How do I know this? Oh, we fought them for 10 minutes and 3 seconds last night.

But how? you might ask. Wouldn’t that require most of your raid being de–

Yes, yes it would. And yes, yes they were.

The jinx was Demogar promised us twice the dkp we would normally get for the kill if we one shot the Princes. I scoffed, but whatever.

So, the fight stats … and 18.5% of the way in (according to WoL) we lost a healer and four dps. A little bit later we lost some melee and another healer. At this point I would have been prepared to wipe it and try again. But oh no, there was extra dkp on the line, everyone wanted to keep going. So we did.

About five minutes in we lost another chunk of dps. And we kept going.

Eight minutes into the fight and we’re at the 15% range, and Demo buys the farm. Taldaram goes wild and one shots a few people before I can pick him up. Now I’m tanking both guys with few healers left up and watching my hp yo-yo up and down.

The enrage timer is starting to get really close. By the 9 minute mark there was still 8% or so to go with only 9 of us left standing. It was going to be a photo finish.

Timer finally counts down the last few seconds, people yelling out health percentages in vent, and then it hits 0. The Princes enrage, their big one-shotting attack misses me and someone manages to pluck away the last bit of health.

The Princes go down with the nine of us left standing. Epic kill.

And yes, we all got our extra dkp.

I think now that the Lich King is vulnerable he must be attempting to slow down raids with buggy boss encounters. How else can I explain the painful nonsense we kept running into last night?

First of all, thanks to Patch Day a swath of people were either late or having huge performance issues. Lag was also a major issue for some, though we were thankfully spared the dreaded Gunship lag. Nonetheless, all these little nibbling bites that were slowing people down were invariably cutting into raid performance.

And then there was the brand new buggified version of Saurfang we ran into last night. Usually we don’t see the first Mark until sub-50%, last night we had it at around 70% or so, and a second one going out before 60%. We assumed maybe someone was having issues kiting or people were standing too close together, but instead it just seemed like his Blood Power generation rate was off the charts.

We reset the fight by fleeing to the boat, but then the second time we had the same BP generation issues. We just decided to go with the flow and ended up killing Saurfang with something like six Marks up, no deaths. It wasn’t ultimately an issue for us, but this bug can probably prove to be a roadblock for others. Hopefully they’ll fix it soon.

After Saurfang we were already pushing against the clock and just went to cement our Blood Council kill last week with an equally clean kill. No luck on our part though, because in addition to melee dps assuming being told to scatter when Empowered Shock Vortex was being cast actually meant clump with other melee and get one shot, we had to deal the Kinetic Bombs deciding to randomly explode in midair.

We probably had a few wipes caused by bombs going off and killing too many people, especially ranged dps, which was tight last night and led to more Bombs hitting the ground and exploding. We kept getting ground up in the negative feedback loop.

Based on some cursory research I did it sounds like putting dots on the Bombs was making them explode as they were preparing to despawn. Does that make sense? Anyone have any insight into this?

Finally at around 15 minutes before raid end we dropped Blood Council after eeking out the kill with half the raid dead.

Overall not the best raid night, by far. Still, as long as attendance holds all week we can finally get some progress done on a wing boss. That’s all I ask, dammit.

Wednesday last week may have sucked, but on the bright side it gave us a jump start on our 10man group and allowed us to go into ICC-10 last night with all but the two wings bosses and Blood Council down.

First things first, we hit up Blood Council and despite a dopey wipe (hunter pulled aggro on Keleseth, died, his orb hit the ground, everyone died in the ensuing chaos) the second shot was a quick and clean kill. Netted the orb achievement again, because nothing makes that fight easier than siccing a pet on an orb.

We then bounded up the ramp to the first trash pull before the Blood Queen. Bad things ensued. First we tried a straight pull but it went south very quickly. Second time we tried a little more CC but I got gibbed before we all got in position (I hatehatehate the Tactician). Third time we got a clean pull but the other tank and I soon died, leaving two healers and two dps up with about three mobs. They then proceeded to somehow kill all the mobs with coordinated CC while us losers ran back in a classic cavalry maneuver. By the time we heroically returned, the dps had mopped them all up. Well played.

Once we were done with the trash pull from hell we dispatched the four guys at the top of the ramp and tried to figure out how we were going to handle Blood Queen. After kind of rambling off everything I remembered reading about the fight, we all basically agreed we weren’t going to do a good attempt until we say the fight ourselves. So, we pulled and had a hilariously disastrous wipe, though we ended up seeing the different aspects of the fight: the brain link, the swarming shadows, the vampire bite, etc.

Going back we retooled the strategy a bit (ok, actually formed a strategy) and pulled again. This time we lost a few people early on to some silliness but kept going to get more practice. Had her down to ~60% that time.

The third attempt we had more a plan going and new what to look for. We also had one of the dps (actually, a druid healer going boom for the raid) switch to heals. Seems counterproductive for a dps race fight, but the dps we had was good and we needed the breathing room that a third healer would provide. The third attempt was awesome and despite losing someone early in the fight (who was then brezzed) and a rogue (Falowin, of course) at around 40% we managed to kill her right at the exact second when she enraged and murdered both me and the offtank.

So, wow, our first wing boss down. I was expecting that fight to be a lot harder.

Exuberant after dethroning the Blood Queen, we then bounced back to the Plague Wing to bring a fiery vengeance down upon Professor Putricide. Our very first attempt and it was clear that we had built upon the knowledge we gain from previous attempts. And, also, the dps we had was nuts. We hit phase 2 after the first green slime was dead. We pushed it to phase 3, but we had an orange slime up at the same time, and a little too many puddles on the ground. Wiped in the ensuing chaos.

Still, great first showing! We were all pumped. The next try we got it again to phase 3 but I screwed up the tank switch and kept accidentally outthreating and pulling off Nordic, the warrior tank, when he would taunt it off me. We wiped because I had 5 stacks and he had 2. /facepalm

I clearly wasn’t giving him enough time to build rage after he was crammed in the Abom the entire time. So third attempt I swore I wasn’t going to wipe the raid that time and we had similar results. Quick switch to phase 2, a hop, skip, and a jump to phase 3, and then I’d back off when not tanking Putricide so as not to pull threat. We lasted a lot longer and finally downed the bastard about 5 stacks on me and 4 on Nordic. Down to the wire, for sure.

But it was a kill nonetheless! Very exciting, two wing bosses for the first time.

I’m trying to think of any tips for Putricide that I can impart (I surely can’t offer anything for BQL, haven’t done that fight enough) and the main thing I can emphasize is the fight revolves around how quickly you kill and how well you control the green/orange slimes. If you can down each before they reach their victim that’s more time you have on Putricide. And, furthermore, it’s so very key to make sure everyone stays as far back as possible from where the slimes spawn (except for hunters, who can feign off a link) so there’s a maximum distance between add and target.

Once you get down to phase 3, it’s all about the dps and the tanks not screwing up their switches (ahem). Tensest part of the fight, but the easiest as well if everyone is alive and everyone is doing their job.

The best part of last night is for sure the realization that the group we had last night could easily kill the Lich King. Well, maybe not easily, but with some practice. We have the capability, now we just need the opportunity.

And now to parlay this knowledge into the 25man so we can kill a wing boss there…

This week has been quite the rollercoaster ride. Tuesday was probably our best raid night yet, killing up to Saurfang and then Festergut and Rotface, all in the span of about two and a half hours. And then putting some shots in on Blood Council before calling it at the usual time. We were all pumped to get the farm stuff done in one night and have the next two for some honest-to-goodness progression. Nothing could stop us now.

And then nobody showed up on Wednesday.

Actually. not entirely true. About twenty regular raiders showed up Wed, and we couldn’t scrape together enough fillers to make a full raid. So, we called it after standing around while trying to work everything out. We broke into 10mans instead and farmed badges/killed some bosses/destressed a little.

Last night I was getting worried that the poor attendance monster would rear his ugly head. On top of a few other absences, Demo couldn’t make it due to some madlibesque family entanglement–though, on the bright side, this did spawn a new guild meme of using “wife’s [familial relation]‘s [familial relation]‘s [asian nationality] [random relation]‘s [event]” as a reason for not being able to make raids. I predict great things for that joke.

So I threw together the raid and Cendra got the dkp in order and we all headed in. The raid was composed of 22 regulars and 3 fillers, and generally wasted bad looking. Not our Tuesday night prime, but you can’t win them all.

We immediately head for the Blood Wing and start going through the trash, wherein I successfully demonstrated my model of Sap Tanking (ie. tanking both the Tacticians while being stunlocked for the duration of the pull).

On the Council itself I gave a (not so) brief rundown of the fight and how it goes for the people who didn’t see it last week or Tuesday. I was tanking Valanar on the stage, Purraj the Druid had Taldaram over to the right, and Slyke the Shadow Priest would ranged tank Keleseth.

Our first pull went, as you’d expect, chaotically. Keleseth was the second Prince and he quickly dispatched poor Slyke who didn’t have enough dark nuclei. One of the raiders, who despite being a nice guy has a major tendency to insist on raid changes–loudly–in vent, suggested vociferously that Slyke couldn’t cut it and we needed a warrior tank on Keleseth. Considering that was the first try of the night, I wasn’t prepared to shift strategy, so that avenue of discussion was cut off and we buckled down to work on the strategy at hand.

The second pull went a lot more smoothly and when it came Slyke’s turn to tank and empowered Prince he did a fantastic job and easily survived his phase. Unfortunately the melee had to muddle it up by getting blown up by an empowered shock vortex.

Third try we had an Empowered Conjured Flame take out a huge chunk of range that was too close together. On that attempt though we got them to ~60%. Progress was obviously being made. I played the optimist for the crowd, told everyone they were doing fantastic (which they were), and re-emphasized positioning to minimize Conjured Flame damage.

Fourth try we had another mishap with the Empowered Shock Vortex, but still got them down to 37%. We were definitely getting there!

Fifth try everything seemed to click. Melee switched fast, hunters were on the ball (literally) getting pets onto the Kinetic Bombs. No one died to ESV, no one died to ECF, and when we were on Valanar with 5% of his health to go I suddenly realized we were about to score the kill. At about 1% the Invocation of Blood jumped to Taldaram though, and Purraj ended up finishing him off, I think.

Anyway, we got the kill and an achievement to boot!

After the Council we went to work on Putricide a bit since we were somewhat familiar with that fight (as opposed to going in blind on the Queen). Our best attempt was something like 65% out of the six attempts we did, so not awesome, but we’ll get there.

I just need people to actually show up, dammit.

After Tuesday’s lagtastic night we had downed the first five bosses of ICC, leaving us Rotface and the Blood Council as Wednesday’s agenda. I admit, I was full trepidation, our Rotface kill last week was a bit messy and I was worried we’d get bogged down in that fight.

The first attempt though alleviated a lot of my worry, we got him to 17% on the first go, and that was with a snafu involving someone’s first time on the fight and them not realizing they got infected. So, messy finish, but hopeful nonetheless. Second attempt we got him down to 12%, mainly due to another ooze issue where a second Big Ooze got made and it ate a few people. Third time, however, was the charm and despite everyone going to hell at 5% we got Rotface down. Very exciting.

I don’t want to say to say the “f” word just yet (er, I mean farm), but we’re definitely getting there.

With Rotface down the time came to go put some attempts in on the Council (my thinking being we’d have more success against them than against Putricide). So happily off to the Blood Wing we trudged and lined up for a trash pull.

The trash before the Blood Council is… interesting. It requires strategy and–believe it or not–crowd control. For the two huge packs before the Blood Council’s stage we ended up shackling one guy and trying to use hunters to take one of the Tacticians out of commission. The Tacticians (basically Rogues) suck. They pop in out of no where, sap a tank, making him drop aggro, and then the mobs run roughshod over everyone. Definitely do what you can to burn down the Tacticians one at a time while the other is controlled.

Once we cleared out the trash we were ready for some potshots on the Council.

The fight itself isn’t too awful, it just requires a lot of juggling, so to speak. There’s the shock waves, the beach ball, the conjured flame, and the dark nuclei all to contend with. The fight is a huge orchestra of different clashing cacophonies, and the point of the fight is to get everyone to herd those dangers into one smooth harmony. Not as hard as it seems, but we spent the rest of the night learning everything that can go wrong (as is our usual habit) which lines us up for a kill next week.

Some things I learned:

• When Valanar is empowered and casts his shock wave you have 4.5 seconds not to run away, but you find your own spot away from other melee. When the cast time ends a shock spot appears under you and explodes for a chunk of damage. The trick is to be by yourself so you don’t get hit by other shocks.
• When someone gets chased by an empowered Conjure Flame they need to run for it (this means all ranged need to be at max range from Taldaram) and wave through everyone around them. Every time the Conjured Flame incidentally hurts people around it, it will do less damage when it explodes. So the kiter should take it through ranged, burn as many stacks as possible, and then explode it with them 15 yards away from everyone.
• The ranged tank on Keleseth has a really hard job.

Some things I read today that I wish I knew last night:

• It might make more sense for a melee tank to deal with Keleseth in the 25 man. If he gets into melee on the ranged tank (especially while empowered) that poor ranged will go splat. I think next week I’m going to try to tank him and Demo can take Valanar and Purraj (the druid) can get Taldaram. It’d be a boon for raid dps at the very least.
• If you sic a hunter’s pet on a beachball the pet will stand under it, wait for it to get low, and then hit it enough to send it up in the air. This will trivialize the beachballs.

Pretty complicated seeming fight, but once we get the hang of it, it should be cake. I’m looking forward to trying it next week.

Speaking of months behind!

Probably the more exciting thing last night was the last minute achievement burst I was inspired to do. Before raid I gathered some buddies (Cendra, Ildara, Gulliveig, Gandy) and we jumped over to Gundrak to try to do Less-Rabi. The strategy I outlined was gently get him to 51%, interrupt the next transform, then bloodlust and push to the kill while throwing interrupts like nuts at the 5 second mark.

I pulled and after the first transform he was already at 41% health. I boggled a bit but kept going. Somehow, not sure, we nailed the next interrupt which must have been a millisecond long since it took place at like 10% health. Moorabi dropped before he knew what hit him. So, Less-Rabi done and two more to go: Share the Love and Amber Void.

Since we were already in Gundrak we finished the place up to get to the last boss and then Gandy jumped on his DK to initially tank at first. Once I got impaled I took over and held him for the rest of the fight. After about three rhino phases everyone was impaled and we dropped the boss and grabbed the achiev. That was the last one Cendra and Ildara needed for Glory of the Hero so I dropped a mailbox for Cendra so he could retrieve his Red Proto, which was then the 100th mount he needed for Mountain of Mounts. Crazy achievement day for Cen!

After the raid we then headed over to Oculus so I could grab my last Glory of the Hero achievement, Amber Void. It was a quick run (as Oculus is stupid-simple now) and it wasn’t long before a Proto was also waiting in my mailbox.

Now to help Gul get his Glory achievement.