Terenas Friday 4/14

[Concillian]

This is largely a discussion of the 45 minute run tactics. I will show up as usual and go where I am needed.

Swirly's warrior also has the first 3 peices, so he should be up to the 45 minute baron run by Friday.

-------------Tanking----------------
For a protection warrior the most efficient route will be the CC/shackle method for sure.

For my build, which is arms, there is a different option that I'm not sure is faster or slower. The basic idea is:
- someone with quick aggro build (hunter pet, shaman with earth shock, something like that) grabs ahold of the the first FF mob.
- 2H warrior charges and uses Sweeping strikes and WW and Cleave to hold the rest of the pull off the healers, damaging all of them in the meantime.
- after first FF target is down, either switch to AoE or FF the rest, probably FF.

This will certainly down things faster, but the question is whether the extra healing load is worth the extra drinking time. It should allow for a DOT or two on the non-FF targets as well as multi-shot usage that would normally break CCs.

advantage: the first guy probably doesn't need to be healed at all, can use mage bread to regain health while others are drinking.
dis-advantage: warrior will need a lot more healing with up to 2 elites on him and likely in berserker stance a fair amount.

Not sure what would be best. I did the run with Necrali using a 2H weap, then with GG and Treesh using a dagger and shield. The shield run definitely felt more controlled. It was REALLY nice having a hunter pulling. We're all more used to the 1H + shield method, so that may be best just for that reason. I was trying out some different things in the 2H run, and that certainly contributed to some of the wonkiness. Basically I had to do some of the same things I do with 1H + shield to hold aggro of the #1 target even with a 2hander. So there isn't really an advantage to 2H tanking unless the #1 target can be controlled by someone else or left to roam free.

But the 2H tanking is an interesting concept. If something with snap aggro can hold the first mob well enough people can unload quicker, then switch to something already at like 70-80% life... seems like it would save time, but don't know if it would be enough to make up for the extra drinking.

Last option would be 3 tanking and AoE. This might be doable, in dagger and sheild, I'm not positive I could hold 2 while fazuul or pet held the other, but I probably could. I think this would only be plausible in the event of 2 primary AoE classes (warlock + mage) This would be an insteresting thing to try. It's definitely possible for 2 pulls, but also of even more questionable utility there, as that's a lot of mana usage for just 2 mobs.

------------MAPS---------------

There are multiple maps I've seen:

Original by Tresjin:
https://host99n.ipowerweb.com/~bodyacom/...letMap.jpg

Revised Tresjin:
http://www.faultymoose.com/gauntlet.jpg

Another Map showing similar route to the revised map:
http://wow.luminousdreams.com/45-min-baron.jpg

They seem to converge on the Baroness --> Spider --> Maleki route.

-----------Baroness-------------

The biggest dangerous variable in the run is the Baroness, and I believe in taking her out first is necessary just because that's a fight that can go poorly if you get bad MC scenarios.

You can't control who gets MC-ed... or can you? If someone isn't on the hate list, they can't be MC-ed right? I verified in the run last Friday that you can stay out of combat while others engage the baroness. Unfortunately I also backed into a pull we were planning on leaving alone and we wiped as a result, but hey, it was a learning process =).

I have read that Ice Block is available as an instant MC-drop. So we should try having Yuri pull and kite until the first MC. Who has aggro in this fight is largely a non-issue as her damage isn't what causes problems. If Yuri can manage to hold enough aggro without needing healing to get MC-ed first, I think we have a big head-start.

The other option is to let the warrior have the initial MC and be sure he has blown cooldowns (like use bloodrage + intercept to engage, and be sure 30 minute skill and Intimidating shout are both cooling down). At range, a warrior is not dangerous, using intercept to engage gives no way to close on others quickly, and a frost nova can help keep him at range. The disadvantage here, is that you pretty much have to fight at the ziggurat, and that can be a problem.

Obviously cooldown burning is important.

----------- drinking / eating ------------------
Usual habits are to only drink/eat when necessary, but I think on the 45 minute run a better strategy is to LOAD UP on the mage food and water and eat/drink in small bursts.

For example, on Friday, a pull would finish and I would immediately eat while Marn pulled the next mob, When it got close enough I'd either charge or engage. I maybe only got 500 health of healing from the bread, but it's better than using mana for that. If marn needed a drink, I would pull what I could safely, rotating duties back to him when he was ready. It wasn't something we planned, but I think it ended up working well.

If we go in with 100+ water and/or bread per person (depending on the class) we can comfortably take these quick gulps for downtime that would normally not have as much regen. I think the idea is that we're hardly ever FULL of health/mana.

------------- Practice ---------------------

Obviously the largest factor is practice. There were several accidental steps into pulls that we shouldn't have pulled on Friday, we have to practice skipping pulls because they have to be skipped. We have to get used to not being able to step places we can on a normal run.

------------- Baron -----------------------
Shadow resist buff is incredibly nice. I can't imagine making a serious attempt without having the resist buff. We eventually did it with the shaman healing and no druid for even a minor amount of resist, but it was a real challenge. With a shadow resist to cloak enchant I'll be sitting at 47, heroism belt will get me a set bonus with +8. That should amount to 115 with shadow protection, which should be to a pretty significant damage reduction for the Baron, and I only had to sacrifice a few stats (mostly stamina from ring, bow and cloak, but a little strength and armor too)

You have to aggro the Baron before the timer runs out, but if you die, he will execute her (unless the timer isn't done yet). It's basically, if you have his attention, he can't execute her, but if you don't, he will.