The new 4.3 heroics are incredibly fun.

[DeeBye]

I and a guildie queued for a random heroic, and landed in an in-progress End Time. We didn't know the new ones were included with a random heroic because of the option to queue for them separately. We were both a bit under-geared (I was at maybe 365, and he was a bit less) and we considered apologizing to the group and dropping out so as not to waste their time, but instead we just went with it. We had a very nice group. The Paladin Tank had never run it before, but he was well-informed and explained all the fight mechanics.

Our first test was Echo of Sylvanas. The tank explained the fight well enough and said that if we one-shot it he'd buy us all a beer. Apparently his previous group broke up because they couldn't get the mechanics down and wiped a few times. Challenge accepted! I can't turn down free beer.

We one-shot it easily. Raid marker on a place for focus-fire on a Risen Ghoul to break the line, and don't stand in purple stuff. The tank was overjoyed at our apparent lack of stupidity, and we all proceeded to smash our way through the rest of the 3 new heroics in order. We wiped maybe 5 times total over the 3 heroics. The day before I was in a random ZA and we wiped at least 10 times and shuffled through at least 10 people before the conclusion. Our little 4.3 heroic party stayed together for the entirety of the 3 instances.

What made it great was also the instances themselves. They are well-designed, and the boss fights are actually fun (except maybe that Mannoroth fight - it's a WTFDOIDO). There are very few annoying trash packs. Well of Eternity is incredible in particular, just for the lore and views. The "escort Thrall once again" instance was a bit bland, but that wasn't enough to ruin it for me.

I never want to run a random ZA/ZG again after that.

[NiteFox]

Aww, you mean you're going to miss dying at Nalorakk because the healer is too much of a coward to eat one of the Surges? I will. I'll miss aaaaall the stupid and pointless deaths that the Zul'randoms bring, as well as yelling "DPS THE EFFIN' BIRD! THE BIRD, YOU IDIOTS!"

Haven't had opportunity to try the new heroics today, but I do have my loot wishlist compiled and ready and have been casually reading up on the tactics (Especially WoW Insider's excellent and copy-pastable bosses in 5 seconds guides) so I am feeling somewhat prepared. I'll probably make an earnest attempt at chewing my way through them after I've finished my dailies.

The only way today could be any more perfect is if the Devout Harbinger spawns. I'm getting really sick of the Firelands now.

Edit: She did.

[DeeBye]

Like an idiot I once again queued for a Random Cataclysm Heroic. I was hoping to get a super-fast Stonecore or something, but instead I landed in ZA at Jan'alai (Dragonhawk) with many skeletons around. 3 wipes there, due to people standing in fire. No wipes to Hex Lord Malacrass, but we did wipe to the trash in front because of broken CC and the tank pulling them onto the stairs so they were half outside the room and half inside.

Daakara was the worst. We had Lynx and Dragonhawk. The tank wasn't taunting on Lynx and the healer was in dreamland. We wiped 6 times before the healer was replaced by someone competent and the tank figured out how to tank.

I want my 90 minutes back.

[DeeBye]

I did it again. Queued for a random and got ZA. Wiped 3 times on trash before even getting close to a boss. I left, and did some Arch for awhile then re-queued for a Hour of Twilight heroic. It went off without a hitch in about 30 minutes with just a mage dying due to standing in stuff.

Is there any way to queue for a random heroic and blacklist the trolls?

[EspyLacopa]

I did it again. Queued for a random and got ZA. Wiped 3 times on trash before even getting close to a boss. I left, and did some Arch for awhile then re-queued for a Hour of Twilight heroic. It went off without a hitch in about 30 minutes with just a mage dying due to standing in stuff.

Is there any way to queue for a random heroic and blacklist the trolls?

I must admit, to not having that much of an issue doing the two troll dungeons.

Where my PUGs get hung up at most of the time is the Foe Reaper in the Deadmines.

[shoju]

Crawling back through the low end heroics, and the dreadful groups that seem to happen there is the biggest reason I haven't bothered to even attempt capping my last non 85 on Terenas (I have 2 open character slots) my Hunter.

[DeeBye]

I literally spent all day doing random HoTs. I bumped up my ilvl from the mid 360s to 379 in the process. I probably ran 15 or so of them, and only one or two were irritating. There are very few things that will wipe a group, and even people running them for the very first time get by with short explanations of mechanics.

The easiest/fastest one in my experience is Hour of Twilight, but it's probably the most boring one. Well of Eternity is the longest, but I wouldn't say it's difficult. It's the most fun because of the gimmicks and lore. End Time is somewhere between the two, but it has the most interesting boss fight with the Hourglass gimmick. I also found out it's possible to complete End Time without engaging any trash up until the last part, but in practice someone will always accidentally facepull something.

[shoju]

If you can handle the Blue dragonshrine without pulling trash, you are a god among men.

But yes, you can skip a ton of trash. I normally don't skip a lot of trash, because of how frustrating it is when they add in, or someone face pulls. But I am thoroughly enjoying them. I have my warrior tank alt into almost all 378+ gear (except that damn belt that wont drop from End Time)

[DeeBye]

The first time I did Azure Dragonshrine we never pulled any trash. The tank led the way and the group stacked on him. Echo of Jaina is probably the easiest boss encounter in the new heroics. Avoid the Frost Blades, detonate Flarecore. That's it.

I got a Girdle of Lost Heroes yesterday with an offspec roll I ditched almost all of my prot set the other day because I transferred servers and needed bag space, and I am slowly gathering new (and better!) prot gear with greed rolls and need rolls when the tank passes.

I had a terrible hunter in a 3/5 guild run End Time today. He never CCed the tank's marks, and failed terribly on the hourglass. I was playing as a fury warrior and ended up Heroic Leaping my way over to the hourglass to reset it. He died before everyone else on every reset. I don't think he knew to not stand in stuff, even though we explained it to him. He also yelled at the healer for "letting him die". I'm pretty sure a hunter is the ideal guy to click the hourglass, but he didn't get it and no amount of coaxing by the rest of us did any good. We effectively 4-manned Murozond. It was the first time I've done Murozond in which we had to use all 5 hourglasses.

[shoju]

The first time I did Azure Dragonshrine we never pulled any trash. The tank led the way and the group stacked on him. Echo of Jaina is probably the easiest boss encounter in the new heroics. Avoid the Frost Blades, detonate Flarecore. That's it.

And Jaina didn't blink into pats? wow.... the one time I didn't clear the pats around where she spawns she blinked into 2 of the 3, and we wiped because people couldn't kill lightwells, and detonate flarecores, and dodge frost blades at the same time....

I got a Girdle of Lost Heroes yesterday with an offspec roll I ditched almost all of my prot set the other day because I transferred servers and needed bag space, and I am slowly gathering new (and better!) prot gear with greed rolls and need rolls when the tank passes.

/droool I wouldn't mind having it on my main, as it's better itemized than the FL belt (but wouldn't keep it long since the 397 belt is BiS), but my warrior alt is still rocking a 346 blue....

I had a terrible hunter in a 3/5 guild run End Time today. He never CCed the tank's marks, and failed terribly on the hourglass. I was playing as a fury warrior and ended up Heroic Leaping my way over to the hourglass to reset it. He died before everyone else on every reset. I don't think he knew to not stand in stuff, even though we explained it to him. He also yelled at the healer for "letting him die". I'm pretty sure a hunter is the ideal guy to click the hourglass, but he didn't get it and no amount of coaxing by the rest of us did any good. We effectively 4-manned Murozond. It was the first time I've done Murozond in which we had to use all 5 hourglasses.

I have had to use all of them before. Sadly when you lack a bloodlust, and have lower than expected DPS it can get tough really quick. I laugh at how easy murazond is on a DK.

-> Army of the dead the first Infinite breath
-> DRW
-> AMS the next Infinite Breath
-> IBF
-> VB + Tap + Ghoul/Eat (last part if needed) for next Infinite Breath
-> Refresh Bone Shield

Phase starts over usually, if not (someone failed) -> pool RP for Lichborne + Death Coil Healing, and get ready to hit AMS for the next breath.

Last night, We got to the second boss of HoT, and I made the healer angry because I was keeping up with thrall, and pulling ahead of him. I tried to explain to him that this was the easiest part of the dungeon, and if he needed to hang back and drink, go ahead, I would be ok.

He dropped out of the group after yelling at me because he wouldn't listen, and I pulled the boss with no healer. We killed her with no healer, just the ENH shaman dropping healing rain, and my Bloodworms + Tap.

Good times

[WimpySmurf]

Last night, We got to the second boss of HoT, and I made the healer angry because I was keeping up with thrall, and pulling ahead of him. I tried to explain to him that this was the easiest part of the dungeon, and if he needed to hang back and drink, go ahead, I would be ok.

He dropped out of the group after yelling at me because he wouldn't listen, and I pulled the boss with no healer. We killed her with no healer, just the ENH shaman dropping healing rain, and my Bloodworms + Tap.

Good times

I tanked the trash and first boss in HoT w/o a healer on my DK the other day. Took a timely LoH from the ret pally on the boss at the end, but we won and then realized the healer was hanging out in Valley of Strength.

-WimpySmurf

[DeeBye]

And Jaina didn't blink into pats? wow.... the one time I didn't clear the pats around where she spawns she blinked into 2 of the 3, and we wiped because people couldn't kill lightwells, and detonate flarecores, and dodge frost blades at the same time....

Nah, I think that was a one-time lucky thing though. I really don't want to do it that way again.

Tonight's heroics were a contrast. The first one was HoT, and the tank was an extremely lazy paladin with zero enchants or gems. It took a lot longer than it should have, and a crappy DPS shaman rolled need and won the Rosary of Light that dropped. First time I ever saw it too. I hate that shaman.

The next was End Time, and it was crazy. DK tank who knew what he was doing and incredible DPS. Start to finish was less than 20 minutes and we downed Murozond in less than 4 minutes. That put me over 2200 Valor for a shiny new upgrade and I got a Temporal Pauldrons to replace my crappy 353 ones. That made losing the Rosary of Light a lot easier to swallow.