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Dec 4th, 2008, 4:23 AM - by Praetorian
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Oh, right. No front page updates in a while, since not much was truly update-worthy (though the expansion has really been fantastic as a whole, "hey guys we killed Kel'Thuzad... again" doesn't entirely make for an enthralling post). As a bonus, a flex pic, albeit with an impostor, yet also a legend in his own right:
Grats to Eliiria on the mount, and to everyone who got this done tonight. This isn't the hardest encounter Blizzard has ever designed, by any means, but it's also no joke either. It's not M'uru, but it's definitely Sunwell difficulty at this gear level, and that's encouraging. It's certainly proof that Blizzard hasn't forgotten how to make fights that are hard, but also are fun as well.
I don't really buy the argument that the game has lost all challenge -- we're just getting started. Remember, Gruul and Magtheridon and SSC/TK v1.0 were all overtuned and half-broken. If we'd gotten the final nerfed versions of those on release, they'd have been steamrolled just as easily as the WLK content has, without a doubt. It's silly to fault them for actually getting "entry-level" tuning right so far. As I said, Sartharion + 3 drakes isn't pre-nerf M'uru, true -- but it also isn't something that's exactly going to be accessible to the "average" player. The prevailing attitude among much of the community strikes me as fickle. Sunwell was a masterpiece, and so much of the rest of this expansion so far is so polished. The same people who made all that stuff that we loved so much are the ones who made this content. I think they deserve, if not the benefit of the doubt, at least a chance, and some time.
This encounter is a promising start, at the very least.
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7 Replies | 993 Views
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| Wow, Random Loot *IS* Random! |
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Jun 5th, 2008, 12:04 AM - by Praetorian
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Where to begin. First off, grats Gonktarget on his [Thori'dal, the Stars' Fury]!
Next, I have to give heartfelt thanks and appreciation to the people who put in considerable time learning this fight with us, but weren't inside the zone for the kill. Ishaxa, Cryingrogue, Scorned, Relwin/Kurapica, Loderunner, Fix, Eswedge, and Wodin -- I wish you all could have been in there with us tonight. Next week.
To Blizzard, props for making the best raid zone the game has seen (yes, better than Naxx, I think). It leaves me excited for what's in store in the coming expansion.
To all of my guildmates, old veterans and new recruits alike, thanks for making the zone and really our entire raid progression a pleasure. When I told some (many) of you that you were terrible players I only kind of meant it. Congrats on a well-deserved rest, and on accomplishing what we have while keeping a balanced perspective on the game.
See you all in Northrend:
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120 Replies | 50,049 Views
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| The Deceiver, a Sneak Peek |
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May 21st, 2008, 4:04 AM - by Praetorian
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It's a privilege to be able to experience this at this point, and I know a lot of people are curious, so here's a quick snippet of the best part of one of our first pulls. Can't wait to get to work on this guy.
10 seconds of awesomeness:
KJEmerge.wmv - FileFront.com
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27 Replies | 10,236 Views
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| M'uru |
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May 15th, 2008, 11:28 PM - by Praetorian
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What a fight. Dead on the first pull tonight after a series of close calls and disconnect wipes last night. Amazing job by all.
Loot:
[Muramasa] to Hvitserk
[Robes of Faltered Light] ----> [Robes of Ghostly Hatred] to Siawyn
[Harness of Carnal Instinct] to Arkenphal
[Sin'dorei Band of Dominance] to Furiotoo
(Congrats and thanks also to everyone who put in serious time wiping to this bastard over the past two weeks but was unable to attend tonight -- Felgarr, Lailla, Zoid, Snowcrasher, Gilliam, Cryingrogue, Wodin, and more.)
As has been stated by every guild so far, this fight really is just perfectly tuned. I'm astounded that Blizzard got it so right with so little PTR testing, and it gives me really high hopes for Kil'Jaeden. As a guild, we spent 32 hours (8 nights, 4 hours a night) learning this fight, and that's by far, by far more than any other fight in TBC so far (18 hours for Twins, 12 for Kael, and <10 for everything else). And the best part is that it really isn't random. There are so many strats and setups that can work, and it's just about finding the right one for your class composition, refining it, and then refining it some more. I knew we were going to kill him tonight going into the raid, and I was right. It'll be easily repeatable next week, but that doesn't mean the fight is "easy" by any means.
And no, I don't consider the pushback change to be a meaningful "nerf" so much as it fixes an imbalance in the fight. It did help us because we run 3 hunters for basically everything, so it brought them more in line with their performance on other fights as compared to other classes. Maybe the flood of dozens of new kills will come tonight and tomorrow and prove me wrong, but I'm pretty sure that the fight is just as hard to learn and execute this week as it was last week.
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57 Replies | 18,051 Views
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| Eredar Twins |
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Apr 17th, 2008, 3:24 AM - by Praetorian
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Intense fight, definitely the hardest in TBC so far. My only gripe is probably healer-stacking, though we did it with 10 and 1 spriest and I'm pretty sure we could swing 9 and 2 spriests without too much trouble, so maybe it's not too bad. It's been a long, long time since we've had a fight that we spent more than 1-2 full nights of wipes on and not come away with a kill. It's definitely an answer to the question, "Can Blizzard make a fight that will truly challenge top guilds but still be doable and not unfair?"
Congrats to all my guildmates on a job wonderfully done, and apologies to the many excellent folks that spent most of the past week on the sidelines due to the lack of DPS slots.
Edit: Just to clarify, I definitely do not think that this fight should be nerfed. We'll be doing this with 8 healers in a couple of months. We brought 10 healers to our first Shahraz kill, too, if I recall. It's fine. There's no real way to reduce the nature of this raid damage without just making the fight inherently much less dangerous.
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59 Replies | 19,939 Views
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Elitist Jerks