I Could Say These Modes Were Hard

Last week, we headed back to ICC to chase down some hard modes. We had previously tried our hand at finishing Ulduar. All we needed was Yogg with one keeper and we'd have it. Technically, we needed the dwarf roasting achievement from Razorscale, but that's just a matter of doing it. I thought Yogg was actually just going to be a matter of just doing it too, but it turned out to be a little more tricky than that. We spent most of a raid night wiping on Yogg. We died for all sorts of reasons, and I was culpable for at least a couple of wipes by spawning extra Guardians in Phase 1. I would have thought that with how we completely overgear Yogg that we would be able to handle any mistake, but that wasn't the case. After many unsuccessful tries, the raid was called. We probably won't be going back anytime soon. I really think it's just a matter of getting back in there and relearning the fight. Some of our team wasn't with us nearly a year ago when we killed Yogg the first time and with just One Light, the fight is much harder. I think we would have have a better chance back when the fight was the current tier and we were running it every night. I'd like the Rusted Proto-Drake, but it's not going to bother me if we don't get it.

In contrast to our setback in Ulduar, we have been buoyed by our success in Ice Crown. We had previously gotten the first 3 Heroic Modes down (Marrowgar, Deathwhisper, and Gunship). Marrowgar and DeathWhisper have gotten cleaner each week we've done them. Saurfang had been our sticking point. Part of the problem was that my TPS was significantly less in the fight because I can't use Consecrate or Hammer of the Righteous. I did some adjustments with my gear and made sure I got hit capped (even to the point of a Hit gem since the Hit tanking ring refuses to drop again from Gunship in either mode). With the changes I was able to establish early threat better. This let me take Saurfang first. The way the timing works out, I am taunting Saurfang back from Boston (Blood DK) just as the beasts spawn, allowing Boston to Chains one Beast and give our DPS more time to burn it down. It took several attempts, but we got it down. Our Priest won the Mark, but gave it to me later. I upgraded my shoulders to the Sanctified ones. I like the Red.

Next up was Festergut. I took him first just like regular. The big change is Malleable goo gets thrown throughout the fight. The enrage timer is the same but Festergut has more HP so it's a tougher race. We had our healers stand outside of melee instead of inside melee. They still had to move, but not nearly as much as they would have if they were inside melee. Healing was a little touchy especially when the Inhaled Blight was released. But our healers did a great job of keeping both the tanks and the raid up. Again, it took a couple of attempts, but we got him down.

Then we went for Rotface. I didn't really pay that much attention to what changed because my job of holding Rotface didn't change any. I hold him and let him whack on my shield a bit. All the changes were on the outside as healers and DPS dealt with Oozes and Diseases. This one also took a couple of learning attempts, but we killed him, too.

That made us 6/12 in Heroic Modes and we are making outstanding progress. We took a stab at Heroic Putricide but that looks like it's going to be really rough. One of our team needed Regular Putricide to finish her IceCrown Achievement so after another try at Heroic, we killed him normal.

Summer and Expansion blahs are starting to take their toll on the raid team. Sometimes we have to call the raid. Its disappointing, but it's just part of the reality of our guild right now. The good news is that when we get enough people online on a raid night, we make solid progress.