Healing Anub'arak (25/10)

This fight is...clunky. It requires finesse and coordination, but until you reach it in heroic mode (which I have not, and few have), it can be brute-forced through with only a few adjustment wipes.

The biggest, most essential part of this boss is the distribution of Permafrost. As a healer, this is obviously not your concern unless the boss burrows. My guild DPS'd the orbs until they were low, then attempted to Death Grip them into position. Though possibly the best plan, it is still rather unwieldy as the orbs start floating away and up as soon as they are released, making early Death Grips ruin positioning.

Why is it important to position Permafrost? To prevent burrowing. The adds are able to burrow, but not if their hitboxes are completely covered by the Permafrost. And by completely, I mean absolutely no portion of their hitbox can be uncovered or they will burrow. With the adds, this means that they burrow, then repop after more adds spawn, quickly overwhelming your off-tank.

Very important for healers (and everyone else) to know: never stand in front of the boss! He cleaves, and it hurts. The tank has priority on movement. You make way for him, not the other way around. Another thing to watch out for, as well, is that the main tank will periodically get frozen, basically stunning him and locking him in place. Keeping HoTs stacked and controlled cooldown application (with conservation for the last 30% in mind) will allow your tank to survive. As well, watch for any raid members with the Penetrating Cold debuff, as it will knock off a 2k+ of their HP each 3 seconds.

When Anub'arak submerges, the whole raid needs to clump together on Permafrost. This will prevent a large amount of damage coming from the submerged Anub'arak (his hardest hitting attack cannot penetrate Permafrost) and allow for controlled AoE of the scarab adds. Watch for the large ice spikes that form up around your group; as soon as they pop, move to the next patch of Permafrost. They do no damage, they simply signify that Anub'arak has broken that patch of ice and it will despawn, leaving you defenseless. He will "pursue" raid members, but so long as everyone is clumped up in the middle of a patch of Permafrost and not on the edges, he remains ineffective. After the fourth submerge, he enrages and it's a wipe.

At 30% life, Anub'arak will cease burrowing and cast Leeching Swarm. This is where it becomes tricky, if somewhat boring, for healers. I had to all but stop healing except for occasional HoTs on the tank.

What? But why? Shouldn't the last 30% be harder?

It is, it is. But it is harder because it requires a large amount of control, and HoTs are somewhat of a loose cannon. You see, Leeching Swarm takes 10% of remaining life (not total) from the person it is applied to, and it is applied to the entire raid, to a minimum of 250 health. That means the lower people are, the less they heal the boss for. You want to juggle your raid at about 50% life to avoid deaths from Penetrating Cold, with only your tanks at max life. Since adds stop spawning at this phase as well, all remaining adds should be burned down to spare your OT's life requiring max fill. If you have multiple Restoration Druids, one or two max should use HoTs to counteract the swarm. Otherwise, all straight healing spells should be used, and you should be ready to cancel those heals at a moment's notice by jumping, hitting a cancel macro, esc or moving. I quite literally did almost no healing due to our raid having seven healers for the fight and other Druids covering the HoT portion. This is a little frustrating, but as Heroic mode will be draining 20% of remaining life, I have a feeling things will be a bit more active.


Well, that's the fight! Good luck, and my the loot gods smile upon you. Also, watch out for Death Knights who pop Path of Frost too early or Shamans who just have a sadistic desire to watch you break your bones on what should be a forgiving pool of water.

For Your Entertainment...

So, while I try to prepare for Anub'arak and the rigors of Hardmode 25 man Coliseum, I thought I'd share a little bit of my WoW life via pictures and probably not very witty captions.

You've been warned.


We're all assembled, and the call goes out. Deploy mini trees! Too bad they have no tactical advantage. Usually the lazy little buggers just go right to sleep.


If you've never seen a devilsaur swim, I recommend it. One of the most adorable animations in WoW. Lookit his little arms go!


Yes, in this picture, I am dead in fire. To be fair, the fire spawned on my corpse after I died. /grumble



It was the normal daily, we wanted to get badges and an achievement or two. No one could zone in, despite the instance being completely empty and being able to zone right into Nexus. Honestly...WTF, Blizz?


I logged in one day, with super lag and latency. I could barely move in Dalaran, and that never happens to me. But, I had an egg. After a full minute of waiting for the damnable egg to open, I received the best friend a druid can have (until they put in a green drake mount, of course).


I wonder where the other antler went.




And this is what happens every night I'm not doing a raid. Or I am trying to raid old content, but NO, that's not allowed.

/fume

Flame Proof

Vigilant has been going through some changes. GM changes, officer changes, people leaving and coming in...it's been a roller-coaster ride, and it hasn't helped that people both in and out of the guild were counting us out, airing our dirty laundry on the boards and predicting our disband.

Yeah, things were tough. For a week.

Our new GM and officers picked us up, dusted us off, and kicked our asses into high gear. We went back into hardmodes, and on a whim we said "Let's do Firefighter."

The guild had been working on him for a while. Nights of wipes, problems with disconnects and replacements kept the nasty machine from going down like he should have. I wasn't involved; at the time, I was still an applicant and they wanted to keep it to the main group that had been pounding him.

Then, we lost people, including healers. I was promoted to main raider (I guess I forgot to mention that, huh?), and we hopped in. We spent a couple hours on Mimi on Wednesday, pushing the button and teaching all us nubs what to do to dodge fire and stay alive. I learned how to kite my fires and stick with my group, and though my HPS tanked in the first few attempts, it steadily climbed with each try. We were improving. We packed it up at the end of the raid time, Mimiron saved for the next scheduled date.

Last night, we were worried. We had a few no-shows, and so we brought in some applicants, one of which had only ever seen Mimiron once on 10-man. We had to re-explain the fight, and set up new groups. We were also down a healer. So, what happened?


Second pull. That's it. It only took one pull to acclimate the people who had never done it before, and the next try he went down. It was a harrowing adventure, with a badly-placed Frost Bomb taking out around 8 people in the last phase. Yet we refused to call the wipe, and with fifteen seconds left, we gained the Alliance first, server second Firefighter kill. I am so happy for everyone involved, and proud of my guild for weathering the storm.

And to you brats who think it's cute to trash us, keep flaming. I've gotten pretty good at kiting those fires.

Let the Time Management Begin!

I'm going back to college.

Not all that exciting, I know. But it's true. I have to go back and get some silly degree so I can pay more people to give me a better degree and get some sort of job. This seems to be the process, anyway.

But what's that really mean? Well, I'll be a senior Psychology/Asian Studies (don't ask) double major. It means labs, which means work, which means time. I need to apply to grad schools, which means time. I need to get a job so I can afford books and save money because long-distance relationships devour it, which means time. And, you know, all the fun things like seeing friends, sleeping, eating, relaxing, writing, and I'll be damned if I quit raiding now.

It all means time.

I've already pulled up my schedule. I've already started planning out where I have free time, what time to set aside for certain things, what time I need to sleep by and what times I need to be up. These will obviously have to be adjusted once I find out some course loads (and I'm hopefully going to be switching some classes), but it's important to have a foundation to start, especially as I move back into my dorm on Sunday.

Yes, I'm a senior and YES I'm still living in the dorms. And I have a freshman roommate. I'm perfectly cool with this. It's cheaper, I don't pay for my internet, I don't need a car and I don't have to worry so much about idiot frat boys smashing my windows or burning my car just because the Steelers won.

It's going to be tricky. I'm going to get it wrong some, I think, at first, which may make me a tad sleep deprived. But that's what the weekends are for, right?

Healing the Val'kyr Twins (10/25)

Have you ever played Ikaruga? It's a pretty intense, if somewhat old, game, and this fight is based off the same mechanics. It is pretty simple in execution, and extremely light in healing so long as everyone does their job.

To begin with, split the raid in half (as well as you can for having 25 people) and start opposite the large entry doors. Those tanking/attacking/healing the white Val'kyr (Fjola Lightbane) should have dark auras, and those tanking/attacking/healing the black Val'kyr (Eydis Darkbane) should have light auras. At the beginning, like most fights, the only one who should need healing is the tank you are assigned to (though there are no penalties for scooting near the middle and being able to hit both tanks). Make sure each tank has their focus in between the portals of the right or left side.

The only time the fight becomes healing intensive is during the "bullet hell time" and that is only if you and your raid members are not careful to avoid balls of light/dark, as you only absorb those of your own type and those of the wrong type cause damage. As a healer, you should avoid all balls as they are much more beneficial to the DPS than you, and they will need them for the shield portion of the fight.

Otherwise, your only other job is to watch for Vortexes and change your color if it is appropriate. Blizzard has generously provided a warning for you, all you have to do is read it. If you are "dark" and light is being channeled, you need to click a light portal, and vice-versa. There is no healing through this. If someone is wrong, they are dead.

Since you're a healer, you don't have to worry about shields other than to know that once a shield is up, the DPS needs to burn it down so they can interrupt the heal. If you have the spare time and can pop up some damage on it, it wouldn't hurt. As was mentioned before, this fight is very undemanding of healers so long as everyone avoids the wrong color orbs.

My guild downed the Twins first try with six healers (25 man), and we're considering doing it next week with only three. For most of the fight, our healers had very little to do. So, this will really depend on a few things: how much DPS you can output to burn shields, how reliable everyone is in avoiding balls of the wrong color, and how aware everyone is in switching auras. If you can coordinate healer population with this information, then the fight should be a snap.

Tee-Ball Mentality

This is going to be a very rough topic, both in subject and presentation, as there is a lot to say and it does not always flow well from one point to another. "Elitism" is a rather touchy subject, and perceptions of what makes someone an elitist vary from person to person and situation to situation. So, in truth, what makes someone "elitist"?

My step-father often talks about the "tee-ball mentality.” Everyone gets a turn at bat, everyone gets a hit, and everyone gets to be told they're special, no matter how well they do. I experienced this first hand growing up. I have absolutely terrible hand-eye coordination. I never could hit the ball off the tee. Yet it took about ten minutes of me swinging and missing or swinging and hitting the tee instead of the ball for them to take me off the field, making the whole team wait for their turn.

How does this translate to the discussion of elitism? It's the idea that there is no "wrong" or "bad," which makes being an elitist (or even being perceived as elitist) equivalent to being scum. I was very, very bad at tee ball, but no one would say anything because I was five or six years old and it would have made me cry. Instead, they just let me embarrass myself every game until I was allowed to stop playing.

When I join a group, I expect that the people I am grouped with are spec'd and geared appropriately for their class and have an idea of what they're doing. If they're new to the encounter, that's fine. Boss strats and trash pulls can be explained during the course of the instance. However, you cannot "fix" someone's gear/gem/talent choices in the middle of a raid. And how often must you die to the same thing, receive the same warnings, and be coached through a process before it is determined that there is something wrong?

Some people may say expecting a certain talent setup is elitist. It goes with asking for "cookie cutter" specs and setups. However, cookie cutters tend to be cookie cutters for a reason; they are the most optimal build (with some leeway depending on gear and focus). Messing with a cookie cutter can be innovative, possibly, and if you can prove there is value behind it in both words and performance, then you are set and fine. And there is some truth to the knowledge that it isn’t all a DPS or healing race, but it can be a marker of how well you’re contributing. As well, cookie cutters tend to make more allowances for mistakes, as generally a mistake in an optimal build will not be as much of a detriment in a build already lacking optimization.

For certain classes, there are one or two trees optimized for PvE and one that, while doing well, is not the best choice. For example, the Hunter class. While Beast Mastery used to output the highest DPS, now higher-end guilds expect their hunters to be either MM or Survival, with possibly a dual spec so they can have both. Beast Mastery has been relegated to a sort of gimmick fight, like Yogg-Saron without keepers, where your pet is doing more steady DPS than your hunter (who must constantly be turning away), and burst DPS shines. So, when accepting an applicant for a serious raiding guild, the BM hunter would be turned down in favor of a Survival or Marksman. This could seem "elitist," but guilds pushing hardmodes, server firsts and progression races want their groups to be min-maxed to the extreme.


But if it's a PUG raid or instance, or a less rigidly defined guild? The BM hunter can happily take a ranged DPS spot and do well. But, if they have not optimized their build, it almost counts as two strikes against them. PUGs are not the smoothest of runs, historically, and having along a non-hit capped MM hunter wearing Spellpower mail is much more likely to get the boot than a BM hunter whose pet didn't aggro the next trash wave because it was on passive. Is this elitist? No. If you're not contributing, you're dragging everyone down with you.

Now we should probably talk about “what right do other people have to critique my gear/spec/gemming?” And it kind of depends, really. Are you standing around in Dalaran minding your own business, when someone randomly whispers you to tell you that your gem choices are wrong and it would be most optimal to go this way? Well, it would depend on your mood and whether they’re right or not. That one is your affair. But in an instance or guild? I feel every member has every right to discuss another’s spec or gear or spell choices (in a non-aggressive, non-insulting manner), or their boss strategy. Why? Because if you are “doing it wrong,” then you are not just hurting your own performance. You’re hurting the performance of others. PUGs would run a whole lot smoother, bosses would die a lot faster, and people would get a lot more loot if everyone was a bit better at doing what they signed up to do. And, yes, when you accept an invite into a group or raid as a certain spec, you are signing up for a role, and it is expected you should perform.

I could possibly be considered "elitist," in some ways. I try to take things in stride, but I cringe when I see weird or incorrect specs. Like the 0/71/0 Frost DK who tried to tank Sartharion and couldn’t hold a lick of threat, my tolerance has a limit, and there becomes a point where it is possible for you to just be bad. Inexperience, I can handle. I have gently coached both friends and strangers through encounters they had never seen before, helped people with rotations and spec choices, made them glyphs and directed them to websites for more information. But willful ignorance or stupid choices that are repeated consistently, with perhaps a glaring lack of insight of class mechanics at 80? Ouch.

Everyone has their limit. When the Resto Druid who is running Nexus with you stands in front of the dragon in multiple attempts (after being informed that this is a Bad Idea), and does not shift out of chains so they don't stack their debuff, and pulls trash multiple times during the instance because instead of staying in already cleared hallways, they find it more prudent to run into the uncleared room to heal from a distance, there comes a point where you just break and you mentally categorize these people as "bad." Whether it's bad at situational awareness, bad at gear choice, bad at optimization or bad at understanding "this is your role, please play it," there are, in actuality, people bad at the game. Whether or not they can improve is not the issue, it is that they are, at that point, bad. And if you point it out...

This seems to instantly make you the bad guy, if you bring this up. It’s a game, bro. Chillax. We’re all here to have fun. I, personally, cannot have fun with more than a few wipes on content that should not be being wiped on. I can understand a learning curve. But at what point am I allowed to tell someone “What you are doing is wrong. What you have been doing is wrong. Stop. Being. Wrong.” without being a nerd-raging jerk who takes the game way too seriously? My gaming enjoyment is being affected by your terrible choices, yet me imposing a more correct, studied, optimal way is often seen as much more diabolical. This is the “tee-ball mentality.” Everyone gets their chance to hold up the team by swinging the bat awkwardly and wildly, and how dare you make any insinuations that perhaps they are not doing it right.

Do not misunderstand me, there is true elitism. When you exclude people because of inexperience, or because their gear makes the requirements but does not exceed them (so you’ll have to slow this Naxx down just a bit), or when you laugh at their lack of achievements, then that’s elitism. When someone isn't given the chance to show you why they chose a certain spec or why that they can succeed despite their detriments is elitism. Expecting someone to come to a raid in a spec appropriate for what they will be doing, in gear properly itemized and gemmed and a decent understanding of their class mechanics is not being elitist.

As well, "casual" has nothing to do with being "bad." There are plenty of serious raiders who do things badly. A person can be a casual and still optimize themselves during their time of play. Saying "hey man, I only play this game two hours a day" is no excuse to hop into a pug and pull 900 DPS at level 80, just the same as "my main's in the top guild on the server" is no excuse, either. If you cannot contribute properly, you are hurting other people's game time and enjoyment, and you are probably being carried. Though I tend not to speak like this generally as it sounds conceited, I have carried groups through instances and helped carry in raids. It is Not Fun. Not at all. It is frustrating and stressful.

Sometimes there are circumstances that actually necessitate elitism. Le gasp! But it's true. If you're working on One Light in the Darkness, it's probable you won't include anyone, no matter how epic they are, that has not at the very least killed Yogg before. It's perfectly acceptable to turn away someone who is, perhaps, geared enough for the encounter because they lack experience. That person may have contributed well, they may have been able to pick it up, but it's not worth it for those who have taken the time to learn the mechanics to bring them in and hope they can catch up.

Recently, on Vigilant's application forums, there was a rogue applicant. He was given a set of questions about certain choices for gear he had made. He itemized in an odd way, and suggestions were made that could increase his DPS by increments of 20 to 70 DPS. He adamantly refused to go with what he saw as "minimal" upgrades so he could play his way, while stating that this was the way he did max DPS on the boss. Our guild rogues run multiple spreadsheets constantly to check gear and DPS outputs, experiment with specs and gem choices. They are open to suggestion, but when someone is saying something wrong (did you know, you can be wrong in playing the game!), and there is intense melee competition in a guild, they will get turned down. And so he was, both for his insistence on gimping his own DPS as well as his attitude. No, we'd never seen him play, but he showed to us he wasn't worth the investing the time to do so.

Is my guild elitist? Definitely. Do we have to be at times? Definitely. Do we exclude people without experience or gear? Definitely not. If we did, I never would have gotten in. But we require the min-maxing and research necessary for downing hardmodes, and it is clearly stated that this is necessary for invitation. If we were a casual guild, the guy probably would have gotten in. He had epic gems and was fully enchanted, had good DPS (by his admission, anyway) and was available at raid times. But the top end raiding guilds have to be elitist to continue pushing server firsts and hardmodes. It is what their guild is designed to do, it's what the members want to do, and so the elitism is warranted.

WoW is, all things considered, a highly social game. You have to realize that when you interact with a group, your gaming enjoyment is not an isolated entity. By interacting with others, you become connected to their enjoyment. Low or slow DPS, inefficient healing, lack of awareness, or a chaotic spec can quickly irritate or stress the people around you because they have to pick up the slack. WoW is not tee-ball, and I don't expect people to wait around while I swing futilely at a ball I can't hit for hours on end. Is it fair that I should have to wait for others?

Elitism has its place, even if you may not necessarily like it. It isn't always good, and can be wielded inappropriately. But many things would be impossible without it. Without it, would there be any incentive to stop walloping the tee instead of the ball?

Healing the Faction Champions

I would kid myself if I thought this was a truly proper healing guide, but this is not a "proper" fight. There are no aggro tables, so you will, most likely, be being focused by one of your enemies at one point or another. You need to be mobile, adaptive, and have a fast reaction time. It's time to start loving PvP, because that is what this fight is; one extremely long arena fight. I personally find this to be the most enjoyable and exciting fight so far!

What I can provide are tips on what to do when facing these champions.

Communication is key.

First of all, make sure you start facing the right way. The champions do NOT enter from the double doors. They jump directly down from the stands where their faction leader is located. If you are Alliance, then you will be facing Horde Champions, and if you are Horde, then you will be facing Alliance Champions.

Communication is key.

Be prepared to break out of your intended role. When CC is needed, don't be afraid to add a couple Cyclones to the mix. Pop Nature's Grasp when someone is on you. This is a perfectly acceptable use of your role. Be careful with your Cyclone, though. Cycloning someone that your raid is about to unload on can be disastrous. So, no pressure, right?

Communication is key.

Be aware of your surroundings. You have to know what's going on. When there's a warrior near you, you have to run away. You have to know who is focusing you and who is being focused. This requires a large amount of focus for the important things. There is a lot to keep track of. If you waste your time thinking about your Recount meters or what have you, you or somebody else will die.

Communication is key.

Okay, why do I keep repeating that? Because IT IS IMPORTANT. You cannot win in this fight if you do not report that which is pertinent, and nothing else. People will get focused down and will need Rebirths. CC will break, and even if it doesn't it's on PvP lengths and will be less effective each time you chain it. You have to communicate. You just have to.

If you keep this all in mind, you should kill them. Not the first time, but soon. And if you do kill them on the first pull, I salute you.

For a list of all Champions, go to this post from MMO Champion. Note that, in the case of the Champions of the same class, the one listed first is a healing spec, and the one listed second is the DPS spec. The exception is the Druids; the first is Moonkin and the second is Resto.

Good luck!