Raid Update

Ok, Heroic Halfus is down and I neglected to mention it because it was so uneventful and easy.

However…I HATE Heroic Chimaeron! Seriously, HATE. 300k thank you and we wiped. It’s too much like Al’Akir in that random dumb luck plays a roll. We have the heals, we have the DPS, and we so very much have the tank dance down…but frankly, dumb luck that gives the Feud Tank 4 breaks is just wrong! Done bitching now. Talk to you when he’s dead.

Dead Nefarian!

Woot! Finally Nefarian is dead!





It took way longer to kill him than it should have based on how easily he went down last night. LOL, isn’t that the way it always goes? In the end it was determined that what killed us the most were the following things:


Information Overload: Waaaaaaaaaaay too many strategies out there and everyone’s friend has a piece of advice. We changed the strategy too many times to try different things and should have just stuck with what was working from the beginning. (Unfortunately, we didn’t realize it would for…oh, say, a couple of weeks.) Really, people, we love you and appreciate your advice but now please go fishing or something.


Bad Group Dynamic: The team wasn’t really feeling like a team lately. We finally had to let go of one of our healers and replace him. He just didn’t fit in and folks were not happy raiders. The new shammie is a vast improvement in sooooo many ways but most importantly he just seems to fit.


Mood: We remembered we are here to have fun while killing big things and that it’s GOOD to laugh at the stupid that happens. (See BGD above LOL)

In the end we did it this way: 1 Paladin tank (Me!) on Nef 1 DK tank on Ony then adds (yes, I know what everyone says about pallys being the ones that should be kiting them but frankly he’s a better add tank than I am. I admit. So bite me.) 2 Resto Druids, one on me and one on raid 1 Resto Shaman on the DK tank A mage, warlock, warrior, hunter, and rogue as DPS


We pushed two crackles in P1, none in P2 and then blew him to bits in P3


During P1 Nef and Ony were on opposite sides of the room with their heads towards the 2 pillars in the back. The adds were kited but the hunter with frosty novas and rings when in place by the mage. We put them on Nef’s ass by the pillar closest to the door.


For P3 I kept Nef in the middle of the room and just spun him as needed to make sure our DK didn’t get tail swiped. There was also a degree of hyperventilating starting when he got to 12% but I’m pretty sure that’s optional.


So, that was that. We have our weird looking ghosty birds now! Yay! On to serious hard mode work!

Nefarian

Phase 1:

Electric crap!

Tail Lash!

Crackle!

Shit the Turtle is down again.

Rinse and Repeat



Phase 2:

OMGOMGOMGOMGWEAREALLGOINGTODIEINTERRUPT!



Phase 3:

Yeah, uh huh, THAT's why all the adds have to be in one spot.

Let's try it again....


/tar Nefarian

/cast Headdesk

Pandora's Box

I’ve finally opened Pandora’s Box. Yes, yes I did it. I made the decision to extend the lockout on Nefarian.

To be fair, I sent my raiders mail and asked their thoughts, I talked with them in vent, I listened to every concern and viewpoint. But, frankly, the best night of the week to take on anything really challenging us is Tuesday. That’s the one night I know I have everyone I need there with the flexibility to move raiders in and out as we need to. Other nights I know our paladin healer works or our hunter may have a conflict or real life crap may come up but Tuesday is obligation free for my team.

While I understand there is still loot to be had we’ve had crap luck with drops for the things we really need and wind up sharding a pretty big chunk of it. Valor points really shouldn’t be an issue for all but one of them given how long we’ve been at this. And, honestly, I’m bored as hell running the same farm content over and over when we should be tackling heroic modes by now.

The plan is this: go in Tuesday with fresh minds and go right to Nefarian without stopping anywhere else. If, IF, it turns out that it really is a gear issue (which I sooooooooooooooo do not believe) then we can stop, drop raid, and do it again with the farm bosses. I think we just need to go in and have our best all on at one time with no distractions.

Wish us luck!

Revenge is Mine

For the first few years I never really PVPed much on Lark unless I had to for some specific trinket, mount or to regain a loot piñata boss. Being a prot pally in a BG means it takes a lot to kill me but OMG it takes a long time to kill them too. (Makes me a great flag carrier though!) PVP was a means to an end and something to do because I had to. I didn’t understand what all the fuss was about until I started doing PVP on several of my alts…then I was hooked.

I always hated playing melee classes and having to run around chasing whatever I wanted to kill. (Probably another reason Lark goes holy in BGs now.) My casters are fun to PVP with but what I really love is healing in BGs. 3 priests (YES! I DO need 3 priests dammit!), a shaman, 2 driuds and a different pally (because one pally is just not enough) who has never been anything but holy for more than 5 minutes all healed their way through countless hours of PVP and many levels of experience. I feel content whenever I get an alt to level 10 and head to the AH to buy whatever I can to prolong their doomed little lives and queue them up for the first time.

But then, one day, on my resto druid I got pissed. Really pissed. I was singled out as a healer within a minute of every BG I was in that day and spent most of my time waiting to rez. Over and over and over my little Rockett tried to live through 5, 6, 7 players beating her face. And the worst were the rogues. The rogues have always been the worst…always….

So I started a rogue.

For revenge.

With no intention of questing or doing anything other than being AS ANNOYING AS HUMANLY FUCKING POSSIBLE IN BGS!

She’s now a level 44 worgen so she has the racial sprint as well as the rogue sprint and is geared to the teeth in PVP gear, dungeon drops (I <3 my guildes for run-throughs!), and BOA gear. I giggle maniacally every time I kill a healer…or just repeated sap them for fun. Every heal I interrupt makes me giddy. Every BG we win because the healers can’t heal gives me a warm feeling in my cold little rogue heart.

I love my rogue. Revenge is mine.

Actual Paladin Tank Stuff Complete with Strategy Tweaks!

I know I don’t usually talk much about tanking, talenting or strategies but we’ve tweaked a few things in our raids - and I’ve tweaked a few things in my spec for different fights - so I thought I’d break with tradition! (You’re very excited now, aren’t you?)

If I don’t mention a strategy change we’re probably doing what everyone else is. As for DPS and heals we’ve used every bizarre, theoretically unworkable combination you can think of for a 10 man but we build the raid with the following:

Always -
Rogue
Warlock
Resto Druid
Pally tank (Yeah, I know, I said I heal sometimes but I really haven’t had to for a while.)
DK tank (on 2 tank fights otherwise he is DPS)

Rotating in and out based on the fight (or RL stuff) -
Holy/Disc Priest
Warrior (DPS)
Kitty (And occasional bear)
Hunter (Usually there)
Resto Shaman (Sometimes DPS)
Resto Druid #2 (Sometimes chicken)
Resto Druid #3 (Sometimes a Shaman)
Warlock #2
Mages #1-3


Blackwing Descent

Magmaw - Paladin tank on boss, DK tank on worms. DK just kites the little buggers around and no one kills them. As long as they move out of the way periodically we’ve had no issues.

Tron Dudes - Single tank FTW. The reason behind single tanking is simple - the healers like it. If I am able to hit the Tron Dude beating on me I can squeeze in a few self-heals. If the Tron Dude just wails on me and I can’t hit him…well healers have to work harder…add in a second tank and, well, you get the picture.

Achemedes - Meh, standard strategy as far as I know.

Chimaeron - I respec to ensure I have full points in Eternal Glory and Guarded by the light as well as Divine Guardian for this one. I use Holy Radiance while we are grouped up for Feud. I also pop Divine Guardian on the third Feud. The first time we got him to 20% (the largely unhealable, untauntable phase) I expected him to make a mad dash to nomnom on the healers but instead he stayed on our DK tank, then me, then he was dead. No worries on that one.

Maloriak - I always have points in Grand Crusader for the Avenger’s Shield refresh but in this fight it’s particularly handy. Our rogue interrupts the Storms and I handle the add releases while our DK tank kites the adds. I keep points in the Divine Guardian for the last phase and blow through pretty much every cooldown I have at that time.

Nefarion - I’ll let you know next week!



Bastion of Twilight

Halfus Wyrmbreaker - For this one I generally take Halfus myself first and bubble taunt off the first set of stacks of the healing debuff when applicable. This is one fight I really like having a Holy Paladin in for so he can Hand of Protection the DK tank when it’s his turn. I can do it but we’ve had a few times where my tank partner is too far away. Obviously we change strategies depending on which dragon combo we have but we haven’t ever killed all three. Just burn the first two and burn the boss. We start this one on hard mode this week so I’ll let you know how it goes!

Valiona & Therlion - Pretty standard

Twilight Ascendant Council - DK tank with ranged, me with melee, our warlock switches targets to keep them even if needed. DK tank on Ignacious for interrupts, me on Feludious for round one. Round two is DK tank on Arion and me on Terrastra. If it’s going to put melee too close to the wrong buff if I move him then I just pop a CD and eat the Quake/Thundershock.

Cho’gall - This is another fight I make sure I’m specced into as many healing boosts as possible. We two healed this with two resto druids (They cried a lot and begged for a “tank healer” and MCs suck with only two but they are more amazing than they think they are and we did just fine!) Our DK tank takes Cho’gall first and I cast Hand of Salvation on him immediately. His D&D works very well for the adds and as he can cast it ranged he doesn’t build stacks. HoS is up for the third taunt from him as well. Our DK tank is the recipient of many, many of my Word of Glorys (Word of Glories? Looks weird…) on this fight.



Throne of Four Winds

Conclave of Wind - What is there to say about this, really? Hard mode this week should be interesting!

Al’Akir - Not much to this one once everyone gets the movement and timing down. I make sure I have Hand of Protection ready for a healer in phase 3 and use Holy Radiance as we fly down to the base. Cooldowns are your friend in phase 3 LOL.



So, that’s all I can think of at the moment. Please feel free to post anything you may do that differs from the usual strategies!

And if anyone has found a sound strategy for Heroic Halfus and/or Conclave let me know!

Stupid Awards of the Week ***Epic-holy-crap-I-haven't-done-them-in-Cata Edition***

(Names have been badly smudged to protect the guilty)

The Paranoid Huntard Award of the Week goes to….

/drumroll

The hunter who wouldn’t go near Al’akir’s platform until she was completely buffed and ready to go for fear she would accidentally pull him. Needless to say we spent every night we were on him making her more paranoid by dropping Jeeves, guild banks and cauldrons near the boss!




The But It’s Not A Green Award of the Week goes to….

/drumroll

The same hunter who did many attempts (key word: attempts) on the now-PVP-boss-loot-piñata when we were all fresh 85s while in PVP gear. It took a while. We also found out what she wears to raid in. (Start noticing a theme here...)






The Where’s Jeeves? Award of the Week goes to….

The resto druid with broken gear who was obsessing over healing meters….

The Wait, Wasn’t I on a Taxi? Award of the Week goes to….

/drumroll

The guild master, who shall remain nameless, who decided to multi-task while on route to Throne of Winds. 4 words: Dead. Feralas. Rez sickness. /facepalm

The Naked Raider Award of the Week goes to….

/drumroll

The kitty who died (and led to a wipe on Al’akir by dying early on)…who then informed us that although he hit “yes” on the ready check he had just run naked out of the shower. He plays Dance, Dance Revolution as well as WoW…. Go ahead. Picture it. Just go ahead.

The Huntards Have Competition Award of the Week goes to….

The Locktard after a wipe who was also obsessing over meters…





The OMG His Hit Box is HUGE! Award of the Week goes to….

/drumroll

So very many people who hit Magmaw instead of the trash in front of him so very many times.




The I WANT TO LIVE Award of the Week goes to….

/drumroll

The resto druid who told the tanks that if they wanted to live they would call out tank swaps on Cho’gall…despite the DBM warning and GIANT FREAKING LASER BEAMS from his eyes at Fury. For the rest of the raid each tank called out “I want to live!” every time they taunted.




The WTF Happened to My Threat? Award of the Week goes to….

/drumroll

The DK tank who couldn’t get aggro on Cho’gall. We wiped. Come to find out he had a chat bar open. So much for keybinds.