Exciting times for the Elemental Shaman!
For the full preview, click here.
For so long it has been one of the simplest specs to play, the only complexity coming from the shared shock cooldown and the occasional talent or glyph selection.
But no more!
We have a Resource!!!
We've always had mana but it's never actually mattered to us.
In fact, the last time I remember mana being an issue was when I got carried away healing the blobs on Immerseus back in SoO.
Now we have a real resource... Focus! Er, I mean... Maelstrom!
It will work much like Focus currently works for Hunters or Rage for Warriors, some spells generate Maelstrom while some consume it.
The generators will be Lightning Bolt, Lava Burst and Chain Lightning which makes perfect sense to me.
They form the core of our rotation and it seems that won't change.
We will still cast LvB on cooldown, still cast Earth shock to prevent x from capping, still fill with LB.
The really interesting part so far is how much Maelstrom those spells are going to generate.
The class preview, which obviously might change in the many moons between now and launch, has them generating 15 Maelstrom each plus any Mastery procs.
(Ooh... Mastery!
In WoD, they took away our Mastery and gave it to everyone in the form of Multistrike.
Now they are removing Multistrike and giving it back to us!)
The Mastery proc takes it up to 26.25 per cast so we will be generating, and therefore spending, our Maelstrom at an incredible rate!
Assuming a cap of 100 Maelstrom, we will want to Earth Shock at 75+ to avoid capping if our next spell procs Mastery.
That equates to a maximum of 5 casts between Earth Shocks so the whole cycle of building then dumping Maelstrom will take a maximum of 10 seconds!
In reality, there will likely be a Mastery proc or two along the way or some other generator in play such as the Maelstrom Totem, and that cycle will be reduced to 6 -8 seconds.
Although the rotation will look similar to the current one, the speed of that cycle will increase the relative number of instant cast spells and the playstyle will be feel much more dynamic.
This relative increase in instant casts is accentuated even further by Flame Shock ticking every two seconds instead of every three which should lead to more Lava Surge procs.
More instant casts and the long-awaited removal of the shock cooldown, will also make a huge difference to our movement...
Spiritwalker's Grace has always handled the planned, extended movement in fights but it's the short bursts of movement that normally leave us struggling, often with nothing to cast at all.
These frequently come in the guise of random-target abilities or ground effects and a succession of them, such as Kilrogg's Death Throes, would be especially difficult for us to handle outside of SWG.
Now we will always have Earth Shock available so we can cast it with any movement and that, or a stutter-step approach of LB, ES, LB, ES and so on, can take care of most circumstances.
If all else fails, Flame Shock can be cast at zero Maelstrom so is spammable in extreme situations, or even if you just need to cast two instants back to back.
It won't do astounding dps but means we always have a spell available and, more importantly, decisions to make!
This is how to improve gameplay without fundamentally changing a class, well done Blizzard!
Thursday 12 November 2015
Tuesday 10 November 2015
Hunters are Changing...?
Much is changing for the hunters yet not really changing at the same time.
In a 'bold' move to allow each spec to have it's own identity, Blizzard have looked at three Hunter archetypes and moulded the specs to match.
Survival...
Has the biggest changes by far as they are essentially removing the spec completely and replacing it with a melee spec.
The new spec takes on the mantle of the old-fashioned tracker/trapper, using their woodcraft skills to trap their targets before going in for the kill at close combat.
A perfect fit for the Survival spec and maybe something they should have done long ago.
Beast Mastery...
This is the closest to the original WoW hunter concept and is undergoing the least amount of change.
Closely attuned to the beasts of the land, with them fighting for you while you protect them and pick off enemies from afar.
Having one spec working so closely with the pets should allow Blizzard to really explore and add depth to the relationship, with them truly working together to take down their enemies.
Marksmanship...
So clearly being directed towards the Legolas fantasy archer and that old elf didn't have a pet so now, neither does MM.
This spec is the combination sniper and all-action super elf of Tolkein's design. Able to target weak spots in an enemy's armour with precision shots or unleash hell around them with a hail of arrows.
All three specs sound fantastic and really live up to the fantasy archetypes.
The focus (no pun intended) and direction that each spec has should allow more depth into that playstyle which will only further increase the differentiation between the specs
What's the problem?
Well... the main problem is that the Hunter class already exists.
If this was a new class, we would be lauding it's design and the variety between the specs of a pure damage dealer, living up to different hunter 'fantasies' we all know and love.
But it's not a new spec.
It is the most popular spec in the game.
Which puts Blizzard in a very difficult position.
Everyone will admit that hunters needed some differentiation between the specs but Blizzard need to implement it in a way that doesn't alienate the huge Hunter population that already loves the class as it is.
The MM rapid-fire style is likely to be accentuated and have more depth which old MMers, who have chosen the spec for that reason, will love.
But what about those MMers that also loved their pet?
Or the BMers that loved their pets but also like the rapid-fire style?
Will enough of it be incorporated into BM to meet the expectations of those players?
Will enough of SV be preserved in MM talents (as they say it will be) to allow that old playstyle?
It's these crossover cases that Blizzard need to think about, not just the people who are completely behind one aspect of their spec.
While the changes truly bring in definitive identities they do so at the cost of the subtle nuances that already differentiated the specs to long-time hunters.
Can Blizzard balance the playstyles well enough for people to overcome that loss?
If not, players will really have to think about which aspect of being a Hunter is most important to them, because they will certainly have to make the decision.
In a 'bold' move to allow each spec to have it's own identity, Blizzard have looked at three Hunter archetypes and moulded the specs to match.
Survival...
Has the biggest changes by far as they are essentially removing the spec completely and replacing it with a melee spec.
The new spec takes on the mantle of the old-fashioned tracker/trapper, using their woodcraft skills to trap their targets before going in for the kill at close combat.
A perfect fit for the Survival spec and maybe something they should have done long ago.
Beast Mastery...
This is the closest to the original WoW hunter concept and is undergoing the least amount of change.
Closely attuned to the beasts of the land, with them fighting for you while you protect them and pick off enemies from afar.
Having one spec working so closely with the pets should allow Blizzard to really explore and add depth to the relationship, with them truly working together to take down their enemies.
Marksmanship...
So clearly being directed towards the Legolas fantasy archer and that old elf didn't have a pet so now, neither does MM.
This spec is the combination sniper and all-action super elf of Tolkein's design. Able to target weak spots in an enemy's armour with precision shots or unleash hell around them with a hail of arrows.
All three specs sound fantastic and really live up to the fantasy archetypes.
The focus (no pun intended) and direction that each spec has should allow more depth into that playstyle which will only further increase the differentiation between the specs
What's the problem?
Well... the main problem is that the Hunter class already exists.
If this was a new class, we would be lauding it's design and the variety between the specs of a pure damage dealer, living up to different hunter 'fantasies' we all know and love.
But it's not a new spec.
It is the most popular spec in the game.
Which puts Blizzard in a very difficult position.
Everyone will admit that hunters needed some differentiation between the specs but Blizzard need to implement it in a way that doesn't alienate the huge Hunter population that already loves the class as it is.
The MM rapid-fire style is likely to be accentuated and have more depth which old MMers, who have chosen the spec for that reason, will love.
But what about those MMers that also loved their pet?
Or the BMers that loved their pets but also like the rapid-fire style?
Will enough of it be incorporated into BM to meet the expectations of those players?
Will enough of SV be preserved in MM talents (as they say it will be) to allow that old playstyle?
It's these crossover cases that Blizzard need to think about, not just the people who are completely behind one aspect of their spec.
While the changes truly bring in definitive identities they do so at the cost of the subtle nuances that already differentiated the specs to long-time hunters.
Can Blizzard balance the playstyles well enough for people to overcome that loss?
If not, players will really have to think about which aspect of being a Hunter is most important to them, because they will certainly have to make the decision.
Legion is coming... eventually
Let's get the moaning off our chests and out of the way to clear up some space for hype and excitement.
So... September 2016.
That's a long wait for some new content.
Some people are desperately clinging to the 'on or before' section of the announcement but I'm not sure why. Past evidence suggests the 'or before' will be weeks rather than months and that just brings it forward to August 2016.
August 2016...
That's still a long wait for some new content.
I just feel an over-riding sense of being let down by Blizzard here.
All those comments about how they understood that 5.4 was unacceptably long and they wouldn't allow it to happen again just feel like hollow platitudes.
What happened Blizzard?
Either you didn't mean it and intended to deceive your players?
Or you are inept and unable to fulfil your promises?
Which is it?
All of my excitement for Blizzcon drained away almost instantly with that date.
After all, nothing announced at Blizzcon is even relevant to me and will likely have undergone massive changes by the time it finally reaches us.
Confusion, betrayal, anger, dismay... I feel like a dog that's just been kicked by it's owner.
The hype and excitement will have to wait.
So... September 2016.
That's a long wait for some new content.
Some people are desperately clinging to the 'on or before' section of the announcement but I'm not sure why. Past evidence suggests the 'or before' will be weeks rather than months and that just brings it forward to August 2016.
August 2016...
That's still a long wait for some new content.
I just feel an over-riding sense of being let down by Blizzard here.
All those comments about how they understood that 5.4 was unacceptably long and they wouldn't allow it to happen again just feel like hollow platitudes.
What happened Blizzard?
Either you didn't mean it and intended to deceive your players?
Or you are inept and unable to fulfil your promises?
Which is it?
All of my excitement for Blizzcon drained away almost instantly with that date.
After all, nothing announced at Blizzcon is even relevant to me and will likely have undergone massive changes by the time it finally reaches us.
Confusion, betrayal, anger, dismay... I feel like a dog that's just been kicked by it's owner.
The hype and excitement will have to wait.
Thursday 5 November 2015
Top 5 Raid Bosses in WoD...
The approaching Blizzcon should give us plenty to look forward to so I think now is an excellent opportunity to look back for a moment.
One aspect that most people agree Blizzard got right in WoD is the raiding so here is a list of my favourite bosses of the expansion.
Disclaimer: This list is completely subjective based on my own opinions of the design and how much fun I had killing them on Heroic difficulty.
Number 5 - Shadow-Lord Iskar
I loved the whole 'Eye of Anzu' concept and I think it was built it into the fight perfectly. The winds were hilarious at times and the other abilities kept the healers and tanks busy.
When they come up with ideas like this it makes me wish Fatboss and the like didn't exist.
Can you imagine how great it would have been to experience this fight without knowing the mechanics in advance?
How much fun it would be to work out the uses of the Eye?
The amount of knowledge available to us, and the way it affects our play, is a discussion for another day though... on to the other parts of the fight!
The Fel Incineration was what I consider personal responsibility done right, with mistakes or slow reactions making the fight harder rather than instant death/wipe... who am I kidding, it's all about the eye.
The only disappointment in the fight is the ending, the final 20% just feels easy once the last set of adds dies. Maybe there should have been an enrage or something.
Number 4 - Imperator Mar'gok
This fight was incredible!
An amazing test of awareness, skill, positioning, solo- and group-movement, prioritising targets and concentration... pretty much every aspect of raiding was tested in this one fight.
Add in a near-perfect difficulty curve as the fight progressed and this is up there as one of the best designed bosses of all time, truly fitting of an end of raid boss.
Two drawbacks prevent this boss being higher on the list...
First, it was so bloody long.
Each time we wiped, it seemed to take forever to get back to that position in the fight to hopefully progress and learn a bit more.
I think our first kill on Heroic was at around the 13 minute mark.
Second, who the hell is Imperator Mar'gok?
For the last boss of a raid, we knew virtually nothing about him.
Number 3 - Oregorger
It's a giant rolling Goren, what's not to love?
We had a lot of fun with George, particularly in his rolling phase. Some of our team just couldn't work it out, or would lose sight of him at crucial times, and be crushed over and over as he rolled around.
One night we even made all the ones who repeatedly failed the rolling phase just follow me around to stay safe. Of course, I then started making mistakes and killed even more people.
This boss was just plain good fun.
Number 2 - Socrethar the Eternal
I may have moaned once or twice about this guy but it's not the boss that's at fault, it's usually the people trying to kill him.
I think the fight is beautifully designed with the Construct and it's abilities synergising perfectly with the rest of the fight.
And considering the fight revolves so much around that Construct, they did an amazing job of making the rest of the raid just as relevant.
I often get frustrated by people's lack of awareness or poor positioning but, even when everyone is on the same page, this fight is still quite challenging and a lot of fun.
Number 1 - Twin Ogron
Probably in a minority here but I loved this fight!
The blending of the abilities was great, particularly with the separation mechanic challenging you to tank them as close together as you dared.
Personal responsibility was high but, again, there was some forgiveness there. Failing mechanics once didn't outright kill you, it just made it harder.
A stack or two from the fire, one or two people not making it into the Enfeebling Roar etc. made the fight more difficult but you could recover. And I think the line drawn before it became too hard was judged perfectly, particularly for a fight with so much happening at any one time.
The fight also allowed opportunities to shine with excellent play, the best example being our rogue who used a combination of OP rogue abilities and his own skill to maintain 100% uptime on the bosses while other people just tried to stay alive.
All in all, a fantastic test of positioning, awareness, movement and coordination, and I loved every minute of it.
Incidentally, one of very few fights I have completed in all 4 roles.
(The fight was easier if you tanked the bosses near the door but we never used that tactic. We were also at the right gear level to make that 'forgiveness line' absolutely perfect. If either gear or tactics made the fight easier, my opinion would probably be different.)
Honourable Mentions...
Hans & Franz and Thogar were both lots of fun but I found the 'gimmick' for each fight to be too... well, gimmicky I suppose.
Blackhand and Archimonde are both 'final bosses' and should be judged to a different standard as far as I am concerned. Archimonde doesn't meet that standard for me but Blackhand was very close to making the list.
We didn't kill it though, and it also spelled the end of my time with that guild, so it's more personal reasons than design ones.
I hope you like the list... let me know if you agree or disagree.
What were your top 5 bosses in Warlords of Draenor?
Monday 2 November 2015
Mythic Hellfire Assault...
We have had 2 nights of progress (spread over 3 or 4 weeks) on this "boss"... it is causing us a few problems for something that is, for most Mythic guilds, just glorified trash.
But we wipe more to trash than the bosses anyway so it shouldn't be too much of a surprise.
Our first night was very painful... I don't think the right preparation had been done by anyone really, almost as if they expected to walk all over it like the Heroic version.
This might not be the most difficult of Mythic fights but it is huge step up from the AoE-fest of Heroic on farm.
So many attempts have ended with one of our tanks dying, closely followed by the rest of the team on that side of the fight... but the underlying causes were quite varied.
The most disappointing ones were people dying to bombs. It's failing these basics that always frustrates me, and the lack of responsibility as people blame the tanks for not moving the boss away from them.
Yes, the tank should move the boss/adds away from the bombs.
No, you can't blame the tank if you don't move.
Stupid 'stood in the fire' deaths aside and the fight is really interesting for our team.
We obviously don't have the skill level to just blast through it like 'real' Mythic raid teams so we have to be creative.
The whole fight rests on balancing single target damage on the priority target with AoE or cleave to bring down the other targets.
Easy in principle but the difficulty comes in with the Felcallers.
If we push one of them below 50% while the Berserker is still alive, the combination of damage is easily enough to kill the tank. Or we focus the Felcaller down and the tank takes too many stacks and dies from the Berserker anyway.
So we have a window between Berserkers to push the Felcallers below 50% and kill them, but we also need to kill the Siege Engine in this window.
I'm sure better guilds than us can do just that... Kill the Berserker, kill the siege engine, kill the felcallers... before the next Berserker spawns but we just can't bring that much dps.
So we have to cleave.
And this is the challenge (and the fun) of the fight.
Single target enough so that the Berserker dies before it kills the tank.
Cleave enough so that we can kill off the Felcallers and Siege Engine in the window between Berserkers
Don't cleave so much that Felcallers are pushed outside of the window.
AoE enough to take care of the other adds.
I know we have the overall dps to kill the boss, after all, I've killed it before
and our dps is better than those early days, even with the difference in skill level.
So it is just about getting that dps in the right places at the right times.
I think much of the responsibility for this lies with the tanks.
Some classes, mainly the DoT classes, can dps all things equally regardless of where they are stood. The rest of us rely on proximity for our cleave.
Earthquake may be one of the best Cleave/AoE spells in the game but, if the mobs are not stood in it, it does nothing at all. The same applies to almost all melee classes, Blade Flurry being a prime example.
I can choose to place my EQ so that it only covers some mobs, the rogue can position himself so that only some mobs are hit by the Blade Flurry, but the mobs have to be close for us to make that decision.
So I think the tanks are the only ones who can have true control over the cleave.
Their movement and positioning is what will determine whether cleaving is an option, then it's up to us dps to decide when it's the right option and how much of it to do.
And I think this was a major drawback for us in our attempts, we weren't always given the option to cleave and ended up trying to complete a series of single target burn phases back to back.
We weren't capable of doing that so we either got overwhelmed by smaller adds or a priority target lived too long and killed people, usually a Berserker killing a tank.
To be fair to our tanks, I don't think they trusted our dps to hold back on cleave at the right times and they probably have a point.
I think it would have been easier to sort that issue out over the night though, rather than continue to pursue an approach that was beyond our ability and hope for miraculously different outcomes.
We did make some progress but it was painfully slow and we rarely made it to the halfway point, when the big adds and the transporter come in, in good shape.
One side is much more difficult than the other side, with an extra pair of Felcallers to deal with, and that side struggled every time.
The easier side was running very smoothly by the end of the night and the last attempt was as close to perfect as you can get, killing the final siege engine just before the transporter arrived.
The hard side though, never really came to terms with that balancing act (which is far more important with the extra Felcallers) so we never got close to the kill.
I think we will do better next time but, with the current roster issues, I have no idea when that next time will be.
If anyone has any tips for this fight, or 5 spare Mythic raiders lying around, please feel free to comment.
But we wipe more to trash than the bosses anyway so it shouldn't be too much of a surprise.
Our first night was very painful... I don't think the right preparation had been done by anyone really, almost as if they expected to walk all over it like the Heroic version.
This might not be the most difficult of Mythic fights but it is huge step up from the AoE-fest of Heroic on farm.
So many attempts have ended with one of our tanks dying, closely followed by the rest of the team on that side of the fight... but the underlying causes were quite varied.
The most disappointing ones were people dying to bombs. It's failing these basics that always frustrates me, and the lack of responsibility as people blame the tanks for not moving the boss away from them.
Yes, the tank should move the boss/adds away from the bombs.
No, you can't blame the tank if you don't move.
Stupid 'stood in the fire' deaths aside and the fight is really interesting for our team.
We obviously don't have the skill level to just blast through it like 'real' Mythic raid teams so we have to be creative.
The whole fight rests on balancing single target damage on the priority target with AoE or cleave to bring down the other targets.
Easy in principle but the difficulty comes in with the Felcallers.
If we push one of them below 50% while the Berserker is still alive, the combination of damage is easily enough to kill the tank. Or we focus the Felcaller down and the tank takes too many stacks and dies from the Berserker anyway.
So we have a window between Berserkers to push the Felcallers below 50% and kill them, but we also need to kill the Siege Engine in this window.
I'm sure better guilds than us can do just that... Kill the Berserker, kill the siege engine, kill the felcallers... before the next Berserker spawns but we just can't bring that much dps.
So we have to cleave.
And this is the challenge (and the fun) of the fight.
Single target enough so that the Berserker dies before it kills the tank.
Cleave enough so that we can kill off the Felcallers and Siege Engine in the window between Berserkers
Don't cleave so much that Felcallers are pushed outside of the window.
AoE enough to take care of the other adds.
I know we have the overall dps to kill the boss, after all, I've killed it before
and our dps is better than those early days, even with the difference in skill level.
So it is just about getting that dps in the right places at the right times.
I think much of the responsibility for this lies with the tanks.
Some classes, mainly the DoT classes, can dps all things equally regardless of where they are stood. The rest of us rely on proximity for our cleave.
Earthquake may be one of the best Cleave/AoE spells in the game but, if the mobs are not stood in it, it does nothing at all. The same applies to almost all melee classes, Blade Flurry being a prime example.
I can choose to place my EQ so that it only covers some mobs, the rogue can position himself so that only some mobs are hit by the Blade Flurry, but the mobs have to be close for us to make that decision.
So I think the tanks are the only ones who can have true control over the cleave.
Their movement and positioning is what will determine whether cleaving is an option, then it's up to us dps to decide when it's the right option and how much of it to do.
And I think this was a major drawback for us in our attempts, we weren't always given the option to cleave and ended up trying to complete a series of single target burn phases back to back.
We weren't capable of doing that so we either got overwhelmed by smaller adds or a priority target lived too long and killed people, usually a Berserker killing a tank.
To be fair to our tanks, I don't think they trusted our dps to hold back on cleave at the right times and they probably have a point.
I think it would have been easier to sort that issue out over the night though, rather than continue to pursue an approach that was beyond our ability and hope for miraculously different outcomes.
We did make some progress but it was painfully slow and we rarely made it to the halfway point, when the big adds and the transporter come in, in good shape.
One side is much more difficult than the other side, with an extra pair of Felcallers to deal with, and that side struggled every time.
The easier side was running very smoothly by the end of the night and the last attempt was as close to perfect as you can get, killing the final siege engine just before the transporter arrived.
The hard side though, never really came to terms with that balancing act (which is far more important with the extra Felcallers) so we never got close to the kill.
I think we will do better next time but, with the current roster issues, I have no idea when that next time will be.
If anyone has any tips for this fight, or 5 spare Mythic raiders lying around, please feel free to comment.
Thursday 29 October 2015
Just Filling Time...
With Archimonde Heroic lying dead at our feet, my GM set her sights firmly on Mythic progression and we pushed on to Mythic Hellfire Assault.
That was the plan anyway.
We had already had one night of wipes on here a couple of weeks earlier. Very little progress was made but at least everyone got a decent idea of what was needed to succeed.
Optimism was fairly high for our second night of Mythic raiding, especially after killing Heroic Archi, but it was unfounded and progress was extremely slow.
At the end of the night, a number of people then spoke up and said they had never been interested in raiding Mythic content anyway and just wanted to stick to Heroic.
So our Mythic raiding died there and then.
The GM is still in bullish mood though, doing her best to recruit Mythic-ready (and willing) raiders to re-fill the roster.
The main disappointment being that half of the officers were the ones to step out of the team, surely this has come up in Officer chat at some point before now?
Meanwhile, I am just plodding along with the alts.
DK made it to 100 over the weekend to make it 10/11.
I still haven't worked out how to play it though.
I've read Icy Veins and follow their 'rotation' but I seem to spend a lot of my time not doing anything, just waiting for procs.
Is that the way it is supposed to be?
I'm only doing the basics at the moment - Diseases, Howling Blast, Obliterate and Frost Strike - so maybe it becomes more fluid when I add in the other abilities?
I'll add them in when my fingers can work out which key to hit for Killing Machine procs without me looking at my action bars.
I'm intrigued by the Frost spec though, and want to see how it pans out with more practice and gear.
Rogue, Mage and Paladin are all ready for raiding and just waiting for an opportunity but still have to bring the Priest up to speed.
And there is always the lowly Warrior who has made his way to 65 and old Nagrand... he could be there a while yet,
That was the plan anyway.
We had already had one night of wipes on here a couple of weeks earlier. Very little progress was made but at least everyone got a decent idea of what was needed to succeed.
Optimism was fairly high for our second night of Mythic raiding, especially after killing Heroic Archi, but it was unfounded and progress was extremely slow.
At the end of the night, a number of people then spoke up and said they had never been interested in raiding Mythic content anyway and just wanted to stick to Heroic.
So our Mythic raiding died there and then.
The GM is still in bullish mood though, doing her best to recruit Mythic-ready (and willing) raiders to re-fill the roster.
The main disappointment being that half of the officers were the ones to step out of the team, surely this has come up in Officer chat at some point before now?
Meanwhile, I am just plodding along with the alts.
DK made it to 100 over the weekend to make it 10/11.
I still haven't worked out how to play it though.
I've read Icy Veins and follow their 'rotation' but I seem to spend a lot of my time not doing anything, just waiting for procs.
Is that the way it is supposed to be?
I'm only doing the basics at the moment - Diseases, Howling Blast, Obliterate and Frost Strike - so maybe it becomes more fluid when I add in the other abilities?
I'll add them in when my fingers can work out which key to hit for Killing Machine procs without me looking at my action bars.
I'm intrigued by the Frost spec though, and want to see how it pans out with more practice and gear.
Rogue, Mage and Paladin are all ready for raiding and just waiting for an opportunity but still have to bring the Priest up to speed.
And there is always the lowly Warrior who has made his way to 65 and old Nagrand... he could be there a while yet,
Wednesday 21 October 2015
9 and counting...
As a welcome diversion from wiping on Mythic Hellfire Assault (expect a post from me moaning about that... soon), I have been slowly moving my army of alts up to 100.
There is no rush as I still think the expansion is around 6 months away, but nothing is grabbing my interest outside of raiding at the moment so the alts are getting some love.
The lazy mage has been doing some normal raiding, twice reaching 12/13 normal on the guild's 'drunken alt run'.
It's been a lot of fun despite having some terrible luck with loot.
The Shaman feels amazingly powerful when there is a call for stacked AoE... Iskar add phases, Xhul'horac imps, Socrethar ghosts... but has troughs to match those peaks... Iron Reaver bombs, Kil'rogg and Gorefiend adds.
The Frost Mage is much more of an all-rounder. It will never reach the highs of those AoE phases but, by the same token, I haven't found any weaknesses in the toolkit at all.
Blink, Icy Floes and the many instant cast spells combine to make it an incredibly mobile spec and it handles the fights in HFC brilliantly.
And while it can't match the big numbers on sustained AoE, it's burst AoE is excellent and is backed up by really solid single target damage.
Where the Frost Mage really does excel though is where the Shaman has problems, rapid target switches. The mage doesn't miss a beat as it moves from target to target, instantly slowing them and hitting them with the full dps from the outset.
Other classes may be even better than the Frost Mage in this area but I have never had such an easy time on Kil'rogg and Gorefiend.
It all comes together to build what feels like an incredibly dynamic playstyle and it is so much fun to play!
The mage is not the only one to get some love though, my rogue has been having a little runout too.
I go back to the rogue so many times during an expansion as I still love to play him but after so long as ranged and healer, I struggle when I go into melee range.
I need to be able to actually see my character, strange I know :P, to play it properly. When things get messy, as they do in melee range, I stray out of range or in front of the boss and lose a lot of dps.
I think I would probably get used to it again if I played as melee all the time but I prefer the freedom of ranged play.
Anyway, only a couple of pugs for my rogue with little success but it was nice to get him moving along and collecting some Tomes.
My Priest made it to 100 and dived straight into Tanaan Jungle.
As I pretty much skipped all of Nagrand, going from 98 to 100 just by collecting treasures, I was a bit lacking in gear so had to be extremely cautious in the jungle.
It added a sense of danger that had been missing on all my other chars, and the experience was a lot more thrilling. I imagine it would have been quite intense playing this way prior to flying and I feel like I have missed out on truly experiencing the content as it was designed.
It's also strange to think that Tanaan Jungle, where most of our play is currently, will be completely bypassed once Legion is released. It will be harder content with (maybe) lesser rewards than the first questing zones of the Broken Isles, and will soon be forgotten like Timeless Isle and others before that.
Who goes to Quel'danas at level now?
Or Molten Front?
Or Isle of Thunder?
So much forgotten content.
Priest decided to go Disc (FoTM yeah yeah whatever) - I rarely heal on my Shaman these days and have lost a bit of the knack for it, far too reactive with my heals.
Wanting a main-spec healer and knowing that Disc priests need to be very proactive with their heals and shields, it was an easy choice.
Just like the Mage, great plans of raiding on my priest were optimistic to say the least and a couple of trips into LFR destroyed any motivation I had.
The new plan is to deck him out in Empowered Baleful gear then a trip through LFR to get used to keybinds and on to the Alt run or pugs... time permitting of course ;-)
I even logged into my Prot Paladin this week, sorted through the gear he had amassed from various follower/boat missions until I had a workable tank spec.
I queued for Hellbreach LFR as tank, cancelled the queue almost immediately and logged off... just couldn't put myself through lfr as tank, maybe next week (probably not).
The Monk made his way, mostly via collecting treasures, to 100. It's remarkable how much XP those treasures give...
I had been questing merrily along to 96 and opened up Spires of Arak as soon as it was available (No rested XP at this point)
Open up the Brewery for the 20% XP gain
Complete Captain Taylor quests
Complete Salvage Yard quests
Then I just collected treasures. ALL the treasures!
All of the treasures in Spires and Nagrand left me 2 bars short of level 100!
Roughly 5 quests later...
DING!
Number 9!
Only DK and Warrior to go!
There is no rush as I still think the expansion is around 6 months away, but nothing is grabbing my interest outside of raiding at the moment so the alts are getting some love.
The lazy mage has been doing some normal raiding, twice reaching 12/13 normal on the guild's 'drunken alt run'.
It's been a lot of fun despite having some terrible luck with loot.
The Shaman feels amazingly powerful when there is a call for stacked AoE... Iskar add phases, Xhul'horac imps, Socrethar ghosts... but has troughs to match those peaks... Iron Reaver bombs, Kil'rogg and Gorefiend adds.
The Frost Mage is much more of an all-rounder. It will never reach the highs of those AoE phases but, by the same token, I haven't found any weaknesses in the toolkit at all.
Blink, Icy Floes and the many instant cast spells combine to make it an incredibly mobile spec and it handles the fights in HFC brilliantly.
And while it can't match the big numbers on sustained AoE, it's burst AoE is excellent and is backed up by really solid single target damage.
Where the Frost Mage really does excel though is where the Shaman has problems, rapid target switches. The mage doesn't miss a beat as it moves from target to target, instantly slowing them and hitting them with the full dps from the outset.
Other classes may be even better than the Frost Mage in this area but I have never had such an easy time on Kil'rogg and Gorefiend.
It all comes together to build what feels like an incredibly dynamic playstyle and it is so much fun to play!
The mage is not the only one to get some love though, my rogue has been having a little runout too.
I go back to the rogue so many times during an expansion as I still love to play him but after so long as ranged and healer, I struggle when I go into melee range.
I need to be able to actually see my character, strange I know :P, to play it properly. When things get messy, as they do in melee range, I stray out of range or in front of the boss and lose a lot of dps.
I think I would probably get used to it again if I played as melee all the time but I prefer the freedom of ranged play.
Anyway, only a couple of pugs for my rogue with little success but it was nice to get him moving along and collecting some Tomes.
My Priest made it to 100 and dived straight into Tanaan Jungle.
As I pretty much skipped all of Nagrand, going from 98 to 100 just by collecting treasures, I was a bit lacking in gear so had to be extremely cautious in the jungle.
It added a sense of danger that had been missing on all my other chars, and the experience was a lot more thrilling. I imagine it would have been quite intense playing this way prior to flying and I feel like I have missed out on truly experiencing the content as it was designed.
It's also strange to think that Tanaan Jungle, where most of our play is currently, will be completely bypassed once Legion is released. It will be harder content with (maybe) lesser rewards than the first questing zones of the Broken Isles, and will soon be forgotten like Timeless Isle and others before that.
Who goes to Quel'danas at level now?
Or Molten Front?
Or Isle of Thunder?
So much forgotten content.
Priest decided to go Disc (FoTM yeah yeah whatever) - I rarely heal on my Shaman these days and have lost a bit of the knack for it, far too reactive with my heals.
Wanting a main-spec healer and knowing that Disc priests need to be very proactive with their heals and shields, it was an easy choice.
Just like the Mage, great plans of raiding on my priest were optimistic to say the least and a couple of trips into LFR destroyed any motivation I had.
The new plan is to deck him out in Empowered Baleful gear then a trip through LFR to get used to keybinds and on to the Alt run or pugs... time permitting of course ;-)
I even logged into my Prot Paladin this week, sorted through the gear he had amassed from various follower/boat missions until I had a workable tank spec.
I queued for Hellbreach LFR as tank, cancelled the queue almost immediately and logged off... just couldn't put myself through lfr as tank, maybe next week (probably not).
The Monk made his way, mostly via collecting treasures, to 100. It's remarkable how much XP those treasures give...
I had been questing merrily along to 96 and opened up Spires of Arak as soon as it was available (No rested XP at this point)
Open up the Brewery for the 20% XP gain
Complete Captain Taylor quests
Complete Salvage Yard quests
Then I just collected treasures. ALL the treasures!
All of the treasures in Spires and Nagrand left me 2 bars short of level 100!
Roughly 5 quests later...
DING!
Number 9!
Only DK and Warrior to go!
Thursday 15 October 2015
Normal Mode Nerfs Could Save LFR...
Blizzard have decided that a better way of making content easier is to remove mechanics rather than dilute them, and I agree wholeheartedly!
I don't agree that it should be done mid-tier when everyone has already learned the original fights but for future raids, I definitely think this is the way to go.
When the reasons for the changes were explained, one word rang out to me... Clarity!
Almost all of the issues with the design of LFR can be drawn down to this one word and the latest nerfs could be showing that Blizzard agree.
Prior to the nerfs...
Blizzard start at Heroic mode, add mechanics and numbers for Mythic, reduce numbers for Normal then reduce them further for LFR.
This led to LFR being exactly the same fight as Heroic with exactly the same mechanics, but those mechanics could often just be completely ignored.
Iron Reaver is a prime example... On Heroic, Artillery will one-shot any player that is too close. On LFR, it is completely ignored. Same could be said for Barrage and Blitz. Important in Heroic, ignored in LFR.
What's wrong with that? LFR is supposed to be more forgiving, right?
Indeed it is.
The issue is one of Clarity...
LFR teaches people that mechanics can be ignored but, if the majority of mechanics can be ignored, what happens when there is a mechanic which needs dealing with properly?
People ignore it.
"It's only LFR!" is the stock response to anyone even trying to suggest tactics.
LFR doesn't fail because people can't follow simple mechanics, it fails because people think they don't need to!
But the issue of clarity continues into Normal mode and is possibly even worse...
While LFR teaches people that mechanics don't matter, Normal teaches people that some matter and some don't.
Heroic then finally teaches you that all these mechanics that you have been ignoring are important now.
This is why so many people are finding it hard to make the step up to the next difficulty, and it has nothing to do with numbers, DPS or HPS.
Breaking old habits is always harder than creating new ones!
A Bright New World...
By removing the mechanics that don't matter, only the important ones are left and everyone will know that they have to deal with them.
By necessity, the mechanics kept in LFR would have to be the simplest to handle.
It is designed for a random group of strangers with little or no coordination and a low skill floor. Participative rather than challenging.
But every player at level-cap can deal with one or two simple mechanics, this is a fact!
The levelling experience in WoD, particularly the rares and 'bosses' of the quest storylines, was fantastic at introducing simple mechanics and we all dealt with them.
The perception of LFR would change. Yes, people would still think it was easy but the number of people thinking it is so easy that they don't even need to be present would drastically reduce.
Word gets around fast... the new LFR is easy but you have to do it right.
Soon, people start queueing for LFR expecting mechanics and accepting that they need to deal with them to succeed, but also knowing that they can.
Normal mode (for those that want it) then builds on the foundations learned in LFR rather than trying to tear them down and rebuild them differently.
Have you done this in LFR?
Excellent! It's the same but we have to do this extra thing too.
The same applies when moving from Normal to Heroic.
Everything you did in Normal still applies... but you also need to do this and this.
LFR becomes a learning tool for those that want it and the difficulty curve from LFR through normal, heroic and on to mythic is much smoother.
Blizzard... your timing is terrible but I think you have started something here that could be fantastic for the future of LFR and raiding as a whole.
Please follow it through.
p.s. stay tuned next week for a post on another topic that everyone else on the internet has done to death.
I don't agree that it should be done mid-tier when everyone has already learned the original fights but for future raids, I definitely think this is the way to go.
When the reasons for the changes were explained, one word rang out to me... Clarity!
Almost all of the issues with the design of LFR can be drawn down to this one word and the latest nerfs could be showing that Blizzard agree.
Prior to the nerfs...
Blizzard start at Heroic mode, add mechanics and numbers for Mythic, reduce numbers for Normal then reduce them further for LFR.
This led to LFR being exactly the same fight as Heroic with exactly the same mechanics, but those mechanics could often just be completely ignored.
Iron Reaver is a prime example... On Heroic, Artillery will one-shot any player that is too close. On LFR, it is completely ignored. Same could be said for Barrage and Blitz. Important in Heroic, ignored in LFR.
What's wrong with that? LFR is supposed to be more forgiving, right?
Indeed it is.
The issue is one of Clarity...
LFR teaches people that mechanics can be ignored but, if the majority of mechanics can be ignored, what happens when there is a mechanic which needs dealing with properly?
People ignore it.
"It's only LFR!" is the stock response to anyone even trying to suggest tactics.
LFR doesn't fail because people can't follow simple mechanics, it fails because people think they don't need to!
But the issue of clarity continues into Normal mode and is possibly even worse...
While LFR teaches people that mechanics don't matter, Normal teaches people that some matter and some don't.
Heroic then finally teaches you that all these mechanics that you have been ignoring are important now.
This is why so many people are finding it hard to make the step up to the next difficulty, and it has nothing to do with numbers, DPS or HPS.
Breaking old habits is always harder than creating new ones!
A Bright New World...
By removing the mechanics that don't matter, only the important ones are left and everyone will know that they have to deal with them.
By necessity, the mechanics kept in LFR would have to be the simplest to handle.
It is designed for a random group of strangers with little or no coordination and a low skill floor. Participative rather than challenging.
But every player at level-cap can deal with one or two simple mechanics, this is a fact!
The levelling experience in WoD, particularly the rares and 'bosses' of the quest storylines, was fantastic at introducing simple mechanics and we all dealt with them.
The perception of LFR would change. Yes, people would still think it was easy but the number of people thinking it is so easy that they don't even need to be present would drastically reduce.
Word gets around fast... the new LFR is easy but you have to do it right.
Soon, people start queueing for LFR expecting mechanics and accepting that they need to deal with them to succeed, but also knowing that they can.
Normal mode (for those that want it) then builds on the foundations learned in LFR rather than trying to tear them down and rebuild them differently.
Have you done this in LFR?
Excellent! It's the same but we have to do this extra thing too.
The same applies when moving from Normal to Heroic.
Everything you did in Normal still applies... but you also need to do this and this.
LFR becomes a learning tool for those that want it and the difficulty curve from LFR through normal, heroic and on to mythic is much smoother.
Blizzard... your timing is terrible but I think you have started something here that could be fantastic for the future of LFR and raiding as a whole.
Please follow it through.
p.s. stay tuned next week for a post on another topic that everyone else on the internet has done to death.
Monday 12 October 2015
Ahead of the Curve...
I love it when a raid night works out.
We had a goal, to kill Archimonde Heroic.
It started well, despite our new squishy warrior tank learning the fight and dying to everything possible on the first few pulls ;-)
We just ressed him and carried on, pushing into phase 3 virtually every time.
There was a sense in the air that this would definitely be the night!
Almost every pull resulted in us reaching phase 3 in a better position than the last as we tightened up our execution of the other phases.
And each P3 was cleaner than the last until we wiped at around 7% over and over.
Once everyone has fully learned the fight and executes it as well as possible, it seems to boil down to one moment.
Around the time the second group returns from the Nether, there is a combination of mechanics:
Chains that need to be broken.
Demonic Feedback that we need to spread for and survive.
Pushing the boss to 25% to trigger Rain of Chaos and the Infernals.
We held off dps so that we didn't push the boss until the whole group was there meaning all of these abilities needed to be dealt with at pretty much the same time.
Most of our 7% wipes were down to losing people in this 'moment'. It was always worth continuing though to make us absolutely familiar with what was to come in the final few percent of the fight.
Survive this moment, in good shape, and we knew we would be close to the kill.
The first time we got through, it looked great. Everyone was alive and we were pushing onwards. We called for a 'suicide' group and our DK tank, Balance druid and Feral druid went in.
Our Feral druid is known for screaming for heals whenever he isn't on full HP but he had been told to shut up earlier in the night. Of course this time he died before he could get into the Nether Banish, the boss healed and we wiped.
"You see? This is what happens when I don't call for heals!" he called, much to our amusement.
The second successful time through the 'moment', we had the second set of infernals spawn while a group was still in the Nether. Our Warlock thought it would be really helpful to Banish one of them to buy us some time.
Oh dear... if you Banish the infernal, it still gains energy and casts the massive raid AoE. Wipe.
The third time was the charm.
We were through the tricky moment with everyone alive and a res in hand.
Archimonde's health was dropping fast but we started to lose people.
First, our Boomkin and our 'Void' hunter died to a breaking chain.
Another hunter succumbed to an infernal he was kiting which, with it's dying breath, also took out yours truly as I returned from the third Nether.
The infernals were dead though, we were on the final stretch!
I ankhed and we ressed the first hunter. He had been doing an amazing job, virtually soloing the Living Shadows, and we needed him for the final push.
Suicide group for the last Nether... Kitty made it in this time!
6%
5%
Rain of Chaos started... Ignore it! Blow everything you have and stay on the boss!
4%
3%
2%
1%
The cheers began!
We had him and we knew it!
0%
Woohoo!
An awesome night progressing towards then finally getting the kill!
This is what raiding is all about!
To add the cherry on top, I also won the Heroic trinket (with socket) and our Monk healers both passed to let me have my BiS weapon, the Mace. Thanks guys! :-)
We had a goal, to kill Archimonde Heroic.
It started well, despite our new squishy warrior tank learning the fight and dying to everything possible on the first few pulls ;-)
We just ressed him and carried on, pushing into phase 3 virtually every time.
There was a sense in the air that this would definitely be the night!
Almost every pull resulted in us reaching phase 3 in a better position than the last as we tightened up our execution of the other phases.
And each P3 was cleaner than the last until we wiped at around 7% over and over.
Once everyone has fully learned the fight and executes it as well as possible, it seems to boil down to one moment.
Around the time the second group returns from the Nether, there is a combination of mechanics:
Chains that need to be broken.
Demonic Feedback that we need to spread for and survive.
Pushing the boss to 25% to trigger Rain of Chaos and the Infernals.
We held off dps so that we didn't push the boss until the whole group was there meaning all of these abilities needed to be dealt with at pretty much the same time.
Most of our 7% wipes were down to losing people in this 'moment'. It was always worth continuing though to make us absolutely familiar with what was to come in the final few percent of the fight.
Survive this moment, in good shape, and we knew we would be close to the kill.
The first time we got through, it looked great. Everyone was alive and we were pushing onwards. We called for a 'suicide' group and our DK tank, Balance druid and Feral druid went in.
Our Feral druid is known for screaming for heals whenever he isn't on full HP but he had been told to shut up earlier in the night. Of course this time he died before he could get into the Nether Banish, the boss healed and we wiped.
"You see? This is what happens when I don't call for heals!" he called, much to our amusement.
The second successful time through the 'moment', we had the second set of infernals spawn while a group was still in the Nether. Our Warlock thought it would be really helpful to Banish one of them to buy us some time.
Oh dear... if you Banish the infernal, it still gains energy and casts the massive raid AoE. Wipe.
The third time was the charm.
We were through the tricky moment with everyone alive and a res in hand.
Archimonde's health was dropping fast but we started to lose people.
First, our Boomkin and our 'Void' hunter died to a breaking chain.
Another hunter succumbed to an infernal he was kiting which, with it's dying breath, also took out yours truly as I returned from the third Nether.
The infernals were dead though, we were on the final stretch!
I ankhed and we ressed the first hunter. He had been doing an amazing job, virtually soloing the Living Shadows, and we needed him for the final push.
Suicide group for the last Nether... Kitty made it in this time!
6%
5%
Rain of Chaos started... Ignore it! Blow everything you have and stay on the boss!
4%
3%
2%
1%
The cheers began!
We had him and we knew it!
0%
Woohoo!
An awesome night progressing towards then finally getting the kill!
This is what raiding is all about!
To add the cherry on top, I also won the Heroic trinket (with socket) and our Monk healers both passed to let me have my BiS weapon, the Mace. Thanks guys! :-)
Thursday 1 October 2015
Terrifying Devil-Bears...
I was questing through Duskwood the other day on my lowbie warrior.
Full heirlooms and music playing in the background (The Raconteurs if you are interested... Jack White is a legend!) so not really paying much attention as people do these days on their umpteenth alt.
I had done enough quests to move on to the next zone but decided to fully complete this one and see the end of the storylines.
I often do this with alts, fully complete a zone I haven't done for a while then skip that zone completely on the next alt... and this is probably why my alts often stop for a time in the expansions, they just don't have the options of levelling routes.
Anyway, back in Duskwood, I opened up the Raven Hill cemetery quests and was asked to go kill some bears.
(I've never heard of people eating bear meat outside of Azeroth but it seems to be somewhat of a delicacy, maybe I'll ask for it in my local Waitrose.)
I was hit by a sudden recollection from my Warcraft past! These bloody bears!
Back in the day, before I found the joys of Shamanism, my first ever char was a (not so) sneaky Rogue.
He was questing merrily through Westfall, minding his own business, when he stumbled across all these bears with skulls on their portraits. Not knowing what this meant, and feeling quite powerful having just got a new dagger, he charged in!
And died. Fast.
Hmmm... release, run back, try again. Dead.
Ok, I think I'll leave these bears alone.
Release, run back, get attacked by a bear. Dead.
Release, run back, run two yards, get attacked by a bear. Dead.
Release, run back, run two yards, get attacked by a bear. Dead.
Uh-oh.
It took me forty minutes to make it out of those woods then swim across the river before those bears left me alone. I was astounded!
What were these devil-bears? How was anyone supposed to kill them?
I couldn't wait to tell my friend about them when he logged on (my only friend in WoW at that time), these terrifying bears that killed you with one swipe of their massive paws.
He was at level cap, I wanted to see if he could kill one.
As it happens, I forgot about it for a couple of days and just carried on levelling.
My rogue was level 40 when I remembered about the terrifying devil-bears and I dragged my friend (through Westfall and over the river) to see them.
They weren't there!
There were just some normal bears milling around (which had a proper level number instead of a skull on their portrait!) and I could kill them easily.
But they were right here, I insisted.
Ah well, they've gone now.
It was quite some time before I worked out what had actually happened that day, where they came from, and why they disappeared, but I'll never forgot those terrifying devil-bears.
My Warrior killed a few extra just in case some other poor soul had wandered off the path.
Moral of the story: You don't know what you don't know until you know it.
Full heirlooms and music playing in the background (The Raconteurs if you are interested... Jack White is a legend!) so not really paying much attention as people do these days on their umpteenth alt.
I had done enough quests to move on to the next zone but decided to fully complete this one and see the end of the storylines.
I often do this with alts, fully complete a zone I haven't done for a while then skip that zone completely on the next alt... and this is probably why my alts often stop for a time in the expansions, they just don't have the options of levelling routes.
Anyway, back in Duskwood, I opened up the Raven Hill cemetery quests and was asked to go kill some bears.
(I've never heard of people eating bear meat outside of Azeroth but it seems to be somewhat of a delicacy, maybe I'll ask for it in my local Waitrose.)
I was hit by a sudden recollection from my Warcraft past! These bloody bears!
Back in the day, before I found the joys of Shamanism, my first ever char was a (not so) sneaky Rogue.
He was questing merrily through Westfall, minding his own business, when he stumbled across all these bears with skulls on their portraits. Not knowing what this meant, and feeling quite powerful having just got a new dagger, he charged in!
And died. Fast.
Hmmm... release, run back, try again. Dead.
Ok, I think I'll leave these bears alone.
Release, run back, get attacked by a bear. Dead.
Release, run back, run two yards, get attacked by a bear. Dead.
Release, run back, run two yards, get attacked by a bear. Dead.
Uh-oh.
It took me forty minutes to make it out of those woods then swim across the river before those bears left me alone. I was astounded!
What were these devil-bears? How was anyone supposed to kill them?
I couldn't wait to tell my friend about them when he logged on (my only friend in WoW at that time), these terrifying bears that killed you with one swipe of their massive paws.
He was at level cap, I wanted to see if he could kill one.
As it happens, I forgot about it for a couple of days and just carried on levelling.
My rogue was level 40 when I remembered about the terrifying devil-bears and I dragged my friend (through Westfall and over the river) to see them.
They weren't there!
There were just some normal bears milling around (which had a proper level number instead of a skull on their portrait!) and I could kill them easily.
But they were right here, I insisted.
Ah well, they've gone now.
It was quite some time before I worked out what had actually happened that day, where they came from, and why they disappeared, but I'll never forgot those terrifying devil-bears.
My Warrior killed a few extra just in case some other poor soul had wandered off the path.
Moral of the story: You don't know what you don't know until you know it.
Wednesday 30 September 2015
Lazy Mage...
FOTM-roll, the mage, has been sat at 100 for some time now.
All those plans to see how he fared versus my shaman have fallen by the wayside.
I got him raid-ready, 690ilvl, with upgraded Apexis gear, Kazzak and some crafting but ,no matter how much I would like to be doing extra raids with him, I just don't have the time.
So he just flies (because he can) around his garrison doing professions stuff and sending boats/followers out to continue his legendary questline.
Lazy bugger!
There are a few options for him...
1. Move him into my Shaman's guild and join their alt night.
A nice idea but I never turn up to the alt night anyway, it's on a Friday evening, he would just be flying around his garrison in a different guild.
2. Raid with the guild he is in.
Another nice idea, they are progressing through the later stages of normal modes so he is fairly close to them in gear and my experience on the Shaman should be able to bridge that gap.
Unfortunately, the first two raid nights clash with my Shaman's raid nights and the third is their progress night when I'm sure they would prefer me to bring my actual Shaman.
3. Pug.
I hate pugging
4. Fly around his garrison for a while then level another char...
Yep, this is what I'm doing. Levelling 2 chars actually.
Priest is at 98 and Warrior is at 40 (new record!)
(Warrior is stuck now though, I don't like the Thousand Needles and WPL/EPL are still a bit too fresh from the Mage.)
So the Mage joins the list... Rogue, Prot Pala (haha), Hunter... chars I have great raid plans for before realising (again) that I don't have time for more raiding.
Expect a 'Lazy Priest' post in a few days...
All those plans to see how he fared versus my shaman have fallen by the wayside.
I got him raid-ready, 690ilvl, with upgraded Apexis gear, Kazzak and some crafting but ,no matter how much I would like to be doing extra raids with him, I just don't have the time.
So he just flies (because he can) around his garrison doing professions stuff and sending boats/followers out to continue his legendary questline.
Lazy bugger!
There are a few options for him...
1. Move him into my Shaman's guild and join their alt night.
A nice idea but I never turn up to the alt night anyway, it's on a Friday evening, he would just be flying around his garrison in a different guild.
2. Raid with the guild he is in.
Another nice idea, they are progressing through the later stages of normal modes so he is fairly close to them in gear and my experience on the Shaman should be able to bridge that gap.
Unfortunately, the first two raid nights clash with my Shaman's raid nights and the third is their progress night when I'm sure they would prefer me to bring my actual Shaman.
3. Pug.
I hate pugging
4. Fly around his garrison for a while then level another char...
Yep, this is what I'm doing. Levelling 2 chars actually.
Priest is at 98 and Warrior is at 40 (new record!)
(Warrior is stuck now though, I don't like the Thousand Needles and WPL/EPL are still a bit too fresh from the Mage.)
So the Mage joins the list... Rogue, Prot Pala (haha), Hunter... chars I have great raid plans for before realising (again) that I don't have time for more raiding.
Expect a 'Lazy Priest' post in a few days...
Tuesday 29 September 2015
Crazy Times...
Work has been mental recently and the blog (and my sleep) seems to be the first thing to suffer.
I unashamedly write all my blog posts at work during a combination of downtime and coffee breaks so, when that downtime disappears, the posts dry up (again).
I need some way to find those few minutes each day or two to keep the posts flowing as, once I get home, I am much more interested in playing the game than writing about it. Suggestions anyone?
Anyway, lame apologies for not posting aside, what's been going on?
Raiding moves slowly onwards with Archimonde Heroic now firmly in our sights.
Our first full progress night on him was excellent! Steady improvement made all through the night, culminating in our final attempt wiping at 7%
We've started killing Archi on normal as a guild each reset for ring upgrades so most people knew the tactics, nothing much is different apart from the usual 'everything hurts more'.
Phase 1 was going fairly smoothly bar the occasional lack of spreading sending half the ranged team into the air but that was soon sorted out.
Phase 2 was a little trickier for a couple of reasons...
First, we kept losing a tank when a Deathcaller coincided with Allure of Flames - Our RL Blood DK was getting very annoyed, claiming that people weren't doing enough damage to the Deathcaller.
I thought the issue was more to do with the ranged all moving for Allure and not being able to dps but she must have been right because the problem just seemed to disappear.
Every time you introduce a mechanic that targets a random player, it takes a little time for the whole team to have experienced it enough times to know exactly what to do (Amber-Shaper anyone?).
And this was our second issue, Wrought Chaos.
You would think that stacking behind the boss and occasionally moving a few yards further back would be fairly straight-forward but some people seem to lose their heads completely!
There would be people running all over the room in all directions as if they had to get as far away from it as possible.
Maybe they thought they had to break it like the chains or something?
I don't know but it did end up with a few comedy moments of people seemingly chasing each other round the boss (with the Benny Hill theme tune playing in my head)
As the night went on we improved at those two phases and began to reach phase 3 in
fairly decent shape with all raiders alive.
Phase 3 seems to be the first point the fight is noticeably more difficult than normal, with HP-bars spiking very low at times and each mistake resulting in a death or wipe.
A couple of attempts to get the Nether groups sorted (and properly killing the Void Star), a couple more to push Infernals at the right time and to remind everyone to kill them.
We were getting there slowly but it felt frantic at times, never truly under control as we pushed into the Infernals and then the closing moments of the fight.
As much as we were improving, time finally caught up with us and we called an end to our raid.
There was to be no kill this night but, overall, there was an almost tangible feeling of great progress being made and we will attack him next week full of confidence.
Archimonde, your days are numbered!
I unashamedly write all my blog posts at work during a combination of downtime and coffee breaks so, when that downtime disappears, the posts dry up (again).
I need some way to find those few minutes each day or two to keep the posts flowing as, once I get home, I am much more interested in playing the game than writing about it. Suggestions anyone?
Anyway, lame apologies for not posting aside, what's been going on?
Raiding moves slowly onwards with Archimonde Heroic now firmly in our sights.
Our first full progress night on him was excellent! Steady improvement made all through the night, culminating in our final attempt wiping at 7%
We've started killing Archi on normal as a guild each reset for ring upgrades so most people knew the tactics, nothing much is different apart from the usual 'everything hurts more'.
Phase 1 was going fairly smoothly bar the occasional lack of spreading sending half the ranged team into the air but that was soon sorted out.
Phase 2 was a little trickier for a couple of reasons...
First, we kept losing a tank when a Deathcaller coincided with Allure of Flames - Our RL Blood DK was getting very annoyed, claiming that people weren't doing enough damage to the Deathcaller.
I thought the issue was more to do with the ranged all moving for Allure and not being able to dps but she must have been right because the problem just seemed to disappear.
Every time you introduce a mechanic that targets a random player, it takes a little time for the whole team to have experienced it enough times to know exactly what to do (Amber-Shaper anyone?).
And this was our second issue, Wrought Chaos.
You would think that stacking behind the boss and occasionally moving a few yards further back would be fairly straight-forward but some people seem to lose their heads completely!
There would be people running all over the room in all directions as if they had to get as far away from it as possible.
Maybe they thought they had to break it like the chains or something?
I don't know but it did end up with a few comedy moments of people seemingly chasing each other round the boss (with the Benny Hill theme tune playing in my head)
As the night went on we improved at those two phases and began to reach phase 3 in
fairly decent shape with all raiders alive.
Phase 3 seems to be the first point the fight is noticeably more difficult than normal, with HP-bars spiking very low at times and each mistake resulting in a death or wipe.
A couple of attempts to get the Nether groups sorted (and properly killing the Void Star), a couple more to push Infernals at the right time and to remind everyone to kill them.
We were getting there slowly but it felt frantic at times, never truly under control as we pushed into the Infernals and then the closing moments of the fight.
As much as we were improving, time finally caught up with us and we called an end to our raid.
There was to be no kill this night but, overall, there was an almost tangible feeling of great progress being made and we will attack him next week full of confidence.
Archimonde, your days are numbered!
Thursday 10 September 2015
Moving Day...
Moving day
The penultimate day of a four-day tournament, so called because it is the day where competitors try to set themselves up for the final push on the final day.
Most major golf tournaments are played over 4 days and 'Moving Day' is generally thought to be when the people who are going to have a realistic chance of winning the tournament put themselves in the leading groups.
Raiding is exactly the same.
Honest.
Moving Day is what will mostly determine what progress, if any, is made during the week.
The first two days in golf are about making the cut, just staying in the running and making sure you are around for the weekend.
This is our farm night.
We've got these bosses sorted, it doesn't need our full concentration and we don't need to take risks for those extra few dps. All that matters is that we kill them.
For my raid group, this covers Hellfire Assault through to Iskar. A wipe only happens if someone does something monumentally stupid or half the team switches off completely.
Sometimes we can take a bit extra from them... a piece of loot to help us further down the line, or a faster kill to give us a headstart in the next round, but these are just a bonus.
It's just about being in the game at this point.
Next is those bosses in the middle.
You know the ones, you've killed them a couple of times but they still need full concentration or wipes can quickly happen.
How these bosses are treated is what determines your chances of progress for that week!
We've all seen it happen, a boss that you have killed a couple of times now gives you problems and you wonder why.
Everyone has killed these bosses before.
Everyone knows the tactics.
These aren't farm bosses though, it only takes a couple of people that aren't fully-focused to bring down the team.
Leaving that interrupt for someone else.
Letting others switch to that add.
Blindly AoE-healing instead of smart healing (Spam Chain Heal ftw!)
Treat them like the farm bosses and things quickly fall apart, wipes stack up and morale drops.
The night ends with only two or three bosses down and a mountain to climb on 'Progress night'
On the other hand...
If your whole team can treat these like progress bosses, it all changes!
People want to do the interrupts, tank-healing, switching to adds, moving from fire, or whatever is known to be important for getting the kill.
The fights suddenly become smoother... the focus you had during progress combined with extra gear picked up since the last kill make everything die that little bit faster or with a touch less healing needed.
What could be scraping past two bosses becomes a march towards progress bosses, as the fights are over in one or two attempts rather than six or seven.
The team is flying and starts to reach the progress boss with half an hour of raiding to spare, giving you time to have a look at the tactics and positioning.
You are in perfect position for the big push for progress!
The championship is in sight and, don't get me wrong, the performance still needs to be right on the night.
But the team is there and ready for the challenge because you got it right on...
Moving Day.
The penultimate day of a four-day tournament, so called because it is the day where competitors try to set themselves up for the final push on the final day.
Most major golf tournaments are played over 4 days and 'Moving Day' is generally thought to be when the people who are going to have a realistic chance of winning the tournament put themselves in the leading groups.
Raiding is exactly the same.
Honest.
Moving Day is what will mostly determine what progress, if any, is made during the week.
The first two days in golf are about making the cut, just staying in the running and making sure you are around for the weekend.
This is our farm night.
We've got these bosses sorted, it doesn't need our full concentration and we don't need to take risks for those extra few dps. All that matters is that we kill them.
For my raid group, this covers Hellfire Assault through to Iskar. A wipe only happens if someone does something monumentally stupid or half the team switches off completely.
Sometimes we can take a bit extra from them... a piece of loot to help us further down the line, or a faster kill to give us a headstart in the next round, but these are just a bonus.
It's just about being in the game at this point.
Next is those bosses in the middle.
You know the ones, you've killed them a couple of times but they still need full concentration or wipes can quickly happen.
How these bosses are treated is what determines your chances of progress for that week!
We've all seen it happen, a boss that you have killed a couple of times now gives you problems and you wonder why.
Everyone has killed these bosses before.
Everyone knows the tactics.
These aren't farm bosses though, it only takes a couple of people that aren't fully-focused to bring down the team.
Leaving that interrupt for someone else.
Letting others switch to that add.
Blindly AoE-healing instead of smart healing (Spam Chain Heal ftw!)
Treat them like the farm bosses and things quickly fall apart, wipes stack up and morale drops.
The night ends with only two or three bosses down and a mountain to climb on 'Progress night'
On the other hand...
If your whole team can treat these like progress bosses, it all changes!
People want to do the interrupts, tank-healing, switching to adds, moving from fire, or whatever is known to be important for getting the kill.
The fights suddenly become smoother... the focus you had during progress combined with extra gear picked up since the last kill make everything die that little bit faster or with a touch less healing needed.
What could be scraping past two bosses becomes a march towards progress bosses, as the fights are over in one or two attempts rather than six or seven.
The team is flying and starts to reach the progress boss with half an hour of raiding to spare, giving you time to have a look at the tactics and positioning.
You are in perfect position for the big push for progress!
The championship is in sight and, don't get me wrong, the performance still needs to be right on the night.
But the team is there and ready for the challenge because you got it right on...
Moving Day.
Wednesday 9 September 2015
A Worthwhile Pug...?
Does anyone actually like pugging?
I hate it!
I don't know whether it's the ridiculous requirements to even get in, the toxic attitude of people in the groups, or just a lack of confidence around strangers, but I avoid pugging as much as possible.
To make things worse I've somehow missed Archimonde and don't have the kill on any difficulty...
I was away when the patch dropped so missed early attempts
I switched guilds and they focused on Heroic progression, killing Archimonde normal on an off-night I couldn't attend.
I switched guilds again before killing Archi HC and my current guild hasn't made it that far yet (although we are closing in fast, now 12/13HC).
So I was sat at 710ilvl with 12/13HC under my belt but unable to get into a fresh normal pug because I haven't killed Archimonde!
Extremely frustrating.
I don't expect random people to take my word for knowing the tactics but you can safely bet that most of these runs aren't getting as far as Archi anyway.
I spent some time looking through the Group Finder for a run that wasn't asking for the achievement and eventually found one: Fresh run Achi preferred. I'm in!
"No, I don't have the achi but I have plenty of XP"
"Ok, we'll give you a go"
Mighty kind of you.
I then proceeded to top the dps on all the fights we did, anything from 20% to 50% higher than 2nd place.
RAGE!!!
To be fair to pugs it began fairly smoothly once we were in there.
There was some random raging from a DK who wanted to go to Gorefiend before Council and Kilrogg, not sure why. Very strange.
We did wipe on Kilrogg as people got a little ragged and a few extra bloods appeared. Still almost got him though, wipe at 450k HP.
Bit of raging at a healer who missed the portal twice, they left, we brought in another healer and we killed it.
Next wipes, and the end of the run for me, came on Xhul'horac.
It was all quite messy on both attempts we had and the finger-pointing began in earnest.
Some people weren't switching to adds,
Some were dropping fire wherever they felt like it,
Some were not moving from fire
Most people were doing ok though and I thought we would probably kill it on the next attempt.
But the finger-pointing hadn't finished, lots of recounts and skada tables were linked and somehow the blame landed squarely on... the healers!
Even now I have no idea why the healers were blamed but, suddenly, it was like a witch-hunt!
The attacks on the healers commenced, covering everything from talent choices to transmog, until all 4 of them left the raid.
There were a couple of voices supporting the healers (me and a mage who was also doing the fight properly) but we were drowned out by the vitriol of the angry mob.
I took this as my cue to leave too.
My conclusion is that pugs are generally fair-weather runs.
While the sun is shining, everyone is happy. But, as the clouds close in and those first drops of rain start to fall, it's every person, dwarf and spacegoat for themselves as they run for cover.
Was it worthwhile?
Well, I wasn't expecting to reach Archimonde so the only loot I needed was from Gorefiend, tier legs.
And they dropped!
I now have my 4-set
If the only function of pugging is to get some loot rather than the experience itself then it was definitely worthwhile.
I won't be rushing to join the next pug though. And I won't be pugging anything on my alts until I have killed Archimonde in some way.
Loot just doesn't seem worth the hassle.
I hate it!
I don't know whether it's the ridiculous requirements to even get in, the toxic attitude of people in the groups, or just a lack of confidence around strangers, but I avoid pugging as much as possible.
To make things worse I've somehow missed Archimonde and don't have the kill on any difficulty...
I was away when the patch dropped so missed early attempts
I switched guilds and they focused on Heroic progression, killing Archimonde normal on an off-night I couldn't attend.
I switched guilds again before killing Archi HC and my current guild hasn't made it that far yet (although we are closing in fast, now 12/13HC).
So I was sat at 710ilvl with 12/13HC under my belt but unable to get into a fresh normal pug because I haven't killed Archimonde!
Extremely frustrating.
I don't expect random people to take my word for knowing the tactics but you can safely bet that most of these runs aren't getting as far as Archi anyway.
I spent some time looking through the Group Finder for a run that wasn't asking for the achievement and eventually found one: Fresh run Achi preferred. I'm in!
"No, I don't have the achi but I have plenty of XP"
"Ok, we'll give you a go"
Mighty kind of you.
I then proceeded to top the dps on all the fights we did, anything from 20% to 50% higher than 2nd place.
RAGE!!!
To be fair to pugs it began fairly smoothly once we were in there.
There was some random raging from a DK who wanted to go to Gorefiend before Council and Kilrogg, not sure why. Very strange.
We did wipe on Kilrogg as people got a little ragged and a few extra bloods appeared. Still almost got him though, wipe at 450k HP.
Bit of raging at a healer who missed the portal twice, they left, we brought in another healer and we killed it.
Next wipes, and the end of the run for me, came on Xhul'horac.
It was all quite messy on both attempts we had and the finger-pointing began in earnest.
Some people weren't switching to adds,
Some were dropping fire wherever they felt like it,
Some were not moving from fire
Most people were doing ok though and I thought we would probably kill it on the next attempt.
But the finger-pointing hadn't finished, lots of recounts and skada tables were linked and somehow the blame landed squarely on... the healers!
Even now I have no idea why the healers were blamed but, suddenly, it was like a witch-hunt!
The attacks on the healers commenced, covering everything from talent choices to transmog, until all 4 of them left the raid.
There were a couple of voices supporting the healers (me and a mage who was also doing the fight properly) but we were drowned out by the vitriol of the angry mob.
I took this as my cue to leave too.
My conclusion is that pugs are generally fair-weather runs.
While the sun is shining, everyone is happy. But, as the clouds close in and those first drops of rain start to fall, it's every person, dwarf and spacegoat for themselves as they run for cover.
Was it worthwhile?
Well, I wasn't expecting to reach Archimonde so the only loot I needed was from Gorefiend, tier legs.
And they dropped!
I now have my 4-set
If the only function of pugging is to get some loot rather than the experience itself then it was definitely worthwhile.
I won't be rushing to join the next pug though. And I won't be pugging anything on my alts until I have killed Archimonde in some way.
Loot just doesn't seem worth the hassle.
Thursday 3 September 2015
Socrethar the Eternal...ly Frustrating
Leaving behind how amazing flying is (or isn't, it's all quite subjective) for the moment and getting back to the proper stuff, raiding!
For two weeks in a row now we have really struggled on Socrethar.
I thought we were beyond this to be honest, with multiple smooth kills with both this guild and the previous one.
But suddenly, it seems like a scramble to get the kill. Last week, we relied on our Monk healer's Touch of Death to finish him off with only 3 of us left alive.
I'm not exactly sure what is going wrong but I have an unusual hypothesis surrounding the ghosts... We are too focused on them so some are getting through!
I know, I know, that makes no sense.
It all relates to our positioning.
We start off nicely grouped around the boss and our 'Construct' tank puts down a line of green fire to the ghost portal.
This, I think, is our first mistake. I would really like two lines of fire for the ghosts, side by side (which he sometimes does anyway but not every time).
Moving on... the first Gifts come in and we adjust our positioning so nobody is taking extra damage. We are generally ok at this point, all the ghosts are dying quickly, but you can see the start of the issue.
The next set of Gifts come in and this is where it really starts to go wrong.
The focus on killing the ghosts is so high that people now start to spread away from the boss so they can still hit the ghosts but not be hit by the Gifts.
Now the ghosts start to spread out which both makes them harder to AoE down and moves them out of the slowing effect of the fire.
Without that fire, those ghosts move fast! Sometimes we can still clear a wave but sometimes we can't, maybe because the Dominator is up at the same time.
Once one ghost gets through it's a downward spiral as the fears can allow others through, and we head towards a wipe.
My frustration then rises because the leadership blame the wipe on ghosts getting through, fair enough, but they don't seem to understand why the ghosts escaped.
I assume they think that some people are just staying on the boss rather than switching to kill ghosts so they re-affirm the need for Ranged to make sure no ghosts escape.
The Ranged then try harder to kill the ghosts but, instead of helping, this just makes the problem worse as people spread further in an attempt to position themselves for the ghosts.
Tonight, I am going to suggest the 'ghostbuster' approach.
This will be a massive shock to the leadership convinced we need more damage on the ghosts if I can prove to them that it only needs 2-3 people assigned, if everyone else can get the positioning right.
Wish me luck!
For two weeks in a row now we have really struggled on Socrethar.
I thought we were beyond this to be honest, with multiple smooth kills with both this guild and the previous one.
But suddenly, it seems like a scramble to get the kill. Last week, we relied on our Monk healer's Touch of Death to finish him off with only 3 of us left alive.
I'm not exactly sure what is going wrong but I have an unusual hypothesis surrounding the ghosts... We are too focused on them so some are getting through!
I know, I know, that makes no sense.
It all relates to our positioning.
We start off nicely grouped around the boss and our 'Construct' tank puts down a line of green fire to the ghost portal.
This, I think, is our first mistake. I would really like two lines of fire for the ghosts, side by side (which he sometimes does anyway but not every time).
Moving on... the first Gifts come in and we adjust our positioning so nobody is taking extra damage. We are generally ok at this point, all the ghosts are dying quickly, but you can see the start of the issue.
The next set of Gifts come in and this is where it really starts to go wrong.
The focus on killing the ghosts is so high that people now start to spread away from the boss so they can still hit the ghosts but not be hit by the Gifts.
Now the ghosts start to spread out which both makes them harder to AoE down and moves them out of the slowing effect of the fire.
Without that fire, those ghosts move fast! Sometimes we can still clear a wave but sometimes we can't, maybe because the Dominator is up at the same time.
Once one ghost gets through it's a downward spiral as the fears can allow others through, and we head towards a wipe.
My frustration then rises because the leadership blame the wipe on ghosts getting through, fair enough, but they don't seem to understand why the ghosts escaped.
I assume they think that some people are just staying on the boss rather than switching to kill ghosts so they re-affirm the need for Ranged to make sure no ghosts escape.
The Ranged then try harder to kill the ghosts but, instead of helping, this just makes the problem worse as people spread further in an attempt to position themselves for the ghosts.
Tonight, I am going to suggest the 'ghostbuster' approach.
This will be a massive shock to the leadership convinced we need more damage on the ghosts if I can prove to them that it only needs 2-3 people assigned, if everyone else can get the positioning right.
Wish me luck!
Wednesday 2 September 2015
The Flying Patch...
Today's the Day!
Or yesterday in other parts of the world but let's not quibble over details.
We all get to fly in Draenor!
As I've already said, this doesn't really interest me much.
Yes, travel will be a bit quicker and easier. Yes, I might actually do some Archaeology now. Yes, some things will be more convenient.
I've enjoyed my time on the ground though, fighting (not always successfully) through the wildlife to reach my destination, and I will miss it greatly.
Not enough to keep me grounded now I have the ability to fly but I will still miss it.
It's like the Masterplan addon.
That addon took almost all of the gameplay out of follower missions but made the whole process so much faster, and that is all that people cared about.
People wanted the reward but the gameplay itself was seen as more of an obstacle than something to be enjoyed.
I fell into the trap of using the addon so that I could be more efficient and run through missions on a series of alts, removing gameplay I actually enjoyed.
(Maybe the rewards from the follower missions were too powerful for such niche gameplay but that's another debate.)
With the latest patch, the 'gameplay' of travelling around Draenor has effectively been removed. Now there is only the reward, the destination.
This is not some niche mini-game like follower missions though, this is the actual open world game, and I believe our remaining time on Draenor will be greatly diminished by it's removal.
So I'm not excited by flying, I am excited by the new rares though!
More stuff to throw lightning and lava at!
I'm hoping they have some mechanics to deal with, some level of difficulty attached, to make them challenging. But maybe that is more the realm of the world boss rather than a rare mob.
I'm also excited by the Timewalker dungeons in Icecrown this weekend, should have some fun there.
And there is also a new raid week, can we further our progress in Hellfire Citadel?
Maybe, but I'll probably miss the actual progress as I'm off to see Foo Fighters on Sunday which is exciting me quite a bit more than everything else :-)
Or yesterday in other parts of the world but let's not quibble over details.
We all get to fly in Draenor!
As I've already said, this doesn't really interest me much.
Yes, travel will be a bit quicker and easier. Yes, I might actually do some Archaeology now. Yes, some things will be more convenient.
I've enjoyed my time on the ground though, fighting (not always successfully) through the wildlife to reach my destination, and I will miss it greatly.
Not enough to keep me grounded now I have the ability to fly but I will still miss it.
It's like the Masterplan addon.
That addon took almost all of the gameplay out of follower missions but made the whole process so much faster, and that is all that people cared about.
People wanted the reward but the gameplay itself was seen as more of an obstacle than something to be enjoyed.
I fell into the trap of using the addon so that I could be more efficient and run through missions on a series of alts, removing gameplay I actually enjoyed.
(Maybe the rewards from the follower missions were too powerful for such niche gameplay but that's another debate.)
With the latest patch, the 'gameplay' of travelling around Draenor has effectively been removed. Now there is only the reward, the destination.
This is not some niche mini-game like follower missions though, this is the actual open world game, and I believe our remaining time on Draenor will be greatly diminished by it's removal.
So I'm not excited by flying, I am excited by the new rares though!
More stuff to throw lightning and lava at!
I'm hoping they have some mechanics to deal with, some level of difficulty attached, to make them challenging. But maybe that is more the realm of the world boss rather than a rare mob.
I'm also excited by the Timewalker dungeons in Icecrown this weekend, should have some fun there.
And there is also a new raid week, can we further our progress in Hellfire Citadel?
Maybe, but I'll probably miss the actual progress as I'm off to see Foo Fighters on Sunday which is exciting me quite a bit more than everything else :-)
Tuesday 1 September 2015
Confused about Flying...
I've completed my Pathfinder achievement and tomorrow is the big day!
Flying arrives in Draenor!
I know lots of people are really excited about this so I decided to think long and hard about all the ways that flying would improve my play in Draenor...
1. My alts won't have that ridiculous journey down to the shipyard and back to do their missions.
2. I won't need a summon for Kazzak.
Er... what's all the fuss about again?
Flying arrives in Draenor!
I know lots of people are really excited about this so I decided to think long and hard about all the ways that flying would improve my play in Draenor...
1. My alts won't have that ridiculous journey down to the shipyard and back to do their missions.
2. I won't need a summon for Kazzak.
Er... what's all the fuss about again?
Wednesday 26 August 2015
Xhul no more...
More progress this week as Xhul'horac lasted only 3 or 4 pulls.
We went to Velhari before Xhul again this week but it was a bit of a struggle. Without a couple of our big hitters, our dps was slightly low and we were a little slower transitioning into phase 2.
We kept reaching a moment in phase 1, right before 70% so the movement penalty was at it's highest, where we were getting Edict of Condemnation and Infernal Tempest at the same time.
Each time we would lose two or three (or more) people and the other phases would be even harder, inevitably leading to a wipe.
The main issue was the dps. This is the dps check, can you push the phase change before these abilities clash and cause fatal damage?
We normally have a Resto Shaman in the team to throw down a Healing Tide Totem at times like these. HTT is a mighty powerful cooldown when everyone is moving but it wasn't available to cover for us here.
(Healing comp was a little weird with 2 priests, 2 druids and a monk)
I would love to say that we all improved our game, pushing ourselves to find that little extra dps, until we finally managed to transition at the right time.
I would love to say that... but it didn't happen that way.
It was more of a brute force and blind luck solution in the end.
Any and every cooldown possible was thrown at that last few seconds to keep everyone alive and it was just about enough but we would be in bad shape for P2.
Then we got lucky and the killer Edict landed on our hunter who solo-soaked it with Deterrence and finally we transitioned in good health.
From there it was fairly straight-forward. We are well-practiced at the other phases and there is little going on, smooth sailing to the kill.
It still annoys the hell out of me when people pad the meters instead of burning our main target but it didn't affect our chances of the kill so I kept quiet.
On to Xhul'horac!
A lovely fight for Elemental Shaman :-)
All those beautiful little imps that want to stand in my Earthquakes but kindly space out the waves to give me time to recharge in between.
Bless you little imps!
With the insane AoE we have in our team those imps don't last long, it was the other adds that caused a couple of problems until everyone was told to prioritise them.
The biggest issue though, seemed to be the blind panic that would hit half the raid in the final phase of the fight.
It was almost comical as people who had placed the fires perfectly for 80% of the fight were suddenly running round like headless chickens.
Enough people kept their heads though and we crawled over the line to take our progress to 11/13HC!
And I was top dps! Got to love those imps! :-)
Seemingly to some people's chagrin, and to my surprise, I also won the amazing Voidcore Greatstaff!
I had passed my trial and been promoted up to raider rank, qualifying me for loot, while I was offline and hadn't even noticed!
We went to Velhari before Xhul again this week but it was a bit of a struggle. Without a couple of our big hitters, our dps was slightly low and we were a little slower transitioning into phase 2.
We kept reaching a moment in phase 1, right before 70% so the movement penalty was at it's highest, where we were getting Edict of Condemnation and Infernal Tempest at the same time.
Each time we would lose two or three (or more) people and the other phases would be even harder, inevitably leading to a wipe.
The main issue was the dps. This is the dps check, can you push the phase change before these abilities clash and cause fatal damage?
We normally have a Resto Shaman in the team to throw down a Healing Tide Totem at times like these. HTT is a mighty powerful cooldown when everyone is moving but it wasn't available to cover for us here.
(Healing comp was a little weird with 2 priests, 2 druids and a monk)
I would love to say that we all improved our game, pushing ourselves to find that little extra dps, until we finally managed to transition at the right time.
I would love to say that... but it didn't happen that way.
It was more of a brute force and blind luck solution in the end.
Any and every cooldown possible was thrown at that last few seconds to keep everyone alive and it was just about enough but we would be in bad shape for P2.
Then we got lucky and the killer Edict landed on our hunter who solo-soaked it with Deterrence and finally we transitioned in good health.
From there it was fairly straight-forward. We are well-practiced at the other phases and there is little going on, smooth sailing to the kill.
It still annoys the hell out of me when people pad the meters instead of burning our main target but it didn't affect our chances of the kill so I kept quiet.
On to Xhul'horac!
A lovely fight for Elemental Shaman :-)
All those beautiful little imps that want to stand in my Earthquakes but kindly space out the waves to give me time to recharge in between.
Bless you little imps!
With the insane AoE we have in our team those imps don't last long, it was the other adds that caused a couple of problems until everyone was told to prioritise them.
The biggest issue though, seemed to be the blind panic that would hit half the raid in the final phase of the fight.
It was almost comical as people who had placed the fires perfectly for 80% of the fight were suddenly running round like headless chickens.
Enough people kept their heads though and we crawled over the line to take our progress to 11/13HC!
And I was top dps! Got to love those imps! :-)
Seemingly to some people's chagrin, and to my surprise, I also won the amazing Voidcore Greatstaff!
I had passed my trial and been promoted up to raider rank, qualifying me for loot, while I was offline and hadn't even noticed!
Thursday 20 August 2015
Number 6
I was out last night so missed the raid but I did manage to squeeze in a spot of late-night levelling.
Ding!
Yes, my FOTM roll, the Mage, has made it to level cap.
That's my sixth char to reach 100:
Shaman, Rogue, Paladin, Druid, Hunter and now, Mage.
Strangely, despite a plethora of alts sitting around 90/91 (including a Mage), this is the second char in a row I have levelled from scratch.
As much as I like the questing experience in Dreanor, I'm not sure it's something I could handle repeating back to back and the Hunter was a little too recent for me to just jump straight back in there.
Levelling through the expansions seems to get me into a flow though which then naturally continues into WoD.
Anyway, he started as Arcane and Arcane Blasted his way to around 60 before, for the sake of my '1' key (and my sanity), I switched to Frost.
Frost has been an absolute joy to play!
The mobility of the mage itself combined with the roots and slows that come from most spells make all enemies seem like lumbering beasts as I buzz around them.
Remember that scene from Attack of the Clones where Yoda fights Count Dooku and he's bouncing all around the static Sith Lord?
That's how I feel as a Frost Mage! It's awesome!
At 100, I scrabbled around for a few Garrison Resources so I could upgrade my Town Hall to level 3 then completed the Silver Proving Grounds.
So I'm all set to open up Tanaan Jungle and start his legendary journey in the Heroic dungeons.
The plan is to just throw the Apexis at getting a decent ilvl quickly rather than waiting for perfect stat optimisation, that can come later.
Across my chars I have around 200k Apexis Crystals stashed away, ready to buy the Empowered Apexis items and boost the Mage straight up to the level needed for most pugs.
I'm looking forward to seeing how the strengths and weaknesses of the Mage compare to those of the Shaman in a proper raid environment, hopefully it won't take me long to get there.
See you soon!
Ding!
Yes, my FOTM roll, the Mage, has made it to level cap.
That's my sixth char to reach 100:
Shaman, Rogue, Paladin, Druid, Hunter and now, Mage.
Strangely, despite a plethora of alts sitting around 90/91 (including a Mage), this is the second char in a row I have levelled from scratch.
As much as I like the questing experience in Dreanor, I'm not sure it's something I could handle repeating back to back and the Hunter was a little too recent for me to just jump straight back in there.
Levelling through the expansions seems to get me into a flow though which then naturally continues into WoD.
Anyway, he started as Arcane and Arcane Blasted his way to around 60 before, for the sake of my '1' key (and my sanity), I switched to Frost.
Frost has been an absolute joy to play!
The mobility of the mage itself combined with the roots and slows that come from most spells make all enemies seem like lumbering beasts as I buzz around them.
Remember that scene from Attack of the Clones where Yoda fights Count Dooku and he's bouncing all around the static Sith Lord?
That's how I feel as a Frost Mage! It's awesome!
At 100, I scrabbled around for a few Garrison Resources so I could upgrade my Town Hall to level 3 then completed the Silver Proving Grounds.
So I'm all set to open up Tanaan Jungle and start his legendary journey in the Heroic dungeons.
The plan is to just throw the Apexis at getting a decent ilvl quickly rather than waiting for perfect stat optimisation, that can come later.
Across my chars I have around 200k Apexis Crystals stashed away, ready to buy the Empowered Apexis items and boost the Mage straight up to the level needed for most pugs.
I'm looking forward to seeing how the strengths and weaknesses of the Mage compare to those of the Shaman in a proper raid environment, hopefully it won't take me long to get there.
See you soon!
Wednesday 19 August 2015
Shamaning Through Hellfire Citadel... Halls of Blood
The second wing of Hellfire Citadel and more great fights!
Definitely the toughest fights for the Elemental Shaman really testing the weaknesses in our toolset...
Hellfire High Council...
A standard council fight really.
Really tough for the Ele Shaman to shine on this fight as we can't compete with multi-dotters on all 3 or the best single target specs if we focus on one boss.
If I had the Archi trinket, I would be tempted to go with Elemental Fusion and aim to keep it up on all 3 bosses but I haven't got that trinket so had more joy with Storm Elemental and Primal Elementalist.
You can have an Elemental up for the pull and each time a boss hits 30% to help burst them down which can definitely help on progression.
Do it right and there is very little movement so it's easy to choose Elemental Mastery over Echo.
Overall, the fight feels a little under-tuned. I would have liked a bit more synergy between the different bosses abilities and maybe some penalty for burning them down one at a time.
Kil'rogg Deadeye...
Another tough fight for us, particularly on progress.
If you can get into the eye groups you will rock the charts but we are probably one of the worst choices to send in there.
The constant target switching really kills our dps but is necessary, particularly on progress, so it's risky to stay on the boss.
I've been playing around with Elemental Blast to help with the target switches but it can be a very frustrating fight. Sometimes the adds just melt, sometimes they seem to hang around for ever, and judging whether to unload the full rotation or just a couple of Lightning Bolts and a Fulmination is an art I haven't mastered.
There are a few brief moments when I feel like I am making a difference though... When Death Throes lines up with the Blood add and SWG is up. Everyone else is scrambling to stay alive while I take down the add (Hunters shush)
Gorefiend...
This fight can feel a bit frantic with lots of abilities going off and adds spawning all the time. It's a lot of fun :-)
Similar problems for the Shaman as the last two fights. Spread targets, often with low HP that are the priority kill.
In all fights like this I am tempted to go for Elemental Blast.
When you know your Flame Shock on an add will mostly be wasted, an extra spell that doesn't interact with it can be very useful.
On this fight though, the Feast of Souls is far too tempting with it's 200% damage buff.
So it's back to Elemental Mastery, Primal Elementalist and Storm Elemental.
When they line up so well with the pull and each Feast of Souls phase, it's too much to ignore.
One aspect of the fight we can definitely shine is in the stomach.
This seems to be an area of ultimate weakness for the Shaman, more low-HP adds that have to die in a really short time period.
If we were on our own in there we would probably struggle but there are usually two others in there with us and our real strength is helping those people kill the adds!
Frost Shock, Earthbind and Capacitor totems (with Totemic Projection), and Thunderstorm can be amazing at giving others more uptime on those adds. Particularly powerful with the DoT classes as an extra tick or two can make a big difference.
Decision-Making...
All 3 fights give us the option to sacrifice a little of our own dps to help the raid as a whole which I love. They are fights we shouldn't be topping meters on but give us a chance to use our utility for the greater good.
Just have to be extremely vocal about it so everyone knows that's why my dps is so bad :-)
Definitely the toughest fights for the Elemental Shaman really testing the weaknesses in our toolset...
Hellfire High Council...
A standard council fight really.
Really tough for the Ele Shaman to shine on this fight as we can't compete with multi-dotters on all 3 or the best single target specs if we focus on one boss.
If I had the Archi trinket, I would be tempted to go with Elemental Fusion and aim to keep it up on all 3 bosses but I haven't got that trinket so had more joy with Storm Elemental and Primal Elementalist.
You can have an Elemental up for the pull and each time a boss hits 30% to help burst them down which can definitely help on progression.
Do it right and there is very little movement so it's easy to choose Elemental Mastery over Echo.
Overall, the fight feels a little under-tuned. I would have liked a bit more synergy between the different bosses abilities and maybe some penalty for burning them down one at a time.
Kil'rogg Deadeye...
Another tough fight for us, particularly on progress.
If you can get into the eye groups you will rock the charts but we are probably one of the worst choices to send in there.
The constant target switching really kills our dps but is necessary, particularly on progress, so it's risky to stay on the boss.
I've been playing around with Elemental Blast to help with the target switches but it can be a very frustrating fight. Sometimes the adds just melt, sometimes they seem to hang around for ever, and judging whether to unload the full rotation or just a couple of Lightning Bolts and a Fulmination is an art I haven't mastered.
There are a few brief moments when I feel like I am making a difference though... When Death Throes lines up with the Blood add and SWG is up. Everyone else is scrambling to stay alive while I take down the add (Hunters shush)
Gorefiend...
This fight can feel a bit frantic with lots of abilities going off and adds spawning all the time. It's a lot of fun :-)
Similar problems for the Shaman as the last two fights. Spread targets, often with low HP that are the priority kill.
In all fights like this I am tempted to go for Elemental Blast.
When you know your Flame Shock on an add will mostly be wasted, an extra spell that doesn't interact with it can be very useful.
On this fight though, the Feast of Souls is far too tempting with it's 200% damage buff.
So it's back to Elemental Mastery, Primal Elementalist and Storm Elemental.
When they line up so well with the pull and each Feast of Souls phase, it's too much to ignore.
One aspect of the fight we can definitely shine is in the stomach.
This seems to be an area of ultimate weakness for the Shaman, more low-HP adds that have to die in a really short time period.
If we were on our own in there we would probably struggle but there are usually two others in there with us and our real strength is helping those people kill the adds!
Frost Shock, Earthbind and Capacitor totems (with Totemic Projection), and Thunderstorm can be amazing at giving others more uptime on those adds. Particularly powerful with the DoT classes as an extra tick or two can make a big difference.
Decision-Making...
All 3 fights give us the option to sacrifice a little of our own dps to help the raid as a whole which I love. They are fights we shouldn't be topping meters on but give us a chance to use our utility for the greater good.
Just have to be extremely vocal about it so everyone knows that's why my dps is so bad :-)
Tuesday 18 August 2015
More Trials (and whining about loot)...
Settling into the new guild, trial is still ongoing though.
It's a much more relaxed atmosphere and I'm enjoying it a lot more. Mistakes are still called out but the manner in which it's done is a lot more positive and light-hearted.
I think the extra research I put into finding the right guild this time is paying off.
Progress is moving along nicely too, going from 6/13HC to 10/13HC in the couple of weeks I have been there with Xhul'horac next in our sights... or so I thought.
In a surprising move, after killing Tyrant Velhari to reach 10/13HC, we switched to Mythic to have a look at Hellfire Assault!
I'm all for testing ourselves at the top level but the RL seemed woefully unprepared for the fight, expecting to treat it just like Heroic. They didn't seem to know that you had to split into two teams of 10 to cover both sides... maybe there is a tactic of staying as one group that I'm not aware of?
Needless to say, very little progress was made but at least it gave people an idea of the step up in challenge that awaits.
Not had much (any) luck on the loot front. It's EPGP and I'm on trial so not expecting any from that direction, another downside to the recent guild-hopping :-(
This means I am relying on the coins for loot, saving them for Kormrok (tier helm), Gorefiend (tier legs) and Iskar (OP trinket).
Unfortunately, they don't seem to realise how much I am relying on them and think I just need a bit of extra gold to cover repairs.
Now we have reached Xhul'horac I need another coin there for the weapon, making it four bosses per week... anyone got any spare?
I've had one upgrade from coins so far in HFC, surely my luck has to change soon... right?
It's a much more relaxed atmosphere and I'm enjoying it a lot more. Mistakes are still called out but the manner in which it's done is a lot more positive and light-hearted.
I think the extra research I put into finding the right guild this time is paying off.
Progress is moving along nicely too, going from 6/13HC to 10/13HC in the couple of weeks I have been there with Xhul'horac next in our sights... or so I thought.
In a surprising move, after killing Tyrant Velhari to reach 10/13HC, we switched to Mythic to have a look at Hellfire Assault!
I'm all for testing ourselves at the top level but the RL seemed woefully unprepared for the fight, expecting to treat it just like Heroic. They didn't seem to know that you had to split into two teams of 10 to cover both sides... maybe there is a tactic of staying as one group that I'm not aware of?
Needless to say, very little progress was made but at least it gave people an idea of the step up in challenge that awaits.
Not had much (any) luck on the loot front. It's EPGP and I'm on trial so not expecting any from that direction, another downside to the recent guild-hopping :-(
This means I am relying on the coins for loot, saving them for Kormrok (tier helm), Gorefiend (tier legs) and Iskar (OP trinket).
Unfortunately, they don't seem to realise how much I am relying on them and think I just need a bit of extra gold to cover repairs.
Now we have reached Xhul'horac I need another coin there for the weapon, making it four bosses per week... anyone got any spare?
I've had one upgrade from coins so far in HFC, surely my luck has to change soon... right?
Monday 17 August 2015
Flame Shock
There are a few quite specific areas that Elemental Shaman are particularly weak and have been for a long time.
Low-HP adds, target-switching and spread AoE/Cleave are all problem areas for us and we see them come up plenty of times in raids these days.
I've been thinking of a couple of ways Blizzard could mitigate these weaknesses without major buffs or changes to the class, and they mostly revolve around Flame Shock.
Currently, Flame Shock does very little damage on it's own and it's main purpose is to buff Lava Burst and proc Lava Surges.
It's buff to Lava Burst is vital though so it means a little ramp-up time on every target. That ramp-up time slows down our target-switching, and often low-HP adds have died before we can really start to dps them.
Kilrogg is a prime example of this in action in HFC. The bloods (and other adds) have to die quickly, not switching to them isn't really an option.
You can put Flame Shock on the target knowing that it will only tick once or twice but you need that buff or your LvB will hit like a wet noodle.
A great example of the spread AoE/Cleave is Hellfire High Council. Stack them up and it's Ele Shaman heaven, move them apart and we essentially just pick one and single target it down.
The lack of damage coming directly from Flame Shock, which is our only DoT, means it isn't really worthwhile to spread it to the other bosses*.
So, a couple of changes that could be made to Flame Shock which would affect these areas specifically to bring us back to the pack without affecting anything else.
These changes wouldn't make a huge difference and we wouldn't suddenly be topping the meters but we would feel much more equipped to handle these specific situations.
1. Remove the buff to Lava Burst from Flame Shock.
You could remove it completely and bake all the damage directly into Lava Burst, or have the buff applied to the actual Shaman rather than the target.
Either way, it would reduce the ramp-up time on new targets helping us with target-switching. We would still apply FS to adds that are going to live a bit longer to proc Lava Surge but it wouldn't be necessary for low-HP adds.
2. Multiple Flame Shocks proc Lava Surge.
This would actually revert a change Blizzard made in WoD.
At the moment, only the last FS cast that is active can proc Lava Surge so, any extra Flame Shocks we have up are only for the FS damage itself (not a lot).
If each FS had a separate chance to proc Lava Surge it would go some way to mitigating the loss we have due to the bosses being outside Chain Lightning/ Earthquake range.
We are still hitting one boss single target but that dps is buffed by having more Lava Surges in exchange for managing more Flame Shocks.
Due to the shock cooldown, shared with Earth Shock, it's only possible to maintain 2-3 Flame Shocks so this prevents us becoming an instant Lava Burst machine.
Trust me, it never happened on Fallen Protectors.
Why not just buff Flame Shock?
It's certainly tempting to go that way but might push gameplay more towards being a DoT class and I was hoping to preserve the current playstyle.
Also, this could spiral out of control if you factor in the ways we already have available to buff Flame Shock... Unleash Fury, Elemental Fusion and the Archimonde class trinket (if I ever get it!).
A flat buff to damage then increases exponentially.
So Blizzard, I'm not asking for much**, just a little help to stop me feeling so useless at times.
* It is actually still a dps gain to maintain 2 FS but because it's so minimal and can interfere with Earth Shock, it's too easy to lose that gain elsewhere.
** Blizzard, I'm not saying you can't buff us through the roof and make us OP, I'm just not asking for that here.
Low-HP adds, target-switching and spread AoE/Cleave are all problem areas for us and we see them come up plenty of times in raids these days.
I've been thinking of a couple of ways Blizzard could mitigate these weaknesses without major buffs or changes to the class, and they mostly revolve around Flame Shock.
Currently, Flame Shock does very little damage on it's own and it's main purpose is to buff Lava Burst and proc Lava Surges.
It's buff to Lava Burst is vital though so it means a little ramp-up time on every target. That ramp-up time slows down our target-switching, and often low-HP adds have died before we can really start to dps them.
Kilrogg is a prime example of this in action in HFC. The bloods (and other adds) have to die quickly, not switching to them isn't really an option.
You can put Flame Shock on the target knowing that it will only tick once or twice but you need that buff or your LvB will hit like a wet noodle.
A great example of the spread AoE/Cleave is Hellfire High Council. Stack them up and it's Ele Shaman heaven, move them apart and we essentially just pick one and single target it down.
The lack of damage coming directly from Flame Shock, which is our only DoT, means it isn't really worthwhile to spread it to the other bosses*.
So, a couple of changes that could be made to Flame Shock which would affect these areas specifically to bring us back to the pack without affecting anything else.
These changes wouldn't make a huge difference and we wouldn't suddenly be topping the meters but we would feel much more equipped to handle these specific situations.
1. Remove the buff to Lava Burst from Flame Shock.
You could remove it completely and bake all the damage directly into Lava Burst, or have the buff applied to the actual Shaman rather than the target.
Either way, it would reduce the ramp-up time on new targets helping us with target-switching. We would still apply FS to adds that are going to live a bit longer to proc Lava Surge but it wouldn't be necessary for low-HP adds.
2. Multiple Flame Shocks proc Lava Surge.
This would actually revert a change Blizzard made in WoD.
At the moment, only the last FS cast that is active can proc Lava Surge so, any extra Flame Shocks we have up are only for the FS damage itself (not a lot).
If each FS had a separate chance to proc Lava Surge it would go some way to mitigating the loss we have due to the bosses being outside Chain Lightning/ Earthquake range.
We are still hitting one boss single target but that dps is buffed by having more Lava Surges in exchange for managing more Flame Shocks.
Due to the shock cooldown, shared with Earth Shock, it's only possible to maintain 2-3 Flame Shocks so this prevents us becoming an instant Lava Burst machine.
Trust me, it never happened on Fallen Protectors.
Why not just buff Flame Shock?
It's certainly tempting to go that way but might push gameplay more towards being a DoT class and I was hoping to preserve the current playstyle.
Also, this could spiral out of control if you factor in the ways we already have available to buff Flame Shock... Unleash Fury, Elemental Fusion and the Archimonde class trinket (if I ever get it!).
A flat buff to damage then increases exponentially.
So Blizzard, I'm not asking for much**, just a little help to stop me feeling so useless at times.
* It is actually still a dps gain to maintain 2 FS but because it's so minimal and can interfere with Earth Shock, it's too easy to lose that gain elsewhere.
** Blizzard, I'm not saying you can't buff us through the roof and make us OP, I'm just not asking for that here.
Thursday 13 August 2015
LEGEN... Wait for it...
...DARY!
Trialling for a new guild at the moment. Definitely less progress-based than the last one (8/13HC) but a lot more fun.
Last night we started on Iskar Normal (no trinket yet again) and killed up to Mannoroth then reset and started on Heroic.
6 more bosses down on Heroic meant everything was now dead apart from Archimonde.
No attempts were made on Archimonde, I think the RL wanted to save it as an option for if we become bogged down on a Heroic progress boss which is an interesting way of doing it.
I haven't killed Archimonde yet, my last guild was killing him on an extra night I couldn't attend, so hoping we have a go at him soon.
Last night I was chasing tomes though so was happy to leave him behind for more boss kills... and I needed every one of them!
I only needed 4 tomes at the start of the night so was fairly confident especially after the first one dropped from Iskar. Alas, it was determined to make me wait until the last boss, Gorefiend Heroic, to drop the 4th one I needed.
But drop it did!
And now I am the proud owner of
Nithramus, the All-Seer
Trialling for a new guild at the moment. Definitely less progress-based than the last one (8/13HC) but a lot more fun.
Last night we started on Iskar Normal (no trinket yet again) and killed up to Mannoroth then reset and started on Heroic.
6 more bosses down on Heroic meant everything was now dead apart from Archimonde.
No attempts were made on Archimonde, I think the RL wanted to save it as an option for if we become bogged down on a Heroic progress boss which is an interesting way of doing it.
I haven't killed Archimonde yet, my last guild was killing him on an extra night I couldn't attend, so hoping we have a go at him soon.
Last night I was chasing tomes though so was happy to leave him behind for more boss kills... and I needed every one of them!
I only needed 4 tomes at the start of the night so was fairly confident especially after the first one dropped from Iskar. Alas, it was determined to make me wait until the last boss, Gorefiend Heroic, to drop the 4th one I needed.
But drop it did!
And now I am the proud owner of
Nithramus, the All-Seer
Tuesday 11 August 2015
Shamaning Through Hellfire Citadel... Hellbreach!
I've had a decent look at most of the bosses now, here are my thoughts on the first wing:
Hellfire Assault
Trash leading up to the real first boss which just happens to drop epic loot :-P
Many opportunities for Chain Lightning and Earthquake make this an excellent fight for Elemental Shaman but it isn't particularly engaging. Tuned on the easy side as most 'first boss' fights are, the biggest danger is complacency.
Iron Reaver
A decent step up in difficulty.
RNG plays a big part in how much movement is needed, massively affecting DPS.
I always seem to end up drifting towards max range causing myself more problems, further to move to get out of the Barrage cone and difficulty working out if Blitz will actually hit me.
I'm sure if I could force myself to stay closer to the boss, I would manage a lot better.
The rest of the dps have an effect on talent choice by changing the length of the fight... 7 minute fight and it's Storm Elemental and Primal Elementalist. 5 minute fight and I'm going for Elemental Blast and Elemental Fusion.
Single target fight with a bomb phase (low-HP spread adds) is just not our strength right now so it's hard work keeping up, absolutely need to sort my positioning out to give myself a better chance.
Kromog, I mean Kormrok
This one is quite fun, lots of stuff going on.
Movement is quite limited if you get your positioning right so you can save SWG for the empowered blob phase (you know what I mean) or the explosive runes if that's your job.
There's always some warrior who will Bladestorm the grasping hands so it's not easy to get double EQ down. I normally get one down on the hands and the next on the boss and rooted tank.
The rest of the fight is single target, still not our strength, so limiting movement as much as possible is vital.
Echo of the Elements...
This has been a bit of a crutch for my movement, particularly when I had the T17 4-set, an absolute god-send on some fights.
Now, though, Ascendance has a 2-minute cooldown so lining it up with Elemental Mastery is a huge boost which will only increase when I get the Legendary Ring (next week, hopefully).
I need to improve.
Positioning will be the key as my movement dps will always be fairly poor outside of SWG but I've been a bit lazy in preparing for the fights, far too reactive rather than proactive.
Fresh run tomorrow, time to see what I can do with these three bosses.
Hellfire Assault
Trash leading up to the real first boss which just happens to drop epic loot :-P
Many opportunities for Chain Lightning and Earthquake make this an excellent fight for Elemental Shaman but it isn't particularly engaging. Tuned on the easy side as most 'first boss' fights are, the biggest danger is complacency.
Iron Reaver
A decent step up in difficulty.
RNG plays a big part in how much movement is needed, massively affecting DPS.
I always seem to end up drifting towards max range causing myself more problems, further to move to get out of the Barrage cone and difficulty working out if Blitz will actually hit me.
I'm sure if I could force myself to stay closer to the boss, I would manage a lot better.
The rest of the dps have an effect on talent choice by changing the length of the fight... 7 minute fight and it's Storm Elemental and Primal Elementalist. 5 minute fight and I'm going for Elemental Blast and Elemental Fusion.
Single target fight with a bomb phase (low-HP spread adds) is just not our strength right now so it's hard work keeping up, absolutely need to sort my positioning out to give myself a better chance.
Kromog, I mean Kormrok
This one is quite fun, lots of stuff going on.
Movement is quite limited if you get your positioning right so you can save SWG for the empowered blob phase (you know what I mean) or the explosive runes if that's your job.
There's always some warrior who will Bladestorm the grasping hands so it's not easy to get double EQ down. I normally get one down on the hands and the next on the boss and rooted tank.
The rest of the fight is single target, still not our strength, so limiting movement as much as possible is vital.
Echo of the Elements...
This has been a bit of a crutch for my movement, particularly when I had the T17 4-set, an absolute god-send on some fights.
Now, though, Ascendance has a 2-minute cooldown so lining it up with Elemental Mastery is a huge boost which will only increase when I get the Legendary Ring (next week, hopefully).
I need to improve.
Positioning will be the key as my movement dps will always be fairly poor outside of SWG but I've been a bit lazy in preparing for the fights, far too reactive rather than proactive.
Fresh run tomorrow, time to see what I can do with these three bosses.
Monday 10 August 2015
Searching for that Elusive... Something.
I love raiding.
It's the most fun I have had playing a computer game since we had 6 people huddled round an Amiga playing Sneech in my Uni halls of residence.
Just like way back then (I'm not saying how far back) though, it is the spirit and friendship of the people that make it so much fun and, without that spirit, raiding doesn't hold the same appeal for me regardless of the progress.
I've only properly raided in two guilds before this one and the atmosphere has been excellent in both so I didn't realise how different it could be, or how important that atmosphere was to my enjoyment.
Needless to say, I didn't find that spirit in the raids.
Wipes and mistakes were met with accusations and finger-pointing, even rage at times. This created a tension in the raids, an air of negativity and fear of making a mistake rather than the relaxed camaraderie I was looking for.
Progress was the most important thing here but it came at the expense of fun as far as I was concerned which is definitely not what I wanted.
I'm not even saying it was the wrong approach, maybe they found fun in killing Mythic bosses so Heroic was just a chore to overcome along the way, but it was the wrong approach for me so I decided to move on.
Progress is important to me but not so important that I can't enjoy failing along the way.
A new realm, a new guild, and hopefully a new raid team who feel the same.
It's the most fun I have had playing a computer game since we had 6 people huddled round an Amiga playing Sneech in my Uni halls of residence.
Just like way back then (I'm not saying how far back) though, it is the spirit and friendship of the people that make it so much fun and, without that spirit, raiding doesn't hold the same appeal for me regardless of the progress.
I've only properly raided in two guilds before this one and the atmosphere has been excellent in both so I didn't realise how different it could be, or how important that atmosphere was to my enjoyment.
Needless to say, I didn't find that spirit in the raids.
Wipes and mistakes were met with accusations and finger-pointing, even rage at times. This created a tension in the raids, an air of negativity and fear of making a mistake rather than the relaxed camaraderie I was looking for.
Progress was the most important thing here but it came at the expense of fun as far as I was concerned which is definitely not what I wanted.
I'm not even saying it was the wrong approach, maybe they found fun in killing Mythic bosses so Heroic was just a chore to overcome along the way, but it was the wrong approach for me so I decided to move on.
Progress is important to me but not so important that I can't enjoy failing along the way.
A new realm, a new guild, and hopefully a new raid team who feel the same.
Wednesday 5 August 2015
Best Laid Plans...
A couple of mental weeks and all plans of more frequent posting went out the window!
So... what's been happening?
First up, gratz to Navi and the Frostwolves on their Socrethar HC kill and apologies to Navi for all the comments I have missed on the blog (I have now changed settings so I get notified of comments).
Closer to home... after the dps check of Velhari and the awareness check of Zakuun, Mannoroth was a bit of a damp squib.
Less than 10 attempts in total and we were at 12/13 Heroic!
It's one of those fights with lots of mechanics that don't really matter, kind of like Paragons of the Klaxxi (normal, not heroic) in SoO.
There are lots of things going on, and you have to deal with them, but there is no real precision needed. Nothing that really tests your skill, or punishes you greatly if some of the raid don't handle it well.
Bit of a let-down for the penultimate boss really. Maybe, like Paragons, it's on the higher difficulty that the fight really comes into it's own. Alas, unless (god forbid) HFC lasts as long as SoO, I doubt I will ever see it.
Archimonde, on the other hand, is a much sterner test!
The last boss in a raid always tests all aspects of your raiding and this is no different, what a fantastic fight!
Before we tried Archimonde though, we decided to dip our toes into Mythic and have a go at Hellfire Assault.
By all rights, I probably shouldn't have made it into the Mythic team, I am still some distance behind the other raiders and most of them got their Legendary ring this week.
However, on normal/heroic, this boss feels like an elongated trash gauntlet and if there is one place that the Elemental Shaman excels, it's on the trash! :-)
Mythic needs a little more care than normal/heroic, pushing a Felcaller to 50% at the wrong time caused us many wipes so the great strength of the Shaman was drastically reduced... and it made the fight really enjoyable for me.
Trying to maximise dps with careful placement of Earthquakes to hit as much as possible without pushing the Felcallers until the right moment all added a new dimension to what is a pretty boring fight on Heroic.
Some of the dps were complaining that their numbers were restricted because they couldn't AoE freely but I relished the challenge. I, and the other shaman, could have dominated the meters while wiping all night given the free rein to AoE but this was so much better, so much more challenging, and so much more fun because of it.
With a 'famous last go' at just after raid end time, it all came together. We had been pushing it close without quite making it and, when both tanks died at the same time close to the end of the fight we thought it wasn't going to be our night... but some frantic kiting, stunning/slowing of adds allowed us to scramble over the finish line! :-)
12/13 Heroic and 1/13 Mythic, 4th place on the server.
I decided to leave the guild.
So... what's been happening?
First up, gratz to Navi and the Frostwolves on their Socrethar HC kill and apologies to Navi for all the comments I have missed on the blog (I have now changed settings so I get notified of comments).
Closer to home... after the dps check of Velhari and the awareness check of Zakuun, Mannoroth was a bit of a damp squib.
Less than 10 attempts in total and we were at 12/13 Heroic!
It's one of those fights with lots of mechanics that don't really matter, kind of like Paragons of the Klaxxi (normal, not heroic) in SoO.
There are lots of things going on, and you have to deal with them, but there is no real precision needed. Nothing that really tests your skill, or punishes you greatly if some of the raid don't handle it well.
Bit of a let-down for the penultimate boss really. Maybe, like Paragons, it's on the higher difficulty that the fight really comes into it's own. Alas, unless (god forbid) HFC lasts as long as SoO, I doubt I will ever see it.
Archimonde, on the other hand, is a much sterner test!
The last boss in a raid always tests all aspects of your raiding and this is no different, what a fantastic fight!
Before we tried Archimonde though, we decided to dip our toes into Mythic and have a go at Hellfire Assault.
By all rights, I probably shouldn't have made it into the Mythic team, I am still some distance behind the other raiders and most of them got their Legendary ring this week.
However, on normal/heroic, this boss feels like an elongated trash gauntlet and if there is one place that the Elemental Shaman excels, it's on the trash! :-)
Mythic needs a little more care than normal/heroic, pushing a Felcaller to 50% at the wrong time caused us many wipes so the great strength of the Shaman was drastically reduced... and it made the fight really enjoyable for me.
Trying to maximise dps with careful placement of Earthquakes to hit as much as possible without pushing the Felcallers until the right moment all added a new dimension to what is a pretty boring fight on Heroic.
Some of the dps were complaining that their numbers were restricted because they couldn't AoE freely but I relished the challenge. I, and the other shaman, could have dominated the meters while wiping all night given the free rein to AoE but this was so much better, so much more challenging, and so much more fun because of it.
With a 'famous last go' at just after raid end time, it all came together. We had been pushing it close without quite making it and, when both tanks died at the same time close to the end of the fight we thought it wasn't going to be our night... but some frantic kiting, stunning/slowing of adds allowed us to scramble over the finish line! :-)
12/13 Heroic and 1/13 Mythic, 4th place on the server.
I decided to leave the guild.
Wednesday 22 July 2015
Triple Whammy...
A good day...
1. BUFFS!
First up some buffs announced for Ele Shaman.
Blizzard obviously read my post about levelling a mage and felt the need to act! :-P
Cooldown on Ascendance reduced to 2 minutes.
A big change even if Ascendance is pretty weak at the moment. The real gain here is that it will line up with the Legendary Ring, and we can also spec into Elemental Mastery to power it up even more.
All 3 of those lined up every two minutes should be a nice boost to our dps!
Mastery was also buffed but is still way behind all the other stats. I'm stuck with some Mastery pieces though so hey, a buff is a buff.
2. INSPIRED
Next up, we 1-shot Socrethar!
Is everyone reading my blog now? :-)
It's even less likely that my guild is reading my blog than Blizzard but we pulled of one of the cleanest kills I have ever experienced.
People moved, interrupted and switched targets almost perfectly but the real props go to the Bear tank who did an amazing job in the Construct.
We even followed it up with a first kill of Tyrant Velhari (after wiping 5 times on the trash :-s) taking us to 11/13HC
3. ACCEPTED
A great night was rounded off with the news that I have passed my trial!
I've still got a long way to go to catch the other Ele Shaman in the team (never mind the mages and hunters) but I am now officially a raider.
I'm hoping there will be a few more Heroic runs yet as I've had horrendous luck with the Personal Loot (27 bosses + 11 Seals = 3 minor upgrades). And we've now switched to DKP which puts me even further behind as a late-comer to the team.
It will be very difficult for me to force my way into the reckoning for the Mythic team (when we get there) but I am up for the challenge!
Happy Raiding!
1. BUFFS!
First up some buffs announced for Ele Shaman.
Blizzard obviously read my post about levelling a mage and felt the need to act! :-P
Cooldown on Ascendance reduced to 2 minutes.
A big change even if Ascendance is pretty weak at the moment. The real gain here is that it will line up with the Legendary Ring, and we can also spec into Elemental Mastery to power it up even more.
All 3 of those lined up every two minutes should be a nice boost to our dps!
Mastery was also buffed but is still way behind all the other stats. I'm stuck with some Mastery pieces though so hey, a buff is a buff.
2. INSPIRED
Next up, we 1-shot Socrethar!
Is everyone reading my blog now? :-)
It's even less likely that my guild is reading my blog than Blizzard but we pulled of one of the cleanest kills I have ever experienced.
People moved, interrupted and switched targets almost perfectly but the real props go to the Bear tank who did an amazing job in the Construct.
We even followed it up with a first kill of Tyrant Velhari (after wiping 5 times on the trash :-s) taking us to 11/13HC
3. ACCEPTED
A great night was rounded off with the news that I have passed my trial!
I've still got a long way to go to catch the other Ele Shaman in the team (never mind the mages and hunters) but I am now officially a raider.
I'm hoping there will be a few more Heroic runs yet as I've had horrendous luck with the Personal Loot (27 bosses + 11 Seals = 3 minor upgrades). And we've now switched to DKP which puts me even further behind as a late-comer to the team.
It will be very difficult for me to force my way into the reckoning for the Mythic team (when we get there) but I am up for the challenge!
Happy Raiding!
Tuesday 21 July 2015
Socrethar Heroic...
We go back tonight to Socrethar having skipped him on our way to 9/13HC for the week.
It seems like an incredibly simple fight to me.
Phase 1 is straight-forward, mostly just tank and spank but with a couple of mechanics we have dealt with before (many times) like moving out of the group when targeted by the charge.
Rotating some people in to help soak abilities with the tank sounds very much like Blackhand so that shouldn't cause many issues either.
Phase 2 seems to be where the problems start...
The tank in the construct seems to have the hardest job with a few things to juggle. Their ability to use these abilities well can have a massive affect on the difficulty of the fight, and can even change the tactics.
Thank Elune that this isn't one of those random target mechanics like Amber-Shaper back in HoF, can you imagine how hard this would be if we all had to get used to the construct?
It's just the tank though, he's great and getting better all the time.
For the rest of us, it is all pretty easy going.
We have some spells to interrupt
We have some adds to kill
We have a big add to focus down
We have a big debuff to track and need to move out of the group if it's on us
This is all pretty standard stuff.
We have great dps so the big add dies quickly
Excellent rotation of interrupts
Shamans and Boomkins to AoE down the other adds
An extremely vocal RL who shouts at anyone slow to move with the debuff
So why have we had so many problems on this boss?
Two weeks ago, before I was in the guild, they wiped many times and failed to get the kill.
Last week, they dropped to a 15-man team after only a couple of wipes to get the kill late on in the raid night.
This week, more wipes.
There seems like a psychological block with this boss, people believing it is too hard with a full raid group and being defeated even before the pull.
It might or might not be more difficult, I neither know nor care, because these are all mechanics we have dealt with a thousand times before.
I think people just need to remember how simple this fight really is.
It seems like an incredibly simple fight to me.
Phase 1 is straight-forward, mostly just tank and spank but with a couple of mechanics we have dealt with before (many times) like moving out of the group when targeted by the charge.
Rotating some people in to help soak abilities with the tank sounds very much like Blackhand so that shouldn't cause many issues either.
Phase 2 seems to be where the problems start...
The tank in the construct seems to have the hardest job with a few things to juggle. Their ability to use these abilities well can have a massive affect on the difficulty of the fight, and can even change the tactics.
Thank Elune that this isn't one of those random target mechanics like Amber-Shaper back in HoF, can you imagine how hard this would be if we all had to get used to the construct?
It's just the tank though, he's great and getting better all the time.
For the rest of us, it is all pretty easy going.
We have some spells to interrupt
We have some adds to kill
We have a big add to focus down
We have a big debuff to track and need to move out of the group if it's on us
This is all pretty standard stuff.
We have great dps so the big add dies quickly
Excellent rotation of interrupts
Shamans and Boomkins to AoE down the other adds
An extremely vocal RL who shouts at anyone slow to move with the debuff
So why have we had so many problems on this boss?
Two weeks ago, before I was in the guild, they wiped many times and failed to get the kill.
Last week, they dropped to a 15-man team after only a couple of wipes to get the kill late on in the raid night.
This week, more wipes.
There seems like a psychological block with this boss, people believing it is too hard with a full raid group and being defeated even before the pull.
It might or might not be more difficult, I neither know nor care, because these are all mechanics we have dealt with a thousand times before.
I think people just need to remember how simple this fight really is.
Monday 20 July 2015
Flavour of the Month...
I rolled a new mage over the weekend.
I want to see if the mages in my guild are always ahead of me because they are better or because they are mages.
I have a sneaking suspicion it is both but it will be fun to play an OP mage for a while anyway :-)
Blizzard says classes have niches where they can excel but, unfortunately, the niche of the Elemental Shaman is on the trash.
When you have a big bad guy who just needs to die, then you call a mage, and it's pretty much always been that way.
So I'm going to level a mage up, gear him up as well as possible, and throw him into some raids.
I want to see if I can reproduce the difference in dps I see in my regular raids.
I know that people produce charts showing mages, hunters and warriors destroying everyone else but I want to see it for myself.
And, to be honest, I want to fail.
I don't want to be beaten by those players each week because of poor balance tuning or class design.
I want them to just be better players than I am.
Then I can either accept my position or try to improve.
Because that's in my hands, not Blizzard's.
I want to see if the mages in my guild are always ahead of me because they are better or because they are mages.
I have a sneaking suspicion it is both but it will be fun to play an OP mage for a while anyway :-)
Blizzard says classes have niches where they can excel but, unfortunately, the niche of the Elemental Shaman is on the trash.
When you have a big bad guy who just needs to die, then you call a mage, and it's pretty much always been that way.
So I'm going to level a mage up, gear him up as well as possible, and throw him into some raids.
I want to see if I can reproduce the difference in dps I see in my regular raids.
I know that people produce charts showing mages, hunters and warriors destroying everyone else but I want to see it for myself.
And, to be honest, I want to fail.
I don't want to be beaten by those players each week because of poor balance tuning or class design.
I want them to just be better players than I am.
Then I can either accept my position or try to improve.
Because that's in my hands, not Blizzard's.
Thursday 16 July 2015
The Trial Continues...
It just occurred to me... I have no idea how long this trial is supposed to last!
2nd night of the trial and I still feel like everyone knows more than I do... because it's still true :-s
It might be a progress night for them but they have had a few attempts at these bosses and cleared them on normal... they know what's going on.
I will be doing my headless chicken routine again while everyone else kills the boss.
A couple of drops from the first raid gave me a nice little ilvl boost, and I started upgrading some crafted gear for a bit more, so I was going to be closer in that regard at least.
We were starting on Fel Lord Zakuun...
My original plan of hiding at the back while everyone else dealt with the mechanics came unstuck when nobody was moving to soak the puddles furthest away from the boss.
Somebody has to do it so I figured it might as well be me and off I went and quickly realised why nobody else wanted to do it... it meant I was out of range of the boss! :-(
It's not about dps, it's about dealing with the mechanics and killing the boss (is what I rehearsed just in case my low dps was mentioned) - I didn't really want to be chasing distant puddles though, I wanted time to watch and learn the fight.
Well... I got the time to learn anyway as we wiped a few times. There were no major problems, just the usual wipes you expect when learning a fight...
Tanks getting used to the ramp up in damage in P2
Soakers getting used to the movement to avoid the waves of bad stuff (forget dps, that stuff hurts - move!)
Healers getting used to the healing barrier thing
The progress was almost tangible with each wipe until it just came to the point where we needed a clear run without silly mistakes.
This was where my old guild would fall down, those silly mistakes would just keep on coming causing wipe after wipe after wipe.
Here though, it felt different. It took us 4 more attempts to get that clean run and the kill.
There was also the feeling that this boss was sorted now. The feeling that next week might not be a 1-shot but it wouldn't be far off.
On to Socrethar...
Only 2 attempts on this boss but it seems easy enough.
After the 2nd wipe, they decided to drop half of the raid team and go with 15 people.
I'm not really sure of the reasoning behind it, something about number of debuffs coming in making it harder with 16+ was mentioned but no idea if it's true (or important).
Anyway, as a trial, I could see a bench in my future (despite being 3rd on dps) so I volunteered to step out.
It took them 3 more attempts to get the kill which I suppose justifies their decision to go with the smaller team.
Xhul'horac on the final raid night of the week... this boss seems much tougher, a step up to a harder tier of bosses before Archimonde.
There was much debate about exploding puddles, black holes and interrupting adds all through the night but slowly all those things were sorted out and we closed in for the kill.
It's a fun fight but it seems quite manic, I was back into headless chicken mode just trying not to blow people up.
With so many adds around though, Chain Lightning and Earthquake were fantastic, dragging me up to 3rd on the meters for the kill.
10th boss down in only 10 pulls, incredible!
No great confidence in future kills like on Fel Lord but you never know. Another week of gear will make those adds go down that little bit faster and the fight that little bit easier.
A few pulls on Tyrant Velhari to round out the week gave us a decent look at the first two phases and I'm confident we can go back to make it 11/13Hc there this week.
I felt so much more comfortable over these two nights than the first and that is almost definitely down to the wipes.
I know I can walk into a raid and avoid the fire so, given a few wipes to see how the fights really shape up, I feel like I can really develop my positioning and movement to make it easier for myself (and to improve my dps)
I'm really enjoying the challenge, trying to compete with the extra gear and experience of the other raiders (and, in particular, the other shaman) and I can feel the gap closing all the time.
I've had no feedback from the officers so I have no idea how they think the trial is going but, even if I don't pass the trial for whatever reason, I will be full of confidence when I apply to another guild.
Happy Raiding!
2nd night of the trial and I still feel like everyone knows more than I do... because it's still true :-s
It might be a progress night for them but they have had a few attempts at these bosses and cleared them on normal... they know what's going on.
I will be doing my headless chicken routine again while everyone else kills the boss.
A couple of drops from the first raid gave me a nice little ilvl boost, and I started upgrading some crafted gear for a bit more, so I was going to be closer in that regard at least.
We were starting on Fel Lord Zakuun...
My original plan of hiding at the back while everyone else dealt with the mechanics came unstuck when nobody was moving to soak the puddles furthest away from the boss.
Somebody has to do it so I figured it might as well be me and off I went and quickly realised why nobody else wanted to do it... it meant I was out of range of the boss! :-(
It's not about dps, it's about dealing with the mechanics and killing the boss (is what I rehearsed just in case my low dps was mentioned) - I didn't really want to be chasing distant puddles though, I wanted time to watch and learn the fight.
Well... I got the time to learn anyway as we wiped a few times. There were no major problems, just the usual wipes you expect when learning a fight...
Tanks getting used to the ramp up in damage in P2
Soakers getting used to the movement to avoid the waves of bad stuff (forget dps, that stuff hurts - move!)
Healers getting used to the healing barrier thing
The progress was almost tangible with each wipe until it just came to the point where we needed a clear run without silly mistakes.
This was where my old guild would fall down, those silly mistakes would just keep on coming causing wipe after wipe after wipe.
Here though, it felt different. It took us 4 more attempts to get that clean run and the kill.
There was also the feeling that this boss was sorted now. The feeling that next week might not be a 1-shot but it wouldn't be far off.
On to Socrethar...
Only 2 attempts on this boss but it seems easy enough.
After the 2nd wipe, they decided to drop half of the raid team and go with 15 people.
I'm not really sure of the reasoning behind it, something about number of debuffs coming in making it harder with 16+ was mentioned but no idea if it's true (or important).
Anyway, as a trial, I could see a bench in my future (despite being 3rd on dps) so I volunteered to step out.
It took them 3 more attempts to get the kill which I suppose justifies their decision to go with the smaller team.
Xhul'horac on the final raid night of the week... this boss seems much tougher, a step up to a harder tier of bosses before Archimonde.
There was much debate about exploding puddles, black holes and interrupting adds all through the night but slowly all those things were sorted out and we closed in for the kill.
It's a fun fight but it seems quite manic, I was back into headless chicken mode just trying not to blow people up.
With so many adds around though, Chain Lightning and Earthquake were fantastic, dragging me up to 3rd on the meters for the kill.
10th boss down in only 10 pulls, incredible!
No great confidence in future kills like on Fel Lord but you never know. Another week of gear will make those adds go down that little bit faster and the fight that little bit easier.
A few pulls on Tyrant Velhari to round out the week gave us a decent look at the first two phases and I'm confident we can go back to make it 11/13Hc there this week.
I felt so much more comfortable over these two nights than the first and that is almost definitely down to the wipes.
I know I can walk into a raid and avoid the fire so, given a few wipes to see how the fights really shape up, I feel like I can really develop my positioning and movement to make it easier for myself (and to improve my dps)
I'm really enjoying the challenge, trying to compete with the extra gear and experience of the other raiders (and, in particular, the other shaman) and I can feel the gap closing all the time.
I've had no feedback from the officers so I have no idea how they think the trial is going but, even if I don't pass the trial for whatever reason, I will be full of confidence when I apply to another guild.
Happy Raiding!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)