The thrill of victory drives us.
There is something that is required to know this feeling however. The agony of defeat. You can not have light without dark, good without evil, victory without defeat.
Last night as we approached Leotheras the Blind, we talked about the strat videos that we have watched, all the reading we have done, we were truly prepared for this fight. We can already see the Tier 5 gloves on our toons. The hunters are drooling over their set bonus and we don’t even have it yet. To say we were over confidant would be stupid, we weren’t. There was just no doubt that we were getting our 2nd Tier 5 boss kill.
Our first attempt and wipe was just to feel the fight out and to stretch our legs. The inner demons come and our main tank is mind controlled so we wipe it. Now we have seen first hand what happens and are ready.
Attempt 2 (ever):
Flawless pull. Leotheras is released from his banished state. Our inner demons come out and are no match for the wrath that is Defiant. We pass the 50% mark as the anticipation builds. We pass 30% and people’s voices are starting to get a little more excited on vent. We pass 20% and people start dreaming of T5 and start playing sloppy but we hold it together. We pass 15% and the split happens. Our warlock picks up the demon. We pass 10% as the main tank calls burn him. The DPS does just that; and things take a directional turn unexpected. He does his whirlwind and we forget about the agro dump. The DPS is taking so much damage the healers forget about the warlock; he dies. We are now at 3% with almost everyone dead. The DPS doesn’t let up, we are killing this guy. The 1% mark comes and all the healers are dead. Its one druid tank and a mage left; he’s going down. Leotheras decides it’s time to remind us that he owns this chamber and will not be passing out gifts tonight.
I have wondered several times if the 1% wipe is written into the game. I am sure that it is not, we create it ourselves. We do it over and over again. Without the 1% wipe the final victory would not be nearly as sweet.
Summertime in the north is upon us, and School is ending all across the country. This means that the kids are going to be playing more wow, and are going to want those coveted raid spots with the guilds that have been progressing all winter. Today I look to give some advice to those school aged people looking to join the many guilds out there.
1. Assume the guild has been raiding all winter without you, this means that you need them more than they need you.
2. Be honest on your application about where you have been. There are many quick and easy ways to look at your guild history, and chances are if the guild you are applying to is already in SSC/TK/BT/MtH/SW, they know their stuff. This means that stating that you are ready, or have been to somewhere can easily be judged by your rep with a certain faction and the gear you are wearing.
3. Everyone wants to see endgame. Be honest with yourself as well as the guild you are applying to about your experience. This may sound redundant with 2, but it’s not. When it comes to end game, there are several impossible fights that can be referenced as the same as X fight only harder. This makes the new fight possible and easier because everyone has seen a variation of it before.
4. Use Proper Grammar on your application. This is just like a job application, and therefore make sure you spell and grammar check everything before submitting it.
5. Make sure you answer all the questions on their application.
6. If you are applying to a guild, it means that you left your old guild for a reason. The new guild is probably not going to ask about it, but if you start telling them it’s because you had a problem with the GM, or the officers, or whatever, then they run a guild history and you have been in 12 different guilds in the last year, then they are probably not going to bring you in.
7. Just because you join a guild, that does not grant you loot priority or a raid spot. The people you are now raiding with have probably spent months laying the ground work for you to suddenly find yourself 3/6 in SSC, or stepping into BT on easy mode.
Basically every guild out there needs people at this point; it is the name of the game. Don’t expect to walk in and have the run of the place, instead be prepared to show your worth and start at the bottom. If the officers and the GM see you are outplaying the people on the A list, you will find yourself on it very quickly. Most of these end game guilds that are truly progressing did not get there by playing favorites. You will get your turn. You must also realize these guilds know that when it is time for you to return to school, they are going to lose you again … therefore they might be hesitant to give you some of that uber gear you are yearning for.
Defiant has made the step from the not hardcore “casual” 4 nights a week raiding guild to the elite. Not to be confused with the uber elite however. :o) We are now 3 of 6 (Lurker/Hydros/Tide Walker) in SSC and 1 of 5 in TK with a seriously bugged VR dead. We have killed him twice now and have several members of our guild wearing T5! Hence the elite status!
I want to give some VR advice for any guild doing what we were doing and waiting to down him until Bliz fixes him. It’s quite easy really … the hunters distract him while the raid ganks him.
Ok, Ok, I will explain.
First, the entire raid gets within Melee range of him. Even the mages have their auto attack turned on so in between casts they are smacking him with their staves, maces, throwing shoes at him, (Love ya Ary), what ever they have. There are even some jokes made because some of them now have their skill higher than 150 from the encounters. You then take 2 hunters; they run around the ring on the outside. They have to be 180 degrees from each other as not to get smacked with the orbs. They don’t DPS, they just keep moving, and it’s a very boring fight for a hunter. The easiest way to judge distance is if you can not arcane shot VR you are too far out, if you can't take one step further away from him and be out of range for your arcane shot you are too close.
Your Shaman’s must do a continual chain heal, while priests do Prayer of Mending, and circle of healing non-stop. This requires shadow priests to be in their groups as to keep the mana up. If the shadow priests die, the raid wipes. While doing the fight this way, they are vitally important. The hunters MUST be careful to stay away from the group, and must have health stones, pots, all that stuff … they can’t ever get close enough to the group to be healed, so they have to be able to heal themselves … I did it in full PvP gear just to boost my stam way up, there is no need for DPS as you aren’t doing it anyway. This has worked like a charm twice for us. The main catch is if your hunters go down, VR will now target the next furthest person out from him … i.e. the group at his feet.
You must have at least 3 tanks, (you will have this for trash anyway), and everyone must stay behind them on the threat table .. that way when he punts a tank, and changes his focus to the second on the list, he doesn’t turn and one shot a squishy. (Which is relative considering we are all squishy to him) ...
Edit: There is a small change to the strat, we have the tanks stand one on top of each other so that he does not move when he changes tanks ... this allows the healers to move around less and cast more.
Ensuring you stay ahead of the enrage timer is fairly easy as it is a 10 minute timer, therefore you must do 10% every 60 seconds, which really is not that hard. We just start slow with the DPS for the first 60 seconds, and then open up on him after that …
I hope this helps! Good luck and enjoy the shoulders!
