Kara Fun/Mad Run

Every so often NZ Gamers goes a little loopy. At the moment they’re doing a series of Kara Fun Runs; 3 hours, few stops, all bosses. I think it started as a way to get some last remaining gear upgrades – but its become a competition. Two teams ran Kara last night, each trying to kill the bosses faster than the other team. There were some pretty impressive times.

It was also Huchin’s first time healing Kara. (First time IN Kara for that matter). He was paired up with an experienced Druid healer and between the two of them they managed to keep the team mostly upright.

For me, it was a mad, chaotic frenzy. I was clicking buttons, shift-clicking new targets, spamming Chain Heal, using Healing Wave and chugging potions. I forget how many times I went OOM – but it was sadly too often. Naturally, I got some awesome gear upgrades – from memory I got Shoulders, Gloves and Pants, plus a Ring and some off-spec gear.

From the WWS report, I’ve learnt that I do a lot of over-heal. I don’t downheal, so that is likely the cause – I tend to ‘panic’ and heal someone when they get to 1.7k damage – since I know its likely they’ll get more by the time the heal eventually casts – and a lot of bouncing chain heals tend to heal people more than they need. I also focused most of my attention of the MT and the OT – not sure if this was the plan or not.

It was a great experience, and I hope to be able to do it again. Though I’d like to be the raid heal, rather than the MT heal – that’s just nuts.

High King Maulgar and the Chamber of Bad Pulls

(this was an older post that I forgot to publish)

Last weekend NZ Gamers raided Gruul’s Lair for effectively the first time. We managed to scrap together 23 decently geared characters, pug’d a 24th and ran with that. With a crisp and detailed set of instructions we let fly!

… and promptly ran away! It was our Mage-Tank’s first try at Krosh, and I dont envy him that responsbility. Several pulls later we down Krosh and Olim, then the Main Tank falls and we flee! A frustrating hour goes by, and people are starting to get antsy. Still, we persevere and in time it all clicks and we down the High King and his minions.

/cheer
/screenshot

With 30 mins until the scheduled end of the raid, we decide to poke our head into Gruul’s Lair and see what he’s been eating. Again, our GL/RL gives some clear instructions and we hover our fingers over “1″ and wait for the signal…

… which is apparently an undead priest jumping about. Rushed, we give it a shot anyways. Wipe. Second attempt goes much better, and we last until Growth 14, when we’re wiped with Gruul at 18%. Still, a success – its not a hard fight, you just have to be on your toes. Its likely much harder for the tanks and healers, but as I’m DPS I dont have to think, just move occasionally.

In other news, Tanarel gets a loan from the Bank and buys her Epic Flying Mount – WHOOSH! Flying around Netherstorm has never been so much fun. Now to pay back the loan before they take her house…

Progress Report

Tanarel is well and truely level 70, and feverishly working on the gold for the Epic Flying Mount. After considering what Plucker has left in the kitty, she’s about 1k short (after Varcylon pays her back). Which, considering I average about 100g everytime I do the dailies (and counting repair costs for raids) – its about 10 days until I can afford it. So closer to 3 weeks, depending on how often I can get on.

Huchin should hopefully have enough rested XP saved up for me to get him to 56 this weekend (hopefully tonight). I think he’ll be heading out to the Plaguelands as he still has the cauldron quest chain to do, and beasties to kill in the East.

I guess that leaves Winterspring as the place for the “final push” in a few weeks. I might try to find somewhere else, I’m sick of Winterspring.

Mages and Groups

I’m in no way an expert at WoW, let alone in group play (be that instances, or raids). My mage, Tanarel, got to 70 only a few weeks ago, and I’ve been fortunate enough to land myself in a casual raiding guild that is helpful and flexible.

I’ve been to Karazhan three times. The first time was just for Prince Malchezaar, the second for llhoof, Chess, Prince, Nightbane and Netherspite. The third time, I was able to see some of the starting bosses (Attumen, Maiden and Moroes) and The Wizard of Oz Opera event.

I’ve learnt something valuable in those 3 runs. The role of the mage is <b>NOT</b> to go nuts. BigRedKitty says that the role of the Beast Mastery Hunter is <i>to provide sustained range DPS</i> (to paraphrase). I would like to put forth that the role of the Mage is <i>to provide <b>controlled</b> range DPS</i>. Not the emphasis on controlled. It is very easy for a Mage to do a lot of damage in a short amount of time. Not as much as say, a Warlock, but when the crits start flowing, it can mean a lot of aggro very quickly.

The single-most challenging skill I have realised I needed to learn was how to <i>not do damage</i>. As a predominantly solo player, my aim is to kill the mob before it kills me. So I let fly with Pyroblast, Frostbolt, Frostbolt, Fire Blast, Ice Nova, Frostbolt+Ice Lance. Rinse, repeat. Three or four mobs later, I drink up.

Raiding requires mana conservation, timing and awareness of threat. When I first raided, I started with my normal rotation, and quickly realised I was pulling the boss from the tank. Woah! Ice Block for the not-loss! In subsequent fights, I’ve toned it down, and resisted the urge to press “1″ with wild abandon. In my last Kara raid, I waited until the Tank had a full 4k of damage down before I even touched the keyboard.

I tell you, that 10 seconds seems like an eternity when its your job to do damage. For the longest time I felt like I wasnt contributing because in that 10 secs I could have put down close to 5k in damage. But that time is critical for the success of the raid, it allows the Tank to poke the bosses attention away from the DPS.

This information is likely not new to many people. But it was new to me. I dont PUG, I rarely do instances. Changing my play style to fit in with a group is a skill I’m working on, and I’m thankful that the “NZ Gamers” are rezzing me while I learn it.