Knocking Out Hard Modes
With the Lich King good and dead, we’ve started working on Hard Modes, including some we have been neglecting for a long time.
We started out with Marrowgar. The first boss in the instance seemed like a logical place to start. This fight was a wake up call. We figured since we had downed the Lich King, the first couple of Hard Modes would be pretty on par with the final normal mode fight. We were wrong.
What changes in Heroic Marrowgar is the normal stuff like more damage, and more boss health. The gimmick change is that the spikes keep coming throughout Bonestorm, and the fire lasts much longer. The spikes coming during Bonestorm doesn’t sound like a big deal at first, but with everyone spreading out because Bonestorm actually hurts in Heroic, it can be hard to get the spikes down before someone dies. This is especially bad when you are running two healers and one of your healers get spiked.
The fire persisting also presents problems. Tanks have to move much more and in a wider arc to avoid persisting fire, and the fire makes it difficult for DPS to position.
We worked on the hard mode for a while. Like most of the recent fights in ICC, tanking was no issue. There was little chance the Tanks were going to die unless we stood in the fire too long. It was a matter of DPS and Heals staying alive. We made good progress throughout the night and on the last attempt before we were going to switch it back to normal, we killed him.
We tried Lady Deathwhisper’s Hard Mode, but we didn’t have much time so we only made an attempt to see it. The Adds come out much, much faster. We killed her normal so we could get to Gunship Hard. This had to be the easiest Hard Mode I’ve ever done, and I was rewarded with a Heroic Neverending Winter.
We actually took a peek at Saurfang's Hard Mode, but we weren't able to kill him before we ran out of time. We wouldn't be returning to ICC that reset because we had our sites set on an old friend from Ulduar, Mimiron.
We figured that now that we way overgeared the fight, it would be cake. We would again be wrong. Firefight is one of the most intense fights I’ve ever done. Paladin cooldowns are still a little inadequate for this fight. Bubblewall is fine for the first Plasma Blast, but AD really doesn’t do much for you for the second. I needed external cooldowns each time. There are still several mechanics to the fight that instagib you, regardless of the level of gear you have. It took a dozen attempts to finally get it down.
I have so much respect for anyone who killed Firefighter 10 or 25 before ToC was released.
I personally only lack Vezzax, Yogg+1, and Iron Dwarf Medium Rare for my Rusted Proto Drake. I hope we go back and finish those off before the Drake is removed from the game.
What changes in Heroic Marrowgar is the normal stuff like more damage, and more boss health. The gimmick change is that the spikes keep coming throughout Bonestorm, and the fire lasts much longer. The spikes coming during Bonestorm doesn’t sound like a big deal at first, but with everyone spreading out because Bonestorm actually hurts in Heroic, it can be hard to get the spikes down before someone dies. This is especially bad when you are running two healers and one of your healers get spiked.
The fire persisting also presents problems. Tanks have to move much more and in a wider arc to avoid persisting fire, and the fire makes it difficult for DPS to position.
We worked on the hard mode for a while. Like most of the recent fights in ICC, tanking was no issue. There was little chance the Tanks were going to die unless we stood in the fire too long. It was a matter of DPS and Heals staying alive. We made good progress throughout the night and on the last attempt before we were going to switch it back to normal, we killed him.
We tried Lady Deathwhisper’s Hard Mode, but we didn’t have much time so we only made an attempt to see it. The Adds come out much, much faster. We killed her normal so we could get to Gunship Hard. This had to be the easiest Hard Mode I’ve ever done, and I was rewarded with a Heroic Neverending Winter.
We actually took a peek at Saurfang's Hard Mode, but we weren't able to kill him before we ran out of time. We wouldn't be returning to ICC that reset because we had our sites set on an old friend from Ulduar, Mimiron.
We figured that now that we way overgeared the fight, it would be cake. We would again be wrong. Firefight is one of the most intense fights I’ve ever done. Paladin cooldowns are still a little inadequate for this fight. Bubblewall is fine for the first Plasma Blast, but AD really doesn’t do much for you for the second. I needed external cooldowns each time. There are still several mechanics to the fight that instagib you, regardless of the level of gear you have. It took a dozen attempts to finally get it down.
I personally only lack Vezzax, Yogg+1, and Iron Dwarf Medium Rare for my Rusted Proto Drake. I hope we go back and finish those off before the Drake is removed from the game.
Comments
Wankster of Magtheridon
Even so, the mechanics can be really trying and getting together a good group of people willing to spend the time to wipe is even more difficult, especially since there is no real benefit outside of the achievements and perhaps occasional pieces.
The Rusted protodrake isn't bad to get as long as you can devote 1 week with a good group, you can get most of the hard achievements down. I really want the Ironbound now though!
I wish you the best of luck.