This hero is going to get crazy real soon
I don’t know what you guys have been doing lately, but for me as of now it’s all about running heroics. Utgarde Pinnacle and Violet Hold, to finally get hold of those leggings and the sword. It’s been a pain, especially Utgarde Pinnacle. Not only do I have some bad drop luck, but it seems as if I’d always get to pick the worst PuGs for that place.
Things I learned during WotLK pugs:
- Running away from a whirlwinding boss isn’t common practice for everyone
- “los”ing a ranged mob is something many a player just can’t wrap his head around
- Following a tactic is impossible for some people
- Asking “does everyone know what to do?” is pointless
- Just because someone claims he knows the event doesn’t mean he knows what to do with the harpoons (collecting 17 should have gotten that guy an achievement, by the way)
- Many DPS players don’t pay attention to boss cast bars
- “I no pay attention to chat while fighting” is a frequently used sentence
- “ok,” “got it,” “understood” many a team mean “whatever, I only want to brainlessly put out big numbers” and they hardly ever mean “okay, I’ll run into the room as described three times by now”
Talldar: “Does everyone know the event?”
PuG: “Sure.” “Yep.” “Of course.” “Pull already.”
Talldar: ”So everybody knows how to handle the harpoons?”
PuG: “Go go go.” “Yes …” “Come on already!” “*tired*”
Talldar: ”I’ll run ahead, we’re going to aoe the first group, then I’ll gather the second, which we’ll aoe too. After that everyone into the small room, into the corner to the left, to los the casters and ranged.”
PuG: “PULL DUDE!”
Wipe: No one cared about entering the room.
Talldar: ”EVERYONE into the small room after the second group.”
PuG: “kk” …
Wipe: The healer decided to stay outside the room, getting owned by the ranged mobs.
Talldar: ”EVERYONE, including the healer, into the small room, immediately after the second group.”
PuG: “got it.”
Wipe: The healer decided to stay outside the room, having the dps protect him and complaining that I am out of range in that small room.
Talldar: ”EVERYONE INTO THE SMALL ROOM AFTER THE SECOND GROUP”
Wipe: The dps decides to stay outside, out of healing range.
Talldar: ”*sigh* come on guys, it’s not that hard. Just everyone go into the small room, the adds will spawn there, no need to be outside except for shooting the harpoon”
PuG: “okay”
Finally, we get all five people into the room. Alive.
Talldar: ”Shoot him down!”
Talldar: ”Shoot him down, use the harpoons.”
Talldar: ”SHOOT. HIM. DOWN.”
Wipe: No one shoots any harpoons at all.
Talldar: ”Okay guys, you have to collect the harpoons. Then, if it says ‘Skadi is within range’, you use the harpoons at the cannons at the very end of the balcony to shoot him down”
Wipe: They shoot down Skadi while I collect the second group.
Wipe: The healer shoots down Skadi, staying outside and throwing a big heal on me (who is still in the room). Big wondering why he got oneshot.
Wipe: We get Skadi to land. Four adds still alive. Everyone attacks Skadi. The adds tear the healer apart.
Wipe: We get Skadi to land. The adds get killed. Skadi whirlwinds – the healer doesn’t move a step.
Wipe: Skadi whirlwinds. All DPS die.
Healer: “You kited him right onto me!”
Talldar: “I ran the other way. Just he didn’t whirlwind on me, he targeted you. He’ll choose a random target he goes after with the whirlwind. Please, just run away – everyone – if he whirlwinds. If everyone runs, there’s nothing that can go wrong.”
Wipe: The healer doesn’t move a step, because he wasn’t the target. Seeing Skadi coming right at him didn’t alarm that cool dude at all.
Every single of these happened, within the last three days. Wipes on Skadi. Countless wipes. I wasted three IDs because of stupid people. How hard can it be to run if someone whirlwinds? To go into a room? To shoot a harpoon? I don’t know, honestly. I must’ve had the unbelievable luck of picking the absolute worst pugs around.
This is something I noticed when doing the heroics: You really can spot the bad players. They aren’t hard, none of them. If everyone pays attention and acts upon common sense. The harder part is not to have an idiot in your group. One guy who doesn’t use that harpoons he collects can wipe the group. One guy who doesn’t run during whirlwind can wipe the group. One guy who doesn’t stop DPS while “visual connection” is channeled can wipe the group.
The heroics are dang easy from a gear-and-ability point of view, but they require everyone to pay attention and not to f*ck up. Can’t wait for my guildies to catch up on their leveling, my frustration level with pugs is way beyond unhealthy as of this time.
Believe me man, I feel your pain. I had to Heroic VH from hell last night….and the pants still didnt drop. Stupid caster bracers.
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Oooh, I almost feel your pain.
Except I’ve only run about 5 pugs since hitting 80 and your extremely well-blogged experience is why. I have some VERY skilled guildies and a late-night group of healer/tank to run heroics with when guildies aren’t on. We tear that s**t up; I don’t believe I’ve ever wiped on Skadi and just for the fun of it we ‘Skadi all the time’ every run. ;)
Shoot, with my uber pally tank and uber pally healer (I’m unholy DK dps) we’ve three-manned AN heroic just for the hell of it. :)
I wish you good hunting, but most of all, I wish you good lists of decent players (give Auld Lang Syne addon a try) to conquer Northrend with.
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Yesterday seemed to be the the start of a new age – ran the pinnacle wipe-free with only one death at all, and then added Violet Hold. Two wipes on the Shadow-Guy, second Boxx Levoxx, so we had the jokers up and running. We got Levoxx on the first and from there it was just waiting for the loot table. No luck for me in either of the instances, though – sword & leggings, where art thou?
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Man, I feel your pain. I dinged 80 on Friday afternoon and immediately got pulled into tanking a couple heroics for friends and guildies. It’s so frustrating when you have to tell a rogue in full epics that he needs to get out of a whirlwind. Or hunter needs to get out of the shadowy black circles at the beginning of in DTK. And, yes, mage, you still need to keep moving during the Keristraza encounter.
I’ll have to check out that mod, Hinenuitepo.
-Mo
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