Ulduar Update

I have been so busy with work Real Life and WoW that I have not posted here in a while. Here it goes!

Oh My! Patch 3.1

Patch 3.1 was released about a week earlier than anyone had anticipated. There were the usual server crashes and technical issues that come along with such a massive content update. My guild partially funded its members Dual Spec investment. Hopefully this new game feature will encourage players to tune their specs for current raiding content since we don't enforce raid oriented skills.

Flame Leviathan

Once the server lag settled down, we jumped immediately into Ulduar 25. Flame Leviathan is a free loot vehicle encounter. Since it is so easy, I wouldn't mind trying to complete the easiest of its various Hard Modes which involves destroying towers to remove buffs on the boss.

Some players in this guild are vehicle haters due to frustration experienced in Occulus, Malygos and also the principle of not using one's own abilities. These players seemed to tolerate or even enjoy the Flame Leaviathan encounter!

After Flame Leviathan, we had to decide where to go next. During the first week of Uduar, there was a bug on Ignis where players would take an inordinate amount of damage if they were hit my Melee while they were in his stomach. There was a Blue post which also indicated that the Enrage timer on Razorscale was too short. These bugs were later fixed, however at the time the most logical boss to go kill next was XT002-Deconstructor.

"I guess it doesn't bend that way!"

XT was probably inspired by a Blizzard encounter designer's 2 year old. This encounter accurately immerses one in the life of a parent of a 2 year old because this fight can be aggravating.

The first time we tried this boss, everyone was just getting used to the strategy for the boss. The next week we struggled a bit but the healers did a great job during the Tantrum Phase, the DPS on the heart was solid and add management was good for the most part. Since some players did not move at all when they had the Gravity and Light debuffs, position adjustments were made so that the healers were separate from the ranged DPS group.

After much discussion in the guild's IRC channel and discussion among the Raid Leaders, the strategy for this fight has been refined for this guild. I am confident that we can complete this encounter this week. One issue is that since we banged our heads on this encounter for a week, some strong players have not been signing up (likely due to frustration). A kill this week would certainly increase morale and encourage the faint hearted players to push forward in this difficult instance.

I'll make a post about the success that we have had in the 10 man version soon (work calls)!

Onward!

With Ulduar on the horizon, my guild has been steadily clearing Naxx 25, Malygos and is working on Sarth+2D. I ask myself - Are we ready for the challenges of the near future?

Naxx 25, Carefully

Naxx 25 is on farm, however group balance and dynamics must still be considered when heading in to kill Kel'Thuzad. We have struggled a bit on this last boss so the Naxx 25 clears are still not easy or done very gracefully. This is a concern for the complex fights in Ulduar because if the mobs hit harder, and the raid takes even more damage then we may run into a roadblock. Even so, many people are acquiring the finishing touches on their gear and getting some much needed practice to improve their game.

Malygos

I have decided to discontinue running 10 man Malygos runs mostly because Malygos 25 is now on farm. Malygos 25 seems much easier than Kel'Thuzad on Naxx 25 now, I think it's because Kel is unpredictable whereas Malygos is a fight of memorization and pattern recognition.

This is the most fun fight for me to tank by far, and I get a real rush every time we defeat this boss!

For tactics, we're using a strategy loosely based on Ciderhelm's 6 min Malygos video. Tankspot has been a phenomenal resource for me as a Raid Leader to view tactics, get ideas for 10 man strategy and step up advanced tactics. On Phase 3, we use a 6 healer rotation like they use in this video, which was the missing component from our previous Malygos attempts.

Sarth

We took a hiatus from official Sarth runs to focus on Malygos but now that Malygos is on farm, Sarth and Malygos are done in the same night. Last night, we had some solid attempts on Sarth+2D. We wiped a lot for various reasons, but we got better at the encounter each time. Fatigue started to set in and we just did Sarth+1D, but I won't be surprised to see a Sarth+2D kill very soon considering our rate of improvement.

Ulduar, Here we come

Ulduar is soon, and I wonder if we are ready. A large part of the guild has mostly Best In Slot gear (including myself), and a lot of people have been raiding consistently even though they don't need the gear. Others have been signing up less for raids and taking a break. Hopefully they will be motivated to participate when Ulduar raids are up on the guild calendar. I have mixed feelings about our preparedness for the upcoming challenges, but as always, the Thugs will stand strong and give it our best shot!