Gruul -- learning experiences
Gruul -- learning experiences
I'd like to start a thread of the collective knowledge we've gleened (sp?) from the fight ... please add your own thoughts to this thread. First of all - GREAT job on the one-shot of HKM, and I think we did very well on Gruul generally - we just had a few people hit the dirt early and when we're learning and not overgeared for the encounter, we need to rely on everyone as a resource -- no one staring at the ceiling. Obviously to those people, find out what was going on -- fix it please. There is an element of luck to where you get knocked back, we need to overcome this with skill. My big learning experience was in analyzing the combat log of the times I was crushed. I'm hyper-critical of getting crushed, the difference of having shield block up every 6 seconds vs. every 5 seconds has a MAJOR affect on the success/failure of the raid. I had it up every 5 seconds approximately, but what was hurting were his parries. When a mob parries, it gets an immediate retributive strike. Typically when a boss parries my own attack, it's somewhat of a wash as I have decent avoidance as well -- but we had multiple people attacking him from the front so there were a lot of additional parries and he had the advantage of more attacks = quicker shield-block charges used = crushing blows. Learning experience #1: Melee attacks from the back -- or the side if there is a cave-in.
Gruul -- learning experiences
Learning Experience #2 - Not everyone reads up on the encounters, so we should explain Shatter better. On our best attempt, we lost 2 rogues on the very first shatter. This can't happen in a dps race. Especially with rogues who don't have the slowing effect to deal with, there should be ZERO shatter deaths. This is not like the shade fight where you have to get to the edge of the room, in the middle is fine, if its away from others. Scrambling around until deadly boss mods shows noone in range doesn't always work either, you might run right at someone else. Honestly, you can be "near" 2 other people and only take about 1k from each if they are 12 or 13 yards away.
Gruul -- learning experiences
In response to Chuunks, I think attacking from the side (about 4 o'clock and 8 o'clock if 12 is the front) is the best bet for melee, in standard dragon dps form. This way if there is a cave in, you move to the other side, running right through him. That way everyone is bunched up in a group since there is so much going on, you can easily see if you are in the right area. One problem is that he turns to Akuma (or the #2 tank) quite often, so its a bit confusing at first for melee exactly what is going on. We should definitely focus on talking people through positioning more before the encounter once we have a handle on tanking and healing.
Gruul -- learning experiences
Dang laptop - I already typed this up and it didn't update... Lets see if i can get it to read the same again. So what I learned was that you could be close to someone after the knock back, but not too close. There were a few times that I just plain couldn't get away from everyone, and i took 3k damage, but it's a 6 second bandage and I am good to go again. What really sucked for me was dying on that first Gruul attempt due to a cave in... But I learned from it and didn't die on the other attempts until after the tanks went down. I do want to say GREAT JOB TO EVERYONE! I am very excited and pleased that we are coming together as a guild like we are. I think that it's a good thing to learn together and grow like we are.
Gruul -- learning experiences
Did anybody try the dreamless sleep potions? I know you can still be too close to people for the shatter even if it's vertically but I wanted to check.
Gruul -- learning experiences
I did. This worked pretty good. It is very important to take it at the highest level in the air so that u are way away from everyone rather than just floating above them to bomb them upJon wroteDid anybody try the dreamless sleep potions? I know you can still be too close to people for the shatter even if it's vertically but I wanted to check.
. Nice to get health while stunned inst3ad of just stunned and then catch up on all heals .Gruul -- learning experiences
Just a note one thing I did notice that when we were fighting Gruul there were quite a few people still staying in the cave ins, and we started calling them out. Maybe we should call it every time but on the other hand we shouldn't have to since you are getting hit for 3k a time and calling it would almost be wasted since 3 ticks and you dead. Please be aware of teh cave ins and it saves our healers from having to heal us dps when we are in there. Other than that greta job all keep up the good work.
Gruul -- learning experiences
Personally, now that I have a general feeling for the timing of the fight, I now know when it is best to pop trinkets / and my elemental to maximize my dps. I think others are now doing the same. But for those of you just blowing cooldowns/ trinkets whenever they are up, I would suggest trying to plan ahead a little bit more, it helped me to think about the duration of my abilities and whatnot, and see where they fit in between Gruul's abilities. Just a thoughtBenvolo
Gruul -- learning experiences
This is very important to me, and part of situational awareness. No sense in popping that 2-minute CD, 20-second duration trinket 3 seconds before Ground Slam, right?Not long ago, I read that high DPS is a mindset, not so much a spec or even a class (within reason). The mindset that is focused, keeps aware of the surroundings, and takes every advantage possible will yield high results. This means popping trinkets whenever you can (intelligently, not before Ground Slam or the like), and moving only when you have to (mages, warlocks, spriests, classes that have to sit to DPS). There are, of course, other things you can do, the list isn't supposed to be exhaustive, simply to open your thoughts to things you can do to improve and move into the "high DPS" mindset. It is most certainly possible, and can be done even without pulling aggroBenvolo wrotePersonally, now that I have a general feeling for the timing of the fight, I now know when it is best to pop trinkets / and my elemental to maximize my dps. I think others are now doing the same. But for those of you just blowing cooldowns/ trinkets whenever they are up, I would suggest trying to plan ahead a little bit more, it helped me to think about the duration of my abilities and whatnot, and see where they fit in between Gruul's abilities. Just a thought
