World of Warcraft XIII: Even Aspects Get Nerfed

[Zherog]

So, I've taken a couple weeks off from the Saturday RealID achievement runs, but I've been asked to do another one. The goal will be to roll out at 8PM eastern time.

As always, let me know if you're interested and make sure I have your RealID (unless you're on Argent Dawn US).

I'm always interested, but I don't think I'll be able to make it this week. Or, at least, not by 8pm. Saturday evening is our traditional Easter egg dying night.

I'll pop on when we're done, just in case I can get in on a little bit of the action...

[Zeb The Troll]

Never actually tried it solo. Kind of figured that I would just get MC'd and it would reset the encounter or something. Cool sauce.

Stonecore and Vortex Pinnacle are the next two I want to spam. You can get 3 people together and just run normal mode over and over until people get the mount.

You can get those mounts on normal??

Hopefully we'll down H Al'akir this weekend. Fingers crossed that the mount drops.

He has a mount too??

[The Linker]

Huh. So he does.

[Expf]

You can get those mounts on normal??

Yes. Many of the Cataclysm mounts drop in both heroic and normal dungeons.

[Zeb The Troll]

I'm pretty sure that Alarra and I can duo those dungeons up to and including those fights. In fact, I know we can do Vortex Pinnacle on heroic by ourselves. But if we can farm it on normal...

[Karoht]

In theory you could get 5 people who need the mounts, go to the dungeon finder, select specific dungeons (VP and SC on normal) and hit queue. After the second boss (the cooldown is down by then), hit queue again, it will take you to the opposite dungeon. Repeat. Saves you having to run out of the dungeon constantly, hit reset, re enter. The catch is, you need 5 people who are committed for the long haul, that being until everyone has the mount.

Then there's ZG mounts. *sigh* Drop rates as low as the old mounts... I'm just not expecting to ever see those mounts until my fiance and I can two man the place again.

Oh, we downed Heroic Blackhorn last night, got some pulls on H Spine. We have the DPS on H Spine (with a pug, missing our Rogue with Legendaries this week) to only have 6 amalgamations, the healing looks like it's under control. I need to adjust healbot considerably for dispelling the debuffs (namely telling them all apart), but otherwise we are looking good.
I'm now concerned that it's going to be a very long fight. 2 minutes per Amalg (we want to wait for CD's to come back) multiplied by 6 amalgs. 12 minutes my mana (and everyone else's) has to last. I think if I spec back into Furor I should be okay. I'll wait and see how things are on the 4th amalg before I do anything drastic like that.

Still 6/8 H is pretty awesome. 8/8 before MoP would be perfect.

[Expf]

Then there's ZG mounts. *sigh* Drop rates as low as the old mounts... I'm just not expecting to ever see those mounts until my fiance and I can two man the place again.

A friend of mine duos it regularly: hunter (w/ turtle pet) + resto shaman. Sometimes, I join them and end up tanking the bosses since pets aren't that great at holding aggro (w/ -15% damage taken in Moonkin Form). So they really aren't that bad as long as a healer is present.

I'm now concerned that it's going to be a very long fight. 2 minutes per Amalg (we want to wait for CD's to come back) multiplied by 6 amalgs. 12 minutes my mana (and everyone else's) has to last. I think if I spec back into Furor I should be okay.

12 min is roughly the soft enrage of the fight when the Blood population goes out of control. Ideally one should aim for 11 min or less so to avoid being overwhelmed -- typical kills nowadays are between 9 min and 11 min. Note that Rolling also takes time (about 25 sec per Roll), so that leaves only roughly 90 sec to kill each Amalgamation.

On the 1st Tendon, mana should be pretty easy to manage. Everyone has 100% of their normal health, the Bloods spawn very slowly, and the Searing Plasma is well under control except for the first few seconds immediately after the Roll. Expect to get into the 2nd Tendon with near full mana.

On the 2nd Tendon, the "damage" goes up during the Roll and the subsides afterwards, and then once again there is only one Corruption so the healing is still more or less the same. Spirit Link Totem is great for Rolls, but Tranquility / Barrier is decent too. The Bloods spawn somewhat faster and but their population must be kept under control -- they can't be allowed to build up and usually splash/incidental AoE from melee is enough to do that. After the 2nd Tendon is destroyed, mana should still be fairly high (>75% is ideal).

On the 3rd Tendon is where things start to get sketchy. It is advantageous to "Roll off" as many dead Bloods as possible (*) but this must be done very quickly. Bloods will pile up rapidly in this phase so every second counts here. This is where most of the mana gets spent in this fight, since everyone has lower maximum health, Bloods are Bursting frequently, and the Blood tank is taking significantly more damage. Hero/BL is typically saved for either the 5th exposure burn or the 6th exposure burn (we prefer to use it about 12 sec before the 5th exposure).

(*) The idea is to soak up the "throwaway" Amalgamations with as many Bloods as possible before quickly Rolling them off, making sure they don't pulse a single-tick of their Superheated Nucleus. This to ensure that the dead Bloods don't revive themselves when they reach the hole in Deathwing's armor.

[Karoht]

Al'Akir is down, Glory of the Cataclysm Raider done. 12380 Achievement Points.
Gunning for Firelord titles this coming week or next.

[Skios]

Our heroic progression has been abysmal since our first HC Morchok kill. We've gotten Yor'sahj down to 20%, Hagara to 50% and Ultraxion to 30%, but at the same time it seems like we will not be progressing much further on those in the foreseeable future. There's just too much fatigue on our regular raiders and in the raiding community of our realm as a whole.

In brighter news, I've finally obtained the T2 chest, completing my Judgement Armor transmog, except for the boots. It's probably done to death as a transmog set, but it still looks incredible, with Twinblade of the Phoenix to match. It almost makes me want to buy a race change, as the set looks much better on the more slender races (humans, blood elves and female draenei).

[Zherog]

For the mount collectors: I've been told Noblegarden has added a new vendor mount. Guess I'll be collecting eggs this week... on two servers...

[Karoht]

So when we aren't pulling Heroic Spine of Deathwing, we are apparently going to be working on Heroic Ragnaros. Well, we got to see legs on one pull, so that's something.

EDIT: I wouldn't be to hasty to get 1000 eggs VS 500. MoP is supposed to bring us account wide achievements, pets, and mounts. Though not quite at launch they say.

[Leon]

For the mount collectors: I've been told Noblegarden has added a new vendor mount. Guess I'll be collecting eggs this week... on two servers...

Its a Grey Lovebird. Really boring, would have been nice if it were something actually interesting like a Large Bunny or something.

[Ivellius]

Yeah, and the mount actually has a small chance to drop when collecting eggs. I managed to get it on egg 450-something, I believe it was. I like it, for some reason--I almost feel like I should find some white armor to match it.

(Also, I had 4 rabbit's feet drop during those eggs. If you're willing to grind them, it seems like you can get most of the stuff without even trying to spend the chocolates. Not sure what that means you do with them, though: auction house rabbits?)

[Skios]

Indirect loot brag: On only our seventh Madness kill (we've had some problems filling out the raids recently), the mount dropped. I didn't win the roll unfortunately, but it was still cool to see.

[Karoht]

I am now on egg 780 or so. I have found 2 mounts in eggs so far. I kept one, gave one to my fiance, and I plan on getting to 1000 eggs selling the other two.

On that note, I'm not crazy, they really did increase the drop rates for almost all of the holiday stuff. Maybe this year I'll actually get the Horseman's mount.

H Spine progression tonight. I can't wait.


A note on eggs:
Don't spawn camp. You'll maybe get 3-4 spawns per minute. You can loot them from the back of a mount, or in druid flying form.
My advice on flying around, try not to be seen. Be as the ninja. Get in. Get out. Don't draw attention to the spot you just took from. Part of why I got upwards of 15 eggs per minute (6-8 per pass, 2 passes in a minute easily) is because spawn campers narrow down what sites are active/covered and which ones are not. That said, keep an eye on the campers because you can usually grab an egg if they are AFK.

[Alarra]

If you are going to spawn camp however, I highly, highly recommend the fountain at Falcon Wing Square. Because unlike most other spawn points there are at least 6 eggs that spawn there regularly, maybe 8 and I never actually had to wait more than a couple seconds for two to spawn. Definitely hitting more than 15 eggs a minute there, especially if there wasn't anyone else there.

[Expf]

I am now on egg 780 or so. I have found 2 mounts in eggs so far. I kept one, gave one to my fiance, and I plan on getting to 1000 eggs selling the other two.

I thought the mounts are BoP ... ?

[Karoht]

I thought the mounts are BoP ... ?

Everyone keeps saying that, and yet people are selling the mount in trade channel. Supposedly it's on the AH as well, though I haven't looked.

[Zeb The Troll]

I know that the mouseover of the vendor mount says it's BoP.

Did you actually give one to your fiance or do you just plan on it? Didn't you say you have two in your inventory already?

In any case, stories like this fill me with unmitigated rage. I have farmed up 800 eggs (plus however many didn't actually have candy in them) and did not find the mount. Alarra is currently gathering them and has found almost 500 herself (plus non-candy) and hasn't found it. Now you're talking about having found TWO of them with less than 800 eggs.

Not your fault, I realize, it just makes me want to throw things.

EDIT: Alarra just bought one and it's soulbound. Unless the ones that you find are a different item, I don't know how anyone's selling them. There are none in the AH on my server.

[Karoht]

I was planning on it. Huh. I'm going to have to re-evaluate this.
How the heck are people in trade advertising the sale of it for 20K? I'm lost.

EDIT: Just checked it on WoWhead.com
The mount is indeed BoP. Still confused as to how people are 'selling' it then.

Oh well, my multitude of eggs I shall convert to pets and sell them once the event is over.

[Zherog]

I spent time last night on my alliance character gathering eggs. Even though achieves will merge at some point, I'm enough of an achievement whore to try and get them anyway. I spent about 90 minutes or so running around Goldshire. I got a total of about 125 chocolate, plus whatever eggs had other stuff (got tux pants and jacket, flowers, two wand-things... I think that was it)

I think I'm going to have to either try a different Alliance city and/or stay up real late one night this week and farm off-hours.

Lots of spawn campers. Several on the right side of the inn (along the flower bed area), one on the rear right side (a druid who sat in the spawn point, so nobody could see the egg when it did spawn), and a blood elf camped in the back of the inn, where there's two spawn points within reach if you squat yourself at the mid-point.

More egg gathering tonight, I suppose...

[Karoht]

I think I'm going to have to either try a different Alliance city and/or stay up real late one night this week and farm off-hours.
Lots of spawn campers.

I am greatly of the mind that they need to involve more towns. Dalaran would be an awesome place, and I'll bet those Kirin Tor mages could hide eggs in hilarious/awesome places. I'm sure there are others. Around the Argent Tournament grounds would be cool. And of course, Pandaria will open up more places they could go.

I am rather glad they aren't in instances/raids though. That would get distracting/annoying in a hurry.

[delphinae]

I was planning on it. Huh. I'm going to have to re-evaluate this.
How the heck are people in trade advertising the sale of it for 20K? I'm lost.

EDIT: Just checked it on WoWhead.com
The mount is indeed BoP. Still confused as to how people are 'selling' it then.

Oh well, my multitude of eggs I shall convert to pets and sell them once the event is over.

I haven't seen any advertised on my server, but I wonder if they're selling the Lovebirds instead. Either advertised as Lovebirds and people thinking it's the current holiday mount, or advertising the Springstrider, but actually trading the Lovebird. The icons are identical.

[Karoht]

I haven't seen any advertised on my server, but I wonder if they're selling the Lovebirds instead. Either advertised as Lovebirds and people thinking it's the current holiday mount, or advertising the Springstrider, but actually trading the Lovebird. The icons are identical.

Bwah?

Hmm, I wonder which ones I have sitting in my inventory then...

[subanark]

Well, I got my 500 eggs yesterday. I'm defiantly not doing it on any toon except my main. I managed to get 1 pet (that I had last year) and just gave that to a random guild member.

Raiding this week doesn't look so hot. We have 2 people missing Tuesday and Wensday. Maybe we can ask that "8/8 heroic" guild that transferred over if they would be willing to fill in.

[Karoht]

Man, I have run into so many people who "just transfered to the server" and are X/8 Heroic.
And have no idea what to do on Zonozz when you get the debuff.
Or what to do on Hagara Ice Phase.
Or die constantly to Fading Light or even Hour of Twilight on Ultraxion.
Even the ones who claim to have experience on X/8 Heroic tend to be derp-fish.

Progession Lying is the new Gearscore Bragging. Trust me when I tell you to check people on armoury.


Mind you, the Ulduar 25 run I unfortunately ended up raid leading last night (not by choice) was a joke. 9 people insane after the first brain room. 6 of which went into portals, I was the only one who went into the portal and didn't come out crazy.
*sigh*

[Expf]

How did you "give" your mount to your fiancee if it's BoP? So many questions!

Man, I have run into so many people who "just transfered to the server" and are X/8 Heroic.
And have no idea what to do on Zonozz when you get the debuff.
Or what to do on Hagara Ice Phase.
Or die constantly to Fading Light or even Hour of Twilight on Ultraxion.
Even the ones who claim to have experience on X/8 Heroic tend to be derp-fish.

This brings up a funny story that happened in a friend's guild. They had a new warlock who applied to the guild during Firelands, and claimed to be an alt of a super-hardcore raider from some near-world-first guild. The (rather absurd) claim was that he abandoned and sold his raiding character and started a new account, but of course it doesn't really work when his previous "main" character (or so he claims) has recent activity! They even went onto that server to ask the officer of the hardcore guild to verify, and of course the story didn't really check out. I just find it amusing because the warlock claimed something so ludicrous just to get in my friend's guild.

More to the topic though, I don't think progression is a particularly good measure of how good a player is. I've seen good players stuck in poorly progressed guilds and vice versa, and with the significant nerfs that DS has gotten lately it won't be long before a good portion of the playerbase will have cleared heroic DS. As my hunter friend always says -- he's quite an optimistic guy if you ask me -- if you're a very diligent and talented player a good guild will figure that out regardless of whether you're 1/8 or 7/8.

Mind you, the Ulduar 25 run I unfortunately ended up raid leading last night (not by choice) was a joke. 9 people insane after the first brain room. 6 of which went into portals, I was the only one who went into the portal and didn't come out crazy.
*sigh*

In my opinion, getting 25 random pugs to do Yogg0 is generally harder than getting 10 or so friends who (even marginally) know what they are doing to do Yogg0. Pugs just don't listen to instructions well (in general).

[Zeb The Troll]

How did you "give" your mount to your fiancee if it's BoP? So many questions!

He didn't.

I was planning on it.

[Karoht]

Yeah, I didn't give it to her, it was still sitting in my inventory. It was earmarked as such though.
I was sad to have to throw away a perfectly usable mount. Well, not usable but usable but... you know what I mean.
I turned my eggs into the pets though. I'll wait until Mists comes out and then start trying to sell them to people, give them out as prizes at guild events, etc.


@Yogg0
I used to pug it and clear it under 3 hours back in Wrath.
However, my most recent foray in there yielded me a Fragment of Val'anyr.
You know what the worst part about winning that fragment is? I want to get 29 more of them now. Ugh.


Guild Drama
One of our Warlocks whom we carried through T11 and carried him to a Legendary, decided to server transfer yesterday. No ingame mail, refused to answer tells as he was taking his alts out of the guild one by one. What is extremely odd about this is, in the last few weeks he seemed remarkably happier than I've ever seen this guy in 2 years. All through T11 and 12 he was having 'connection issues' and wife aggro, and NEVER ever talked on vent. 6 weeks ago he starts talking on vent, starts bouncing ideas around, being a real team player.
Less than 48 hours ago, leaves with no notice.

[subanark]

Well I guess I do have to take everything with a grain of salt. I did notice one of them with the legendary staff who had 6/8 heroic achieves (not the 8/8 the guild supposedly had). Still it is better progression than anyone else on the server. I'm not surprised, realms at the bottom of progression will often attract guilds that want to be on top.