Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Cataclysm Week 1


Three Weeks ago the Shattering happened changing the world as we knew it forever. I created a couple of new alts and got my hunter up to 52 and got to experience the Blizzard magic through all the new leveling zones. This week was the true test though. December 7Th the new expansion launched at 3am.

Just like the last 2 expansion me and my best friend took a couple of days off and were ready and waiting for the clock to tick down to the point where we could get experience again. The difference between this expansion is the digital download and the fact that you could buy the game at midnight but it didn't start until 3 am. So it felt like the entire server was there waiting for the switch to be fliped. We were there along with them at the gryphon trainer to get our Master Flight Licence and to grab our bread crumb quest to enter Mt Hyjal. We did have some hiccups getting what we needed but we were able to get going and start our grind to 85.

Last expansion took about 4-5 days to get to level cap so I figured this should take about the same time. Competition was fierce this time around though. Everywhere you turned there were tons of people trying to grab whatever quest mobs they could causing frustration all around. Story has taken the stage for the questing experience and I wanted to make sure I read everything and understood what was happening in the zone. Also with phasing and all the new cut scenes it does make you go a bit slower then the people who ignore everything else and jump straight to finishing the quest and getting experience. During Wrath Expansion were about the 20Th to 25Th people to hit 80. For this go around it took less time with less then 2 days to get to 85 but we were closer to being between the 50Th to 60Th person to get to 85.

Unfortunately my best friend and I both wanted to play Plate tanking classes. Him on his Death knight and me on Bladez the paladin. We do have synergy but that also means we are competing with each other for any drops out of dungeons. Speaking of dungeons I must applaud Blizzard on making the 5 mans a lot more engaging. Mechanics that were usually reserved to raiding has been found on every boss in Cataclysm. You may not notice it to much in the normal dungeons but the heroics require coordination and understanding of the encounter to pull off. There are a lot of punishing bosses in Cataclysm and I have sat at certain bosses for 15 attempts before the group can take them down. Some of my favorite include the 3rd boss in StoneCore where as a tank you have to constantly side step a Ground Stomp and run away from a shatter. If you fail to do either one it is a group wipe. The third boss in Blackrock Caverns is also very punishing. He has an armor buff that can only be removed by standing him in fire. Debuffing him only lasts 10 seconds but every time he gains his armor back 3 adds spawn. Killing the adds results in an explosion of fire that will allow hurt you but remove his armor. The longer he stay in the fire the bigger his stacks get which does fire damage to the entire group. You have to kill the adds at the same time otherwise when they die it will create another pool of fire that will give the boss more stacks. Both of these bosses have challenged me and my group to play at our absolute best to defeat.

Then we have the raids. So far I have done the Barradin Hold raid which isn't to difficult but the first boss in both Blackwing Descent and Bastion of Twilight are nothing like Wrath Intro Bosses. They are defiantly Gear Checks as well as ability to execute checks. The bosses have 8 or more different mechanics that have to be dealt with during the encounter and needless to say it whooped our butts.

I don't mind though. I enjoy learning a new fight and trying different strategies before settling on one that will eventually succeed. In terms of succeeding gear is defiantly a big factor. Since I am a tank the Que is pretty short. I also enjoy the leading role so I will mark all CC targets and explain every encounter to any one I run with to maximize my chance for success. As a result I have decked out my character in almost all heroic level dungeon gear. There are a few pieces here and there that I want to pick up as well as reputations to level up to get me some epics. Though for only 1 week into the expansion I am in a good spot. Now its just time to wait for the rest of the people to catch up and to start downing some new bosses.

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