Gate of the Setting Sun: Gold!

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Edit: Added more tips to this.

We got it!

Took us almost four hours but Gate of the Setting Sun isn’t the hardest of the Challenge Modes. It’s a good first instance to start with in getting your feet wet. Luckily, the hardest aspects of the instance occur in the first stretch. Your awareness is going to be stretched to the max here. Load yourself with the recommended Discipline talents and glyphs. Ensure your Void Tendrils are on your bar and ready to go as you’ll need them.

Gold – 13:00
Minimum – 25 enemies

These are the things you need to keep in mind:

  • Where the bombs are
  • How long before detonation
  • If your group is within the Line of Sight clouds

Make your way through to the boss. Keep Power Word: Barrier on standby along with Pain Suppression. Don’t be afraid to drop a Barrier at any point especially if the tank gets caught in a blast. Be aggressive with cooldowns. If you wipe here, it’s not a total loss. You’re still near the beginning. Expect to spend some time here until your group masters it.

Saboteur Kip’tilak should not present a significant threat once you get to him. It’s the bombs he throws out that can wreck your day. Not a big change from heroic mode.

When you’re finished with him, you’ll make your way along the way. Your tank will need to snag the Mantid that appear as the pandaren on the walls get overrun. As you cross the wall, you’ll notice Raigonn periodically charging into the door. If you can time it, it’s possible to avoid the stun. Jump right before he hits the wall and you’ll be able to keep moving. The next room after is going to be tricky. Make sure the Rager gets dropped first and burn your CDs as needed. Don’t stand in front of the Rager. After you get past them, you’ll run into a group of 2 Ragers and a Wind Shaper. You can burn down the Wind Shaper and use your Void Tendrils on the two Ragers. They’ll reset the moment your whole party gets on the elevator and begins moving up.

We found the biggest obstacle in our attempts was trying too hard to cut and shave off time. Ultimately, we were better off just taking it slightly slower but much more methodical. We did run into a few tough spots. The pull immediately after the gate in the little fortification is one of the hardest ones. Those Windshapers can really do a number on the tank. Our interrupts and stuns had to be spot on against them. I kept a Psychic Scream in reserve just in case (plus they’re great for interrupting incoming damage overall and giving some time to the healer to help them recover the group).

The actual bosses weren’t that much of a challenge themselves. Raigonn himself went by super fast after we destroyed the weak spot. I’m just happy my DPS was high enough to help secure that gold run.

After the run, we continued discussing our group and compositions. Ultimately, we decided that our resto shaman is better off switching to elemental and myself back to discipline. While I’m excited with the prospect of returning to healing again, a part of me is a little reluctant. It’s been a long time since I did any kind of demanding healing and I’m worried that I might not be at a level that’s good enough.

But screw it! I’ll figure this out.

Our team’s next target? Scholomance. They were able to snag silver a while ago. Let’s see if can go for the gold.

Preparing your Shadow Priest for Challenge Modes

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On Wednesday night, I was drafted for the guild’s challenge mode team. I was thinking to myself, “A Shadow Priest? Really? Our class DPS isn’t the best and I’m not sure if we’re considered optimal for this kind of stuff.”

As you can tell, I was hesitant. But I figured, why not? Priest challenge mode gear looks sexy (as evidenced by the video below).

Our composition’s going to be a little unorthodox. We plan to run a tanking Monk, Death Knight, Shadow Priest, Hunter, along with a Resto Shaman. The consensus is that the Shaman and myself should switch (with him Elemental and myself Disc). Seems as if we’re making things harder for ourselves, but we’re both interested in giving it a shot. If the times are that tight and we’re barely making it, we both have the skills and gear to make the changeup.

Going into challenge modes means I’d have to change out my glyphs, talents, and play style.

Talents

I took a hard look at my talents. Certain talents that were beneficial were raiding wouldn’t be as awesome in a 5 man Challenge mode environment.

Twist of Fate: With the amount of trash and stuff you’re killing in there, ToF will have a fairly high uptime. However, you’ll want to consider a respec to Power Infusion in any instances where you happen to have any available time leftover that allows for a respec.

Divine Star and Halo: I prefer Halo if the instance allows for it. Otherwise an instance like any of the Scarlet Monastary stuff means a poorly placed Halo will result in a ton of unwanted mobs pulled.

Desperate Prayer: Given the choice, the ability to control the heal of DP outweighs the automatic life saving capabilities of Angelic Bulwark.

From Darkness, Comes Light: I’ve considered switching to Mindbender. But I can’t seem to think of a situation where I’d want to use Mindbender over it just yet. Those of you who have gone into Challenge modes and have the experience, I’d greatly appreciate the insight.

Void Tendrils: For now, the AoE root gets the nod in case I need to freeze something in place. I’ve considered Psyfiend for selective CC (paired with the Psychic Scream Glyph. , but I’m not sure how much of that is going to be really needed since we plan to just blow stuff up.

Glyphs

Dark Binding is a big utility glyph. Anytime you’re on the run, you can shoot out a Renew or a Prayer of Mending and not have to expend the resources to switch back to Shadowform.

Offensively, I’ll use Glyph of Mind Spike because it offers excellent synergy with From Darkness, Comes Light. Chance to cast it instantly without it wiping away your DoTs and making the next Mind Blast instant is just plain sexy. You’ll run into instances like Scarlet Monastary where more of your time is spent casting Mind Sear. This was unfortunately patched out some time ago after Patch 5.2.0 was released. Thanks to the commenters for pointing that out!

The Vampiric Embrace glyph is my last selection. The extra healing is awesome and can buy time for your healer to catch up in the event of a particularly bad pull.

Consumables

Nothing much changes here. I still plan on running the same set of consumables that I would in a raid.

Potion of the Jade Serpent

Flask of the Warm Sun

Standard feasts

Stacks of Invisibility Potion

Playing

Our target dungeon that night was Gate of the Setting Sun. We were easily able to medal a bronze on the first try. We suffered two wipes but the first run through offered valuable insight into how to get through certain pulls. The first six or so bugs (with the bombs) caught me off guard. Our approach was to just stack up and attempt to dodge the Bomberman explosions and ended up getting clipped a few times (which were practically lethal). The two pull prior to the elevator building has to be skipped. We CC’d and ran right by them before engaging the elevator and just beating down the boss.

Overall, there’s lots of improvements we can make. We’ll be heading back in there tomorrow and won’t be leaving without that gold!

Have you participated in challenge modes? Have any useful tips or tricks?

Assuming Direct Control

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Hey everyone. I hope everyone’s had a wonderful Christmas holiday this past week. I myself received a gift of nasty flu-like symptoms. Managed to finish up some Omega (Mass Effect 3) DLC which I enjoyed.

You noticed I took a little impromptu break since the last time. The truth is I’ve been blindsided due to the sheer amount of responsibilities that landed. Let me give you a quick update on what’s been going on in my world.

Raid Boss Matty

Not exactly a position I expected to land. Though I’ve managed raids before, they continue to remain a challenge right from conception, strategy, and execution. It’s been difficult for me to pull off as a healer because I didn’t want to kill anyone. Since I’m Shadow now, me killing someone isn’t as likely (unless I purposely yank someone into the fire).

My former raid leader served a fine job in this capacity but came to me saying that he had to step down. I’m currently looking for some help in this department and seeing who shows the signs of being a possible leader for the future. So far, it’ll be me in the interim. I’ve never tried recruiting a raid leader specifically outside of the guild before. Usually they come up from within the ranks.

Y’know, if at the start of the expansion you told me that I was going to be playing Shadow and raid leading by Christmas, I would’ve called you crazy.

I’m not going to say I’m afraid but it’s definitely going to be a challenge to hold the responsibilities of a GM and as the raid boss. But we do what must be done. Actually, the only real thing that’s changed is grabbing all the strats out there, watching game footage, and turning it into something concrete we can consistently utilize. One of the big problems is that sometimes the strategy doesn’t always fit.

I already know what my biggest weakness is: It’s the ability to identify how we can adapt to the various obstacles we run against. Sometimes a player comes up with an idea or a strategy that I don’t think of until after the raid and I’m kicking myself for not thinking of it myself.

Luckily, I have a bright team of officers and players that just seem to recognize when I’m stuck. It’s as if I have a tell or something (and I’m not going to ever play poker with these guys).

Gamefront

I picked up a new gig in addition to my current ones.

You guys know I’m an avid player of League of Legends. Gamefront offered me a spot on their team as a beat writer covering the game and it’s related events. It’s a nice little writing break from Warcraft.

I want to go back to that GM and raid leading bit for a moment. There’s a piece of advice I’d like to share to anyone thinking about starting their own guild or raid group.

Keep your people at arm’s length.

Don’t get too attached to players because they come and go. And really, I should really take my own advice. I had one of my guys just disappear off the face of the earth shortly after American Thanksgiving. I’m at a complete loss as to what happened. This is a guy with multiple max level alts. To say it goes against his character is an understatement. We’ve had no communication at all.

Don’t get caught up in stuff like that. Otherwise you might end up like me with nights where you just wonder what the hell happened. Did he sell his account? Is he in a ditch somewhere? When I come across no-show situations on this kind of a scale, I need to remind myself to not get too close to anyone else I’ll get fraught with worry wondering what happens to people who just disappear. Players who transfer off? Eh, that’s their prerogative along with others that just quit the guild. It’s the ones who stop logging in without any notification that just give cause for concern of their well being.

I just hope the guy’s okay.

With 2012 rapidly coming to a close and 2013 days away, I want to share a secret resolution of mine that I’ve held. I came real close last year to landing a dream position with one of my favourite game development companies. I secured the in-person interview and was flown down for it. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to secure it. I resolve to try it again.

Devastated? Yeah. I was a shell of myself for the longest time. Kept beating myself up mentally and dragging myself down. Relived every moment. It took some time and some help but eventually I snapped out of it. I took a step back and re-examined everything objectively. I screwed up, but I came so close. Knowing what to expect means I can be more prepared the next time an opportunity like this comes around again.

Like in hockey, scoring chances don’t just magically happen. You have to generate the chances. Even if you don’t score on the first shot, sometimes it’s the second or third rebound that eventually nets the goal.

God this hockey lockout sucks.

Sometimes you just need to dream a little big. What’re your plans for 2013? What about your guild or your raid? And bloggers, congratulations to everyone that’s managed to keep blogging after the first year. I find the second year to be hard (years three and four, you’ve sort of built up a disciplinary habit).

Don’t give up.

Have a safe and happy New Year!

Where Personal Responsibility Begins and Guild Responsibility Ends

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“Could you expand on the “augments for players” section?  I’ve always been interested in the spectrum of policies from raiders get their own stuff to raid leaders getting all consumables, etc. for the raid.  Where do you stand on this?  Does it depend on where the power position is where raid leaders feel they have to provide for raiders or else they will go elsewhere vs raid leaders that have raiders to choose from and don’t mind telling raiders to be responsible for getting their own consumables / enchants?”

This is a solid question posed by wewhoeat in the comments section of my recent A Night in the Life of a GM post I wrote last week. There is a definitive line between what a player is responsible for and what a guild should look after. But this line naturally varies from guild to guild.

I notice a strong correlation between player performance and their ability to provide their own character improvements. In other words, the players who farm for their own materials or purchase their own augments tend to not die as much and will consistently perform well in their roles.

Why is that?

My own non-scientifically backed, non-peer revered theory on the subject is that the players who take the time and resources to improve their character have this mentality of personal improvement no matter the cost. It starts with taking care of their character. This character care then slowly translates into overall better play. My theory is that the more inclined a player is of maxing their character’s stats, the more inclined they are to maximize their play. It seems to help instil a sense of discipline. They’re spending thousands of their own gold to augment their character. Why not spend some more time referencing the information needed to play better? It shows me that they are heavily invested in their character and they’re not willing to wait around because they need to have that super awesome enchant right now.

Now let me answer wewhoeat’s question.

What is the player responsible for?

Blizzard has seeded Pandaria with a staggering amount of herbs. I often get sidetracked because I see those golden circles on my minimap and I just end up farming. In fact, I’ll end up watching Castle or Flashpoint for 40 minutes while lazily farming for herbs. Such a huge supply has made flask and potion generation extremely affordable. The Spirit of Harmony system makes it accessible to purchase 3 Golden Lotuses, as well as herbs like kratom near you.

Not everyone has an alchemist or herbalist alt. I encourage players to send their lotuses to an alchemist who can get this stuff created for them on the cheap. I’ve been slowly trying to encourage people to get their flasks and pots created after a raid. It was getting disruptive and irritating when players logged in requesting flasks and potions made when raid begins. Players should be responsible for at least supplying the herbs. The guild can get this stuff cranked out for them instead of paying the AH costs for flasks. The thing is, we need to do this stuff way before raid time (5 minutes before first pull is just cutting it and asking for it 10 minutes past raid start just merits a frown).

Feasts used to be something that the guild provided. But the way feasts were done this expansion seemed overwhelming at first. I can’t quite place my finger on it, but it seems like most players have enjoyed the farming and are providing feasts of their own stat. I’m seeing Pots, Grills, Steamers and other stuff placed down. It’s not all by one person either. It’s nice to see the guild pitching in on stuff like this because it’s overall one less responsibility I need to look after.

What is the guild responsible for?

In my eyes, the guild acts as a “safety net”. Not everyone has the cash flow or income to acquire 10 Sha Crystals for a weapon enchant. This is where I step in. We do receive a steady supply of disenchanted epics to help fuel our Sha Crystal demands plus whatever enchanting transmutes on a week to week basis and we can use those to help offset the cost. Overall, it’s in the leadership’s best interest to help provide them to the players that need them because it usually results in that extra DPS or healing that could (literally) be the difference between a 2% wipe and and a kill. Really expensive augments fall under here as well (Leg enchants, shoulder enchants).

However, I know there’s players who do extremely well on the auction house. They’re patient and are able to build up quite a fortune. These guys have no problems buying their own stuff. They’re also willing to donate and help replenish gold stores in the bank if we’re in a crunch.

In addition, guild repairs are covered. The guild challenges along with the rewards earned from kills help contribute to that. It’s effective for the funds gathered from the war chest to go back to the players that need them. But depending on raid activities, a guild may not be able to sustain repairs solely on the income gathered from raids. Thankfully there is an option to set a cap in place. Personally, I think the challenge rewards are due for an increase. The cost of raw mats and repairs seem to be going up but the challenge rewards have remained the same since last expansion (although, we did receive Scenarios to help offset that). Anyway, that’s a different topic for another day.

One would say that some of these policies are socialist.

But you know, Canadian.

Other guilds use different systems. Some lock down the bank. Others provide full access to everything. I’m not certain what differences a 10 man guild vs a 25 man guild would be when it comes to benefits. I imagine it’d be the same. If you look on recruiting forums for guilds, you’ll notice a common trend of raiding guilds providing flasks, feasts, enchants or a combination thereof. A recruit would expect that stuff at a minimum. This makes me wonder if the gradual change from players farming their own TUBERS in Felwood to the consumables on a silver platter have gradually shifted player mentality towards entitlements and the like. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t miss setting aside half a day to go farm TUBERs, Scholomance for Dark Runes, or creating a boat load of fire resist potions. Playing during vanilla gave me a whole new appreciation for the ease at which to access the resources we have today.

Now I’m curious. What benefits does your guild have in place? Do you agree with them?

A Night in the Life of a GM

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Inspire by Aunaka’s post on what a raid leader’s day looks like, I wanted to follow up with my own experiences on what a raid leader’s night looks like. You see, my responsibilities don’t immediately end after we kill the new boss. Once we get a progression kill down, a whole slew of other actions need to take place. This process could take anywhere from an hour to 2 hours depending on your guild.

  • Update  recruiting threads – We’re never finished recruiting. There’s about 5 or so threads on various forums and communities that have to be edited with a modified kill count.
  • Update rankings on WoW Progress and Guild Ox – Pressing the giant Update button which pulls your guild’s latest armory information to reflect the new kill and have standings updated.
  • Update the website to reflect kills – Involves uploading the kill screenshot and come up with some witty tagline on the front page. I’m not good at this.
  • Augments for players – This means handling a billion requests for gems, enchants, and other leg patches. A billion. Yes, literally. A billion.
  • Look up information for the next boss – Ensure the overall strategy is online on the forum with links to any additional resources and videos.
  • Write a recap post on the night – If there’s anything that needs to be tweaked and changed, this is where it goes.
  • Harvest and plant crops – I’ve got until midnight to plant as much stuff as I can across all my alts

I don’t mind though. The post raid process is a method to “decompress” from the raid. It’s important for players (especially GMs) to find a way to gradually destress themselves off a raid night. The duty is never over after a raid ends.