SSC and TK raid info

[Eigun]

... it seems that many of our raiders have agro'd the Valentine monster, and as a result they will be courageously battling for thier lives in thier own 2 man groups this evening, leaving the rest of us quite a few short to pound some Vashj.

Blessing of Protection, don't fail me now!

/outofcontext

Scene: The raid, waiting in front of Hydross, for a member having technical difficulties.

Holyssa: "Mmm.... it's warm in here..."

Orcala: "Get out of my butt!"

/discuss

[Holyssa]

/outofcontext

Scene: The raid, waiting in front of Hydross, for a member having technical difficulties.

Holyssa: "Mmm.... it's warm in here..."

Orcala: "Get out of my butt!"

/discuss

This is why I love how small Blood Elves are. Druid butts...beware of where you park!

[Holyssa]

http://boards.worldofraids.com/topic-10967-1.html

Patch notes got updated again, but with some fascinating changes to 25-man stuff:

- All 25-man bosses drop 2 badges now.

- You can now purchase Nether Vortex with badges (cost: 15 badges + 6 gold), also Primal Nether & Nether Vortex are not soulbound anymore.

More badges, and most importantly: MOAR (JC) trinketssssss!

New Model: Tuskarr Male

It seems like Blizzard has added a WotLK model to that ptr build (mistake?), they will probably remove it as soon as possible, anyway we got a picture of it now! (Thanks Mech for the tip)

lol walrus.

Edited February 15, 2008 by Holyssa

[Baracko]

A Small Reminder:

I would like to remind everyone that we will be going to --> TK <-- for awhile to learn the new bosses!

Please make sure to show up there on Tuesday with your consumables and flasks ready to go for some learning. The bosses should not be too difficult for us, but remember the trash is nasty and will require your utmost attention.

I say this from experience now, and you'll hear me say it again on Tuesday!:

If you are unsure about which target you should be attacking, DON'T ATTACK!.

I look forward to conquering the Pink Spaceship of Doom with you all...

Baracko

aka Darth Floor

Raid Buttkicker

[Holyssa]

Please make sure to show up there on Tuesday with your consumables and flasks ready to go for some learning. The bosses should not be too difficult for us, but remember the trash is nasty and will require your utmost attention.

http://www.wowwiki.com/Eye_%28Tempest_Keep%29

If you guys haven't done so already, go look at this WoWWiki excerpt about The Eye and it's trash. A good portion of them can be CC'd, and following the suggested kill order will make this place a total joke. It's much easier than it appears to be if everyone focuses.

Now for some copy-pasta fun so people don't have to weed through the SSC posts:

- Void Reaver tutorial film.

http://www.bosskillers.com/cgi-bin/bbguild...;sid=eb4C3F3r8y - Highly recommended A'lar strategy. Probably gonna be our biggest hurdle due to random bullcrap and his plethora of bugs (lol hitboxes), but I'm confident we can kill him easily.

For fire mages that cannot afford to constantly re-spec: stock up on Elixirs of Frost Power or Wizard Oil.

http://www.wowwiki.com/High_Astromancer_Solarian - She's Baron Geddon with hired goons & less randomness. An incredibly easy zergfest, but I'd still read up & come prepared.

http://kaelthasraiding.ytmnd.com/ - Inevitable.

EDIT: Small reminder: please do not forget your Ashtongue Cowl for the Ruse of the Ashtongue quest. If you forget your Cowl, I will pour liquid-nitrogen down your pants, and smack your buttocks with a hammer! ^_^

Edited February 19, 2008 by Holyssa

[Holyssa]

Time for some feedback on Big Gay Al('ar):

~ Phase 1 went very well during final attempts. Like Vashj, keep your camera zoomed out as far as possible (whether you're DPSing or upstairs choking the flaming chicken). Get Improved Camera 2 if you got the free time as well.

I generally keep my camera tilted at a flat angle (just above the ramp's floor) when tanking Al'ar up top, so that way I can see the direction he's drifting in. Zoom out until your view gives you a clear view of Al'ar, yourself, and a good 3 or 4 inches around Al'ar's targeting circle. Rotating the camera so you're facing Al'ar's back helps also, but be mindful not to accidentally right-click and rotate around. I'll post a picture of my own PoV tomorrow night.

~ Unless you are tanking adds/Al'ar, or have a battle-rez on-hand, please keep TS clear. I think a good portion of our problems yesterday were due to miscommunication. Not to say you guys have downs, but do try to have faith in the eyes and ears of your tanks: even if some of them have tentacles dangling from their faces. It also helps us better focus on technical problems, such as those trying to get BigWigs to cooperate.

~ Add tanking was fine, except for one minor inconvenience:

See that ramp? Keep adds as far away from it as possible! If the add goes boom while a tank tries to stop Flame Quill, the tank gets a free ride across the room. Not good.

Tank them by the doorway ramp (see the far left) during both phases. This way, the knockback from add deaths (or Al'ar himself) won't toss you off balance, and the wall will cushion your fall to a degree. If Al'ar's meteor happens to land nearby, healers must compensate by topping off the add tank ASAP.

~ Melt Armor can be negated via taunting off whoever has the debuff. I highly recommend we set up a tank rotation for this, rather than just randomly shout it out. It's not a good idea to have someone tank the giant chicken, only to have less than 5k or so life from fire damage or a loose add. Speaking of Melt Armor...

~ A friendly Tankadin tip: I use a macro from my Nightbane (pre-2.3 Fear Nerf) days which allows me to toss up Divine Shield (bubble) and remove it with just one click, wiping out the Melt Armor debuff if I am affected in less than a second.

"But Holyyyy, someone will pull aggroes! WAAAGGHH--"

*/busshock's the whiner*

Let me explain how this works with one simple WoWWiki quote:

"Divine Shield does not wipe aggro, but mobs will ignore targets under the influece of Divine Shield unless there is no other valid target for them, which can lead to death of raid/party members if used in the wrong situation. It sometimes is helpfull if a tanking Paladin activates the shield and then immediatly remove the Divine Shield again (best through a macro) to instantly debuff himself from all harmfull spells, but since this means a temporary aggro loss, it is highly dangerous."

I noticed this during our final attempt last night after Orcala and Cal died: MA got removed, and I only lost Al'ar for but a split second while the shield is up. He went right for me again as soon as the macro dispelled it. I cannot use this very often thanks to my 5-minute cooldown, but it will be very useful should we lose too many people, and attempt to buy more time pre-enrage.

~ Don't get discouraged. Come Thursday: BBQ'd Phoenix for all! The rest of The Eye is a guaranteed cakewalk compared to this winged pest.

[Zebgora]

Finding my own replacements: I'll do what I can but most people I know who are in my own guild and group of friends are no where near being geared enough for anyplace after Karazhan yet.

TK Adds: The dragon hawk adds seemed to immediatly do a wing buffet on the pull, and something did an AoE silence. So that both myself and Kelivus were having difficulty frost nova fast enough. We both mentioned something to that effect in Raid chat but it didnt seem like anyone even noticed. Its true Kelivus and I do not speak on TS for whatever reasons. I would if your server worked better for me though. But when we want to do our roles and give feedback, I feel like alot of what I type in raid chat seems to be missed.

For example my BigWigs mod was glitching or something by continually poping up the dive bomb timer..even when we had died, resed and flown back in each time. Now I was trying to ask in raid chat how to stop that in the few spare moments before the next pull of the hawks on the sides. And I think Kadi had said something at one point to click somthing, but it was muffled because so many others were talking at the same time. And as such I could not get her to repeat what she said, and it was at that moment that Cal pulled. Its probably better I dont speak anyway, Id probably never get a word in edgwise.

Alar fight: Like everyone else I seemed to have gotten phase 1 down, but am still working on how I can best move. Its hard for me to follow Alar as a target because Im almost constantly having to pan up and because the im on the floor there is not anywhere my camera can go further. So when she quickly gets behind me to move to another platform, I have to reset my camera to usual position to follow or I risk running in the wrong direction. And certainly never could DPS her while she was moving from 4 to 1, she always seemed to be behind me so I got the "target needs to be in front of you" spam It was the same trouble I had in Onyxia raids when she was in the air.

Second Phase though, I had trouble following the two offtank targets. Just as it was difficult for Eigun to pick up the adds, (because they go in random directions) I had trouble getting to Harn or Eigun. And usually ended up having to either run through the middle where Alar was being tanked or around the sides and risk getting hit by meteors. Plus when the add dies, Harn and Eigun get blown back so far then I have to chase them down again to dps their next targets. Perhaps other ranged dps was having this same trouble but I sure as heck was.

Edited February 20, 2008 by Zebgora

[Holyssa]

Finding my own replacements: I'll do what I can but most people I know who are in my own guild and group of friends are no where near being geared enough for anyplace after Karazhan yet. Happy Birthday!

TK Adds: The dragon hawk adds seemed to immediatly do a wing buffet on the pull, and something did an AoE silence. So that both myself and Kelivus were having difficulty frost nova fast enough. We both mentioned something to that effect in Raid chat but it didnt seem like anyone even noticed. Its true Kelivus and I do not speak on TS for whatever reasons. I would if your server worked better for me though. But when we want to do our roles and give feedback, I feel like alot of what I type in raid chat seems to be missed.

For example my BigWigs mod was glitching or something by continually poping up the dive bomb timer..even when we had died, resed and flown back in each time. Now I was trying to ask in raid chat how to stop that in the few spare moments before the next pull of the hawks on the sides. And I think Kadi had said something at one point to click somthing, but it was muffled because so many others were talking at the same time. And as such I could not get her to repeat what she said, and it was at that moment that Cal pulled. Its probably better I dont speak anyway, Id probably never get a word in edgwise.

Alar fight: Like everyone else I seemed to have gotten phase 1 down, but am still working on how I can best move. Its hard for me to follow Alar as a target because Im almost constantly having to pan up and because the im on the floor there is not anywhere my camera can go further. So when she quickly gets behind me to move to another platform, I have to reset my camera to usual position to follow or I risk running in the wrong direction. And certainly never could DPS her while she was moving from 4 to 1, she always seemed to be behind me so I got the "target needs to be in front of you" spam It was the same trouble I had in Onyxia raids when she was in the air.

Second Phase though, I had trouble following the two offtank targets. Just as it was difficult for Eigun to pick up the adds, (because they go in random directions) I had trouble getting to Harn or Eigun. And usually ended up having to either run through the middle where Alar was being tanked or around the sides and risk getting hit by meteors. Plus when the add dies, Harn and Eigun get blown back so far then I have to chase them down again to dps their next targets. Perhaps other ranged dps was having this same trouble but I sure as heck was.

TK Adds: What I might suggest doing for tonight's attempts is individually CC'ing AND tanking each and every add (there's two Falconers and 5-7 birds per pack). AoE worked for the most part, but between Silences & knockbacks, I was being tossed around like a ragdoll, and we had a few casualties that slurped up time.

It's a bit chaotic, which may explain the mess on TS. I'm hoping people learned their lessons from Tuesday and will keep the channels clear for when problems need to be addressed

Al'ar fight: The entire fight is about being constantly on the move, regardless of phases. If you're having trouble finding a good spot which allows you to constantly hit the boss, coordinate with the other ranged classes (whether it's a hunter or another caster) in order to get a clearer method of following Al'ar and move as he floats from platform to platform. The boss has a very unusual hitbox, so I'm not surprised if you (or anyone else) had trouble attacking it in mid-flight from #4 to #1.

Second Phase: What I may suggest doing for tonight is taking the adds myself. Because...

1. We have ranged taunts. 99% of the time, the two Embers will dash for a healer together upon spawning, so it's safe to taunt them from that little corner (see the above picture) and not grab mommy from the tanks by mistake. If they fly in a random direction, someone is DPSing one add faster than a tank can pick them up...a tough habit to break with a race against the Enrage clock.

2. Avenger's Shield. Again, the Embers spawn and make a dive in pairs, so this attack will tag them and generate plenty of threat for me to work with. From there? Burn em down one by one, so Holy doesn't go up like a Roman candle.

As for the BigWigs issue, that's new to me. I typically reset it via clicking the orange sphere icon on the minimap once after I'm out of combat. And if that fails (which has yet to happen for me...*knocks on wood*) a quick UI reset may be needed.

[Calendar]

Hey guys,

I've been wanting to respond to your concerns sooner, but so much as been happening lately I just haven't had the time till now:

Finding Replacements:

We know not everyone has the contacts necessary to find a suitable replacement for themselves. This policy is put into place only as a means to help the raid leaders make a smoother transition whenever someone is absent. Finding replacements is just as hard for us as it is for most, I think a helpful hand from other raid members would help tremendously.

Teamspeak Vs. Raid Chat:

Between timers, cooldowns, boss mechanics, whispers and Teamspeak it's often hard for some of us to respond and keep an eye on raid chat. I'm aware that this makes it somewhat unfair to the members who cannot communicate using Teamspeak or feel uncomfortable doing so. My suggestion is as follows: make your request or suggestion on chat, if you don't get a satisfactory response then by all means start sending whispers. Baracko, Kadiana, Kailand, Waldonnis or myself would be more than happy to assist you! Don't sit there and feel that you're being ignored, there's just so much going on sometimes that we have problems keeping up. MAKE YOURSELF HEARD, IF IT'S IMPORTANT FOR YOU THEN IT'S IMPORTANT FOR US!

Tempest Keep Adds:

- Awesome job guys, you're all doing very well on this.

- We still need some work done on the Phoenix-Hawk Hatchling / Tempest Falconer groups. I fear that regardless of the strategy we use it will remain a chaotic fight (thank god there's only 2 groups). If you want to make suggestions please do so.

A'lar Phase 1:

- Easy-mode, good job everyone!

A'lar Phase 2:

- Progressing very well but a few things still need to be worked on:

- Getting people OUT of the flame circles.

- Getting people AWAY from meteors and adds.

- Getting a better DPS/Tanking control on the adds.

- Getting a taunt rotation on the A'lar tanks.

- Making sure tanks taunt immediately after a meteor.

Pre/Post-Raid Preparation:

I have the impression that much of the difficulty we were having the other night was due to people not being prepared. The A'lar fight has several technical aspects to it. IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO READ UP ON THE FIGHTS. I try to explain them as best I can before the encounter, but my 5min blurb on TS pales in comparison to the wealth of information that can be found on the web. Please check out:

www.wowwiki.com

www.bosskillers.com

Making Suggestions:

Whether it be a suggestion regarding progression, thrash pulls or a boss fight please be aware:

- That you need to give us enough time to consider what you are saying to us. Don't make a comment 10 seconds before the pull, try to give us enough overhead time to think about what you are bringing to the table.

- Before making a suggestion please be aware of all the facts. Many make suggestions are done without fully understanding the mechanics of a fight or why certain things are being done.

- Finally, your suggestion, despite being good, may not be adopted. It's just the way it is, learning is an iterative process, if you change the process you inhibit the learning.

So I hope this address most of the recent concerns people have been having. We might get a little "asshat"-ish once in a while, but we try to do it in the name of progression and to help our members reach their top efficiency, it's nothing personal and it's mean-hearted. Please don't feel that you can't come talk to us, I'm always willing to listen and I'm happy to do so!

So let's kick some A'lar butt tonight!

Cal

[Elrikk]

I found this to be interesting in the wowwiki article:

"Keeping the Adds

Alternatively, you can "save" the phase 1 adds for phase two (when the enrage timer becomes important). Have melee bring each add to 10% and have a warrior spam Demoralising Shout and Thunderclap. The tank will have about 10 adds on him by the end. The damage is difficult to heal through, but not dangerous if the healers pay attention. Once Al'ar has respawned at the start of phase 2, use AoE to kill all the adds simultaneously, and it will lose about 20%~ of her hp instantly. The add tank will usually be knocked away by the first explosion and should not take damage from any of the others; however it is possible to be hit by several and killed. Therefore, it is sensible to Soulstone him. The add tank could also use a Major Fire Protection Potion before the first add explodes, to avoid high peak damage."

Just for consideration...

[Baracko]

We had actually read about that, Elrikk, but felt that it would be too intensive at first.

As we get more comfortable/geared, we may switch to that to make the fight go faster as we are farming.

- Bar

[Baracko]

Fantastic work tonight, folks!

It's farming time!

[Brainah]

hey! my names not on the list grrrrr, Jaern is boomkin/caster DPS and Brainah is melee DPS/support! add meh! dieeee

[Calendar]

Fixed, added Brainah and Jaern to the list, sorry we missed that.

[Houli]

Helreath can come tonight.

He would greatly appreciate it if you could sub him back in despite the replacement set up.

Also, he was a lil' surprised he was replaced despite the fact taht he found someone to play his character who has SSC experience (like taidenewy) untill he was home approx 30mins to 1hr after raid start. (no hard feelings at all, and perhaps he didnt communicate well)

Speaking of his poor communication skills, i told him to get his butt on the forums more

Just wanted to letcha know,

-Harne

Edited February 29, 2008 by Houli

[Calendar]

Thanks for the info Harne. It's been dealt with.

The choice of replacement had to do with timing and availability. Helreath did have a player willing to play his character for him, however the replacement did not have any Warlock experience (despite having SSC experience). We were quickly able to get a Mage who had both experience with our group AND SSC so it was decided that in order to minimize disruptions within our group we'd aim for the more familiar face.

In Taiden's case no such replacement was easily available.

Don't get me wrong however, I am *VERY* pleased with people's efforts to find their own replacements. You've all been doing fantastic jobs with regards to that and please keep it up. Ultimately we try to choose whatever ends up being less disruptive to our group, it's nothing personal.

Cal

[Eigun]

One of these days, all the druids are going to switch toons.

Eigun (as Harne): Why do I keep pulling aggro? Oh... this toon hits hard...

Harne (as Orcala): Wait, what am I tanking? The Moon? The Star? The Square? All three? Sorry. Wait, what?

Orcala (as Eigun): <went afk, but since she's on Eigun, no one even noticed>

[Baracko]

One of these days, all the druids are going to switch toons.

Eigun (as Harne): Why do I keep pulling aggro? Oh... this toon hits hard...

Harne (as Orcala): Wait, what am I tanking? The Moon? The Star? The Square? All three? Sorry. Wait, what?

Orcala (as Eigun): <went afk, but since she's on Eigun, no one even noticed>

You about made me spill my coffee with that one.

[Elrikk]

What I thought was a bad case of the flu last thursday turned out to be pneumonia. The antibiotics are kicking my ass. I'm too beat up to be on my A-Game tomorrow night. I've asked "Xenojin" (fury warrior) to sub for me, take a look and see if he can join you.

Sorry guys...and good luck

[Crikrunner]

*Shakes a fist at Elrikk* was it you that went grocery shoping sick and got me sick?!? Sorry I didn't make it last night went to bed at like 830, totally wiped out. Hope all went ok, see you next week.

[Calendar]

Hey guys,

I've been meaning to make this post for some time and now that I have a few minutes I might as well do it. I need to touch on a sensitive issue, so please don't take whatever I say personally, this isn't directed at any one person.

Recently I've been noticing that several of our raiders are getting "tired" of running with us. I'm starting to get more whispers from people asking if they can suddenly get replaced in the middle of the raid or if they can altogether miss the raid. From the start of this endeavor I specifically asked each and everyone of you if you were committed to the raid, all of you said yes. I also understand that each person's "level of commitment" might be different and past raid leading experience has thought me that this kind of situation does occur and needs to be dealt with.

That being said, my best piece of advice is the following: If you cannot see yourself dedicating 6 hours a week (2 days a week) for the next 4 months, PLEASE let us know and we'll find you a good replacement!!! There's nothing wrong with saying "this is a as far as I will go", we are far better off replacing you then having you start resenting the raid and under-performing.

I will NOT give in to demands from people asking to finish early when there are 24 other people wanting to go on. I will NOT tolerate people leaving early and having the rest of the raid wait 15 to 20min to find another sub-standard replacement. I will NOT tolerate people missing because they simply don't want to raid anymore.

I'm not trying to push people away, I'm very happy with all your performance and punctuality. Those of you who have an waning interest in the raid, please be vocal about it! The soon you let us know, the sooner we can adapt. Just because someone is on the replacement list certainly doesn't mean they'll never get back in.

Something to think about.

Cal

[Zebgora]

Its been announced that there were some crafting plans that we've gotten lately have not been selling on the AH. Ive been unable to find where those are listed here if at all? If there was any that a leatherworker could make that makes an item suitable for a hunter, I would be happy to donate the gold to have it for my hunter/LW alt. I believe Cal said it was 200 gold right?

Also was there anything else that the raid needed donations wise? Such as extra crafting mats for the patterns we are still waiting to get aside from the Vortexes. I also wanted to say my warrior is a transmute master(primal mights, Meta gem materials, etc) so if anyone needed any thing transmuted, I can contribute that way as well.

[Calendar]

Hey Zeb,

It was getting quite tedious to maintain a list of all the patterns we've been acquiring. If you're interested, send me a tell in game and I'll let you know what's left. I think there might be a hunter LW plan or two!

Besides that I think the raid is pretty well equipped for now. Just make sure you have enough pots, flasks and food for yourself =)

[agimemnon]

Hey guys my isp went down last night, I want to appologize for leaving you all high and dry. No idea why I can't even phone them when its down to find out what the deal is cause I have voice over ip for my phone so when it goes down I don't even have a phone.

agi

[Kailand]

Hey guys my isp went down last night, I want to appologize for leaving you all high and dry. No idea why I can't even phone them when its down to find out what the deal is cause I have voice over ip for my phone so when it goes down I don't even have a phone.

agi

I figured it was probably something like that. For the most part, we were learning how to pick up the naga and deal with the striders suring phase 2.