Monday (19 Oct) - The Amphitheater of Anguish

Monday (19 Oct) - The Amphitheater of Anguish

A quick note from Wild, before passing the baton to JB and DER. Monday night was the second night of the MM guild Ulduar run that Wild had gotten into on Friday. Wild was invited to the Monday raid and planned to attend. However, the server was having terrible problems and Wild could not stay logged in. Other players from that raid also seemed to be having problems. Wild could only see a handful of players around as the time ticked toward 630pm, and decided to log out rather than continue to fight the lag.

It was after 9pm when JB decided to try and log in. DER was already in game.

JB and DER had a great idea - let's two man the level 72-74 dungeon Azjol-Nerub. Sure, the dungeon was tuned to require five players, but JB was level 80, and DER almost level 75, so we figured we could handle it.

Azjol-Nerub (AN) is located in Dragonblight. Getting there means dropping through a hole in the ground and then entering a warren full of bugs. Because that's what AN is all about - bugs.

The elite trash mobs did not give us any trouble, and we were quickly at the first boss, Krik'thir the Gatewatcher. Fronting the big bug were three sets of three mobs each. Each set of three mobs had a named level 74 elite leading them, and Krik'thir was also a level 74 elite with special boss abilities.

We decided to pull the three mobs to our left. We got the two smaller bugs down, but DER died and JB was left to handle the 74 elite. Which JB would have most likely been able to do, except that the elite kept wrapping JB in spider webs that stopped JB from moving or casting. The only way to break it was for another player to attack the webbing. Without DER JB could only wait until the webbing expired several seconds later, taking damage from the elite the whole time. Despite that, JB was able to self-heal and re-engage each time it happened, and was making progress. Then Krik'thir made some sort of announcement in it's thrumming voice and the middle set of mobs attacked. Well, that's just great. Apparently the sets of mobs are on a timer, and attack in waves. JB died.

We made a few more attempts, trying different things to see if we could get the first three mobs killed fast enough to recover before the next wave started, but the web wraps slowed us down and without a dedicated healer JB had to split time between DPS and healing, and it just took too long.

So we abandoned AN and did some questing in Zul'Drak so DER could reach level 75, which was the minimum level at which we could do Amphitheater of Anguish (AA).

WoW has a number of events similar to AA, such as the Ring of Blood in Nagrand and the Conquest Pit in Grizzly Hills, among others. Basically it's a gladiator style event, where players are pitted against a series of elite bad guys, with each subsequent match up a little nastier than the last. What can make this interesting and confusing is that bystanders and looky loos who happen to be around or waiting their turn to fight can join in on the fights. Mostly that helps the group actually doing the event, but at other times it can get crazy.

DER and JB were alone at the Amphitheater, however, so we were on our own. Note that the guidance requires a minimum level 75, but suggests that players be level 77. The guidance also suggests that the group have a full five players.

We had picked up the starter quest in Dalaran, which all by itself was a mini-adventure. The annual Halloween themed event kicked off this week, and the popular city of Dalaran in Northrend was crowded and abuzz with activity. The lag in the city was pretty bad, but once we were away from it things got back more of less to normal.

At AA there is a fight promoter, Gurgthock, who arranges the matches. DER and JB then jumped down to the floor of the open air theater and DER blew a horn to call out our first opponent, Yggdras, a large frostwyrm. I believe the wyrm was a level 74 elite. We had no trouble with him, taking him down and then calling up the next opponent, a magnataur.

DER and JB have seen elite magnataurs before, in other battles. They are immense centaur-like creatures and they hit extremely hard. This one also has a very deadly AoE to go with those big fists. JB misjudged the amount of damage DER would take tanking this thing and DER died. JB didn't last much longer.

On our second attempt, though, we got a better feel for the fight, and settled into a mode where both of us took time out from DPSing to heal and we both stayed alive. On the backside of the fight JB added her elemental pet to put on some extra damage and the magnataur went down.

The next opponent was described as "a being from the elemental planes" which turned out to be some kind of floating thingy with some adds. The adds almost did us in, as JB got confused as to which target was the boss when all three of the adds got in JB's face. Somewhere in there DER died. JB systematically hammered each opponent in turn, mixing in self-heals as needed, dropping DPS totems for more damage, using Chain Lightning to hit multiple targets, and one after another they went down.

The fourth opponent had a name - Tuskarrmmageddon, and I couldn't tell you what it was. It was humanoid, fat, heavily armored, and carried a big sword. He also sent in a swarm of penguins to attack us. I kid you not. That one took us a couple of tries, but he died, too.

Finally, there was Korrak the Bloodrage. Korrak was once a fixture and a pvp objective in the Alterac Valley battleground. But he got fired from that job when he tended to one shot folks in AV, and he now makes his living pounding horde and alliance fools who come to challenge him.

Korrak entered the theater on a huge whooly mammoth, and immediately started whaling away at DER for great chunks of damage. JB could barely get off any DPS for all the healing required, but we managed to knock Korrak off the mount, which DER then mounted. JB, meanwhile, had the now on foot Korrak in her face and JB died, having not noticed the sad state of her health after being stomped on a couple of times before corralling the mammoth.

On the second attempt JB was prepared for the initial damage, doling out the heals while DER and JB both quickly took Korrak off his mount. DER jumped astride the mammoth, and JB fretted a few seconds without firing off her spells so that Korrak would stay glued to DER. JB could not heal the mammoth, but I could heal DER, and once Korrak was thoroughly engaged JB lit him up and even added her elemental pet. I think DER died again (poor DER, who did an amazing tanking job on all the fights, having only half healer JB to keep him alive), but Korrak aggroed on the elemental pet and while Korrak was occupied JB burned him down.

For those at the right level, the weapon rewards for completing all the events is superb, and DER's new blade should carry him right to level 80. JB could not use the caster weapon reward, as she already has a better one, but the melee mace was a solid upgrade for JB's dual wielding alternate spec.

A good night, and good night!