It's a 100% strategy fight, no questions asked, there's not a single shred of luck involved.

If you're having problems with the new version of Bloodboil, then you never had the correct tactic to begin with.
We killed him yesterday, with only 2 tries, and the reason we wiped the first one was because people didn't pay attention.

We haven't changed a single thing in our tactic, nothing.

Healer setup was 3 Paladins, 3 Shamans, 1 Holy Priest, and a Restoration Druid. Usually we don't bring a restoration druid, but our main feral was online.

You don't need a excessive healer setup to beat this guy, you can run with your normal raid composition.

I realize that this is the Elitist Jerks forum, but that doesn't mean you have to be one. Perhaps you could enlighten us all as to what this "correct tactic" is, instead of just telling people that they are wrong?

Edit: to be clear, I wasn't asking for the strategy, I just don't believe that there is a "correct tactic" except maybe to stack your raid for shadow priests and be as awesome as Nihilum is.

There must be an element we're missing then, such as controlling Fel Rage targets, because with 7 healers and a mage or holy priest targeted, healing them was just not reliable. Thinking back about his target selection, I can't reasonably tie it down to agro or range. It seemed to land on Shadow Priests pretty often, and they were high on threat, but we also had it land on Paladins and Rogues who were at the complete opposite spectrum of threat and range, respectively. Gaining the Fel Rage buff makes you immune to BoP, but perhaps there is a short window before it lands, if it is on an undesirable target, to BoP or even DI/SS, the second of which is surely dicey as a "reliable" strategy.

If none of this is the case, and your raid is just capable of dealing with the damage with 7 healers, kudos, but don't expect that to be the norm, even for high end guilds attempting him right now.

I don't see the point in using BoP (if it was possible) on the Fel Raged target though, seeing as Gurtogg himself deals alot more damage during that phase and would gib your raid quite quick.

He maintains his threat if the Fel Rage target dies, going back to the tank, so I would assume the same would be true if he did not have a valid target. Tanks have far more reasonable ways of dealing with his increased damage, such as last stand, shield wall, and avoidance trinkets.

Why would you not also mention that you had 3 shadow priests, this basically makes your not so healer excessive raid into something entirely different. Most guilds probably raid with 1-2 spriests, but you raid with 3, and 3 shadow priests on gurtogg is HUGE.

I said it was random. L2Read. However, we failed to keep up the Mage due to shoddy healing, not because we lost a coin flip. If it's possible to keep up a Mage, then there is nothing to cry about.

Like I said, 1 in every 4-5 attempts may be a guaranteed wipe due to a nasty string of bad luck. However, the same could be said about Hydross V1.0. Sapphiron is impossible to beat if all of his Ice Blocks concentrate on one side. And remember: Once upon a time they said Patchwerk was unhealable.

It's 30% dodge > paladin armor + shield + a healer who heals for 45987234. Which is better? Arguable.

For the record, even this can be worked around. Strategy dictates that if you're having the above problem, perhaps you should fix something...

Edit: I hate you, Gurg...right before me...

As for stacking healers: I think eight is fine, especially if two of them are Priests. We normally run 1 Holy Priest and 3 Shadow Priests, but this week, I respecced Holy due to healer attendance. 8 Healers incl 2 Holy Priests and 2 Shadow Priests is nothing out of the ordinary as far as healer setup goes.

BTW, out of curiosity, how many guilds have killed him since his buff?
Celebrity, Nihilum, Forte, DnT, Risen, DW?

The point was: There is nothing new about the concept of the "instant win" button from bosses...something that is almost completely out of your control that can't be recovered from. Perhaps Sapphiron was a bad example because we just used a shitty strategy. Hydross V1.0 one-shots is a better example. However, a Mage getting a Fel Rage is by no means an auto-wipe.

Question: We've never tried this before, but theoretically, can a Mage Invis or get BoP'ed, transferring aggro to a Warrior who can subsequently Shield Wall?

I find that quite funny - from our video we had a 9 minute-ish kill, and we didn't even know there was an enrage timer. It's all good! :>

I also wouldn't say 3 shadowpriests and 3 healing shamans is a standard raid setup.