Friday, June 11, 2010

Down in the Deeps

I've continued my romp through the low level instances with Tomakan, hitting the Stormwind Stockades and Blackfathom Deeps last night.  Not having done the Stocks before, it was a pretty intense 15-20 minute run.  Luckily we were geared enough (and I had enough mana potions) that I didn't run into mana issues like I did in the Deadmines.

I actually was kicking myself after the Stocks run because I could have used some of those rings that dropped, but I was in my Northrend 5-man heroic mode and basically greeded everything.  I paid much closer attention in BD, but nothing I could have used dropped.

Blackfathom Deeps demonstrated that I miss my Blood Elf, at least in terms of judging distances between jumps.

It was embarrassing to be in a 5-man and miss the jump on the rocks not once, not twice, but three times.  I was cursing up a blue streak under my breath, suddenly grateful that I wasn't on Vent or anything.  But at least everyone stopped and waited for me while the big ol' lug finally jumped over the pattern of rocks.

I also had a Shaman in BD who, almost from the get-go, asked if I could handle this place and he could step in if I couldn't.  I kept assuring him that no, I was fine, but that all I missed was Cleanse for the dispelling the ice related debuffs from the nagas.  (I get it in the 30s, I think, so I have to get used to not having it for a while.)  In fact, the run was noticeable in that I don't think the tank's bar dipped below 50% more than once or twice until the final fights.  I didn't want to spam heal, so I typically waited until his health dropped enough that Flash of Light would have a full impact.  We also had some DPS that wanted to pretend they were the tank and pulled some of the trash, and I was surprised that the tank didn't call them out on it.  If I wasn't constantly watching the bars, I'd have said something, but really, the group could handle it.

That last boss fight with the Twilight's Hammer character, that was rough.  Not him per se, but the trash that flew to us after the fight ended.  A portion of them aggroed on me, and I was frozen in ice so I couldn't run to the tank.  Hand of Salvation didn't do diddly either, so I used Lay on Hands on myself and Hand of the Naaru on the tank, and hoped that when I freed up I wasn't watching a full party wipe in action.  After that initial onslaught, things settled down and we survived.

After the instance was over, the Shaman told me he healed a bit in that last fight.  Normally, I wouldn't have cared --I do that from time to time on Northrend 5-mans-- but for some reason that kind of irked me.  The entire run was pretty much a non-event until the final fight, and while it may not have been his intention, his comment came across with an "I told you so" attitude.  Perhaps it's my stubbornness in wanting to be perfect; on my first healing stint last fall, I used to take it as a blow to personal pride if the party wiped on my account, and I thought I did a decent enough job for the run.

Oh well.

A few things I learned:

  • Tanks can get lost.  The tank in BD got lost after the initial pulls.  "Where do I go now?" he asked.  "This is so not inspiring," one of the DPS said.
  • For a world tree, Teldrassil has a lot of smaller ones on top.
  • I can get used to the female Night Elves.  The males still don't look right, but the females are slowly growing on me.
  • I haven't seen a warlock since the Glimmer Twins in the Deadmines.  And I like it like that.
  • While I was waiting at the dock in Teldrassil, I was parked next to a Tauren DK.  The boat arrived, we got on.  The Alliance people getting off razzed him a bit --"Stupid Horde!" (as if he could read it)-- but the whole thing was amusing to me.  When I got the Explorer achievement it was on a PvP server, and I wouldn't have been caught dead doing what the Tauren did.
  • Oh, did you know that Tyrannus has a bug?  Apparently if you start the fight before he does, the entire last boss fight tries to reset itself.  What eventually happens is that things go haywire and you have to leave the instance.  I found that out this morning, much to my dismay.

4 comments:

  1. Don't feel bad, I have issues with the jumps in BFD too. I actually try to steer my group to stay to the left and go around the rocks rather than jump, because that way I won't embarrass myself by falling into the water. (I also get worried when I'm in Wailing Caverns as well, even though those jumps are fairly easy.)

    This is what happens when you don't play Mario as a kid.

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  2. I guess I'm showing my age because when I was a kid, Mario was the dude in Donkey Kong. The original Nintendo came out when I was in college. The Atari 2600, Intellivision, and Commodore 64 were my mainstays.

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  3. About the 'know-it-all' shaman.... I've learned that some people just NEED to feel important, be it leading the dungeon/raid, telling ppl what to do or how to play their class, or playing a critical role such as tanking or healing.

    He is also overlooking the fact that sometimes crap happens to the healer because of RNG (not lack of ability to play), and others need to step in and assist until the healer is back in position. I've done this on several of my dps toons with healing capabilities, and as opposed to thinking 'man I'm awesome', I think 'thank god the healer is back!'.

    Trust yourself! You seem to know a lot about the different classes and roles, and you would probably know if you F-ed up. The shaman's issues have nothing to do with your healing performance, and everything to do with his own insecurities.

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  4. @NaturalGamerGirl: Yeah, I think he believed I needed help because I wasn't dispelling the ice debuff from Frostbolt, but the reality was that I simply didn't have the ability yet.

    I was expecting BD to be a lot rougher than it turned out to be, actually.

    I've done this on several of my dps toons with healing capabilities, and as opposed to thinking 'man I'm awesome', I think 'thank god the healer is back!'.

    I agree. I still stick in supplemental healing, but I never say anything about it unless it's obvious. Like, say, when the Healer bites it and someone has to fill in. I've had people demand a rez right after I finish a fight like that, and I've had to tell them to wait until I drink first.

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