7500 DPS in H.MrT!

Okay, sure... it was on the little arcane worms and I was SoCing my little heart out... but it was so very pretty to see!

My first instance running deep affliction with Kikidas with the new 51 point talent and ... wow, you don't have time to do anything but CoE-Haunt-UA-Imm-Cor-SL-SB... before you have to start recasting everything again!

I have to play with my rotation, very obviously. Because most mobs were dying before I was done casting even one 'rotation'. I've always been a fan of Corr-SBspam for trash. Boss fights, once that last a while longer, I need to figure out the best rotation for spell casting. Since I'm new to both Haunt AND Unstable Affliction, I need to figure out how to work their cooldowns in with everything else I need to do. It would also help if I could get my DoTimer up and running again.

Overall, my average DPS was 920something. Which is about 100 more than I typically run in your 'average' run.

The boost to tank threat is more than enough to offset my loss of blessing of salvation. I only pulled aggro from Owaru once or twice, and then only because I was being a baaaaaad baaaaaad DPS.

*giggle*

Healing Made Easy (in MrT)

I've been through MrT as a DPS (warlock, for whom that instance sucks. Never have I seen so many humanoid mobs immune to seduce! Let's just make warlocks next to useless in there as a CC class!) and as a tank (Rawr). Each time, the healers have been a paladin or a shaman (iirc). No HoT's. No group heals (besides chain heal).

Last night we went in with Posolutely, Byouki, Isabeaux, Neshura and Kiljara.

The pulls before the first boss... it's damn hard to keep the AoEing clothies alive, even with shield and flash heal. So, no matter what type of healer you are, be prepared to lose someone if they're AoEing.

If you're an AoE'er, try to give the tank time to build some threat before you open up, and be prepared to die.

Otherwise, prayer of healing makes healing in MrT... surprisingly simple.

The AoE damage from the first boss... cake. Just start casting your prayer before the first wave of damage comes in, and you're just peachy keen and fine.

The energy boss... same deal. Prayer of Healing = Easy Mode.

Priestess Delrissa was a bit tougher, but again, made relatively easy since I could heal the multiple people taking damage from their assigned mobs and the 'mini-bosses' random aggro tables.

As for Kael'thas... Boon always complains that he can't keep everyone alive. He can't cast because he has to move. People are constantly taking damage. And he loses people.

Well, he sucks and I rule because Renew = Love. Our tank was all 'Don't heal me, K!', and I was all 'Don't tell me what to do, gnome! RENEW!'. And no one died.

I attribute it entirely to my skills, and it has nothing to do with the overpowered DPS or tank (or the nerf), since the first time we went through it was with overpowered DPS and tank and healer.

So, it's all me, naturally. Priest = Best Healer Evar.

No, really. I think they are. Don't get me wrong, each healing class has their benefits. Paladins = Great Single Target healers. Druids = HoT masters. Shaman = Multi-task much?. Priest = Best overall all-around healer.

You can feel free to disagree with me, (but that would make you silly and wrong! ;) and if you do, please don't hesitate to share!

Welcome to the Blogosphere! and other things

Babygorn, a mage on Alleria, has joined the Dark Side.

Welcome to the dark side, Baby. :)

*looks around stealthily*
FOSHIZZLE

Ahem...

Since they nerfed MrT, I haven't been in it. In fact, except to run it on normal a few times back when it opened, I haven't been anywhere NEAR it.

We went into Heroic MrT the other night. The lineup? Posolutely the gnome warrior, Tasogare the gnome ice mage, Boon the holy paladin, Gobblez the sword rogue and Kikidas the Goddess of Death and Destruction... erm. Kikidas, the dark pact/ruin warlock.

It... was nice. It was easy. It didn't seem like a heroic. It was easier than I remember REGULAR MrT being!

I got a nice pretty trinket and a new enchant. But it was almost anticlimatic! I was expecting death and destruction... not necessarily from me, either!

(Oh, and I got a badge upgrade, finally. I was sitting at 99 badges forever and just never went out and got that one more. Yay new pants!)

Then I went and we took Kava into heroic Slave Pens. Lots of leather drops! Nummy nummy. I work on upgrading Kava and Kiya so that they can be Kara ready! Soon... I will field a Kara run all by myself, multiboxing! (not)

One question that I have... is in a 5-man/heroic... how much hit rating do you need? Is it worth it to wear your 'trash set' that you'd wear in a raid, and only put on the hit rating set for the bosses? Kikidas has three sets. She has her 'top DPS' set - which maximizes my crit rating and my shadow damage, but has less than 100 hit rating, she has her 'hit rating' set - which puts her at 203 hit rating. And then she has her middle of the road set, which puts her somewhere around 130 hit rating and somewhere in the middle of the road in crit and damage.

I forget to swap around sometimes what I'm wearing. And it's really just three or four pieces of gear that I swap out between the various sets. But ... really, what's the line?

Dungeon Guide: MTe 2: Boss Fights

A Warlock's Overview: Please feel free to add information.

Selin Fireheart:
o Very similar to the end boss in SV. He channels. Kill the crystal before he finishes. When he channels the crystal, he gets mana from it. When he has mana, he uses fel explosion (AoE) until he's out of mana. Thus, the less mana he has, the better off you are. He does a drain life spell that is rather nasty, should be dispelled (paladin only?) or interrupted.
o Overall? Piece of Cake.

Vexallus:
o Similar (sort of) to Curator. He summons little flares that need to be downed. The killer of the flare gets a DoT that can stack up to 30 times. At about 15-20%, Vex enrages and needs to be burned down fast. Apparently, this is a fight that depends on the healer's ability to keep people alive, more so than a DPS fight. I disagree. Kill Vexallus really fast, and you don't have too many of those flares to deal with, do you? Reports in WoWWiki are mixed, one says flares appear with health (in which case, doesn't matter how fast or slow you kill him), another says it's time based, in which case the faster the better.
o Overall? Piece of Cake.

Priestess Delrissa:
o Similar (sort of) to Moroes. You get a random assortment of four additional mobs with the Priestess. Though she looks like a demon, she's listed as humanoid.
o NONE OF HER ADDS ARE SEDUCABLE. This really burns me. It really does. Sheeping and hunter trapping work, but seducing doesn't. So, if you have a group of warlocks, this sucks for you.
o The demons ARE banishable. Stack a CoS on it to make the banish last longer.
o The adds are fearable. Clear the room before Delrissa's completely if you use this method, and try to keep the feared mobs back there.
o Priestess can be hunter trapped. However, we did best when we killed her first.
o Warlock's imp (Fizzle) is one-two shottable, but he'll resummon, so keep an eye out for it.
o Hunter's pet (Sliver) has a fast attack, it needs to be kept off of the healer so he can heal.
o Shadow Word: Pain could/should be left on the dispeller (if only one person can dispel it), to wake them up from any CC effects that may happen to them.
o To my knowledge, her adds can be sheeped, hunter trapped and possibly sapped. Seduce won't work. NOT TAUNTABLE!!

Priestess' Group Members
* Apoko: Shaman. Will purge effects off of people, including Righteous Fury and Holy Shield.
* Brightblaze: Fury Warrior. Kicks and stuns.
* Duskhallow: Warlock. Fears and SoC's.
* Garaxxas: Demon Hunter. Freezing trap on group and warstomp (stun)
* Nightstrike: Rogue: Cheap Shot, Kidney Shot and Gouge (stuns), vanishes and poison (crippling).
* Salaris: Warrior. Intimidating Shout is the biggest concern group wise, also mortal strike and charge abilities.
* Yazzai: Mage: Polymorph is the biggest concern, all the rest are ice-mage abilities (ie: blizzard, frost nova, etc)
* Zelfan: Engineer: AoE Sheep and frontal flame arc.

o Strategy: Tanks are very little use in this fight to some extent, since they are not tauntable. The tank should hold mobs on them as much as possible, but once the DPS really gets going, it may be hard to hold onto the target. Have a well established kill order, so the healer isn't healing too many DPS at once.
o The priestess does negligible melee damage, killing her first is ususally suggested.
o Keeping the intimidating shout warlord CC'd until last is the best, otherwise OUR CC breaks while we're running. Hard to fear something when you're running in fear yourself.
o Priestess's healing spells have no cooldown. She can spam heal herself and others. Keep her controlled or silenced/kicked.
o Overall: VERY GROUP DEPENDENT, not just your group, but what her group consists of. We had a hard time with it as we had two warlocks in the group and only one demon, so our CC was limited.

Kael'thas Sunstrider:
o Overall, almost anticlimatic. The group pull before him was harder than he was.
o Phoenix: Have someone kite it away from the group until it dies. Once it dies, all DPS need to kill the egg. If you do not kill the egg, the phoenix is reborn stronger. We used a warlock to do this, since DPS could be maintained on both Kael'thas and the phoenix.
o Kael'thas does summon more than one phoenix in the fight. Be ready.
o Flamestrike shows up as three glowy balls swirling around one another. Initial damage is quite severe, so move out of it.
o At 50%, the tank becomes nothing more than an ornament. This is when Gravity Lapse theorhetically starts. (I wasn't watching his % of life)
o Gravity Lapse was really very fun! Though it's "swimming", it's very FAST swimming, so don't overdo it. Avoid the floor and avoid the water balls, and just keep DPSing him. Try to keep health up at this time as during Gravity Lapse, you're taking constant damage from Kael'thas.
o Begin Gravity Lapse by the door out, so the water-balls have to come all the way to you. Then ZIP past them to by Kael'thas and keep DPSing him there, making them have to return to you from across the room.
o In between Gravity Lapses, just DPS to the max on Kael'thas. He doesn't do melee damage, just recovers then does Gravity Lapse again.
o Overall: Anticlimatic.

Dungeon Guide: MTe 1: Trash Mobs

A Warlock's Overview: If you have anything to add, please feel free to leave a comment.

Mage Guard:
o Abilities : AOE Stun, Glaive Throw (interrupts casting and stuns), Bubble Shield: Move mobs out of the bubble shield if possible, it reduces damage by 75%. It also seemed to break hunter trap, but this is not corroborated.
o Seducable? : Yes, but seems to break frequently.
o Nifty WoWWiki Tips: None.

Blood Knight:
o Abilities: Heals themselves and others. CC them or kill them fast.
o Seducable?: Yes.
o Nifty Tips: Mages can spell steal a seal they have on themselves to give their casts additional HOLY damage

Magister:
o Abilities: Casts 10% faster every cast. Can AoE. Need to LoS or silence-pull them.
o Seducable?: No.
o Nifty Tips: The haste buff is stealable.

Warlock:
o Abilities: Imp pet can be one-two shotted easily. Casts immolate.
o Seducable?: Yes.
o Nifty Tips: Mages can spellsteal their fel armor for +250 spell damage.

Physician:
o Abilities: Uses poison on weapons (what type of healer is this?!) and prayer of mending.
o Seducable?: Supposedly.
o Nifty Tips: None (what, did you mages think you could spell steal something ELSE? What more do you want!)

Sister of Torment:
o Abilities: Seduces random target (including tank!)
o Seducable?: No, but can be enslaved!
o Nifty Tips: None

Smuggler:
o Abilities: Teleports and AoE's. Very annoying!
o Seducable?: Not to my knowledge. We tried, but not sure if it kept getting broken or if he was just immune.
o Nifty Tips: None

Witch:
o Abilities: Nothing too special.
o Seducable?: Yes
o Nifty Tips: None.

Sentinel:
o Abilities: AoE damage, don't stand by it if you're ranged!
o Seducable?: I wish. Drain Life and Siphon Life also don't work (damn mechs)
o Nifty Tips: None.

Wyrms:
o Abilities: Nuttin special when they're alive. When dead, they give you a 1% boost to damage per wyrm. So best to keep moving when you down a pack of them to get the best bang for your buck!
o Seducable?: C'mon. They're wyrms.
o Nifty Tips: AoE is very pretty. And apparently, WoWWiki recommends that if you have a poor computer, do not look at them while they die. EXTREME GRAPHICS!

Keeper:
o Abilities: Detonates something that causes all the wyrm packs to act as one pack.
o Seducable?: Dunno. Killed her too fast.
o Nifty Tips: Nothing.

Wretched Dudes:
o Abilities: Nothing to worry about overall, bruisers do a type of mortal strike (reduces healing done to target), Skulkers are dual-wield melee and Husks are mages.
o Seducable?: Yes.
o Nifty Tips: Nothing special.

Magister's Terrace

I, along with 99.799% of all WoW players, went into the new 5-man dungeon last night.

Yay for new content!

In deference to the patch and the new zone, I took my "A Team" character, ie: Kikidas, along with the two members of my triangle, Owaru and Boon, to the new instance. Now, it's a 5-man, not a 3-man, so we took along two "A Team Groupies", namely Owaru's lovely and talented wife, Neshura the Beast Master Hunter and Absitively, a short-masculine version of Kikidas with a higher pitched voice (also known as a gnome warlock).

We stepped into Magister's Terrace and started to have fun! A bit of muddling around as we figured out that Mage Guard bubbles will break traps and that Mage Guards, though seducable, broke it really really easily.

We discovered that Magisters need to die fast and are not seducable. We discovered that Blood Knights seem to go from 5% health to 85% health with no warning (Who healed them, damnit!). I discovered I can 1-shot the non-elite imps (woot woot!).

The first boss we started without any warning (our hunter says "Oops." in ventrilo!) and downed him without any problem (well, he managed to channel his first gem all the way through.) and had a fun chuckle at the silly silly hunter.

The second boss hallway was really fun. Two warlocks make for pretty pretty AOE. The second boss, dead swiftly! Woot woot.

We get to the third boss and suddenly our delightful run turns into hell-fest. According to what WE knew, "seduce should work" on the mobs. Yeah well, they didn't. I mean, what the hell. SHEEP works but not SEDUCE? Seduce is about the most easily broken of all CC. A small, almost unnoticed, animation alerts people to the seduction. It lasts only 12-15 seconds if not resisted or broken early. It depends on the relatively small mana pool of the succubus, who also isn't exactly robust in the health department either. And they're IMMUNE?

So, whomever wrote that all CC works on the humanoids by the priestess needs to be shot. For our group makeup, we had a cruddy cruddy grouping. We had the naga warlord, the blood elf warlock, the blood elf fury warrior and the satyr hunter. The only CC we could do was banishing the hunter and having OUR hunter chain trap someone and possibly fearing one (though that did backfire on us a little bit, as one of our wipes was due to a feared Sliver running into friends.)

We tried multiple multiple multiple frustrating times. The warlord, though we tried to trap him, would get off an intimidating shout and there goes everyone! The warrior, though no one did anything to him at all, invariably came and pummeled me to death, while I was running in fear. (This happened twice.) The satyr did manage to stay banished. The imp was one or two shotted adequately. The priestess ran amok. We kept dying before we could get the warrior feared.

Unfortunately, our hunter had to go, it was getting late for her. So we called in a good guild friend, a mage named Gaaron. And lo and behold, they can be SHEEPED (I hate you, Blizzard). After Gaaron joined, we one-shotted the group. Satyr stayed banished, warlord stayed sheeped and warrior stayed feared. Priestess died. Warlock died. Warrior died. Warlord died. Satyr died. We lived!

As an aside, the boss fight is resettable if you run far enough. :) We learned this.

Then a brief jaunt to a big ass pull that we handled decently once we figured out how to pull 'em. (Our pally's consecrate was right where we were trying to seduce) With one wipe on them, we downed them the second time.

Then to Kael'thas. Ah, Kael'thas. This was a very fun fight! We wiped once on it, in part due to me starting on Kael'thas too early, and though I didn't do more than dot him up and turn my attention to the phoenix, he still decided to eat me. The second attempt was... humerous!

So, we decide to have Absitively kite the phoenix (not DPS it, just kite it until it died), then we turned and killed the egg. Otherwise, we all kept on Kael'thas. Unfortunately, we didn't take into account that the phoenix has that little aoe thing going on, and Absitively dragged it over a few of us before we learned to move out of the way! Heehee. You should have heard Boon, "How the hell am I supposed to heal EVERYONE?!" he would shout.

Then the reverse-gravity thing. NEAT-O! Like swimming, only much faster! We keep at it, swimming around. I almost got eaten by an orb because I wasn't paying attention (and in fact, my health dropped down too low!). At 10% or so, everyone but Absitively and myself are dead. I die at 4% (like I said, health was too low to survive the periodic damage) and then Absitively, brave little Absitively... killed Kael'thas. All by his lonesome! It was a brave sight. This little gnome standing toe to toe with Kael'thas and shooting him with a shadowbolt. All of us holding our breath that we wouldn't have to fight him again! And down he goes! Woot woot! WARLOCK POWER!

All in all, a fun evening, if a little frustrating (Seduce should work, damnit!) at times.