Lord Marrowgar
Lady Deathwhisper
Gunship Battle
Deathbringer Saurfang
Monday, December 21, 2009
Icecrown Citadel is Serious Business
All in all, I am enjoying the new patch much more than I did the previous one. Icecrown Citadel is a lot more fun to raid than Ulduar, in my opinion. I also kind of love things that have to do with the Scourge, and I believe that's why i still like Naxxramas.
Lord Marrowgar has an awesome looking model, being something Blizzard didn't copy and paste for once. His mechanics on the other hand, are rather simple. He uses an ability called Bone Spike Graveyard that traps people, and other players have to free them before they die from the damage the spikes do. He hits the tanks rather hard, and his chorus ability was taken from Leotheras the Blind in SSC. Bone Storm is just that; he does a Bladestorm like ability and spins around the room, all the while shooting trails of deadly blue fire out towards the casters during the entire encounter.
Lady Deathwhisper isn't all that difficult, but she takes quite a bit of communication. She summons adds which have to be tanked and burned, some by melee, others by casters. Every now and then, she will cast her own form of Death and Decay that players must watch out for, and she has a mana shield that has to be burned down first to actually kill her. After surviving phase 1, players have to watch out for ghosts that chase them periodically in phase 2 (Think those spirits in Sunken Temple.), which is really just a 'pop-heroism-and-burn' phase.
The Gunship Battle, which is the third encounter of the first part of ICC, is perhaps one of the more fun fights that I've encountered in a raid. Being able to put on rocket packs and jump from your airship to the enemy's ship, and back again is what makes the encounter. Also, there is Rocket Bare. We are Alliance, so we start out on the Skybreaker and are intercepted by Ogrim's Hammer, the Horde's airship. A few melee and any offtanks man the cannons on your ship's port side, while the casters in your raid play defense and battle against the enemies boarding. The rest of the melee and a tank hop ships and kill the rocketeers and 'Below Zero' mage that freezes your ships's cannons.
Deathbringer Saurfang gave us some problems. He works by gaining Blood Power, and using that to execute rather deadly abilities and heal himself. He will put a permanent mark on some people and they will begin to take massive amounts of damage, to the point of having to be raid healed. If they die, he heals himself a ton, about 5% I believe. We found it much easier to allow the first marked people to actually die, and heal those up later in the fight when he's close to dying. Melee pretty much get to sit and DPS, much like Patchwerk. Ranged on the other hand have to make sure they are spread at least 12 yards apart, so when he casts Blood Nova, the only one affected will be the one he casts it on, and not anyone standing too close. (Think Kel'thuzad for ranged.) He summons blood beasts that must kited by our hunters and killed by our elemental shamans and balance druids, using their knockback and trap abilities respectively. If the beasts get hit by a melee swing, Saurfang gets 1 Blood Power for every hit.
This was the first time I've been able to be among some of the first on my server to clear raid content when it is still new, and I'm glad to have experienced it. In a week or two, Blizzard will release the next part of Icecrown Citadel, and I think I like how they are doing this. We won't be seeing the Lich King until about April, and that works well so players don't get burnt out on this expansion too fast. After all, the Lich King is what the game is all about at the moment, and he deserves a good build up.
Lord Marrowgar has an awesome looking model, being something Blizzard didn't copy and paste for once. His mechanics on the other hand, are rather simple. He uses an ability called Bone Spike Graveyard that traps people, and other players have to free them before they die from the damage the spikes do. He hits the tanks rather hard, and his chorus ability was taken from Leotheras the Blind in SSC. Bone Storm is just that; he does a Bladestorm like ability and spins around the room, all the while shooting trails of deadly blue fire out towards the casters during the entire encounter.
Lady Deathwhisper isn't all that difficult, but she takes quite a bit of communication. She summons adds which have to be tanked and burned, some by melee, others by casters. Every now and then, she will cast her own form of Death and Decay that players must watch out for, and she has a mana shield that has to be burned down first to actually kill her. After surviving phase 1, players have to watch out for ghosts that chase them periodically in phase 2 (Think those spirits in Sunken Temple.), which is really just a 'pop-heroism-and-burn' phase.
The Gunship Battle, which is the third encounter of the first part of ICC, is perhaps one of the more fun fights that I've encountered in a raid. Being able to put on rocket packs and jump from your airship to the enemy's ship, and back again is what makes the encounter. Also, there is Rocket Bare. We are Alliance, so we start out on the Skybreaker and are intercepted by Ogrim's Hammer, the Horde's airship. A few melee and any offtanks man the cannons on your ship's port side, while the casters in your raid play defense and battle against the enemies boarding. The rest of the melee and a tank hop ships and kill the rocketeers and 'Below Zero' mage that freezes your ships's cannons.
Deathbringer Saurfang gave us some problems. He works by gaining Blood Power, and using that to execute rather deadly abilities and heal himself. He will put a permanent mark on some people and they will begin to take massive amounts of damage, to the point of having to be raid healed. If they die, he heals himself a ton, about 5% I believe. We found it much easier to allow the first marked people to actually die, and heal those up later in the fight when he's close to dying. Melee pretty much get to sit and DPS, much like Patchwerk. Ranged on the other hand have to make sure they are spread at least 12 yards apart, so when he casts Blood Nova, the only one affected will be the one he casts it on, and not anyone standing too close. (Think Kel'thuzad for ranged.) He summons blood beasts that must kited by our hunters and killed by our elemental shamans and balance druids, using their knockback and trap abilities respectively. If the beasts get hit by a melee swing, Saurfang gets 1 Blood Power for every hit.
This was the first time I've been able to be among some of the first on my server to clear raid content when it is still new, and I'm glad to have experienced it. In a week or two, Blizzard will release the next part of Icecrown Citadel, and I think I like how they are doing this. We won't be seeing the Lich King until about April, and that works well so players don't get burnt out on this expansion too fast. After all, the Lich King is what the game is all about at the moment, and he deserves a good build up.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Thoughts on Gear Before Tuesday
Well I finally got my four-piece Tier 9, only a few days until Patch 3.3 is expected to release. Its a great set for Fury, I think. With the two-piece activated, Berserker Stance grants an additional 2% critical strike chance, and Battle Stance grants an additional 6% armor penetration. four-piece increases the critical strike chance of your Slam and Heroic Strike abilities by 5%. Both Slam and Heroic Strike are two bread and butter abilities of Fury, and I use both often. Arms benefits as well, especially since I've been seeing a few builds utilizing Heroic Strike, instead of completely ignoring it. Slam, of course, is the filler when Mortal Strike, Rend, and everything else is on cooldown.
Anyway, I also managed to get Victor's Call, which finally enabled me to get the Epic Achievement (hah), as well as my T9.5 pants. I think I'll actually gem those with Armor Penetration and use those in my Arms spec. The Legguards of Ascension that my warrior currently uses is much better for Fury, and I'm already over the Expertise cap by 7 points.
I had a glance at the T10 and the set bonuses it provided. I'd have to look at and think about them a bit more before I can really put my thoughts down on stone. At a glance, I'd say the two-piece looks rather weak with only a 3% chance to increase attack power. The four-piece is strange to me, in the fact that it alters your spells instead of straight buffing them. Arms would get a chance to have instant Slams, but then I'm not entirely sure if the effect is activated for both spells in either Battle or Berserker stance. In any case, I think it would add a bit of technicality to the Fury and Arms rotations, and in doing so, make them more interesting and fun to play.
You can check out the T10 set bonuses here and here, and you can look at my warrior and her gear here.
Anyway, I also managed to get Victor's Call, which finally enabled me to get the Epic Achievement (hah), as well as my T9.5 pants. I think I'll actually gem those with Armor Penetration and use those in my Arms spec. The Legguards of Ascension that my warrior currently uses is much better for Fury, and I'm already over the Expertise cap by 7 points.
I had a glance at the T10 and the set bonuses it provided. I'd have to look at and think about them a bit more before I can really put my thoughts down on stone. At a glance, I'd say the two-piece looks rather weak with only a 3% chance to increase attack power. The four-piece is strange to me, in the fact that it alters your spells instead of straight buffing them. Arms would get a chance to have instant Slams, but then I'm not entirely sure if the effect is activated for both spells in either Battle or Berserker stance. In any case, I think it would add a bit of technicality to the Fury and Arms rotations, and in doing so, make them more interesting and fun to play.
You can check out the T10 set bonuses here and here, and you can look at my warrior and her gear here.
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