Karazhan rougher than usual; and then off to Gruuls

Karazhan was rougher to complete than we would expect. However a look at the stats seems to show that while our dps and heals are ok, it is our teamwork and strategy that may be reducing our success rate.

On Illhoof, we needed to adjust so that everyone (including one not on vent) attacked the demon chains immediately upon the cast. Our first two wipes come from very vulnerable chain targets dying; both priests, so cloth wearers and repeatedly targetted for chains.

Stats are here: WebStats 062808

Regardless, once we adjusted our response to the demon chains, as a group, the problem resolved. We again single tanked hoof, and on one wipe it was due to failure to heal the tank.

Then off to Shade; we actually did Shade first to obtain our port, and good thing considering the trouble we had on Hoof. On Shade, Jumba suggested, and we tried, an approach that worked given our dps problems; by halting dps on the boss at 42% until his mana runs, we prevent the Elemental/Sheep beatdown when his mana runs out. The timing of our dps will not allow us to simply burn him down and ignore the poly effect when his mana is low. We had 2 locks to banish some, fear others, and one could be tanked but not really necessary; the one problem we still had was elementals loose during a Flame Wreath, which is a true sitting duck situation. Jumba noticed on our second wipe that our dps was approaching 40% of his health rather quickly, but he was spawning elementals nearly the same time as his mana regen phase. Switching that up led to a win.

Then off to Gruuls; which was not easy, and repeatedly wiped us for a series of reasons. The tank on High King was unable to last and died several times, which spelled a wipe. The warlock was loose, killing folks off and ignoring the enslaved felhounds which were to tank him; at one point I was double tanking him and my target, Kiggler. Our success came finally after repeated fails, and once my target was down, I picked up High King and tanked him. We still lost half the group in our successful last effort, but the entire night spelled the need for greater teamwork and communication.

Gruuls stats 062808

Full Clear

Everyone got this run together, and we downed Nightbane in one try; Illhoof managed to wipe us on the first try, but two of our members had never been there, and I chalk it up to a learning curve. With these two bosses, it makes more sense to sub out a tank for a dps class, and with Nightbane it is essential to get someone in who can offheal; this is our consistent lesson since Sidewiz was offhealing me in our earliest runs, and remains true. There is just too much spread damage across all classes with that boss, and we almost inevitably lose a healer during air phases. Despite four attempts last night, this run was one shot only, and I think in the future I am going to ask our off tank to sub out unless they need gear; in which case I will switch to my healer alt for that boss.

Stats for the Saturday run are available at: Wowwebstats Page June 22

The final run on Sunday is also available: Wowwebstats June 22

Excellent run tonight; and we cleared to Prince, although we didn't down him. Stats are linked below; I am trying out Webstats as an alternative to typing in everything.

http://wowwebstats.com/kpvvxeon5w4fe

It was a good run; our new mage Belopepper came along and got two pieces of loot, and we completed chess, Netherspite, and Illhoof. For our very first week as a complete team, this was a great result.

New Blue!

Despite being nerfed and reformed as a brand new group; we were able to pull this off! We didn't get a one night clear as Nightbane gave us a ton of problems; but we cleared through Shade, and kept things moving the entire time. We had a brand new member, Samirah; she was able to pick up an epic drop to replace her green; which will put her on top of dps next time, I'm sure. We made it through Shade and only stumbled on Nightbane; next run is Sunday at 2:00 p.m., and I am sure with some adjustments we will make it clear through Karazhan.

New Blue Team	DPS	Total Damage
Sidewiz	630.6	2771163
Samirah	540.5	2543178
Thesandman	363.9	2357589
Myraa	352.2	1880085
Blarlock	380.7	1804412
Jasron	501.6	1465272
Kkoreastyle	495.7	1262829
Jumba	172.1	1066622
HPS
Nistagmus	620.6	3210019
Kokoro	367.0	1757537
Murdi	258.5	1261350
Thesandman	41.1	265958

One night clear 060308

This was our last clear as a united team; next week things will change, but for this week, we cleared Karazhan in almost exactly five hours; and equipped both Jumba and Mindaika's alt with new gear. The run was an easy exercise, really, and there were no real problems. Altogether we received 22 badges in five hours, which is better than any other instance.

Stats are below:

	DPS	Total Damage
Teilhard	811.2	4112411
Sagemage	727.7	3816319
Jasron	552.5	2857232
Thesandman	389.5	2558733
Koalat	569.6	2321767
Sorilea	697.1	2321767
Berber	1916889	846.8
Jumba	185	1135105
Erollas	741	1061404
HPS
Nistagmus	585.7	2887660
Dniwek	470.7	2137035
Steelz	484.8	2137035
Thesandman	43.1	283026

Gruul's Completed, May 31

We did it; not to brag and pretend this instance is farm status now, but we cleared it; wiped a few times; made adjustments, and dropped both High King Maulgar and Gruul.

On High King we wiped twice it was just that difficult. We were carrying a total of four tanks based on preferences by The Elite again; and the calculations were not in our favor to drop that mob easily. On the third try, my healer lived throughout the fight; our primary target died quickly enough, and my target was taken care of as the last of the adds.

I can only really speak to Kiggler as a target; he was difficult to control until he was finally attacked by the group. He will target the tank with an arcane explosion, sending you into the air even if you are backed against a wall. This creates some form of aggro wipe, and he runs off to attack random team members, and has to be dragged back to his spot. I saved my growl and energy up just before I thought he might AE me, and grabbed him right back. It is important not to keep him near any other team members, which are typically healers since he is taken back to the entrance of the HKM cave. My healer was Silverclaw; and he repeatedly died, usually during one of these AE blasts, for standing right next to me.

	DPS	Total Damage
Mindaika	792.2	2037459
Dracondrius	731.6	1872494
Sorilea	731.6	1722016
Berber	673.2	1707530
Yugami	700.1	1525864
Sithadan	677.4	1464066
Anisicoria	557.3	1288661
Sagemage	645.9	1257325
Starrider	397.2	1230850
Warhelm	438.7	1121356
Myraa	403.3	1061175
Thesandman	306.9	958599
Jasron	561.1	956998
Eliminster	371.7	930062
Varlion	275.6	787103
Igotafalafel	257.7	687656
Buliwif	259.7	626981
Kirgin	658.3	326779
Kirgin	658.3	326779
Derious	200.8	320200
Saur	559.0	245439
Arosa	765.9	219848
Steelz	26.8	45294
Nistagmus	551	648133
Chra	459	640797
Bellae	536.1	613737
Spartanvenim	387.5	398319
Silverclaw	311.3	376835
Bingo	104.7	155384
Thesandman	41	62505
HPS
Dniwek	527.2	1425483
Chra	558	1374693
Nistagmus	578.9	1210162
Kokoro	455.3	955141
Zephryn	398.6	798861
Steelz	442.3	748757
Silverclaw	386.0	726522
Starrider	42.5	131808

The stats spoke volumes in this case, as did the class choices for our group composition. As I tried to analyze in my last post, the choice of dps over tanks is one that must be made, unless the dps classes are so strong as to overwhelm the need for sheer numbers of casters and ranged attackers. We didn't, in short, need four tanks. The tanks are naturally at the bottom of the dps chart, with one at 200. We replaced a tank; and lost a mage and hunter. We replaced all three of them with high dps classes (rogue, sham, caster) from outside both guilds; Kirgin, Arosa, and Saur. These three combined appear low on the damage list because they only arrived for one fight; the final Gruul fight were we were successful. However, their combined dps was 1982 alone; and undoubtedly, given three previous wipes on Gruul with too many tanks, contributed directly to our success.

A word on druids as main tanks; early in the fight, within perhaps the first 90 seconds, Mindaika was killed right next to Gruul; and I was able to rez him. I was very certain it would be risky and result in me being one-shotted by a crushing blow if I shifted from bear form; but Mindaika is one of our highest dps members, and had to be active during the 420 seconds we have to drop this boss. I waited until a shatter ran through; and after gaining some aggro, and waiting a bit for a crushing blow (which would give me time, since he doesn't hit the OT twice in a row) and healed, rezzed, and popped back to bear form in 5 seconds tops.

Lastly, I want to point out that I received my T4 pants and shoulders on this run; and after all the effort and expense of running this thing repeatedly, I was really overjoyed to see my new stats with this gear on. First, a photo of my new gear;

The stats that come with this gear replaced a PFP set of shoulders that I had forever. Those shoulders were nice, but not raid gear, and their set bonus and so forth were next to worthless to me in raid form; since resilience and healing were never used in raids anyway. The new T4 shoulders once gemmed put my stats over the top; over 29,000 armor buffed only with my Mark of the Wild. My stats window is below.


My dodge is over 36%, and my stam is through the roof. Buffed in raid form I will be over 31,000 armor and over 18,000 health; and it is time for our guild to start farming Gruuls and scheduling runs in Zul Aman and Mag's, since this gear puts me over the top. Only Varlion has better stats overall now, and he has T6 pants and full T4 gear for raiding. The rest of us, once we obtain more of our gear from Gruuls and Karazhan, should be ready to run to the next level. This, all, since our first runs in January and February when we couldn't down Attumen.

I am really grateful to all our team members for the gift this equipment represents; I chose to roll on the pants the same night I picked up the shoulders, and felt bad about it really. Then I was convinced (by Varlion, and Nistagmus) to take the pants and pursue the secondary set bonus (one more piece for the four piece bonus) and ultimately they were right. With the fourth piece in place my armor will exceed 32000 and I will be near the cap.

Thank you all, for this.