Dead is Dead

My first trip to the Frozen Throne was back in March with my 10-man team. My second trip was in May, this time with my 25-man team. Both journeys ended not in defeat, but rather in retreat. For various reason both the 10-man and 25-man teams disbanded before defeating the Lich King. In fact both teams failed to put in more than one night's worth of work on him.



Fortunately I regrouped, and last week my new 10-man team entered Icecrown Citadel and proceeded to obliterate the place. Only Sindragosa and the Lich King gave us any sort of trouble, but in the end we were victorious. I can now visit the fountain in Dalaran and watch the video with a sense that I participated in making those events happen.

I still hope to go back and defeat Arthas in 25-man, but dead is dead and I'm happy to have my Kingslayer title. I'll be switching it back to Brewmaster soon though ;) .

The king is dead and I need a beer.

Happy Hunting!

Reservation Please...

Operator: "Icecrown Citadel, how may I direct your call."

Me: "Reservations please."

Operator: "One moment while I connect you."

*muzak version of Lament of the Highborn plays*

Operator: "Reservations, how may I help you?"

Me: "I'd like to make a reservation to see the Lich King this Thursday at 8pm."

Operator: "Let me see if he's available."

*keyboard and mouse clicks in the background*

Operator: "Yes he's available at that time. Your name please?"

Me: "Darkbrew."

Operator: "Okay Mr. Darkbrew, how many in your party?"

Me: "Mr. Darkbrew!? I feel like my father. Um, there will be eleven of us."

Operator: "I'm sorry we only accept reservations for parties of ten or 25."

Me: "Oh, but I was told that Highlord Tirion Fordring could join us."

Operator: "Ah, the Highlord has as standing reservation with us. He will be there."

Me: "Will he have the Ashbringer?"

Operator: "Yes, and he'll be wearing thermal underwear too."

Operator: "Okay you're all set. I have you down for Thursday, 8pm, party of ten. Will you have a Discipline Priest in your party?"

Me: "No, but we will have Wild Growth."

Operator: "Wild Growth?"

Me: "It's an inside joke."

Operator: "When you enter the Citadel proceed to the Upper Spire and head straight across the bridge to the center. You will access the Frozen Throne from there. Just be mindful of any Valkyries that might be flying around the bridge. Is there anything else I can help you with today?"

Me: "Nope, I think I'm good to go."

Operator: "Very well then. Have fun storming the castle!"

And with that, it looks like our ten-man team will finally get to see the Lich King. Twenty-five is the real prize for me, but I am so looking forward to this.

Instant Coffee and Beast Master

"We are here at Icecrown Citadel (a four-star raiding instance), where we've secretly replaced the fine Marksman hunter they usually serve with a Beast Master Hunter. Let's see if anyone can tell the difference!"





This week I decided to throw my hat into the Beast Master ring and do some ICC (25) bosses as BM.

I'm going to cut to the chase here. If there is a minimum threshold required to dps ICC (25), Beast Master hunters easily cross it. A well geared, well played (or perhaps mediocre in this case) Beast Master hunter can be a high contributing dpser in ICC.

I did Toravon the Ice Watcher, Lord Marrowgar, Lady Deathwhisper and Stinky as BM, and I did Saurfang and Festergut as MM. I really wanted to do Festergut as BM, but just couldn't bring myself to sacrifice the DPS (I've been trying to break 10K on him for some time now).

A few things worth noting. My gear is tailored more towards MM than it is BM. My reliance on the focused aim talent forces me into a BM talent spec that is not optimized for raiding. Playing around with the spreadsheet and using gear that I have in my bank (or could acquire with badges) it was possible to increase my theoretical BM dps by at least 100. In other words, if I was really making the effort I probably could've done a little better. That being said I don't know that it would have significantly changed things.

Also, this is very representative of how I do as BM compared to how I do as MM in the context of my 25-man raid team. Your results may very.

THE STIGMA OF BEAST MASTER

Let's face it, BM has come under a lot of criticism lately, and has reached a point where going into a raid as BM is like wearing a scarlet letter. Sometimes though this perception can be overblown.

I did not information anyone in my raid that I had switched and would be running as BM. I used a wolf so it was a little less obvious. But nobody said a thing. There were no whispers, and no questions in Vent as to why my dps and position on the meters was lower. And it was lower.

Nobody noticed and nobody cared. Granted these were all farm bosses that we expected to one-shot. I don't know how things would have gone had these been progression bosses we had not killed yet. Still my switch to BM and related performance flew well under the radar.

So how exactly did I do as BM compared to MM. Let's take a very unscientific look.

COMPARING APPLES TO KUMQUATS

The big thing I noticed on this night was that in most cases my positioning on the meters was much lower as BM than it was as MM. That's not to say that my dps was bad or that I was not contributing. It simply indicates that when I play MM my contribution to the raid's dps is higher.

Toravon the Icewatcher (BM)



Lord Marrowgar (BM)



Lady Deathwhisper (BM)



Deatbringer Saurfang (MM)

When I switched to MM for this fight my DPS and positioning on the meters was much higher. Only one other ranged dps did better. The top five are all melee who go to stay on the boss the entire fight (I hate these guys) while I helped with adds. Also, we added another MM hunter for this fight (he's the on the bottom with the 7177.9 dps).



Festergut (MM)

On this fight the other hunter and I were the designated collapse points, so puking was the only thing interrupting our dps (definitely nice work if you can get it).



Stinky (BM)

I've included Stink because I've done over 10K on him before, and it's the only fight where I was BM and the other hunter was MM. My dps was good, but he pretty much cleaned my clock.



All and I feel that BM can definitely put out DPS and be a major contributer to a raid's success. As far as me continuing to raid as BM, I think it can best be summed up by my beer of choice for this experiment - Brooklyn Lager.


Good BM Hunting! Fuggedaboutit!

ICC Tips: Sindragosa's Icy Grip

Our 10-man raid team is working on Sindragosa. The other night, I ran into some trouble with the Icy Grip/Blistering Cold mechanic. I can't tell you how frustrating it was, especially since my issues began on the latter attempts.

Icy Grip/Blistering Cold is an annoying mechanic that needs to be handled consistently. Hunter's have some good options at their disposal that not only help themselves, but can aid the raid (ooh, this could be my new mantra).

Icy Grip / Blistering Cold

Icy Grip - Extend tendrils of frigid wind to pull all nearby enemies to the caster (think Cyanigosa from Violet Hold).

Blistering Cold - Deals 30000 Frost damage to enemies within 25 yards (this is for 10-man normal, it only gets worse from here).

Every so often she'll pull the raid to her using Icy Grip. You then have five seconds to get 25 yards away before she casts Blistering Cold and effectively one-shots you. There are a couple of ways that hunters can handle this.

Method One - Just Run Out

1. This option requires that you simply not suck. You get pulled in, you turn around, and you run out. This worked just fine for me on many an attempt, but somewhere along the line it became less effective so I began to look for other options. Behold, method two.

Method Two - Disengage/Aspect of the Pack

1. Believe it or not Sindragosa's Frost Aura does not trigger the daze effect of our movement Aspects. Ka-Ching! When I get pulled in, I jump disengage to get some distance, and then pop Aspect of the Pack and run. Just remember to turn Aspect off as soon as she's done casting. Obviously Cheetah will work, but why not help raid, eh?


2. I've read that you if you disengage while she's pulling you in you'll drop to the ground, and may not have to run out as far. I've been too scared to risk a death, so I haven't tried it yet.

Sadly, Deterrence does not work against Blistering Cold. I tried it and got crushed.

What sort of things do you like to do that make this mechanic and/or this encounter easier? I'd love to know.

Good Hunting!

Things We're Not Writing About

We're busy today. Application deadline is looming and we've got a lot of coding to do. Therefore we're not going to write about last night's ICC (10) Sindragosa attempts.

We're not going to write about how nice it was to see our raid leader playing a ranged toon instead of a tank.

We're not going to write about how we enjoyed watching him fail at Icy Grip/Blistering Cold after chastising us about it a couple of nights earlier.

We're not going to write about how he busted our chops for failing to remove stacks of Mystic Buffet and then couldn't get them off himself.

And we're definitely not going to write about how he probably helped us turn a corner with strategy and that we expect to get her down next time we go back in.

Would've been a fun post though.

You Lost Me At It Costs Emblems

In episode 22 of the Hunting Party Podcast we answered an e-mail from a listener asking  if they should save their emblems to buy four pieces of T10 or get the Herkuml War Token. The answer we gave was to acquire the four pieces of T10, and every other badge piece first.

Prior to patch 3.3's release we took a good hard look at all of the gear that was coming out, and what would reasonably be available to us based on the content we'd be running.

We gave the Herkuml War Token a lot of consideration and even took one out for a test drive recently (you can buy one and return it).

The gating issue for us was not its performance, but that we were running ICC (10) and ICC (25) and likely to get Whispering Fanged Skull and Deathbringer's Will (both superior items). The trinket also costs emblems, and the list of badge gear that we prioritized above this trinket was quite extensive. Let's take a look,

1. Ahn'Kahar Blood Hunter's Spaulders (purchased)
2. Ahn'Kahar Blood Hunter's Tunic (purchased)
3. Recovered Scarlet Onslaught Cape (purchased)
4. Logsplitters (purchased)
5. Primordial Saronite for a pair of Rock-Steady Treads (we bought three with badges and a couple from the AH).
6. Ahn'Kahar Blood Hunter's Headpiece (purchased)
7. Ahn'Kahar Blood Hunter's Handguards (not purchased and will only buy if Toravon refuses to cooperate).
8. Band of the Night Raven (not purchased, and may not get).
9. Herkuml War Token (not purchased and no longer needed).

The first three items and the boots are ones that we may very well be taking into Cataclysm. The Logsplitters and Band of the Night Raven will be replaced once we have four pieces of 264 T10, and that may take a while.

Now in the course of gathering our badges we killed Lady Deathwhisper ten times and she dropped Whispering Fanged Skull twice. We killed Deathbringer Saurfang nine times he dropped Deathbringer's Will five times.

Had we purchased a Herkuml War Token it would now be replaced and we'd be sixty badges behind where we want to be. So while the math may show that the Herkuml War Token is surprisingly good, for us, as a gear choice, it was surprisingly bad.

If you're running ICC 10/25 then we recommend patience as these trinkets do drop. If you're not running ICC, that probably means you're running heroics in which case the fights are too short, and badges are in such short supply that it doesn't justify getting it either.

Bottom line, think long and hard about this trinket, and try before you buy.

We Want a Tier Token

It’s raid night tonight. Not only is it raid night, but it’s Tuesday which means a fresh ICC (25) run. Tonight we will clear through Festergut, and possibly Rotface if everyone is on their game.

The number of items we need off the first four bosses is exactly two; a tier token and another tier token.

We use a DKP system and by my count there are five individuals (Warrior, Hunter, Shaman) ahead of us in points. Some are a little ahead, and some could buy two tokens and still be nipping at our heels in points.

If one drops we’re not getting it. If two drop we’re not getting it. I don't know how we're going to get out of this one.

We want a tier token.

The Lich King Doesn't Have a Daughter

For if he did, he'd surely have a shotgun stowed somewhere in that giant citadel of his.  Loot from the Lich King can now be found on the Armory and on sites such as Wowhead.com.

Despite that fact that there is not gun in ICC (25), the Lich King does have some nice things for us.  Once again the crossbow and the polearm are king.

Lich King Hunter Goodies

25-Man

• Fal'inrush, Defender of Quel'thalas - Once again hunters will be carrying an x-bow into the next expansion.


• Oathbinder, Charge of the Ranger-General - Two gem slots and Crit, Ap, and ArP.  Sweet, sweet weapon.

10-Man

• Windrunner's Heartseeker


• Tainted Twig of Nordrassil

It's weird, ICC (10) has a bow, gun and crossbow.  Odd that ICC (25) should not.  Too bad Arthas and Jaina didn't have a little more time together.

Good Hunting!

Giving Her All She's Got

Scotty: "I'm giving her all she's got, Captain!"

Kirk: "All she's got isn't good enough!  What else have you got?"

_

Last night our raid team attempted Festergut (25).  Nine attempts in all, and at the end of the night he was still standing. It wasn't a total waste of effort and we did reach the point where it was the enrage timer that was killing us. Two attempts had him at 7% and 6%.

I felt pretty good about how I was doing.  Nobody was complaining, and my dps was well within the range it needed to be, but the boss wasn't going down. The raid leader was also getting antsy, telling us we needed to step it up (naturally it was in that non-constructive way, like when a track coach tell his runners they need to run faster).

Now on Star Trek it's usually some dramatic, risky, untested, unconventional and highly theoretical solution that saves day.  In WoW those opportunities rarely present themselves.  Nope, we have to dig deep to find that extra bit of healing or dps that's needed to get the job done.  We have to keep doing what we're already doing, only we have to do it better.

Below are a couple of attempts both resulting in wipes due to the enrage timer.  I can't remember what percentage we had him to in the first attempt, but it wasn't one of the 6% or 7% attempts I mentioned in the beginning.  I do know that on the final one we got him to 6%.

Festergut Enrage Wipe I

Festergut Enrage Wipe II

As you can see my dps went up quite a bit in the second attempt.  Now there are many factors that can result in fluctuating DPS numbers. Procs, buffs, debuffs and the RNG will all lead to a variance.  Still though, adjustments (even tiny ones) also play a part.

After each attempt I try to evaluate my performance.  I sit back and ask myself questions such as,

• Am I economizing on my movement, firing instants and pausing for auto shots?
• Am I maximizing my GCDs? Perhaps I'm firing a Steady Shot when Chimera or Aimed are up (old BM habits die hard sometimes).
• Am I using Readiness and Rapid fire correctly?
• Am I recasting Serpent Sting the first time my T10 2-set bonus procs?
• Am I maximizing my cooldown stacking?
• Have I tried pre-potting a speed potion?
• I recently got some new gear, are my gems and enchants in order? Let's see I'm a JC and I'm using both of my allotted JC only gems. Both!? KHAAAANNNNNN!

Ultimately this is about attitude. It's very easy to sit back and blame the other guy saying, "My dps is fine, it's the lower half that needs to pick up their game." This may be true, but I can't play the other guy's toon.  I can only play mine, and I choose to be happy with how I play, but never satisfied. As the poet Robert Browning once wrote, "Ah but a man's reach should exceed his grasp..."

So my question to you is are you giving it all she's got, and is all she's got good enough, and if not, what else have you got?

Good Hunting! Live Long and Prosper!

Late Night Raiding

I'm tired and grumpy today.  One of the perils of being in a 25-man progression guild is that there is little or no time to run ICC (10).  When there is an ICC (10) run it's usually a late-night affair starting after 11pm server time, and ending at an hour that a working professional many years out of college has no business being awake.

Currently we raid 25-man ICC four nights a week.  We're not good enough to just plow through the place in two nights, so until we get our rears in gear we're committed to four nights.

Now I know what you're thinking, they're seven days in the week so that should leave three nights free for ICC (10). Well contrary to popular belief I do need to go outside occasionally and interact with other carbon based lifeforms.  The three non-raid nights don't lend themselves to raiding.

I'm mentally preparing myself for ditching ICC (10) or getting by with massive sleep deprivvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Note:  If you would like to create your own achievements you can go to http://worldofwarcraft.mmocluster.com.

MMQB: The Spore is Not the Bomb

Another raid week is in books (man these go by quick) so here is my weekly round-up of events and happenings in my little pond.

Our 25-man progression did its usually four-boss kill in ICC.  We're very close to having that first wing on farm status.  In fact, we managed to get the I've Gone and Made a Mess (25) achievement.  I guess we weren't as far off from getting that as I thought.  I still have some doubts about our strategy (post incoming at some point), but it has worked two weeks in a row now.

Clearing the first four bosses meant we got to spend some time on the new bosses.  I was very optimistic about our chances, but we were shut-out by both Festergut and Rotface.  We spent the majority of our time on Festergut.

The good news is that Festergut is a very simple fight for hunters.  Just stay spread out, dps like mad, and get inoculated.  That's it.  One thing to note is that all of the gas damage is shadow and not nature.  Please refuse any and all requests to use Aspect of the Wild in this fight.

Also, the spore that appears over players' heads is not a bomb.  Please stop running away when you get this, it's not helpful.

Gear Watch

I've finally got enough DKP to cause some trouble.  I don't have enough to win anything, but I can influence the bidding and minimum buy out price on items (post incoming at some point).

Items I didn't Get

• Zod's Repeating Longbow (I don't suppose it will drop three weeks in a row?)
• Snowserpent Mail Helm (don't really need/want anyway).
• Protector's Mark of Sanctification x2 (It doesn't make the shoulders I've got.  It's makes the shoulders I've got better).

Items I did Get

• Reins of the Green Proto-Drake (finally).

I did the first four bosses in ICC (10) this week and absolutely nothing I could use dropped.  It was abysmal.

Ten Things I'm Thinking About

1. I did a Baron mount run for fun.  No mount, but regular Stratholme feels more like going back in time than CoS does.
2. I finished the week 500 rep. points short of revered for the Ashen Verdict.  It was just that kind of week.
3. We're adding TotGC (25) to our raid schedule.  I've got a bad feeling about this.
4. A lot of people like to click accept on the calendar invite and then not show up.  Weird.
5. Rumor has it that Cataclysm Alpha is starting.  That means somewhere out there is a hunter using focus.  I'm scared.
6. Our guild needs to clamp down on the ICC (10) alt. runs.  It's taking time and players away from completing main runs.
7. My dungeon finder only seems capable of finding Halls of Stone.
8. I'm giving MM another go.
9. Things die so fast in heroics (even the bosses) that it's not a great place to get used to MM.
10. I want to go home now, so that's number 10.

Good Hunting!

Waltzing Matilda

Okay, I recently discovered that you don't have to form a raid group and enter the Icecrown Citadel raid instance to purchase your T10 gear.  There's a cute little dwarf in Dalaran who will be happy to take your emblems and tokens and hand you your T10.

Matilda Brightlink is a mail armor merchant and she can be found in the armor shop between the fishing fountain and the South Bank in Dalaran.  This is the same shop where we purchased our other tier gear.  Why the same dwarf, who we've been going to this whole expansion, couldn't sell the T10 is beyond me, but there you go.

Have a great weekend folks!

Lady Deathwhisper Must Die!

This is the second boss in Icecrown Citadel and the first one that has that we're not in Kansas anymore feel to it.  Stuff you can't stand in, adds, mind control, crowd control, focused fire; this fight has it all.

I won't go so far as to say you've hit a wall with this one (I'll save that for Deathbringer Saurfang), but it will serve as your first real test in Icecrown Citadel (even with the recent nerf).

Our strategy for 10 and 25-man are vastly different.  In 10-man the entire raid gets up on stage behind the boss.  All of phase one is conducted in this area.  When the adds spawn we start to dps them down as they make their way to the stage.  We just found that it was easier to contain things and keep everyone in range doing it this way.

For the 25-man encounter we like to split up our raid into groups.  We have a group handling the adds on the left, a group handling adds on the right.  We assign a tank to the add in the back and rotate in a dps to handle the back add based on the type of add that spawns.  We also have two dedicated dps on the boss for all of phase one.  Sadly, I'm not one of them.

Instead of that cushy job, I am given the following assignments,

1. DPS the mana shield when there are no adds up.
2. DPS the adds that spawn to the right-side of the boss.  The right side always has two adherents and one fanatic.
3. DPS any remaining adds after our group's add are dead.
4. Backup CC on the mind control.  Mages and Shamans are primary on this for our group.
5. Watch my darn threat in phase two.
6. Don't stand in the Death and Decay.
7. Avoid the ghosts that are spawned in phase two.

Phase I - Handling the Adds

In phase one the goal of the raid is to DPS down Lady D's mana shield.  Once the shield is down you can engage Lady D directly and burn her down.  For Lady D in phase one you should,

• Put your pet on the boss.
• Use Serpent Sting unless you need mana and then use Viper Sting (a couple of these can really keep you out of viper for the whole fight).

There are two types of adds that spawn, fanatics and adherents.  The left side will always spawn two fanatics and one adherent, and the right side will always spawn two adherents and one fanatic.

My raid puts me in a group to handle adds on the right side.  We like to burn down the adherents first and I always MD adds to the tank.  Normal versions of the fanatics and adherents can be killed by anyone.  Lady D, however, likes to empower, reanimate them and more.  You need to pay special attention to when this happens as the adds will become immune to certain types of damage.  If you're not careful you can find yourself wasting precious mana and cool downs on the wrong type of mob.

The recommended kill priority for adds is,

1. Deformed Fanatic - They can't be tanked, must be kited, and must burned down pronto!  They are the most dangerous.
2. Empowered Adherents - Cast AoE spells and cannot be interrupted.
3. Reanimated Adherents - Immune to magical damage, should be handled by physical DPS classes.
4. Cult Adherents - Although these are just the normal mobs they cast Curse of Torpor which increases the cool down on abilities by 15 seconds.  It can and must be decursed; it's best not to keep these guys around.
5. Reanimated Fanatics - Immune to physical damage and should be handled by magic classes.
6. Cult Fanatics - They do a bunch of melee stuff.

Phase II - The Money Phase

For hunters we don't need to do a whole lot. Keep Misdirects up on the tanks as Lady D will cast Touch of Insignificance which reduces the target's threat. If you're not careful you can draw aggro very fast here.  Also, she will spawn ghosts that just need to be avoided.  They can't be killed and will eventually explode for a lot of damage.  If you're being chased by one, please don't run towards people.

Mind Control

Throughout the entire fight Lady D will occasionally mind control a player.  Standard MC rules apply here.  Crowd Control them, and don't kill them.  I repeat, no matter how much you hate the person, don't kill them.  We usually have a mage and shaman ready to take care of this, but as you know, Hunters can fill this role too.  Keep that Freezing Arrow at the ready.

Thing a Hunter Might Want

This is some of the better hunter loot available to us.  The trinket is great, the legs are better than our T10, and the Zod's bow is as good as it gets for now (in fact I've seen it drop twice now and still don't have it :( ).

Item	iLevel	Item Type	Slot	Source
Njordnar Bone Bow	251	Bow	Ranged	10-man
Whispering Fanged Skull	251	Trinket	Trinket	10-man
Zod's Repeating Longbow	264	Bow	Ranged	25-man
Leggings of Northern Lights	264	Mail	Legs	25-man

Don't Take My Word for It - Resources and Other Guides

• Tank Spot - Lady Deathwhisper
• Warcraft Hunters Union - Lady Deathwhisper Hunter Strats in ICC
• OutDPS - Hunting Lady Deathwhisper
• Stabilized Effort Scope - Icecrown Citadel: Dear Deathwhisper, damage immunities suck

Professor Putricide

[EDIT: Kripparrian has created a how-to-Putricide video on his youTube site. I've update this post and embedded the link. It's not a hunter specific video per se, but it describes the fight well and does give you the hunter perspective.]

"Not entirely stable. I'm glad you're here to tell us these things. Chewie! Take the Professor in back and plug him into the hyperdrive!" - Han Solo, The Empire Strikes Back

All indications are that we'll see the next wing of Icecrown Citadel open up today.  That means three new bosses, and potentially more badges and loot.

The final boss in the wing is Professor Putricide.  Raid teams will have ten attempts per week to get him down.  If you wipe on all your attempts you'll have to wait until the next raid reset to try again.

Unfortunately not a lot is known about this encounter.  He appeared on the PTR once and was horribly bugged.  That being said we aren't devoid of information either.

Below are some links to potential strategies.  It should be enough information to start you on the road to ten meaningful wipes (this of course assumes you get that far).

Good Hunting!

This video was created by Kripparrian.  You can watch this and other videos on his youTube channel.

• Tank Spot
• StratFU Pre-release strategy
• MMO Champion
• Wowhead

MMQB: New and Shiny

Happy New Year everyone! I'm one week into life with my new guild.  I've seen new content, defeated new bosses, made new friends, and even gotten some new loot.  It was a very good week, and I feel good about my decision to change guilds.

New Bosses

We cleared the first four bosses in ICC (25).  Lady Deathwhisper, the Gunship, and Deathbringer Saurfang were all guild firsts.  I suspect that Lady D will continue to give us fits.  I'm not convinced that we've mastered the adds on this fight yet.  The Gunship battle is just a fun fight, and was instant farm for us.  Saurfang gave us all kinds of trouble, but I think we may have found something that works for us.

I also anticipate that we'll get three new bosses this week.  I haven't spent a lot of time researching them, but as soon as I'm done with this post, I'm heading over to Tankspot.  I can't wait to get back into ICC this week.

New Strategy

We spent all of Wednesday evening wiping on Saurfang.  Ten wipes in total. Sunday we dusted ourselves off and five attempts later I was watching Deathbringer's Will go to someone other than me.

We watched the videos, read the various strats, and in the end, here's what worked for us.  The tanks dragged him off the steps and tanked him in the center of the room.  This gave the raid ample room to spread out stay out of each other's space.  Instead of a semi-circle we made a full circle around him. It made handling the adds a little tougher, but it greatly reduced the Saurfang's Blood Power gains from Blood Nova.  It took him a lot longer to get his second mark than all of our previous attempts (we were still a long way off from getting I've Gone and Made a Mess).

I had my doubts that this would work, but it did.

New Gear I Got

• Ahn'Kahar Blood Hunter's Spaulders
• Saurfang's Cold-Forged Band

New Gear I Didn't Get

• Whispering Fanged Skull (I rolled a three).
• Zod's Repeating Longbow (not enough DKP).
• Deathbringer's Will (not enough DKP).

Ten Things I'm Thinking About

1. I'm still at that point where I'm more excited about clearing content and less concerned about loot.  I don't expect that to last long.
2. I finally started doing some gear planning.  If you go for the four piece T10 bonus, there are some nice pieces of gear you won't have :(
3. The Hunter T10 pants look to be the worst of the set.
4. I bought the T10 shoulders with emblems.  This means they'll probably be a drop off of the new VoA boss when he's released.
5. I'm probably going to get the T10 gloves next.  This means they'll also be a drop off of the new VoA boss, and he'll be released shortly after I buy them.
6. 5-man heroic trash is so irrelevant.  Please don't complain when I just choose to volley it down (the new 5-mans are excluded from this).
7. Triumph Badges are a great source of epic gems. Too bad, I'm tired of running heroics.
8. The same people on my realm continue to list the new ammo in 100 stacks at 1000 stack prices.  I guess people must be buying it. /sigh.
9. Gear scores are starting to climb, making it more and more irrelevant again.
10. My new raid schedule conflicts with new season of Lost.  I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

Good Hunting!

Lord Marrowgar Must Die!

The focus on this guide will be tactics for hunters as we face one of the coolest looking bosses in the game.  This is a really simple fight for hunters.  If you have your raid awareness switched on you should do just fine in this fight.

That Thing You Do

During this encounter we will be doing four basic things,

1. Dodging single lines of Cold Flame that Marrowgar shoots out on the ground (it will be targeted at a player).
2. Freeing players trapped in Bone Spike Graveyard.  One in 10 and three in 25.
3. Avoiding damage from Marrowgar during Bone Storm.  He targets a player, lands, shoots out Cold Flame in four directions.  He does this four times each Bone Storm.
4. MD Marrowgar back onto the tank after Bone Storm has ended.  His aggro resets after each Bone Storm.

It's the Little Things

This fight in particular is about positioning and movement.  You wan't to be spread out, but you don't want to be so spread out that you have to run to dps bone spikes.  Likewise, you don't want to be so grouped up that you are in melee range of a bone spike.  You also don't want to be so grouped up that you're constantly dodging cold flames.

You'll notice that as soon as you enter Marrowgar's room you'll be in range to attack.  The further out from him you are the more time you'll have to dodge the Cold Flame.

People have tendency to spread out in three dimensions on this fight.  This means you'll have people in front, behind and to the left and right of you.  The player that's bone spiked might be right behind you.

If possible you should try to free any players that have the misfortune to be stuck in a bone spike and cold flame at the same time.  If players are still bone spiked when bone storm begins, continue to dps them out.  Please don't leave them hanging.  A simple macro can make targeting the bone spikes super easy.

/tar bone

During the whirlwind phase don't panic.  He doesn't hit that hard so you can get out of the way and continue to dps him at the same time.  Don't was a lot of dps doing any unnecessary running around.

Don't MD too soon before Bone Storm ends, or you'll find Marrowgar making a bee line to you after his whirlwind is over.

As hunters we're more than capable of bringing the DPS hammer down on this guy.  Once you get comfortable with the mechanics of this fight you should strive to economize on your movement and maximize your DPS.

Good Hunting!

Things a Hunter Might Want

Item	iLevel	Item Type	Slot	Source
Linked Scourge Vertebrae	251	Mail	Waist	10-man
Snowserpent Mail Helm	264	Mail	Head	25-man
Band of the Bone Colossus	264	Misc.	Finger	25-man

Don't Take My Word for It - Resources and Other Guides

• Tankspot - Icecrown Lord Marrowgar
• Stabalized Effort Scope - Icecrown Citadel:  how i mine for marrowgar
• Warcraft Hunter's Union - Lord Marrowgar Hunter Strats in ICC
• Boss Killers - Lord Marrowgar Strategy Guide
• StratFu - Lord Marrowgar

Patch 3.3: Slow and Steady

It's here!  The march to Icecrown Citadel is over and the march on Icecrown Citadel has begun.  At least it will be once the servers come back up.

While I'm as excited as the next guy to logon and start hitting this new content, I also realize that this whole process is going to be somewhat of a long haul.

Here are some things I want but have to wait for.

• New Ammo
  
  • It's tied to the Ashen Verdict reputation and Engineers will need to have honored rep. to purchase the patterns.
  • The patterns can be purchased for one Primordial Saronite (the new Crusader Orb).
  • Primordial Saronite will drop from bosses in ICC or can be purchased for 23 Emblems of Frost.
  • Even if you're a raiding Engineer, don't expect to see this in-game anytime soon.
  
  
• New Gear
  
  • There's a lot of great stuff available to us in this patch.  Since this is the final patch before Cataclysm the itemization on everything is great (lots of red and yellow sockets, agility bonuses, and more of the stats we want and less of the stats we don't want).
  • It's going to take time to get.  The Ashen Verdict has rings for us once we have friendly rep. with them, but it looks like it could take while to get that reputation built up.
  • The new badge gear is also going to take some time to get.  First the items are more expensive and second there aren't that many sources for getting Emblems of Frost.
  • You'll definitely want to do the random daily and the weekly raid quests to build up those badges.

Things you can do while the servers are down:

• Gear Planning
  
  • MMO-Champion and Wowhead both have a nice list of the known Patch 3.3 gear.
  • Femaledwarf.com also lists these new items so you can start plugging things in and seeing what are upgrades.
  • There are lots of fun decisions to make.  For instance, do we save badges and spend them on T10 (ilevel 251) or get badge gear (ilevel 264).

• Icecrown Citadel Raid Instance Study
  
  • Over on the right-side I have a box titled Icecrown Citadel.  There you will find information on the first four bosses released today.
  
  

Update your Addons

• The servers don't have to be up and running for you to update your addons.  You can save yourself some time starting this now.

Well that's about it for now.  With any luck we'll have episode 16 of the Hunting Party Podcast out to you today.

Happy Hunting!

ICC Preview: Deathbringer Saurfang

This is real simple, if you don’t want to know squadoosh about the Icecrown Citadel raid then don’t bother reading this article.  My definition of a spoiler, however, is going into a raid encounter not knowing what to do, so I’ve been doing a little homework on the first four bosses that will be available when patch 3.3 is released.

Today’s article is about Deathbringer Saurfang, the fourth boss you’ll face.

There wasn't a whole lot of testing done on this encounter, so any strategies are very preliminary at this point.  The video floating around is of a failed attempt.  That being said, it looks like Hunters may play an important role in this encounter.

During the encounter some very dangerous adds will constantly spawn and it looks like they'll need to be handled by ranged dps.  Frost traps, Distracting Shot, and kiting might all come into play here.  The goal is not only to kill the adds, but to make sure nobody gets hit by them. There are a ton of things that can happen that will heal the boss in this encounter.

This fight may end up being a lot like the Gluth encounter in Naxxramas.  It could be very easy or extremely hard.  In Gluth, if the back of the room couldn't control the Zombie Chow then you'd fail miserably.  If they could then it was a very easy fight.  I suspect that the Deathbringer Saurfang encounter will have a similar feel to it.

Resources

• Wow.com article
• Tank Spot Pre-guide

My Thought for Hunters

• Hunters will play a very big role in this fight.  This may be our moment to shine outside of the meters.
• We'll have to constantly lay down our frost traps to keep the adds slowed.
• We'll need to dps and kite the adds.
• We may need to keep distracting shot at the ready to peel off adds from other players.
• Two hunters may be needed, and those hunters may have to coordinate with each other during the encounter.
• If there's one fight I'd choose to study it's this one.

Loot

Things a hunter might want.

Item	iLevel	Item Type	Slot	Source
Hauberk of a Thousand Cuts	251	Mail	Chest	10-man
Saurfang's Cold-Forged Band	251	Miscellaneous	Finger	10-man
Bloodvenom Blade	264	Sword	One-Hand	25-man
Deathbringer's Will	264	Miscellaneous	Trinket	25-man

ICC Preview: Gunship Battle

This is real simple, if you don’t want to know squadoosh about the Icecrown Citadel raid then don’t bother reading this article.  My definition of a spoiler, however, is going into a raid encounter not knowing what to do, so I’ve been doing a little homework on the first four bosses that will be available when patch 3.3 is released.

Today’s article is about the Gunship Battle, the third encounter you’ll face.

I've got one word for this one - Jetpacks!  Between that and my Hand-Mounted Pyro Rocket I move closer to becoming Boba Fett every patch, but I digress. This Gunship Battle has the makings to be one of the most fun encounters in the game.  I enjoyed the vehicle encounter in Ulduar, I think this will blow that away.

Basically the raid will be split into two main groups: Ship Defenders and Boarding Party.  The breakout of the groups will be similar to Thorim in Ulduar.  The ship defenders are your AOE specialists and the boarding party are your strong single target dps.  As hunters we can probably be in either group. The boarding party gets to use the jetpack so I will stage my own mutiny fly there regardless of my assigned group.

Also some raid members will get to man the ship's cannons which will be key in destroying the enemy ship.

Anyway check out the video and read through the available strategy information and get ready for Icecrown.

My Thoughts For Hunters

• The adds on the enemy ship are great for single target DPS.  This means we will likely get to use our jetpacks and fly over to the enemy vessel.

Resources

• Wow.com article
• Tank Spot Gunship Battle Pre-Guide

Loot

Things a Hunter might want.

Item	iLevel	Item Type	Slot	Source
Icecrown Rampart Bracers	251	Mail	Wrist	10-man
Pauldrons of Lost Hope	251	Mail	Shoulder	10-man
Scourge Hunter's Vambraces	264	Mail	Wrist	25-man

ICC Preview: Lady Deathwhisper

This is real simple, if you don’t want to know squadoosh about the Icecrown Citadel raid then don’t bother reading this article.  My definition of a spoiler, however, is going into a raid encounter not knowing what to do, so I’ve been doing a little homework on the first four bosses that will be available when patch 3.3 is released.

Today’s article is about Lady Deathwhisper, the second boss you’ll face.

Please note that this is just one of three videos that folks over at Tank Spot recommended for viewing.

Unlike Marrowgar this fight is going to be a real test.  It's all about getting to Phase II.  Phase I looks like a real cluster with lots of adds running around.

Crowd control will be useful (especially priest's Shackle ability).  Also focused targeting of certain adds will be important.  Players will get mind controlled and will need to be CC'd when that happens.  All of these things are part of Phase I.  If you make it to phase two the fight becomes more or less a tank and spank.

Resources

• Tank Spot Pre-Guide

My Thoughts for Hunters

• Phase I requires a ranged tank, but I do not think Hunters will be used to fill this role.
• We'll be trying to burn down her mana shield.
• We'll be DPSing adds
• We may have to help with CC on both adds and MC targets.
• Oh and stay out of the green stuff.

Loot

[EDIT: Since I published this article MMO-Champion updated their database with items from this boss]

Item	iLevel	Item Type	Slot	Source
Handgrips of Frost and Sleet	251	Mail	Hands	10-man
Njordnar Bone Bow	251	Bow	Ranged	10-man
Leggings of Northern Lights	264	Mail	Legs	25-man