Since my HD died, and I've been crazy busy, I haven't been online really, since Monday. I wanted to do a quick recap. Saturday, we were supposed to do Kara, 7 people signed up, we knew we had 2 more, no problem. We can roll on through and snag one pugger.
Well, I agreed to jam w/ some friends, at their place, and run the raid from their place. I ended up having a blast... except... no one logged on. It was a bit crazy. 5 of the 9 didn't log on, so, we weren't gonna pug with 4 people :)
We ran heroic Shattered hell insead. It was the daily. It was a pain. All in all... it sucked... but we finished it. Yet, it was one of my best experinces to date in Warcraft. I'd never been sitting next to the people I'm playing with before. That in itself, was a total blast. I can see how playing Quake at LAN parties was so much fun for my friends back in the day.
I think I'll definitely have to run the whole lan party thing again with them when we have a for-sure Kara raid set up.
Abs ended up pugging Kara with a random group.... Well, it was a bit rediculous. 20 badges (didn't kill Nighbane) in just over 2.5 hours. It took our 5-some almost that long to finish Heroic Shattered Halls.
One of the DPS was running under 700. He was the enhancement shaman who wouldn't get on vent, and died on every boss fight in every way you could as a melee. Not running out during Prince... or during Shade's arcane explosions. Everyone was actually glad when he died there... as he wouldn't kill us with Flame wreath.
2 healers, 1 pally tank, 1 fury war with a shield, 6 other dps. Abs was 2nd from the bottom. It made me really appreciate how well some pugs can work... and how terrible others can be... and how 70's can be way over geared for Kara.
The guy running it was solid, knew the fights and trusted people not to mess up.
As a comparison: the two pug raids Pos joined. 1 on Mags, one on Gruuls, both run by the same mage... we'll call him... T.Toes, wait, that's too obvious, we can go with Tipp T. It was a "Hi, invite me" type of raid, no one was geared, half the people didn't know the fights, and... yeah. When NONE of the DPSers are putting out enough DPS for Kara, you're not gonna do well. I left after the 3rd wipe on Mags. After the first to High King in Gruuls. It was.. well... pathetic.
There were at least 3 Channelers still up each time Mag spawned, only 2 dpsers were doing over 500 DPS. 500! Thats what a 70 in all blues puts out. Only 2 others were doing over 450. As I said as I left, "If you're running Mags with DPS that couldn't handle Kara, you aren't gonna down Mags"
Sigh. Oh well. Hopefully I can run tomorrow with Resolve.
Showing posts with label Karazhan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Karazhan. Show all posts
Friday, June 20, 2008
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Server Crashes, Karazhan and Pugs
With Alleria once again hiccuping (hooray!) and me not being able to get my last 15 badges for new pants for Pos, I'm just gonna type up another post.
Yes. I'm awesome. I am posting all the time now. Soon, I'll be posting even more than K.
We ran Kara yesterday, it was good... K and I tanked. Boon healed. Jerkfase came and picked up with us and healed.
Strange things happened though. The priest kept dying. I don't know how, or why, but he kept dying. 3 or 4 times just on the way to Attunmen. I'd never seen that before. I couldn't figure out what was going on or why he was dying.
It wasn't to the Chargers, either.
The run took just under 4 hours. We wiped once on Opera (Oz) and twice on Shade. Those 3 wipes added almost an extra hour to the raid.
Today, I joined a 'guild Kara run' on Abs. Well, 2 hours in, with no wipes, we downed Maiden.
I left after that. It was agonizing. We sat there for 15 minutes after Attunmen died while they tried to decide loot. I tried to speed things up. They had a 17khp unbuffed uber warrior tank there. He tried to speed things up. Everything just plodded. People weren't drinking. People weren't listening. No one was moving with the tank. All because the 'raid leader' really had no clue what he was doing. I watched a priest run around in circles on Maiden, trying to decurse people. Everyone was on the step, I told him he should be on the step too, but he insisted on running around in circles.
I had my 5 badges, Abs went and bought his 100 boj robe. Got a Great Lionseye to put in it.
Yep. Thats all I've got for today. We'll see if K can come up with some fancy links now that I've tried to teach her how...
Yes. I'm awesome. I am posting all the time now. Soon, I'll be posting even more than K.
We ran Kara yesterday, it was good... K and I tanked. Boon healed. Jerkfase came and picked up with us and healed.
Strange things happened though. The priest kept dying. I don't know how, or why, but he kept dying. 3 or 4 times just on the way to Attunmen. I'd never seen that before. I couldn't figure out what was going on or why he was dying.
It wasn't to the Chargers, either.
The run took just under 4 hours. We wiped once on Opera (Oz) and twice on Shade. Those 3 wipes added almost an extra hour to the raid.
Today, I joined a 'guild Kara run' on Abs. Well, 2 hours in, with no wipes, we downed Maiden.
I left after that. It was agonizing. We sat there for 15 minutes after Attunmen died while they tried to decide loot. I tried to speed things up. They had a 17khp unbuffed uber warrior tank there. He tried to speed things up. Everything just plodded. People weren't drinking. People weren't listening. No one was moving with the tank. All because the 'raid leader' really had no clue what he was doing. I watched a priest run around in circles on Maiden, trying to decurse people. Everyone was on the step, I told him he should be on the step too, but he insisted on running around in circles.
I had my 5 badges, Abs went and bought his 100 boj robe. Got a Great Lionseye to put in it.
Yep. Thats all I've got for today. We'll see if K can come up with some fancy links now that I've tried to teach her how...
Monday, May 12, 2008
The hiatus is over...
I got my steak, so I have to start posting again.
First things first, we just ran Kara again on Friday night. It went very, very well. It was Pos's first time as a tank through the whole instance.
We went Attumen to Prince down in just over 3 hours, skipping only Illhoof (no warlock). My fellow tank was Owaru, and we only ran into problems when I noob-bulled a pat before Opera, and when I was tanking Prince during phase 2, I went down twice.
The 3rd time was a charm, though, and we took him down.
Then we went to try Netherspite. After the first couple of tries, we got the strategy down (its a tough one to do without ever having seen it)
We had him to 18% but the untimely death of Orzag the Uber cost us.
We then had respawns and decided to call it, as we were past the 4 hour mark at that time.
Things I learned:
Offtank/tank synergy is a big deal. If you're the tank or offtank, your job is not only to hold aggro, its to mark, to prepare, and to keep the raid moving through trash.
Your job is NOT to dps. Your 180 dps means diddly poop on trash mobs. Take that 15 seconds and go mark the next group. Why? So as soon as the current target dies (after a quick check on healer mana - dps mana doesn't matter, no matter how much they whine) you can then pull the next group and keep the raid moving. 30 seconds here, and a minute there turns a 3 hour run into a 4 hour run.
I think that is the biggest difference between our current runs and our old regime runs.
Setting a DPSer to be the loot master, also another plus. When you down a boss, everyone but the loot master heads to the next spot. By making it a non-tank and non-healer, we can just roll on.
I felt like I did a good job. Like things went smoothly. The usual suspects praised me, but, I think they would do that if we wiped 87 times on Attumen, because, they are my good friends.
Next step? Netherspite and Nightbane.
We may need a 2-run week to do that, perhaps, next weekend we'll give it a go.
One night for a clear, one night for a learning process (and flasks for everyone!)
First things first, we just ran Kara again on Friday night. It went very, very well. It was Pos's first time as a tank through the whole instance.
We went Attumen to Prince down in just over 3 hours, skipping only Illhoof (no warlock). My fellow tank was Owaru, and we only ran into problems when I noob-bulled a pat before Opera, and when I was tanking Prince during phase 2, I went down twice.
The 3rd time was a charm, though, and we took him down.
Then we went to try Netherspite. After the first couple of tries, we got the strategy down (its a tough one to do without ever having seen it)
We had him to 18% but the untimely death of Orzag the Uber cost us.
We then had respawns and decided to call it, as we were past the 4 hour mark at that time.
Things I learned:
Offtank/tank synergy is a big deal. If you're the tank or offtank, your job is not only to hold aggro, its to mark, to prepare, and to keep the raid moving through trash.
Your job is NOT to dps. Your 180 dps means diddly poop on trash mobs. Take that 15 seconds and go mark the next group. Why? So as soon as the current target dies (after a quick check on healer mana - dps mana doesn't matter, no matter how much they whine) you can then pull the next group and keep the raid moving. 30 seconds here, and a minute there turns a 3 hour run into a 4 hour run.
I think that is the biggest difference between our current runs and our old regime runs.
Setting a DPSer to be the loot master, also another plus. When you down a boss, everyone but the loot master heads to the next spot. By making it a non-tank and non-healer, we can just roll on.
I felt like I did a good job. Like things went smoothly. The usual suspects praised me, but, I think they would do that if we wiped 87 times on Attumen, because, they are my good friends.
Next step? Netherspite and Nightbane.
We may need a 2-run week to do that, perhaps, next weekend we'll give it a go.
One night for a clear, one night for a learning process (and flasks for everyone!)
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Did that just happen?
So, we didn't just run Kara.
We freaking destroyed it.
Attumen => Prince in just over 4 hours.
2 Wipes. Both on Opera.
Ran with my good friends. Boon, Kikidas, Owaru, Neshura and Abs a 5-some that has run many, many things. This was the first time we were all in Kara together.
The group was topped off with super-marker/puller Annuubis, Orzag (who might be the best priest I've ever run with), Anolifer (who busted his tail to meet our standards to get in), Kaggomi (an uber rogue's Shaman alt) and Bigpoppi... who is just a rediculous fire mage.
We pulled fast, furious, and everything ran smooth. I really think I held things together, I let Annuubis do his thing. I basically handled loot, discussed the boss fights, showed some people some tricks (like the little triangle for melee to run into on Prince)
This was... the most fun I've had running a raid or instance in quite a long time.
I need to sleep.... more tomorrow.
We freaking destroyed it.
Attumen => Prince in just over 4 hours.
2 Wipes. Both on Opera.
Ran with my good friends. Boon, Kikidas, Owaru, Neshura and Abs a 5-some that has run many, many things. This was the first time we were all in Kara together.
The group was topped off with super-marker/puller Annuubis, Orzag (who might be the best priest I've ever run with), Anolifer (who busted his tail to meet our standards to get in), Kaggomi (an uber rogue's Shaman alt) and Bigpoppi... who is just a rediculous fire mage.
We pulled fast, furious, and everything ran smooth. I really think I held things together, I let Annuubis do his thing. I basically handled loot, discussed the boss fights, showed some people some tricks (like the little triangle for melee to run into on Prince)
This was... the most fun I've had running a raid or instance in quite a long time.
I need to sleep.... more tomorrow.
Its Kara day!
I'm leading a raid into Kara. I know the key for each and every raid is going to be delegation. I think thats one reason Chase had problems. He led everything. Marked everything. Directed pulls. Handled issues.
Well, I'm going to trust Annuubis to mark. I'm going to lead the raid, discuss boss fights, call out strategies, and hopefully, be awesome.
I think I know the fights. The biggest thing I'm worried about, is forgetting something.
Even if I do, though, I know my friends will help me out. Help me to remember.
I'm excited. We've got a full crew. The sky is the limit. Okay... Prince is the limit.
Well, I'm going to trust Annuubis to mark. I'm going to lead the raid, discuss boss fights, call out strategies, and hopefully, be awesome.
I think I know the fights. The biggest thing I'm worried about, is forgetting something.
Even if I do, though, I know my friends will help me out. Help me to remember.
I'm excited. We've got a full crew. The sky is the limit. Okay... Prince is the limit.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Welcome aboard....
Well, for me, and my WoW career, today was an eventful day, after an eventful week. Eventful. The majority of the core raiding group I was with, left the guild, to pursue their interests (of SSC and TK and other things) elsewhere. My closest group of friends has remained. They've - I suppose I should say 'We've' - retained the Knights name, and have decided to move forward instead of sideways or backwards.
Nothing, for me, is more fun than a solid 10 man raid. Chatting with friends on Vent, while progressing, and simply enjoying ourselves. The problem was, the guild stopped progressing. Just 3 weeks after a guild first (downing Netherspite), the inflation of the ranks to "try to get enough people to do Gruul's" killed Karazhan. No one wanted to go and wipe on shade with people in greens.
As K and Orrarruuuu like to put it, "You don't gear for Kara in Kara."
Anyway, back to today. We made the decision to keep KoU together. To pursue our idea of a casual raid guild.
The definition of what that is?
We're casual. We have fun. We like to do crazy stupid things, and joke around, but, for those 4 hours, we're hardcore raiders.
No, we won't be giving "MINUS 50 DKP" or anything like that, but... we will be telling you if you're screwing up.
We will be running WWS to try to see how we can improve, individually, and as a result, as a whole.
Now, back to today: Posolutely hit 70 two days ago. Today, I tanked my first Heroic. Mech. Orzag, Tiandrah, Antigen and Tasogare (Gnome!) tagged along with me. Afterwards, BigP and Taso helped me out with some enchants, and a new cloak, and now Pos is probably set to offtank Kara. 12.8k HP unbuffed, 12500 armor, and over 490 Def.
The other eventful thing? I agreed to lead a Kara raid. I'm nervous. Thankfully, Annuubis will be there (along with Orzag, K, Boon and Orrarruu).
Now that I've rambled. Time for sleep.
Nothing, for me, is more fun than a solid 10 man raid. Chatting with friends on Vent, while progressing, and simply enjoying ourselves. The problem was, the guild stopped progressing. Just 3 weeks after a guild first (downing Netherspite), the inflation of the ranks to "try to get enough people to do Gruul's" killed Karazhan. No one wanted to go and wipe on shade with people in greens.
As K and Orrarruuuu like to put it, "You don't gear for Kara in Kara."
Anyway, back to today. We made the decision to keep KoU together. To pursue our idea of a casual raid guild.
The definition of what that is?
We're casual. We have fun. We like to do crazy stupid things, and joke around, but, for those 4 hours, we're hardcore raiders.
No, we won't be giving "MINUS 50 DKP" or anything like that, but... we will be telling you if you're screwing up.
We will be running WWS to try to see how we can improve, individually, and as a result, as a whole.
Now, back to today: Posolutely hit 70 two days ago. Today, I tanked my first Heroic. Mech. Orzag, Tiandrah, Antigen and Tasogare (Gnome!) tagged along with me. Afterwards, BigP and Taso helped me out with some enchants, and a new cloak, and now Pos is probably set to offtank Kara. 12.8k HP unbuffed, 12500 armor, and over 490 Def.
The other eventful thing? I agreed to lead a Kara raid. I'm nervous. Thankfully, Annuubis will be there (along with Orzag, K, Boon and Orrarruu).
Now that I've rambled. Time for sleep.
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