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!
Wednesday 26 August 2015
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.
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