WoW Journal - 11-September-2006

I already mentioned that my Alliance priest hit level 60 in BRD this weekend. But I'd like to tell a bit more about my three BRD expeditions with this character, because they were so different. The first one I already mentioned in my pickup group from hell post, a complete disaster. Got nothing done, lots of fights with stupid idiots, no loot due to the ninjalooter taking all, really horrible.

The second run was the one during which I hit level 60, and completed the attunement to the core. That group was much better, probably because 3 of the 5 group members were from the same guild, and organized it well. We had me as priest, a warrior, a paladin, a mage and a warlock. The group leader, the pally, used the new symbols you can put over the heads of players and monsters to great effect. Every new mob group was tagged with one symbol for the mob to be sheeped, and another with the mob to be mind controlled. Yes, mind control, we were running that unorthodox but very interesting strategy. I start the combat by mind controlling one mob, which causes the other mobs of the group to attack the controlled one. Mage sheeps one mob, group pulls one other mob away from the mind controlled one and kills him. Then either the mind control breaks, or the other mobs kill the controlled one and come running after me. But by that time the enemy is already weakened, and is easily finished off. It worked very well, but having tried similar tactics in harder places than BRD I must say it stops working when the mobs get too high in level, and start resisting the mind control too often, or it breaks too early.

With this group we first did the prison, allowing me to get one step done in the Onyxia key quest chain. Somebody else was further along in the chain and we tried the jailbreak escort quest. Unfortunately we only cleared the prison area and the large entry hall, because we thought the prisoner would go from there to the entrance. But it turned out that he headed into another tunnel, one we hadn't cleared, and there he aggroed several groups of mobs at once, and ended up wiping us. After that we did the arena, then used the key on the big lock to close the huge gate which then forms a bridge. We crossed the bridge to reach General Angerforge and Golem Lord Argelmach, and proceded from there to the bar. Did the lost thunderbrew recipe quest there, started the bar fight to get the door open, killed Phalanx. From there we went to kill Ambassador Flamelash, and then reached the hall of the seven dead dwarves, which we killed as well to open the next door. That brought us to the place where the Molten Core attunement is done. We didn't proceed through the Lycaeum towards the emperor, but instead turned around and went back to the backdoor of the bar. From there we jumped down and killed Incendius, and then Fineous Darkvire, to get the quest item needed for the Shadowforge key. Finally we went to the vault, having collected more than the 12 keys necessary. At that time it was half past one in the morning, and so we stopped. Very nice run.

My third BRD run was right the next morning. I had hearthstoned out, and was in Stormwind getting my level 60 spells, repairing, restocking, etc., when I got a tell asking me whether I wanted to join a BRD group. Now the Alliance Onyxia key quest chain requires you to visit BRD several times, so I agreed. I flew to Morgan's Vigil to hand in the quest I did the night before, at which point the quest series *seems* to end, but doesn't really. Because from now on any mob in BRD has a chance to drop the crumpled note, which starts the next part of the series.

This new group was also very good, but had a different composition, and a very different tactics. We had me as priest, a warrior, two mages and a hunter. Again we used symbols to mark mobs, but this time we marked two mobs to be sheeped, no mind control. With two mobs being crowd controlled by being polymorphed into sheeps, the rest is then easy, and we just did standard tactics, with the warrior tanking, me healing, and the other three dealing the damage. No problem. Again we went to the prison first, I found the crumpled note on the way and handed in the quest, which set me on the next quest to kill Angerforge and Argelmach. But we first did the arena, and from there went to the statue where Pyromancer Loregrain now resides permanently (he used to be a rare spawn). At the statue I could hand in the quest item from the day before and get the Shadowforge key. From there on we proceeded just like the other group the day before, killed Angerforge and Argelmach, and went through the bar to the Molten Core attunement spot. We stopped there, but I ran back all the way to the prison and handed in the quest, so I am now at the step where I need to do the jailbreak quest with the next group.

I must say, with the two competent groups going to BRD was a lot of fun. Unfortunately as Forrest Gump would have said, pickup groups are like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get. The best thing is to be in a guild where there are lots of other competent players, at the same level as you, playing around the same times, and you can do many instances with them together. But such guild homogenity isn't easy to achieve.

So Sunday afternoon I switched back to my Horde priest, and soloed a bit in Silithus. I did the new PvP quest, where you need to touch a geyser, which turns your PvP flag on, slows you down a bit, and surrounds you with a yellow cloud. You need then to walk (can't ride) back to the Horde encampment and walk into a special machine which knocks the cloud off you, and awards you with 199 honor points and 10 CC reputation. You also get a nice 30 minutes buff to increase your damage. Doing this once is a good idea, because the first time you also get a quest reward, including 2 expensive major mana potions. You are supposed to do it 200 times and give everybody of your faction a zone-wide buff which lasts until you leave the zone. But frankly, running long ways through the Silithus desert slowed down by a dust cloud is not what most people consider fun. This is supposed to be a PvP event, but few people bother to participate, and so there are hardly any fights. Me still needing 17500 CC reputation, I would have to do it 1750 times, and while possible that doesn't really sound exciting.

So shortly after I went raiding to Molten Core instead. Molten Core is the place my guild masters very well. Even with a class mix that I wouldn't consider balanced; yesterday we had 10 warriors, 9 shamans, but only 5 priests, 3 warlocks and 2 druids. We went from the entrance through 8 bosses, up to Golemagg, in 4 hours, at which point I had to leave. Fast and efficient raids like these are fun in itself, and of course the yield of epics is great to get everybody equipped. The unbalanced class mix doesn't slow us down, but it *does* cause the whole raid to groan when some Felheart or Cenarion piece for the few warlocks and druids drops, while the Might and Earthfury pieces for warriors and shamans are reasons for celebration. Nobody likes to disenchant epics. Unfortunately the unbalanced mix means I can forget about ever participating with my warrior, I'm stuck on my priest for raiding. Even if the guild agrees to let me come occasionally, chances to get any warrior loot are abysmal.
- posted by Tobold @ 9:32 AM Permanent Link