Thursday (14 Apr) - Wild Considers a Second Raid

Thursday (14 Apr) - Wild Considers a Second Raid

Bd, long time friend, raid leader for FS, and then raid leader for MM, and now co-Guild Leader and raid leader for MM2, invited Wild to raid with MM2 via the raid calendar. Wild saw it on Tuesday, I think, with the raid planned for Thursday night. The intended target was Throne of the Four Winds (T4W, or maybe just TW; doesn't seem like an acronym has been settled on for this one yet). Wild had already signed on for the weekly Friday night raid with MM, but our target for that raid was Bastion of Twilight (BT) so there was no conflict. From a long list of invitees, only 4 had accepted the MM2 raid invite as of Tuesday.

Wild signed up as tentative for the MM2 raid since we are getting busier with our trip preparations; plus, I wasn't sure if there would be enough folks showing up for the raid. After all, this was the first raid invite Wild had received since the new guild came into being.

Well, our RV was still in the shop (it was just in for a "check-up" but when has a repairman ever said about anything in for a check-up "It's fine, no problems!" Of course they found problems, and we couldn't bring it home yet. However, that did give Wild a chance to check out the MM2 raid.

Wild logged on around 5:30pm for the 6pm planned raid. I had time to read up on the strategy and look at the video of the encounter. Wild has prepared for the TW raid twice before with MM, but both times we ended up going somewhere else. I sorta had a feel for the fight, but that means nothing until actually getting in there. Bd almost immediately whispered Wild, "WILD!!" Bd is one of those guys who has something to say to everyone who logs on. I like that. Wild said hi back at him. Bd then asked whether MM was raiding this night. "Nope," I told him, "I'm locked on Friday for both BT and BH, but if you're heading for TW tonight I'm available if you need me."

Bd was very happy to hear that. Invites started around 6:15pm, and the number had swelled to nine raiders with Wild joining the raid. While we waited for the 10th, Wild had to go through setting up another vent access for the MM2 guild. I think Wild can enter the vent channels of four different guilds now. There were no total strangers in the raid, although there were four that I had not raided with before. Bd was the only raider that I knew well. No others of the cabal were present.

Bd was setting things up as we arrived at Throne of the Four Winds, which is located at the southwest end of Uldum. The entrance is at the top of the center (and tallest) spire. Bd divided the raid into four groups. Wild was in a group with only one other member, a warlock. As players chatted, Wild learned that this group had made one prior attempt on TW last week. They'd gotten one boss down to around 40%, and were looking to improve on that. So eight of the ten of us had seen this fight and the strategy being used. Wild and one other raider (a DPS) were the only rookies.

The Throne of the Four Winds area is made up of five platforms. The center platform holds the final boss, which we would not be dealing with, at least not yet. The raid entered the instance at the south platform.The three other platforms hold three genies:

West: Anshal
East: Rohash
North: Nezir

All of the platforms are high in the air with nothing but a long fall and death if one falls or is knocked off them. The platforms are linked together, however, by wind tunnels. There is nothing physical to stand on. Just step to the base of the current of air, and whooosh! the wind carries you to another platform.

Like every raid dungeon, there are a whole series of things to remember, kill, avoid, run to, run away from, etc. What makes this fight even more challenging is that it is actually three fights in one. All three genies have to be engaged at all times, as a genie left alone will immediately cast a raid wiping spell.

Each group of raiders is assigned a platform. The platforms are too far apart for groups to help each other, unless we use the wind tunnels. Each boss has it's own special abilities and spells, and each has an Ultimate spell that they will use several times during the fight. The three genies must all be killed within one minute of each other, so the DPSers have to coordinate to achieve that.

Since Wild was new to this Bd assigned me to the slightly less complicated East platform - Rohash. Wild and a warlock had Rohash all to ourselves. At least for a time.

It was close to 7:30pm when we made our first pull. The tank on the west platform counted down and then engaged Anshal. Of course, Wild couldn't see that happening. On Wild's platform, the warlock opened fire on Rohash. Rohash stayed at ranged distance from us and dropped AoEs on the two of us which Wild had no difficulty healing through. Three tornadoes spawned and started slowly moving in our direction. The raid leader called out "Forty energy." Wild and the lock moved around to avoid the tornadoes while Rohash kept up his Slicing Gale AoE. "Sixty energy!" Hmm, this isn't so bad - so far. Wild's worst problem was forcing himself not to try to heal raiders who were far out of range on other platforms. Healer instincts desperately wanted to help out those banged up raiders.

Rohash began casting his first Wind Blast. "Seventy energy!" Wild had been warned about the Wind Blast, but the video had not shown the actual spell being cast, so Wild wasn't sure what to look for. Wild also stupidly got his "clockwise" and "counterclockwise" mixed up. A spewing fire hose of wind erupted from Rohash and he then began turning in a clockwise direction. Wild ran right into it.

Man, did that hurt! Wild got turned around and moving away from it, but he was in serious trouble. "Eighty energy! Switch platforms!" called out the raid leader. As mentioned before, each boss has an Ultimate ability. It can only be used when they reach ninety energy. The deadliest Ultimate comes from Nezir on the North platform. It's called Sleet Storm. Since the damage from that ability is spread between all the raiders on the North platform, it is critical to have as many raiders as possible on that platform when Sleet Storm hits. No genie can be left alone, though. The warlock on Wild's platform raced to the wind tunnel and left Wild alone with Rohash. The genie's hit ninety energy. Rohash's Ultimate is Hurricane. Wild was lifted into the air by a swirling black vortex of wind. Wild's health was only at 50%, and his instant heals had no affect even as the Hurricane continued to do additional damage.

Hurricane ended and Wild began falling - a long, long way. Wild shifted form in the air, turning into cat form. Everyone knows that a cat always lands on it's feet, and that cat's can survive all kinds of falls. Even klutzy Wild couldn't mess that up. Wild landed lightly on his paws and shifted to normal form for healing just as the warlock returned to the platform. The lock was near death, having barely survived Nezir's Sleet Storm, and Wild was on the far side of the platform. We didn't make it. Wild and the lock died. Rohash, now all alone, wiped the rest of the raid.

We made four more attempts with the same strategy and group makeup. Wild gained confidence and began to feel like he could handle his end of the fight. However, the paladin healer on Anshal was having a tough time. She had been in Wild's shoes last week, so she was having to learn a new role just like Wild was. Healing, she said, wasn't her problem. But she was having a terrible time making the switch from one platform to the other.

After five tries the raid leader decided to make a change. He swapped groups with Wild and the pally healer. The pally healer went to Rohash and the role she had last week. Wild got the infinitely more difficult job of healing the Anshal group as well as healing the Nezir groups during Nezir's Ultimate. Another new role to figure out.

On attempt #6 Wild was on the Anshal platform, along with a tank and four DPSers. The tank started the attack. Healing was modest at first. Anshal cast Soothing Breeze, dropping twisting circles of green light on the floor that Wild completely forgot he should stay away from. Wild moved with the tank to a new position away from the green circles of light. Anshal then cast Nurture, which spawned pretty little flowers. So cute! Then they pulled up their roots and attacked! The tank struggled to get aggro on them all as Wild tried to both heal and get two flowers out of his face. He never saw the green twisty thing, stepped into it, and was Silenced. No healing. The tank died. Well, that was another thing to tuck away and remember for the next attempt.

Wild and his group survived the first ramp up to 80 energy on the next attempt, getting through the initial attack, the position move, the flower attack, the avoiding the green twisty things, and the return to the original position where the wind tunnel was. The raid leader called out the 80 energy and everyone on the platform took the wind tunnel to Nezir. Oh no, no one was left on the Anshal platform! Not to worry. While Wild's group was changing platforms, so were the tank and healer on the Nezir platform. Nezir has a stacking debuff that eventually kills if not removed. Changing platforms removes the debuff, so the two groups switch places at each Ultimate.

When Wild landed on the Nezir platform he landed in a pool of ice which greatly slowed him down. The tank had rushed to engage Nezir before Nezir could start whaling away on the DPS, and got out of range of Wild. As Wild struggled to process all this new information Nezir reached his Ultimate and cast Sleet Storm. Wild couldn't keep up with all that damage and we wiped.

After several more attempts, Wild was getting better. He learned to use his Barkskin for additional damage protection when jumping to Nezir's platform, and to immediately veer to the left when he hit the ground to avoid the inevitable first patch of ice. Wild also shifted to Tree Form for that initial wave of damage, and then worked hard to keep in position to heal the tank, raid heal most of the raid taking Sleet Storm damage, and not get caught in the cone of near instant death called Permafrost. We could not put it all together, however. When one platform group was doing well, another would have trouble. The timing on this fight is crucial, and we just couldn't make it work.

In total we made eleven attempts. We did not get as far as the group had done last week, so it was a bit disappointing for them. As for Wild, he got a wealth of practice in two different roles. It's now just a matter of putting all the pieces together. Wild's main concern is how to effectively heal the seven raiders on Nezir's platform during Sleet Storm. Wild needs to time getting on that wind tunnel as quickly as possible, to get those heals going sooner. He needs to get better at the dance back and forth he does with the tank to stay out of Permafrost attacks, as well. Wild was never hit by it, but lost healing chances by not moving properly.

Anyway, it was a great night for learning a new encounter. The MM2 group will go at it again Friday night, but Wild made sure Bd understood that I was committed to the MM BT raid on that night. Bd thanked Wild profusely for joining his raid, even for the one night, and couldn't help musing what it would be like for Wild to be in the MM2 guild with him. That's not going to happen. But as long as Wild is available on the nights MM2 raids, I'll try to be there if they need Wild. I don't see that working long term, though, as every raid leader prefers to have his core group there on both raid nights. How long it will take before Bd has 10 core raiders? Don't know, but Wild will happily help out until then.

Rohash