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

[Scotteq]

Hmm did heroic Halfus last night... it was my first time, but my guild's second. They actually used 3 tanks for it... is that common at all? The hardest part for me is making sure I'm facing the right direction so I can still interrupt Halfus. It's also really obvious how bad an Enhancement Shaman's AoE capability is right now since our first target is the whelps :\.

For H Halfus, my guild uses 3 tanks and releases all but 1 drake on the initial pull. That last drake gets released after the first couple are dead, and "offtanked". This Quoted, because you're not really 'off' anywhere, but rather are keeping it occupied while preserving the tank swap rotation on Halfus himself. The whelps we don't pay much attention to, since between 3 Tanks AoE threat has never been an issue, and they'll die pretty naturally to our DDs. We swap Halfus around when the healing debuff gets to about 5, swap drakes as needed so a debuffed tank doesn't die, and try to do that all while watching our feet.

Basically, Kill Drakes and work Halfus down to just over 50%, so he doesn't do his AoE stun until after his buddies are disposed of. From there, he'll stun and be stunned - and I've found that from there only 2 tanks are needed to manage the healing debuff, since he gets occupied and casts it less often.

I can't speak for my guildies, but I manage the major targets by:

(1) making Halfus my Focus, and having a "Target Of Focus" frame up so I can watch the debuff on whichever tank has him.

and (2) using /target macros for the drakes so I can accurately grab the correct one.



And yeah - The center of your screen gets REALLY BUSY!!!

 

[Aikouka]

For H Halfus, my guild uses 3 tanks and releases all but 1 drake on the initial pull. That last drake gets released after the first couple are dead, and "offtanked".

It sounds like we pretty much do the same thing, although my guild doesn't release the last drake at the end, so we don't get the stun.

Those fire ball patches are kind of annoying too. I've tried dodging them at times on normal mode, and their actual damage area seems to be bigger than what the damage zone graphic suggests. Since I stood outside of the fiery circle, but I still took the 20-30k damage. It was bad at times last night... there were three of the fiery circles in a nice arc around the dragon that I was trying to kill :\. I spent a lot of time trying to make sure I was out of a fiery circle, but half the time, I can barely see when I'm in a huge clump of dragons .

I think they're going to try Magmaw tonight, but I'll probably be sitting out . Not getting to raid is such a bummer!

 

[Scotteq]

It sounds like we pretty much do the same thing, although my guild doesn't release the last drake at the end, so we don't get the stun.

Those fire ball patches are kind of annoying too. I've tried dodging them at times on normal mode, and their actual damage area seems to be bigger than what the damage zone graphic suggests. Since I stood outside of the fiery circle, but I still took the 20-30k damage. It was bad at times last night... there were three of the fiery circles in a nice arc around the dragon that I was trying to kill :\. I spent a lot of time trying to make sure I was out of a fiery circle, but half the time, I can barely see when I'm in a huge clump of dragons .

I think they're going to try Magmaw tonight, but I'll probably be sitting out . Not getting to raid is such a bummer!

We came to the conclusion that although you want to watch your feet as much as possible, to a certain extent the fire damage just has to be healed through. As the fight progresses and the drakes are killed off, then it's easier to start kiting everything a bit. That in turn makes it easier to avoid the fire.

Regarding the last drake - We tried it both ways, and (our healers) decided (for us) that it was better to release the last one specifically in order to get the stuns on Halfus. That few seconds of reduced incoming damage gives the Mana starved a chance to get caught up with a big phat slow~casting bomb or two, or to Plea without much worry. So it worked out that Stun > Added Damage from the Drake. Something to consider, anyways.


**

I hear ya on sitting - For a while I voluntarily sat in favor of a DD for fights (Magmaw, Theralion/Valonia, Atramades) that didn't require two tanks. Now that we've been clearing content for a while I have my off set/spec (Arms) reasonably tightened up so that's no longer necessary. I seldom get surpassed by Applicants and Standbys any more (15~18K), but I'm not quite up there with our main spec DDs - so right about where a raid leader would want an off spec to be.

Anyways, I don't have to sit any more - partly because I now can carry my weight in my off spec/gear, and moreso because my Guildmaster/Raid Lead is the kind who remembers which of his peeps stays flexible to benefit the guild and rewards that with preference.

 

[lupi]

the mailbag segment this week is heavy on wow and absolutely hilarious

http://www.g4tv.com/videos/52263/the-mmo-report-thursday-april-7th/?quality=hd

 

[s1njin]

Just picked up the WoW Battlechest for 20 bucks at Best Buy. I'll hang with it and see how it stacks up w/ Rift. I figure, for 20 bucks what do I have to lose? It includes a month of game time, so I only really paid 5 bucks for the software.

 

[cronos]

Just picked up the WoW Battlechest for 20 bucks at Best Buy. I'll hang with it and see how it stacks up w/ Rift. I figure, for 20 bucks what do I have to lose? It includes a month of game time, so I only really paid 5 bucks for the software.

I thought you already had an account? Or was that just a trial? You should have let someone here invite you for RAF (recruit-a-friend), it would give them a free month when you activated the battle chest, plus they get a rocket mount when you paid for two months after your free month is over.

If you haven't activated the Battlechest yet, someone may still have a chance. You will need to create a new account and start over though.

 

[s1njin]

I thought you already had an account? Or was that just a trial? You should have let someone here invite you for RAF (recruit-a-friend), it would give them a free month when you activated the battle chest, plus they get a rocket mount when you paid for two months after your free month is over.

If you haven't activated the Battlechest yet, someone may still have a chance. You will need to create a new account and start over though.

I do have a account - but its a trial account. Got my Dru to 9th level already - wasn't too hard. Had I known about recruiting I would have definitely popped in earlier to help somebody out. :\

 

[rivan]

I do have a account - but its a trial account. Got my Dru to 9th level already - wasn't too hard. Had I known about recruiting I would have definitely popped in earlier to help somebody out. :\

It would be very worth your while to RAF with someone, even now, if you haven't yet activated.

You'll get a big xp boost doing anything with them, and anyone from here you'd team up with likely be happy enough with the arrangement they'd load you up with handy stuff, like bags and some starter gold.

 

[Glayde]

Arrgh recruitment is so horrible right now. So hard to find a disc priest.

 

[Aikouka]

Arrgh recruitment is so horrible right now. So hard to find a disc priest.

Probably even worse to find a competent one!

 

[Soccerman06]

Casting shield on everyone is hard? or have they changed the spec to be somewhat more than 1 button mouseover spam

 

[Aikouka]

Casting shield on everyone is hard? or have they changed the spec to be somewhat more than 1 button mouseover spam

They jacked up the cost of shields.

 

[Soccerman06]

They jacked up the cost of shields.

So mouseover shield spam slightly less and call for innervates?

 

[Aikouka]

So mouseover shield spam slightly less and call for innervates?

The priest that raids with us is Holy rather than Discipline and man, he needs tons of mana regenerating abilities . I couldn't imagine what it'd be like if we didn't have a Resto Shaman (Mana Tide) and a Resto Druid (Innervate).

 

[Garou24]

The priest that raids with us is Holy rather than Discipline and man, he needs tons of mana regenerating abilities . I couldn't imagine what it'd be like if we didn't have a Resto Shaman (Mana Tide) and a Resto Druid (Innervate).

My priest is holy and all those AoE heals really take a toll on the mana. They are great to use and can really make a fight easier, but after a raid wide damage phase, you are left looking at your mana bar and crying.

 

[s1njin]

So, my trial period ended - I will say that Blizzard has a awful way of ending your 10 days. I was killing gnolls in Westfield and I all of a sudden got a server disconnect. Logging into my account via the web, I found out that my trial period ended. Jeez, how bout maybe a little countdown timer on my screen letting me know I'm on my last hour or something?

I wonder what happened to my toon as I left him in the middle of nowhere. I wonder if I got ganked while he was in limbo?

Anyway, here's a question. As I stated I picked up the Battlechest last week. Now, if I crack the seal on it, how do I go about w/ the install? I have the core game (obviously), do I:

A. Install the BC disk, add my code (or codes - does the box have a code for each game in it?), and launch the game again so it patches?

B. Add my code (or codes), and launch the game - will it add BC and patch automatically?

 

[Redshirt 24]

Off the top of my head, all you should have to do is add the code(s) and launch.

 

[1ceHacka]

Off the top of my head, all you should have to do is add the code(s) and launch.

This is correct. Login to your BNET account online and select upgrade. Then enter the code for each and launch the game after.

Also, I think the game does in fact warn you when your time is about to expire. It would appear in your chat window. I remember from sometime ago on a secondary account that it game me a countdown of my time remaining when it was less than 24 hours.

 

[s1njin]

This is correct. Login to your BNET account online and select upgrade. Then enter the code for each and launch the game after.

Also, I think the game does in fact warn you when your time is about to expire. It would appear in your chat window. I remember from sometime ago on a secondary account that it game me a countdown of my time remaining when it was less than 24 hours.

Thanks - I was hoping I wouldn't have to feed it CDs.

As for the countdown, I have 3 windows now. Probably just got lost in the babble and I didn't see it !

 

[RatboyX]

My priest is holy and all those AoE heals really take a toll on the mana. They are great to use and can really make a fight easier, but after a raid wide damage phase, you are left looking at your mana bar and crying.

We have a Holy Priest that has been one of our main healers since we started raiding in Burning Crusade. He healed us brilliantly all the way to the Lich King and then Cataclysm hit. Healing with his Holy Priest has gotten so difficult for him he has abandoned Holy/healing for Shadow/ DPS.

If it was just our Priest that is having trouble I would think that perhaps he just can’t adapt to healing in Cata, but this is a guy that has always been a great healer. It’s not just the priest in our guild that’s having trouble though The only healers I see in PUG groups anymore are Druids and Shamans though occasionally I see a Paladin. I never see any Priests running PUG’s and I have yet to talk to a Holy Priest that doesn’t think their spec is broken.

Blizzard took what was already a tough class to play and made it even harder. Based on what I see in PUG groups, and the long wait when looking for groups, the number of healers has decreased considerably. Based on the changes they are making to the LFG tools Blizzard MUST know that people are not playing Priests anymore, I just wish they would fix the problem instead of trying to entice more people to play a broken spec.

 

[rivan]

What's the current 'best' decurse mod? I don't play heal specs and am looking at this purely from boomkin perspective.

 

[Aikouka]

What's the current 'best' decurse mod? I don't play heal specs and am looking at this purely from boomkin perspective.

I use Grid + Clique for that. I tend to bind my "debuff removal spell" to shift+click for all characters. It's only a bummer when your class has more than one (e.g. Priests).

 

[Hecubus28]

Our guild has been having a tough time with Cho'gall on 10N
Anyone look at logs and decipher what my guild is doing wrong?

I would post this on the Wow forums but they are blocked here at work.

Things I know that are bad. Depravity is getting off to much. And people are standing in the shadow crashes. Some of these were caused by our priest breaking worships with physic sceam.

Hunter is doing pretty low dps. Not even sure if our dps is high enough for this.

Log of our best attempt.
http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/rt-opte873yg669wx2c/dashboard/?s=5105&e=5541

 

[Aikouka]

Our guild has been having a tough time with Cho'gall on 10N
Anyone look at logs and decipher what my guild is doing wrong?

I would post this on the Wow forums but they are blocked here at work.

Things I know that are bad. Depravity is getting off to much. And people are standing in the shadow crashes. Some of these were caused by our priest breaking worships with physic sceam.

Hunter is doing pretty low dps. Not even sure if our dps is high enough for this.

Log of our best attempt.
http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/rt-opte873yg669wx2c/dashboard/?s=5105&e=5541

You definitely don't want depravity going off since it adds to your stack. The lower your DPS is, the more time you'll need in the final phase, so getting a higher stack of corruption just exacerbates your problem.

I noticed that you appear to have a Paladin tank, so why not use Avenger's Shield to interrupt the Worship? You also have a Warlock... the Warlock could spec into Shadowfury, which works well.

I also noticed that you're running 6 DPS versus our 5 DPS. Since you only have 2 healers, could you be dying from all the raid damage that's going out in phase 2? Is the tank that's not currently on Cho'gall (in p2) also helping by destroying/interrupting the tentacles? There's no point in him standing there wailing on the boss when he could help the real DPS'ers spend more time on the boss.

Your DPS could also be an issue since the parse that I'm looking at shows us doing 5k more total DPS than your parse and we have one less DPS .

I can't really look too much into the parse right now, but I'll try and look more into it later. I'll add the one I'm referring to in a second.

EDIT:

http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/8u9dra20idnmfyoj/sum/damageDone/?s=3088&e=3539

 

[Hecubus28]

You definitely don't want depravity going off since it adds to your stack. The lower your DPS is, the more time you'll need in the final phase, so getting a higher stack of corruption just exacerbates your problem.

I noticed that you appear to have a Paladin tank, so why not use Avenger's Shield to interrupt the Worship? You also have a Warlock... the Warlock could spec into Shadowfury, which works well.

I also noticed that you're running 6 DPS versus our 5 DPS. Since you only have 2 healers, could you be dying from all the raid damage that's going out in phase 2? Is the tank that's not currently on Cho'gall (in p2) also helping by destroying/interrupting the tentacles? There's no point in him standing there wailing on the boss when he could help the real DPS'ers spend more time on the boss.

Your DPS could also be an issue since the parse that I'm looking at shows us doing 5k more total DPS than your parse and we have one less DPS .

I can't really look too much into the parse right now, but I'll try and look more into it later. I'll add the one I'm referring to in a second.

EDIT:

http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/8u9dra20idnmfyoj/sum/damageDone/?s=3088&e=3539

Right now we have everyone who is able to trying to break the worships. The pally is throwing up his avenger shield and we do stack behind him. It seems like the problems with worship are happening during the add transitions before we stack back up.

We went to two heals because we werent getting the 4th add down fast enough causing wipes in Phase 1. Ill check to see what the tank was doing in Phase two with the tenacles. I think that was a big part of our problem to is they werent dying fast enough.

I am trying to see what our hunter is doing wrong since he is only pulling 10k dps.