gruul
Latest
Tanking Rogue 3: Return of the Gaeowyn, or Illidan dies
You've seen him tank Shahraz and a 5-man Gruul run, and now Gaeowyn, of the Shards of Existence guild (US Illidan-A), has struck again. Technically, he gave us some teaser footage about this back at the end of his Shahraz video, but he's now released a full video of a successful Illidan tanking. As on his last 2 videos, Gaeowyn was able to use gear, talents, and buffs to stack enough dodge and parry to fully avoid all physical attacks (with a little help from Scorpid Sting and Insect Swarm, of course). Alas, it looks like this will be his last video. He says that he doesn't want to wear out the concept -- after all, there's only so many videos you can make of a rogue standing in front of a giant monster and dodging a lot. In addition, he's switched characters to a priest to help his guild with a shortage of healers. I'll miss the series, myself, if only because it's great to see people conquer challenges in unconventional ways. It makes the game a little fresher and a little more interesting. [Thanks for the forward, Allen!]
Evade me no longer
For some reason, the first evade bug moment I remember happened in Zul'Farrak. We were clearing the basilisk pulls before attempting Antu'sul (why is it that the optional bosses always have a couple of sweet warrior drops?) and the mage in the group wanted to skip the whole thing. Impatient, he decided to start nuking away from atop one of the hills surrounding the area and managed to pull aggro, but the basilisk couldn't path up to him (and to be honest I'm not sure how he got up there) and promptly went evade. He wouldn't come down because he rightly knew the mob would hit him, and so it took us a solid ten minutes of arguing before he finally came into the monster's reach so that I could taunt it.I'm thinking about this because of the Isle of Quel'Danas dailies, specifically the quest Crush the Dawnblade. For some reason whenever I do this quest I run into Dawnblade Summoners who are evading. This puzzles me because I can't understand why a ranged mob is evading: it doesn't have to path to anything to hit it, just get into range. Is there some way a hunter or some other ranged class can shoot them but stay out of their range?
The tanking Rogue strikes again, 5-mans Gruul
You may remember Gaeowyn, the Rogue from Shards of Existence who tanked Mother Shahraz thanks to an insane amount of dodge via agility. She's struck again, this time taking down Gruul with herself tanking, along with a Paladin (with Blessing of Kings), a Shaman (with Grace of Air), a Hunter with Scorpid pet Sting, ad a Druid (using Insect Swarm in addition to Mark of the Wild, of course). After all the buffs and debuffs, she had 76.31% dodge, 12.16% parry, and 14.16% chance to be missed, resulting in 102.63% avoidance. She posted a link to her spec and gear for tank mode, too. The video's short, but it took them a little over 23 minutes to down him. They also got to discover that his Growth caps out at a 30-stack, and that it expires after 5 minutes.
Guildwatch: The aftermath
Just want to get something straight, so you all sending in Downed news can be sure to work out the "notice" mechanic correctly: every guild gets to put just one boss on notice every week. You can't put instances on notice (although if you do, you have to clear that instance all in one go, and we're going to need video or it didn't happen), and you can't put more than one boss on notice -- otherwise, everyone would put everyone on notice. One boss per guild, per week. Any other kills after that are just bonuses.Now that that's out of the way, on to the Guildwatch! Click the link below to see this week's drama, downed and recruiting news from around the realms, and be sure to send us your tips, from your guild or anyone else's at wowguildwatch@gmail.com.
Guildwatch: "officers dont do officers like u did"
One person in the conversation above is making sense. And the other one is named "Krazyhunter." Be careful whose alt you roll against in Kingdom of Fire on Khadgar -- losing a roll on a piece you need to an alt of a co-GM might get you kicked. And, oh yeah, no matter what guild you're in, be careful who you send angry whispers to, because they might show up here on Guildwatch.The story above and much more in this week's GW, including the return of lots of recruiting news. If you have tips for any of the sections below, send them along to wowguildwatch@gmail.com, and click the link below to see this week's drama, downed, and recruiting news.
Naxx will be entry level raid dungeon in WotLK
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/Naxx_will_be_entry_level_raid_dungeon_in_WotLK'; Bornakk, who apparently looks like Abe Lincoln, has revealed that Naxx will be an "entry level raid dungeon" in Wrath of the Lich King, and EU CM Vaneras adds that unlike Kael'thas (who exists in two places at once ingame), it will be moving whole hog up to Northrend -- the 40 man dungeon that we have now will no longer exist.Very interesting. Unfortunately, we're not quite clear on what "entry level" means -- it seems unlikely that Naxx would be a level 71 dungeon (or that there will be any "raid dungeons" before level 80 at all). And the fact that he uses the word "raid" definitely means it's either 10 or 25man, then, though whether it will be the new Karazhan or Gruul remains to be seen. Bornakk also says that attunement isn't solidified yet -- a lot of players are hoping that all that Argent Dawn rep doesn't go to waste, but he says it's a matter of balancing "special quest lines" with opening up content to many players.Finally, the Ashbringer gets a mention -- apparently it will be discussed in the next Blizzcast. It's great to finally be hearing some official information about Wrath of the Lich King, vague as it may be. Hopefully there's lots more to come, sooner rather than later. %Gallery-20386% Check out more information on WoW's upcoming expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, including Blizzard's recent interview about Northrend and the new creatures that infest of Northrend.
Guildwatch: We're $#&(ing good at this game, too
Guildwatch is back, and boy do we have a drama-stacked edition for you this week. How about this Vent recording we've got, complete with classical piano playing in the background. Or this hacked guild that didn't really get hacked at all? We've got Shaman ninjas, Auction House drama, and even a Warglaive fight. Our tipsters really, really came through this week (thanks everybody!), and you reap the benefits.Additionally, there's also plenty of downed news behind the break as well, and just a bit of recruiting news also (seems like most guilds are filled up for the time being). If you've got a tip for GW, whether for your guild or a great piece of drama you've seen somewhere, drop us a line at wowguildwatch@gmail.com and see it here next week. In the meantime, click the link below to see this week's GW!
Gruul scaled down to 8-man raid (not really)
EU Stormscale Guild adult swim were recently interviewed by Nihilum (you know, those guys) for downing Gruul the Dragonkiller with a Karazhan-short 8 people. Nihilum had released a video of their guys doing Gruul with a mere 15 raiders, and it was something that adult swim leader Snookiwooki said was "pretty easy". According to Snookiwooki, adult swim had a fairly light raiding schedule and were merely looking for "stupid things to do outside of raids". Because of the nature of the fight, adult swim stuck to ranged DPS to minimize worry about cave ins. The self-described semi-hardcore guild of 35 people believe that their accomplishment can be duplicated by any equally-geared (they're currently progressing through Sunwell Plateau) raid with the proper set-up. Snookiwooki also mentions that since they won't be attempting Gruul for a while, guilds are more than welcome to beat the record. With entry-level 25-man raid content now doable with a mere 8 people, the winds of Wrath of the Lich King seem closer than ever. Watch the video here.
Guildwatch: Running a Karathon
Herewith, a quick guide to Guildwatch jargon you may not have heard yet:Loot Reaver: Void Reaver, so called because he's basically a loot pinata; hit him a few times until you get epics to drop.Karathon: Coined this week, it's when you finish Karazhan all in one night.Flawless Victory: Finishing a fight without any deaths (using Reincarnation or the Druid rez doesn't count)."On Notice": Meesa boss is gonna die? Yes. Yes he is.Got more insider guild jargon for us? If so, send them (and all your other guild news tips, anonymous as always) to wowguildwatch@gmail.com, and click the link below to see this week's Guildwatch, chock full of drama, downed, and recruiting news.
When your fearless leader hasn't played your class
Back when I first started tanking 5-mans, there was a particular hunter who pulled off me with irritating regularity. This was partly because the early Druid tanking set at 70 is itemized more for mitigation than threat generation, but partly because he was a young guy, he was good dps, and he knew it. MM-specced Hunters actually do have a lot of control over mobs that get pulled off the tank, and I suspect on some level he made a game out of seeing just how long he could lock something down while the exasperated tank turned her attention elsewhere, usually after bellowing at him in party chat to "DISENGAGE! FEIGN DEATH! DISENGAGE!"Not having played a Hunter at that point, I had a fuzzy notion that Disengage somehow reduced threat and was highly affronted at any hunter with aggro spikes who wasn't using Feign Death over and over again. After starting to level a hunter alt, it quickly became apparent that: a). Disengage was a melee-only skill that still had to "hit" the mob, and b). Feign Death wasn't exactly a spammable ability and could be resisted no matter what you did. I am by no means an expert hunter player, but I have at least learned to bellow, "FEIGN DEATH ON COOLDOWN!" if they're not trapping (and just minding my own business if they are).I am still occasionally reminded of my days as a backseat hunter, and never more so than while listening to my GM trying to figure out what's gone wrong in a raid.
BigRedKitty: Ask not what your raid can do for you
Back from a firewall and Dr.Pepper addiction-induced hiatus, Daniel Howell is back to contribute BigRedKitty, a column with strategies, tips and tricks for and about the hunter class, sprinkled with a healthy dose of completely improper, sometimes libelous, personal commentary. It is with no small sense of happiness that BRK returns to WoW Insider. We're thrilled that the executive muckity-mucks haven't nuked our account here into oblivion and that the editorial staff are being so kind as to help get these columns published. Without them, we wouldn't be back. As such, please direct all flames and hate email to their in-boxes, comprende? Sweet.(For those who've never read our posts here or on our personal blog, please note that we use use plural pronoun to refer to ourself. Why? Because we believe that the hunter and pet are One. That's just how we roll; don't panic.)Let's let the bells ring and the banners fly! Roll out the carpet and bring out the champagne! Let's start the first new column with an email question."Dear BRK, a month ago the raid leader told me my DPS was too low for the exploratory raid into Serpentshrine Cavern. Since then, I have converted to BRK BM spec, am topping the DPS meters for our hunters, am generally within the top three or four for the raid, and seeing lots of SSC. Woot and thank you so much! "I am seeing a big variation in DPS from boss to boss though, where my DPS can go from 900 to 1200, and I am not entirely clear on why. Part of it may be inconsistency in shot rotation and using my trinkets and such, but I wonder if a big chunk of it is from the group I get put in for that boss. "For Hydross and Morogrim I am doing a total of 900-1000, with Bloodlust, my cat, doing 300 of it. Lurker Below is crappy DPS because I can't get Bloodlust to attack him no way no how. That all makes sense. "We got moved to different groups for Karathress and suddenly I am up to 1200dps total, and Bloodlust is doing 500dps of it. Wow! How can I get more of that! "Checking the buffs on my pet for that fight, it looks like I was grouped with a feral druid and an enhancement shammy. Can the presence of specific class/spec combos in my raid group make that big a difference in my pet's DPS? "Do you have some guide somewhere on which class/specs help our DPS? Thanks, Kiya and Bloodlust." Bluntly Kiya, no we don't. And for good reason.
Two Bosses Enter: Gruul vs. C'Thun
Though two bosses will enter WoW Insider's deathmatch arena, only one of them will be walking away. Every week we pit two of the World of Warcraft's raid bosses against one another in a battle that your votes get to decide. This week we have Outland's own Gruul matching up against Ahn'qiraj's final boss C'Thun (and one of the hardest fights you'll find in Azeroth). Dragonkiller vs. Old God? This one should be interesting. How would these two fare against one another? Ultimately, that's for you to decide -- so read on and cast your vote!
Guildwatch: Too much holiday cheer
Well, our Christmas wishes haven't come true so far-- the drama we've seen in 2008 has so far been pretty undramatic. But hey, there's still 364 days left, and that leaves a lot of time for ninjas, guildleader meltdowns, and drama bombs, so we'll be patient and see what comes.And if you see it before we do, be sure to tip off GW about it-- send an email with drama, downed, or recruiting news to wowguildwatch@gmail.com. The very first GW of 2008 starts right after the jump.
Guildwatch: You can't trick people into gquit anymore
Or can you? The picture above comes from the terrific Wowbash, which has screengrabs of some hilarious guild chats. The one thing they don't have, however, is some crazy, off-the-wall drama arguments-- who's collecting screengrabs of those nowadays? Anyone seen any good ones?This week's Guildwatch, which has not only your drama feed for the week (we've got a famous guild disbanding this week), but also downed and recruiting news from around the realms. Hit the link below to check it out, and don't forget: send us your tips, anonymous or otherwise, at wowguildwatch@gmail.com. "Really?" GW has left the guild.
Practical and impractical jokes
The other day I was invited via the LFG queue to join in on a heroic Mechanar run. The other four players were all in the same guild and seemed to be good friends, based upon the way they were joking around while we all made our way to the instance. Not long after we entered the dungeon, I received private messages from three of the other group members telling me that they were going to play a practical joke on the tank. As soon as he attacked the first creature, the rest of us were going to run out of the instance, leaving him alone to die. I wasn't really sure what to make of the idea, but when they all ran out, I followed, not wanting to die myself. The guy seemed to take it well and laughed it off with some good natured teasing, but I've seen similar situations where the outcome wasn't as pleasant. For instance, several months ago, when my guild was trying to enlist new members to raid the larger dungeons, we were in an alliance with another guild for a short period. A lot of the people in my guild like to joke around and one of them decided to play a prank on the hunters in the raid while we were learning how to take down Gruul. After the tanks died on one of our attempts, this player decided it would be funny to run to the area near the doorway where the hunters were feigning death, hoping to avoid repair bills. Of course, he pulled Gruul right on top of the hunters, turning their fake deaths into real ones. Most of them laughed it off, but one guy in particular became really upset and made a big commotion in raid chat. It took him awhile to calm down, but the group eventually pulled it together and went on to kill Gruul.Ever had an experience like this? Does this sort of thing annoy you or do you think it has a place in WoW?
One Boss Leaves: Gorefiend vs. Gruul wrap-up
It's that time of the week again! Time to see who won and who lost in the last round of our weekly fantasy deathmatch, Two Bosses Enter. Last week we put Teron Gorefiend up against Gruul the Dragonkiller -- and if the above image is any indication, I think Gruul came out ahead. In fact, 57% of our respondents thought Gruul would win this round, with 41% rooting for Gorefiend. (For the full chart, check after the jump.) And before you fault my math, 1% thought the fight would result in a draw and the other 1% was eaten up by rounding. As some commenters have noted, the "draw" option is kind of silly, and will be removed for the next fight -- coming up late this evening!
Two Bosses Enter: Teron Gorefiend vs. Gruul the Dragonkiller
Two bosses will enter... but only one will get to leave! Every week at WoW Insider, we pit two of the most interesting bosses in the World of Warcraft against one another in a fantasy deathmatch -- in the end to emerge with a single boss of bosses, victorious above all others. And the best part? You get to tell us who walks away the winner and who doesn't get to leave our arena at all. Today we're considering a fight between the Black Temple's Teron Gorefiend and Gruul the Dragonkiller. Curious as to what might happen if these two met up? Keep reading and we'll discuss what each of these bosses can do and what might happen if they met up.
Gruul looking as hot as he'll ever be, relatively speaking
Well unfortunately, it seems my request is not to be. As commenter so2 pointed out the other day, Illidan is not actually a humanoid, so he's not affected by the Beerfest goggles that turn everything into a Gnome (Alliance) or a female Orc (Horde). Bummer-- I really wanted to see Illidan as a tiny little Gnome guy.However, as you can see above, Gruul is technically a humanoid. And thanks to reader Nate S., we've got a picture of Gruul in his lair, looking as attractive as a female Orc can look. I don't know how much Mudder's Milk you have to drink to make Gruul look that attractive, but it's got to be a whole lot of alcohol.Of course, the other thing about Gruul is that as the fight goes on, he gets bigger, so I'm still curious to see if, while wearing the Gnome glasses, you could get a picture of the raid fighting a giant Gnome (heck, who needs the glasses-- Blizz, here's my official request for a giant Gnome instance boss in Northrend). And I think a lot more experimentation is needed with these goggles, anyway-- can we see Thrall as a Gnome or Bolivar Fordragon as a female Orc?Update: Ask and ye shall receive. Thanks, myrlin!
Guildwatch: The most important thing
Guild drama is a lot like falling in love. It's the most cliche thing in the world-- everyone's been through it before, usually more than once. But when it happens to you, it seems like there's nothing more important. When you're the one cursing out your guildleader on Vent for giving the loot to his friend instead of the person who rolled 100 on it (you), you feel like you're the only person this has ever happened to in this way.And that's why I love writing Guildwatch, your weekly look at drama, downed, and recruiting news from around the realms. We can't cover everything, but we can absolutely cover everything you send to us-- tips go to wowguildwatch@gmail.com. Hit the link below to see who fell not in love, but out of their guild this week.
On difficulty level and involvement
Tobold asks the old question of whether or not WoW is "too easy" over on his blog. But he's asking the wrong one-- there's no question at all that WoW is an easy game. Like Bioshock (which I just finished, and in which you lose nothing at all by dying except a short journey from the respawn point), World of Warcraft is really a question of time, not skill. If your character dies, all you need to do is head back out there, find some easier monsters to fight, and sooner or later you'll be much more powerful. You can't lose WoW-- even if your guild gets wiped by Gruul, all you need to do is farm through Karazhan a few times, and then go back, and you'll topple him.So the question isn't whether WoW is too easy, it's whether that's a bad thing or not. Does it matter that anyone with enough time on their hands can become a raider? Does it matter that anyone, from child to grandparent, can pick up the game and find something to do?It matters to Blizzard, of course-- WoW's low threshold for involvement is one of the reasons it's done so well. You don't need the reflexes of an FPS gamer or the cunning of a master strategist to get to level 70. But to players, the difficulty of the game overall shouldn't matter. WoW is easy, but Blizzard has gone out of their way to create parts of it that are not-- winning in the Arenas is definitely not easy. And though better gear makes many endgame fights easier, I'd guess that no one would argue against the assertion that endgame fights are getting harder in terms of strategy all the time (sure, like any good puzzle, once you figure it out, it's easy, but figuring it out as a guild is not necessarily an easy task).There are parts of WoW that don't challenge people who've been gaming for a long time, yes, but there are many other parts that do. The question isn't as simple as whether WoW is too easy or not-- it's more a question of, easy or hard, whether the game is compelling enough to keep you interested.
