Friday (4 Dec) Part 2 - Edge of Ruin

Friday (4 Dec) Part 2 - Edge of Ruin

Before I start on Saturday's run, I need to wrap up Friday night. After the guild finished for the evening on Friday, DER put together a group for Trial of the Champion, the five man version at the Argent Tournament grounds. The Argent Coliseum has a circular central chamber with three long platforms jutting out from the sides. One of those platforms is connected to the chamber via two large saloon doors. It's through these doors that the combatants that us challengers face enter the floor of the chamber. The western platform houses the instance entrance to 10/25 ToC. The northern platform is where we enter for 5 man ToC.

Soon after Wild's guild raid finished, I asked if anyone wanted to join DER and Wild, but as usual no one stuck around after the raid was over. There just isn't much for them to get excited about now, and everyone is waiting on patch 3.3, which may come Tuesday. Anyway, Wild struck out on getting anyone he knew to come. DER checked the LFG tool, and we added two players, both DPS. We needed a tank. We had one for a few minutes, but then he got a better offer and begged off before we actually got started. The two that had joined us also checked their own sources, and finally we got a warrior tank to help us out. The tank was happy to take over as group leader as he had done this fight many times. DER and the other two DPS were geared well enough for 5 man Toc, but they could definitely benefit from the gear that dropped here. For Wild and the tank, this was a for fun fight. We were over-geared for this dungeon, which would make it easier for the others. We set the dungeon to Heroic mode to make it a bit more challenging, and because the loot is better.

We all gathered in the central chamber and started the event. The first challenge was a series of jousting matches. Even lousy jousters like Wild can get through this. Wild died during this part of the fight, but I just released and flew back the short distance from the graveyard, entered, grabbed a new mount, and galloped back into action. Wild wasn't the only one that died, and this part of the fight took awhile to complete, but eventually we dismounted the attackers and defeated them.

The next encounter is called the Grand Champions. On foot and in our normal gear, we faced a random selection of three out of five npc Champions. I don't remember who they were, but the tank engaged them one after the other and the DPS pounded them down. It didn't go quite as smoothly as that, as Wild was kept busy healing mostly the DPSers. A stack of HoTs on the tank were usually all he needed. But Wild also wasn't used to the much lower health (compared to the raiders in Wild's guild raids). Wild goofed and DER died before I realized how much trouble he'd gotten into. We did beat the Grand Champions, though.

Following the Grand Champions we faced Eadric, one of two bosses we could have faced. Eadric has one big trick, and that's Radiance, which stuns any and all that are looking at him when he casts it. Wild has a very simple personal solution - Wild turns his back to Eadric as he doesn't have to be facing his fellow group mates to heal them. It looks odd, I know, as it appears Wild is not engaged in the fight, but it works and Eadric fell.

The final boss is the Black Knight. He has three phases, first as an undead knight, then he returns as a skeleton knight, and finally as a ghost knight. We wiped on our first try. Wild's healing kept pulling aggro on the army of undead that spawns in the second phase, and they tend to explode violently at the wrong moment. I'm afraid I was paying too much attention to keeping everyone else alive and died. Without a healer the DPS fell as well, and even over geared though he was, the tank could not defeat the Black Knight alone.

With some easy adjustments we brought the Black Knight down on our second try. The tank left the group the second the Black Knight fell. Wild whispered him a thank you for helping us out. He whispered back a response sort of explaining why he'd left abruptly, annoyed at some questionable remarks by one of the two DPSers that we'd brought in, and Wild also guessed that he had expected a better geared group. I granted that we had an untested group, but that is the kind of group that 5 man ToC is made for. Learn here to get experience for 10/25 man ToC. Wild gave him credit for sticking it out, though. There were many who would have left before we finished, particularly after the wipe.

As for loot, DER had one item in mind, and was prepared to run ToC as many times as he could to get it. Lucky DER, not only did his wished for gear drop, he was the only person in the group that could use it - the two-handed axe [Edge of Ruin]. Getting a new weapon is always a major thrill and are often major upgrades, as this one was for DER.

As for other loot, Wild got a shocking surprise when I saw [Barkhide Treads] show up in Eadric's loot. This is a leather caster item with +hit and a very fine upgrade for Wild's moonkin set. Matter of fact, when I researched these after the fact, it turns out this is the only leather caster gear with +hit on it at ilevel 219 or higher that is not a Tier piece or a pvp piece. It was a wonderful, unexpected find for Wild.

Since our planned multi-run assault on 5 man ToC was a much faster success than expected, we decided to try the daily dungeon run. I admit that Wild thought he would have it easy with a non-Heroic daily, but when I saw that it was OC, the dungeon that requires fighting on flying mounts, and which he hates . . . well, when DER said, no, we aren't doing the normal daily, we're doing the Heroic daily, Wild was a much happy cow.

Wild was even happier when the warrior tank for our ToC run agreed to come back and tank for us again.

I have to be honest, though. I can't recall if we ended up in Azjul'Nerub or the Old Kingdom (they are located next to each other). Gah, what was I drinking that night? All I remember is that Wild was the only one to die during a trash mob fight because I allowed a second patrol to blunder into me while the tank was quite busy elsewhere. That was a long, lonely run from the graveyard back to the rest of the group, since I was the only one in the group who could rez. I had fun, though. I think. Maybe DER knows. I know we cleared the place, as the triumph badges Wild got from finishing it would come in very handy soon enough.

So ended Wild and DER's successful and rather fuzzy (for Wild) Friday night. Next up - Old School Raid Night.