Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Siege the front!

With spirits still high from defeating Heroic Malygos (25-man), the guid decided to take on Ulduar. A short break was announced for everyone to repair, restack reagents and turn in the quest from Malygos (for those who had the quest). I was one of the lucky few who won the loot [Heroic Key to the Focusing Iris] from Sapphiron. I flew over to Wyrmrest Temple and got my shiny [Nexus War Campion Beads] :D.

Once inside Ulduar, vehicle assignments were given and vehicle abilities familiarized. Most of the raid already new the fight from the 10-man version so the explanations did not take that long. Everyone equipped their highest ilvl gears then hopped on to their respective vehicles. I drove one of the Salvaged Siege Engines.

A readycheck was made... Then it was time to siege the front...

Destination? Proceeding...
Down the first plank we rode (I was careful not to use Steam Rush on this plank. I already fell one too many times in the 10-man version because of this bug >.<) as choppers zoomed by leaving behind some tar to slow down the approaching enemy dwarves. Demolishers lit up these tars while Siege Engines rammed down dwarf towers. With the whole area cleared and Towers destroyed, we regrouped before Flame Leviathan (Levi). This fight is all about avoiding damage by kiting the boss around the room and interrupting his channeled AOE spell (Flame Vents). We started with the Siege engines and Demolishers spread apart. While Levi is chasing one vehicle, the other Siege engines should stay close to him for Flame Vent interrupts and some dps through Rams. Five seconds before he starts to change targets (DBM announces this), all vehicles close to him should start running away. If you are being chased, immediately hit Steam Rush (if you are Siege) or Inreased Speed (when he starts catching up) if you are the passenger of a Salvaged Demolisher. Levi has a Gathering Speed buff which slowly increases his movement speed for 5% per stack up to 20 stacks. Our strategy was to launch 4 Demolisher passengers into Levi once the stacks reach 10. These passengers are responsible for destroying the turrets found on top of Levi. Once these turrets are destroyed, Levi gets stunned and takes a lot more damage. This should be the time when Demolishers go all out and hurl their Pyrite Barrels. Choppers should also be dropping tars below Levi were it gets ignited by Demolishers for more damage. After he gets out of the stun, just rinse and repeat.

We got him on our third try. On our first two tries, our Demolishers got beaten up. Bad timing I guess, Levi targeted them just after they launched their passengers. With no one to use Increased Speed, they didn't last long :(.


The raid cheered as the last of Flame Leviathan's body parts crumbled to the ground. After the dust had settled I knelt to inspect the loot. There on the ground lay the most beautiful sword I have ever seen in my entire tanking life. And I said that based on its stats, not physical appearance (this sword looked much like a giant toothpick :P). Without wasting any second I grabbed the [Titanguard] (for about 300+ GP >.<). I was lucky that I had the highest EPGP ratio, lucky that Kel didn't drop the [Last Laugh] in our Naxx25 run about an hour ago :).

Monday, June 8, 2009

"UNTHINKABLE! The mortals will destroy..."

Sunday night, a night full of win.

It started with the raid finishing off Kel Thuzad in heroic mode Naxxramas (We failed to defeat him the night before due to a mix of bad luck and people falling asleep on their keyboards :P). Sadly, [Last Laugh] didn't drop (I was hoarding EP points for this weapon) which turned up to be a blessing in disguise (will be explained in the next article). While everyone was still fresh, we proceeded to the Eye of Eternity for a round 2 battle against the Aspect of the Blue Dragonflight (Malygos).

"None but the blue dragonflight are welcome here! Perhaps this is the work of Alexstrasza? Well then, she has sent you to your deaths. "

With the taste of victory still fresh from Malygos' mouth, he proudly flies above us as we were buffing ourselves up preparing for battle. After a quick readycheck, we engaged...

Phase 1 proceeded normally, sparks stacked, Malygos kited, salving rogue, salving anyone on second threat list (except offtank), me popping bubble wall when life was threateningly low, etc... Phase 2 was quite shaky, dps went all out while tank was positioning inside a bubble, aggro lost, me popping wings, rogue down, druid b'rezzes rogue, me casting Bubble then Divine Sacrifice, me tanking the floor (forgot that I just popped my wings within the last 30secs, booo) , druid b'rezzes me (druids are OP), adds went down, raid stacking on me outside the inner circle, platform breaks, phase 2 ends.

Phase 3 was a disaster, the first two attempts failed pretty badly. Everyone was flying everywhere, like overly excited flies hovering over an overturned trash bin. Static fields were scattered and heals were out of range... We regrouped and reviewed what happened. To minimize the chaos, our raid leader told us not to move after stacking together outside the inner circle since the mounts will automatically fly to Malygos' eye level. So this we did and the result was great, heals were within range and static fields were easily avoided. We encircled Malygos in a counterclockwise direction, the raid moved as one. Fire debuffs stacked as high as 16, the poor dragon had no chance.

"UNTHINKABLE! The mortals will destroy..."


The raid erupted to cheers as Malygos went down. Vent was full of wooot's and weeee's. We lost only one member during the fight, it was epic.

Monday, June 1, 2009

Argent Tournament - Jousting 101

Patch 3.1.0 gave us the new world event called Argent Tournament. In this event, players are given the right to represent each faction's major cities by completing several daily quests. Once you've completed these quests and after becoming exalted to these cities you get the title "Crusader" (which is a very fitting title for a paladin).

/flex
However, two of these new quests [The Grand Melee] and [At The Enemy's Gates] (4 including the champion quests which opens up once you become a champion in one of the cities) requires you to fight players on mounts which may be quite frustrating for beginners. I myself also had a hard time trying to joust (fighting on mounts with a lance) from the start. I kept getting owned by other players in duels as I tried to master this new way of fighting. I then tried challenging the NPC's at the Argent Tournament Grounds and found them a lot easier than dueling players. They follow a certain predictable pattern during the fight which you can use to your advantage. Below are some of the basic steps for winning a joust against NPC's:
  1. Before starting the fight, stack up to 3 shield charges (ability 4 of the mount) by pressing ability 4, three times.
  2. Talk to the NPC, then hit thrust (ability 1 of the mount) the moment he becomes attackable. The damage may not be that huge but still every hit counts :P.
  3. After thrusting, stay where you are and let the NPC walk a few yards. Watch your shield breaker icon (ability 2 of the mount). The number is red when you cannot use the ability (target too close or too far) and white when it can be used. Wait until the number turns white then hit him with a shield breaker.
  4. The shield breaker knocks away one of his shields, immediately run towards him and spam thrust (ability 1 of the mount). Always stay close to him to stop him from charging or throwing a shield breaker. At this point you will be exchanging hits for a few seconds with him receiving more damage because of the missing shield charge.
  5. The NPC will then back away from you to prepare for a charge. What you should do is run opposite his direction while watching your charge icon (ability 3 of the mount). Once the icon's number turns white, hit it and your mount will go charging towards him. Your mount will still move fast after the hit, use this momentum to position yourself back close to him and fire a shield breaker if you can. Refresh shield (ability 4 of the mount) when in melee range, there may be a chance that he will also hit you with a shield breaker or even a charge. This also prevents your shield from falling off.
  6. Repeat step 4 until victorious.

The above steps will assure you of a win, however the fight will be a long one. After several fights, I got bored and made up a new technique for a much faster win. Below are my improvised jousting techniques for a speedy battle. The first three steps are just like the basic technique (above). The variation starts at step 4.

  1. Before starting the fight, stack up to 3 shield charges (ability 4 of the mount) by pressing ability 4, three times.
  2. Talk to the NPC, then hit thrust (ability 1 of the mount) the moment he becomes attackable. The damage may not be that huge but still every hit counts :P.
  3. After thrusting, stay where you are and let the NPC walk a few yards. Watch your shield breaker icon (ability 2 of the mount). The number is red when you cannot use the ability (target too close or too far) and white when it can be used. Wait until the number turns white then hit him with a shield breaker.
  4. Run towards the NPC and hit thrust (ability 1 of the mount) two times.
  5. Strafe left (or right, depending on the area of battle. Run towards the open field.). The NPC will follow you, just keep strafing. Watch the shield breaker icon and hit it once the number turns white.
  6. Check his shield status. If he still has some shield charges up, repeat step 5.
  7. Once his shield is gone, strafe again but this time watch the charge icon instead. Hit it when the number turns white (make sure that you're facing him while hitting the charge button. You can do this by holding the strafe button, jump then move mouse to face him.). Immediately press thrust (spam 1 while charging) once your charge hit the NPC. You can sneak some additional damage this way.
  8. Use the addtional momentum to go back within melee range then fire a couple of thrusts.
  9. Repeat step 5 until victorious.

You can defeat the NPC in less than a minute using the above steps so there's no need to worry about your shield wearing off. You may also lose a few shield charges along the way, however your enemy will go down quick so there's no need to refresh your shield charges. If you haven't mastered the above steps yet, just play safe and refresh shields whenever you can :P.



Note: Your mount action bars may vary depending on the UI you are using. In this article, I am referring to Blizzard's default UI.