Casual vs Hardcore: TotC vs Ulduar

The other day, I managed to talk my way into my second PuG for Trial of the Grand Crusader 10 (ie the heroic version of the raid).

We managed to make it all the way up to a near-kill on Twins before someone DCed and didn't come back - 39/50 attempts left on the clock; DPS was high enough to have a shot at Anub and possibly even A Tribute to Skill.

It got me thinking... everyone has their thoughts on why it's so easy to PuG raids now - fights aren't as hard as they were in 40man Naxx, gear is easy to get even just running heroics, it's easier to get 10 people together than 40, everyone in the game has just generally gotten better at staying out of fires.

Well, I do think it's a combination of all of these... but I also think it's mainly because of time investment.

Right now, the dungeons with the best gear are Onyxia's Lair, Trial of the Crusader and Trial of the Grand Crusader, as well as the Vault of Archavon. A wipeless run in each of these places takes maybe half an hour - well within the means of a previously "casual" player who can't afford to stay online for more than 2-3hrs at a stretch, including waiting time to actually form the group.

Hard mode Ulduar is now harder to get done than hard mode TotC, even with everyone wearing better gear, simply because no-one wants to run a dungeon that takes so long.

Whilst I agree that TotC is nowhere near as fun as some of the other raids (I can certainly understand the raider burnout from guilds being in the same room for 3-4hrs a week clearing all 4 versions of TotC), I do think that Blizzard did a very good job of catering to casuals this time around, which is a good thing from my point of view.

It's nice not to have to spend too much time in a dungeon for the one boss that drops your upgrade, and it's definitely nice not to have to spend too long sitting in LFG for the group to form up!

Roast hunter

Something I found randomly this morning:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGlLEbbpe6Y

Careful, PvE servers.... that roast turkey on the ground could just be a flagged and feigning hunter!

Yogg can Hunter

For the uninitiated, Rapid Fire is on a 5min cooldown (untalented) and one of our most important DPS boosters in a fight... figures Yoggy would want to waste that one first!

(For the setup - someone in my raid accidentally started the fight when I had only just zoned into Ulduar; I immediately went insane while still mounted at Expedition Base Camp)

Didn't stand a chance

If you, like me, are having problems getting this Achievement, I think I've figured out the best way to go about it:

1. Try and enter Wintergrasp at a time of day when the opposing faction has as few stacks of Tenacity as possible. If you're on Proudmoore-US where Oceanic Horde are almost non-existant, this means do it when the Yanks are still awake, preferably on the weekend.

2. Enter Wintergrasp before the battle starts and get ready to claim a cannon. Don't bother entering a tower beforehand, as you'll likely get ported out. However, do mount up - you'll have a few seconds before you get knocked off your flying mount to fly into position.

3. Try to get a fairly central cannon - I usually like either the middle guns (if Horde are likely to get a couple of walls down) or one of the tower ones.

4. Even if there is absolutely no action on your side of the keep, don't give up your cannon. Yes, this may mean you get stuck with less honour, zero HKs and therefore less than 3 tokens for a win at the end, but if you give up your gun someone else can and will take it.

5. Try and predict where your target will move to when you fire. This is especially important when they're far away (and if you have the dreaded Oceanic latency) - if you fire directly at them, they'll have moved on.

And finally,

6. Fire randomly into crowds, at vehicles, at popular paths and at the workshops whether you can see any mounted players there or not - you might get lucky.

I'm jinxed

4th PuG for 25man Trial of the Crusader that managed to get past Twins but not Anub, even though most guilds would probably consider Anub to be easier than the previous bosses.

I probably wouldn't be half as annoyed if I didn't need the kill to even consider zoning in to 25man TotGC (the heroic version)... although I suppose I haven't seen many PuGs for that anyway. Still, I'd like to have the option at some point.... preferably before everyone starts ditching it for Icecrown.


(And before you tell me to get a guild, noob!, my guild is trying to recruit because we don't have enough for 25s right now... so I'm stuck with PuGging for the moment)

It's my boss' secretary, Eva

...It's my boss' whipping boy, Manny!