I had this fantastic post planned about why I chose to be a druid in World of Warcraft. It was going to be good, I promise you. You'd have felt a bond with me; connected in a way you never had before. We might have even virtually hugged.
But then I stumbled upon something on my server last night. I cannot simply describe it as anything less than an abomination upon mankind. "Heinous" is not a strong enough word. Some of these ill feelings may also stem from jealousy. I won't admit it if they are, though.
As a Druid bear, two trinkets right now ought to make your balls shrivel (and if you don't have balls, just pretend you feel them shriveling up and tightening against your body). Defender's Code and Darkmoon Card: Greatness. Sure, there are other trinkets that are good, too, but these two beauties are so hard to come by and so powerful, how could you not want to hold them, forever caressing their soft skin?
I've been lucky to have gotten a Defender's Code drop. What I've not been so lucky to get is a a profession that helps me achieve the nobles deck. So, the only way for me to get this trinket is to do one of the following:
1) Buy the mats and have Doublevision's alt craft me a random card and pray I get a full deck eventually.
2) Buy the nobles cards from the auction house or trade chat.
3) Buy the full deck from the auction hour or trade chat.
Let me address these in order. Option number one makes the most sense. Double's a lifelong friend of mine and has said he'd have no problem crafting the cards for me. Of course, though, I'll be getting all sorts of random cards from each crafting and am not guaranteed a nobles card. The Nobles deck is by far the best for just about any class, so I foresee having a tough time selling cards that aren't nobles. The mats, in total, equate to about 750g on my server. This is the cheapest option, though maybe not in the long run if my luck isn't so lucky.
Option two caters to my American blood best. I want it and I want it now. So I just simply drop my currency on the cards and dance all the way to the Darkmoon Faire. The cards on my server go for 1500 to 2000 gold buyout on the auction house. Second cheapest option.
Option three is really just an extension of option two. However, remember that "abomination of mankind" I spoke of earlier? Yeah, it took me a while to get there, but option three specifically addresses this.
31000 gold buyout.
Darkmoon Card: Greatness.
On my server.
I had to pick my jaw up off of the floor.
Some people may have this kind of gold laying around their pockets, just waiting to be spent. I do not. And I'd like to consider myself well off when it comes to WoW gold. But 31000 gold is something I wish I had right now.
Now let's just say I opted for option two and paid 2000g a card. That comes to 16000g. That's a lot of gold. And surely it's an inflated price. I would like to meet the sucker, err... buyer that spends 31000g on that deck, though. I just know that sucker... err, buyer, sadly, won't be me.
Until the next Faerie Fire pull...
-Lushious
12/30/08
12/29/08
The Ease of It
A month ago I'd be hard pressed to state that Lich King's content was "easy." I was wiping multiple times in Heroics and my 10-man Naxx group couldn't topple Instructor Razuvious, explicitly marketed as being "the easiest boss in all of Naxxramas." No, I felt that the content was challenging enough and would tide me over well until the Ulduar content patch hit.
Fast forward to today where I've had two back-to-back complete runs of Heroic Naxxramas, am in possession of two pieces of tier 7.5, and the only challenge I face now is whether or not the healz I bring in with me to 10-man Naxx are competent enough to finish the job. Lich King's endgame content is too easy. There, I said it.
By the time I started playing WoW, guilds had already cleared Blacktemple and were fastidiously progressing in Sunwell Plateau. Though that's not to say that I didn't hear of the challenges that awaited people in the Sunwell. Either way, to this date, I still have never completed Blacktemple or Serpetshrine Cavern. Karazhan took some time and certainly was not bested by me within three weeks. So, I'm certainly not the best of the best in any shape, way, or form.
Yet here I am sitting happily upon my spoils of war. Defender's Code, Staff of the Plague Beast, and T7.5 Helm all rest easily on my loins. Sure I may not have Origin of Nightmares yet, but it is only a matter of time.
Really, the point I'm trying to make is that I am blowing through the content and acquiring wicked gear at an unprecedented rate. Sure, luck has a big part in the gear acquisitions, but not in terms of how me and my guild is progressing. And remember, this is the same guild that could not even complete Blacktemple, even after Patch 3.0.
Lich King is, simply put, retardo-easy. Malygos being the exception, but even then I'm sure his defeat will be right around the corner for my lackluster guildmates.
One last point to make. It took me nearly three months of continued Karazhan runs to acquire Tier 4 helm. And it only took me one Heroic Naxx run to get T7.5 helm. ><
Until the next Faerie Fire pull...
-Lushious
Fast forward to today where I've had two back-to-back complete runs of Heroic Naxxramas, am in possession of two pieces of tier 7.5, and the only challenge I face now is whether or not the healz I bring in with me to 10-man Naxx are competent enough to finish the job. Lich King's endgame content is too easy. There, I said it.
By the time I started playing WoW, guilds had already cleared Blacktemple and were fastidiously progressing in Sunwell Plateau. Though that's not to say that I didn't hear of the challenges that awaited people in the Sunwell. Either way, to this date, I still have never completed Blacktemple or Serpetshrine Cavern. Karazhan took some time and certainly was not bested by me within three weeks. So, I'm certainly not the best of the best in any shape, way, or form.
Yet here I am sitting happily upon my spoils of war. Defender's Code, Staff of the Plague Beast, and T7.5 Helm all rest easily on my loins. Sure I may not have Origin of Nightmares yet, but it is only a matter of time.
Really, the point I'm trying to make is that I am blowing through the content and acquiring wicked gear at an unprecedented rate. Sure, luck has a big part in the gear acquisitions, but not in terms of how me and my guild is progressing. And remember, this is the same guild that could not even complete Blacktemple, even after Patch 3.0.
Lich King is, simply put, retardo-easy. Malygos being the exception, but even then I'm sure his defeat will be right around the corner for my lackluster guildmates.
One last point to make. It took me nearly three months of continued Karazhan runs to acquire Tier 4 helm. And it only took me one Heroic Naxx run to get T7.5 helm. ><
Until the next Faerie Fire pull...
-Lushious
12/24/08
Happy Holidays
Happy Holidays, everyone!
Take this time to relish in the one thing greater than World of Warcraft:
Your family.
Until the next Faerie Fire pull...
-Lushious
Take this time to relish in the one thing greater than World of Warcraft:
Your family.
Until the next Faerie Fire pull...
-Lushious
12/18/08
D-Day Version 3.0.8
Your realm may be abuzz with talk of what the latest WoW patch brings. Version 3.0.8 hit the Public Test Realm last week and brings about a number of discussed changes to the druid class. The patch notes can be found here.
The biggest change to look forward to (or fear, depending on how you still stand) is the armor change. It's been discussed to death from here to the end of the internet, but it will soon be final. No more bonus armor from trinkets, rings, and staves.
I've already been preparing for this change, while still maintaining gear that allows me to be beastly currently.
For starters, I've replaced Badge of Tenacity with Essence of Gossamer. I find that Gossamer is an excellent trinket pre-3.0.8 patch and post. The 111 Stamina is a hefty stat and should offset the loss in bonus armor from Tenacity. The only thing I miss is that I relied heavily upon Tenacity to make it easier on the healers' job during some Naxx fights. That and Gossamer seems like it never procs.
Though I still lug around Enraged Feral Staff (the armor bonus can't be beat), I've Staff of Trickery sitting in my bank. As discussed previously, the bonus armor makes this blue much more desirable than the Staff. Trickery drops from H VH and shouldn't be too difficult to acquire. You may want to get started on acquiring this, if needed, before the patch goes live. Though any Naxx staff will trump trickery.
I know I've been trying to mask my famous identity from this blog. For this purpose, though, I must subject myself to a league of paparazzi. More important than me discussing a few key changes I've made to my bear, it's more important to give a real world example of the kind of changes us bears can expect from the latest patch.
My WoW Armory profile is here, for gear reference.
I now currently have 29660 armor.
With the new armor changes I now have 32114.
Your mileage may vary, but Ghostcrawler was right. This is a mild buff. And when I say "mild," I mean "almost 3k armor for free?!" I'd say an 8.27% increase is more than a mild buff.
Until the next Faerie Fire pull...
-Lushious
The biggest change to look forward to (or fear, depending on how you still stand) is the armor change. It's been discussed to death from here to the end of the internet, but it will soon be final. No more bonus armor from trinkets, rings, and staves.
I've already been preparing for this change, while still maintaining gear that allows me to be beastly currently.
For starters, I've replaced Badge of Tenacity with Essence of Gossamer. I find that Gossamer is an excellent trinket pre-3.0.8 patch and post. The 111 Stamina is a hefty stat and should offset the loss in bonus armor from Tenacity. The only thing I miss is that I relied heavily upon Tenacity to make it easier on the healers' job during some Naxx fights. That and Gossamer seems like it never procs.
Though I still lug around Enraged Feral Staff (the armor bonus can't be beat), I've Staff of Trickery sitting in my bank. As discussed previously, the bonus armor makes this blue much more desirable than the Staff. Trickery drops from H VH and shouldn't be too difficult to acquire. You may want to get started on acquiring this, if needed, before the patch goes live. Though any Naxx staff will trump trickery.
I know I've been trying to mask my famous identity from this blog. For this purpose, though, I must subject myself to a league of paparazzi. More important than me discussing a few key changes I've made to my bear, it's more important to give a real world example of the kind of changes us bears can expect from the latest patch.
My WoW Armory profile is here, for gear reference.
I now currently have 29660 armor.
With the new armor changes I now have 32114.
Your mileage may vary, but Ghostcrawler was right. This is a mild buff. And when I say "mild," I mean "almost 3k armor for free?!" I'd say an 8.27% increase is more than a mild buff.
Until the next Faerie Fire pull...
-Lushious
12/11/08
Heigan the Hobo
Wow. No one ever said blogging would be easy. I just never figured it'd be this hard. Work's been rather busy, so I've not been able to devote the time I've wanted to this blog. But fear not! I've had a post cooking up for some time now!
I would imagine you have started tanking Naxx. And if you're luckier then me, you've completed Naxx. My guild is having some problems, but that's another post for another time. First off, let me say that I love Naxxramas. The instance is fun, challenging, and the different strategies on the bosses always has me looking forward to the encounters.
One encounter I love, not only because he drops Staff of the Plaguebeast, but also because it's so unique, is Heigan the Unclean. It's a simple fight once you know the mechanics, but I am finding guildmates that still have a tough time with Heigan. WoWwiki has a good strategy (read it, it's good!), but I'd like to expand upon what they've already relayed.
The Heigan battleground can be separated into four zones. Each zone is a safe spot for when he does his mass AOE that bubbles up from the floor. Area 1 and Area 4 of his AE are straight-forward. Area 1 is right by the entrance and area 4 is the farthest zone away. In the below image keep your party below the line. I often tank Heigan parallel to the line. When you and your party goes back to this area during Phase two, be sure to not travel too far below the line. This will make transitioning to area 2 tough, as you will have more ground to cover.
There are some key focal points in area 2 and 3, though, that will make this fight easier. I find directing fellow players to these stones will help them with establishing the right safe zone for each AOE.
This circular stone, closest to the entrance, is an excellent landmark. I've highlighted it in yellow. As you can see in the picture, there is a natural green outline that makes this an easily identifiable safe spot
Area 3 has a similar stone that I run to every time. It's easy to distinguish through all of the chaos. It's not dissimilar to area 2's stone.
Area four is simply beyond the safe zone in area 3.
All in all, Heigan is an easy and straight-forward fight. The biggest challenge is simply knowing where to be at the right time. During Phase two he unleashes his AOE a lot quicker, so it's a matter of moving from safe spot to spot in quick succession. After one or two tries, and reading my blog, you'll be on to victory in no time. :D
If you're like me, you'll go 0 for 3 in Staff of the Plaguebeast dropping.
Until the next Faerie Fire pull...
-Lushious
I would imagine you have started tanking Naxx. And if you're luckier then me, you've completed Naxx. My guild is having some problems, but that's another post for another time. First off, let me say that I love Naxxramas. The instance is fun, challenging, and the different strategies on the bosses always has me looking forward to the encounters.
One encounter I love, not only because he drops Staff of the Plaguebeast, but also because it's so unique, is Heigan the Unclean. It's a simple fight once you know the mechanics, but I am finding guildmates that still have a tough time with Heigan. WoWwiki has a good strategy (read it, it's good!), but I'd like to expand upon what they've already relayed.
The Heigan battleground can be separated into four zones. Each zone is a safe spot for when he does his mass AOE that bubbles up from the floor. Area 1 and Area 4 of his AE are straight-forward. Area 1 is right by the entrance and area 4 is the farthest zone away. In the below image keep your party below the line. I often tank Heigan parallel to the line. When you and your party goes back to this area during Phase two, be sure to not travel too far below the line. This will make transitioning to area 2 tough, as you will have more ground to cover.
There are some key focal points in area 2 and 3, though, that will make this fight easier. I find directing fellow players to these stones will help them with establishing the right safe zone for each AOE.
This circular stone, closest to the entrance, is an excellent landmark. I've highlighted it in yellow. As you can see in the picture, there is a natural green outline that makes this an easily identifiable safe spot
Area 3 has a similar stone that I run to every time. It's easy to distinguish through all of the chaos. It's not dissimilar to area 2's stone.
Area four is simply beyond the safe zone in area 3.
All in all, Heigan is an easy and straight-forward fight. The biggest challenge is simply knowing where to be at the right time. During Phase two he unleashes his AOE a lot quicker, so it's a matter of moving from safe spot to spot in quick succession. After one or two tries, and reading my blog, you'll be on to victory in no time. :D
If you're like me, you'll go 0 for 3 in Staff of the Plaguebeast dropping.
Until the next Faerie Fire pull...
-Lushious
11/24/08
*Now* I Get It
Karthis, from Of Teeth and Claws, has been an anchor of realism, championing the recent druid changes as being good for us and not the axis of malevolence that some of us are guilty of assuming (Who? Me?). I am ready for these changes, though I still do not welcome them with open arms. I at least get the reason for why these changes have occurred.
We all know by now that the reason for the change is to increase our itemization palette. I still have badge of tenacity. My bear paws grip it with a fury and a tightness the world has never seen! So, when I say goodbye to my beloved badge, I will make another choice in my gear itemization, replacing my current staff with another I've picked up along the way. On Friday I snagged Enraged Feral Staff from the final boss in heroic Utgarde Keep.
Let's take a moment to revel in its beauty:
700 Armor
This stat makes this staff damned near ungodly. Provided you have three points in Thick Hide (which you should), then this 700 armor becomes:
700 x 3.7 x 1.1 = 2849
From this blue staff we get a very, very large amount of armor. Why would I want anything more? But wait! This staff has more than armor on it.
52 Strength
This gives us an additional 104 attack power. That is pretty good in its own right, too. More AP equals more damage which equals more threat. I am not complaining here.
78 Agility
Of course diminishing returns is going to determine what kind of mileage we got out of this number, but I'm never one to look an agility horse in the mouth. As bears we love agility and the fact that we get 78 agility out of this staff is icing on the cake.
117 Stamina
Now, provided my theory-crafting is correct (if not, please correct me!), then we get the following:
117 x 1.25 x 1.2 x = 175 stamina, or 1750 health, for Night Elves
117 x 1.25 x 1.2 x 1.05 = 184 stamina, or 1840 health, for Taurens
Nothing like some good old fashioned health to soak up the attacks!
Attack Power
1602 AP in feral forms. As if we needed anything else on this staff.
Of course this is all going to change when the next big patch hits. As for now? This staff rocks. It rocks me on the water. So hard does this staff rock that I have not replaced it with Staff of Trickery, which I received from the final boss in Heroic Violet Hold. And this is why I get it. Keep with me here, I'm getting to the point soon.
Let's disseminate this staff's stats, too!
90 Strength
This gives us an additional 180 attack power. 76 more AP than what we get on Enraged.
89 Agility
Here we don't see a big jump. And with diminishing returns, this may not be the deciding factor for you.
133 Stamina
133 x 1.25 x 1.2 = 199 stamina, or 1990 health, for Night Elves
133 x 1.25 x 1.2 x 1.05 = 209 stamina, or 2090 health, for Taurens
Attack Power
1845 AP in feral forms. Wow!
These are all amazing stats in their own right. Remember how I said I'd get to the point? Here it is.
Why would I lose 2849 armor to gain 250 health (190 for Night Elves)? I don't remember the exact number, but choosing Enraged over Trickery netted me around an additional 4% physical damage mitigation. At a 10,000 HP hit would become 9600 HP with that mitigation. The additional health only, in theory, nets us 9750/9820 HP (assuming all we did was increase health and not mitigation). 'Cause Lord knows we'd gain HP at the cost of losing mitigation in this scenario.
"What about magic, Lushious? That's not affected by armor," you might say. And you'd be right. Though I state my case again. I find the additional 250/190 health not worth the upgrade, considering how much the armor mitigates the rest of the damage you'll face. The AP is a non-factor, if you ask me. Threat isn't an issue for us now and should we even care about our DPS? Nah, leave that to the ones that do it best. As for the agility? It's too small of an increase that I am broken hearted over choosing Enrage over Trickery.
And this is exactly the type of behavior I feel Blizzard is trying to avoid. For now I stick with the blue. In the future I go with the purple. And if I was a kitty, I'd probably sleep a lot.
Until the next Faerie Fire pull...
-Lushious
We all know by now that the reason for the change is to increase our itemization palette. I still have badge of tenacity. My bear paws grip it with a fury and a tightness the world has never seen! So, when I say goodbye to my beloved badge, I will make another choice in my gear itemization, replacing my current staff with another I've picked up along the way. On Friday I snagged Enraged Feral Staff from the final boss in heroic Utgarde Keep.
Let's take a moment to revel in its beauty:
700 Armor
This stat makes this staff damned near ungodly. Provided you have three points in Thick Hide (which you should), then this 700 armor becomes:
700 x 3.7 x 1.1 = 2849
From this blue staff we get a very, very large amount of armor. Why would I want anything more? But wait! This staff has more than armor on it.
52 Strength
This gives us an additional 104 attack power. That is pretty good in its own right, too. More AP equals more damage which equals more threat. I am not complaining here.
78 Agility
Of course diminishing returns is going to determine what kind of mileage we got out of this number, but I'm never one to look an agility horse in the mouth. As bears we love agility and the fact that we get 78 agility out of this staff is icing on the cake.
117 Stamina
Now, provided my theory-crafting is correct (if not, please correct me!), then we get the following:
117 x 1.25 x 1.2 x = 175 stamina, or 1750 health, for Night Elves
117 x 1.25 x 1.2 x 1.05 = 184 stamina, or 1840 health, for Taurens
Nothing like some good old fashioned health to soak up the attacks!
Attack Power
1602 AP in feral forms. As if we needed anything else on this staff.
Of course this is all going to change when the next big patch hits. As for now? This staff rocks. It rocks me on the water. So hard does this staff rock that I have not replaced it with Staff of Trickery, which I received from the final boss in Heroic Violet Hold. And this is why I get it. Keep with me here, I'm getting to the point soon.
Let's disseminate this staff's stats, too!
90 Strength
This gives us an additional 180 attack power. 76 more AP than what we get on Enraged.
89 Agility
Here we don't see a big jump. And with diminishing returns, this may not be the deciding factor for you.
133 Stamina
133 x 1.25 x 1.2 = 199 stamina, or 1990 health, for Night Elves
133 x 1.25 x 1.2 x 1.05 = 209 stamina, or 2090 health, for Taurens
Attack Power
1845 AP in feral forms. Wow!
These are all amazing stats in their own right. Remember how I said I'd get to the point? Here it is.
Why would I lose 2849 armor to gain 250 health (190 for Night Elves)? I don't remember the exact number, but choosing Enraged over Trickery netted me around an additional 4% physical damage mitigation. At a 10,000 HP hit would become 9600 HP with that mitigation. The additional health only, in theory, nets us 9750/9820 HP (assuming all we did was increase health and not mitigation). 'Cause Lord knows we'd gain HP at the cost of losing mitigation in this scenario.
"What about magic, Lushious? That's not affected by armor," you might say. And you'd be right. Though I state my case again. I find the additional 250/190 health not worth the upgrade, considering how much the armor mitigates the rest of the damage you'll face. The AP is a non-factor, if you ask me. Threat isn't an issue for us now and should we even care about our DPS? Nah, leave that to the ones that do it best. As for the agility? It's too small of an increase that I am broken hearted over choosing Enrage over Trickery.
And this is exactly the type of behavior I feel Blizzard is trying to avoid. For now I stick with the blue. In the future I go with the purple. And if I was a kitty, I'd probably sleep a lot.
Until the next Faerie Fire pull...
-Lushious
Mommy, Wow! I'm a Big Kid Now!
I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. Mine was good and was filled with fun social activities both in and out of the World of Azeroth. One must not forget about the adventure that awaits in real life!
A lot of my time was spent running heroics this past weekend. My main goal is to acquire the T7 chest piece and gloves. The chest piece is first on my hit list, as I'd like to replace my badge chest with it. T6 gloves, on the other hand, well, they can stay.
Don't let me fool you into thinking this post is going to be about how challenging even the easiest heroics are with a crummy healer, or how Heroic Nexus is the Mechanar of Northrend (5 badges for a full clear!). No, this post is not about any of that.
This post is about my first ever Naxx'ramas run.
"Lushious is ready for Naxx," a guildy healer said when discussing how easy it was to heal me. I've never been a healer, but I respect this member's opinion and, apparently, I am easy to heal. Now, it's hard not to let something like this get to your head. I'm not egotistical (though having a blog may immediately discredit that statement), but it's a nice morale booster.
Our official guild Naxx run doesn't start for another week, but I've been a little antsy to get back into raiding. The Guild Leader gave me blessing to run Naxx before our official time, so, with five other guildmates in tow, we PUG'd two healers and two more DPS to round out a Naxx'Ramas run that consisted of the following:
1x Yours Truly as Main Tank
1x Prot Warrior as Off Tank
1x Holy Paladin for Healz
1x Holy Priest for Healz
1x Ret Pally for DPS
1x Mage for DPS
1x Death Knight for DPS
1x Shadow Priest for DPS
1x Hunter for DPS
1x Enhancement Shaman for DPS
Let me just say this right now: Us bears can main tank Naxx bosses no problem!
The above group cleared the entire Spider Wing. It normally took us about three tries to get the hang of the bosses and formulate a strategy that worked. You can certainly go to Wowhead or Wowwiki and read about the strategies for each boss, but I would like to share with you my experience tanking each boss and what our group did to be successful for the first three bosses of Naxx'Ramas.
Anub'Rekhan
I tanked Anub right where he sits awaiting our arrival. The OT took care of any crypt guards that spawned, with DPS focusing on any adds immediately. All DPS stood in the center of the room. Once we understand the boss' rotation and I was able to play my part, we were able to down him.
During this fight I went into cat form. Crazy, right? So crazy it worked. Anub will cast locust swarm every minute and a half to two minutes or so. Locust swarm prevents any and all attacks and casts (even white attacks), on top of dealing damage. It is not good. As he casts Locust Swarm he stops and strike a pose. At this point it is crucial that no one in the party gets hit by this. The tank will want to get ahead of Anub and kite him during this phase so that he, along with the rest of the raid, do not get afflicted with Locust Swarm. So, I popped into cat form the moment he did locust swarm and kited Anub around the circumference of the room to the area where you enter. At that point I continued tanking until the next locust swarm, performing the same manuever around the room to the other side.
Now that I think about what transpired during the locust swarm phase, going kitty may not have been the best option. When Anub strikes a pose for locust swarm you have about one second to gain some ground and then he will follow at 25% reduced speed. In kitty form the 30% speed boost works indoors, so I now had a 55% speed advantage on him, not counting the one second head start. At a few intervals (one including a wipe), I was so fast that rather thank successfully kiting him around the circumference of the room, he just cut across the room taking the shortest path to get me and smacking most of the raid with locust swarm.
Next time I will remain in bear form and kite him. As long as you react in time, having the one second head start should afford you enough ground to not get hit by locust swarm, as well as keeping Anub away from the rest of the raid.
Grand Widow Faerlina
She's pretty manageable. As the tank you will simply want to tank her about 10 yards, maybe a little more, away from her cohorts. Have your OT focus on her four adds, with DPS choosing one cohort and bringing them to low health, but not killing them. The strategy here is that she will frenzy every minute or so doing massive damage to the tank. Killing one of her four adds will immediately stop this effect.
I tanked Faerlina close to the adds, ensuring that I moved her out of her AOE rain of fire when she casted it. Our OT and DPS did a fantastic job of managing her four adds, bringing each one of them to low health as needed. Once frenzy hit, they did massive burst damage and quickly stopped Faerlina's frenzy. This fight is not overly complex, it just requires excellent communication and coordination.
Maexxna
This gargantuan spider proved to be the most daunting for this group. Of course, spirits were high. We just downed two bosses in Naxx and felt like kings of the castle. Maexxna put us in our place.
I tanked Maexxna in the center of the room. As we wiped more and more I began to formulate a routine that maximized my avoidance and mitigation, because she hits hard! I will get to that in a moment, but here is what we did to down her:
For the first 20 seconds DPS just hit her as hard as they could. When she web wrapped three members to the wall, ranged DPS would focus on them to bring them back into the fray. After 20 seconds she summons spiderlings beneath her, which was quickly AOE'd and DPS'd. Then, at 40 seconds, she casts web spray which incapacitated us for 3-5 five seconds. The cycle then rotated until she reached about 600,000 health, where she enraged and beat my face in.
Web spray was the hardest part for the healz. It wasn't hard on me, I just soaked up the damage and sometimes died. The ensure that I lived through a period where no one could do anything, I made sure I had proc'd two things. The first was demoralizing roar. To further assist in taking less damage, I would also save my barkskin for this phase. These two abilities every bear will have.
Lucky for me (and maybe you, too), I still have Moroes' Lucky Pocket Watch and Badge of Tenacity. I proc'd one of those right before her web spray, starting from the second web spray forward (since healz would be fatigued a little by that point). All three of these in conjunction certainly increased my survivability.
Her enrage was the tricky part. I needed big healz, else she would stomp all over me. She was hitting me for in excess of 10k damage a hit. I had even seen it hit 14k damage. Even completely buffed at 30.7k health this was a challenge for the healers. For this phase I completely relied upon Survival Instincts. Of course, the same abilities and items I used for web spray were used during enrage, if available. With Survival Instincts I had 42k health, but, again, she hits like a mack truck during this phase.
I did die during this phase, but our OT picked her up and through some awesome healz we managed to best her. This fight took more attempts than the rest, but we did down her through perserverance, intelligence, and coordination. And so can you!
And no, I did not get any loot during this time. Not even any drops remotely good for a druid bear. Today, though, we work on the Death Knight wing!
Until the next Faerie Fire pull...
-Lushious
A lot of my time was spent running heroics this past weekend. My main goal is to acquire the T7 chest piece and gloves. The chest piece is first on my hit list, as I'd like to replace my badge chest with it. T6 gloves, on the other hand, well, they can stay.
Don't let me fool you into thinking this post is going to be about how challenging even the easiest heroics are with a crummy healer, or how Heroic Nexus is the Mechanar of Northrend (5 badges for a full clear!). No, this post is not about any of that.
This post is about my first ever Naxx'ramas run.
"Lushious is ready for Naxx," a guildy healer said when discussing how easy it was to heal me. I've never been a healer, but I respect this member's opinion and, apparently, I am easy to heal. Now, it's hard not to let something like this get to your head. I'm not egotistical (though having a blog may immediately discredit that statement), but it's a nice morale booster.
Our official guild Naxx run doesn't start for another week, but I've been a little antsy to get back into raiding. The Guild Leader gave me blessing to run Naxx before our official time, so, with five other guildmates in tow, we PUG'd two healers and two more DPS to round out a Naxx'Ramas run that consisted of the following:
1x Yours Truly as Main Tank
1x Prot Warrior as Off Tank
1x Holy Paladin for Healz
1x Holy Priest for Healz
1x Ret Pally for DPS
1x Mage for DPS
1x Death Knight for DPS
1x Shadow Priest for DPS
1x Hunter for DPS
1x Enhancement Shaman for DPS
Let me just say this right now: Us bears can main tank Naxx bosses no problem!
The above group cleared the entire Spider Wing. It normally took us about three tries to get the hang of the bosses and formulate a strategy that worked. You can certainly go to Wowhead or Wowwiki and read about the strategies for each boss, but I would like to share with you my experience tanking each boss and what our group did to be successful for the first three bosses of Naxx'Ramas.
Anub'Rekhan
I tanked Anub right where he sits awaiting our arrival. The OT took care of any crypt guards that spawned, with DPS focusing on any adds immediately. All DPS stood in the center of the room. Once we understand the boss' rotation and I was able to play my part, we were able to down him.
During this fight I went into cat form. Crazy, right? So crazy it worked. Anub will cast locust swarm every minute and a half to two minutes or so. Locust swarm prevents any and all attacks and casts (even white attacks), on top of dealing damage. It is not good. As he casts Locust Swarm he stops and strike a pose. At this point it is crucial that no one in the party gets hit by this. The tank will want to get ahead of Anub and kite him during this phase so that he, along with the rest of the raid, do not get afflicted with Locust Swarm. So, I popped into cat form the moment he did locust swarm and kited Anub around the circumference of the room to the area where you enter. At that point I continued tanking until the next locust swarm, performing the same manuever around the room to the other side.
Now that I think about what transpired during the locust swarm phase, going kitty may not have been the best option. When Anub strikes a pose for locust swarm you have about one second to gain some ground and then he will follow at 25% reduced speed. In kitty form the 30% speed boost works indoors, so I now had a 55% speed advantage on him, not counting the one second head start. At a few intervals (one including a wipe), I was so fast that rather thank successfully kiting him around the circumference of the room, he just cut across the room taking the shortest path to get me and smacking most of the raid with locust swarm.
Next time I will remain in bear form and kite him. As long as you react in time, having the one second head start should afford you enough ground to not get hit by locust swarm, as well as keeping Anub away from the rest of the raid.
Grand Widow Faerlina
She's pretty manageable. As the tank you will simply want to tank her about 10 yards, maybe a little more, away from her cohorts. Have your OT focus on her four adds, with DPS choosing one cohort and bringing them to low health, but not killing them. The strategy here is that she will frenzy every minute or so doing massive damage to the tank. Killing one of her four adds will immediately stop this effect.
I tanked Faerlina close to the adds, ensuring that I moved her out of her AOE rain of fire when she casted it. Our OT and DPS did a fantastic job of managing her four adds, bringing each one of them to low health as needed. Once frenzy hit, they did massive burst damage and quickly stopped Faerlina's frenzy. This fight is not overly complex, it just requires excellent communication and coordination.
Maexxna
This gargantuan spider proved to be the most daunting for this group. Of course, spirits were high. We just downed two bosses in Naxx and felt like kings of the castle. Maexxna put us in our place.
I tanked Maexxna in the center of the room. As we wiped more and more I began to formulate a routine that maximized my avoidance and mitigation, because she hits hard! I will get to that in a moment, but here is what we did to down her:
For the first 20 seconds DPS just hit her as hard as they could. When she web wrapped three members to the wall, ranged DPS would focus on them to bring them back into the fray. After 20 seconds she summons spiderlings beneath her, which was quickly AOE'd and DPS'd. Then, at 40 seconds, she casts web spray which incapacitated us for 3-5 five seconds. The cycle then rotated until she reached about 600,000 health, where she enraged and beat my face in.
Web spray was the hardest part for the healz. It wasn't hard on me, I just soaked up the damage and sometimes died. The ensure that I lived through a period where no one could do anything, I made sure I had proc'd two things. The first was demoralizing roar. To further assist in taking less damage, I would also save my barkskin for this phase. These two abilities every bear will have.
Lucky for me (and maybe you, too), I still have Moroes' Lucky Pocket Watch and Badge of Tenacity. I proc'd one of those right before her web spray, starting from the second web spray forward (since healz would be fatigued a little by that point). All three of these in conjunction certainly increased my survivability.
Her enrage was the tricky part. I needed big healz, else she would stomp all over me. She was hitting me for in excess of 10k damage a hit. I had even seen it hit 14k damage. Even completely buffed at 30.7k health this was a challenge for the healers. For this phase I completely relied upon Survival Instincts. Of course, the same abilities and items I used for web spray were used during enrage, if available. With Survival Instincts I had 42k health, but, again, she hits like a mack truck during this phase.
I did die during this phase, but our OT picked her up and through some awesome healz we managed to best her. This fight took more attempts than the rest, but we did down her through perserverance, intelligence, and coordination. And so can you!
And no, I did not get any loot during this time. Not even any drops remotely good for a druid bear. Today, though, we work on the Death Knight wing!
Until the next Faerie Fire pull...
-Lushious
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