Man is he hard.

We cleared from the start of Icecrown and downed up to Saurfang, then Festergut. We still had 20 minutes to go in our normal raid window, so we decided to give Rotface another attempt. We wiped the first time but miraculously got him down to a million HP. Bouyed by this first hint of potential success we decided on one more final attempt.

With only 3 people left standing we actually killed him. So next time it’s on to the Princes, which we should take down without too much trouble. We might actually be making some headway into Icecrown now by the looks of it.

Who knows, in another month or two we could be wiping on Arthas :)

Congratulations to all those who won something!

It was a mammoth effort by all involved, with its fair share of ups and downs. However we did have the satisfaction of downing 3 of the events. Which is no mean feat for a random assortment of 25 disparate players.

We quite easily downed Marrowgar on our 2nd attempt I believe.  Our biggest issue was with Deathwhisper and add management. However we persevered and were rewarded on our 5-6th? attempt with a win. Gunship battle was the usual pushover and was downed in our 2nd attempt. The first attempt wiping with some confusion at a transition, the DPS launched before the tank and were taken out quite handily by the defenses.

All in all, a very good result and proof that a decent pug can cut it in the new 25 mans.

Except Saurfang was being annoying and not letting us pass. Now I remember Blizzard saying something about how they don’t want to restrict people to having certain types of groups or requiring certain classes in order to be able to pass content. Sure, it was a while ago (probably at the release of Wrath infact).

However the nature of the Saurfang encounter demands ranged DPS. You could do the entire fight with all ranged DPS if you wanted even (excepting the obligatory tanks/heals of course). Our group on the night was very melee heavy (only 2 warlocks for ranged dps), and this meant that we couldn’t manage the blood beasts.

Tonight we’re up for round two, and our first attempts at the new content. Seeing we will have our usual group together (fingers crossed), I’m not expecting Saurfang to give us any trouble (seeing as how we pretty much have him down usually).

I’m more commenting on the fact that this encounter does seem to be at odds with the previously announced Blizzard philosophy of being more lenient on the balance of your raid.

http://bit.ly/5k2DYP

Blizz has just released some new pages detailing some of the bosses to expect and the dungeon layouts. Initially, I was confused as to why they would release the layouts before people had even been in there when I remembered they now have that map feature. So as soon as someone sets foot inside it will display the whole zone.

They have also put out some new videos, see them here

http://www.bit.ly/5haEg0

Okay, not the best picture, but you get the idea. Get your guild tabard from this orc (it’ll be a badly washed gray until you put it on) & enjoy your more manly, respectable look. Nobody will know you’re wearing hot pink tops & fishnet stockings underneath!

Type: Single-day holiday event
Date: September 19
Location: Booty Bay, Stranglethorn Vale

Yarrrr matey, it be Pirates’ Day! Commoners wearing pirate garb have appeared in all the world’s cities with the news that the Dread Captain DeMeza and her crew have landed in Booty Bay and declared it Pirates’ Day! If you are brave enough to share a drink with her, you may have what it takes to become an honorary crew member for the day. First, talk to any pirate commoner to receive a costume to help you get into the spirit of Pirates’ Day. Once appropriately attired, head down to Booty Bay to join in the fun. There, look for Dread Captain Demeza and her crew, who have taken over the roof of the Booty Bay bank and auction house. By talking to Captain DeMeza, players become an honorary crew member and transform into a pirate of their race and gender for 12 hours. This costume buff may be clicked off but persists through combat, mounting, death, and so on. Other highlights of the holiday include:

• A large crowd of pirate revelers (“Dread Crew”) who dance, talk, eat, drink, laugh, and shoot fireworks. Ask Baron Revilgaz what he thinks of the visitors.
• The Tauren First Mate Hapana and his giant South Seas assault parrot, Nyuni.
• A trio of cannons and cannoneers who periodically fire out into the bay – at times, just barely missing the sails of the incoming transport. Those crazy corsairs.
• Cap’n Slappy and Ol’ Chumbucket, two curiously-named pirates.
• Lively pirate-themed music that plays upon the rooftop.

Ahoy, see you in game, argh! Ye’ll ne’er get me buried booty!*

*Pirate Speak courtesy of Talk Like A Pirate Day

After further discussion, we decided not to remove the rusted and ironbound proto-drake rewards for the normal and heroic Glory of the Ulduar Raider meta achievements when patch 3.2, Call of the Crusade, launches, and currently have no plans to remove them in the foreseeable future. However, we will continue to evaluate the situation and if a decision is made to remove these rewards at any point in the future, we’ll provide a one month warning so players will have time to make some final attempts.

So there’s still time to try for them. The Glory of the Ulduar Raider is worth a shot I think & that will score you the Rusted one which I’ve always preferred anyway.

That is all.