World of Warcraft

[GT Kodiak]

We have 2DKs and a Bear as Main Tanks.

With myself (Warrior) and a Paladin as backups. And another Retri who might stand in if desperate (us, not him )

Rest of the raid is mostly Hunters to be honest, With 2 Holy Palas, a Holy Priest and a Resto Druid as the healers. Quite often the healers say it would be easier with a Resto Shaman on the team.

Favorite fight so far has to be Brackenspore.
Kargath 2nd.
Tectus is too much RNG.
Butcher is boring with an instagib mechanic.
Twin Ogron is dull mostly, but the fire dance is interesting.
Koragh... really not sure about Koragh. Increased magic damage? From a theorycrafting point of view why would my raidgroup bother taking a pure Physical dps class for this fight? The fight itself is quite fun/challenging but it's mechanics don't do me any favours.

[Swanboy]

GT Kodiak said:

We have 2DKs and a Bear as Main Tanks.

With myself (Warrior) and a Paladin as backups. And another Retri who might stand in if desperate (us, not him )

Rest of the raid is mostly Hunters to be honest, With 2 Holy Palas, a Holy Priest and a Resto Druid as the healers. Quite often the healers say it would be easier with a Resto Shaman on the team.

Favorite fight so far has to be Brackenspore.
Kargath 2nd.
Tectus is too much RNG.
Butcher is boring with an instagib mechanic.
Twin Ogron is dull mostly, but the fire dance is interesting.
Koragh... really not sure about Koragh. Increased magic damage? From a theorycrafting point of view why would my raidgroup bother taking a pure Physical dps class for this fight? The fight itself is quite fun/challenging but it's mechanics don't do me any favours.

Well, we got 2 new heroic kills last night (Bracken and Tectus) to take us to 5/7.
Our Monk MT came back after an extended Christmas break, and we realised what we had been missing, he was only just behind the healers on healing!!

There are a lot of fights that favour hunters for specific jobs (flamethrowers on Brack, Brand on Imperator etc) but you do want a mix of classes for buffs/debuffs etc

Interesting what you say about Resto Shaman, ours is bemoaning his healing throughput, but acknowledges his CD's are essential, Druids are ruling the roost for our healers, but again i like to have a mix for utility.

Regarding Koragh, we didn't manage to kill him on heroic last night, but i think we will next raid. I can see why you might think it doesn't suit physical classes, but i really wouldn't worry about it, magic classes do reduced dmg when the shield is up, and increased when it is down, so these things even themselves out, plus there are the adds to take down.

If i remember correctly, you're referring to normal bosses, so what you think is boring, may not be when you get to heroic, trust me

[GT Kodiak]

Swanboy said:

Well, we got 2 new heroic kills last night (Bracken and Tectus) to take us to 5/7.
Our Monk MT came back after an extended Christmas break, and we realised what we had been missing, he was only just behind the healers on healing!!

Swanboy said:

If i remember correctly, you're referring to normal bosses, so what you think is boring, may not be when you get to heroic, trust me

Congratulations on the heroic kills! I keep dropping it into the teamspeak chatter that we really should be doing one night on Heroic. We only do 2.5 hours raids so with learning the heroic nuances we might only get 2-3 down to begin with but I don't see Kargath/Twins/Butcher giving us much hassle. How is butcher not boring on Heroic? It's not as frantic as Patchwerk but a lagspike can cause the difference between too many stacks and a wipe or a one shot.

We had a Monk backup Tank near the end of SoO and our main paladin healer said she found healing him a nightmare. Put the monk off leveling through WoD, Maybe we should get him to stop playing his Mage/Ret and do the work on his Monk

Swanboy said:

There are a lot of fights that favour hunters for specific jobs (flamethrowers on Brack, Brand on Imperator etc) but you do want a mix of classes for buffs/debuffs etc

We found our firemage to be best on the Flamethrower, his Pyromaniac DoTs were a huge chunk of his damage! He just used scorch to proc pyros as he was running around clearing the moss and did an excellent job. Blink and his Time Travel talent giving him all the mobility he needed.

Swanboy said:

Interesting what you say about Resto Shaman, ours is bemoaning his healing throughput, but acknowledges his CD's are essential, Druids are ruling the roost for our healers, but again i like to have a mix for utility.

I think our healers are still getting used to standing still

Swanboy said:

Regarding Koragh, we didn't manage to kill him on heroic last night, but i think we will next raid. I can see why you might think it doesn't suit physical classes, but i really wouldn't worry about it, magic classes do reduced dmg when the shield is up, and increased when it is down, so these things even themselves out, plus there are the adds to take down.

Do you fight Koragh with a spread out raid(ranged) or grouped?

And do you have your OT gather the adds to nuke in a suppresion field or do you let the ranged stand behind them and let their aggro pull them into the fields? I keep recommending the latter as we have some fantastic ranged DPS but "because Tankspot said so" we play a game of Man and his DogBear

[Swanboy]

I would definitely advise you try a few heroic bosses, Kargath and Twins in particular, Butcher is a dps check you need an average 20k per dps roughly.

Butcher might seem boring on normal, but on heroic, the stack swapping is extremely tight, and as a dps i am rotating CD's when i get stacks whilst trying to maximise my dps. It's extremely frantic, especially once he beserks at 30%

Our Monk tank said he felt extremely squishy at first, but now he's doing amazing numbers both dps and hps.

Regarding Koragh, it's easy to get into bad habits on normal and ignore mechanics you have to take much more seriously on heroic (to be fair that applies to a few heroics).

We failed on it last raid because we weren't collecting the adds in void zones to kill them as our healers could heal through that damage, well on heroic they can't! So we're going to try having the ranged/healers behind zones so the adds will move through them of their own accord...

[Swanboy]

Swanboy said:

I would definitely advise you try a few heroic bosses, Kargath and Twins in particular, Butcher is a dps check you need an average 20k per dps roughly.

Butcher might seem boring on normal, but on heroic, the stack swapping is extremely tight, and as a dps i am rotating CD's when i get stacks whilst trying to maximise my dps. It's extremely frantic, especially once he beserks at 30%

Our Monk tank said he felt extremely squishy at first, but now he's doing amazing numbers both dps and hps.

Regarding Koragh, it's easy to get into bad habits on normal and ignore mechanics you have to take much more seriously on heroic (to be fair that applies to a few heroics).

We failed on it last raid because we weren't collecting the adds in void zones to kill them as our healers could heal through that damage, well on heroic they can't! So we're going to try having the ranged/healers behind zones so the adds will move through them of their own accord...

Well, we got Ko'ragh down on heroic last night after about an hour of wiping.
As is usual with my guild, it just takes subtle tactical changes (mostly where the adds are concerned).
With the new raid due to arrive next week, we have 2 raidnights to try and get the last boss for the 'Ahead of the Curve' achievement

[GT Kodiak]

Well done!

We got a shot at the Imperator on Normal the other night getting Koragh down. Raid finally willing to try my tactic and stand behind the zones. 1 wipe due to a melee dps getting the null-zone by mistake (wasn't me! for once)

Heroic tonight. Most of our raidgroup is just starting to breach the 20k dps mark with a few stragglers down near the 10k dps mark so I doubt we'll get to Brackenspore.

Good luck getting the achievement dude

[Swanboy]

GT Kodiak said:

Well done!

We got a shot at the Imperator on Normal the other night getting Koragh down. Raid finally willing to try my tactic and stand behind the zones. 1 wipe due to a melee dps getting the null-zone by mistake (wasn't me! for once)

Heroic tonight. Most of our raidgroup is just starting to breach the 20k dps mark with a few stragglers down near the 10k dps mark so I doubt we'll get to Brackenspore.

Good luck getting the achievement dude

Thanks!

Grz on getting Koragh, Imperator is all about mechanics (although the intermission phases are a bit of a dps race). The trickiest part is p3 where the tanks get rooted when they get the mark, so the melee and other tank need to move instead. Positionally it's the reverse of the other phases in that the ranged/healers stay in the centre and the melee/tanks move round the outer edge.
Save dps CD's for intermissions and BL/TW for the 2nd one to get the extra add down asap, also prioritize one of the mages in each intermission and interrupt as much as possible.
I think you'll be able to get Kargath and Twins heroic down, Butcher is a dps race with an average 20k required. Tectus and Brack are harder but not so tight on dps.

If you'd like to chat in game my BNET is Swanaldinho#1189

My guild is on Stormrage btw

[Swanboy]

How are we getting on in Blackrock Foundry?

We've got 4 normal and 2 heroic kills so far

I don't know how Blizz continue to come up with new and interesting mechanics for fights...Hanz and Franz, Oregorger, Operator Thogar are all awesome fights

[Sushi]

BRF 8/10 normal, cleared 7 last night, just, maidens, blast furnace, and blackhand left for us this week. Then on to HC Sunday.

[IainT]

Been enjoying this a lot. Garrison stuff plus LRF and other quality of life changes are pretty engaging. Even found interest in pet battling!

No real interest in raiding beyond LFR though despite old friends trying to get me you join their Mythic raids.

[GT Kodiak]

3 Down in BRF, Management keep taking us back to Highmaul Heroic once a week to clear it rather than pushing onwards. Their call but it seems like time wasted.

Should get another 2 down this weekend.

Glad to hear you guys are getting on well...

What bosses did you take in what order?

[Swanboy]

GT Kodiak said:

3 Down in BRF, Management keep taking us back to Highmaul Heroic once a week to clear it rather than pushing onwards. Their call but it seems like time wasted.

Should get another 2 down this weekend.

Glad to hear you guys are getting on well...

What bosses did you take in what order?

Heroic Highmaul is easier and higher ilvl than normal BrF i would suggest?
First 4 in BrF normal are pretty simple i would say. Our order was...
H&F
Gruul
Beastlord
Oregorger
We're aiming for Thogar and Flamebender before starting on the wing-end bosses
Heroic, we got Gruul and H&F in that order, but H&F is the easier once people learn not to get hit by plates, aiming for Oregorger and Beastlord HC's next

[GT Kodiak]

Oregor was the first boss we tried and it didn't go well that night. Not enough DPS to get the boxes down at the same time as learning the fight/movement patterns.

Do you have any Enh Shamans in your group?

We have one and I would have expected her numbers to skyrocket during the Beastlord Fight but she seems to be struggling. Says she uses an addon to tell her what ability will cause the most damage (Like "Shock and Awe").

Upon entering BRF our mages hit a big dps spike though some tipping point in gear/itemisation.

Any particular classes suprised you guys?

[troc]

GT Kodiak said:

Do you have any Enh Shamans in your group?
We have one and I would have expected her numbers to skyrocket during the Beastlord Fight but she seems to be struggling.

Yeah Enh isn't in a great place right now. We used (waaaay back in the day) to be the masters of single-target DPS but now we are only any good at trash packs
The other issue is that people are struggling to change to the new "charges" system from echo of the elements as working out when to use an ability twice rather than follow the usual priority system is kinda tricky.

For some people there appears to be a DPS increase and for others a serious DPS decrease.

As it is, we still suffer from button bloat and a load of "meh" damage abilities we need to mash in a pseudo-random order to DPS effectively, we lack any form of decent (single-target) burst or finishing moves and we can't even off-heal properly anymore.

There's a readon Method don't use an enh shammy in the progression raiding.

As usual, the shammy forums are a depressing place to go.

[Swanboy]

GT Kodiak said:

Oregor was the first boss we tried and it didn't go well that night. Not enough DPS to get the boxes down at the same time as learning the fight/movement patterns.

Do you have any Enh Shamans in your group?

We have one and I would have expected her numbers to skyrocket during the Beastlord Fight but she seems to be struggling. Says she uses an addon to tell her what ability will cause the most damage (Like "Shock and Awe").

Upon entering BRF our mages hit a big dps spike though some tipping point in gear/itemisation.

Any particular classes suprised you guys?

We don't have an Enh Sham (not by design, it's just fallen that way) but i happen to play one as my main 'alt'
Single target is a little below par, but the (sustained) aoe is probably the best of any class at the moment? I used to use Shock n Awe but it appears to not have been updated since WoD landed, but even so, i am able to do frightening numbers on aoe, and Beastlord ought to fit that bill perfectly.
She needs to be aware of when the adds are incoming, give the tank a second to gather them up on the boss, then spread Flame Shock to the adds with Lava Lash, before using Unleash Elements to empower Fire Nova, and replacing Lightning bolt with Chain Lightning, and Magma Totem instead of Searing.
Failing that, suggest she goes Ele, it's easier and generally better single target as well as being competitive on AoE.

As far as surprising classes, what pleases me most is that all classes seem to have at least one viable dps spec, and often a different one for aoe/single target.
I've recently changed my DK from 2H Frost to Unholy as it performs better in both areas

[GT Kodiak]

Swanboy said:

As far as surprising classes, what pleases me most is that all classes seem to have at least one viable dps spec, and often a different one for aoe/single target.

But I'm a Warrior and there's no way in hell you're telling me that Arms is a viab-... You meant Gladiator Stance as Prot to dps didn't you?...

Yeah. Prot spec does better dps than Arms.

THAT was a shocker.

As for Enh Shammies, my main alt is an Enh shammy and broke the 100kdps mark during an AoE fight in LFR. That's why I wondered what was going on with them as I rarely break 17k dps single target in mostly Highmaul LFR gear. Shame because their kit seems fantastic but the luck element of the echo procs makes it really hit and miss.

Swanboy, numerically what sort of difference did you see between frost and unholy?

[Swanboy]

GT Kodiak said:

But I'm a Warrior and there's no way in hell you're telling me that Arms is a viab-... You meant Gladiator Stance as Prot to dps didn't you?...

Yeah. Prot spec does better dps than Arms.

THAT was a shocker.

As for Enh Shammies, my main alt is an Enh shammy and broke the 100kdps mark during an AoE fight in LFR. That's why I wondered what was going on with them as I rarely break 17k dps single target in mostly Highmaul LFR gear. Shame because their kit seems fantastic but the luck element of the echo procs makes it really hit and miss.

Swanboy, numerically what sort of difference did you see between frost and unholy?

2H Fury is the best Warrior spec right now, followed by 1H Fury. You're right that Glad is above Arms, but both are very low. If you message me in game i'll send you the link...
I did Butcher HC on my 660 Shammy last night, and did approx 21k dps (that was with 655/651 weapons).
As far as the DK goes, single target there's little difference between Frost and UH, i can do about 26k unbuffed on the target dummy last i checked, but AoE is far superior. More importantly than that, ifeel like UH 'flows' better, i was finding periods with no buttons to press with Frost

[IainT]

I've been very pleasantly surprised that my Ret pally is both competitive and fun to play again having been completely un-fun since the initial introduction of HP. It's almost as much fun as it was in Wrath!

[Zad]

I'm really struggling on my hunter, my brain doesn't like MM spec after being SV for so long. I agree about Ret Paladins though, they are playing the best they have for a long long time.

[IainT]

The halcyon of HC Lich King fights where Divine Storm procs would see me running with double the DPS of the next best and just behind the top healer on healing... To be fair everything was going to be downhill from there!