04-02-2007, 11:39 AM
Just to elaborate, now that it's the "morning after" and I'm not as aggravated...(but I still am)
This fight isn't hard. We have it figured out, but still can't do it, which is why it was so aggravating. It's the first encounter in Karazhan that had us give up and move on due to group composition.
Ground Phase: thanks to our sexy Dwarf Priest (me), we have Fear Ward for ZOMGEZMODE ALLIANCE. Fear Ward does trivialize the ground phases by removing the sudden chance of Nightbane wafflestomping anyone but the Main Tank. We were running with 3 healers (why not 4, with 2 feral druids? See below). If any of those 3 healers took a break to try and regen, got too close and got feared, or had to move for a Charred Earth, the Main Tank could bite it (and did).
Still, it's simplistic and a steady drain down to the flight phase, mana considerations aside.
Flight Phase: this is where it all falls apart (of course, since it's the "hard" part). It's a controlled chaos. We all run to the inner wall and group up near the Main Tank, so that no one winds up too far away from Nightbane and gets Fireball Volleyed. Whomever is selected for Rain of Bones moves to the outer wall. Skeletons spawn and the Main Tank/feral druid corrals them. This is why we couldn't have four healers; we found the additional feral Druid was necessary to keep the skeletons off the healers, especially since we're running with two squishy Priests. The skeletons hit Priests for over 1k a smack.
When the Smoking Blasts hit, if it targets a Priest and that Priest also has aggro from the skeletons, good night; they crumple like wet paper. If not, the damage is healable; the stacking fire DoT gets dispelled. But it all costs a ton of mana. The three healers are forced to heal:
1) The Main Tank, tanking the skeletons
2) The feral Druid, tanking the skeletons
3) The Rain of Bones target
4) The Smoking Blast target (which changes, because we don't have a Paladin to stay on top of healing aggro)
5) Anyone else who decides to get wacky and take more than zero damage during the phase (grr, lern2bandage)
We'd get through the first flying phase and I'd be down to 2k-3k mana. Ok, I can shadowfiend, pot, etc, and maybe stay in it, but the feral Druid that's healing is just bone dry - meaning we're down to 2 healers, effectively.
We're boned (pun intended).
It seems odd to me that Blizzard would design an encounter this way. Without an enrage timer, you could just bring 8 healers, one tank, and one DPS to slowly kill the skeletons. It's Molten Bore all over again. Sure, the kill would take half an hour, but wiping would be almost impossible.
So the very fact that if we had a Paladin and a resto Druid along with our 2 healing Priests, we'd be standing over a Nightbane kill makes me upset. It's bad encounter design on Blizzard's behalf, in my opinion. Ilhoof and Aran seem much better designed, real skill-based encounters, while Nightbane is pure snore. Bring more healers and it's trivial.
If it weren't for every guide I've read calling for Paladins and other statements from the likes of Gurgthock saying how the fight is insane without 4 healers (or 3 healers and a shadow Priest), I'd agree maybe we need to lern2play, but I know that's not it. I've read of gimmicks like launching a snake trap right before a flight phase, making Nightbane target a snake for Rain of Bones instead of a player, but that screams "exploit" to me.
-Bolty
This fight isn't hard. We have it figured out, but still can't do it, which is why it was so aggravating. It's the first encounter in Karazhan that had us give up and move on due to group composition.
Ground Phase: thanks to our sexy Dwarf Priest (me), we have Fear Ward for ZOMGEZMODE ALLIANCE. Fear Ward does trivialize the ground phases by removing the sudden chance of Nightbane wafflestomping anyone but the Main Tank. We were running with 3 healers (why not 4, with 2 feral druids? See below). If any of those 3 healers took a break to try and regen, got too close and got feared, or had to move for a Charred Earth, the Main Tank could bite it (and did).
Still, it's simplistic and a steady drain down to the flight phase, mana considerations aside.
Flight Phase: this is where it all falls apart (of course, since it's the "hard" part). It's a controlled chaos. We all run to the inner wall and group up near the Main Tank, so that no one winds up too far away from Nightbane and gets Fireball Volleyed. Whomever is selected for Rain of Bones moves to the outer wall. Skeletons spawn and the Main Tank/feral druid corrals them. This is why we couldn't have four healers; we found the additional feral Druid was necessary to keep the skeletons off the healers, especially since we're running with two squishy Priests. The skeletons hit Priests for over 1k a smack.
When the Smoking Blasts hit, if it targets a Priest and that Priest also has aggro from the skeletons, good night; they crumple like wet paper. If not, the damage is healable; the stacking fire DoT gets dispelled. But it all costs a ton of mana. The three healers are forced to heal:
1) The Main Tank, tanking the skeletons
2) The feral Druid, tanking the skeletons
3) The Rain of Bones target
4) The Smoking Blast target (which changes, because we don't have a Paladin to stay on top of healing aggro)
5) Anyone else who decides to get wacky and take more than zero damage during the phase (grr, lern2bandage)
We'd get through the first flying phase and I'd be down to 2k-3k mana. Ok, I can shadowfiend, pot, etc, and maybe stay in it, but the feral Druid that's healing is just bone dry - meaning we're down to 2 healers, effectively.
We're boned (pun intended).
It seems odd to me that Blizzard would design an encounter this way. Without an enrage timer, you could just bring 8 healers, one tank, and one DPS to slowly kill the skeletons. It's Molten Bore all over again. Sure, the kill would take half an hour, but wiping would be almost impossible.
So the very fact that if we had a Paladin and a resto Druid along with our 2 healing Priests, we'd be standing over a Nightbane kill makes me upset. It's bad encounter design on Blizzard's behalf, in my opinion. Ilhoof and Aran seem much better designed, real skill-based encounters, while Nightbane is pure snore. Bring more healers and it's trivial.
If it weren't for every guide I've read calling for Paladins and other statements from the likes of Gurgthock saying how the fight is insane without 4 healers (or 3 healers and a shadow Priest), I'd agree maybe we need to lern2play, but I know that's not it. I've read of gimmicks like launching a snake trap right before a flight phase, making Nightbane target a snake for Rain of Bones instead of a player, but that screams "exploit" to me.
-Bolty
Quote:Considering the mods here are generally liberals who seem to have a soft spot for fascism and white supremacy (despite them saying otherwise), me being perma-banned at some point is probably not out of the question.