Thanks for everyone who came.
Next week 6/6 Sunday at 8pm, we're gonna try to either continue (freya/mimiron/vezax/yogg left) or start fresh.
Calendar invite is sent to veterans, keyed and unkeyed.
Ulduar Hard modes
Moderators: Texaporte, sphie, Pocky
Re: Ulduar Hard modes
Sorry that I got pulled away, but I will definitely try my best to join you guys next week!
Re: Ulduar Hard modes
Just to update that we did continue this on Sunday, and here are some lessons learned:
Freya trash still causes wipes. In fact, just about all trash can cause wipes, so some effort on researching the trash as much as bosses would be good.
Freya hard mode is doable as long as the fight is explained before she's pulled.
Mimiron could be tried on hard mode, once everyone has been through easy mode just to know what to do. Having done normal mode just to learn the fight, I think everyone is much better equipped to deal with the added mechanic of creeping flames.
General Vezax hard mode was accomplished! However we should have kept up early dps and burnt him down further (but kept alive) before the Animus appeared. Also, the Animus is very hard to see (dark purple water elemental), but should be kept near Vezax or else melee will receive shadow crashes. Maybe just assist-targeting the off-tank will fix that.
Yogg-Sara: I think we're coming to the opinion that having only Thorim up could actually be an easier way to learn the fight than all keepers up; since he actually "reduces the moving parts" (in phase 3). Though we only made one good attempt on phase 2, one thing for the strike team is that I think it's more important to kill the tentacles and unlock the brain room fast, than to attempt perfect facing/positioning. Still very important to face as few sanity-drainers as possible, but the sooner we're out the less sanity we've lost anyway. Also, we should have made better plans to move as a group; I recommend the strike team moving clockwise around the rooms from now on. Head left as group, kill things together, move on.
Freya trash still causes wipes. In fact, just about all trash can cause wipes, so some effort on researching the trash as much as bosses would be good.
Freya hard mode is doable as long as the fight is explained before she's pulled.
Mimiron could be tried on hard mode, once everyone has been through easy mode just to know what to do. Having done normal mode just to learn the fight, I think everyone is much better equipped to deal with the added mechanic of creeping flames.
General Vezax hard mode was accomplished! However we should have kept up early dps and burnt him down further (but kept alive) before the Animus appeared. Also, the Animus is very hard to see (dark purple water elemental), but should be kept near Vezax or else melee will receive shadow crashes. Maybe just assist-targeting the off-tank will fix that.
Yogg-Sara: I think we're coming to the opinion that having only Thorim up could actually be an easier way to learn the fight than all keepers up; since he actually "reduces the moving parts" (in phase 3). Though we only made one good attempt on phase 2, one thing for the strike team is that I think it's more important to kill the tentacles and unlock the brain room fast, than to attempt perfect facing/positioning. Still very important to face as few sanity-drainers as possible, but the sooner we're out the less sanity we've lost anyway. Also, we should have made better plans to move as a group; I recommend the strike team moving clockwise around the rooms from now on. Head left as group, kill things together, move on.
"Let the dice decide!"Re: Ulduar Hard modes
I'm bumping this thread, and adding to my previous post which is still quite relevant!
Firefighter accomplished (and FMA for having Dae/Snow saved to the wrong ID's when we did weeklies earlier). Lessons learned (other than normal-mode issues of how to not die to Plasma Blast, P3Wx2, rockets, etc.): Raid piling up and staying together on the outer edge (on the pull and phase transitions) to keep flames against the wall and in mostly one spot, immeasurably important. At other times when everyone does need to move around a bit, fires really start to take over, so that initial control of fire location is important. Also, the Emergency Fire Bots of phase 3 should be left alive, as they don't aggro, but do go after flames!
After that, we did see Algalon. Ow. Brief lesson learned: Unlike other portal mechanics, to enter a Black Hole one need merely walk onto it, into the voidzone that marks it. Trying to click it from outside the voidzone does nothing.
Firefighter accomplished (and FMA for having Dae/Snow saved to the wrong ID's when we did weeklies earlier). Lessons learned (other than normal-mode issues of how to not die to Plasma Blast, P3Wx2, rockets, etc.): Raid piling up and staying together on the outer edge (on the pull and phase transitions) to keep flames against the wall and in mostly one spot, immeasurably important. At other times when everyone does need to move around a bit, fires really start to take over, so that initial control of fire location is important. Also, the Emergency Fire Bots of phase 3 should be left alive, as they don't aggro, but do go after flames!
After that, we did see Algalon. Ow. Brief lesson learned: Unlike other portal mechanics, to enter a Black Hole one need merely walk onto it, into the voidzone that marks it. Trying to click it from outside the voidzone does nothing.
"Let the dice decide!"Re: Ulduar Hard modes
Also: Algalon is not a fan of doors; he will simply erase the bridge between his playhouse and the front entrance. Mind the gap, fish eating hunters!
Game design is not a service industry. -Bashiok, Blue cat herder
Re: Ulduar Hard modes
So I talked to Trevor a bit today. It seems like the 'starkiller' is rather important in this fight. There's only one, but that person must know the order and the estimated time to a given star dying and has to call out to the raid when a star is going down. Appears said star does damage when it dies similar to the periodic aoe that goes off where the closer you are, the more you get damaged.
Re: Ulduar Hard modes
In that case, to me it would seem that it should be a range person assigned to slowly kill (or accelerate it if necessary) a collapsing star. Controlled collapsing stars = controlled black holes = we should know which black hole people can fall into when the time comes to hide from big bang.Chamomile wrote:So I talked to Trevor a bit today. It seems like the 'starkiller' is rather important in this fight. There's only one, but that person must know the order and the estimated time to a given star dying and has to call out to the raid when a star is going down. Appears said star does damage when it dies similar to the periodic aoe that goes off where the closer you are, the more you get damaged.
Re: Ulduar Hard modes
Adding to the thread again! Though I'm sure we'll get back to Algalon, for now I wanted to start some "lessons learned" points for Yogg+1. (Also, WTB log posting of our attempts!)
- The strike team needs to be at their portal almost before it opens. There's only 60 seconds from portal open to do the job, and more time in is more brain damage.
- For the strike team, melee damage is reflected by the tentacles (like thorns), so for speed and less damage it makes sense for 2 melee dps to alternate targets, 3rd dps to be ranged to finish them off, and 4th person is the healer.
- Phase 3, regarding Lunatic Gaze an when to look away: DBM only shows the cooldown bar, and the casting bar. Yogg could gaze every 12 seconds, but sometimes they're further apart, and then you have no timers/bars indicating what to do. That just means there's a gaze coming, and you should stay looking away. It's only fully safe to dps right after the gaze.
"Let the dice decide!"