04-06-2007, 02:50 AM
I would agree with Lissa that Karazhan fights are designed around a raid group with certain classes in it. Our first tries on Aran were without a warlock, and it was quite painful, we didn't get him down. We managed Wizard of Oz without Warlock with a fear rotation from the priests, that wasn't too much of a problem, Aran is definately a lot harder.
What bugs me most about Karazhan, class issues aside, is the randomness of some fights. You can have nigh perfect execution at Aran and then he decides to camp his Blizzard. Bummer, either melee takes the considerable damage and continues to interrupt, draining healer mana rapidly, or you let him stand there and shoot people, using up his mana and the mana of your healers and approaching the poly/pyro annoyance.
Illhoof. Now I might be a nub, but I haven't found a pattern to his sacrifices, they seem random (haven't read everything about him, it kind of spoils the fun of the first try, which was great). Today I (main tank) got chosen for first and second sacrifice on two consecutive attempts, both times causing an eventual wipe. The offtank simply hadn't had enough time to get past the healer aggro on Illhoof. Apart from overall suboptimal performance from our side, the randomness of the sacrifice, while making the fight interesting, can wipe you without much you can do about it. Or so I think.
Prince Malchezaar. I watched a video where almost the entire raid stood totally still for the entire duration of the fight, just once the maintank had to move about ten yards sideways to avoid an infernal. All other infernals happily piled onto the right side of the platform, almost on top of each other. Obviously the fight is a hell of a lot easier if you don't have to juggle your raid around the hellfires. Too bad if the opposite happens and the infernals space themselves out nicely and set you up for a burn or shieldwall escape with option to wipe. Grrr.
While not as nasty as Aran, getting the first three garrotes from Moroes on your healers makes the fight quite a bit harder too, in my opinon.
Now, I totally understand that there needs to be some random element to keep the fights interesting. Nothing wrong with that, but to have situations where your raid can barely, if at all, react to a change of the rules has been the reason of much frustration among our raiders, especially while learning new encounters.
On one hand you have pushovers like the Maiden, on the other hand you get wiped by some random fight mechanic. Evil. I suppose this will become less of a problem as we get to know the encounters better, get better gear and also improve our playing, but it is very annoying if something seemingly unavoidable ends the encounter in desaster for you. The whole trashmob madness adds to that.
Offtopic ftw:o
Sorry, had to vent a bit. I have not seen Nightbane yet and can't contribute:(
take care
Tarabulus
What bugs me most about Karazhan, class issues aside, is the randomness of some fights. You can have nigh perfect execution at Aran and then he decides to camp his Blizzard. Bummer, either melee takes the considerable damage and continues to interrupt, draining healer mana rapidly, or you let him stand there and shoot people, using up his mana and the mana of your healers and approaching the poly/pyro annoyance.
Illhoof. Now I might be a nub, but I haven't found a pattern to his sacrifices, they seem random (haven't read everything about him, it kind of spoils the fun of the first try, which was great). Today I (main tank) got chosen for first and second sacrifice on two consecutive attempts, both times causing an eventual wipe. The offtank simply hadn't had enough time to get past the healer aggro on Illhoof. Apart from overall suboptimal performance from our side, the randomness of the sacrifice, while making the fight interesting, can wipe you without much you can do about it. Or so I think.
Prince Malchezaar. I watched a video where almost the entire raid stood totally still for the entire duration of the fight, just once the maintank had to move about ten yards sideways to avoid an infernal. All other infernals happily piled onto the right side of the platform, almost on top of each other. Obviously the fight is a hell of a lot easier if you don't have to juggle your raid around the hellfires. Too bad if the opposite happens and the infernals space themselves out nicely and set you up for a burn or shieldwall escape with option to wipe. Grrr.
While not as nasty as Aran, getting the first three garrotes from Moroes on your healers makes the fight quite a bit harder too, in my opinon.
Now, I totally understand that there needs to be some random element to keep the fights interesting. Nothing wrong with that, but to have situations where your raid can barely, if at all, react to a change of the rules has been the reason of much frustration among our raiders, especially while learning new encounters.
On one hand you have pushovers like the Maiden, on the other hand you get wiped by some random fight mechanic. Evil. I suppose this will become less of a problem as we get to know the encounters better, get better gear and also improve our playing, but it is very annoying if something seemingly unavoidable ends the encounter in desaster for you. The whole trashmob madness adds to that.
Offtopic ftw:o
Sorry, had to vent a bit. I have not seen Nightbane yet and can't contribute:(
take care
Tarabulus
"I'm a cynical optimistic realist. I have hopes. I suspect they are all in vain. I find a lot of humor in that." -Pete
I'll remember you.
I'll remember you.