Warcraft Experience

We decided to extend our raiding a bit and head into BWL after Ony to try to get a few more kills under our belt.

Onyxia went down easily although she was on a wierd timer. Her normal percentages and phase switching were definately turned around a bit. The [item]Deathbringer[/item] dropped for Static to win on an upgrade roll with a 86. Hurtu won the upgrade roll for the [item]Ring of Binding[/item] to put him at a total of 2, the [item]Stormrage Cover[/item] went to Daalny with a 98, Farkhat won the [item]Nemesis Skullcap[/item] on his first time in here and his wife, Alyna won the [item]Head of Onyxia[/item] on her first run as well. And finally, Tasm won the roll-off against Gwadraw for the [item]Onyxia Backpack[/item].

A quick portal to IF, a repair bill of 24s for me, and off we headed to BWL. We took down Razorgore with only one wipe. The [item]Judgement Bindings[/item] went to Galvar with his roll of 95, Carnilion won the [item]Netherwind Bindings[/item] with a 61 (he was the only one that rolled over a 50) and Phifer won the [item]Gloves of Rapid Evolution[/item] with a 94.

We spent the rest of the evening working on Vael but never did get him below 15%. With the server-side lags, pulling by lag, etc. we eventually called it a night to the relief of the entire raid. Very unfortunate since we had him at 7% on our first night’s attempt but what can ya do.

We did our BWL outing last night and took down Razorgore after several tries. We had no problem popping the eggs but once it came to tanking Razorgore he was being a bit fiesty and our tanks couldn’t maintain aggro.

The [item]Arcane Infused Gem[/item] dropped, which is great for PvP BTW. Jadzia won that with a 100. Next up were the [item]Judgement Bindings[/item] for Kizvaar to win with a 58 and Burthona won the [item]Bracelets of Wrath[/item] with a 79.

We spent the rest of our evening trying Vaelastrasz (I think they had to try to use every letter twice for his name. geez). We got him down to 28%, 19%, 14% and 7%. Not to shabby for our second try and I anticipate taking him down the next time we go in there.

What we learned: Have the casters stand on the top right-side and have plently of healers since bandages don’t work with the buff. Make sure the tanks and their healers are standing on the same side otherwise healing aggro can take out the tanks with Vael’s tail swipe. And make sure everyone knows where to run to when they are “burning” since you will blow up and don’t need to take out the rest of the party.

I think we might be heading back to BWL after Onyxia on Thursday and I can’t wait. It’s been a long time since I’ve been excited about running through an instance.

We did our normal waaaaaay too long run through MC last night sans several key players, including Babba and myself until right before Garr. You see real life got in the way and we had to drive about 45 min away to celebrate his mom’s birthday with his sister and Muridis and Chuckers (WoW player names not their real names). Had a great dinner of Chicken cutlets followed by a chocolate cake and gifts. Woot. Needless to say that took precedence over the first 3 bosses in MC.

When we made it home and tried to login Babba hit the queue at about 181 and I got in at around 220. Got to love them not capping the servers or if they are, it’s at a ridiculous amount.

Anywho…onto listing the gear. Kurosawa played Master Looter last night and had a blast so it is good to see people getting ML experience. Still don’t think I would want to do it, too nerve racking.

Garr dropped the [item]Nightslayer Cover[/item] which went to Varlok by default, Smokinjoe won the [item]Lawbringer Helm[/item] with a 99, and Kurosawa won a greed roll on the [item]Brutality Blade[/item].

Baron dropped the [item]Cenarion Spaulders[/item] for Alyna to win by default and the [item]Seal of the Archmagus[/item] for Dworkinn’s impressive roll of 98.

Moving along to Shaz. He dropped the [item]Giantstalker’s Gloves[/item] for Kurosawa to win by default. Lots of default wins going on tonite Tasmpriest won the [item]Boots of Prophecy[/item] with a 98 and finally ditched his blue shoes.

Sulfuron dropped the [item]Shadowstrike[/item] for Badfun to win the nexus roll on with a 97. For the record we have never had anyone want this and simply roll for nexus as soon as we see it. The [item]Pauldrons of Might[/item] also dropped for Hurtu to win with a 52 and thanks to the warriors that passed so our MT could be better equipped.

Golemagg dropped the [item]Lawbringer Chestguard[/item] for Gern to win a 61, AmbianceForc won the [item]Felheart Robes[/item] with a 50 and Wendra won the [item]Blastershot Launcher[/item]. I was really hoping for the [item]Staff of Dominance[/item] to drop but once again I was left out in the cold. Bliz is obviously full of it if they say that MC is on a random drop rate for raid groups.

Majordomo dropped the [item]Eye of Divinity[/item] for Rapunzel’s high roll of 87, [item]Wild Growth Spaulders[/item] went to Pagonos with a 75 and the [item]Nightslayer Bracelets[/item] went to the bank to be traded. We also had the [item]Core Hound Tooth[/item] drop for a greed roll and Kaleeus won that roll with a 89.

Mobs were respawning as we headed towards Ragnaros so a bunch of us had to be summoned including myself. A quick 2 second run through on the logistics of the fight, a mage nova casting order was announced for the Sons of Flame and off we went to beat him down! This time we got 136 gold, [item]Stormrage Legguards[/item] for Pagonos to win with a 50 (he was the only one left that didn’t have them; they dropped last time too), [item]Choker of the Fire lord[/item] for Moonwinna’s 100, [item]Cloak of the Shrouded Mists[/item] for Marragies’ 97 and Kyjethu won the [item]Bloodfang Pants[/item] with a 89.

Grats Everyone!

Before it gets to far behind I figured I should post our fabulous loot from the past raiding cycle. We had a new master looter in town which was Galvar so the MC run was a tad slow as he got used to it and handing out loot for all of MC for a first timer must be scary as hell, regardless of a confirmation dialogue or not. Overall he did a great job though!

The cute as a button Lucifron handed out some different loot this go-round. Some of which we haven’t seen in awhile. Dworkinn won the [item]Arcanist Boots[/item] with a 39, but sadly the [item]Felheart gloves[/item] went to nexus shard DE time with a roll of 99 to Marragies. BTW the gloves yield 1 nexus shard.

Magmadar dropped the [item]Medallion of Steadfast Might[/item] for Mynn’s roll of 79, the [item]Pants of Prophecy[/item] for Phifer and the high-roll of 28 and the [item]Earthshaker[/item] which Static won as a greed roll.

A molten giant was feeling left out so had to drop the [item]Lawbringer Bracers[/item] which went to the trading bank.

Gehennas was nexus city for us. Both items dropped went to DE. The [item]Nightslayer Gloves[/item] were won by XAnthony (99) and the [item]Sabatons of Might[/item] went to Wendra with a 100. Both items yield 1 nexus shard.

Garr dropped the [item]Felheart Horns[/item] for AmbianceForc to win with a 23, Pagonos won the [item]Cenarion Helm[/item] with a 80 and the [item]Flamewalker Legplates[/item] went to Kizvaar with a 96.

Baron Geddon gave us some more felheart, this time the [item]Felheart Shoulder Pads[/item] which also went to AmbianceForc as a default, the [item]Pattern: Core Felcloth Bag[/item] to Tasmpriest with a 86 (look him up on Blackhand if you want one), and the [item]Lawbringer Spaulders[/item] which were DE’d for a nexus that Mez won with a 97. The Spaulders yields 1 nexus shard.

Shazz dropped the [item]Giantstalker’s Gloves[/item] for Bahouth with a 93 and the [item]Salamander Scale Pants[/item] for Moonwinna to win on a greed roll. Good FR on those.

Sulfuron cowered in fear and happily gave us the [item]Shadowstrike[/item] to shard with Paganos won, which yields 1 shard. He also dropped the [item]Nightslayer Shoulder Pads[/item] for Kugnar and his roll of 54.

Golemagg dropped the [item]Breastplate of Might[/item] for Burthona (93), the [item]Robes of Prophecy[/item] for Lorick and his 65, [item]Aged Core Leather Gloves[/item] for a greed win for Wendra and finally the [item]Schematic: Core Marksman Rifle[/item] for Gwadraw and his roll of 84.

Domo dropped the [item]Finkle’s Lava Dredger[/item] for Daalny to win with a 34, The [item]Sash of Whispered Secrets[/item] which went to greed and was won by Tasmpriest and the Leaf which went to Asterioidea.

We took down Ragnaros with one try again so I’m hoping that is officially on farm status now. He dropped the [item]Cloak of the Shrouded Mists[/item] which Schnitzel won with a 98, two [item]Stormrage Legguards[/item] which Daalny won with a 84 and Moonwinna with a 50. Finally the [item]Essence of the Pure Flame[/item] dropped and Phifer won that with a 78. Although what a priest would want with that is beyond me. Poor Gern actually wanted the stupid thing but it was announced as “anyone that hadn’t received a purple roll for it” so Phifer was within his raid rights.

Monday night we again attempted BWL and 10 minutes before the end we took down Razorgore! WOOOOT! He dropped 193 gold, [item]Dragonstalker’s Bracers[/item] that Marragies won with a 62, the [item]Netherwind Bindings[/item] that I almost won with a 73 but Quisver DCd and we waited for him to come back and roll. The turd beat me with a 87. [item]The Untamed Blade[/item] also dropped and Static almost won that but at the last minute Kizvaar came in and snipped it with a 91.

Now I know it is within Kiz’s right to roll since BWL and MC are different instances but the dude already has the Obsidian Blade, The first half of the orange sword and now the Untamed Blade. With only two hands how many swords can the dude use. Static hasn’t won any weapons and is one of our main tanks. I would have passed and rolled next time it dropped.

Long ago I used to participate in 5-man raids through horrid places to try to get set pieces, etc. and we always wound up taking forever, whiping more times that we could count and hardly ever finishing. Being uber 60s it’s fun to go back through those places that were your nemesis and kick some booty.

Last night we switched out players a few times but we (Babbaganoosh, Funktea, Garand, Smokinjoe, and Asterioidea) ran DM West for the [item]Mindtap Talisman[/item] that didn’t drop AGAIN, DM North until Griniblix the Spectator announced Skarr was up in the DM arena. We couldn’t get out of DM North fast enough! A quick summons to a few guildies (only Mynn actually made it in time) and down we went. A few other people in the area jumped down too but they were 58s and were actually helping us! Skarr dropped the [item]Orb of Deception[/item] and something else I can’t recall. Oops.

After that we portaled to SW so Garand could turn in a quest and regrouped for some more fun.

We lost Garand and Aster and gained Alahn and Mynn and headed to Live-side Stratholme. We had so much fun and completed a few quests that we still had hanging around like the Tobacco one. Alahn was healing with Mynn and Smokin tanking. Interesting combo and we died a ton of times but it was great! We had 3 [item]righteous orb[/item]s drop that Smokinjoe won 1 and Babba the other 2. [item]Destiny[/item] dropped and Smokinjoe won that too! He has alll the luck.

The Cannonball boss dropped the [item]Cannonball Runner[/item] trinket that Alahn wanted so we gave that to him and the stupid [item]Miniature Cannon Balls[/item]. The Miniature Cannon Balls aren’t worth selling and you can’t DE them so I don’t understand the point. We killed the Archivist and finished another quest (which they didn’t share with me..boo hoo) and he dropped the [item]Tome of Knowledge[/item]. The last boss we killed was Balnazzar and he dropped the [item]Grand Crusader’s Helm[/item] and [item]Fire Striders[/item] which went to Babba for the fire resist. I don’t remember who got the helm.

We continued our treck through learning the ropes in BWL last night for about 2 hours. We tried several different strategies, once of which was to kill the Mages and the Legionnaires as they came out of our respective corners. Crowd control was also strongly enforced but the plan never did come together. On our first attempt on Monday we had 5 druids which assisted in the sleeping of Legionnaires and Dragonkin as well as healing but this time we only had 2 or 3 and I think that severly hurt our chances. We also learned that the [item]Green Whelp Armor[/item] is pointless so don’t waste your money and maybe some speed enchants on boots for the kiting warriors would be worth it. I guess we’ll find out on Monday.

Onyxia was a bit of treat last night. Burthona hit her with a trinket as well all ran in and it seemed to bug her or something. In the first minute Hurtu and Rapunzel went down and shortly afterward Burthona died also. So down 2 warriors and (by then) several more healers we all just died and reset it.

The second attempt was a success, so we were back to our winning streak. Two pally tier 2 helms, [item]Judgement Crown[/item], dropped again and went to Gern and Theseus by default. Pandion was next on the list to receive the [item]Black Dragon Sinew[/item] and Chriara won the roll of the [item]Onyxia Hide Backpack[/item] with a 94. The [item]head of Onyxia[/item] went to Mez and his high rollin’ 92. And finally Burthona won the [item]Eskhandar’s Collar[/item] but after discovering Kugnar didn’t have a purple neckpiece passed it onto him.

All in all not a bad night. Hopefully we’ll take down Razorgore on Monday so I can have something to gloat about.

So in all the excitement of gardening this past weekend and cutting our cable line with a shovel (hence why I didn’t post over the weekend) I totally forgot to do the write up for the end of our MC run. As usual we got some good loot and had a good time.

Gehennas dropped the [item]Nightslayer Gloves[/item] for Rapunzel to win the Nexus Crystal and the [item]Sabatons of Might[/item] which Hurtu finally won with a 34.

Garr
* [item]Gutgore Ripper[/item] – Mez won the greed roll with a 28. Now he has two to dual-wield. woot.
* [item]Lawbringer Helm[/item] went to Theseus by default. Lucky duck.
* [item]Magma tempered boots[/item] were greeded on and won by Smokinjoe and his 74.

Baron Geddon
* [item]Cenarion Spaulders[/item] were passed on by all and went to Nexus shardage which Tasmpriest won with a 98
* Aveliana won the [item]Felheart Shoulder Pads[/item] with a high rolling 67

A lovely Lava Elemental must have felt left out of the loot party and dropped the [item]Bracers of Might[/item] for Garand to trade for something we could use. Another Lava Elemental dropped the [item]Giantstalker’s Belt[/item] for Bahouth to win with his 96.

Shazzrah
* [item]Felheart Slippers[/item] now belong to Gwadraw (66) and are doing a great job keeping his feet warm.
* Carnilion no longer needs to worry about singing his 10 little digits because he has the [item]Arcanist Gloves[/item] to help keep the heat away. He won with a 43.

Sulfuron dropped the [item]Nightslayer Shoulder Pads[/item] for Chuckers’ roll of 53 and the [item]Shadowstrike[/item] went to a nexus roll and was won by Lorick.

Golemagg dropped a [item]Sulfuron Ingot[/item] which went to Galvar for bankage (and now puts it at 5 or 6 I believe), the [item]Felheart Robes[/item] for Babbaganoosh to win with a 4, the [item]Blastershot launcher[/item] was greeded and won by Kugnar with a 100 and finally, the [item]Cenarion Vestments[/item] went to Garand with a 37.

A Majordomo Priest dropped the [item]Giantstalker’s Belt[/item] for Schnitzel (89). Majordomo dropped the leaf for Pandion (we brought him in for this fight to get it) and the [item]Fireguard Shoulders[/item] for Badfun’s roll of 91. The [item]Cauterizing Band[/item] also dropped and went to Rapunzel with a 71.

Onto Ragnaros we went! Woot! A quick run down of the mage nova order and a short overview later and we were kicking some booty. This fight is suprisingly easy once you get the strategy down on where to stand, what to wear and most importantly, those Sons of Flame. Rags drops some good loot and that night was no exception. The [item]Onslaught Girdle[/item] went to Aierstian with a 92, the [item]Crown of Destruction[/item] went to Bahouth with a 63, the [item]Bloodfang Pants[/item] had Kugnar’s name all over them (73) and finally Dworkinn won the [item]Netherwind Pants[/item] with a 42.

After that we headed out to Onyxia‘s cave to beat her like a pinata. A lot of rolling ties occured tonite and none of them ended in my favor .
* The [item]Onyxia hide Backpack[/item] was tied on by Schnitzel and Phifer with a 98. Phifer won the roll off with a 89.
* The [item]Head of Onyxia[/item] was another tie with Trubben and Gerty both rolling a 98. Trubben won with a 92.
* [item]Eskhandar’s Collar[/item] was won by Wendra and his undisputed 100.
* The [item]Helm of Wrath[/item] went to Aierestian with a 73.
* The [item]Netherwind Crown[/item] dropped and Funktea and Dworkinn tied on their roll of 75. Dworkinn won with a 41.
* The [item]Band of the Hierophant[/item] was an upgrade for Moonwinna so she won that.

How many members will “drop” after we start having repair costs again… Suprisingly we only had a few not show for our first attempt at BWL on Monday. Which is good because you come to depend on your partners-in-crime and feel like there is something missing when they aren’t there.

So what did I learn? I learned the strategy made no bloody-sense to me until we did it at least 3 times. I don’t care how many times they told me what do to (and believe you me there were about 20 voices reiterating the same thing in vent, which I think was part of my confusion).

What we did?
Assign groups to all four corners and our only job is to kill the mages as fast as we can as they come out. Each of the raid mages/druids should sheep/sleep an Orc Legionnaire as they are kited around the room by warriors. There are plently of LOS problems for most of the healers and really don’t expect to be healed. I generally made as one of the last standing but couldn’t defend myself once the warriors went down and the Legionnaires all come after you.

Rezzing? No way. It’s a short jaunt really, but it does get tiresome after awhile. Once you are back in the instance, do everyone a favor, and stand at the top of the stairs for buffing and to make sure you don’t get closed behind the gate and out of the playfield.

Mats to Bring: Plenty of mana and health potions, bandages and anything that helps you DPS the Orc Mages down quicker, some fire gear (since the Orc Mages use it). A second set of gear isn’t a bad idea either simply because you will die A LOT. And of course some repair bots. It has also been bandied about that the kiting warriors should wear [item]Green Whelp Armor[/item].

We really did very well for our first try in Razorgore land. On each attempt we wound up with 3-6 eggs that still needed to be popped by the time we wiped, but we improved with each try and popped all the eggs on our last run. Unfortunately 99% of us were dead by then so it didn’t do us any good.

Our raid schedule has changed again and we will be in there tonite after Onyxia so hopefully we will continue to improve and kick some butt. Now that we understand our job duties and what to concetrate on I forsee a good time with less whiping. I hope.