Dungeon Blather

[SurfD]

I noticed a HP increase with gear item level in Occulus, similar to FL. Not sure if damaged scaled as well; the zone is still painful as hell. Haven't done Maly since patch, and probably won't ever again.

Edit: spln iz hrd

I believe it was in the patch notes.  All vehicles currently in the game (with the exception of the Jousting Mounts) now scale with gear.  Maly included.

[Rendakor]

I know; I was replying to K9 asking if anyone had tried it.

[Fabricated]

PvP with vehicles is actually fun. It's interesting to blow shit up without an agenda beyond taking the next hill.

In PvE they suck ass. They should be completely abolished from that aspect of the game. People don't enjoy doing technical fights where they can't use any of their normal abilities. They don't want to get into a wonky viewpoint and then try to negotiate completely different controls. And lastly they HATED having all their fancy gear reduced to a worthless pile of crap on the floor.

Well, it is sorta fun to just put the highest level gear you got into every slot and turn your siege engine into a rolling death machine. With my latest upgrades I'll be able to get a siege engine to 2 million HP.

[apocrypha]

So, heh. Did my first heroic with my enhance shaman this morning, after lots of work getting as good gear as I reasonably could. Went fine, great fun, wasn't even bottom of the DPS meter, raar etc.

Realised I'd forgotten to pick up the daily quests for it, so back to Dalaran, pick them up, find another group to do it again, no problem I thought. Er guys, where are you all? What does instance lock mean?

Many lols in /p. Sigh. 

[sinij]

I don't understand why maly and occ exist.

[LK]

I could say the same for Obsidian Sanctum since it felt shoehorned into the game as far as lore goes. Also, Argent Tournament, lol.

[Soulflame]

Argent Tournament exists to make it easier for players to attain 100 mounts.

[SurfD]

I don't understand why maly and occ exist.

At least most of the lore for these were in game, though scattered through half a dozen random quests in Borean Tundra and Dragonblight.

Starts off with a bit of lore they don't tell you, that being that WAAYYY back during the sundering that destroyed the Well of Eternity, the 4 Good Dragon aspects fought Deathwing, and drove him off.  However, Malygos, being a very heavily tied to the magic of the world, suffered some kind of nasty mental blow durring the fight (partly because he had given some of his power to an artifact Deathwing had created and then turned around and used against the aspects).

Anyway, Malygos goes into retreat to hybernate and recover his power.  Many centuries later, the artifact Deathwing created is finally destroyed, returning the stolen power to the dragon ascpects.  Somehow, this return of power to Malygos drives him borderline insane, and he up and decides that Arcane Magic (which he is supposed to be watching over, and which the mortals have been rampantly abusing, much to the detriment of the planet) is too much for the Mortals to handle.  So he sets out to do something, which will eventually destabalize the arcane fields of the planet enough to either make magic unusable, or kill us all off, one or the other.  So we have to break into his pocket universe and put him down, before he dooms us all, or something like that.

As for Occulus, from what i can tell, his plan was to do something along the lines of use the surge needles and focusing rings to artificially redirect power from the leylines around northrend, and from the Blue Dragon shrine, across borean tundra and to the Nexus / Occulus, which would act as a giant focusing tower, beaming the power into his little pocket dimension, where he would then use it to power his anti-magic death ray, or whatever his master plan was.  Appearently, we managed to at least stop him from completing the cross borean pipeline at the border of Dragonblight.

[Jayce]

I think the whole thing started when Deathwing killed most of Malygos' dragonflight at the aforementioned battle over the Well of Eternity.  He never really recovered from that.

[AutomaticZen]

Deathwing and Malygos were best friends, so Mal took the betrayal rather hard.  The betrayal, the death of much of his dragonflight, and his magic being used against him turned him.

Of course Deathwing turned too.  He was a hippy, and then became a death hippy.  Decided that Azeroth was better off without anyone tainting it.

And before obth of them, Sargeras turned as well.

[Merusk]

You've dealt with the douchebags of Warcraft. You'd turn to thoughts of "Fuck it, better to just kill everyone," too.

[Paelos]

You've dealt with the douchebags of Warcraft. You'd turn to thoughts of "Fuck it, better to just kill everyone," too.

Some people just want to see the world burn 

[Ingmar]

After being stalled for a million years, partly because we kept having to cancel raids due to server fuckery or lack of healers showing up, we finally made some progress and got Freya and Thorim down tonight.

I tanked the hallway on Thorim, which was fairly fun. Not sure what the arena part is like as a tank yet. Freya is a very cool encounter but totally boring to MT. The OT has a way more interesting job.

[K9]

I had to lead our 2nd string group through ToC10 tonight. For learning attempts we did well, 2-shot beasts, 1-shot Jaraxxus, 4-shot Champions, then wiped multiple to Valkyr, including hitting the enrage twice. We finally downed them after 7 or so tries.

Before this night I didn't even realise that the valkyr had a hard enrage :( So yeah, the new DPS failed us a bit on that.

[Selby]

So those of you who are cool and whatnot, explain to me how the Champions fight goes simply and what works best.  Yes, I know it's a PvP fight and not a pure DPS or PvE fight, and we're not trying it the "normal" raider way.  But we can get the druid down to ~40% of health within the first 30s or so of the fight, and then, *bam* and he's back at full health.  Do we need to just try and pick off whoever is convenient?  Ignore anyone in particular?  Interrupts work great for those first few moments, but it seems like everyone is on cooldown when the healing starts up again.  Same for all of the other mobs too as long as the druid or pally lives.

Granted, we'll eventually get it but I would rather not wipe 15 times before we do.  Any strategies or advice that can be given would never hurt.

[Merusk]

from what I've seen; Lots and lots of interupts and spam dispels for the HOTs.  Miss one and you're doomed.

Now to try and find another guild. Inattentive and indifferent officers + failling on Yogg for 2 months = everyone quits and now I'm a DK trying to find a guild that doesn't raid until 1 fucking AM EST. 

WTF, goddamn college kids.   I won't even get to see Icecrown at this rate.   

[K9]

So those of you who are cool and whatnot, explain to me how the Champions fight goes simply and what works best.  Yes, I know it's a PvP fight and not a pure DPS or PvE fight, and we're not trying it the "normal" raider way.  But we can get the druid down to ~40% of health within the first 30s or so of the fight, and then, *bam* and he's back at full health.  Do we need to just try and pick off whoever is convenient?  Ignore anyone in particular?  Interrupts work great for those first few moments, but it seems like everyone is on cooldown when the healing starts up again.  Same for all of the other mobs too as long as the druid or pally lives.

Granted, we'll eventually get it but I would rather not wipe 15 times before we do.  Any strategies or advice that can be given would never hurt.

We CC 4-5 of the mobs on the pull, including the healers, then burn down the most threatening DPS (Shaman, then rogue, then warrior) under a heal debuff. Dispel like mad and re-cc when you can. Once the first DPS is down you have more or less won.

[Selby]

We just zerged the druid down with as many interrupts as possible.  It was funny watching him go down as fast as he did.  Then the shammy came over and 2-shot me (cloth wearer curse).  Luckily the group pulled it together and got the rogue down, then the priest and after that it was pretty much a cakewalk.  Lots of cheering too.

It's amazing how well a raid can do when everyone is geared for it and doesn't stand in the fire ;-)

[K9]

In our view the enhance shaman is the most dangerous and annoying one you can get, and needs to die first. Congrats on killing them though.

[apocrypha]

Did my first ever Naxx 10 run last week. Was a random PUG and it went very smoothly mostly.

It did confirm my complete lack of interest in raiding though. Sure, some of the fights were fun, especially the one with the dancing round the floor flame things, but not worth sitting through 3 hours for, and there's no way my back can handle that, I had to take several breaks.

[Fabricated]

Did my first ever Naxx 10 run last week. Was a random PUG and it went very smoothly mostly.

It did confirm my complete lack of interest in raiding though. Sure, some of the fights were fun, especially the one with the dancing round the floor flame things, but not worth sitting through 3 hours for, and there's no way my back can handle that, I had to take several breaks.

Naxx is easy to the point where it's almost not fun. Ulduar with a competent group is really fun IMO. And then ToC/Ony/Sarth/Maly are over so quick that you probably wouldn't need a break.

Sadly even ToC10 requires a bit more than Naxx10 gear unless you're a pretty good player.

[K9]

I guess the fun of a fight varies between roles. As DPS fights like patch are fun because you get to see some really impressive numbers flying, but it's probably the single most boring fight for a healer. I'd agree that Ulduar fights are broadly more enjoyable than Naxx, and with a lot less trash Ulduar is far more forgiving on your sanity, and gives you more opportunities for breaks. Fights like IC, Thorim and Freya are really fun imo, as the dynamics of the fight change, and you have multiple tasks that need to be done differently. IC in particular is a nice evolving fight, and a mechanic I'd love to see used again. Sapphiron was probably my favourite fight in Naxx.

ToC is broadly fun, although beasts are just tedious and Jaraxxus is really uninspired. Champions, Valkyr and anub are interesting though.

[Thrawn]

Could always be worse, could be clearing trash between the Twin Emps and C'Thun at 60.  *shudder*

[Paelos]

Sadly even ToC10 requires a bit more than Naxx10 gear unless you're a pretty good player.

The heroic badges evened out most of my gear, and much of my team's gear. We've cleared the place after a little over a month of trying, and nothing but mail and cloth dropping. I'd say if you can stand 5 mans, and fill in the gaps with some stupid Naxx runs, you'd be pretty much exactly where I was starting it off.

[apocrypha]

Yeah heroic badge loot is where I'm gonna be at, I think that's my end game until next expansion.

[Gobbeldygook]

Yeah heroic badge loot is where I'm gonna be at, I think that's my end game until next expansion.

I wouldn't be so sure of that.  IIRC, they said the new 3.3 heroics will drop Triumph emblems.  If they're handing out ilevel 226 weapons in a pathetically easy holiday, I'd bet the new heroics will drop something like ilevel 232 gear.

[AutomaticZen]

Yeah heroic badge loot is where I'm gonna be at, I think that's my end game until next expansion.

I wouldn't be so sure of that.  IIRC, they said the new 3.3 heroics will drop Triumph emblems.  If they're handing out ilevel 226 weapons in a pathetically easy holiday, I'd bet the new heroics will drop something like ilevel 232 gear.

This is why I haven't broke on the Triumph badge gear.  If I get a Trophy, then I'll grab the 9.5 stuff.  But I'm pretty much assuming the three Icecrown instance will drop at least 10-man ToC level gear.

[Rasix]

I'm sure the 3.3 heroics will be "serious business" and there will be "gear checks" since maybe they'll make it so you can't just gather up all of the mobs and hit your favorite AOE ability.

At this point, I'm just planning for the expansion.   Buying hierloom gear to finish off leveling my rogue, that will then be passed on to a goblin hunter.

[Salamok]

I think WoW dungeon design peaked with Dire Maul.

[Rasix]

I don't know if you're being serious or not, but I loved Dire Maul.  North was just awesome.  You could play it straight or go for a tribute run.  East was a boss bonanza, but was generally a bit easy (I believe it was tuned for 56-58).

Wasn't very fond of West through.  It was kind of a pain.

[AutomaticZen]

I wouldn't be so sure of that.  IIRC, they said the new 3.3 heroics will drop Triumph emblems.  If they're handing out ilevel 226 weapons in a pathetically easy holiday, I'd bet the new heroics will drop something like ilevel 232 gear.

Confirmed.

An epic quest line will present adventurers with the task of weakening Icecrown Citadel's forces, requiring that players defeat the challenges in each dungeon wing before venturing into the next one. Normal and Heroic versions of the dungeon will be accessible to players, although each wing will be considered a separate instance; therefore, on Heroic difficulty, each wing will have its own separate lockout timer. All-new rewards -- including item level 219 (normal) and level 232 (Heroic) loot -- will be offered to those who destroy some of the Lich King's most formidable allies.

Also:

Bronjahm, the Godfather of Souls: An instrument of reckoning, Bronjahm watches over the engines in the Forge of Souls. He must be killed if the soul grinders are to be destroyed.

[bhodi]

One of the most fun things that I've done recently is burn through halls of stone with a ulduar25 geared healer+tank+2 dps+1 scrub. It was extremely fun to just chain pull the entire instance. The hallway where the guys unfreeze? We did that in one single go. We almost didn't stop at all. I healed on the run and we powered through the entire thing in about 15 minutes. I've never seen it done so fast. No pausing, no delays.

That wasn't to say it was easy, I had a hell of a time keeping the tank up when we're tanking the boss and the pack before him, and that unfreeze area got hairy as we all got stunned every time one of them died, but overall it was very fun. No single pack pull everyone sit there while the tank loots, casters drink, it was just 15 minutes of go go go. A nice change.

[Rasix]

One of the most fun things that I've done recently is burn through halls of stone with a ulduar25 geared healer+tank+2 dps+1 scrub. It was extremely fun to just chain pull the entire instance. The hallway where the guys unfreeze? We did that in one single go. We almost didn't stop at all. I healed on the run and we powered through the entire thing in about 15 minutes. I've never seen it done so fast. No pausing, no delays.

That wasn't to say it was easy, I had a hell of a time keeping the tank up when we're tanking the boss and the pack before him, and that unfreeze area got hairy as we all got stunned every time one of them died, but overall it was very fun. No single pack pull everyone sit there while the tank loots, casters drink, it was just 15 minutes of go go go. A nice change.

Isn't that HOL?

I did something similar where I was the scrub. I think all were on their offspecs though.  Their DPS wasn't that impressive, but stuff exploded pretty quick and the pace was pretty fast even if the tank seemed distracted.   Still, it was over in like 20 minutes, and managed to make a Wintergrasp I thought I was going to be late to.

[WindupAtheist]

Dear Jesus, Buddha, Yoda, Zeus, Joe Pesci, anyone who's listening... Please let that miserable Horde-kissing twat Jaina die in the 5 man confrontation with the Lich King. With Theramore advancing into the Barrens in Cataclysm, it sure looks like she has to go. And supposedly she's going there to try and redeem Arthas. It's the perfect opportunity for him to stab her and go "MUA HA HA! COME AND GET YOUR REVENGE IN THE NEW RAID, NEWBS!" before flying away on his broom or whatever.

I hate Jaina more than any other Warcraft character.

[Rasix]

Ohh god, don't get all loregasmy in here too.