Forged Alliance

We rock.  We only wiped due to mistakes, we have the skill - the fights are doable, all we need is a little bit of polish and we'll be clearing far past this in less time.  Unfortunately we only have once a week to polish these fights.So lets continue this learning experience, please contribute any information you learned:MoroesTrust your CC'er.  We're better than this encounter, the two (?) times we wiped - heck, the only way we wipe is due to uncontrolled CC.  They can take a hit from the off mobs, no frost nova, taunt, stun - as you might either break the shackle or another -- and two hits = dead.The Big Bad WolfI think we should pull the wolf to the very left of the stage, giving people easier access to the "dodge zone" behind the house.  Also, if we keep DPSing through the chase - - I'll have to keep up my own threat and chase as well, so keep an eye on your threat meters and use that time to bandage or DPS up to a mark because we want his aggro back on the tank."The prepared raider" should stock some Limited Invulnerability Potions, those 6 seconds can give you a good head start away from the wolf.MONEY!!!!11ONE!Next time we do the Opera event, it should definately not be the last thing of the night -- right through that door on stage right leads up to the balconies where there are RICH mobs - Philanthropists.  10g per mob -- merciful Blizzard's way of paying our repair bill.  Mobs are linked to the Opera event, so they've despawned.Skeletal UshersMyrdinn has great burst aggro, the both of us fighting for aggro on the same mob I think he'd pull it.  That worked great on the single pull skeletal ushers, as he'd get tombed and I'd be able to hold aggro for pretty much the remainder.  Made me think that perhaps we should take advantage of this for the next time we fight them.  Perhaps try a rogue evasion tanking high DPS, he gets the tomb - tank has aggro immediately, and rogue can backstab merrily away with wiped aggro.   A thought ...

Nice post Mason. Here were my thoughts of what I saw go well vs. what we can improve upon:Moroes: As you said this fight is really about good CC. Shackling priests I think should always stand at max casting range (while being able to heal the raid). One thing I saw that was awesome was Hardwigg putting down traps at the feet of the priest in case the shackle breaks. For offtanking, I need to do fairly little to stay on 2nd place of the aggro list for when Chuunks is gouged. Helping out with the adds is where I need to improve. Throwing out an AOE heal, a cyclone, innervate, b-rez, etc is only useful if I time it correctly so I'm back in bear when I become Moroes's target. So I'm just trying to be more aware of that timing and have better situational awareness for helping out with the adds (not cycloning the dps target, etc)Big Bad Wolf: It's hard kiting. Worst problem seems to be when Chuunks gets turned into little red riding hood. I'm still thinking it may be better for me to OT and try to get in 2nd on threat. I will read up on this fight.AOE Pulls: Nice to have you mages with us. One thing I was doing that seemed to help was using a bear AOE taunt as the mobs approached. That's on a 6 min timer though, so I'd alternate pulls with a hurricane in front of the other AOE's, trying to get some of them to start beating on me in bear. So in case healers were wondering why I was grabbing aggro, that's what I was doing.Skeletal Ushers: With the 2 pulls it's probably best if I try to get on top of the threat, ensuring I get ice blocked, and Chuunks better defense can handle the 2 mobs beating on him. I may want to pull both with spells, get in a couple mangles, some lacerates on 2nd mob and this may go smoother. We did this great on the 2nd 2 pull. And speaking of defensive gear, I should have quite a bit better defensive gear next time I offtank this instance. We tried Heroic Ramparts last night, and although we cleared to the last boss (so close 2 times), my gear was showing it's holes. Basically I have tanking gear that has great armor and decent dps, but is lacking defense, dodge, and stamina. So that's where I'm concentrating now. Thankfully druids have a Defense talent that makes up for lack of defense gear on leather. With that talent maxed out, the magic number for druids is 415 defense. I currently have a 3% chance to be crit by a 73 elite boss which is causing problems. In case anybody is curious, here are some formulas for defense that are agreed upon in the druid forums:What to shoot for is [defense rating] / 60 + [resilience rating] / 39.4 >= 5.6 or ( [defense skill] - 350 ) / 25 + resilience rating] / 39.4 >= 5.6 You need 154 Defense Rating (== +65 Defense Skill) to virtually eliminate crits from a level 73 (boss) mob if you have 3/3 SotF. You need 331 Defense Rating to achieve it if 0/3 SotF. Defense past the 'uncrittable' level does help miss, dodge, etc, but not as much as AGI would be helping you

For Defense: Hardwigg, along with other leatherworkers I assume, can make armor kits that you can apply to Legs, Feet, Hands, and Chest that give +8 defense.  3 Heavy Knothide Leather and 1 Primal Earth.Skeletal Ushers: I think it's safe to assume the patch will be coming out this coming Tuesday, and once it does I hear those Ushers will be susceptible to CC.  So those shackles will make getting to the Opera much easier.Big Bad Wolf: I can't tell you how awesome it was to just Feign Death as Little Red Ridinghood.  It made things so much easier.  You should all learn to Feign Death.Moroes: Having 2 priests to shackle 2 of the elites was awesome.  We just have to protect them 'cause, you know, they wear cloth and the mobs usually get angry when they break shackle.

Big Bad Wolf: I can't tell you how awesome it was to just Feign Death as Little Red Ridinghood.  It made things so much easier.  You should all learn to Feign Death.

Remind me to slap you. Mention feign death again, and I'll summon you to Sanctum of the Stars again! Heh. Seriously though, having more people who could "escape" being little red riding hood being the ones who got it, did make the fight easier.

Probably key point #1 to that fight is just being aware of who's little red riding hood. More specifically, being aware when YOU are little red riding hood. Taking off running asap definitely improves your chances of making it through. Like Nick and I chatted about after the raid - you're going to get hit by the wolf, no matter what. The goal is really to just keep running so that you avoid getting hit by the wolf twice in a row. Running laps and being prepared in what to do when you're suddenly 'it' helped, also.

That's all I have, since I wasn't present for the first two fights. But let's get together tonight, and show that curator what we're really made of!

Ok, I'll learn to feign death, as soon as you learn to heal yourself!