AT World of Warcraft Thread (Cataclysm, Where do you play, General BS and all that)

[RatboyX]

Ran a heroic Bastion of Twilight last night with four people from my guild and a pugged tank. The run went relatively well and we went at a quick pace skipping the second boss because the tank said he wanted a fast run. As everyone was there for the valor points anyway we had no problem with this and we made it to the last boss quickly.

The Key to the last boss is, as we should all know by now, burn the ads after the darkness. We’ve never had any issues with this in the past and assigned our Shaman and Loc to one side add while I took the other.

Up to this point the tank had been good but for some unfathomable reason he decided that every time the darkness finished he would pull the boss right into the hall where the adds spawn. I know some tanks try to help with the DPS on the adds but this was making it very difficult to target the adds quickly.

I managed to burn my side down with no problems but the other side kept having issues because the tank was kiting the boss right over their add. We asked him politely not to pull the boss over the adds, but that went about as expected and he continued to do it.
After about 4 wipes due to whelps getting out the tank raged a bit and left the group.

Now some of the problem was that the loc and the shaman should have been able to burn their add down regardless of it being hard to find early. Their DPS is good, the Loc usually runs slightly less DPS than I do and the shaman is about the same as me so if anything they should get their add down faster than mine.

We get a new tank and this guy doesn’t kite the boss over the adds. Now that the loc and the shaman can actually see the adds they take theirs down with no whelps hatching and we one shot the boss.

Both tanks were Paladins but the difference between the two was easy to see. The difference wasn’t in their health or gear as they were about equal in that respect. As I thought about the difference I decided that it was a matter of experience, and the ability to work with a group.

I seriously think that the first tank had never played a ranged DPS class. He didn’t appear to understand that positioning/kiting this boss over the adds made it extremely difficult for the ranged DPS to pick them up early. Now in defense of the first tank I think the loc and shaman should have done a better job of picking up the adds early regardless of them being obscured but, as the second tank proved, the fight is simple with a minor change in how the Boss is kited.

It always amazes me when people ignore a simple request that will help the group.

 

[Aikouka]

The adds spawn way in the back and aren't hard to target if you do it then.

Also, I'm pretty certain you mean Grim Batol... not Bastion of Twilight . I also thought that you could not skip Throngus, but you can skip Umbriss and Drahga.

 

[gimmewhitecastles]

if the tank was helping out with dps couln't you just do target of target on the tank?
if it gets too crowded and tank is targetting something else you can always tab through the mobs, no?

 

[rh71]

authentication problems - no raiding - fail.

 

[jhbball]

Just as a heads-up:

I played as a Prot Warrior to 2700 MMR last night in 3s (with 1 loss). Granted, I was playing with another Arms Warrior and Resto shaman, but it's still fun to see people rage when they lose to a Prot warrior.

I'm enjoying prot as much as I can before it's totally unplayable (in arena) in 4.1.

 

[RatboyX]

The adds spawn way in the back and aren't hard to target if you do it then.

Also, I'm pretty certain you mean Grim Batol... not Bastion of Twilight . I also thought that you could not skip Throngus, but you can skip Umbriss and Drahga.

Yes they do spawn way in the back, and the first tank would race to that area as soon as the darkness would stop, pulling the boss with him. I’ve never seen anything like it.

Yeah I might have the instance names mixed up. It’s the big lobster looking boss.

 

[RatboyX]

if the tank was helping out with dps couln't you just do target of target on the tank?
if it gets too crowded and tank is targetting something else you can always tab through the mobs, no?

Two adds, not sure which one he might have been targeting, not even sure he was helping. I just know some tanks tend to do that.

The point being that with a tank that didn’t run to the adds we one shotted the boss, had the first tank simply done as we asked and kited anywhere but to the adds we wouldn’t have had any problem. One would think that after the first two wipes he might give it a try and I am at a loss as to why he wouldn’t

 

[RatboyX]

Just as a heads-up:

I played as a Prot Warrior to 2700 MMR last night in 3s (with 1 loss). Granted, I was playing with another Arms Warrior and Resto shaman, but it's still fun to see people rage when they lose to a Prot warrior.

I'm enjoying prot as much as I can before it's totally unplayable (in arena) in 4.1.

Before I got into my hunter, my main was a Prot Warrior and he was loads of fun to play. He was actually great fun in battlegrounds though I never played him in any arenas. Now this was during the BC days so I can’t say what it was like after that.

 

[zokudu]

Pulled 23k on Argaloth this afternoon. Got my PvP pants out of it. Also won my 5 arenas this week to get my PvP gun. Its BiS for Dwarf Hunters until Heroic riading or 2200 arena weapons so I'm kind of excited. Also grabbed my Valor points cloak. Tons of new gear today ^_^

Left my recent guild due to the guild leader being a huge scrubmuffin and a generally unpleasant person. Started a new one with some friends and we're up to 24 members in about a week. Still level 1 though they really nerfed Guild exp into the ground. I've done 25 dailies a day for the last 4 days and were maybe 15% in.

Its so hard to recruit people too because no one wants to leave their level 10+ guild to join a prospective level 1 guild. =/ Guild changes really blow.

 

[Adrenaline]

Pulled 23k on Argaloth this afternoon. Got my PvP pants out of it. Also won my 5 arenas this week to get my PvP gun. Its BiS for Dwarf Hunters until Heroic riading or 2200 arena weapons so I'm kind of excited. Also grabbed my Valor points cloak. Tons of new gear today ^_^

Left my recent guild due to the guild leader being a huge scrubmuffin and a generally unpleasant person. Started a new one with some friends and we're up to 24 members in about a week. Still level 1 though they really nerfed Guild exp into the ground. I've done 25 dailies a day for the last 4 days and were maybe 15% in.

Its so hard to recruit people too because no one wants to leave their level 10+ guild to join a prospective level 1 guild. =/ Guild changes really blow.

I have been trying and trying and trying to get our guild from a 10 man guild to 25 man guild and nobody wants to leave their guild that is level 4 on my server. We are level 20 and 9/12, it is just really hard to get ranged DPS and healers.

 

[Aikouka]

I have been trying and trying and trying to get our guild from a 10 man guild to 25 man guild and nobody wants to leave their guild that is level 4 on my server. We are level 20 and 9/12, it is just really hard to get ranged DPS and healers.

I'm guessing Al'akir, Cho'gall and Nefarian?

 

[RatboyX]

Pulled 23k on Argaloth this afternoon. Got my PvP pants out of it. Also won my 5 arenas this week to get my PvP gun. Its BiS for Dwarf Hunters until Heroic riading or 2200 arena weapons so I'm kind of excited. Also grabbed my Valor points cloak. Tons of new gear today ^_^

Left my recent guild due to the guild leader being a huge scrubmuffin and a generally unpleasant person. Started a new one with some friends and we're up to 24 members in about a week. Still level 1 though they really nerfed Guild exp into the ground. I've done 25 dailies a day for the last 4 days and were maybe 15% in.

Its so hard to recruit people too because no one wants to leave their level 10+ guild to join a prospective level 1 guild. =/ Guild changes really blow.

Our guild, which has about twelve active members, is level 15. The key is having people with numerous alts running all the zones to level the toons to 85. This builds a ton of guild rep. Once they are 85, running the rep grinds builds a ton more. When people get exalted with those factions and stop running them your guild leveling slows way down.

Just like you experienced, the problem comes when someone who has already contributed a ton of guild rep to one guild moves to another guild. I think the idea behind the Guild Rep system is good but the system is flawed in that it doesn’t encourage people to strike out on their own. I’ve read many posts over on the WoW forums where people have left or been kicked from a guild and all the hard work they put into helping the guild level goes for nothing. Blizzard is basically saying that if you start with a guild you better stay with it or move to a guild of equal rating otherwise you are SOL.

The one thing that you COULD do is guild achievements. The problem is that you need to convince the rest of the guild that it’s worth their time to go back and run all the old instances and raids from Vanilla on up. Good luck trying to convince someone interested in raiding that you need to go back and do the original Dead Mines for guild rep.

I like the perks I get in my guild but I’m NOT a big fan of the system.

 

[Adrenaline]

I'm guessing Al'akir, Cho'gall and Nefarian?

We got Cho'gall down to 1 million health a few times. Our issue is that we don't get a variety of gear to drop. Our casters and rogue are decked out but plate wearers have suffered.

 

[Aikouka]

We got Cho'gall down to 1 million health a few times. Our issue is that we don't get a variety of gear to drop. Our casters and rogue are decked out but plate wearers have suffered.

Cho'gall is a bit of a DPS race in p3. Do you have a high number of plate DPS or something? Are you not killing the eye stalks and suffering bad output from the -75% debuff that they put on you?

 

[Cookie]

We started working on Cho'gall last night, got him to 44% on our best try. How many adds usually come up in phase 1 before you get him to phase 2?

 

[Scotteq]

We started working on Cho'gall last night, got him to 44% on our best try. How many adds usually come up in phase 1 before you get him to phase 2?

It's a function of your Damage Dealers' output and efficiency: You have the large (Offtank/Interrupt/Position/Kill) add, and the slimes, yah? The more pressure your DDs are able to keep on Cho himself, while still handling adds, the fewer phases you will have to deal with. When my guild first beat the encounter, we went through 4 big adds, 4 Slime spawns, and the offtank had to pick up the 5th big guy before we were able to push Cho'Gall into the next phase. This is probably around the minimum DPS output your raid will be able to do and still win - Provided your healers are able to last.

Now we do 3 big guys, and 3 slime spawns.

 

[tarak]

While we're bitching about Cho'gall... 41 pulls and still no kill. Granted we had a less then optimal group for most of those pulls. Tuesday was finally good progress - got to phase 2 with 2 people having only 10 corruption (rest with 0). And he dropped fire right during the transition on the nook the tank had just dragged him into as eye stalks spawned on the other side of the room (?!!) Hate this fight.

Edit: One tip - if you have a warrior tanking, the warrior can spell reflect the Flaming Destruction buff Cho'Gall puts when he absorbs the flame elemental thing. Its about 25-30k extra fire dmg on his melees for ~3 hits - all 3 will be reflected saving your healers some mana. Shockwave is also nice to break the mind controls.

 

[Cookie]

It's a function of your Damage Dealers' output and efficiency: You have the large (Offtank/Interrupt/Position/Kill) add, and the slimes, yah? The more pressure your DDs are able to keep on Cho himself, while still handling adds, the fewer phases you will have to deal with. When my guild first beat the encounter, we went through 4 big adds, 4 Slime spawns, and the offtank had to pick up the 5th big guy before we were able to push Cho'Gall into the next phase. This is probably around the minimum DPS output your raid will be able to do and still win - Provided your healers are able to last.

Now we do 3 big guys, and 3 slime spawns.

This about where we are getting also, or maybe a bit behind. Our 4th add was coming up at about 48%.

I have been pulling the boss first, the other tank taunts after the eyebeam thing (I am really bad at remembering the names of abilities) and just before the add pops. I pick up the add, kite him to the back of the room and run back to the boss when the add dies, which is usually just before I need to taunt back off the other tank again. Meanwhile the ranged dps deal with the smaller adds that pop up, then go back on the boss. I think our problems start to happen when we have the 3rd or 4th big add down and there are so many more little adds.

Also, should I be kiting the big add? Do I get corrupted blood if he hits me? I didn't notice that happening last night (I was still at 0), but I read today I should be kiting him, not tanking.

 

[tarak]

Also, should I be kiting the big add? Do I get corrupted blood if he hits me? I didn't notice that happening last night (I was still at 0), but I read today I should be kiting him, not tanking.

No corruption if the big add hits you, I tank/move them back to the stairs. Just be sure to interrupt depravity (have someone else help you with this).

If you kill the large adds on the entrance/stairs they will filter into the room a bit at the bottom of the stairs, allowing your ranged to more easily aoe them down. I typically make a 2x2 square with the dead corpses, top two on the upper platform, lower two on the stairs.

Not sure where you guys are tanking cho'gall but we moved him back closer to the stairs so the ranged dps has less distance to move - at least for the first 2 rounds of adds, and it seemed to help our overall dps. As the fight progresses he ends up moving back closer to his throne (both naturally during the tank swaps and if we notice the adds not dying quick enough)

 

[Cookie]

No corruption if the big add hits you, I tank/move them back to the stairs. Just be sure to interrupt depravity (have someone else help you with this).

If you kill the large adds on the entrance/stairs they will filter into the room a bit at the bottom of the stairs, allowing your ranged to more easily aoe them down. I typically make a 2x2 square with the dead corpses, top two on the upper platform, lower two on the stairs.

Not sure where you guys are tanking cho'gall but we moved him back closer to the stairs so the ranged dps has less distance to move - at least for the first 2 rounds of adds, and it seemed to help our overall dps. As the fight progresses he ends up moving back closer to his throne (both naturally during the tank swaps and if we notice the adds not dying quick enough)

Hmm, this positioning might help us a lot actually. I was positioning the adds just inside the room beside the doorway. If I pull them back further up the stairs a bit, they will not scatter so quickly. Also, we were tanking the boss about half way between the middle of the room and the throne, maybe a little closer to the throne even. If we move both the add kill spots and the boss back towards the stairs it should help keep dps on the boss, and keep the little adds closer together.

 

[Aikouka]

It sounds like you're taking way too long to kill him if you have 4 adds and you're at ~50%. He transitions at 25% and whenever you kill an add, you get a puddle that spawns 5 oozes, so you end up with more and more oozes each time he casts Fester Blood. So you'd probably have around 6 adds up at transition, which is a lot.

I think we had 3 adds and 2 ooze spawns.

Here's the log from that run:
http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/8u9dra20idnmfyoj/

 

[RatboyX]

It sounds like you're taking way too long to kill him if you have 4 adds and you're at ~50%. He transitions at 25% and whenever you kill an add, you get a puddle that spawns 5 oozes, so you end up with more and more oozes each time he casts Fester Blood. So you'd probably have around 6 adds up at transition, which is a lot.

I think we had 3 adds and 2 ooze spawns.

Here's the log from that run:
http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/8u9dra20idnmfyoj/

Interesting that your hunter is running Marksman spec and doing so well. I had thought all hunters had given up on Marksman and migrated over to Survival.

 

[Scotteq]

Hmm, this positioning might help us a lot actually. I was positioning the adds just inside the room beside the doorway. If I pull them back further up the stairs a bit, they will not scatter so quickly. Also, we were tanking the boss about half way between the middle of the room and the throne, maybe a little closer to the throne even. If we move both the add kill spots and the boss back towards the stairs it should help keep dps on the boss, and keep the little adds closer together.

For my guild, I am the Tank who picks up the big guys. The reason why is I am a Warrior, and have far superior mobility through intercept, charge, and heroic leap: So I can get to the add, get him moved, and get back to Cho more efficiently than our Paladin can. I put two at the top of the stairs, and 2 at the base of the stairs for the exact reasons others have given: The spawns are better grouped to start, and our Hunter and Boomkin know in advance where to place their traps/mushrooms.

Also, should I be kiting the big add? Do I get corrupted blood if he hits me? I didn't notice that happening last night (I was still at 0), but I read today I should be kiting him, not tanking.

No corrupted blood for him hitting you - Just be sure to interrupt the Depravity.

Edit: One tip - if you have a warrior tanking, the warrior can spell reflect the Flaming Destruction buff Cho'Gall puts when he absorbs the flame elemental thing. Its about 25-30k extra fire dmg on his melees for ~3 hits - all 3 will be reflected saving your healers some mana. Shockwave is also nice to break the mind controls.

Besides Shield Bash/Pummel - If you're specc'd for Gag Order, Heroic Throw works well too. Not to mention you get to smack the Greedy Rogue™. I got a healthy crit on ours once doing that. (I really.. really.. love Vengeance sometimes!! ) And Yes - I laughed my @$$ off when he started complaining in Vent about it.

 

[Cookie]

Thanks for the help guys. I talked to the raid leader about the position suggestions. We'll see how that works next week. I'm a DK tank btw, the other tank is a druid.

 

[Aikouka]

Interesting that your hunter is running Marksman spec and doing so well. I had thought all hunters had given up on Marksman and migrated over to Survival.

I could ask him if you want to know why he's playing Marks instead of Survival.