlocks farm for Badges of Justice out of heroic instances. They simply log on for the day, and wait until some would-be Mechanar party of four calls out for a Warlock. Illustra got a chance to PUG tonight with a new group of people.
The group was composed of myself (70 affliction Warlock), Hkilla (70 protection Warrior) and Penical (70 feral Druid) of Epic, Quantus (70 frost Mage) of Spiritus Mortis, and Arterus (70 holy Priest) of Endless. I don’t believe I’ve ever run with any of these folks before.
The group seemed skilled as we moved through the first few pulls. I was in a mood for getting things done, and was glad to see the tank pulling almost right away. I created and applied a soulstone mid-fight, and before the second pull was finished, was able to get my food buff. As we fought Gatewatcher Gyro-Kill, I noticed that my threat was rapidly rising on the threat table. The tank wasn’t capable of generating enough threat for me to go all out in the fight. I wasn’t paying attention to the others because I was studying the threat table…Penical ended up dying during this fight. For what reason, I cannot say. But I noted that I was probably going to have to watch my threat for the duration of this run.
As we approached the stairway leading down, Hkilla studied the three mobs and called for the succubus. I was wondering if he might. I’ve mentioned before how I don’t really like using the succubus, as I consider it a weaker form of crowd control. My real concern here is he depended on the succubus now for a three-pull, how was he planning to deal with the four-pulls that lay ahead? We cleared the stairway and below. I put on the usual Warlock show, by enslaving and banishing demons, using demons to smite other demons, and causing mayhem among our foes in general.
We were able to one-shot Mechano-Lord Capacitus. We were all standing on the edge of the staircase until the first polarity shift. The tank shifted negative, and I shifted negative, so I immediately moved to stand on the tank. The mage (whose polarity I did not notice) yells “move Ill, you’re negative” and then again “MOVE ILL”. Um, no. Someone was causing some explosions, but it wasn’t me. This annoyed me enough to break my concentration so during the second polarity shift I retreated to max range and stood on the other side of the staircase, against the wall. I was away from everyone, and had better opportunity to study the polarities. The mage and I ended being positive on the third polarity shift, and stood together in my spot. We had good healing, and no one ended up dying. Mechano-Lord Capacitus dropped the Hammer of the Penitent (needed by Arterus).
We were able to easily drop Gatewatcher Iron-Hand. I had to Soulshatter early in the fight, between the tank having to run out of melee range early in the fight, and his being unable to generate huge amounts of threat. We were are careful to not aggro the boss. I was tempted more than once to ask the Mage if he was finding he needed to throttle his DPS, but I restrained myself. I’m not sure what technique the tank was using…I had a quick look at his gear and everything seemed good enough for heroics. He might have to re-visit his sequence of threat-generating moves.
The Cache of the Legion yielded the Bloodfyre Robes of Annihilation (Illustra won the shard). We took the elevator up and began clearing the room. There was some succubus work…the druid ended up with off-tank duty on the fourth add. In my opinion, that’s how we should have handled the three-pulls earlier. The group elected to skip the second boss and pursue the third boss first.
We ended up having to run to the elevator between each of the six waves of mobs (even so, there were still several deaths). I didn’t really like this strategy, as it indicates to me that the group has weak technique. The tank wanted to be able to mark all of the mobs before we fought them. I suppose this might work in a group without voice communication. It just means it takes a lot more time than necessary is all.
In fighting Pathaleon the Calculator, we would wipe three times before finally bringing him down. During the first two attempts, we were having a lot of problems with the adds, despite the use of fear. The Mage was consistently being the one receiving the mind-control from the boss. Really, we weren’t even close on these attempts…when the tank went down, the boss was still at 30%-35% of his health. On the third attempt, I spent too much time using Seed of Corruption and the Mage spent too much time and mana trying to DPS down the adds. The fourth attempt was more successful…we agreed the tank would Thunderclap when the adds first appeared, and concentrate on DPSing down the boss. The high DPS approach worked. Pathaleon the Calculator dropped Baba’s Cloak of Arcanistry, the Beast Lord Helm, Handguards of the Steady, and a Primal Nether (won by Hkilla). All of the items were sharded.
With a bit of time left, we backtracked to attempt the second boss. This was encouraging. Most groups that wipe several times on the final boss elect to cut their losses and skip the second boss. Our first attempt against Nethermancer Sepethrea resulted in a wipe. On the second attempt, things went a lot smoother. I had fire elementals on me early, and didn’t have much time to get DoTs onto the boss. I think this helped with the threat, because I didn’t aggro the boss at all. At 5% health the tank was killed, and only the healer and I remained. Sepethrea charged me, and my final Shadowbolt finished her off. Dramatic finish. Nethermancer Sepethrea dropped the Nethershrike (disenchanted).
For a PUG, it was a good run. As today’s daily heroic quest, it gave me 6 Badges of Justice in all.
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 Invited To Slay Dragonkiller
I had myself set up in Netherstorm, grinding for motes of mana, and got a whisper from Phella tonight. Eternal Force was looking for another DPS to jump in at Gruul’s Lair. I had no sense of how serious the attempt was, so I asked a few more questions. It sounded legitimate. So I grabbed some gear from the bank in Area 52, and flew over.
The 25-main raid was almost fully assembled. The group was very heavy on melee DPS, which isn’t a great thing for attempting Gruul. Eternal Force has never beaten Gruul, and the instance had been cleared (on a previous night I believe) up to the final boss. It took about an hour to fill out the last few healer and DPS roles, get everyone zoned in, and buffed up. Organization is essential to a raid’s performance.
We cleared the trash mobs leading up to Gruul’s chamber with relative ease. It’s fun being in the 25-man raids, it almost felt like the old days again, when a ridiculous number of magical streams and channeled spells and ranged ammunition are flying around the screen.
Amaraa of Eternal Force was directing the raid, as she is a protection Paladin who either tanks or heals depending on the situation at hand. Quite useful. Celticjess of Eternal Force would be the main tank for the evening. We got an overview of the fight (this was the furthest I’ve been into Gruul’s Lair), and it sounded pretty daunting. Gruul has about three and a half million health.
Attempt one on Gruul let the inexperienced among us see how the fight works. As a Warlock, it’s nice being ranged…it’s vital for everyone to spread out as much as possible. Gruul’s Shatter ability is what can really destroy people…the effects of it are proportional to the number of people in your vicinity. Avoiding the Cave In effect is annoying, but must be performed immediately. The Cave In doesn’t tick for 3 seconds, so it can be avoided if you move immediately. As this was my first time doing this fight, I wasn’t sure what the sequence of events is. During this first attempt, the tank went down and things deteriorated quickly. I got rocked for 16012 damage and was one-shotted…the raid fell apart, the attempt lasting 5 minutes, 29 seconds.
The second attempt was a lot better…we got Gruul down to 3%, which meant he still had 102k health remaining. I was one of the last people to go down, I got soundly one-shotted for 25619 damage at 8 minutes, 6 seconds into the fight. Everyone was really feeling on this attempt…we knew we could do it. I was a Shadowbolting fool, and my Curse of Doom had hit for over 10k.
There were 3 Warlocks in the group…my Soulstone assignment was Ferndale, a restoration Druid from the guild Midwinter. Midwinter, as in one of the top Black Temple-clearing guilds of Ysera. Nice. I doubt I’ll get many chances to have some of the Midwinter folks in my raid.
On the third attempt, we survived through 16 grows by Gruul. I again was soundly thumped for 23734 health 7 minutes, 29 seconds into the fight. This attempt wasn’t as close as the second attempt, but it’s not like we were being blown out of the place. We figured we could get it on another try. About this time, we had a couple of healers drop out…we got a new restoration Druid and a restoration Shaman in place after quite a delay.
We ended up having to re-clear the trash, as two hours had already elapsed since we first began. The fourth attempt proved victorious. I survived for almost the entire duration of the fight, but was hit for 32539 health at 7 minutes, 19 seconds into the fight. I remembered getting 2 DoTs up on him before being dropped. Gruul was at about 1%, meaning somewhere in the 30k health range. My DoTs weren’t going to do it, but we still had 11 people alive (out of 25!), although most were healers.
What a great fight that was.
Gruul the Dragonkiller dropped the Windshear Boots (won by Nazca), the Gauntlets of Martial Perfection (won by Armandeluz), the Leggings of the Fallen Defender (won by Seraphyne), and the Leggings of the Fallen Hero (won by Cucuy). I rolled a 2 on those Legs against six other people…a TWO! Oh well, maybe next time.
Eternal Force is looking to go against Gruul again in the near future. Apparently, they’re having problems fitting everyone into their 2 Karazhan teams, but unable to marshal a 25-man raid against Gruul. This makes no sense to me. On a related note…Rockstar has enlisted with Eternal Force. Maybe he can get in on a slice of the action.
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!
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.
Another Shot at the Beast Lord Cuirass
Some of the guys in Apex of War were looking to do a Botanica run. I figured what the hell, Kruenor can take another shot at getting the chest piece of the Beast Lord Set. I’d like to have it, in order to retain the 2-piece set bonus (reduced traps cooldown) for as long as I can…when I purchase the leggings with Badges of Justice, I’ll be down to only wearing the Beast Lord Helm.
The group was composed of a few of us from Apex of War…myself (70 marksman Hunter), Roguejustice (70 Rogue), and Tullus (70 holy Priest). Rounding out the PUG was Stonr (70 protection Warrior) of Endless and Kitie (70 arms Warrior) of Grape Coolaid.
This group was built for speeding through instances, it was pretty nice. Luckily I had some conjured water from some battleground activity, because I burned through it quickly. Stonr was almost to the point of chain pulling, and I wasn’t holding back on DPSing the mobs down. Sometimes he was marking the trap targets (early), but before long, he was just marking a skull and attacking it. I picked a target and pulled it away, I have no idea if that was his intent or not. I just figured I’d make it a bit easier. We pulled so quickly the Priest was almost constantly asking for mana breaks.
We cut to the first boss with near precision. I can really feel the difference with some of the Karazhan gear, as far as mob control. It feels so easy in the Botanica now. We burned down Commander Sarannis and her adds (a fear here, a trap there) and she dropped the Towering Mantle of the Hunt (Stonr greeded on it). Some of the AoE pulls involving all the mutated plants were hectic, as we didn’t have a major source of AoE. Bringing down the tank target works just fine though.
When he got the High Botanist Freywinn, we engaged him almost immediately. During the channeling of Tranquility, I dropped a frost trap around the corner as usual, and the adds were burned so quickly, I couldn’t believe it. We actually were able to down Freywinn before he performed a second Tranquility. Now that’s high DPS. High Botanist Freywinn dropped the Stormreaver Warblades (needed by Roguejustice). We moved on without pause.
Fighting the demons was a bit hectic, as with the plants, we had no crowd control save for my traps. But the clearing was of no concern. Stonr made sure the two stealthed satyrs down the hall were cleared before we engaged the third boss. Thorngrin the Tender sacrificed Kitie twice, which in my opinion was the best case scenario…neither the tank nor healer were sacrificed, nor me. Tullus did die midway through the fight, but we were able to overcome Thorngrin with pure DPS…waiting for Tullus to return was probably the slowest part of the instance run. Thorngrin the Tender dropped the Ring of Umbral Doom.
For the Laj encounter, I had the right side add, and it fell to Roguejustice to pick up the left-side add. Having the tank and two melee DPS is sort of awkward, because Roguejustice ends up having to run back and forth to pick up his add. It didn’t matter, Laj went down like a sack of rocks. Laj dropped the Mantle of Autumn (I greeded this item, but it would be after the final boss fight). We sped the final room.
Stonr ended up tanking Warp Splinter where the boss stands prior to the fight. We went all out DPS, and ignored the adds. As usual, I did a multi-shot and got aggro from some of the elementals during the fight. Nothing a Feign Death can’t fix. We burned Warp Splinter dow, and what dropped? Warp Splinter dropped the Warp Infused Drape (greeded by Tullus) and the Moonglade Cowl (greeded by Roguejustice). No chest piece for me. No surprise though. Exalted with Sha’tar probably twice over, and still no chest piece.