(WoW) Wow?
So we're finally seeing some successin raiding again.
Magmaw took a fair number of tried, but we got better and pulled through. I've heard it said that the fight is "all about killing the adds," which is not fully accurate. But we had enough DPS we were usually getting the parasites down five seconds before the next pillar - tight, but enough. The two people who get on the boss to chain him down are vitally important also - bad timing there means a dead tank. And hunters... can't right-click anywhere in the room before the fight without causing a wipe. ;) I didn't have too much trouble from where I was, though a few melee hits (and kills) on others while I was being Mangled disturbed me. It sounds like those might have been due to failed chaining attempts. We also had one wonky attempt where lava pillars were hitting as Magmaw was being impaled, which is some terminally bad timing (again, that may have been due to chain timing). Still, the steady improvement was comforting, and getting him down was great.
We then bounced back over to Bastion of Twilight to "farm trash" but once we got to the first boss, we decided to take a shot at him, too. The drakes-of-the-week were favorable, and Halfus didn't have his tank-swap-requiring debuff. This was my first time doing really critical interrupting, as I was tasked with stopping his Shadow Novas, which go off in time with my Rebuke cooldown. I love Rebuke, but I can't claim to be particularly good at it yet. By our third (and successful) attempt, I think I had the timing down and caught all the novas, or close to, but it had me almost entirely focusing on that in order to do so.
With two bosses down, and only having really hoped for one, we cleared some more trash down to the next boss fight in there, a pair of dragons. I think we lived long enough in our two attempts to see all the mechanics, though lots of people were not getting out of the dragon breath. Still, not bad all in all and we even picked up two epic drops from trash alone to pass along.
I keep hearing "oh, this boss fight isn't bad once you learn it" and "this is an awareness fight." Y'know, if you say that about everything, it can just be accepted as the norm and not even worth noting. ;) Everything these days is an awareness fight and vastly easier once you learn it.
Magmaw took a fair number of tried, but we got better and pulled through. I've heard it said that the fight is "all about killing the adds," which is not fully accurate. But we had enough DPS we were usually getting the parasites down five seconds before the next pillar - tight, but enough. The two people who get on the boss to chain him down are vitally important also - bad timing there means a dead tank. And hunters... can't right-click anywhere in the room before the fight without causing a wipe. ;) I didn't have too much trouble from where I was, though a few melee hits (and kills) on others while I was being Mangled disturbed me. It sounds like those might have been due to failed chaining attempts. We also had one wonky attempt where lava pillars were hitting as Magmaw was being impaled, which is some terminally bad timing (again, that may have been due to chain timing). Still, the steady improvement was comforting, and getting him down was great.
We then bounced back over to Bastion of Twilight to "farm trash" but once we got to the first boss, we decided to take a shot at him, too. The drakes-of-the-week were favorable, and Halfus didn't have his tank-swap-requiring debuff. This was my first time doing really critical interrupting, as I was tasked with stopping his Shadow Novas, which go off in time with my Rebuke cooldown. I love Rebuke, but I can't claim to be particularly good at it yet. By our third (and successful) attempt, I think I had the timing down and caught all the novas, or close to, but it had me almost entirely focusing on that in order to do so.
With two bosses down, and only having really hoped for one, we cleared some more trash down to the next boss fight in there, a pair of dragons. I think we lived long enough in our two attempts to see all the mechanics, though lots of people were not getting out of the dragon breath. Still, not bad all in all and we even picked up two epic drops from trash alone to pass along.
I keep hearing "oh, this boss fight isn't bad once you learn it" and "this is an awareness fight." Y'know, if you say that about everything, it can just be accepted as the norm and not even worth noting. ;) Everything these days is an awareness fight and vastly easier once you learn it.
I've been wondering.. when dealing with a boss fight, isn't it annoying (or frustrating to hell) to have full wipes and then have to start from scratch again?
ReplyDeleteI'd be lying if I said wiping on a boss fight (or anywhere else) is all sunshine and roses. At the very least, it's a delay getting everyone back to life and rebuffed. People's tolerance for that varies, but I doubt anyone could honestly say they enjoy it.* Personally, though, I find the fact that I can (and probably have, while learning) wipe on a boss fight makes victory mean something. I wouldn't think that would be enough to override the experience of losing, yet it is. Go figure. Of course, that does assume there is victory. There's no doubt that throwing ourselves unsuccessfully against Marrowgar, then Deathbringer Saurfang, then Sindragosa, then the Lich King back in our WotLK raiding was demoralizing. But when we finally beat each of them... that was pure awesome. * Save in very rare cases where the wipe happens in a spectatularly hilarious or memorable way.
ReplyDeleteImagine playing a table top game where you are fighting the Big Bad of a storyline. If there's a TPK usually that ends the game session. Now take that same scenario where if there's a TPK, there's also a mass resurrection/reversal of time for everyone and they get to go at the Big Bad one more time. A mass-wipe in a table top is DEVASTATING to the flow of the game, but knowing you can come back an get the guy after learning his dirty tricks alleviates that annoyance, as you go in expecting to learn a few times before getting the fight down. (this could also apply to sports teams practicing the formations/plays of their opponents in practice/scrimmage before the final game against the guys they've been mimicking)
ReplyDeleteI've had mass wipes when it comes to the big bad of the storyline. The usual response is to either start a different campaign, or if the group is up to it, make new characters and just move on. Yeah it sucks.. but I can't picture getting a do-over. It'd feel like cheating. Not to mention, if we know the tactics for the big bad, the big bad knows our tactics as well. Fair's fair, and that'd kinda make the final fight that much harder.
ReplyDeleteSuppose there's a difference between MMO and table top. The ability to come back from a defeat. Sure D&D has priests that can resurrect, but even then it was never trivial (remember when it made you lose a whole character level?) As for your last sentence I heartily disagree and as someone who enjoys stealth and espionage characters you should know better. There are many ways to scope out the tactics of an adversary without letting on your own secrets.
ReplyDeleteI remember. I'm trying to remember the cost of resurrection in Pathfinder now.. it escapes me, since we've had to deal with it only once, and that was two years ago. And yes, you can use stealth and espionage to gather information - and if you did that in play, then fine -- you have the information you need to plot accordingly. But if you are doing a 'do-over' and you don't bother getting the information through play, then either you don't get to plot using the information you 'know', or if you do, then the bad guy gets to use the information the GM 'knows' you used last time. Back to point though. In some ways, I kind of wish that MMOs allowed for failure to not end the campaign, but didn't allow you to pick up and do-over. Basically, there's a story, and the result of the story is determined by your net successes / failures. You wipe on Mission X, and it goes to a cut scene to show you having survived (and how you survived), but tacks on a 'and here's the consequences of the failure'. I think in some ways GW2's Personal Story is going to do some of that -- in that your choices will have permanent consequences on your future in the game. I like that, actually.
ReplyDelete