Pre-raid - January 2014
Hydrar
Columbia, MD Icrontian
There's been growing discussion online about getting some more formal raiding going.
Using Guild Ox (sort by ilvl) , I see that we have enough folks geared up to make some Flex Progress. Ideally we should be geared at the LFR level first (528 ilvl) but with a focused group I think we can go in a bit earlier.
The Flexible raid option is great news for a more casual guild like IC that is interested in real raiding (real as opposed to LFR faceroll)... we can run 10-25 people and the encounter scales with the group. If someone needs to log or join late, it's not a big deal (unless a tank!).
Flexible raids give ilvl 540 gear (upgradeable to 548). A few pieces of this gear will help the group prepare for 10-man Normal runs - which are on different lockouts, so you can do both. For flex raids, the dungeon is broken up into 4 sections, so there isn't a huge time commitment, either.
Interested? Here's what you can do:
SoO LFR - get some item upgrades (528) and see the boss fights and get a glimpse of the mechanics. LFR is VERY forgiving. At a minimum read the dungeon journal for the bosses. There are a ton of resources online otherwise - choose your favorite site/videos. In most fights, being undergeared is far less an issue than being clueless to the mechanics.
Stock up on Warforged Seals These are the currency that gives you bonus rolls on Celestials/Ordos/SoO. Each week you can get 3 Seals for 50 Lesser Charms of Good Fortune - max of 10. If you done much on Timeless Isle you probably have a ton of these Charms. Getting your 3 seals should be a priority. Bonus rolls = faster gear acquisition = easier to progress.
Stock up on Food/Flasks No reason not to have 250/275/300 food on during each boss pull, and the appropriate flask. I have some flasks and food in the bank, and the ability to make the 300 Noodle Cart (gives each person 5 300 foods that do not vanish on logging). Flasks have changed somewhat recently. If you have a few minutes left on a flask, you can chug another flask and it will add the few minutes onto the full hour of the new flask. These buffs are essentially equivalent to having several extra Gem slots/enchants... definitely worth having.
Weekly Celestial Kill Kill a Celestial boss on Timeless Isle once a week (and use a Seal for bonus roll if you want). Drops Tier 16 (553) Hands and Legs, plus PVP (522) gear. But more often bags of gold.
I've seen all the fights and can say this raid tier is lots of fun. The mechanics are quite interesting, and most of the fights are fun... only a couple of fights where I dread the encounter because of boring mechanics.
Using Guild Ox (sort by ilvl) , I see that we have enough folks geared up to make some Flex Progress. Ideally we should be geared at the LFR level first (528 ilvl) but with a focused group I think we can go in a bit earlier.
The Flexible raid option is great news for a more casual guild like IC that is interested in real raiding (real as opposed to LFR faceroll)... we can run 10-25 people and the encounter scales with the group. If someone needs to log or join late, it's not a big deal (unless a tank!).
Flexible raids give ilvl 540 gear (upgradeable to 548). A few pieces of this gear will help the group prepare for 10-man Normal runs - which are on different lockouts, so you can do both. For flex raids, the dungeon is broken up into 4 sections, so there isn't a huge time commitment, either.
Interested? Here's what you can do:
SoO LFR - get some item upgrades (528) and see the boss fights and get a glimpse of the mechanics. LFR is VERY forgiving. At a minimum read the dungeon journal for the bosses. There are a ton of resources online otherwise - choose your favorite site/videos. In most fights, being undergeared is far less an issue than being clueless to the mechanics.
Stock up on Warforged Seals These are the currency that gives you bonus rolls on Celestials/Ordos/SoO. Each week you can get 3 Seals for 50 Lesser Charms of Good Fortune - max of 10. If you done much on Timeless Isle you probably have a ton of these Charms. Getting your 3 seals should be a priority. Bonus rolls = faster gear acquisition = easier to progress.
Stock up on Food/Flasks No reason not to have 250/275/300 food on during each boss pull, and the appropriate flask. I have some flasks and food in the bank, and the ability to make the 300 Noodle Cart (gives each person 5 300 foods that do not vanish on logging). Flasks have changed somewhat recently. If you have a few minutes left on a flask, you can chug another flask and it will add the few minutes onto the full hour of the new flask. These buffs are essentially equivalent to having several extra Gem slots/enchants... definitely worth having.
Weekly Celestial Kill Kill a Celestial boss on Timeless Isle once a week (and use a Seal for bonus roll if you want). Drops Tier 16 (553) Hands and Legs, plus PVP (522) gear. But more often bags of gold.
I've seen all the fights and can say this raid tier is lots of fun. The mechanics are quite interesting, and most of the fights are fun... only a couple of fights where I dread the encounter because of boring mechanics.
2
Comments
I have had terrible luck with LFR. I have attempted Vale of Eternal Sorrows 4 times and failed on the first boss all of them. This has soured me on even LFR and would like to make some runs with you guys now that the holidays are over.
I still need to get more sigils for my cloak quest, I know a couple of you have completed that part, but would be interested even in the earlier stuff to make sure we get what we need there.
I've been luckier than you however.. not usually running into the "wall" until LFR 3. It's a crap shoot... random by design. Usually you get better LFRs on patch days (my experience).
I miss the dungeons with guildies and then guild raids, or when we would start with the easiest tier raid and work our way towards the top tier
Agreed, raiding with folks you know is what's the most fun. Wiping repeatedly (pug or with friends) is really not fun.
Also... save some Warforged Seals and your Flexible raid lockout.
While I'd prefer 500+ ilvl, I won't turn away any 90s.
We'll pug tanks/heals if we can't start with 2 tanks & 3 heals. Any latecomers are more than welcome, but as DPS spec (keep in mind that you can set your loot spec to whatever).
Loot in Flex is much like LFR - game rolls for you. You should save 2 Warforged Seals for this run if you plan to go (use one on Celestials next week if you still need 553 Gloves/Legs).
Also... trash mobs drop loot in Flex, unlike LFR.
This is intended to be a fun/casual attempt at Flex. Check your expectations at the zone-in, please
The ilvl suggestion is more because around 500 you'll have the needed stamina (HP) to survive ground effects. Otherwise you'll just get insta-killed everytime if you have less than 350k hp.
If we have 3 solid heals, I will go DPS. I know Prag is tanking...who is the second tank?
For most of SoO (10 man) you need geared 2 healers, some fights 3 healers are preferred.
Since this is Flex... if we get enough DPS signing up, a 4th heal wouldn't be a problem.
I'll plan on going with my Moonkin offspec.
By the way... excellent progress this past week... I've seen most of you running the LFR and getting a flavor for the fights. In some respects Flex will be much easier than LFR - much better communication with a group who knows each other and on Mumble.
Would be great to have a 2nd tank from Icrontic (vs. pug) - even if undergeared.
Warrior - @pragtastic (Main)
Death Knight - @rexxar (main) (Will not be available this Sunday)
Monk - @susurro
Paladin - @myrmidon
Druid - ME!!!
(also yay for having wide spread tank class options (hell even our healer options are spread pretty well))
I believe all three of the non-main spec tanks are in about the same place gear wise (~500 ilvl). Is there a specific class we should try to get levelled up to compliment the main tanks we have? Does it matter?
Each of these will give you 5 food items, which should get you through Sunday just fine. If you want more, just multiply by 2 or 3, etc. They are made in multiples of 5.
+300 Agility:
5 x Tiger Gourami
5 x Raw Turtle Meat
25 x Scallions
+300 Intellect:
5 x Emperor Salmon
5 x Raw Crocolisk Belly
25 x Mogu Pumpkin
+300 Spirit:
5 x Jewel Danio
5 x Raw Crab Meat
25 x White Turnip
+450 Stamina:
5 x Redbelly Mandarin
4 x Raw Tiger Steak
25 x Red Blossom Leak
+300 Strength:
5 x Mushan Ribs
5 x Giant Mantis Shrimp
25 x Green Cabbage
If any of those mats are too costly on the AH, I can make 275 versions also, mats are all different though. These all net you 1 food each, so if you want 5, multiply mats by 5
+275 Agility:
1 x Reef Octopus
1x Wildfowl Breast
+275 Intellect:
1 x Raw Turtle Meat
5 x Juicycrunch Carrot
+275 Spirit:
1 x Emperor Salmon
5 x Scallions
+415 Stamina:
2 x Krasarang Paddlefish
+275 Strength:
1 x Jade Lungfish
5 x Striped Melon
Also, would it be more cost effective to just get a set of the 275 raid banquets? With this being flex I don't know if we will really have to have the 300 buffs.