Thanks for the MC Trip

[Ceraph]

Thanks a bunch for letting me tag along. I had a blast and took several notes. My full write up is posted on PoN's forums which can be viewed here:

Ceraph's MC Right Up (http://www.guildportal.com/Guild.aspx?GuildID=46022&ForumID=211368&TabID=404866&TopicID=1807883)

Thanks for everything, I may come back to ask a few questions, and maybe even ask for a tour guide if possible to come on some of our runs to give us pointers on areas of improvement.

[telva]

Can someone copy and paste his post. My company doesn't like Ceraph's webhost....aka gamer site,

[Ceraph]

Here is my write-up...stupid company firewall and proxies...

Last night I had a unique opportunity, Mikevbrandt GM of HotC invited me to join them in their MC run. We killed all bosses up to Golemagg (No Domo or Rag). Why was I there you ask? Well I wanted to feel more comfortable with our strategies first and foremost, and was able to see a very good strategy not only for pulling mobs, where the hunter pulls most, feigns death, then the MT picks it up, but also to the boss fights.

The Lucifron fight, what we need is our DPS folks at the back right of the cave (furthest corner away from the imp cave). This is where one of Lucifrons guards will be brought to take down. The other guard will be in the back left corner being tanked while the first one mentioned is taken down. Lucifron is positioned at the top of the curve of the cave so that he is not line of sight of his guards. This is where the MT will tank Lucifron waiting for the rest of the group to down the guards. Those who get mind controlled need to be stunned via pallies, or sheeped via mages. Also even with the increase in cleanse, dispell, remove curse, etc, it is still imperative that Lucifron's curse is removed in a timely manner, ESPECIALLY FROM HEALERS. Do all this and listen to the MT for when to attack and Lucifron will go down like a sack of potatoes.

Onto Magmadar, first off fear ward is placed on the MT, for those who don't know after each AoE fear, Fear Ward is gone and needs to be placed back on the MT. Everyone else stands back almost in a semi-circle with their backs facing where we came in. Max range is the maximum range casters, hunters can hit Mag without getting hit with his AoE fear spell. Paladins if they are out of range of the Fear spell will be able to remove Fear from players. Rogues and other melee units move BEHIND Magmadar to hit Mag, once again only when DPS is called for. If the MT goes down you wipe, so heals should be focused on the MT, everyone else who is at max range should be able to bandage themselves, with the pallies assisting to heal here and there. At least 4 hunters need to fire Tranq Shot at Mag when he goes into frenzy mode, in case one fails, you have plenty of back up. Fire Resist gear would be great, but Fire Resist potions would work too. Towards the end of the fight Fire starts to drop from all over, keep moving and stay somewhat spread out as there is no way to dispell the fire, the potions help, FR gear is good too. Also once you down Mag, core hounds once killed no longer respawn.

*On a side note I liked how all the pallies said now go take your bio break once we downed Mag, once I cam back everyone was gone. Basically instead of dealing with the imp cave everyone ported to IF, repaired, came back and we ran from the start of the instance to continue. But I came back and was thinking...um where is everyone. Thanks HotC pallies...

Next up was Gehennas. He also has 2 guards like Lucifron which need to be seperated. Shadow resist should be up, and shadow resist/absorb potions should be used as his shadow bolts are quite deadly. You will most likely have to use multiple pots. Also Gehennas also has an AoE curse, this also needs to be removed first and foremost from the MT, but also anyone else in the run. Do this take out the adds, and he drops like Twill in UBRS.

Next up is Garr. This is the rock boss. He has 8, yes 8 adds. 4 need to be banished by warlocks (which means we need 4 decently geared locks to pull this off). Also we need 4 OT to tank the other 4 adds, these 4 will be taken down 1 at a time, while the MT gets aggro on Garr. It is very important to kill 4 and banish 4. If you kill too many, Garr is unmanageable, kill too little and your raid will wipe, as Garr blows them up systematically like bombs, midway through the fight. So keep the banished ones far away from Garr and they must stay banished. Also Garr removes buffs (like pally buffs) so its no use in putting them up before this fight, its just a waste of mana.

Next is Baron Geddon. This is a nasty SOB, but probably one of the funnest boss fights I have ever been part of. First you pull him back to Garr's room. Every group stay together and form a circle about the room. What he does is he turns someone in the run into a BOMB, yes a bomb, if you become the bomb, you need to turn right around and run to the wall behind you, before the bomb goes off, even pallies. Pallies can use divine shield on themselves to actually remove the bomb affect. Keep FR up, keep healing, range dps on Baron, and he drops like a stone.

Next up is Shazzrah (or shazzbot as HotC called him). He too needs to be pulled back into Garr's chamber and encircled much the same way. He has an arcane explosion attack, arcane resist pots are useful, I used 4 during this fight but others told me you could easily use up to 10. As you take a potion, 1 arcane explosion and you will need to take another. He casts a buff on himself which reduces magic damage on him, this needs to be dispelled by a priest immediately. Also he has an AoE curse, which also needs to be dispelled. Other than that he drops very easy, stay in a circle and pummel his ass.

Next we went up to Sulfuron, who is one nasty cat. He has 4 priest guards, these priests cast Shadow Word Pain. This needs to be removed by pallies ASAP, as this is a raid killer. Each of his adds are systematically tanked near the wall and when a new one is ready to be taken down, the tank leads the priest guard to the ramp that led to Sulfuron, pallies just need to keep removing SW:P until all priests are down. Also Sulfuron buffs himself, this needs to be dispelled as well. Once that happens, MT calls for attack on Sulfuron and he goes down like a chump.

Finally we hit Golemagg. He has 2 core hound guards, these are pulled by OT's and tanked at the back of the cave, the OT's must stay alive else you die, the MT tanks Gole in the center and far enough away from the dogs. The idea is to take gole down first, then the dogs will fall, the dogs cannot be killed, so simply focus on taking down Gole, and soon enough he goes down like a tiajuana crack whore.

Also the following dropped (Shadowstrike) and my hosts were gracious enough to let me have it, even though I did not attend the run for loot, but for an educational experience. I deeply respect MVB, and what he has accomplished with HotC, and for giving me the opportunity to attend and learn.

We are close guys, and by watching some of the strategies we have thought of be put to use simply reinforces that theory. 2006 is the year Phalanx of Nod conquers the Core.

[Ceraph]

and if any strats that I took away are incorrect , please correct me immediately.

[MVB]

AFAIK sulfuron doesn't buff himself. Wouldn't matter much if he did.

HE does get angry when his adds die, but he still doesn't hit hard.

[Waibanez]

Ceraph, I was very exicted to hear what they were doing for you, and now I can say I will be very excited to hear about your travels in the core! Just get rid of that warlock and all will be alright! hehe

I would also welcome you into our Secret Divine Pally channel or TS anytime you need to chat with us!

[telva]

A couple of things...

1. The tanking of the Luci add in the lower left corner was unintentional. I got MC'd and lost aggro so the add ran to the lower left corner before I could get him back. Take them both lower right (seperated) to create the max distance to the imp caves.

2. Don't forget about Shazz's blink. It is imperative that when Shazz blinks, the group closest to him run towards the MT, so the MT can regain aggro.

[Thibor]

Glad you enjoyed the show.

[Ceraph]

I just logged in quickly, and saw my damage meters was still up, looks like I might have been 10th on the healing...
Almost beat you Winsome...almost.

[Winsome]

Every time I heal someone, I feel like I've failed.

[Niefankazz]

AFAIK sulfuron doesn't buff himself. Wouldn't matter much if he did.

HE does get angry when his adds die, but he still doesn't hit hard.


He is a hunter, of course he doesnt hit hard.

HAR HAR

[Waibanez]

as long as he doesnt FD + Trap we'll be alright :P

[Asarlai]

If you really want to see a show you should join us for Domo and Ragnoros. These fights make the rest look like a run through Deadmines.

[Grenwich]

Baron Geddon- Mages with Ice Block can also get rid of his Bomb Debuff by usig Ice Block and quickly activating cold snap to replensihe IB.

Shazzbot- Mages should only be Decursing the entire fight. the need for their DPS is not so great with this fight but getting the Decurse off is. So make sure the preist are healing the Mages since out of the first 8 bosses this fight is most lethal to mages, IMO