I haven’t posted much of anything lately, but I had a quick break and figured I would share what helped me make it through the Lich King and all his Defiles.  And for those who haven’t killed him yet, I hope my tips will help you and your guild make it through.  I think I got like three of those Defile things last night- and I didn’t wipe the raid!  It’s a miracle!  LOL

I remember writing more than a month ago that this fight and the Defiles was all about pre-moving.  I still believe this is true, but let me take you step by step of how I deal with this phase of the fight.  TankSpot is spot on when the guide says, “Phase 2 is all about handling defiles and proper slows.”  To avoid wiping the raid (fingers crossed everytime) and possibly being docked DKP, I did the following: Read the rest of this entry »

Finally!

Lich King Ain't Got Nuthin' On Me!

So… I been out of pocket… absent.. hiding… working.. chilling.. relaxing… whatever you want to call it.. I have been “away.”  And I have enjoyed it.

Last time I wrote anything, I was the GM of my own guild <OMG Priest>, and I was running the pug-nastiest of pugs.  I had fun, but I got recruited.  Yeeeeesssss, I got recruited to join the guild some of my old guildies went to- almost to the point of it being peer pressure to join.  (I’m glad they like me enough to do that!).  So I joined, and this is my first week raiding with them- and all I can say is, “Wow.”

Blood Queen Lana'thel- DOWN!

Prof Put DOWN!

Sindragosa.. DOWN!

Plagueworks 10... down!

The guild has a new strat that was employed this week in 25-man.  We got him down to about 9% in 25.  Tonight in 10-man, we got him down to ZERO!  Sweet!  I should add that the 10-mans here in my new guild have had him down since January.. LOL.  So this is MY first Prof. Pute kill.   I think he will die in 25-man soon.

Happy Raiding!

Exxy

Ahh, success is so sweet after so much bitter failure.  We got the Blood Prince Council down tonight!  Thank you, Doug, for your advice.  We still used the pally tank on the orbs, but we had the hunter pet tank the balls.  Also, while some strats say you can’t really position for the fight, we put one ranged and one healer on each point on the floor.  It’s about 12-13 yards apart.  Whenever the Empowered Vortex hit, the ranged would run out, the heals would stay put.  It cut down on incoming damage considerably.

I am incredibly proud of the guild tonight.  We worked hard, listened to each other’s ideas and got it done.  Congrats, WKN!

And we 'cheiven!

FOUR-SET!

Woot!  I look HOT!

Still trying to figure out how to make it work, but I did notice that I now get a Circle of Healing every three seconds.  Damn, that’s hot.  I also got Greatcloak of the Turned Champion and Sanguuine Silk Robe.  I really need the haste boost on the robe which means I will have to break my four-set occasionally depending on the fight.

Tonight was a good night overall- not just because of the loot- but because of the KILL.  OMG.. NEXT!

Happy Raiding!

P.S. I have two potential co-podcasters with me on the discipline priest lesson.  I will be getting with them soon!  Smooches!

Exxy

Check us out in action.  If you are looking for Exxy, I am just beyond the Warlock thingy on the right side of your screen!   This video is from our resident Boomkin’s POV.  He is aptly named Boomsin.  The music starts to drive me crazy towards the end, but hey!  I think we look pretty good!  The comment at the end of the video is priceless… Jeff is our GM.  Poor thing.

For your viewing pleasure….. Daddy, I did it!

We finally got Rotface down again last night, and I enjoyed reading X and Doug’s comments on yesterday’s “We Stuck” post.  Love it!

It would be nice though if you could use an in-game unstuck button on the bosses.  That button would simultaneously make every raider perform at the top of their game while also clearing vent as soon as someone opens their mouth to say something dumb. LOL  It would be a precog type button.

Anyhoo- we got him down- again after many, many, many wipes.  So, yay us!  The kill came after a “keep it up, people,” but there wasn’t any, “this is a kill” crap going on.  So.. um.. maybe they got it?  Whatever the case, WKN got skillz to make the killz.  Yeah, uh-huh, cheesy.. I know!

Podcast Update

I am still trying to figure out if we did schedule a vent convo for the OMG.. Priest! readers just how I would record it.  My podcast program is not interacting with vent… so…… if you are technically inclined give me some hints.

Working on deadline now… hopefully back a little later. 

Happy Raiding!

Exxy

In the words of.. um.. Sheneneh Jenkins on Martin: “Oh my guuuuudness.”  We are stuck on Rotface.  I think we got him to 3% when all the ooze got loose and.. and.. well.. it was just bad.  Green slime and bodies everywhere- and my wings of course.

I am thinking once you get the hang of the fight: running to the OT with Mutated Infection, moving from Slime Spray, and taking cover from Unstable Ooze, then it should be smooth sailing.  This has not been the case for us.

The Jinx Is In

I think part of it is “The Jinx”.  We get going real good, and then it happens.  An officer says something like, “Keep it up. people.  This is a kill.”  Yeeeeeeeeeah, right.  No sooner than those words are uttered, things get out of control.  Maybe not so much a jinx or a curse as it is the wrong thing to say at the right time.

Let’s break it down.  You’ve got “Positive Reinforcement” with the first half of the sentence.

“Keep it up, people.”

It serves as encouragement to let the raid know they are on the right track.  Nothing wrong with that, right?  People need encouragement.  I am a firm believer in that.  You should tell them when they perform well because gosh knows we yell at each other when it goes terribly bad. 

It’s like my dog- bless her heart.  She is so BAD and SPOILED, but she LOVES treats.  I guess in this case, treats would be equal to loot; however, when I say, “Good girl” while patting her head, she eats it up and wags her tail.  It makes her want to repeat that action, right?  Same with us raiders.  Sometimes we need a little verbal push to keep doing the right things.

But when you couple it with the second part of our sentence something goes wrong.

“This is a kill.”

Do you know this for sure?  Probably not.  There’s a chance- as Judy Tenuta would say- that it could happen.  But when Rotface is still sitting at 30%… I don’t know if that’s the best time to call a kill.  I think it could quite possibly have a negative affect on people.  No, I do not claim to know the inner workings of the minds of 24 other people.  Well, let’s say 23 because I am married to one of them, and I think I know him quite well.

But what if it’s just one person who thinks, “Hey, I can slack now.”  Nah, I don’t believe any of our people would do that, but again cue Judy, please.  So what is it?  Hmmmm.  I know what it is…

BAD LUCK.

It’s like telling an actor, “Good Luck,” when you should really say, “Break a leg!”  Or like sweeping the main tank’s foot with a broom mid-raid IRL.  Why not just march the whole friggin’ raid under a ladder!?!

“Hut 2, 3, 4.. left, left, left, right, left.”

OK, let me calm down. LOL

/deep breath

/smile

I just want a kill, you know?  So, yes, keep up the good work people.  You know this fight!  We can do it!

That’s all I need to hear until I hear the DBM Victory Sound.  Then and only then can you even think to utter the words, “This is a kill.”  Oh, yeah, don’t forget, “Great Job, WKN!”

Happy Raiding!

Exxy

P.S. Yes, I know skill trumps everything here, but we got skills.  We just need all of it to come together- and STAY together until the very end.  I know we can do it.

Yes, tonight we finally killed Rotface.  Seemed like an easy boss after we got used to the fight, but it is like fighting Grobby on crack or something.  We wiped quite a bit just learning the fight, but we got it down.  After a quick braggadocios picture, I will tell you how.

SCREENSHOT!

As a holy priest, I was assigned to raid heal and OT with a tree and a shammy.   Two pally healers took the MT.  Our disc priest was focused on healing those with Mutated Infection.  You should add this de-buff to your Healbot or Grid if it is not already there; however, the pally off-tank cleansed these- NOT the healers.  The only reason you might want to have these programmed is so you can heal them through the damage taken.

The raid takes minimal damage if they are agile enough to avoid Rotface’s Slime Spray, but people will get hit by it.  Just heal them up and keep going.  Things get a little hectic when 5 little oozes being kited around the room come together and then explode.  If left unorganized, people will run haywire to the walls to get away.  Folks who get hit will most  likely die.  Your CoH, PoH and Divine Hymn will work nicely here.

This is a basic rinse and repeat fight until Rotface is dead; however, I like to pop a PW:S on those who get Mutated Infection because I am spec’d into Body and Soul which gets them to the outer ring that much faster.  It’s just a personal preference for me; however, the disc priest bubble works wonders with thet de-buff!  So, if you have a disc priest, use it.

Any of you guys and gals out there who have any suggestions on this fight feel free to leave them here!

UncleFester Add-On

I tried this add-on tonight in out 10-man.  It actually tells the people with spores where to go during the fight.  It seemed to work well.  In 25-mans, we have one person calling out where to go.  This add-on does it automatically without any human thought process involved- which can be good and bad.  What’s really crazy/super/weird/fantastic, is that if you have an add-on called MoveItMoveIt, it will put an arrow on your screen telling you which way to run.  Suh-weet!  Hate to dumb down the raid, but some people never get up anyway…. just kidding! 

You can find UncleFester and MoveItMoveIt on Curse.com.  I am still testing this one out.. so stay tuned.

Happy Raiding!

Exxy

P.S. About that “angry poo poo?”  That’s a Rotface emote.  LOL  And trust me.. it must be very angry as violent as it is.

Wow, getting Festergut down felt so good.  He is one HELL of a boss.  On 25, main tank healing requires coordination much like the 10-man.  We had two MT healers on the 2 tanks.  Both were paladins.  We also had a disc priest who would help MT and raid heal.  The tanks can take up to 9 stacks of Gastric Bloat before switching off.  10 will kill them.  I suggest the thrid healer start paying attention to the OT at about 8 stacks on the MT just to make up for anyone else’s slow reaction times.

Our three other healers (me, shammy and druid) held down the raid heals.  It’s important that every raid member turn on their /range in DBM.  If you get too close to another player,   Vile Gas will run rampant in the raid.  It’s pretty gross and has a really cool animation.  Nevertheless, it is dangerous.  You should make sure your Healbot or Grid has this debuff programmed so you know who has it immediately.  I can usually pop a renew on them and keep going as the entire raid is almost always taking damage. FH, FH, FH, GH, CoH, PoM.. rinse, repeat.  The raid healing can be intense and fun.

There are those times when he does the   Pungent Blight thing.  The entire raid takes HEAVY DAMAGE- almost to the point of death.  I am still carrying around the Talisman of Resurgence so I used my handy dandy Divine Hymn macro.

/cast Inner Focus
/use Talisman of Resurgence
/cast Divine Hymn 

This is best coordinated with a second priest, who can take the next one.

Periodically during the fight, three   Gas Spores will appear over a random raid member’s head.  We had three pre-determined “Collapse Spots” for this.  One at melee range on top of the boss.  The other two on his left or right.  You will have to run to this spot when the spores come out to be “inoculated.”  So, good luck having your instant cast heals on CD while you are running to that spot.  Renew works just fine, but it does take some time out of your healing routine if you have a bad sense of direction like me. lol

Uncle Fester will go berserk at the five-minute mark.  Our pallies have taken to bubbling themselves as that time approaches so that while the rest of the raid is dead, they were still up doing damage.  Thank goodness for my Glyph of the Spirit of Redemption!  I was able to stay up for about 20 seconds and heal them until Festergut was dead.  It is a good strategy that works well.  I think the last pally died just as the boss did.

This is all I can remember from memory right now.  If you have any suggestions, please leave them here!

Happy Raiding!

Exxy