(WoW) Smooth as Silk
Managed a quick and clean run through heroic Utgarde Keep last night. It involved picking up a mage and a cat-form druid, as we were short on level 80 guildmates at the time. The druid commented right away about how he was grouping with good tanks tonight - that came so quickly after he joined that I can only assume he was looking at my Armory profile. That was a bit of an ego boost, and a reminder not to slack off.
We moved forward at a good pace, with limited use of crowd control. For a while, I was asking myself if we'd somehow mistakenly not set the dungeon to heroic. I really only had one "oh shit" moment, when we pulled a geist pack rather poorly and one or two of them got over to pound on our healer. I don't like seeing anyone's life bar drop that low, especially the healer's.
Nothing seemed complicated about the first two boss fights, really. Keleseth's skeletons weren't a big deal as far as I saw - I used my area abilities when I could. We got to the final boss without any deaths and headed in. I was able to avoid most of the Smash/Dark Smash attacks by moving around/through Ingvar, as he doesn't change facing while casting. I was a little slow on one, though - painful, but not lethal to a tank. The cat druid died - technically, I think, after the boss did (cuuurse those flying axes). Still, one death on a heroic run seems pretty good to me.
All DPS-oriented boss drops, really. I picked up a couple pieces for when I have my paladin dual-speccing. The guest druid picked up some bracers, and cloth pants didn't seem to be an upgrade for either mage. I think the guest got that to disenchant, but I wasn't really paying attention to that detail.
"How's my healing" is a tough question for me to answer, though. I usually judge in a practical sense. How often did people die? How close was it? How difficult was the run? I think Utgarde Keep rates on the easy end of heroic dungeons, but it was still a heroic dungeon. The fact that I was never really worried about dying and only one party member actually did (and due mostly to his own positioning at that) makes me feel the healing was solid. Because the role is so reactionary and moderately to heavily dependent on how other people are doing, it's hard to gauge beyond "seemed fine" and "OMG, we kept dying!" I can safely say I'd be perfectly comfortable with the same healer if we run another heroic. Thanks, Ajeya! ;)
Tanking is similarly hard to judge. You have to compare how well they controlled the mobs and how they positioned them. I didn't notice any major mistakes on my part (save, perhaps, those geists and the one dark smash) and only had to taunt things back once or twice when we were hitting a group of four (as my Hammer of the Righteous only hit three). I could probably rotate targets a little more to avoid the latter. Damage dealing, at least with an addon like Recount, is fairly easy to gauge. Oh there are definitely finer points to consider, but you can look at DPS numbers and get a pretty good feel for how fast they're killing things. I think all the offense (even the "my DPS may be lacking" and "I almost beat the tank" druid) clocked in over 1000 DPS, which is a little better than I'm used to seeing. I think I normally see a range from around 700 to 1700, which is a little odd when I see people talking about newly-80 hunters in green quest gear churning out 1900 easy. It seems to me that being a little slow on the uptake or distracted in just a couple pulls could drag down average DPS for the instance, but ultimately DPS is the role I'm least familiar with, so I trust in others to know what they're doing.
As a wandering tangent... Geists! ( Example)
I think these are the most awesome mobs I've seen in the game in a long time. Introduced in Wrath of the Lich King, they're undead with a single eye peering out of a sack-covered head, wearing nooses. Frequently, they're arranged in packs. They look a little bit creepy, but it's not the looks that really make them, it's the movement. They crouch, sort of crawling along the ground. And they can jump. And they're fast!
With a dark-colored skin, they also blend into some places. These might be the only mobs in the game that have actually surprised me without pulling some rez-on-top-of-the-player trick. In a dark cave, they can seemingly leap out of nowhere simply because they don't stand out and they can close the distance faster than most mobs.
Of course, this makes them dangerous (and thus hatable) in a way most mobs aren't. They're usually a bit low on the health side, but as seen above, if you pull a group of them it's not hard to lose one or two, and they can get in some good hits on softer targets.
Kudos to whoever at Blizzard conceived those buggers.
We moved forward at a good pace, with limited use of crowd control. For a while, I was asking myself if we'd somehow mistakenly not set the dungeon to heroic. I really only had one "oh shit" moment, when we pulled a geist pack rather poorly and one or two of them got over to pound on our healer. I don't like seeing anyone's life bar drop that low, especially the healer's.
Nothing seemed complicated about the first two boss fights, really. Keleseth's skeletons weren't a big deal as far as I saw - I used my area abilities when I could. We got to the final boss without any deaths and headed in. I was able to avoid most of the Smash/Dark Smash attacks by moving around/through Ingvar, as he doesn't change facing while casting. I was a little slow on one, though - painful, but not lethal to a tank. The cat druid died - technically, I think, after the boss did (cuuurse those flying axes). Still, one death on a heroic run seems pretty good to me.
All DPS-oriented boss drops, really. I picked up a couple pieces for when I have my paladin dual-speccing. The guest druid picked up some bracers, and cloth pants didn't seem to be an upgrade for either mage. I think the guest got that to disenchant, but I wasn't really paying attention to that detail.
"How's my healing" is a tough question for me to answer, though. I usually judge in a practical sense. How often did people die? How close was it? How difficult was the run? I think Utgarde Keep rates on the easy end of heroic dungeons, but it was still a heroic dungeon. The fact that I was never really worried about dying and only one party member actually did (and due mostly to his own positioning at that) makes me feel the healing was solid. Because the role is so reactionary and moderately to heavily dependent on how other people are doing, it's hard to gauge beyond "seemed fine" and "OMG, we kept dying!" I can safely say I'd be perfectly comfortable with the same healer if we run another heroic. Thanks, Ajeya! ;)
Tanking is similarly hard to judge. You have to compare how well they controlled the mobs and how they positioned them. I didn't notice any major mistakes on my part (save, perhaps, those geists and the one dark smash) and only had to taunt things back once or twice when we were hitting a group of four (as my Hammer of the Righteous only hit three). I could probably rotate targets a little more to avoid the latter. Damage dealing, at least with an addon like Recount, is fairly easy to gauge. Oh there are definitely finer points to consider, but you can look at DPS numbers and get a pretty good feel for how fast they're killing things. I think all the offense (even the "my DPS may be lacking" and "I almost beat the tank" druid) clocked in over 1000 DPS, which is a little better than I'm used to seeing. I think I normally see a range from around 700 to 1700, which is a little odd when I see people talking about newly-80 hunters in green quest gear churning out 1900 easy. It seems to me that being a little slow on the uptake or distracted in just a couple pulls could drag down average DPS for the instance, but ultimately DPS is the role I'm least familiar with, so I trust in others to know what they're doing.
As a wandering tangent... Geists! ( Example)
I think these are the most awesome mobs I've seen in the game in a long time. Introduced in Wrath of the Lich King, they're undead with a single eye peering out of a sack-covered head, wearing nooses. Frequently, they're arranged in packs. They look a little bit creepy, but it's not the looks that really make them, it's the movement. They crouch, sort of crawling along the ground. And they can jump. And they're fast!
With a dark-colored skin, they also blend into some places. These might be the only mobs in the game that have actually surprised me without pulling some rez-on-top-of-the-player trick. In a dark cave, they can seemingly leap out of nowhere simply because they don't stand out and they can close the distance faster than most mobs.
Of course, this makes them dangerous (and thus hatable) in a way most mobs aren't. They're usually a bit low on the health side, but as seen above, if you pull a group of them it's not hard to lose one or two, and they can get in some good hits on softer targets.
Kudos to whoever at Blizzard conceived those buggers.
I love the geists too...and their maniacal laughs!
ReplyDeleteoh, and I'm glad y'all had a good run last night...if I had been anymore awake I probably would've gone along...but then, it might not have been so easy, ne?
ReplyDeleteWoulda enjoyed the company. Hard to say how it would have gone, but I think I've seen you put out damage in that range, so I don't really think it would have been much different.
ReplyDeleteWell usually when I ask that question I mean more with how I was healing you, the tank. Everyone else... pfft, they shouldn't die unless they mess up or get very unlucky. I know the fights and where the AoE/nontank damage will come from for the most part, and it's no trouble to heal through that - one lifebloom usually suffices. I suppose it's mainly just a pleasantry that shows my willingness to ask for advice. I am rarely frustrated at difficulties we may encounter in dungeons and when I do say something about it I try to keep it good-natured because it is a game (kind of like ribbing Kyn in VH last night for the 'easy beholder boss'). I prefer everyone be open and honest - for guildies it's not so much of a concern I suppose. But for pugs, if they thought I sucked I would rather know it and know what they felt I did wrong than say 'gg' and then whisper how I was the worst nub healer. However, I would prefer you tank the split group of 4 dragonkin down on the ground level than up on 2nd floor. ;) I'm not quite sure what happened when we tried it but the fact we lost one pet on the pull and still didn't take a hit on the door shield was probably the best that could have happened.
ReplyDeleteA frickin' mess. ;) I was just processing your request when it came up. As I recall, Yeen was on the rubble slope, which interfered with my pulling those two. I was expecting the other pair to back toward the middle, but they made straight for the main door instead, so I was slow getting to them and they got on someone else before I caught up to them. I was actually thinking that might end up wiping us, but I'm glad it didn't. In the future, I think getting them together on the ground would be best done on the stair side. I'm just a little worried that by the time they get there, we'll have to burn them down *really* fast before the next wave. Certainly willing to try, though.
ReplyDelete