The loot and gear dilemma
Lushnek was telling me that you should be having an ilvl of 502+ to be attempting Throne of Thunder. Well, I am WAAAY off that. But the first boss went down ok with all of us under that level.
However, even though the old raids of HoF and Terrace still hold a lot of upgrades for me (I am wearing quite a lot of upgraded LFR stuff) Fue doesn't think we should be doing those. This is because LFR has better gear than those old raids. And of course, all the new VP ToT stuff is 522 ilvl.
But loot is so hit and miss in LFR! I don't need to point out all those poor people who have not got a Sha-touched weapon after a whole patch. And Mogu coins are not easy to come by so I don't want to throw them around willy nilly in LFR trying to upgrade EVERYTHING. Last week I did LFR and doing both of the new ones took me the better part of 3 hours. For all the gaming I do, who the hell has 3 hours to sit down and do LFR when I have other raid days, PvP days and daily days! And it was so painful that it was a stark reminder of WHY I dislike LFR in the first month or so of it opening. I did get one upgrade though - yay!
I like doing Terrace and HoF. I can burn through all my elder charms for gear there because a trinket, some tier would be nice! Ooh and an offhand or the Sha touched weapon (non LFR version). If only we could spend more days doing those instead of wiping to Horridon Dinopoophead 3 days a week. I am sad that this week we won't be doing Terrace - maybe I can PuG it? But gosh, where will I find the time for that!
Maybe the dice will roll my way this week and I'll get some upgrades. I just bought the VP neck so that's pushed me a little closer to that magic over 500 ilvl mark - I hope that little bit makes the difference on that dino so he can go back to being extinct!
While gear no doubt plays a role, more so does practice & refining our strategy. It seems like we've spent ages on horridon but really we haven't.
ReplyDeleteWe raid 4 nights a week, 3 of those on Horridon, with 30 mins lost each night to trash/group formation + 30mins for the first boss, so we're only getting maybe 4 hours a week on him. The first week was less, and we missed a raid night.
In total it's been maybe 12 hours spent on the boss, and that's only for the people who are there every attempt. Compare that to what we spent on Gunship, Spine, Elegon, Garalon etc. and it really isn't that much.
Then look at the progress we've made without much change in gear. The last few raid nights we've advanced 1 stage each night because we're really getting the hang of it. I think it was the Icy Veins guy who said the hardest part about learning the fight is overcoming the feeling of chaos.
That said, you may recall that on Monday I said we can do HoF first this week if people really wanted :P
I am hoping this week will clinch it :)
DeleteEhhhhhh. 502+ doesn't seem wholly necessary, we downed Jin'rokh and Horridon with less than that (and unfortunately have only gotten a few attempts on Troll Council because of the attendance boss) - quite a few of our members are still in the 490s. (I'm sort of the exception because I've been a bit of a loot hoover - we just keep getting agi mail and it just keeps going to me over the hunter!)
ReplyDeleteI dont think its necessary either because we almost have it I think. But that's just what we heard. Grats on your kills!
DeleteWe're facing the same issue. We just can't seem to get Horridon down. We have been making small progress, but to most of the raid members it just doesn't feel like progress.
ReplyDeleteSR's usual strategy is to brute force everything. We really can't brute force this boss though.
Like Fue said in his comment, you have to compare this fight to other fights and how long it took the group to beat it. There is a LOT that is going on in each door and getting each part down takes practice. Right now SR is struggling with the 3rd door and getting it down smooth. We still have hiccups on the first two doors but for the most part we have those down. Now we just have to get the practice in on the 3rd so we can work on the 4th. I think once we get the practice in on the later doors we will have it. I think the same is for you guys.
Keep your chin up! It will happen :)
I hope that you guys have better luck this week! I am sure SR will triumph - OMG 2 healing it seems beyond my comprehension at this moment!
DeleteNavi, the gear thing and rep gates are frustrating as Hell for me...definitely contributing to my funk
ReplyDeleteI have read your pain many times my friend, and I wish it was different :( My minor whinges seem paltry in comparison.
DeleteNot to break your dreams and crush your soul but some of the new trinkets aren't so good at least according to askmrrobot
ReplyDeleteI was very happy when my druid won the 502 lfr inscribed bag of hydra spawn i mean a shield for a druid sign me up I'll start showing those priest and paladin bubbling healers how it feels ...... then I saw it hardly ever procced and that the shield wasn't that big .... a quick visit to askmrrobot later and I saw that my spirits of the sun even though much less ilvl was ranked much higher.
Hi there :) Thanks for the comment!
DeleteI am very reluctant to give up my Darkmoon trinket, it's been so awesome. What I REALLY want is the Spirits of the Sun. I don't like trinkets which make bubbles or do an instant heal every now and then. I haven't even bought the new trinkets yet because I don't like their proc, and I'm glad to see that I wasn't wrong about them.
I've really been enjoying LFR recently. I would never take the time to find an organized raiding guild nowadays, and I recently switched mains to a brand new Hunter.
ReplyDeleteI hit 90 about a month ago and am already at 469 iLevel. The gearing process has been surprisingly painless and fun. It's still quite frustrating to get the same Boots/Chest piece to drop in raids over and over. (I had the boots on already, they dropped on boss kill, used coin and got loot roll and it's the same boots again-- REALLY?)
I'm still in the first tier of raids in Pandaria, but only 1 iLevel away from T2 and really looking forward to it!
It's great to see you enjoying LFR! I would not have thought it was our thing Josh :P
DeleteToT doesn't run as smoothly as the older LFRs do, but I am sure you'll like them as well - the mechanics of some bosses are quite interesting!
We're definitely on the same wavelength with this Navi! I just posted my own rant about it. >.< I'm still stuck with this awful crafted off-hand and I feel so undergeared walking into Throne with it!
ReplyDeleteI'm in the same boat with probably needing to run a bit more Terrace and such but honestly, I'm barely having the time to do my dailies and valour cap and such. Extra time for tier 14 is so daunting to me right now.
PS: I hope Dinopoophead dies soon for you!
Hi Saya! I have been reading your healing things about it and wishing that I had your healing skills! I have difficulty valour capping with time constraints and ... well couldn't be bothered. Thanks for the well wishes - I will be supping on Dino soup before long I hope!
DeleteI blame Soultouched.
ReplyDeleteSeriously though, Concur are at the same point. The only difference I see is that you guys do occasionally go back and do older stuff for upgrades. My raid leader is being stubborn and hasn't taken them into older content once since the expansion dropped, and I think our group may be slightly lesser geared than yours!
We should combine forces one time and get some cross realm oldschool stuff happening :)
That sounds like a fun thing! I wonder if our raid times match?
DeleteAnd that hubby of yours... well he's a good healer and a cheeky one too! That old school stuff will get us that little bit closer to killing stuff!