On Friday I sort of got unexpectedly pulled into a semi-guild/semi-PuG Karazhan run. At first, I was admittedly kinda wary about it. Mostly because the last few semi-guild/semi-PuG runs I've been in have been complete disasters and I was tired of dealing with feeling like a failure in the raid I love. Still, I went, because I haven't gone in a long time.
It was... a surprisingly good run. Shade of Aran was the farthest we got because we were sorta taking our sweet time and people had to go, but I did successfully see Nightbane downed for the first time ever, which means I have gone back and edited him into my Karazhan guide, video and all! (FileFront instead of YouTube this time, because the YouTube limit is ten minutes and I couldn't cut our movie down past about 10:30.)
Overall though, it was nice to be able to go back to the place and do it justice; it's been so long since I've been in there with a good group. Oh, raid-buffed, I topped both 2000 AP and 30% crit throughout /flex Not bad for someone who still has a few blues. (Though in all honesty, Badge Epics do crazy gear-score-skewing things like that.)
I did learn a couple lessons. Lesson the First: Using crazy tricks to unfairly defeat bosses sucks. See, we ran into Shade of Aran the first time and did quite well, getting him down to 15% and only wiping because of bad timing with the elementals. On our way back, one of our PuGs asks us if we've heard of "The Door Trick". The Door Trick goes like this: you all stand right outside the door, and a hunter sends their pet in to aggro Aran and then they immediately pull their pet back. The door shuts (with everyone standing outside) and you trigger the encounter, and basically all you have to worry about is Flame Wreath because all his other stuff stays inside the room. Aran himself mostly stays inside the room, too, but every so often he comes outside for a little and you DPS him until he disappears again.
We tried it. About five minutes later Officer Chat was filled with all of us talking about how heinously boring this was (because at this point he was only down to like 95%) and how we were never going to it this way again.
The "Door Trick" actually wound up failing because a fellow player and I somehow managed to get knocked off the ledge outside his door where we fell to our deaths, and I think that reset the encounter. At this point we were all begging the PuG to just do it the normal, fair way, and she obliged (although she seemed somewhat mystified by how we'd rather have wipes and repair bills over a "safer" method; maybe we're the only people she's run into that are like that?) Seriously though, don't do the Door Trick, it's lame and takes forever.
Lesson the Second is that during the run, the fact finally sunk in that I am super burnt-out with Tawyn. There are a couple reasons why I never log onto her anymore, one of those reasons is admittedly my work schedule but another reason is because I honestly do not find her as fun to play as my alts right now. Don't get me wrong; I love raiding and heroics and level 70 Alterac Valley* but after a few months of it, it has burned me out. The whole time we were in Karazhan I was thinking "Huh, this is pretty fun, I still love Kara, but... I'd really rather be playing one of my alts."
Which leads me to believe that Tawyn is either going to get unofficially or officially stabled until WotLK. I still view her as my main and I have no doubt that she will be my first character to level 80, but I'm just not feelin' the spark right now. Currently I'm trying to decide if I want to make an "official" post about it on the guild forums and attempt to pass of guild leadership, or keep going as I've been going and log on to her super-casually once or twice a week.
What does this realization about myself mean for you? Nothing, I still love the game and hunters and will continue to write about them just as I always have, I'll probably just focus more on alts. As for what it means for me, I'm still trying to decide. My pre-WotLK goals have always been clear Karazhan (just Netherspite left) so I can finish my guide, see Gruuls/Mags, and finally get Epic'd out. But at this point, seeing how burnt out I am with that character, I think I may only get around to clearing Kara. But... that's okay. I guess we'll see what happens.
In closing, does anyone know of a good way to measure personal DPS? I'm curious about it and my damage meter (SWStats) is silly.
* It's AV weekend and I actually am feeling this urge to spec something more PvP-worthy and spend the day in there. Hey, last time I was in there, Alliance had finally learned how to cap towers, all we need now is to learn how to tank Drek! Right? Right? Bueller?
Showing posts with label karazhan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label karazhan. Show all posts
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Stopping by Karazhan on a Foggy Evening
Ever had to chain-trap during Moroes? All the way through Moroes? You get a ton of buffer time on your trap cooldown at the beginning so it's all easy, and then that cooldown dwindles and dwindles as the fight goes on and by the end you're pulling out all the stops with your Concussive Shot and extra Distracting Shots, and frantically running around hoping nothing stupid happens.
Feels absolutely great afterwards when you've successfully pulled it off though. Oh, let the 'locks and the boomkins and the rogues have the top of the DPS chart for that battle-- you, meanwhile, you know that you've got that CC on farm and that you're a big reason why things went so smoothly.
Lemme tell you a lil' about Karazhan; I started playing WoW a couple months after Burning Crusade was released. I was level 6 and everybody else was just getting to 70 and just getting geared up for raids. I walk into Stormwind for the first time and hear the names of these seemingly mythical legendary bosses being whispered in trade chat. Moroes, Maiden, the Curator, Shade of Aran, Prince Malchezaar. This makes an impression on you. You know nothing about the game but you know about this rogues' gallery of bosses that, in your tender young eyes, only the greatest of the great are ever going to see. And to down one of those bosses must be an amazing feat of pure unadulterated epic-ness.
And now you're giggling at me because Karazhan is the Deadmines of level 70, and yeah, I'm giggling with you.
But you gotta put yourself in my shoes for a second and realize that when this stuff sinks into you and makes an impression on you from basically day one-- it doesn't go away. Yeah, it's just good ol' KZ and I won't deny sometimes it does make me want to smack my head repeatedly into the wall, but it holds a special little place in my heart. All these months later the music still gives me goosebumps, and all these months later a successful boss downing still feels special.
Bigger raiders can have their Black Temple or their Sunwell Plateau that they're all proud of; me, give me my crazy lil' tower in the middle of nowhere and all its storied villains.
Pike/Medivh: BFF!
(P.S. I originally wrote a poem parody to go along with the title of this blog post. But then I opted not to post it because I think I want to polish it up. Maybe if you poke me nicely, I'll finish it and post the thing.)
Feels absolutely great afterwards when you've successfully pulled it off though. Oh, let the 'locks and the boomkins and the rogues have the top of the DPS chart for that battle-- you, meanwhile, you know that you've got that CC on farm and that you're a big reason why things went so smoothly.
Lemme tell you a lil' about Karazhan; I started playing WoW a couple months after Burning Crusade was released. I was level 6 and everybody else was just getting to 70 and just getting geared up for raids. I walk into Stormwind for the first time and hear the names of these seemingly mythical legendary bosses being whispered in trade chat. Moroes, Maiden, the Curator, Shade of Aran, Prince Malchezaar. This makes an impression on you. You know nothing about the game but you know about this rogues' gallery of bosses that, in your tender young eyes, only the greatest of the great are ever going to see. And to down one of those bosses must be an amazing feat of pure unadulterated epic-ness.
And now you're giggling at me because Karazhan is the Deadmines of level 70, and yeah, I'm giggling with you.
But you gotta put yourself in my shoes for a second and realize that when this stuff sinks into you and makes an impression on you from basically day one-- it doesn't go away. Yeah, it's just good ol' KZ and I won't deny sometimes it does make me want to smack my head repeatedly into the wall, but it holds a special little place in my heart. All these months later the music still gives me goosebumps, and all these months later a successful boss downing still feels special.
Bigger raiders can have their Black Temple or their Sunwell Plateau that they're all proud of; me, give me my crazy lil' tower in the middle of nowhere and all its storied villains.
Pike/Medivh: BFF!
(P.S. I originally wrote a poem parody to go along with the title of this blog post. But then I opted not to post it because I think I want to polish it up. Maybe if you poke me nicely, I'll finish it and post the thing.)
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
A Hunter's Guide to Karazhan Bosses
Greta said she was looking for some guides on being a new hunter in Karazhan. Now perhaps ironically enough, I've been wanting to write a guide like this for some time, I just haven't gotten around to it yet. But now I've got a bigger motivation for it, so... here goes nothin'!
Disclaimers before I begin:
1.) Exalted with the Violet Eye notwithstanding, I'm still a noob who didn't set foot in Kara until a couple months ago.
2.) Different guilds/groups do things different ways.
3.) This guide is not going to cover Netherspite because I haven't downed him yet. (See, told you I was a noob.)
4.) Some of the sample movies are not exactly stellar because they are often the first time we downed that particular boss so we were kinda shaky. But a shaky movie is better than nothin', right?
All that said, in the voice of Barnes... "And now, on with the show!"
"Come Midnight, let's disperse this petty rabble!"
A fairly easy guy who is basically a tank-and-spank, although poorly geared groups can still wipe on him pretty easily, so beware of that. You begin with just his horse, Midnight, which you is what you will be attacking at the beginning of the fight. Eventually Attumen will come out and join up with Midnight and you'll fight them as a single entity. Really the two most important things to remember are:
1.) Stand on the horse's butt when the two merge. Okay, not literally. Stand about as close to the horse's butt as you can get and still shoot. This is still pretty close since the dead zone is gone now. Otherwise he will charge you and bad things will happen.
2.) Upon the merge, do not attack for a few moments to allow the tank to re-establish aggro. A misdirect may be in order, but check with the tank first.
Other than that, this is a straightforward fight that should not cause many issues. If the DPS is a bit on the short side then it can develop into a long fight, though, so have a Mana Pot or two ready just in case. (Use it when you get down to about 50% mana.)
Sample Movie: I don't have one available one for this fight. Sorry!
Possible Hunter Drops: [Gloves of Dexterous Manipulation] (leather); [Stalker's War Bands]; [Steelhawk Crossbow]; [Worgen Claw Necklace]; [Schematic: Stabilized Eternium Scope] (engineer-only-BoP)
"Hmm, unannounced visitors? Preparations must be made."
Depending on your group makeup, this is the fight you may have to do some trapping on. Basically Moroes is accompanied by four people (who are randomly picked each time from a pool of six) and you have to take out all five; this, of course, means lots of crowd control while you take them down one at a time. Most of the time, you will not be asked to trap for very long because if all the DPS is focused on a single mob then all of them (except Moroes) go down pretty quickly, and most groups opt to take out the trap before Moroes to prevent any issues. Don't worry too much about it; wait for the trap cooldown before the pull starts, make use of your space in the room, and you should be good.
Basically the only other thing to worry about in this fight is that Moroes might toss a heavy-hitting DoT on you called Garrote. There's not a lot you can do about this except make sure the healers know about it-- so as not to bug them, check before the fight if they want you to maybe call it out or if they'll know/somebody has Deadly Boss Mods.
As always, watch your mana, keep your traps out the way of where everybody else is fighting, toss more than one distracting shot on your mob just to be safe (they really like to lose aggro on you and go after the healer instead), and you should be good to go. Now is a good time for a pull shot macro if you don't have one so you don't accidentally break your own trap.
And yes, Moroes has a tendency to disappear and re-appear, it's normal.
Sample Movie: Entelechy vs. Moroes
Possible Hunter Drops: [Edgewalker Longboots] (leather); [Emerald Dagger] (if you're into one-handers-- also please do not roll against a rogue on this)
"Your impurity must be cleansed!"
I won't lie, Maiden can be tough, but once you figure her out she's not that bad. Also: pally healers will make your life super easy in this fight thanks to Blessing of Sacrifice. Give yours a thank-you hug today!
Our guild does it like this: before you initiate the fight, everybody runs around the room she's in, hugging the wall, and finding a spot that isn't particularly close to anybody else. Then, after the tank engages the fight, everybody moves up to the bottom step of the little platform she's on and DPS's from there. Every so often she will toss Holy Fire on somebody which will kill them pretty quickly if they're not cleansed; again, you will want to check with your healers or the "cleanser" beforehand if they want you to call it out or if they will be notified some other way. Also every so often Maiden will stun everybody that isn't in her little inner circle... just sit it out.
Keep Mend Pet on your pet the entire time because he is going to be taking some damage the whole time, and you should be all set. (Now is a great time to mention that you will definitely want to look into getting at least a couple ranks of both Arcane and Fire Resistance for your pet, those are the types of magic you will be running into most in Kara).
Sample Movie: Entelechy vs. Maiden
Possible Hunter Drops: [Bracers of Maliciousness] (leather); [Gloves of Quickening]
"All the better to own you with!"
Opera works like this: there are three possible different boss fights you can do here, and they are random and you won't know which one you'll be doing until you actually do it. There are tricks that will let you figure out which one it is in advance (pally bubble, hunter feign death, etc.) but other people just run in full-speed-ahead, so you'll have to find out how your own guild or group likes to do it.
The Big Bad Wolf fight is a fun one and probably my favorite of the three Opera events. For the most part it's a tank'n'spank with a twist: Big Bad Wolf will randomly turn people into a Little Red Riding Hood Gnome and chase them around the room, and if he catches you, well, you'll die. But guess what, you're a hunter! When you turn into a little gnome, just Feign Death. He'll forget about you. That's all. You'll still be a gnome and can't attack, but at least he won't be attacking you.
If the Feign Death is resisted or if it's on cooldown: run around the room in a pre-designated way (I've always gone counter-clockwise myself); hug the wall and do not stop running until you aren't a gnome anymore.
That's it on him, most of the fight will be spent doing pure unleashed DPS so just be careful not to grab aggro from the tank.
Sample Movie: Entelechy vs. Big Bad Wolf
Possible Hunter Drops: [Big Bad Wolf's Paw] (if you're into one-handers); [Wolfslayer Sniper Rifle] (aka Sexiest Thing You Will Get Out of Karazhan); [Beastmaw Pauldrons] (will drop from any Opera Event)
"Wilt thou provoke me? Then have at thee, boy!"
This is probably the most technically difficult Opera fight but as such I find it to be very intense and rewarding. Basically you fight Julianne first, then Romulo, then both of them at the same time. Sounds easy right? Well here's the catch: During the last phase, Romulo and Julianne both have to die within ten seconds of each other or they will rez each other.
This is how my guild does it: We have two tanks (as you hopefully will too), throw one each on Romulo and Julianne, get one down to 15% or so, stop all DPS, unleash a bunch of DPS on the other one, and then finally come back to the first. We've got this pretty "down" at this point and we can usually have them dying within three or four seconds of each other.
All you really have to remember is to take your pet off of one and put it on the other when the time comes to switch DPS.
Sample Movie: Entelechy vs. Romulo and Julianne
Possible Hunter Drops: [Blade of the Unrequited] (again, more of a rogue thing); [Romulo's Poison Vial] (personally I think there are better trinkets out there unless you need the hit); [Beastmaw Pauldrons] (will drop from any Opera Event)
"Will she survive? Will she prevail? Only time will tell."
Wizard of Oz is pretty straightforward, you have a bunch of characters that need to be killed and the group you are with will tell you what order they want to accomplish this in; Dorothee and Tito are typically the two you will want to dispose of first. After all these guys are taken care of, the Crone will show up, and she's also pretty straightforward so long as you don't stand in her tornado. Pretty simple overall.
You may be asked to help chain-fear Roar via Scare Beast if you don't have any warlocks or anything, but other than that you probably will just be DPS'ing.
Remember: don't start DPS on the Crone until the tank has a hold of her. Misdirection works nicely.
Sample Movie: Entelechy and Blood and Tears vs. Wizard of Oz
Possible Hunter Drops: [Legacy] (aka Basically The Entire Reason You Are In Karazhan); [Beastmaw Pauldrons] (will drop from any Opera Event)
You can only fight Nightbane if you have somebody in your group who has a quest item who can summon him. Once he is summoned, he flies down and you begin the fight. As a hunter, you will often be asked to Misdirect on to the tank here, and every time he comes back down to the ground from here on out. The fight is mostly a tank and spank except that sometimes, Nightbane will summon Charred Earth, which means that a particular area of the ground turns red and does all sorts of horrible damage to you, so you want to get out of it by running to the other side of the wall-- pretty straightforward. He also fears every so often, but it's no big deal (unless he fears you into the middle of Charred Earth... just run really fast to get out of it.)
One important thing, though, is to keep an eye on your pet's health, because sometimes Charred Earth will pop up underneath your pet and it does about 2000 damage every couple of seconds and there's no way you'll be able to keep him alive-- so pull him back to you until it's safe again.
Now, every so often, Nightbane will take to the air again, and a bunch of mobs will show up sort of in the middle and you've got to AoE them down. Mostly I just leave this up to the mages/warlocks/boomkins but I'll try to help out with my Explosive Trap/Volley/Multi-Shot. When he comes back, remember to Misdirect onto the tank.
And, well, that's about it for Nightbane! Not as scary as he looks originally.
Sample Video: Entelechy and some PuGs vs. Nightbane
Possible Hunter Drops: [Chestguard of the Conniver] (leather); [Ferocious Swift-Kickers]
"Gallery rules will be strictly enforced."
Oh Curator. He has been known to make grown hunters cry either tears of pain or boredom, depending on how well things are going.
Okay, overview on this fight: There are going to be these little sparks flying around called Astral Flares that need to be DPS'd down. (This can be made simple with an easy /target Astral Flare /cast Auto Shot macro.) Every two minutes or so Curator is going to Evocate and take twice as much damage as usual, that's when the DPS should be focused on him. (But make sure there aren't any more fuzzballs!) If you have this fight down then you should be able to finish Curator off on his third Evocate, though I'm sure it can be done even sooner.
Hunter Tricks I've Learned: Keep your pet on Curator the entire time so he can proc Ferocious Inspiration while you focus on the sparks. Oh, and don't forget to conveniently use The Beast Within when Curator evocates; if you time it right you will have one ready at each evocation. (This is the secret to doing yards more DPS than anyone else in this fight, by the way). Also, you may opt to have Blessing of Salvation on this fight instead of Might or Kings simply because if the flares aggro on you, you just have to kind of sit there and take a bunch of damage while you flail around and do stuff like Raptor Strike, which is just embarrassing.
Arcane resist gear/trinkets (like the one you get from one of the Kara quests) will help here if you have it, otherwise it's not a particularly huge deal.
Keep an eye on your pet and use Mend Pet as needed, and also keep an eye on your mana because it can be a mana-intensive fight.
I'm going to go ahead and toss this fight in a unique category known as "Hard to learn, easy to master", because if your whole group is new to him you will probably wipe a bunch of times but once you figure out how to do it, it's really pretty easy.
Sample Video: (Note, this was made when we were still learning the fight and as such it doesn't include any of the fun hunter tips I mentioned earlier): Entelechy vs. Curator
Possible Hunter Drops: [Gloves of the Fallen Hero] (Hunter tier 4 token); [Garona's Signet Ring]
"I am not some simple jester! I am Nielas Aran!"
I dunno if this means I'm insane or not but this is my favorite fight in the dungeon. It's crazy, it's hectic, it's hard, I love it.
Pet control is absolutely vital in this fight if you want to keep your pet alive the entire time. It's difficult but it's possible.
Here's the deal with Shade of Aran: He has no aggro table. He randomly attacks anything and anybody including you and your pet. For this reason, watch for pet aggro and be ready to toss up Mend Pet at a moment's notice. (If he is really feeling malicious he will kill your pet pretty easily but hopefully that won't happen.)
He has a lot of special moves that require special action. Blizzard is going to throw beams of ice down around the edges of the room so you should be standing somewhere towards the center. Arcane Explosion goes like this: no matter where you are standing you will be pulled to the center. When this happens, immediately turn around and run to the wall. You are going to be moving really slowly unless you happen to be big and red at the moment; it's okay, you'll make it, just keep moving and bring your pet with you. This is vital. If you don't take your pet with you immediately he will die from Aran's explosion. Another trick: turn slightly to the right which will force your pet to the outside of you so he has even less of a chance of getting hit with the explosion.
Flame Wreath is a pretty infamous move of Shade's where the room is going to be filled with fire and if you move, the raid will blow up. Not exaggerating. Do not move during Flame Wreath. You can keep shooting and you can keep doing your shot rotation, and it's okay if your pet moves (though I don't tell him to, just to be on the safe side), but do not move an inch until the fire goes away.
Partway through the fight elementals will show up which will need to be taken care of in some way; ask your group how they plan on doing this.
For many groups, it won't be long after that Aran is going to sheep everybody. You really can't do anything to get out of this but immediately after the sheep effect wears off he's going to hurl a giant fireball at you so have a health potion, healthstone, or band-aid ready to save your healers a lot of grief. (Don't forget Mend Pet). If you are super fast than you'll have Aran down before he gets to this part, but I've yet to see that myself.
One thing that is always fun to do during this fight is to always have a Snake Trap in the middle of the room. Aran is going to see the snakes as targets to attack, which means he won't be attacking the raid and will buy everybody a little extra time.
...yeah, see, told you it was a crazy fight. It's so fun though. Just keep an eye on your pet and on your health/mana (be prepared to self-heal if needed, your healers will be stretched pretty thin), and don't worry too much if you die at first, it's a little hard until you really learn all the tricks Aran has up his sleeve.
Sample Movie: Entelechy vs. Shade of Aran
Possible Hunter Drops: [Drape of the Dark Reavers]; [Rapscallion Boots] (leather); [Saberclaw Talisman]; [Steelspine Faceguard]
If you have never done this before than let somebody else take control of the King and the healers. Just move your piece around and attack things. Preferably the other king if you can get to him.
Sample Movie: ...
Possible Hunter Drops: [Bladed Shoulderpads of the Merciless] (leather); [Fiend Slayer Boots]; [Girdle of Treachery] (leather)
"Ah, you're just in time. The rituals are about to begin."
So long as you have the AoE to keep the imps off of everybody, this is a straightforward fight that can get pretty long if the DPS isn't all there so have Mana Pots ready.
Basically you are going to spend this fight DPS'ing Illhoof (sometimes his big imp buddy, too-- check with your group to see how you want to handle him) but every so often Illhoof is going to "sacrifice" somebody and stick them in a circle of chains, and you want to get all your DPS onto the chains immediately to get that person loose, or they will die in about three seconds. Granted, the person in the chains can be there for quite a while with sufficient heals, but the longer the player is in there, the more Illhoof will get healed, hence why the fight can really drag on and on if your DPS isn't on the ball. You can alter your Curator macro here to say /target Demon Chains which will make things quicker.
If you are being sacrificed there's not a lot you can do and Feign Death isn't going to help (there seems to be a rumor I hear sometimes that it will get you out of it-- it won't) so just calmly say that you're being sacrificed (unless Deadly Boss Mods is announcing it) and wait it out.
Your pet might get hit sometimes, just toss Mend Pets on him as needed.
Sample Movie: Entelechy vs. Illhoof (aka "See What Happens When The Fight Drags On Forever")
Possible Hunter Drops: [Girdle of the Prowler]
"All realities, all dimensions are open to me!"
Probably my least-favorite fight in the the instance just because a lot of it is so random and out of your control. All it takes is a bad infernal placement to wipe the raid even if you were doing great up to that point. Regardless, there are things you can do to minimize the potential pain.
This is a pretty intense fight with three phases: during the first phase you really just have to worry about the random infernal drops and Enfeeble which will temporarily bring you down to 1 hit point unless you are standing at max range (which you should be, as a hunter). Don't worry about it, your health will shoot back up after a few seconds. Usually a caster will have a raid symbol over their head as the person you have to stand behind during Enfeeble, as long as you are next to him or behind him you are good.
During Phase Two Prince starts chucking random axes at people and starts throwing DoTs on people, and during Phase Three he introduces even more annoying things like that. Fun fun!
Typically you will be standing sort of near the door and Prince will be tanked along the left wall because it minimizes crappy infernal placements as much as possible. You may or may not be asked to open with a Misdirect. Be very careful if you do this because he can see you almost at max range, so hit him with an Arcane Shot or something similarly instant cast the second you are in range, or he'll see you first and come one-shot you. (Trust me on this one. ...yeeeeah.)
If an infernal lands on your head or anywhere near you, you MUST move or you will die in about five or six seconds. When in doubt, follow the person with the raid symbol over their head, they've probably done it before.
If an infernal lands right next to Prince, you're safe, but your pet is not. Recall your pet to you because you can't Mend Pet him through it. It is better to have your pet alive and by your side giving you an extra 2% damage through Focused Fire, than having him dead and being unable to use him later on.
And once again check with your healers to see if you need to announce if axes on you or if they've got another way of being notified.
This fight is really very luck-based, so pray that the Infernals will be nice to you and hopefully you'll be on your way to a shiny new helmet.
Sample Video: Entelechy vs. Prince (kind of a bad movie because you can't see a lot, and because I was still learning the fight so my pet died and then I died... but dang if the ending wasn't epic. Longest 1% on a boss ever.)
Possible Hunter Drops: [Helm of the Fallen Hero] (hunter Tier 4 token); [Farstrider Wildercloak]; [Malchazeen] (but seriously, give it to the rogues/fury warriors); [Ring of a Thousand Marks]; [Sunfury Bow of the Phoenix] (not quite as good as Wolfslayer if you are BM and use a hand-woven 1:1 rotation).
Sorry guys, I've actually yet to beat this one because I'm fairly new to the game (didn't start playing until after Burning Crusade and all) and because I refuse to be "run through" Kara by bigger guilds-- we're doing this the good ol' fashioned way and I love it. But trust me, the second we get to him I will come back and edit it into this guide.
In the meantime, there have been a couple comments left about any bosses I didn't cover, and Loronar wrote up a guide to them as well, which is very much worth a look!
Aside from the obvious full ammo pouch of bullets and the stack or two of Pet Food, this is what I usually bring for myself to a fresh Kara run:
[Super Mana Potion] x 10-15
[Super Healing Potion] x 5-10
[Fel Mana Potion] x 5
[Elixir of Major Agility] x 15ish
[Elixir of Major Mageblood] x 15ish
[Warp Burger] x 20
[Kibler's Bits] x 20
[Sporeling Snack] x 20
And if I'm feeling adventurous, a [Flask of Relentless Assault] or two.
I try to have an Agi Elixir, the Mageblood Elixir, and a Warp Burger on me at all times, and Locke is always buffed with Kibler's Bits or Sporeling Snacks depending on the fight/part of the instance. Just use your judgment.
[Elixir of the Mongoose] is often cheaper than the Major Agi one and will actually get you slightly more pure crit but I like the Agi myself because it stacks better with Kings and also gives me more AP than Mongoose. I wouldn't fault you for using this one, though.
And please don't forget your water.
Alright, there you go. And because according to my clock it's taken me over three hours to write this post, I think I'm going to wrap things up. Greta, I hope that you found this guide to be a little helpful, go have fun in Karazhan! And as always, lemme know if you've got comments or questions!
Disclaimers before I begin:
1.) Exalted with the Violet Eye notwithstanding, I'm still a noob who didn't set foot in Kara until a couple months ago.
2.) Different guilds/groups do things different ways.
3.) This guide is not going to cover Netherspite because I haven't downed him yet. (See, told you I was a noob.)
4.) Some of the sample movies are not exactly stellar because they are often the first time we downed that particular boss so we were kinda shaky. But a shaky movie is better than nothin', right?
All that said, in the voice of Barnes... "And now, on with the show!"
A Hunter's Guide to Karazhan Bosses
By Pike
By Pike
Attumen the Huntsman
A fairly easy guy who is basically a tank-and-spank, although poorly geared groups can still wipe on him pretty easily, so beware of that. You begin with just his horse, Midnight, which you is what you will be attacking at the beginning of the fight. Eventually Attumen will come out and join up with Midnight and you'll fight them as a single entity. Really the two most important things to remember are:
1.) Stand on the horse's butt when the two merge. Okay, not literally. Stand about as close to the horse's butt as you can get and still shoot. This is still pretty close since the dead zone is gone now. Otherwise he will charge you and bad things will happen.
2.) Upon the merge, do not attack for a few moments to allow the tank to re-establish aggro. A misdirect may be in order, but check with the tank first.
Other than that, this is a straightforward fight that should not cause many issues. If the DPS is a bit on the short side then it can develop into a long fight, though, so have a Mana Pot or two ready just in case. (Use it when you get down to about 50% mana.)
Sample Movie: I don't have one available one for this fight. Sorry!
Possible Hunter Drops: [Gloves of Dexterous Manipulation] (leather); [Stalker's War Bands]; [Steelhawk Crossbow]; [Worgen Claw Necklace]; [Schematic: Stabilized Eternium Scope] (engineer-only-BoP)
Moroes
Depending on your group makeup, this is the fight you may have to do some trapping on. Basically Moroes is accompanied by four people (who are randomly picked each time from a pool of six) and you have to take out all five; this, of course, means lots of crowd control while you take them down one at a time. Most of the time, you will not be asked to trap for very long because if all the DPS is focused on a single mob then all of them (except Moroes) go down pretty quickly, and most groups opt to take out the trap before Moroes to prevent any issues. Don't worry too much about it; wait for the trap cooldown before the pull starts, make use of your space in the room, and you should be good.
Basically the only other thing to worry about in this fight is that Moroes might toss a heavy-hitting DoT on you called Garrote. There's not a lot you can do about this except make sure the healers know about it-- so as not to bug them, check before the fight if they want you to maybe call it out or if they'll know/somebody has Deadly Boss Mods.
As always, watch your mana, keep your traps out the way of where everybody else is fighting, toss more than one distracting shot on your mob just to be safe (they really like to lose aggro on you and go after the healer instead), and you should be good to go. Now is a good time for a pull shot macro if you don't have one so you don't accidentally break your own trap.
And yes, Moroes has a tendency to disappear and re-appear, it's normal.
Sample Movie: Entelechy vs. Moroes
Possible Hunter Drops: [Edgewalker Longboots] (leather); [Emerald Dagger] (if you're into one-handers-- also please do not roll against a rogue on this)
Maiden
I won't lie, Maiden can be tough, but once you figure her out she's not that bad. Also: pally healers will make your life super easy in this fight thanks to Blessing of Sacrifice. Give yours a thank-you hug today!
Our guild does it like this: before you initiate the fight, everybody runs around the room she's in, hugging the wall, and finding a spot that isn't particularly close to anybody else. Then, after the tank engages the fight, everybody moves up to the bottom step of the little platform she's on and DPS's from there. Every so often she will toss Holy Fire on somebody which will kill them pretty quickly if they're not cleansed; again, you will want to check with your healers or the "cleanser" beforehand if they want you to call it out or if they will be notified some other way. Also every so often Maiden will stun everybody that isn't in her little inner circle... just sit it out.
Keep Mend Pet on your pet the entire time because he is going to be taking some damage the whole time, and you should be all set. (Now is a great time to mention that you will definitely want to look into getting at least a couple ranks of both Arcane and Fire Resistance for your pet, those are the types of magic you will be running into most in Kara).
Sample Movie: Entelechy vs. Maiden
Possible Hunter Drops: [Bracers of Maliciousness] (leather); [Gloves of Quickening]
Opera: Big Bad Wolf
Opera works like this: there are three possible different boss fights you can do here, and they are random and you won't know which one you'll be doing until you actually do it. There are tricks that will let you figure out which one it is in advance (pally bubble, hunter feign death, etc.) but other people just run in full-speed-ahead, so you'll have to find out how your own guild or group likes to do it.
The Big Bad Wolf fight is a fun one and probably my favorite of the three Opera events. For the most part it's a tank'n'spank with a twist: Big Bad Wolf will randomly turn people into a Little Red Riding Hood Gnome and chase them around the room, and if he catches you, well, you'll die. But guess what, you're a hunter! When you turn into a little gnome, just Feign Death. He'll forget about you. That's all. You'll still be a gnome and can't attack, but at least he won't be attacking you.
If the Feign Death is resisted or if it's on cooldown: run around the room in a pre-designated way (I've always gone counter-clockwise myself); hug the wall and do not stop running until you aren't a gnome anymore.
That's it on him, most of the fight will be spent doing pure unleashed DPS so just be careful not to grab aggro from the tank.
Sample Movie: Entelechy vs. Big Bad Wolf
Possible Hunter Drops: [Big Bad Wolf's Paw] (if you're into one-handers); [Wolfslayer Sniper Rifle] (aka Sexiest Thing You Will Get Out of Karazhan); [Beastmaw Pauldrons] (will drop from any Opera Event)
Opera: Romulo and Julianne
This is probably the most technically difficult Opera fight but as such I find it to be very intense and rewarding. Basically you fight Julianne first, then Romulo, then both of them at the same time. Sounds easy right? Well here's the catch: During the last phase, Romulo and Julianne both have to die within ten seconds of each other or they will rez each other.
This is how my guild does it: We have two tanks (as you hopefully will too), throw one each on Romulo and Julianne, get one down to 15% or so, stop all DPS, unleash a bunch of DPS on the other one, and then finally come back to the first. We've got this pretty "down" at this point and we can usually have them dying within three or four seconds of each other.
All you really have to remember is to take your pet off of one and put it on the other when the time comes to switch DPS.
Sample Movie: Entelechy vs. Romulo and Julianne
Possible Hunter Drops: [Blade of the Unrequited] (again, more of a rogue thing); [Romulo's Poison Vial] (personally I think there are better trinkets out there unless you need the hit); [Beastmaw Pauldrons] (will drop from any Opera Event)
Opera: Wizard of Oz
Wizard of Oz is pretty straightforward, you have a bunch of characters that need to be killed and the group you are with will tell you what order they want to accomplish this in; Dorothee and Tito are typically the two you will want to dispose of first. After all these guys are taken care of, the Crone will show up, and she's also pretty straightforward so long as you don't stand in her tornado. Pretty simple overall.
You may be asked to help chain-fear Roar via Scare Beast if you don't have any warlocks or anything, but other than that you probably will just be DPS'ing.
Remember: don't start DPS on the Crone until the tank has a hold of her. Misdirection works nicely.
Sample Movie: Entelechy and Blood and Tears vs. Wizard of Oz
Possible Hunter Drops: [Legacy] (aka Basically The Entire Reason You Are In Karazhan); [Beastmaw Pauldrons] (will drop from any Opera Event)
Nightbane
You can only fight Nightbane if you have somebody in your group who has a quest item who can summon him. Once he is summoned, he flies down and you begin the fight. As a hunter, you will often be asked to Misdirect on to the tank here, and every time he comes back down to the ground from here on out. The fight is mostly a tank and spank except that sometimes, Nightbane will summon Charred Earth, which means that a particular area of the ground turns red and does all sorts of horrible damage to you, so you want to get out of it by running to the other side of the wall-- pretty straightforward. He also fears every so often, but it's no big deal (unless he fears you into the middle of Charred Earth... just run really fast to get out of it.)
One important thing, though, is to keep an eye on your pet's health, because sometimes Charred Earth will pop up underneath your pet and it does about 2000 damage every couple of seconds and there's no way you'll be able to keep him alive-- so pull him back to you until it's safe again.
Now, every so often, Nightbane will take to the air again, and a bunch of mobs will show up sort of in the middle and you've got to AoE them down. Mostly I just leave this up to the mages/warlocks/boomkins but I'll try to help out with my Explosive Trap/Volley/Multi-Shot. When he comes back, remember to Misdirect onto the tank.
And, well, that's about it for Nightbane! Not as scary as he looks originally.
Sample Video: Entelechy and some PuGs vs. Nightbane
Possible Hunter Drops: [Chestguard of the Conniver] (leather); [Ferocious Swift-Kickers]
Curator
Oh Curator. He has been known to make grown hunters cry either tears of pain or boredom, depending on how well things are going.
Okay, overview on this fight: There are going to be these little sparks flying around called Astral Flares that need to be DPS'd down. (This can be made simple with an easy /target Astral Flare /cast Auto Shot macro.) Every two minutes or so Curator is going to Evocate and take twice as much damage as usual, that's when the DPS should be focused on him. (But make sure there aren't any more fuzzballs!) If you have this fight down then you should be able to finish Curator off on his third Evocate, though I'm sure it can be done even sooner.
Hunter Tricks I've Learned: Keep your pet on Curator the entire time so he can proc Ferocious Inspiration while you focus on the sparks. Oh, and don't forget to conveniently use The Beast Within when Curator evocates; if you time it right you will have one ready at each evocation. (This is the secret to doing yards more DPS than anyone else in this fight, by the way). Also, you may opt to have Blessing of Salvation on this fight instead of Might or Kings simply because if the flares aggro on you, you just have to kind of sit there and take a bunch of damage while you flail around and do stuff like Raptor Strike, which is just embarrassing.
Arcane resist gear/trinkets (like the one you get from one of the Kara quests) will help here if you have it, otherwise it's not a particularly huge deal.
Keep an eye on your pet and use Mend Pet as needed, and also keep an eye on your mana because it can be a mana-intensive fight.
I'm going to go ahead and toss this fight in a unique category known as "Hard to learn, easy to master", because if your whole group is new to him you will probably wipe a bunch of times but once you figure out how to do it, it's really pretty easy.
Sample Video: (Note, this was made when we were still learning the fight and as such it doesn't include any of the fun hunter tips I mentioned earlier): Entelechy vs. Curator
Possible Hunter Drops: [Gloves of the Fallen Hero] (Hunter tier 4 token); [Garona's Signet Ring]
Shade of Aran
I dunno if this means I'm insane or not but this is my favorite fight in the dungeon. It's crazy, it's hectic, it's hard, I love it.
Pet control is absolutely vital in this fight if you want to keep your pet alive the entire time. It's difficult but it's possible.
Here's the deal with Shade of Aran: He has no aggro table. He randomly attacks anything and anybody including you and your pet. For this reason, watch for pet aggro and be ready to toss up Mend Pet at a moment's notice. (If he is really feeling malicious he will kill your pet pretty easily but hopefully that won't happen.)
He has a lot of special moves that require special action. Blizzard is going to throw beams of ice down around the edges of the room so you should be standing somewhere towards the center. Arcane Explosion goes like this: no matter where you are standing you will be pulled to the center. When this happens, immediately turn around and run to the wall. You are going to be moving really slowly unless you happen to be big and red at the moment; it's okay, you'll make it, just keep moving and bring your pet with you. This is vital. If you don't take your pet with you immediately he will die from Aran's explosion. Another trick: turn slightly to the right which will force your pet to the outside of you so he has even less of a chance of getting hit with the explosion.
Flame Wreath is a pretty infamous move of Shade's where the room is going to be filled with fire and if you move, the raid will blow up. Not exaggerating. Do not move during Flame Wreath. You can keep shooting and you can keep doing your shot rotation, and it's okay if your pet moves (though I don't tell him to, just to be on the safe side), but do not move an inch until the fire goes away.
Partway through the fight elementals will show up which will need to be taken care of in some way; ask your group how they plan on doing this.
For many groups, it won't be long after that Aran is going to sheep everybody. You really can't do anything to get out of this but immediately after the sheep effect wears off he's going to hurl a giant fireball at you so have a health potion, healthstone, or band-aid ready to save your healers a lot of grief. (Don't forget Mend Pet). If you are super fast than you'll have Aran down before he gets to this part, but I've yet to see that myself.
One thing that is always fun to do during this fight is to always have a Snake Trap in the middle of the room. Aran is going to see the snakes as targets to attack, which means he won't be attacking the raid and will buy everybody a little extra time.
...yeah, see, told you it was a crazy fight. It's so fun though. Just keep an eye on your pet and on your health/mana (be prepared to self-heal if needed, your healers will be stretched pretty thin), and don't worry too much if you die at first, it's a little hard until you really learn all the tricks Aran has up his sleeve.
Sample Movie: Entelechy vs. Shade of Aran
Possible Hunter Drops: [Drape of the Dark Reavers]; [Rapscallion Boots] (leather); [Saberclaw Talisman]; [Steelspine Faceguard]
Chess Event
If you have never done this before than let somebody else take control of the King and the healers. Just move your piece around and attack things. Preferably the other king if you can get to him.
Sample Movie: ...
Possible Hunter Drops: [Bladed Shoulderpads of the Merciless] (leather); [Fiend Slayer Boots]; [Girdle of Treachery] (leather)
Illhoof
So long as you have the AoE to keep the imps off of everybody, this is a straightforward fight that can get pretty long if the DPS isn't all there so have Mana Pots ready.
Basically you are going to spend this fight DPS'ing Illhoof (sometimes his big imp buddy, too-- check with your group to see how you want to handle him) but every so often Illhoof is going to "sacrifice" somebody and stick them in a circle of chains, and you want to get all your DPS onto the chains immediately to get that person loose, or they will die in about three seconds. Granted, the person in the chains can be there for quite a while with sufficient heals, but the longer the player is in there, the more Illhoof will get healed, hence why the fight can really drag on and on if your DPS isn't on the ball. You can alter your Curator macro here to say /target Demon Chains which will make things quicker.
If you are being sacrificed there's not a lot you can do and Feign Death isn't going to help (there seems to be a rumor I hear sometimes that it will get you out of it-- it won't) so just calmly say that you're being sacrificed (unless Deadly Boss Mods is announcing it) and wait it out.
Your pet might get hit sometimes, just toss Mend Pets on him as needed.
Sample Movie: Entelechy vs. Illhoof (aka "See What Happens When The Fight Drags On Forever")
Possible Hunter Drops: [Girdle of the Prowler]
Prince
Probably my least-favorite fight in the the instance just because a lot of it is so random and out of your control. All it takes is a bad infernal placement to wipe the raid even if you were doing great up to that point. Regardless, there are things you can do to minimize the potential pain.
This is a pretty intense fight with three phases: during the first phase you really just have to worry about the random infernal drops and Enfeeble which will temporarily bring you down to 1 hit point unless you are standing at max range (which you should be, as a hunter). Don't worry about it, your health will shoot back up after a few seconds. Usually a caster will have a raid symbol over their head as the person you have to stand behind during Enfeeble, as long as you are next to him or behind him you are good.
During Phase Two Prince starts chucking random axes at people and starts throwing DoTs on people, and during Phase Three he introduces even more annoying things like that. Fun fun!
Typically you will be standing sort of near the door and Prince will be tanked along the left wall because it minimizes crappy infernal placements as much as possible. You may or may not be asked to open with a Misdirect. Be very careful if you do this because he can see you almost at max range, so hit him with an Arcane Shot or something similarly instant cast the second you are in range, or he'll see you first and come one-shot you. (Trust me on this one. ...yeeeeah.)
If an infernal lands on your head or anywhere near you, you MUST move or you will die in about five or six seconds. When in doubt, follow the person with the raid symbol over their head, they've probably done it before.
If an infernal lands right next to Prince, you're safe, but your pet is not. Recall your pet to you because you can't Mend Pet him through it. It is better to have your pet alive and by your side giving you an extra 2% damage through Focused Fire, than having him dead and being unable to use him later on.
And once again check with your healers to see if you need to announce if axes on you or if they've got another way of being notified.
This fight is really very luck-based, so pray that the Infernals will be nice to you and hopefully you'll be on your way to a shiny new helmet.
Sample Video: Entelechy vs. Prince (kind of a bad movie because you can't see a lot, and because I was still learning the fight so my pet died and then I died... but dang if the ending wasn't epic. Longest 1% on a boss ever.)
Possible Hunter Drops: [Helm of the Fallen Hero] (hunter Tier 4 token); [Farstrider Wildercloak]; [Malchazeen] (but seriously, give it to the rogues/fury warriors); [Ring of a Thousand Marks]; [Sunfury Bow of the Phoenix] (not quite as good as Wolfslayer if you are BM and use a hand-woven 1:1 rotation).
Netherspite
Sorry guys, I've actually yet to beat this one because I'm fairly new to the game (didn't start playing until after Burning Crusade and all) and because I refuse to be "run through" Kara by bigger guilds-- we're doing this the good ol' fashioned way and I love it. But trust me, the second we get to him I will come back and edit it into this guide.
In the meantime, there have been a couple comments left about any bosses I didn't cover, and Loronar wrote up a guide to them as well, which is very much worth a look!
Raid Mats/Consumables
Aside from the obvious full ammo pouch of bullets and the stack or two of Pet Food, this is what I usually bring for myself to a fresh Kara run:
[Super Mana Potion] x 10-15
[Super Healing Potion] x 5-10
[Fel Mana Potion] x 5
[Elixir of Major Agility] x 15ish
[Elixir of Major Mageblood] x 15ish
[Warp Burger] x 20
[Kibler's Bits] x 20
[Sporeling Snack] x 20
And if I'm feeling adventurous, a [Flask of Relentless Assault] or two.
I try to have an Agi Elixir, the Mageblood Elixir, and a Warp Burger on me at all times, and Locke is always buffed with Kibler's Bits or Sporeling Snacks depending on the fight/part of the instance. Just use your judgment.
[Elixir of the Mongoose] is often cheaper than the Major Agi one and will actually get you slightly more pure crit but I like the Agi myself because it stacks better with Kings and also gives me more AP than Mongoose. I wouldn't fault you for using this one, though.
And please don't forget your water.
Alright, there you go. And because according to my clock it's taken me over three hours to write this post, I think I'm going to wrap things up. Greta, I hope that you found this guide to be a little helpful, go have fun in Karazhan! And as always, lemme know if you've got comments or questions!
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Ahem.
Lemme tell you all a quick story.
Way back in the day when I was like, oh, level 25 or 30 or so and first stumbled across BigRedKitty... he did a lot of talking about a little weapon called Legacy. How much he wanted it and how long it took him before he finally got it. I was still a newbie and knew very little about this game but I knew that this must be one heckuva weapon. I started seeing other hunters with it and thinking any hunter who had it must be one epic hunter. How I longed to be an epic hunter someday like that, but it wasn't ever gonna happen, I was sure, because I was never gonna see Karazhan.
So all this time, ever since I was level 30, I'd longingly inspect those Legacy-sporting hunters, certain they'd forever be out of my league.
This is a happy day in Hunterland.
Edit: Well, I wound up doing even more gear-switching than I thought. I finally equipped my [Violet Signet] (I am 2% of my rep away from Exalted, by the way) to make up for the Hit Rating loss I got from equipping Legacy. Then I went to put my badges in the bank and discovered that you can only have a stack of 200 badges and I had 201. So I splurged and bought [Scaled Drakeskin Chestguard]. Next stop: Choco-Bow. In the meantime, buffed only with Aspect of the Hawk, I have jumped from 538 to 560 agility, from 1659 to 1705 attack power, and from 24.66% to 25.21% crit.
It has been a good day.
Way back in the day when I was like, oh, level 25 or 30 or so and first stumbled across BigRedKitty... he did a lot of talking about a little weapon called Legacy. How much he wanted it and how long it took him before he finally got it. I was still a newbie and knew very little about this game but I knew that this must be one heckuva weapon. I started seeing other hunters with it and thinking any hunter who had it must be one epic hunter. How I longed to be an epic hunter someday like that, but it wasn't ever gonna happen, I was sure, because I was never gonna see Karazhan.
So all this time, ever since I was level 30, I'd longingly inspect those Legacy-sporting hunters, certain they'd forever be out of my league.
This is a happy day in Hunterland.
Edit: Well, I wound up doing even more gear-switching than I thought. I finally equipped my [Violet Signet] (I am 2% of my rep away from Exalted, by the way) to make up for the Hit Rating loss I got from equipping Legacy. Then I went to put my badges in the bank and discovered that you can only have a stack of 200 badges and I had 201. So I splurged and bought [Scaled Drakeskin Chestguard]. Next stop: Choco-Bow. In the meantime, buffed only with Aspect of the Hawk, I have jumped from 538 to 560 agility, from 1659 to 1705 attack power, and from 24.66% to 25.21% crit.
It has been a good day.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Tawyn and the Case of the Missing Chess Loot
On Sunday I did the Chess Event in Karazhan.
But then it decided to glitch and afterwards we all got pooped into Curator's Room instead of back into the Chess Room.
We ran back, but much to our dismay, it meant we could only see the loot and badges inside the chest... we couldn't actually take them because we apparently hadn't run back fast enough.
Ya know what I saw in there?
[Fiend Slayer Boots].
Mmmyep.
After much whimpering and clawing at the glass, I sent in a ticket to the GMs, and about an hour later one popped up (mid-crazy-pull) and I informed him of the glitch. He asked a couple questions about it, then told me that everybody in the raid should send in a ticket about their lost badges but that he would have to escalate the issue of the unlootable-loot to a higher power, and that they would get back to me. I said "Sounds good!"
We downed Prince for the first time. It was an epic battle. By the end, the tank was the last one standing; the priests (post-Spirit of Redemption form) having hit the bucket mere seconds before Prince. It was also the longest 1% on a boss you've ever seen in your life. Yeah... it was intense. We decided to call our Karazhan a big success for the week.
But I stayed around and waited a while for the GM. He didn't come.
I kept waiting. No GM.
Finally, after staying up much later than my bedtime, I went to sleep.
The next morning I got online; my ticket to the GM was still in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. But alas, there was still no response.
It's Tuesday night now, and still no word from the GMs.
This is killin' me, you guys. /twitch
Boots.
Boots.
Boots.
(Really though, I've no right to complain; I got a nice new cloak from Shade of Aran, not to mention my shiny new rifle. ...but... you guys... My current boots are level 67 rogue blues. /whimpers again, and contemplates various ways to bribe the GMs)
P.S. Are Felsteel Stabilizers really that hard to come by? I swear, I've been stalkin' the Auction House for days. How is the kind Mr. Flinthammer ever supposed to make me my scope at this rate, as he so generously offered to do?
/asplode
But then it decided to glitch and afterwards we all got pooped into Curator's Room instead of back into the Chess Room.
We ran back, but much to our dismay, it meant we could only see the loot and badges inside the chest... we couldn't actually take them because we apparently hadn't run back fast enough.
Ya know what I saw in there?
[Fiend Slayer Boots].
Mmmyep.
After much whimpering and clawing at the glass, I sent in a ticket to the GMs, and about an hour later one popped up (mid-crazy-pull) and I informed him of the glitch. He asked a couple questions about it, then told me that everybody in the raid should send in a ticket about their lost badges but that he would have to escalate the issue of the unlootable-loot to a higher power, and that they would get back to me. I said "Sounds good!"
We downed Prince for the first time. It was an epic battle. By the end, the tank was the last one standing; the priests (post-Spirit of Redemption form) having hit the bucket mere seconds before Prince. It was also the longest 1% on a boss you've ever seen in your life. Yeah... it was intense. We decided to call our Karazhan a big success for the week.
But I stayed around and waited a while for the GM. He didn't come.
I kept waiting. No GM.
Finally, after staying up much later than my bedtime, I went to sleep.
The next morning I got online; my ticket to the GM was still in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. But alas, there was still no response.
It's Tuesday night now, and still no word from the GMs.
This is killin' me, you guys. /twitch
Boots.
Boots.
Boots.
(Really though, I've no right to complain; I got a nice new cloak from Shade of Aran, not to mention my shiny new rifle. ...but... you guys... My current boots are level 67 rogue blues. /whimpers again, and contemplates various ways to bribe the GMs)
P.S. Are Felsteel Stabilizers really that hard to come by? I swear, I've been stalkin' the Auction House for days. How is the kind Mr. Flinthammer ever supposed to make me my scope at this rate, as he so generously offered to do?
/asplode
Saturday, April 26, 2008
This Is My Rifle
"This is my rifle. There are many like it but this one is mine. My rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I master my life. My rifle, without me is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless. I must fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than any enemy who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me. I will....
My rifle and myself know that what counts in this war is not the rounds we fire, the noise of our burst, nor the smoke we make. We know that it is the hits that count. We will hit...
My rifle is human, even as I, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weakness, its strength, its parts, its accessories, its sights and its barrel. I will keep my rifle clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready. We will become part of each other. We will..."
- Rifleman's Creed
So yeah, cookie for the first person to guess what exactly about this picture is making me grin like a lunatic!
/continues grinning like a lunatic
My rifle and myself know that what counts in this war is not the rounds we fire, the noise of our burst, nor the smoke we make. We know that it is the hits that count. We will hit...
My rifle is human, even as I, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weakness, its strength, its parts, its accessories, its sights and its barrel. I will keep my rifle clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready. We will become part of each other. We will..."
- Rifleman's Creed
So yeah, cookie for the first person to guess what exactly about this picture is making me grin like a lunatic!
/continues grinning like a lunatic
Monday, April 21, 2008
You broke my Karazhan!
That's me. In a raid group with one other person so I could run into Karazhan for two minutes.
And that's... that's another raid group in the same instance with me.
After a lot of confusion and pondering over whether we actually could 11-man Karazhan, the one final member of the other raid group realized he couldn't get into the instance because the "raid was full". Ah, so that was it. Ten people with the same Raid ID can all get into the same copy of Kara, regardless of groups. That's how it seems, anyway, because I'd earlier been called in to help on Curator with two of these people a couple days ago... so I was, in fact, sharing a Raid ID.
Still, I can tell you right now, after months of playing this game, it is downright surreal to be in an instance all by yourself and suddenly run into a bunch of other players.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Hey There Little Red Riding Hood
We went to Karazhan yesterday. At first we were kind of nervous because a lot of the people who went this time had never gone before, and could probably still be considered a little undergeared.
But I guess we shouldn't have worried:
Attumen: One-shotted
Moroes: Two-shotted
Maiden: One-shotted
Opera - Big Bad Wolf: One-shotted
Curator: One-shotted
Chess: Free badges!
So at this point, having completely demolished the first half of Karzhan, we were all feeling really high off of our successes. All you other bosses, bring it on! We were on fire.
...soon to be literally.
We had two wipes on Illhoof before deciding to skip him. This was rather hilarious actually, somebody cried out "If you run far enough away he resets!" so off about half of us went, running throughout the entire tower with millions of little imps following us as one by one Illhoof plucked people away from their flight and sacrificed them. Pretty soon we were down to only me left, so I feigned death-- I don't know if that's what got me out of it or not but I do know that by the time he finally reset I had 40 HP left and was the only one still alive.
With that guy out of the question, we headed over to Shade of Aran. It was all sort of Leeroy Jenkins-ish: After an initial mishap where three people got too close and started the event with the rest of us still standing outside the closed doors (the panicky screams over Ventrilo were priceless), we all gathered together and had the two people who had done it before spend about ten minutes explaining the nuances of the fight to us in detail, we ran in, and... we blew up. At that point, the paladin was soulstoned but was literally laying at Aran's feet, it was super late, and everything decided to respawn, so we called it for the night.
Still, I gotta say it was a very successful night overall. I think the fact that we've got the first half of that place "on farm" isn't too bad for a scrappy group of roleplayers who have never stepped foot inside before until a few weeks ago. Oh, and no hunter loot, though our healers (and to a lesser extent, the rogue) really hit the jackpot. As I often say though-- I'm here for the fun. The loot is just the gravy. Also I think I did really well this time (that's the link to the anonymous WWS report-- I'm Thetys, Locke is Snooper, and Jitte the Mysterious Rogue is, I'm pretty sure, Moroes' garrote. No idea why it's showing up as a player.)
I was feeling kind of bad the last Karazhan run because I wasn't anywhere near the top and I sort of started to worry that I was "losing my touch" and not pulling my weight. So it was nice to do so much better this time. I was even tops on Curator! All the tips people started giving me musta helped. Oh and I was wearing my hunter shirt. Maybe that worked too. +100 Agi, +100 Ranged Attack Power, +100 doing-well-in-a-video-game.
/nods
...hey, you didn't think I'd letcha go without a movie, now did ya?
This is the Big Bad Wolf version of the Opera Event. It's basically a tank 'n spank with one little gimmick: Big Bad Wolf randomly turns people into Little Red Riding Hood and you have to run around in circles while he chases you, because you're silenced and can't do much of anything except run. Now as a wise man once said, if you Feign Death, he loses aggro on you and you don't have to worry about it (except for the fact that you are still slienced and can't do anything). Fortunately, my Feign Death, well... worked. =P
Music: The Revs - Turning Japanese
And yes, bad, bad, naughty hunter at about 1:20, pulling aggro like that. Now in my defense, Omen failed to give me any sort of flashy advance warning like it usually does... but still. Bad hunter.
/sits in corner
But I guess we shouldn't have worried:
Attumen: One-shotted
Moroes: Two-shotted
Maiden: One-shotted
Opera - Big Bad Wolf: One-shotted
Curator: One-shotted
Chess: Free badges!
So at this point, having completely demolished the first half of Karzhan, we were all feeling really high off of our successes. All you other bosses, bring it on! We were on fire.
...soon to be literally.
We had two wipes on Illhoof before deciding to skip him. This was rather hilarious actually, somebody cried out "If you run far enough away he resets!" so off about half of us went, running throughout the entire tower with millions of little imps following us as one by one Illhoof plucked people away from their flight and sacrificed them. Pretty soon we were down to only me left, so I feigned death-- I don't know if that's what got me out of it or not but I do know that by the time he finally reset I had 40 HP left and was the only one still alive.
With that guy out of the question, we headed over to Shade of Aran. It was all sort of Leeroy Jenkins-ish: After an initial mishap where three people got too close and started the event with the rest of us still standing outside the closed doors (the panicky screams over Ventrilo were priceless), we all gathered together and had the two people who had done it before spend about ten minutes explaining the nuances of the fight to us in detail, we ran in, and... we blew up. At that point, the paladin was soulstoned but was literally laying at Aran's feet, it was super late, and everything decided to respawn, so we called it for the night.
Still, I gotta say it was a very successful night overall. I think the fact that we've got the first half of that place "on farm" isn't too bad for a scrappy group of roleplayers who have never stepped foot inside before until a few weeks ago. Oh, and no hunter loot, though our healers (and to a lesser extent, the rogue) really hit the jackpot. As I often say though-- I'm here for the fun. The loot is just the gravy. Also I think I did really well this time (that's the link to the anonymous WWS report-- I'm Thetys, Locke is Snooper, and Jitte the Mysterious Rogue is, I'm pretty sure, Moroes' garrote. No idea why it's showing up as a player.)
I was feeling kind of bad the last Karazhan run because I wasn't anywhere near the top and I sort of started to worry that I was "losing my touch" and not pulling my weight. So it was nice to do so much better this time. I was even tops on Curator! All the tips people started giving me musta helped. Oh and I was wearing my hunter shirt. Maybe that worked too. +100 Agi, +100 Ranged Attack Power, +100 doing-well-in-a-video-game.
/nods
...hey, you didn't think I'd letcha go without a movie, now did ya?
This is the Big Bad Wolf version of the Opera Event. It's basically a tank 'n spank with one little gimmick: Big Bad Wolf randomly turns people into Little Red Riding Hood and you have to run around in circles while he chases you, because you're silenced and can't do much of anything except run. Now as a wise man once said, if you Feign Death, he loses aggro on you and you don't have to worry about it (except for the fact that you are still slienced and can't do anything). Fortunately, my Feign Death, well... worked. =P
Music: The Revs - Turning Japanese
And yes, bad, bad, naughty hunter at about 1:20, pulling aggro like that. Now in my defense, Omen failed to give me any sort of flashy advance warning like it usually does... but still. Bad hunter.
/sits in corner
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Giant Robots? Check. Fuzzballs? Check.
My guild went to Karazhan on Saturday-- I unfortunately was unable to go-- and they managed to get past the Opera Event in what I hear was an epic fight (something about six people dying, the tank kiting stuff around for five minutes while the healers regen'd mana, and eventually four-manning it) but then got stuck on Curator.
So... we went back. When I was available!
This fight, for those of you who haven't done it before, works something like this: There are these electric fuzzballs that aggro on random people that you have to kill. Every so often, Curator, a giant robot, turns all blue which means he takes double damage from everyone and that's when you have to focus on DPS'ing him.
Here's the final video I made-- after three or four false starts:
Music: Cyborg Jeff - F-Zero GX Dr Stuard Jeff & Toad Air Team Challengers OC ReMix; Jean Jacques Perrey - Brazilian Flower
(I know the last song is ridiculously silly. Bear with me when I say it's an inside joke of sorts. And makes the fact that the tank and Curator died within about a half second of each other even funnier.)
I'm not sure if this is a difficult fight for a hunter or if it was just hard for me because I'm not used to it. I know I do my best when I get to stand still and really dig into my shot rotation and let the crits flow. But for this fight I hardly got a chance to get in one or two shots on each fuzzball. For this reason, I had the snot beaten out of me in the DPS charts. I don't mind though. I had fun, I had the killing blow, and I got something shiny out of it:
Feels good to have some Tier 4 on my Armory, lemme tell ya.
At some point I'd like to write detailed guides to playing a hunter in each of the Kara fights but that's a ways off yet, right now it's just a blast to run around and check out all the different bosses. It sort of has a "rogue's gallery" feel to it. These are the bad guys that I've been hearing about since I started playing WoW about a year ago. It's so neat to finally go "meet" them.
We went to the Chess Event after this and then called it a night. Yes, we won Chess. I'd been informed that we'd be disowned if we didn't, so I guess that's a good thing.
So... we went back. When I was available!
This fight, for those of you who haven't done it before, works something like this: There are these electric fuzzballs that aggro on random people that you have to kill. Every so often, Curator, a giant robot, turns all blue which means he takes double damage from everyone and that's when you have to focus on DPS'ing him.
Here's the final video I made-- after three or four false starts:
Music: Cyborg Jeff - F-Zero GX Dr Stuard Jeff & Toad Air Team Challengers OC ReMix; Jean Jacques Perrey - Brazilian Flower
(I know the last song is ridiculously silly. Bear with me when I say it's an inside joke of sorts. And makes the fact that the tank and Curator died within about a half second of each other even funnier.)
I'm not sure if this is a difficult fight for a hunter or if it was just hard for me because I'm not used to it. I know I do my best when I get to stand still and really dig into my shot rotation and let the crits flow. But for this fight I hardly got a chance to get in one or two shots on each fuzzball. For this reason, I had the snot beaten out of me in the DPS charts. I don't mind though. I had fun, I had the killing blow, and I got something shiny out of it:
Feels good to have some Tier 4 on my Armory, lemme tell ya.
At some point I'd like to write detailed guides to playing a hunter in each of the Kara fights but that's a ways off yet, right now it's just a blast to run around and check out all the different bosses. It sort of has a "rogue's gallery" feel to it. These are the bad guys that I've been hearing about since I started playing WoW about a year ago. It's so neat to finally go "meet" them.
We went to the Chess Event after this and then called it a night. Yes, we won Chess. I'd been informed that we'd be disowned if we didn't, so I guess that's a good thing.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Take a drink... of chocolate milk
First he met my challenge and developed The Shaman Gear Drinking Game.
Then he made the BRK blog Drinking Game.
And then... Znodis made the Aspect of the Hare Drinking Game.
A couple examples:
- Take a drink for each character Pike mentions in a post. (That could get you drunk right there.)
- Take another drink if it’s not a hunter
...
- Take a drink if she talks about RP’ing.
- Take a drink if she actually starts RP’ing on the blog.
- Take a drink when she mentions Linux.
- Take a drink because no one really likes Windows.
- Turn off your computer and go get really drunk if you have Vista installed. When you sober up, uninstall it and get Linux because if you run into a problem at least you know someone can fix it.
...
- Take a drink if you wrote this drinking game in a subtle attempt to get Pike to draw you one of those cool custom avatars even though you’re not a hunter superstar.
Znodis, you may be disheartened to know that I still don't drink (unless we're talking about chocolate milk, or Mountain Dew when I'm feeling adventurous) BUT I think you'll be happy to learn that, just for you, if you e-mail me a screenshot of your character (in your favorite gear) and pet, I'll whip something up for ya. No guarantees on how long it will take, but I'll do my best. Oh, and if you have a specific location you'd like for the background... let me know that too. *nods* (I left this as a comment on your blog too, but I'm having trouble figuring out if it actually went through or not).
I'd love to be able to make avatars for the rest of my readers-- unfortunately time is still an issue-- but I often find myself trying to think up a way I can finally give you all your own little custom avatar. So hopefully someday I can make it happen. ^_^
In other news, my guild's got another Kara run lined up for tomorrow. I... have to work. /cry Fortunately I've been informed that best efforts are going to be made to line up the next-after-next run with my work schedule (which has been irritatingly inconsistent lately...) and besides, I never really figured I'd get to go to all the Kara runs. We've got dozens more ahead of us anyway, I'm sure. And lots of people who want to go. So it doesn't bug me too much.
... /sniffle
Then he made the BRK blog Drinking Game.
And then... Znodis made the Aspect of the Hare Drinking Game.
A couple examples:
- Take a drink for each character Pike mentions in a post. (That could get you drunk right there.)
- Take another drink if it’s not a hunter
...
- Take a drink if she talks about RP’ing.
- Take a drink if she actually starts RP’ing on the blog.
- Take a drink when she mentions Linux.
- Take a drink because no one really likes Windows.
- Turn off your computer and go get really drunk if you have Vista installed. When you sober up, uninstall it and get Linux because if you run into a problem at least you know someone can fix it.
...
- Take a drink if you wrote this drinking game in a subtle attempt to get Pike to draw you one of those cool custom avatars even though you’re not a hunter superstar.
Znodis, you may be disheartened to know that I still don't drink (unless we're talking about chocolate milk, or Mountain Dew when I'm feeling adventurous) BUT I think you'll be happy to learn that, just for you, if you e-mail me a screenshot of your character (in your favorite gear) and pet, I'll whip something up for ya. No guarantees on how long it will take, but I'll do my best. Oh, and if you have a specific location you'd like for the background... let me know that too. *nods* (I left this as a comment on your blog too, but I'm having trouble figuring out if it actually went through or not).
I'd love to be able to make avatars for the rest of my readers-- unfortunately time is still an issue-- but I often find myself trying to think up a way I can finally give you all your own little custom avatar. So hopefully someday I can make it happen. ^_^
In other news, my guild's got another Kara run lined up for tomorrow. I... have to work. /cry Fortunately I've been informed that best efforts are going to be made to line up the next-after-next run with my work schedule (which has been irritatingly inconsistent lately...) and besides, I never really figured I'd get to go to all the Kara runs. We've got dozens more ahead of us anyway, I'm sure. And lots of people who want to go. So it doesn't bug me too much.
... /sniffle
Saturday, March 8, 2008
They're Gonna Put Me In the Movies...
...all I gotta do is act naturally!
Yeah, I figured you guys might want to see a little more than just screenshots!
Our little guild's second ever try on Moroes; the first try doesn't really count, I think, because somebody got disconnected and the pull was a complete accident. Now I'm no BRK; watching this movie there are a few things I would have liked to have improved on, but overall I think I did a pretty good job that I can be proud of. Me and the other hunter were sort of bouncing traps off of each other during the second half; what you don't hear in the movie is the two of us on Ventrilo discussing how we're backing each other up.
About four minutes into the movie is a sort of funny moment as you can see both us hunters trying desperately to get green triangle into one of our traps... he was pretty heavily planted onto the off-tank at that point though.
And yes, the song is indeed "Scatman". Partially because the other hunter requested that song, partially because it fit perfectly with the length of the movie, and I won't deny, partially because this song has long been one of my favorite songs to WoW to. It's overdone, but I like it.
Enjoy!
(And I realize the video is pretty small; I may try to see if I can post up a bigger, higher-quality version, if enough people would be interested.)
Yeah, I figured you guys might want to see a little more than just screenshots!
Our little guild's second ever try on Moroes; the first try doesn't really count, I think, because somebody got disconnected and the pull was a complete accident. Now I'm no BRK; watching this movie there are a few things I would have liked to have improved on, but overall I think I did a pretty good job that I can be proud of. Me and the other hunter were sort of bouncing traps off of each other during the second half; what you don't hear in the movie is the two of us on Ventrilo discussing how we're backing each other up.
About four minutes into the movie is a sort of funny moment as you can see both us hunters trying desperately to get green triangle into one of our traps... he was pretty heavily planted onto the off-tank at that point though.
And yes, the song is indeed "Scatman". Partially because the other hunter requested that song, partially because it fit perfectly with the length of the movie, and I won't deny, partially because this song has long been one of my favorite songs to WoW to. It's overdone, but I like it.
Enjoy!
(And I realize the video is pretty small; I may try to see if I can post up a bigger, higher-quality version, if enough people would be interested.)
Karazhan: Liveblogged.
Tawyn & Locke and her guild (and a few non-guildies) vs. Karazhan:
This is going to be edited frequently throughout the night:
4:25pm: Having a roleplaying guild meeting and trying desperately to fill out our group because we had a few people drop out...
4:40pm: At the summoning stone. Tying up last minute details. Let it be known that I am really, really nervous.
4:55pm: The Boyfriend/Guild Leader is giving the Pre-Kara Peptalk.
5:05pm: Goin' in!
5:25pm: Standing in front of the first boss, getting ready for him. I chain trapped something and was proud of myself. ^^
5:35pm: Attumen the Huntsman down. I got some bracers; [Stalker's War Bands] (I'd link 'em on WoWHead but I'm in the middle of a raid! =P)
6:00pm: We're currently in the room with Moroes. I successfully pulled off four chained traps in a row a little while back, I'm glad I'm managing so well so far! =D
6:20pm: First wipe on Moroes; we had a horrible accidental pull and someone got disconnected, and still managed to kill some of the mobs and get Moroes down to about 11%. I kept some guy trapped for a while until I wound up too close to my trap and he got a hit on me; killed me in one hit cause my health was already a bit down. Still, definitely not a bad first try.
6:35pm: Moroes down on the second try. Me and the other hunter had some tag-team trapping action going on throughout most of it and it was pretty fun. I recorded it too! =D
7:03pm: Wiped on a trash pull where we accidentally grabbed two more adds than we wanted; we still managed to take down three which I thought was pretty good considering the fact that we're in some tiny hall and there was very little space to move around or trap and stuff. Currently sort of taking a small break while people rez, repair, and/or grab stuff to eat.
7:19pm: Standing in front of Maiden.
7:25pm: I died about ten seconds after starting Maiden; whoa, had no idea Holy Fire did that >.> So yeah, that one was a wipe.
7:37pm: Holy Fire and Repentance at the same time! The tank and I both died when she was at about 50%. Offtank picked up and got her down to about 30% before another wipe. The Deadly Boss Mods announcements are a big help though.
7:57pm: Third try, third wipe. Healers keep getting stunned...
8:10pm: ...and again. Sheesh. x_x We keep getting her to about 30%ish.
8:13pm: New plan, going to Opera.
8:25pm: The priest disconnected without us noticing and we did a pull expecting a shackle which never came-- this was followed by more adds then we wanted and this resulted in a wipe. My gear is all yellow... might have to repair soon. A couple people have to go so we're working on grabbing some replacements!
9:00pm: Unexpected issues with a lot of people having to leave, so we're going to call it for the night. We may or may not be back tomorrow. Either way, I had an awful lot of fun and got some new gear out of it. (Oh, and topped DPS. Just barely though. We had a fantastic group!) =D
This is going to be edited frequently throughout the night:
4:25pm: Having a roleplaying guild meeting and trying desperately to fill out our group because we had a few people drop out...
4:40pm: At the summoning stone. Tying up last minute details. Let it be known that I am really, really nervous.
4:55pm: The Boyfriend/Guild Leader is giving the Pre-Kara Peptalk.
5:05pm: Goin' in!
5:25pm: Standing in front of the first boss, getting ready for him. I chain trapped something and was proud of myself. ^^
5:35pm: Attumen the Huntsman down. I got some bracers; [Stalker's War Bands] (I'd link 'em on WoWHead but I'm in the middle of a raid! =P)
6:00pm: We're currently in the room with Moroes. I successfully pulled off four chained traps in a row a little while back, I'm glad I'm managing so well so far! =D
6:20pm: First wipe on Moroes; we had a horrible accidental pull and someone got disconnected, and still managed to kill some of the mobs and get Moroes down to about 11%. I kept some guy trapped for a while until I wound up too close to my trap and he got a hit on me; killed me in one hit cause my health was already a bit down. Still, definitely not a bad first try.
6:35pm: Moroes down on the second try. Me and the other hunter had some tag-team trapping action going on throughout most of it and it was pretty fun. I recorded it too! =D
7:03pm: Wiped on a trash pull where we accidentally grabbed two more adds than we wanted; we still managed to take down three which I thought was pretty good considering the fact that we're in some tiny hall and there was very little space to move around or trap and stuff. Currently sort of taking a small break while people rez, repair, and/or grab stuff to eat.
7:19pm: Standing in front of Maiden.
7:25pm: I died about ten seconds after starting Maiden; whoa, had no idea Holy Fire did that >.> So yeah, that one was a wipe.
7:37pm: Holy Fire and Repentance at the same time! The tank and I both died when she was at about 50%. Offtank picked up and got her down to about 30% before another wipe. The Deadly Boss Mods announcements are a big help though.
7:57pm: Third try, third wipe. Healers keep getting stunned...
8:10pm: ...and again. Sheesh. x_x We keep getting her to about 30%ish.
8:13pm: New plan, going to Opera.
8:25pm: The priest disconnected without us noticing and we did a pull expecting a shackle which never came-- this was followed by more adds then we wanted and this resulted in a wipe. My gear is all yellow... might have to repair soon. A couple people have to go so we're working on grabbing some replacements!
9:00pm: Unexpected issues with a lot of people having to leave, so we're going to call it for the night. We may or may not be back tomorrow. Either way, I had an awful lot of fun and got some new gear out of it. (Oh, and topped DPS. Just barely though. We had a fantastic group!) =D
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Getting Ready
So I'm going to Karazhan on Saturday. For the first time. I think that these next few days are going to be spent getting as ready for it as I possibly can.
Ran Heroic Mech yesterday-- our little instancing group decided we really need to get back into shape instance-wise because we haven't been running them as often as we used to-- and I maintain that Panthaleon the Calculator must really love me, because last time he dropped my gloves and trinket, and this time he dropped my gloves again (they got disenchanted) and also [Beast Lord Helm]. Now, I'm currently wearing [Gladiator's Chain Helm], and when I've got both of them all gemmed up and stuck a [Glyph of Ferocity] on them... Beast Lord Helm gives me about 2 extra attack power and a little mana regen, and Gladiator's Chain Helm gives me over 1% crit. Not to mention the stamina boost-- I'm sitting at about 6700 HP with Beast Lord. I feel like the world's flimsiest glass cannon.
You may be asking "Why say goodbye to so much crit and stamina?" And the answer is: The two-piece Beast Lord set bonus: Set: Reduces the cooldown on your traps by 4 sec.
I have always seen Crowd Control as being my #1 job in a party. CC comes before DPS on my little priority list. Always. (Unless everybody else in the party can CC-- but when I'm with my normal group, I'm always main CC.) And this trap cooldown is something that I see as being essential for Kara, especially as I have been informed that I am going to be one of the main providers of CC (alongside a priest). I'm glad I managed to snag this helmet before the weekend.
So now I've gained a shortened trap cooldown but lost a bunch of crit. What to do about this? The answer, I think, comes in the form of a list:
1.) Slap a [Stabilized Eternium Scope] on my bow (replacing +10 damage, which is on there currently).
2.) Get the exalted Scryer shoulder enchant (I've got the honored one already, but the exalted one gives a little more crit and some attack power)
3.) Replace the +7 agi enchant on my gloves with the +15 agi enchant.
I want to get those three things done by this weekend. Can I do it? ...I've no idea. I'm only Honored with Scryer (getting close to Revered though, I've been grinding rep in Shadowmoon and Netherstorm these past couple of days) and I've spent several hundred gold these past few days mostly on gear enhancements and the like, so I'm questioning whether or not I have the money for the new scope and glove enchant.
But you'd better believe I'm gonna try my hardest. I want to go into Kara feeling as ready as I possibly can be.
By the way, I think I'm going to borrow a page from Matticus and "liveblog" my first Kara run. What I'm trying to decide is... should I type it all up as I go along and then hit the "Publish Post" button after we're done for the night? Or should I publish it first thing and edit it throughout the run? I'm sorta thinking the first option is the best one, because I doubt anyone is going to be sitting at the edge of their seat refreshing my blog. =P But, we'll see!
Ran Heroic Mech yesterday-- our little instancing group decided we really need to get back into shape instance-wise because we haven't been running them as often as we used to-- and I maintain that Panthaleon the Calculator must really love me, because last time he dropped my gloves and trinket, and this time he dropped my gloves again (they got disenchanted) and also [Beast Lord Helm]. Now, I'm currently wearing [Gladiator's Chain Helm], and when I've got both of them all gemmed up and stuck a [Glyph of Ferocity] on them... Beast Lord Helm gives me about 2 extra attack power and a little mana regen, and Gladiator's Chain Helm gives me over 1% crit. Not to mention the stamina boost-- I'm sitting at about 6700 HP with Beast Lord. I feel like the world's flimsiest glass cannon.
You may be asking "Why say goodbye to so much crit and stamina?" And the answer is: The two-piece Beast Lord set bonus: Set: Reduces the cooldown on your traps by 4 sec.
I have always seen Crowd Control as being my #1 job in a party. CC comes before DPS on my little priority list. Always. (Unless everybody else in the party can CC-- but when I'm with my normal group, I'm always main CC.) And this trap cooldown is something that I see as being essential for Kara, especially as I have been informed that I am going to be one of the main providers of CC (alongside a priest). I'm glad I managed to snag this helmet before the weekend.
So now I've gained a shortened trap cooldown but lost a bunch of crit. What to do about this? The answer, I think, comes in the form of a list:
1.) Slap a [Stabilized Eternium Scope] on my bow (replacing +10 damage, which is on there currently).
2.) Get the exalted Scryer shoulder enchant (I've got the honored one already, but the exalted one gives a little more crit and some attack power)
3.) Replace the +7 agi enchant on my gloves with the +15 agi enchant.
I want to get those three things done by this weekend. Can I do it? ...I've no idea. I'm only Honored with Scryer (getting close to Revered though, I've been grinding rep in Shadowmoon and Netherstorm these past couple of days) and I've spent several hundred gold these past few days mostly on gear enhancements and the like, so I'm questioning whether or not I have the money for the new scope and glove enchant.
But you'd better believe I'm gonna try my hardest. I want to go into Kara feeling as ready as I possibly can be.
By the way, I think I'm going to borrow a page from Matticus and "liveblog" my first Kara run. What I'm trying to decide is... should I type it all up as I go along and then hit the "Publish Post" button after we're done for the night? Or should I publish it first thing and edit it throughout the run? I'm sorta thinking the first option is the best one, because I doubt anyone is going to be sitting at the edge of their seat refreshing my blog. =P But, we'll see!
Monday, February 18, 2008
And so it begins...
Finally got around to doing Black Morass and nabbing the vaunted key to Karazhan. We sort of waited around until we had a good-sized group of us in the guild who needed it, and today was one of the rare days lately where schedules didn't clash and we had four of us who needed the key, so we grabbed a fifth person and off we went to what was overall a very smooth run of BM, free of any deaths or major problems. I was on "adds duty" and I got a lot of praise for my job as such, so I must've done better than I thought I would, which is always a plus!
Afterwards we all rushed off to Shattrath and then all the way back to Azeroth and Deadwind Pass to finally nab ourselves [The Master's Key].
Now, you gotta understand something here. Of the five of us, three of us, myself included, had never once set foot inside Karazhan. The fourth had only been inside once and only for one boss, and the fifth had been inside multiple times but never before on this character or even character type (his two other characters are a warlock and a mage; this character is a holy pally.)
So what did we do?
We converted the group to a raid and went inside, of course.
(Insert screenshot here that I should have taken but completely forgot to! =P)
There were some level 71 elite horses that we decided to have some fun with because we were feeling a bit giddy. So that's exactly what we did. Pulled some horses and disposed of them. I even chain-trapped one, which normally isn't a big deal because I do that all the time but this is Kara, after all.
After a couple pulls we were sort of discussing it and came to the conclusion that the mobs so far seemed to be of a comparable difficulty level to the mobs in a Heroic. And as a guild, we've got a few Heroics under our collective belt.
So that's when somebody said "Hey, let's see if we can grab five other people and take the first boss."
So there we were, with that carrot dangling in our faces, and it was as four of the five of us were drooling over the carrot when my boyfriend, who also happens to be the guild leader, spoke up. He said that he had made this guild and leveled up with this guild and become good friends with the people in this guild and he wanted his first Karazhan run to be a guild/good-friends-of-the-guild run. And at the time we certainly did not have enough people in the guild who would be ready to jump into Kara with us.
And we all sort of agreed and reluctantly pushed that tasty carrot aside and left Karazhan. For now.
See, lemme talk about my guild for a bit. I'm sure I've mentioned this before in the past, but I'm gonna say it again. We have a pretty large guild, 120-something characters and 70+ accounts, and we are largely comprised of people who are newer to the game or who are at least new to getting a character to 70. These are people I leveled with. People who learned the game with me. People who have never done this end-game stuff before... just like me. We're all in this together.
I know of a lot of people who are in some big huge guild and they get ushered through Karazhan by the big boys the day after they hit 70 and come out of the other end all shiny and geared. I'm not trying to say that's a bad way to do it, but that's not how I would want to do it. I like the fact that my guild and I are doing it the old fashioned way. A year behind, yes. But that's not the point. We worked our way through the 50s and 60s doing instances together. We learned how to work together as a very unified team. We started doing some heroics and we have done very well on them, if I might say so myself, largely because we have that unity and experience with each other.
Most of us have never been in Karazhan before (except for today's little tour of the entryway). We haven't done end-game before. We don't know what we're doing. This is a big first for us. And it's going to be hard and we're going to get dirty and there is a lot of work ahead of us. And we are going to learn so much. And I can't wait.
We have a lot of people in the guild who are in their 50s or 60s or who are 70 and still need to get geared/keyed. And we agreed that we are going to start concentrating on helping those people get ready. It might take a few weeks. It might take more than that. But we will do it, and then we will have more than enough people for a ten-man raid and we'll trust each other and be able to work as a team because that's how we've been doing it all along.
It sometimes amazes me how much of a role WoW has had in teaching me how to be a team player. We're allowed to say this in job interviews, right? You know, when they ask you the inevitable "Tell me a story of when you had to work as a group" question. I can talk about WoW, right? I might get some funny looks, but hey...
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