Wednesday (24 Jul) - Level 60, Now What?

Wednesday (24 Jul) - Level 60, Now What?
[Continuing the look back]

Ah, there is nothing like the first time. Wild's guildies cook up a surprise for their new level 60.

Got home from work Friday planning to check on what the guildies that did not get in on the MC run were going to do so I could join them later. Had some fish to cook and turn in for the war effort and then RL dinner and maybe a movie before heading back in game.

I did not sign up for any of the weekend MC runs (there are runs Friday, Saturday and Sunday now with the two groups picking two of those days). I'd thought about hanging around Burning Steppes to see if I was needed, but heck, there was a long signup for these things. No, I'll just have a nice dinner and check in later.

Then Wild gets a whisper from a guildie - "Hey Wild, you done your MC attunement?" "Yes," Wild replies, wondering how many times I have to tell people that and thinking I'm going to be doing escort duty for someone who needs to get it.

"Well, then, get your tauren butt in here! We need you." 'Here' was Molten Core. MC. Home of the 40 person raid. It was 6:15pm server time. Wild has been a level 60 for a grand total of five days.

I was still in Orgrimmar, had to fight through the lag, take the zep to STV, then the flight to Kargath, and finally jump on my mount and rush to Blackrock Mountain. I remembered how to get to the npc where I had gotten the attunement, but I'd never directly ported into MC before. Luckily, another guild druid friend was on the raid so I whispered the question to him. Ah, the thing I needed was right next to the npc, ok! (oh, and let's not forget the RL "Honey, I've got a favor to ask - you know that dinner you're cooking, well . . . " )

Wild wasn't the very last member of the raid to show up, but only by a couple. I really didn't even have time to think about where I was and what I was really about to do. There were lots of instructions, group assignments, tasks issued for each of the groups, all very organized. It was about 6:30pm when we got started.

There are two coop MC groups. Group 1, which is the veteran group that is close to taking on Ragnaros; and group 2, recently formed and still getting a feel for MC. Wild was in group 2. Both groups were heading into MC tonight, and that is why Wild got pressed into duty. Group 2 was short the needed 3 druids, and Wild was #3. [Imagine eighty raiders all crammed together on narrow ledges, climbing those vast chains, waiting for word to enter MC, and the lake of molten lava below should your finger twitch on the mouse at the wrong moment.]

Wild's responsibilities were to support three 5 person groups - my own and two others, 15 players counting Wild. Basically my role was to keep my 5 man group alive, debuff curses/poisons for all three, and help watch over the other two groups while the healers in those groups were doing the same.

Being in an MC raid did not change my luck (or unluck) at the start of instances - After a bad pull on some trash mobs - can you say raid wipe? After that we settled down and began working our way to the first boss. We had already been at it for 20 minutes or so when the progress stopped while the leaders conferred. Wild finally had a chance to look around. Visually (at least so far) MC looks like a typical cave system. The tunnels are larger with higher ceilings, and the mobs are built to that size. Everything is huge in here. Wild was checking out the mobs at the edge of sight of the raid group. Everything was 61+ elite or higher, and then Wild caught a glimpse of a named mob. Who is that? It was Lucifron. Wild could actually see Luci, an MC boss. That's when it started to sink in that Wild was actually doing MC. And shortly after that we engaged.

Lucifron can be tricky, but this time went down fairly easily; you could tell the core group had done Luci several times. No one died and I took a screenshot of my first MC boss kill. The clock said 7:15pm, 45 minutes to organize and kill our first boss of the evening.

Directing a group of 40 players to tackle a boss is kind of like real combat planning. Each step is talked out, questions answered, reminders repeated again and again. As we worked our way further in we were told - stay to the right wall here, everyone come to the back of this cul-de-sac, get your buffs up, and on and on. In front of us now were packs of core hounds. The strategy is to pack a group of hounds as close together as possible, and then AOE them into dust. It worked! Wild was even starting to get the hang of things a little. Despite the size of the place, 40 people still took up a lot of room and it made viewing angles hard. And that wasn't helped by having a screen full of Wild's own UI buttons plus the raid screens. Wild had all 8 groups visible. It was learn on the go as far as using ctrassist went, and there are still a couple of things I need to figure out before next time. But it worked, and Wild healed and debuffed away.

With the core hounds cleared we faced our second boss - Magmadar. Wild could tell that the raid leader was nervous about this one, although he talked confidently on raid chat. The monstrous two headed thing could Fear, and you did not want to be in front of it when it spewed fire. The strategy was to arrange all healers in main and alternate groups together, setting the healers at max range but still within healing distance of the tank. A hunter was designated to run in and pull Maggy to the lone tank who would have to hold him while the DPS folks moved in.That was the strategy, anyway.

It is scary how fast one boss can kill 40 people. The healers were too close to the tank. The DPSers attacked too soon, before the tank could hold aggro. Maggy obliterated the healers, killed the tank, and then ran amuck. In less than a minute the raid leader hollered for everyone to "just die and get it over with!" Wild died with the rest.

We reassembled for a 2nd try. The strategy was modified to put even more distance between the groups of healers. Everyone was told to stay out of range of the fear attacks as in the last try those healers that survived the first assault got feared (Wild included) and couldn't heal the tank. New tank assignments were made for backup duty in case of another early main tank kill. We tried again. This time we lasted quite awhile. Wild was running around, staying out of fear range (mostly), trying to keep my group alive while keeping an eye on the main tank. I actually thought things were gong fairly well until Maggy looked right at Wild, charged, and took Wild apart. Why pick on me, I wondered? Lying dead in the field I got a chance to look at the full raid board, which showed most everyone already dead. Another wipe.

Another attempt, and another wipe. It was a solid, determined group, though. No grumbling, no quitters, just reassemble, discuss what went wrong, and adjust. As Wild listened in he and several others were asked to make the run back from the graveyard to save on rezzes since there was time. Oh no.

Wild tried, he really did. While trying to work his way back, though, Wild fell. Into the lava pit. It took awhile to find a way out, and then longer to . . . well, it was embarrassing by the time Wild got back to the group and even then had to be summoned. Then it was more embarrassment trying to find the repair bot (there's a repair bot?) to get my gear repaired while everyone else waited. Where is it? The raid leader patiently explains, Right next to me, Wild. Where are you? Sigh. Wild got it all sorted out. Finally. The raid leader is a wonderfully patient fellow.

This will be our, what, 4th attempt on Magmadar. We had to repeat the clearing of the core hounds as they had respawned. No problem there, and then again Maggy glared menacingly at us.

This time the groups of healers finally got into the rhythm of main healer group up front healing the main tank, and then as soon as the Fear spell scattered them the 2nd healer group (Wild's) would rush in and start healing. When we got feared then the first group was ready to plunge back into the fight. Success breeds success. The longer the tank stayed alive, the better hold on aggro, and the less likely Maggy would break free. The battle raged, and Magmadar went down. No one died. Not one. It was 9:30pm.

Before joining the raid everyone was asked to set our hearthstones to Kargath. Not really knowing why, and being in a great rush, Wild had still taken a moment to do that. Wild was glad he did as the raid leader called a break after the Magmadar kill, asked everyone to hearth to Kargath, get repairs, take a bio break etc, and then head back into the instance. Some had forgotten to set their hearthstone and had to be summoned back. Wild was glad he wasn't one of those getting mild admonishments for forgetting.

It was a bit of a walk and fight to the next boss. The group was constantly advised to be cautious, stay close and not to aggro anything unless specifically targeted. It was fun clearing the path and things relaxed a little more. When the raid leader called for quiet on raid chat, though, everyone shut up. We had arrived at the next boss.

Gehennas. Flanked by two other elites. The raid leader asked if anyone needed a reminder of the strategy for this boss. Are you kidding? A chorus of Yes and Plz followed. The basics - hunters send their pets in to attack the two elites, and then the pets are called back to draw them to the raid off tanks and away from Gehennas. As the off tanks and their support groups took care of the two elites, the main tank and his group attacks Gehennas. All healers focus on the main tank once that happens. Gehennas has a 2k plus random lightning bolt, a firestorm that will kill you if you can't get out from under it, and deadly curses that all priests/healers were warned to keep debuffed as quickly as possible.

Everything was going according to plan and we got him down under 50% when the main tank suddenly died. We were having trouble re-acquiring aggro with a new tank when that happens and Gehennas was no exception. The next tank fought hard but Gehennas was starting to kill people. The tank kept trying to hold him, and we kept eating away at his health as the litter of bodies mounted on the cave floor. The raid wiped with Gehennas at 13% health. So close.

Frustrated, and trying to beat respawns, we went back after him a little too quickly, and wiped again. The third time we tried we failed to kill him, but the raid survived, and then much time was spent fighting off mob respawns/patrols. Wild died in the 3rd fight and then died again attempting to escape a patrol shortly after being rezzed.

The fourth attempt was almost a repeat of the third try, but Wild got a chance to play a pivotal role in keeping that attempt going. Fairly early in the fight Wild saw one of the off tanks battling an elite go down and was able to get to him for a battle rez. As the DPS group tried to contain it, I got the tank back into operation to finish the job. Then, for the fight with Gehennas, Wild did the bulk of the decursing, and was often the first to decurse the main tank, allowing the main healers to focus on healing.

But the random bolts and deadly firestorms had killed several players. Gehennas wore down the main healers, and heals were longer in coming to the battered main tank. Wild had periodically started heals on the main tank but could always interrupt them when the main healers got to him first. With under 10% health left to Gehennas, Wild's heals on the tank started to go through. With the other healers either dead or out of mana or otherwise incapacitated, Wild's heals kept up the tank and we killed Gehennas. It was 11:45pm when we wrapped up the run for the night.

I suspect that veteran's of MC have these bosses on farm status and would be appalled if a raid were to wipe at any of these. As a relatively green group without a full set of regular players, I was impressed at how it was run and the commitment of all those in the raid. The raid leader was always calm, was good at explaining what needed to be done, and offered helpful critique when we failed. On a personal level, when Wild "got lost" and had trouble getting back to the group on that one wipe, the raid leader whispered Wild directly, not in
anger or frustration, but to help. Everyone I worked with directly in the raid were the same way.

All in all I think Wild did a fine job for my first MC raid. I contributed and did my part. I don't think I "nubbed" it, DT, and I know I'll be invited back. But I hope not for saturdays raid - I have to be very nice to my better half saturday or it will be cold leftovers from tonight's uneaten meal for me.

Postscript on "lewt": We do use a DKP system for determining who can roll on drops, and of course Wild started MC with zero points. However, there was the possibility of druid gear dropping that neither of the other druids needed, so there was a slight chance Wild might come away with something, but no druid gear dropped. Drops went to shamans and priests mostly tonight, and like the rest of the raid, was handled in a friendly, professional way. A class act all around.

As a last note it was quite a thrill during the run to get whispers from friends, guild and non-guild alike, who came in game, saw where I was, and sent congratulations. Very nice indeed."

PS - One thing I can't quite get my head around is that the three coop guilds supporting the raids that night managed to bring together EIGHTY level 60 people to make those two MC raids. Look at the raiding today. The largest raids are 25 man, but there are very few guilds who run them. Ten man raids are the standard, and even then it seems they are often very hard to fill. Back then Wild was lucky to be a druid, because druids were needed, and that's how Wild got that invite to MC. Wild would run MC many, many times.