By now the really hardcore forum trollers know what's up, but I'll post my usual (updated!) disclaimer for those who just randomly roll on by and will require this info from the OP:

Guild progression currently:

( A ) Firemaw down. Cleared from first Vael takedown to Firemaw down in 2 weeks.
( B ) Rags to 11-17% before Sons spawn (DPS indicator).

Here's the issue:

Lab packs suck. We spread out (avoid AOE!), we kite spellbinders, we take warlocks down first, then burn technicians, then finish off spellbinders...but it still sucks. We lose anywhere from 10-25 people every time.

Clearly with our focus and DPS at our stage of progression we could be doing a much better job on the packs. So...let's start the suggestions rolling. I'll provide more detail as necessary.

No need to save the goblins till 2nd, throw 2 mages on them with a trusted healer and just power them down right away. If you guys are horde you can throw a stoneclaw totem down near the techs and that'll keep them occupied for awhile, they can't actually kill the totem.

Another thing - depending on the discipline you have in your guild you may need to watch to see if people are doing LOLDPS on the elemental vulnerablility guys instead of healing - druids and shaman are particularly bad about that when someone yells "left one is nature!"

Try finding out what people are mostly dieing of. Is it the technicians? Is it the Overseer's Cleave? Etc.

It's very important to either have the Technicians "distracted" by someone (A Mage AoEing and running circles around them, or perhaps a Warrior doing so with Demoralizing Shout), or to have them spread out over as large an area as possible (Having two Priests fear bomb them as they're pulled and then sheeping a few has this effect). Each individual technician doesn't do all that much damage, but the entire pack combined is very deadly.

As for why I'm mentioning the Overseer and his Cleave, I've noticed that the Cleave they use has a far larger "jump" range than most people would expect. The Overseer should preferably be tanked away in a corner somewhere, if he's tanked in an area people are likely to pass through while moving from mob to mob it's quite possible a few of them will get killed by it.

Good point on the Overseer. We've had him way too close, I think. Probably better to tank him in a corner with a healer or 2 keeping the tank up at a nice range.

http://forums.elitistjerks.com/viewtopic.php?id=7512

This came up about a month ago, some good insight here.

Ugh, nothing like being a retread. :)

However, there is one important difference between us and that poster - we are only up to Firemaw, and do not have Nef on farm.

All of the discussion in that thread is applicable, and should cover your needs.

Perfect. Thanks!

Try having a competant druid kite the spellbinders instead of a hunter, unless your hunters never get caught or poly'd. I solo the two spellbinders in the suppression room--and by solo, I mean I handle by own healing too by a combination of bash, charge, frenzied regen, ns, catform dash and rejuving when they stop to cast.. Sometimes I screw up the heal timing and get caught though--it's better to have 2 druids do it.

Putting the spellbinders in the other room means that no one gets poly'd or AoEd.

I don't mean to be too rude, but are you going to post a new thread for every raid mob your guild comes across? I can understand once in a while when you are stuck, but this seems a little over-the-top to me.

I offtank spellbinders when needed. Takes half of a paladin's attention to keep a competent rogue up. Kick, Gouge, and KS as appropriate, and they should *never* get off a flamestrike, which means their damage output will be very, very low.

They kill the totems but it takes them a while. So you can have all your shams drop totems in an area they will pass through and it will slow them for a bit. If you want you can have 1 shaman after that running in circles around them dropping totems constantly. It seems to work pretty well but after using that for a while it's easier to just have the shams put totems up in the beginning and aoe them down in the beginning.

They don't kill the totems -- they ignore the totems.

One pull you can do for these packs is to have a hunter run in and arcane shot one warlock and distracting shot the other. Then have him cheetah past the raid group so the warlocks follow him all the way through. This allows melee to kill them and tanks to taunt while not getting bombed by the little guys. Keeping the warlocks seperated from the rest of the crap is the best thing you can do.

The Overseers can also be kited by hunters if you are hitting this trash after letting the instance cool for half an hour - for instance if you hit Razor/Vael/Broodlord after a 3 hour MC, then go back for the rest of the instance.

The essence of the Lab Packs is splitting the warlocks from each other and from the technicians, though. Once you've mastered that, they're quite simple.

We try to drop a freezing trap, as it only affects the goblins, then just have one mage run in to aoe, while the others blizzard / flamestrike from a distance. The freezing trap makes a large difference to the pull, as it separates the group, so you don't accidently start aoe'ing a warlock. We just have spellbinders tanked off to one side, never needed to kite them