The Big ole Bitch is Baaaaack!
The Original BoB of vanilla WoW, season one, episode 10 was Onyxia.
She's the big deal for old school raiders. I got to level 60 in 9 months and had a laundry list of Tier 0 Blues to show for it. Kudos to the hardcore gruids that brought beefy tanks in "Fire Resist" plate and combined 40 peoples efforts to create an unstoppable Main Tank to face this mighty red dragon. We handled LBRS and UBRS with aplomb. We even tore thru Strat like we owned the place. Once we got to Onyxia, we got eaten. She was an untamed force of nature.
We brought 40 people to kill Onyxia... Because we had to. She was that tough, at first. As the first great expansion loomed on the horizon, players began to gear up in Tier 2 armor sets from Blackwing Lair and the rest filled out entierly in T1 set items for FR value.
We came with potions, buff foods, and whatever miscellaneous charms we could muster. There was no limit on buff potions or consumables, so people loaded up heavy to face this Dragon. Over time, our gear got better. Our Tanks became Beefier. Our Healers had more mana and more spellpower. The group dynamics worked themselves out and we began to breathe easy on this encounter. Near the end of the era, we could take 35 or even 30 people in to face Onyxia. A bad pull, a missed block or a dropped heal meant - Dead Tank >>> Raid Wipe.
There were many many lectures and rants by frustrated raid leaders and Guildmasters. I have to link the famous Minus 50 DKP video. That just brings back.... memories. Yes people get un-hinged. We had alot of egos that conflicted for control. We wiped quite a few times in quite a few guild runs. Those were the STORIES of old World of Warcraft. Before the level caps were raised to 70. Expansion Gear. Flying mounts. Level 80. Deathknights. and the last 7 Tiers of Epic Epic Epic gear. Take a look at the original loot tables to see what the best of the best wore when facing the old Level 60 Onyxia. She BROUGHT the pain. Every once in a while, we got lucky and got her killed before we were overwhelmed.
That creature that people were 5 manning or 3manning a couple weeks ago?? She's gone. THE old girl is back... And she's got some hurt to bring ya.
Enjoy. I'll be the Dwarf Hunter covered in barbeque sauce.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Brewfest 2009!
Brewfest
Dwarven Festival of Drinking, Sausage, Pretzels, Singing, and Mischief? Hells yea!! Where do I sign up?? Brewfest is a good time. If the Undead have one, it's just because they want to offer the same benefits for both factions. Ours rocks harder than theirs.
Drunken stumbling.
Empty mug tossing at robots and other patrons.
Riding competitions / Minigames for coins.
Dress Up in costumes causing a rucus.
Brawling in Blackrock Depths
Epic trinket drops!
STA Trinket1 - Summons a brewmaiden to buff your party with heals and free beer
STA Trinket2 - Summons a dire brewmaiden to throw empty mugs at your foes
Dodge Trinket - Dodge with a Dodge proc.
Spellpower / Healing Trinket - 98 Spellpower with a Haste Proc on heals
Crit / Damage Caster Trinket - 84 Crt with a Spellpower proc on casts
Crit / DPS Trinket - 84 Crit with a 1000 Atk proc on Ranged / Melee hit
The long awaited "Brewmaster" title.
This is great fun!!
I'll link more drops later. So far, I've gotten to Corin Direbrew a few times on my hunter, my warrior, and my Priest. Truly, if your character doesn't have a 200 level Trinket, get there. The boss to defeat is easily reachable by griffon or summons in under 2 minutes from Ironforge. The new BRD boss Drops alot of really cool things this week. Each player can trigger him once per day ( daily quest ), so essentially you'll get 5 chances at trinket drops. Repeat drops are common. The uncommon drops are...
Remote Control to summon a Mole-machine to port your whole party BRD once an hour.
Epic Kodo Mount - Nice little faction mount for Alliance players that want to pimp around.
Barman's Shanker - BoP Unique Dagger. Nice for those rogues that don't have Lv 200+ epics.
DireBrew Mace - BoE epic Mace. Please USE the mace if you win. Selling it on the AH is lame.
Did I mention, you can repeat this run every day?
There's chasing pink elephants and riding around Ironforge for the little kiddies. They even have a non-drinking alternative for those that want to remain "Virtually" moral during an Oktoberfest seasonal Event. Whatev. We'll cater to everyone. Have fun all!!
Did I mention that the brewmaster trinkets are the MUST have trinkets for any tank or dual spec tank class? You can't BUY a trinket with +170 STA on it. Two of these bad boys are going to seriously offset any deficiencies you may have with your armor. If your armor is great, then these two will make you even MORE awesome. Repeat it on your tank till you get both.
Dwarven Festival of Drinking, Sausage, Pretzels, Singing, and Mischief? Hells yea!! Where do I sign up?? Brewfest is a good time. If the Undead have one, it's just because they want to offer the same benefits for both factions. Ours rocks harder than theirs.
Drunken stumbling.
Empty mug tossing at robots and other patrons.
Riding competitions / Minigames for coins.
Dress Up in costumes causing a rucus.
Brawling in Blackrock Depths
Epic trinket drops!
STA Trinket1 - Summons a brewmaiden to buff your party with heals and free beer
STA Trinket2 - Summons a dire brewmaiden to throw empty mugs at your foes
Dodge Trinket - Dodge with a Dodge proc.
Spellpower / Healing Trinket - 98 Spellpower with a Haste Proc on heals
Crit / Damage Caster Trinket - 84 Crt with a Spellpower proc on casts
Crit / DPS Trinket - 84 Crit with a 1000 Atk proc on Ranged / Melee hit
The long awaited "Brewmaster" title.
This is great fun!!
I'll link more drops later. So far, I've gotten to Corin Direbrew a few times on my hunter, my warrior, and my Priest. Truly, if your character doesn't have a 200 level Trinket, get there. The boss to defeat is easily reachable by griffon or summons in under 2 minutes from Ironforge. The new BRD boss Drops alot of really cool things this week. Each player can trigger him once per day ( daily quest ), so essentially you'll get 5 chances at trinket drops. Repeat drops are common. The uncommon drops are...
Remote Control to summon a Mole-machine to port your whole party BRD once an hour.
Epic Kodo Mount - Nice little faction mount for Alliance players that want to pimp around.
Barman's Shanker - BoP Unique Dagger. Nice for those rogues that don't have Lv 200+ epics.
DireBrew Mace - BoE epic Mace. Please USE the mace if you win. Selling it on the AH is lame.
Did I mention, you can repeat this run every day?
There's chasing pink elephants and riding around Ironforge for the little kiddies. They even have a non-drinking alternative for those that want to remain "Virtually" moral during an Oktoberfest seasonal Event. Whatev. We'll cater to everyone. Have fun all!!
Did I mention that the brewmaster trinkets are the MUST have trinkets for any tank or dual spec tank class? You can't BUY a trinket with +170 STA on it. Two of these bad boys are going to seriously offset any deficiencies you may have with your armor. If your armor is great, then these two will make you even MORE awesome. Repeat it on your tank till you get both.
LFM VoA - Koralon and Friends.
This is a quick run-down of the whole VoA instance. Typing this out is actually longer than a good team will take to clear the place. Seriously, the instance has 3 bosses total. It used to be only one boss, but he got lonely and the Wintergrasp gods deemed it a trivial challenge. Along came Emalon, the explosive wind boss to give groups a royal headache. Then Koralon arrives to claim the crown. Earth, Wind, and Fire explained...
Fire - Koralon the Flame Warder
People start with the Fire boss on 10 and 25 man VoA because he's the most difficult. If your raid team can't beat this guy, why get saved for the week to the instance. Bring a good team, crush the "First" guy and collect your easy loot from the other two bosses.
Koralon drops Tier 8 PvE and PvP loot on 10 man. He also drops Tier 9 PvE and PvP loot on 25 man. Specifically the 232 and 245 Legs and Gloves for each set. This instance drops Class Specific loot. Bring a good mix of players. Woe to the group that bring 2 warriors, 2 priests, and 6 Mages to see Rogue and Shaman loot drop off every boss this run.
The strategy is simple. Koralon does a fire based AoE at his feet. The melee damage is shared among the tanks nearby. He also does a wide spread flame jet in circles every 30 to 60 seconds. That one hurts some. The flame jet gets harder as the instance progresses. Lastly, and most dangerously, he lobs out a fireball. This fireball does 10k per tick in 25 man. In 10 man VoA, it's a bit less but still seriously harmful to people. If you get hit with a fireball during a Flame-jet.... You're dead. Thx for playing. No amount of quick reflexes will get you safe unless you have ungodly amounts of health. In 10 man, you'll just be hurt badly. Expect a heal from your friendly Druid / Priest to get thru the next flame jet.
Rule 1 - Jump out of the dammed fire.
Rule 2 - Jump out of the dammed fire.
If you're casting a heal spell on the MT, pray another healer is also doing the same because if you don't move, you're going to die. Don't stand in the fire. You can't 9 man this instance. You may be able to do it at 24 or 22, but no one is geared enough to defeat Koralon with Fewer than 8 characters. Koralon hurts alot. He's a Gear check for healers and DPS. If you don't keep the MT alive long enough, the raid wipes. If your dps doesn't bring 3k or more, the raid wipes. If too many people die in fires, the raid wipes. Lots of things can go wrong. Burn Heroism early to maximize the impact of having as many people alive as possible.
Did I mention the floor?? The bright orange glow under the glass floor in Koralon's room is the exact color of the fireballs he throws out randomly. Did I also mention it does 10k per second? You have roughly 1 second to realize the difference during the melee. Ranged DPS and Healers have an easier time. As a hunter, I keep losing my pet to the fire. Almost guaranteed.
Koralon went down and I got Lv232 PvP Gladiator leggings for my Hunter. Rogue Tier 8 pants also dropped. Our guild one shotted this guy last night, after buffing, stat food, potions/flasks, and a solid explanation. We also had Ventrillo and are decently geared. No battle rezz was needed.
Wind - Emalon the Storm Watcher
Okay, hard boss down. Emalon requires coordination, timing, two tanks, and focused DPS. Each Wind guardian will explode if allowed to grow to full height. The guardians to this wing are a good warm-up to Emalon. If your raid wipes or allows the guards to explode, turn around. You're not ready. Emalon has 4 guardians in his entourage. When engaged, MT takes the 4 guardians. OT takes Emalon.
Ranged DPS nukes down Emalon. Don't bother with the 4 adds, yet. Every 30 seconds Emalon does a lightning Nova. Get out of melee range. Offtank stays in to keep the boss stationary? Not quite sure. He shouldn't move from the Right Side of the boss area.
Every 1 minute, Emalon "Overcharges" a minion to explode. The raid has 20 seconds to burn down this minion which gets fully healed, then grows to huge proportions. The raid has three challenges at this moment. 1) Get into position on the Left side of the room BEFORE the overcharge. Running across costs precious seconds. That leads to a wipe. 2) Listen for the command and locate the correct Warder. DBM places a skull on his head and he's the "Bigger" one stuck by lightning from Emalon. 3) Burn him down fast then resume dps on Emalon.
Repeat the Overcharge cycle and continue to hack away at Emalon's health. Emalon will also cast chain-lightning. Try not to stand next to the healers. They get annoyed at being nuked. Recall your pet during Lightning nova and recall him for the ovecharge. My cat has sprint and I Usually keep him near me for a second to add DPS plus some dots for that extra kick during "overcharge". Don't get STUPID. Raids decide to burn down Emalon instead of killing the "overcharge" during the last 10 % of health. If you can't kill him with certainty, the add will explode for 15k to 25k damage and it's a wipe.
Emalon dropped a 213 Caster Belt and Tier 7.5 Priest Pants.
Earth - Archavon the Warder
Seriously>? This guy is a vending machine. A loot piniata. While hunters can't quite solo him or use this boss for melee practice, he's not really a challenge any more. He drops Tier 7 and Lv 200 PvP Chest Armor. Super easy fight for 2 Emblems of Conquest.
Bring Two tanks. 1 tank + 1 pickup tank. Two healers. Rest DPS. Archavon will dps the tank and cast rain of spikes on a random opponent. Heal thru it and avoid standing next to the cloth casters. Every 45 seconds he will jump somewhere randomly and emit a low-level poison gas cloud. Don't stand in it. The MT will move the boss. You can cut thru it, but the damage is like 2k per second so I don't recommend fighting within for an extended duration.
Burn heroism only because it's up again. You can phone in this fight if your group or raid is in Ulduar or can handle Toc 10. Still, bring your alts for free gear and badges.
Lv 200 PvP Hunter chest and Tier 7 Warlock Legs droped. Okay. Guess I didn't have one. I banked it for later, being the only Hunter in our 10 man.
Earth, Wnid, and Fire. Nice tribute to a classic 70's funk band. WTG Blizzard. BTW, thanks for the loot. We'll be back next week.
The 25 man VoA is like this... but harder. Dots hit harder. The DPS threshold for Emalon is higher. Sadly, Archavon is still a joke. Still, Koralon drops Emblems of Triumph and Tier 9 gear. Last run it was all Priest or Rogue set pieces. So he's still on the menu. Next week, we hit up VoA 10 and VoA 25 again.
Fire - Koralon the Flame Warder
People start with the Fire boss on 10 and 25 man VoA because he's the most difficult. If your raid team can't beat this guy, why get saved for the week to the instance. Bring a good team, crush the "First" guy and collect your easy loot from the other two bosses.
Koralon drops Tier 8 PvE and PvP loot on 10 man. He also drops Tier 9 PvE and PvP loot on 25 man. Specifically the 232 and 245 Legs and Gloves for each set. This instance drops Class Specific loot. Bring a good mix of players. Woe to the group that bring 2 warriors, 2 priests, and 6 Mages to see Rogue and Shaman loot drop off every boss this run.
The strategy is simple. Koralon does a fire based AoE at his feet. The melee damage is shared among the tanks nearby. He also does a wide spread flame jet in circles every 30 to 60 seconds. That one hurts some. The flame jet gets harder as the instance progresses. Lastly, and most dangerously, he lobs out a fireball. This fireball does 10k per tick in 25 man. In 10 man VoA, it's a bit less but still seriously harmful to people. If you get hit with a fireball during a Flame-jet.... You're dead. Thx for playing. No amount of quick reflexes will get you safe unless you have ungodly amounts of health. In 10 man, you'll just be hurt badly. Expect a heal from your friendly Druid / Priest to get thru the next flame jet.
Rule 1 - Jump out of the dammed fire.
Rule 2 - Jump out of the dammed fire.
If you're casting a heal spell on the MT, pray another healer is also doing the same because if you don't move, you're going to die. Don't stand in the fire. You can't 9 man this instance. You may be able to do it at 24 or 22, but no one is geared enough to defeat Koralon with Fewer than 8 characters. Koralon hurts alot. He's a Gear check for healers and DPS. If you don't keep the MT alive long enough, the raid wipes. If your dps doesn't bring 3k or more, the raid wipes. If too many people die in fires, the raid wipes. Lots of things can go wrong. Burn Heroism early to maximize the impact of having as many people alive as possible.
Did I mention the floor?? The bright orange glow under the glass floor in Koralon's room is the exact color of the fireballs he throws out randomly. Did I also mention it does 10k per second? You have roughly 1 second to realize the difference during the melee. Ranged DPS and Healers have an easier time. As a hunter, I keep losing my pet to the fire. Almost guaranteed.
Koralon went down and I got Lv232 PvP Gladiator leggings for my Hunter. Rogue Tier 8 pants also dropped. Our guild one shotted this guy last night, after buffing, stat food, potions/flasks, and a solid explanation. We also had Ventrillo and are decently geared. No battle rezz was needed.
Wind - Emalon the Storm Watcher
Okay, hard boss down. Emalon requires coordination, timing, two tanks, and focused DPS. Each Wind guardian will explode if allowed to grow to full height. The guardians to this wing are a good warm-up to Emalon. If your raid wipes or allows the guards to explode, turn around. You're not ready. Emalon has 4 guardians in his entourage. When engaged, MT takes the 4 guardians. OT takes Emalon.
Ranged DPS nukes down Emalon. Don't bother with the 4 adds, yet. Every 30 seconds Emalon does a lightning Nova. Get out of melee range. Offtank stays in to keep the boss stationary? Not quite sure. He shouldn't move from the Right Side of the boss area.
Every 1 minute, Emalon "Overcharges" a minion to explode. The raid has 20 seconds to burn down this minion which gets fully healed, then grows to huge proportions. The raid has three challenges at this moment. 1) Get into position on the Left side of the room BEFORE the overcharge. Running across costs precious seconds. That leads to a wipe. 2) Listen for the command and locate the correct Warder. DBM places a skull on his head and he's the "Bigger" one stuck by lightning from Emalon. 3) Burn him down fast then resume dps on Emalon.
Repeat the Overcharge cycle and continue to hack away at Emalon's health. Emalon will also cast chain-lightning. Try not to stand next to the healers. They get annoyed at being nuked. Recall your pet during Lightning nova and recall him for the ovecharge. My cat has sprint and I Usually keep him near me for a second to add DPS plus some dots for that extra kick during "overcharge". Don't get STUPID. Raids decide to burn down Emalon instead of killing the "overcharge" during the last 10 % of health. If you can't kill him with certainty, the add will explode for 15k to 25k damage and it's a wipe.
Emalon dropped a 213 Caster Belt and Tier 7.5 Priest Pants.
Earth - Archavon the Warder
Seriously>? This guy is a vending machine. A loot piniata. While hunters can't quite solo him or use this boss for melee practice, he's not really a challenge any more. He drops Tier 7 and Lv 200 PvP Chest Armor. Super easy fight for 2 Emblems of Conquest.
Bring Two tanks. 1 tank + 1 pickup tank. Two healers. Rest DPS. Archavon will dps the tank and cast rain of spikes on a random opponent. Heal thru it and avoid standing next to the cloth casters. Every 45 seconds he will jump somewhere randomly and emit a low-level poison gas cloud. Don't stand in it. The MT will move the boss. You can cut thru it, but the damage is like 2k per second so I don't recommend fighting within for an extended duration.
Burn heroism only because it's up again. You can phone in this fight if your group or raid is in Ulduar or can handle Toc 10. Still, bring your alts for free gear and badges.
Lv 200 PvP Hunter chest and Tier 7 Warlock Legs droped. Okay. Guess I didn't have one. I banked it for later, being the only Hunter in our 10 man.
Earth, Wnid, and Fire. Nice tribute to a classic 70's funk band. WTG Blizzard. BTW, thanks for the loot. We'll be back next week.
The 25 man VoA is like this... but harder. Dots hit harder. The DPS threshold for Emalon is higher. Sadly, Archavon is still a joke. Still, Koralon drops Emblems of Triumph and Tier 9 gear. Last run it was all Priest or Rogue set pieces. So he's still on the menu. Next week, we hit up VoA 10 and VoA 25 again.
Monday, September 21, 2009
XT-002 ( 25 man )
"That's one awfully big robot!" Raath said counting his ammo.
"Wonder what it drops?"
XT-002 has a couple of fun Gimmicks. Watch the Tankspot Video if you have tactical questions about it. Mine's more of a personal account of pitfalls and personal triumphs.
Step 1 Clear the corners. Big robot brings big adds. Best to clear what ya can.
Step 2 Assign a spot for Light Bombs and Gavity Bombs. Light bombs deal raidant energy. Gravity bombs leave a black spot of damage in their wake. Light right. Gravity Bombs Left. MT and OT switch out. Ranged DPS does alot of split DPS. We're assigned Bomb detail and add control. I wouldn't run my cat off a boss to charge a time-bomb. Too dangerous. Rather just pew pew pew it down and resume dps. Bring your cat out of Boss range for short range AOE Tantrums or keep a Mend going. DPS the bombs that walk up from the 4 corners. Someone should call it. If you get a gavity bomb, run away to a side. If you get a light bomb, run away to the other side. Resume DPS.
Step 3 When XT-002's heart pops out, nuke it down but not all the way. If you have alot of DPS, you CAN trigger hardmode. That boosts the robot's damage output, makes the Light/Gravity bombs hit harder, heals XT-002 to Full, and taxes the healers greatly. Otherwise, any damage done to the exposed heart transferrs to the Robot. Rinse repeat, and the robot goes down. Trigger hardmode and the robot gets REALLY pissy.
We stuck with regular mode XT. Hardmode is.... Way hard. We lost our MT/OT with our 25 man pug in regular mode. The remaining DPS had to finish him at the end.
Twisted Visage dropped and I won the roll. Woot!! That thing is best in slot for alot of un-capped Hunters. My other weapons are +Haste/+ArPen. Since I'm hit capped, the weapon is overkill, but with Tier 9 pants, I lose 59 Hit and will want it back badly. Luckily, this thing has alot of +Hit/+Crit to make up for it.
Get gear beacuse you need it, or Get gear because of what you plan on getting soon, or Lastly get gear because every other hunter on server has one. 5,000 other hunters can't be wrong. This thing does look great. I got it enchanted and keep it for my future Tier 9.5 set. Just waiting on a Epic Lv245 item Tropy from ToC25 to get my Triumphant Windrunner pants. Then.... Boom!! Tier 9 two piece bonus. Both items will cost me 105 Emblems of Triumph. I'll be able to afford it soon. Soon.... my precious. Lol. If VoA 10 / VoA 25 go my way, I'll just GET the pants/gloves.... but I'm never that lucky. It's always Shaman or Rogue gear.
"Wonder what it drops?"
XT-002 has a couple of fun Gimmicks. Watch the Tankspot Video if you have tactical questions about it. Mine's more of a personal account of pitfalls and personal triumphs.
Step 1 Clear the corners. Big robot brings big adds. Best to clear what ya can.
Step 2 Assign a spot for Light Bombs and Gavity Bombs. Light bombs deal raidant energy. Gravity bombs leave a black spot of damage in their wake. Light right. Gravity Bombs Left. MT and OT switch out. Ranged DPS does alot of split DPS. We're assigned Bomb detail and add control. I wouldn't run my cat off a boss to charge a time-bomb. Too dangerous. Rather just pew pew pew it down and resume dps. Bring your cat out of Boss range for short range AOE Tantrums or keep a Mend going. DPS the bombs that walk up from the 4 corners. Someone should call it. If you get a gavity bomb, run away to a side. If you get a light bomb, run away to the other side. Resume DPS.
Step 3 When XT-002's heart pops out, nuke it down but not all the way. If you have alot of DPS, you CAN trigger hardmode. That boosts the robot's damage output, makes the Light/Gravity bombs hit harder, heals XT-002 to Full, and taxes the healers greatly. Otherwise, any damage done to the exposed heart transferrs to the Robot. Rinse repeat, and the robot goes down. Trigger hardmode and the robot gets REALLY pissy.
We stuck with regular mode XT. Hardmode is.... Way hard. We lost our MT/OT with our 25 man pug in regular mode. The remaining DPS had to finish him at the end.
Twisted Visage dropped and I won the roll. Woot!! That thing is best in slot for alot of un-capped Hunters. My other weapons are +Haste/+ArPen. Since I'm hit capped, the weapon is overkill, but with Tier 9 pants, I lose 59 Hit and will want it back badly. Luckily, this thing has alot of +Hit/+Crit to make up for it.
Get gear beacuse you need it, or Get gear because of what you plan on getting soon, or Lastly get gear because every other hunter on server has one. 5,000 other hunters can't be wrong. This thing does look great. I got it enchanted and keep it for my future Tier 9.5 set. Just waiting on a Epic Lv245 item Tropy from ToC25 to get my Triumphant Windrunner pants. Then.... Boom!! Tier 9 two piece bonus. Both items will cost me 105 Emblems of Triumph. I'll be able to afford it soon. Soon.... my precious. Lol. If VoA 10 / VoA 25 go my way, I'll just GET the pants/gloves.... but I'm never that lucky. It's always Shaman or Rogue gear.
Ulduar 25 - Flame Leviathan
Super Tank!
Like the Super Kitty, Super Toilet, and the Super Bike.... this is one wish we wish you didn't make there, Timmy Turner.
The Flame Leviathan is a big ass tank. So darned big that we had to get into vehicles and destroy that thing with the combined might of tanks, pyrite, rockets, seige vehicles, and motorcycles. What a mad melee. Great fun tho. The vehicular combat of the first encounter doesn't even need a proper class balance or healers. Just folks that know how to operate machinery.... You've all had 10 levels of WotLK vehicles to learn. Griffons, then dragons, to tanks, and such. Now you're doing it with style for Level 226 Epic drops.
Step 1 Repair your stuff and re-arm. Brann and his personal army have a vendor, reagent, and repair dudes there. Ulduar 25 is a long instance. Hit them up then get into a tank for mayhem.
Step 2 Start the circus and attack the ground troops. Iron Dwarves die by the handful. Explosions, rockets, Evil gnomes on helicopters, and giants to nuke. Motorcycles create oil slicks to snare foes. Tanks shoot flames into them to create fire pits. Everyone else just shoots madly in circles. Primary targets are Giant constructs, then Turrets, then ground troops. It's just mayhem. As long as folks aren't AFK, you can roll over anything here with focused fire. First time at the controls and you'll figure out 3 easy buttons to operate your choppa. I had someone show up late and she rode "shotgun". Sure it's also called riding "bitch", but since the game has SO FEW female gamers, I chose to take the high path and be respectful. The first and second vehicle slots do all kinds of jobs. On every vehicle except the motorcycle. For that, she just hung around. There's an eject button that launches the player, but I'd rather not pitch the pally healer into a fire-pit or wedge her under the 10,000 ton Leviathan. We just dropped Oil slicks and ran around nuking smaller foes with our Air-Horn of doom. Great fun.
Step 3 Layer the "Doorway" with pyrite charges. There's a steady stream of pyrite being ferried around by propeller. Shoot it down and the Explosive charge will parachute to the ground. You want to keep that handy in the battle area. It's ammo for your tanks. Shoot down 20+ charges and then trigger the two door guards. That starts the Leviathan fight.
Step 4 "Run away Little girl!" One tank object becomes fodder for the Leviathan's wrath. The leviathan gives chase. You run away in a circle. The rest of the raid shoots pyrite and sets the tank on fire. Like 17 charges of 8 stacks each. Burn baby burn.
Motorcycles make oil slicks to slow down the Leviathan. Those catch fire and also burn the big guy as well. Try not to get smashed by it. DPS again. Down goes Super Tank.
Collect your Phat Lewt. Welcome to Ulduar 25!
Zero Hunter skills needed. Just remember, getting out of your vehicle is deadly before the gates are cleared. Those turrets and casters hit hard and your bike has 50k health. After seeing the amount of cannon fire, napalm, bullets, and Mad Max vehicular gnomeslaughter... you'd want to stay in your tank until the first event is wrapped up. After FL goes down, the rest of the place is open for exploration.
I'd be Geared to at least Naxx level. You could to Uld 10 in all Lv 187+ Blues, but you better be a Cracker-Jack team of professionals. As the number of idiots increases, the gear requirements increase and flawless execution of strategy becomes necessary. With a bunch of Lv 200 Epics on each character, the place becomes easier.
At our level, an average Pug should be able to grind 3/5 of Ulduar 25 man. We hit a few achievements, but nothing in Hardmode. Hardmode Ulduar 25 is for the established guilds with a few guests. All the raiders ARE epicced out and your DPS needs to be 3k or more.
Like the Super Kitty, Super Toilet, and the Super Bike.... this is one wish we wish you didn't make there, Timmy Turner.
The Flame Leviathan is a big ass tank. So darned big that we had to get into vehicles and destroy that thing with the combined might of tanks, pyrite, rockets, seige vehicles, and motorcycles. What a mad melee. Great fun tho. The vehicular combat of the first encounter doesn't even need a proper class balance or healers. Just folks that know how to operate machinery.... You've all had 10 levels of WotLK vehicles to learn. Griffons, then dragons, to tanks, and such. Now you're doing it with style for Level 226 Epic drops.
Step 1 Repair your stuff and re-arm. Brann and his personal army have a vendor, reagent, and repair dudes there. Ulduar 25 is a long instance. Hit them up then get into a tank for mayhem.
Step 2 Start the circus and attack the ground troops. Iron Dwarves die by the handful. Explosions, rockets, Evil gnomes on helicopters, and giants to nuke. Motorcycles create oil slicks to snare foes. Tanks shoot flames into them to create fire pits. Everyone else just shoots madly in circles. Primary targets are Giant constructs, then Turrets, then ground troops. It's just mayhem. As long as folks aren't AFK, you can roll over anything here with focused fire. First time at the controls and you'll figure out 3 easy buttons to operate your choppa. I had someone show up late and she rode "shotgun". Sure it's also called riding "bitch", but since the game has SO FEW female gamers, I chose to take the high path and be respectful. The first and second vehicle slots do all kinds of jobs. On every vehicle except the motorcycle. For that, she just hung around. There's an eject button that launches the player, but I'd rather not pitch the pally healer into a fire-pit or wedge her under the 10,000 ton Leviathan. We just dropped Oil slicks and ran around nuking smaller foes with our Air-Horn of doom. Great fun.
Step 3 Layer the "Doorway" with pyrite charges. There's a steady stream of pyrite being ferried around by propeller. Shoot it down and the Explosive charge will parachute to the ground. You want to keep that handy in the battle area. It's ammo for your tanks. Shoot down 20+ charges and then trigger the two door guards. That starts the Leviathan fight.
Step 4 "Run away Little girl!" One tank object becomes fodder for the Leviathan's wrath. The leviathan gives chase. You run away in a circle. The rest of the raid shoots pyrite and sets the tank on fire. Like 17 charges of 8 stacks each. Burn baby burn.
Motorcycles make oil slicks to slow down the Leviathan. Those catch fire and also burn the big guy as well. Try not to get smashed by it. DPS again. Down goes Super Tank.
Collect your Phat Lewt. Welcome to Ulduar 25!
Zero Hunter skills needed. Just remember, getting out of your vehicle is deadly before the gates are cleared. Those turrets and casters hit hard and your bike has 50k health. After seeing the amount of cannon fire, napalm, bullets, and Mad Max vehicular gnomeslaughter... you'd want to stay in your tank until the first event is wrapped up. After FL goes down, the rest of the place is open for exploration.
I'd be Geared to at least Naxx level. You could to Uld 10 in all Lv 187+ Blues, but you better be a Cracker-Jack team of professionals. As the number of idiots increases, the gear requirements increase and flawless execution of strategy becomes necessary. With a bunch of Lv 200 Epics on each character, the place becomes easier.
At our level, an average Pug should be able to grind 3/5 of Ulduar 25 man. We hit a few achievements, but nothing in Hardmode. Hardmode Ulduar 25 is for the established guilds with a few guests. All the raiders ARE epicced out and your DPS needs to be 3k or more.
Toc 10 - Anub'Arak
What is this with WotLK and big creepy bugs??
Seriously, I get the wierd factor with evil insects and the Undead Lich king. Bravo. We make the connection. Now we face yet another arch-opponent bug boss. After defeating the 10 man Faction Champions, the twins and this guy are just cake. Follow the strat, stand on the snowdrifts, DPS the adds, and you have a dead boss. No healing blocks or any wierd gimmicks. Just pew pew the frost orbs down and keep moving.
Phase 0
Enjoy the cutscene. The Lich King shows up and Lord Tiron Fordring asks him to lay down his Uber-Magic-MindControlling sword of Awesomeness... and walk away. No hard feelings. That line just had me in stiches. Arthas was not amused. He shatters the floor and sends the players into the caverns below the Argent tournament to face an ancient horror in the cold and dark below. Woooot! Thanks buddy.
Phase 1
DPS the boss. Ranged DPS, Nuke the floating frost orbs and make a couple dozen snow drifts. Try not to fall asleep. Don't linger on the snow drifts as it slows your movement / attack.
Phase 2
DPS the boss. DPS the small bug adds that appear. The boss will "Target" someone to impale from below. Just keep on the snow and you'll be fine.
Phase 3
At 30% health, Anub-Arak casts degenerative swarm and leeches 5% of your health per second from everyone in the area. Don't quote me on the numbers. Basically, it's a DPS/Healer challenge. Your raid will be reduced to 50% health or lower. Boss gets minimal regen from a weakened party. Your DPS goes all out to finish him. MT is the only one kept at 100% health. No one dies and everyone blows their cooldowns. Rest of you at 25% health rush to kill the boss who's leeching you all slowly. Tricky, the first time you do it. The third time you do it, it can be phoned in. Hunters, keep your pet alive but barely. The health leech is so slow, your renew can easily keep up. Even if your pet dies, the boss isn't far behind.
Down he goes, come collect your candy.
High Lord Tirion Fordring also appears after the fight with a friendly handshake and a free portal back out of the pit to Dalarn for your raid. WooT! How about that?!
Seriously, I get the wierd factor with evil insects and the Undead Lich king. Bravo. We make the connection. Now we face yet another arch-opponent bug boss. After defeating the 10 man Faction Champions, the twins and this guy are just cake. Follow the strat, stand on the snowdrifts, DPS the adds, and you have a dead boss. No healing blocks or any wierd gimmicks. Just pew pew the frost orbs down and keep moving.
Phase 0
Enjoy the cutscene. The Lich King shows up and Lord Tiron Fordring asks him to lay down his Uber-Magic-MindControlling sword of Awesomeness... and walk away. No hard feelings. That line just had me in stiches. Arthas was not amused. He shatters the floor and sends the players into the caverns below the Argent tournament to face an ancient horror in the cold and dark below. Woooot! Thanks buddy.
Phase 1
DPS the boss. Ranged DPS, Nuke the floating frost orbs and make a couple dozen snow drifts. Try not to fall asleep. Don't linger on the snow drifts as it slows your movement / attack.
Phase 2
DPS the boss. DPS the small bug adds that appear. The boss will "Target" someone to impale from below. Just keep on the snow and you'll be fine.
Phase 3
At 30% health, Anub-Arak casts degenerative swarm and leeches 5% of your health per second from everyone in the area. Don't quote me on the numbers. Basically, it's a DPS/Healer challenge. Your raid will be reduced to 50% health or lower. Boss gets minimal regen from a weakened party. Your DPS goes all out to finish him. MT is the only one kept at 100% health. No one dies and everyone blows their cooldowns. Rest of you at 25% health rush to kill the boss who's leeching you all slowly. Tricky, the first time you do it. The third time you do it, it can be phoned in. Hunters, keep your pet alive but barely. The health leech is so slow, your renew can easily keep up. Even if your pet dies, the boss isn't far behind.
Down he goes, come collect your candy.
High Lord Tirion Fordring also appears after the fight with a friendly handshake and a free portal back out of the pit to Dalarn for your raid. WooT! How about that?!
2nd Profession
I'm going to start a 2nd "production" Profession soon. Ages ago, I took up Skinning and Leatherworking. Then dropped it around 90 skill when I realized at level 20 my created items were always lagging behind my level. Once you can reliably make an item, its benefits are negligible or a downgrade to your current equipment. Armor kits were handy, but I used a number of materials like potions more often. Upon reaching level 25, I switched over to Alchemy / Herbalism. Those have served me well for years. Now I have three other high level characters with Herbalism / Inscription, Herbalism / Mining, and Blacksmithing / Mining.
I am seriously flush with materials. So much that, I m considering dropping Herbalism. Plus, the extra two gem slots could bring another +40 AGI to my character. That's hawt. Alot of Characters are Enchanter/Jewlers or Blacksmith / Engineers. A number of Endgame tanks also have double profs. ( +39 Sta gems and +30 Sta Enchants can add up quickly).
The Bad? Blacksmithing to 400 is a much longer trek. Mithril is always scarce and Thorium is a downright pain in the ass to find. The sheer bulk of materials could sell for several thousand gold pieces on the Auction House. If I need to two-box materials for mid-level zones, I'll have to bring my son's Paladin along to mine it.
The Ugly? I get some Blacksmith only recipies... which are mostly plate and some low level weapons and mail items. Getting to 450 is meh. Nothing at the top end of the skill is worth upgrading a Hunter. Re-forging is only rumored to be in the expansion and the expansion is still months to a year away. Also, not having Herbalism is going to dink up my Alchemy.
Herbalism is a natural pair to Alchemy. Now, dropping that for Blacksmithing robs me of a self-sustaining Potion/Elixir habit. The Northrend Flask rocks tho. It makes up for alot. Can't say enough nice things about the Eternal flasks in this expansion as well. The amount healed is paltry, use it in combat at your own peril. The amount of mana returned is also horribly small. The 1 minute cooldown outside of combat is just awesome.
I also lose out on a 1500 point emergency heal over time from Max level Herbalism. That may cut back on my effectiveness, being dead. Hopefully, I can put out that much MORE DPS to counteract that handicap. The heal is in addition to any Healthstone and Potion.
I am seriously flush with materials. So much that, I m considering dropping Herbalism. Plus, the extra two gem slots could bring another +40 AGI to my character. That's hawt. Alot of Characters are Enchanter/Jewlers or Blacksmith / Engineers. A number of Endgame tanks also have double profs. ( +39 Sta gems and +30 Sta Enchants can add up quickly).
In the Catalcysm expansion, the Re-forging skill allows Blacksmiths to redo the stats on mail and plate gear. That has untold benefits in the future. +40 Agi +20 Spirit Bracers? Not a problem. Just re-forge those babies into +40 AGI +20 Sta or +45 AGI +10Sta +5 Int bracers. Stat molding and crit/hit shifting. That kind of control over gear is just wicked powerful. Where do I sign up??
The Good? I get two gem slots to place in my equipment. One in my Gloves and one for my Bracers. Also, the first 100 points of Blacksmithing goes by ridiculously fast. I'm also sitting on a metric ton of Copper, Tin, Silver, Gold, Fel Iron, Adamantite, Khorium, Cobalt, and Saronite. Lastly, I can afford to burn a couple thousand gold maxxing out my skills.
The Bad? Blacksmithing to 400 is a much longer trek. Mithril is always scarce and Thorium is a downright pain in the ass to find. The sheer bulk of materials could sell for several thousand gold pieces on the Auction House. If I need to two-box materials for mid-level zones, I'll have to bring my son's Paladin along to mine it.
The Ugly? I get some Blacksmith only recipies... which are mostly plate and some low level weapons and mail items. Getting to 450 is meh. Nothing at the top end of the skill is worth upgrading a Hunter. Re-forging is only rumored to be in the expansion and the expansion is still months to a year away. Also, not having Herbalism is going to dink up my Alchemy.
Herbalism is a natural pair to Alchemy. Now, dropping that for Blacksmithing robs me of a self-sustaining Potion/Elixir habit. The Northrend Flask rocks tho. It makes up for alot. Can't say enough nice things about the Eternal flasks in this expansion as well. The amount healed is paltry, use it in combat at your own peril. The amount of mana returned is also horribly small. The 1 minute cooldown outside of combat is just awesome.
I also lose out on a 1500 point emergency heal over time from Max level Herbalism. That may cut back on my effectiveness, being dead. Hopefully, I can put out that much MORE DPS to counteract that handicap. The heal is in addition to any Healthstone and Potion.
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