Sang Grail

Real Men of Genius

Thanks to Shinrobi, we had an opportunity this weekend to join an ICC 25 run with the Real Men of Genius guild. Five of us went on the run. We had a lot of fun and we got to see some 25 man content that we hadn’t seen before (at least I hadn’t seen it before).

We cleared the first wing and the Plague wing (Putricide). Our first wipe was on Dreamwalker at the end of the evening when people were getting a little tired. We called it a night, but all agreed it was a good night of raiding.

The hope was to fill out 25 with the two guilds, but we were about 5 people short. The rest were filled by PUGs.

The raid leader, Yogiboo, and other members of Real Men of Genius all seem really nice. Duck and I stayed up and chatted with Yogiboo for awhile after the raid. I think it will be fun to run with this guild and get to know them better.

Raid Requirements

A new aspect of this run was the raid requirements. We have previously laid out some raid requirements for our guild runs, but we tend to be a little more relaxed when we have to make choices between getting 10 people or not running at all. Real Men of Genius laid out some pretty simple rules, but those rules help aid in the success of the run.

1. There is an expectation of 7K dps.
2. Gear was checked prior to the run, especially for PUG members.
3. All gear is expected to be gemmed and enchanted.

What’s Next?

The run was considered successful, and another run has been posted for next Saturday. If you haven’t received an invite and you are interested, please talk with Shinrobi.

The plan is to start at the beginning again, but this time go through a different wing on the Upper Spire.

Loot Rules

I’m still trying to fully understand the loot rules that were used, so I might have this a little wrong. We can clarify it at the next run.

NOTE: This has been edited after some clarification.

1. Need Roll - One need roll win per night. Roll need if you really want something. NOTE: if you wait to roll greed instead, you will be rolling against offspec rollers too.

2. Greed Roll - This can be a main spec (if not wanting to roll Need) or offspec roll. You can win these rolls multiple times, but precedence goes to someone who hasn’t won a greed roll yet.

3. Marks (Trophies) - These are open rolls for anyone (by class)

4. BOEs and Primoridial Saronite - These are rolled for at the end by people who didn’t win anything. NOTE: BOEs will go through a Need Roll first, but no Greed Roll.

Thanks Shin!

A special thanks to Shin for working with his friends to set this up. Even though our Saturday night raid attendance has been low, I know some people were disappointed to miss out on 25 man runs after our runs with GOTL stopped. This is a great option for guild members to be able to 25 man raids without having to join a full PUG.

Happy Raiding!
~Daff

Congratulations George and Lisa!

Per Rob, baby Liam has arrived! This is very exciting news! We all hope you are doing well.

Post some pictures on the forums if you have time. I’m sure you guys are busy.

Take Care!

Movies

Foxer’s recent dilemma with finding movies to watch reminded me of a post I saw a while agon on one of the WOW blog sites that I like to read from time to time: World of Matticus Movie List. In addition to Foxer getting a list of movies to check out, older members like myself can get a kick out of reading the list and remembering all of those great movies. Make sure you scroll down to find the movies in the comments.

NOTE: some movies listed are rated R and intended for those old enough to watch those movies. Do not consider this a recommendation for younger members.

Matticus

I’d also like to give a quick plug for the World of Matticus blog. It’s usually quite entertaining and filled with good information. There are several contributors from different classes. Give it a try!

We are discontinuing our 25 man Saturday night runs with Guardians of the Legacy (GOTL) and Order of the Lion (OOTL). The main reasons for this are: 1) the time of year; 2) the expansion is close and some players are finding themselves in a lull; 3) there is a focus on 10 man runs and trying to reach the Lich King, so it’s impossible to add more time and energy to keep the 25 man exciting and progressing.

A Big Thanks

I’d like to thank those of you who have been participating in the raids, and also throw out a big Thanks to Karahnae (Greg) from GOTL who has acted as our fearless leader since we started the run many months ago.

Even though the 25 man raids were never our guild focus, we’ve been able to get some great 25 man gear for many of our raiders.

What’s Next?

At this point we don’t have any specific plans for a guild-sponsored 25 man run, but that doesn’t mean something won’t come up if enough people are interested.

We will be discussing how we can possibly use Saturday night for other raiding opportunities.

Please feel free to ask questions and pass along ideas on this topic to Shinrobi, Mufoxaa and myself.

Happy Raiding!
~Daff

Quote #1 = Rory after accidentally porting to Darnassus instead of his intended destination. Someone had pointed out that he could have easily taken a boat from Darnassus to get where he was going.

Quote #2 = Foxer while PVP’ing in battle grounds. This quote takes on several variations with Foxer such as “Oh no” (some times repeated).

OK, so these quotes are always n00b quotes, but I thought it would be fun to post funny quotes to see if you can name the player that said it. These are a combination of funny one-time quotes or things players say a lot. I’ll start with just two…

N00b Quote #1: “I know, but I just sat there for half an hour very disappointed in myself”.

N00b Quote #2: “Noooooooooooo!”

Post your guesses as comments!

Here is the plan for this week.

Monday

Progression Run follow-up from last Wednesday. We’ll be starting at the Blood Princes and hoping to get back to Sindragosa again. Refer to an earlier post for the list of raiders currently included in the progression runs.

Tuesday

Off Day - No Raids

Wednesday

New Progression Run. Goal is to down the first 8 bosses. We’ll attempt Blood Princes if time allows. Refer to an earlier post for the list of raiders currently included in the progression runs.

Thursday

New Alts and New Raiders run. We will continue to include members of Order of the Lion and Guardians of the Legacy. Refer to an earlier post for the requirements to be included in this run. If you don’t receive and invite and feel you qualify for the run, please contact Mufoxaa (or many alts), Shinrobi (or alts), or Daffnae.

Friday

Progression Run follow-up from Wednesday.

Saturday

25 man run with GOTL. We typically clear the first wing and attempt Festergut and Rotface if time allows.

Sunday

Off Day - No Raids

Monday

Off Day - No Raids (unless big desire to continue one of the previous runs).

Happy Raiding
~Daff

Yeah Duck! I’m talking to you. That’s a mighty fine axe.

Silliness aside, the second ICC run went really well this week. Duck’s axe drop was just an example fo great gear that raid members received. I think every item was used for a main or off-spec. We had 5 Sang Grail members and representatives from both Guardians of the Legacy and Order of the Lion. Matthouse (Shinrobi) and Strongwolf (Mufoxaa) ran the raid.

Raid Participants:

• Matthouse - Tank
• Maelwyn - Tank (OOTL)
• Strongwolf - Healer
• Maddhealnfor - Healer (GOTL)
• TheDuck - DPS
• Xandalis - DPS
• Drooed - DPS
• Linalli - DPS (OOTL)
• Ushadaran - DPS (OOTL)
• Sadneis - DPS (GOTL)

Thank you all for participating and being supportive of our raiding approach! The group downed the first wing of ICC with no deaths and also completed the weekly quest and the mini-boss. We will be sending out invites for next week as well.

Happy Raiding!
~Daff

As most of you know, we’ve been tossing around a lot of ideas on how to get more people involved in raiding. I apologize for switching up some of the raid invites, but we want to try to come up with the best options to keep people involved in raiding and to get more people involved in raiding.

The Current Plan

Based on feedback we’ve received, we have decided to try 2 separate ICC runs a week.

1. Progression run - The invites for this run will include the raiders that have been raiding with us pretty regularly and have been contributing to our past success. These runs will be on Wednesday and Friday.

2. Second Run for newer raiders and alts (also the people who haven’t been running much lately) - The invites for this run will include mains and alts not included in the progression run that meet the minimum gear requirements and have been working toward getting their character ready for raiding. These runs will be on Thursday.

If we find ourselves short on raiders, we may pull some from the second run. We have also been talking with Guardians of the Legacy and Order of the Lion to possibly include some of their members in the second run.

Minimum Requirements

(as posted in the forums earlier)
So far we’ve been pretty lenient with our gear requirements for involving new raiders and alts. This has been due to a couple of factors: 1) we were short 10 raiders or 2) the more geared players were able to still carry the fight.

We’ve gotten some feedback from our raiders that to be fair to the other people in the raids, we should start to firm this up. Most of us who are raiding right now (actually probably all of us) worked really hard to get geared enough to start ICC. I remember running 10+ randoms a day plus the Icecrown 5 mans once a day to fill out my gear with the best possible items before even stepping into ICC. It may take a couple weeks of hard work, but it is certainly doable.

We may still find ourselves in the spot where we are short 10 players and to keep the raid going, we may need to pull in lower geared players to fill it out. We will make those decisions if/when the time comes.

Guild members will not be sent an invite until we have a consensus with raid leaders that the gear minimum and other requirements have been met.

NOTE: This only addresses the gear requirement. It is also still a requirement to be familiar with your character and to illustrate basic raiding concepts by successfully running the Icecrown 5-man instances and “holding your own”. It is not sufficient to be carried through these instances. Other requirements also include having your gear enchanted and gemmed.

Current Raiders

Here are the raiders that have been running in our Regular Weekly Runs that will meet the minimum requirements. These members will be invited each week to the Progression Runs.

TheGander
Shinrobi
Daffnae
Jarlaxyle
Hexxis
Gezabelle
Wallenby
Faiythful
Dareths
Xectavas
Mufoxaa
Moncaros
Rorynis
Patollosr

Alts or Other Raiders that currently meet the minimum gear requirements. These members will be invited to the second run on Thursdays.
Bshea
AngryMonkey
BillyMadison / Manispir (hasn’t been on in a while, but used to run regularly with us)
Stronwolf / Foxer / Zyget / Katee (Mufoxaa)
Xandalis / Xandrianna
Agaras
Viccodin / Trashcanman
Honeybeez / Fallingstar (Gezabelle)
Shimmeree / Crull (Hexxis)
TheDuck (Gander)
Caedo (haven’t seen him on in a long time, though)
Catastrophe
Matthouse / Communion (Shinrobi)
Andra
Sandarra
Drooed (Rorynis)

Alts or Other Raiders that are close but don’t yet meet gear requirements.
Shampyro - GearScore = 2487
Dareth (Dareths) - 2442
Drucideus - 2413
RustiKnight - 2373
Darethw (Dareths) - 2337
Anneliesa - 2332
Nelbrin (Jarlaxyle) - 2301
Moji (Daffnae) - 1774

Duck has been kind enough to move his mage to my account (Moji) to allow me to have an alt. I am beginning the gearing up process for the mage so that I can start bringing it to the Alt run on Thursdays. I’ll be looking for a lot of randoms and Icecrown runs if anyone is interested in joining me. We can gear up together. I’m trying to work on a three week plan. It will be fun!

Let me know if you have any questions. Raiding takes time and effort, so hopefully the people wanting to get into raiding won’t have a problem finding the time to finish the gearing process. There are lots of people happy to run a few randoms with you, and luckily it’s still pretty easy to get into the random queue even if you don’t have a group.

As an example of how you can improve your gear in a short amount of time, Drooed (Rory’s alt) went from a gear score of 2262 to 2575 in about a day.

Happy Raiding!
~Daff

Oh Yeah! That’s Right! We went from 8 out of 12 to 10 out of 12 in one productive Friday night. That doesn’t make us King slayers yet, but we are starting to sense the Kingslayer title is close.

Raiders

The following raiders joined in the fun:

• Mufoxaa - Tank
• Xectavas - Tank
• Daffnae - Healer
• Dareths - Healer
• Rorynis - Healer (had to leave after about 6 tries on the princes)
• Moncaros - DPS / Healer
• Bshe - DPS (filled in when Rory had to leave
• Jarlaxyle - DPS
• Shinrobie
• TheGander
• Wallenby

A HUGE thanks to everyone for reading up on the fight and showing up prepared to take on the challenge!

Blood Prince Council

It took us 8 tries, and we did it.

Blood Princes - Dead!

Blood Queen

She seemed quite simple compared to the princes. This fight only took us a couple of tries.

Blood Queen - Dead!

Sindragosa

We move on to Sindragosa now. We gave her a couple of attempts last night, but we were getting a little tired. A follow up is scheduled for Monday.

Fast Tube by Casper
BossKillers.com Strategy

A couple of key strategy points we were working on:

• Frost Tomb - When 2 players are marked to be entombed (is that a word), we were trying to send them away from the raid to prevent others from being entombed. We will need to firm up our approach for this, as it was causing some confusion.
• Frost Bomb - Once 2 players are entombed, players will need to use them to protect themselves using “line of sight” from the Frost Bombs. Sindy will drop 4 bombs per tomb. Each time it will be dropped in a random location. We have about 2 seconds to reposition behind the tomb before the bomb goes off. I personally didn’t realize this would happen exactly 4 times. We often killed the tombs too early and raid members would get hit by the bomb.
• Icy Grip / Blistering Cold - Icy Grip is what she uses to pull us all toward her. At this point, it’s simple. We just need to run at least 25 yards away from her before she follows it up with Blistering Cold. I knew I needed to run out, but I didn’t realize how far we needed to go. I think I usually got lucky on this one.
• Unchained Magic - This is a debuff that is randomly cast on a player. It will stack and needs to be allowed to drop off before it gets too high. As a player gets to about 5 stacks, he/she should stop healing / dps’ing for a few seconds while it wears off. It’s a pretty simple mechanic, so a player just needs to keep an eye on the debuff. We will try to call it out as well.

That doesn’t cover all of the fight, but some of the mechanics we were working on.

Beyond

The Lich King is our final destination in ICC. We are hoping we can get past Sindragosa and give that fight a try. We are considering an extension of the instance this week to see the fight.

Fast Tube by Casper

BossKillers.com Strategy

Grats all!

Happy Raiding!
~Daff