Raiding - Chronicles of a Blackhand failer
I shouldn't really be writing about this, because talking about how bad a player I can be will make the eyes roll of those who may be perusing my blog (especially people like my friend CTwin or even Balkoth) and I may get a whole heap of advice about things that I'm already doing, which is all very well meaning, except trying to execute it is the part that requires... more skill, for a lack of a better word!
So Monday was Blackhand night again. And it really felt struggly as we tried to get through phase 1... again. Healing it with 3 druids and a paladin seemed good in theory with 2 Aspect of the Foxes and a Hand of Protection, but people were still dying. Some of that was bombs, some of that was no getting behind piles, some of that was healing not going great, and I felt like my tranq on the second demo even with a HoP was very uninspiring. So I tried dropping Dream of Cenarius and tranq'ing with Heart of the Wild and the numbers were more impressive IF I remembered to activate it before I started to tranq. I was so busy trying to position myself behind a pile before I started to tranq so that I wouldn't get shot whilst tranqing that I kept forgetting - it's not like I normally use it in raiding, it's something I PvP with. And of course I kept forgetting what the buff of Aspect of the Fox looked like so I could even move with it if I wanted to but I DIDN'T! Why don't I use weak auras or something?? What if what if what if!
It probably took me 40-50 goes to figure out I should be standing behind a rubble pile to cast tranquility because I seem to get marked for death a lot when I am doing tranq or I am standing in just the wrong spot so that I get shot by it because everyone has run behind me with it. Ultra has since been calling for people to use the far away ones rather than the melee ones to hide behind which is really helpful to me.
We tried switching up heals a bit and the combination that seemed to work best was 2 paladins 2 druids. I had noticed that most people kill it with 3 healers for our number but I guess while we're learning we need to do it with 4.
Of course, that meant Yuuda was going boomkin so that meant I had to stop sucking on the knockback in second phase and get knocked up and heal. So I tried really hard to stop missing it and managed to get up most times though often I was a little bit off and thus on the wrong side. The next thing is trying to rejuv everyone first before I get thrown up and then getting them all rejuv'd again before I jump back down. I hadn't quite figured that out until Yuuda explained it to me (as I wasn't sure when I needed to come back). Which meant no more Moment of Clarity and back to Germination.
Healing still seems so heavy in that phase. And of course in our last attempt for the night, we were about to get knocked up and I stepped in a bomb and killed the tank and the group being thrown up. GOOD ONE NAVI. But on the plus side, I have got my raiding viagra and I'm getting UP every time now!
I have considered if we need a disc priest, because that would be so helpful. Grimm has offered to bring his priest, as that is his main but I forced him to play druid because I didn't want any more healers. In hindsight I will probably kick myself for that. But then, it will go against what I said about switching to other toons for fights, or leaving those out who may not be up to the fight. It's something I said we would not do. It's Thok all over again, struggling to make the healing and DPS work exactly right. It feels impossible at the moment, but I really want to make it work because it will be oh that much more satisfying if we do it!
Unfortunately it would be like Aza said when we were doing Thok - it's as if Navi would drag down the whole guild by forcing them to use what we have in stead of what we could use with an alt/2nd toon. It's so hard to stick to your principles when you want a kill - but once we cross that line we will do it again and again, until all that matters is the kill, and not about playing for fun with the toons we have. What's fun about wiping over and over, I hear you ask? It isn't fun, that is true, but if and when we do succeed, it will be great and all the more satisfying.
IF we get there, that is.
So Monday was Blackhand night again. And it really felt struggly as we tried to get through phase 1... again. Healing it with 3 druids and a paladin seemed good in theory with 2 Aspect of the Foxes and a Hand of Protection, but people were still dying. Some of that was bombs, some of that was no getting behind piles, some of that was healing not going great, and I felt like my tranq on the second demo even with a HoP was very uninspiring. So I tried dropping Dream of Cenarius and tranq'ing with Heart of the Wild and the numbers were more impressive IF I remembered to activate it before I started to tranq. I was so busy trying to position myself behind a pile before I started to tranq so that I wouldn't get shot whilst tranqing that I kept forgetting - it's not like I normally use it in raiding, it's something I PvP with. And of course I kept forgetting what the buff of Aspect of the Fox looked like so I could even move with it if I wanted to but I DIDN'T! Why don't I use weak auras or something?? What if what if what if!
It probably took me 40-50 goes to figure out I should be standing behind a rubble pile to cast tranquility because I seem to get marked for death a lot when I am doing tranq or I am standing in just the wrong spot so that I get shot by it because everyone has run behind me with it. Ultra has since been calling for people to use the far away ones rather than the melee ones to hide behind which is really helpful to me.
We tried switching up heals a bit and the combination that seemed to work best was 2 paladins 2 druids. I had noticed that most people kill it with 3 healers for our number but I guess while we're learning we need to do it with 4.
Of course, that meant Yuuda was going boomkin so that meant I had to stop sucking on the knockback in second phase and get knocked up and heal. So I tried really hard to stop missing it and managed to get up most times though often I was a little bit off and thus on the wrong side. The next thing is trying to rejuv everyone first before I get thrown up and then getting them all rejuv'd again before I jump back down. I hadn't quite figured that out until Yuuda explained it to me (as I wasn't sure when I needed to come back). Which meant no more Moment of Clarity and back to Germination.
Healing still seems so heavy in that phase. And of course in our last attempt for the night, we were about to get knocked up and I stepped in a bomb and killed the tank and the group being thrown up. GOOD ONE NAVI. But on the plus side, I have got my raiding viagra and I'm getting UP every time now!
I have considered if we need a disc priest, because that would be so helpful. Grimm has offered to bring his priest, as that is his main but I forced him to play druid because I didn't want any more healers. In hindsight I will probably kick myself for that. But then, it will go against what I said about switching to other toons for fights, or leaving those out who may not be up to the fight. It's something I said we would not do. It's Thok all over again, struggling to make the healing and DPS work exactly right. It feels impossible at the moment, but I really want to make it work because it will be oh that much more satisfying if we do it!
Unfortunately it would be like Aza said when we were doing Thok - it's as if Navi would drag down the whole guild by forcing them to use what we have in stead of what we could use with an alt/2nd toon. It's so hard to stick to your principles when you want a kill - but once we cross that line we will do it again and again, until all that matters is the kill, and not about playing for fun with the toons we have. What's fun about wiping over and over, I hear you ask? It isn't fun, that is true, but if and when we do succeed, it will be great and all the more satisfying.
IF we get there, that is.
If we are are having difficulty with a progression kill, and a player would be happy to swap toons, I don't have a problem with that. If they only reason we are not allowing someone to swap toons is because we have said "we don't do that" I think we should reconsider it.
ReplyDeleteIf there is a reason that goes to the core of the values of the guild, well and good, but if a decision is just being made due to an arbitrary rule/statement, surely its worth taking another look at the decision?
The Tyrant
I believe! And I am totally going to steal that comment about raiding viagra when my group gets there :)
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