More Cowbell lives on, just not in any regular scheduled releases it seems.
I have some goodies for anyone looking for some tips in raiding Dragon Soul (Normal 10 man).
These videos are on my YouTube channel, but here's the links specifically to them.
Morchok
Zan'ozz (added later, original recording didn't come out well)
Yor'sahj
Haraga the Stormbinder (added later, original recording didn't come out well)
Ultraxion
Warmaster Blackhorn
Spine of Deathwing
Madness of Deathwing
All of these videos are from a tanking viewpoint, however I've tried to include everything I can think of for the entire encounter for any role. These are basic strategies and ones that we use in guild on a consistent basis.
I've left most of the Voice chatter so you can see how everyone communicates things to each other. Some of the really long or repetitive fights are sped up though and do not have that audio, but it is only sped up after the explanations before it begins to repeat.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Horderlies Raiding Update
While I have not been making new audio segments, I have been experimenting around with video segments. I don't think I'll end up blogging about these or use them as a way to feed content into a topic though. If you're interested I've created a YouTube Channel with some test samples (nothing crazy or very original YET, just some clips of me using some addons, mostly figuring out the software for recording and editing).
I've been pushing our guild through normal mode, 10 man dragon soul and at this point we're on Madness of Deathwing. Our progression, though it is slow, is thwarted mostly by Real Life issues of our raid team. Because of our guild type, we're not ones to punish our members for such things. We will take sub ins if folks are available, but sometimes you get the perfect storm of everything that could be bad news all at once.
All that aside, we're finally looking like we're going to kill Deathwing very soon. On our current sporadic and inconsistent attempts, we've just about gotten to phase two of the fight. A large part of pushing through this will require us to attempt this fight with some kind of regularity. Currently we're just getting there too late in the evening, so we're considering extending a raid lockout to get that punch on Deathwing in with a fresh start at the beginning of the Raid Night.
Until very recently we only raided 1 night a week for a couple of hours. Several weeks ago we've decided to split up the raid night into 2 nights. This move, combined with the same members showing up for 5 weeks in a row, gave us some of the fastest and most raid progressive play we, as a guild, have ever seen. We will clear Morchok through Ultraxion (or however far we can get in 1 hour) on one night, then the next night begin on the content that we're still not sure if we have on Farm status or not, end up on Deathwing and do a few attempts before going to bed.
But, yeah... To kill deathwing, we need to consider a lock out extension the same way we considered opening up a Pre-raid night to clear the easy stuff and save some time for progression night. Once we kill him I'm sure the fight will suddenly seem so much easier and we will end up clearing the entire raid in a night.
When it happens, I'd like to record our Deathwing kill with the guild voice chatter included, I'm sure it will be a good time :)
I've been pushing our guild through normal mode, 10 man dragon soul and at this point we're on Madness of Deathwing. Our progression, though it is slow, is thwarted mostly by Real Life issues of our raid team. Because of our guild type, we're not ones to punish our members for such things. We will take sub ins if folks are available, but sometimes you get the perfect storm of everything that could be bad news all at once.
All that aside, we're finally looking like we're going to kill Deathwing very soon. On our current sporadic and inconsistent attempts, we've just about gotten to phase two of the fight. A large part of pushing through this will require us to attempt this fight with some kind of regularity. Currently we're just getting there too late in the evening, so we're considering extending a raid lockout to get that punch on Deathwing in with a fresh start at the beginning of the Raid Night.
Until very recently we only raided 1 night a week for a couple of hours. Several weeks ago we've decided to split up the raid night into 2 nights. This move, combined with the same members showing up for 5 weeks in a row, gave us some of the fastest and most raid progressive play we, as a guild, have ever seen. We will clear Morchok through Ultraxion (or however far we can get in 1 hour) on one night, then the next night begin on the content that we're still not sure if we have on Farm status or not, end up on Deathwing and do a few attempts before going to bed.
But, yeah... To kill deathwing, we need to consider a lock out extension the same way we considered opening up a Pre-raid night to clear the easy stuff and save some time for progression night. Once we kill him I'm sure the fight will suddenly seem so much easier and we will end up clearing the entire raid in a night.
When it happens, I'd like to record our Deathwing kill with the guild voice chatter included, I'm sure it will be a good time :)
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
What a short strange trip it's been!
More cowbell is taking a break, possibly permanently.
I hope that anyone that listened to the segments gleened some useful information and advice.
I am not quitting WoW, rather, I'm not sure that I can keep up advisory segments long enough without keeping it as original, loose and fun as possible and also beginning to step on other segment producer's toes that may cover duplicate topics.
Thanks for the visits and the listens guys!
I hope that anyone that listened to the segments gleened some useful information and advice.
I am not quitting WoW, rather, I'm not sure that I can keep up advisory segments long enough without keeping it as original, loose and fun as possible and also beginning to step on other segment producer's toes that may cover duplicate topics.
Thanks for the visits and the listens guys!
#06 - Turn it around!
It's habitual for me, generally, when fighting a boss, to turn it around. If other melee DPS classes are soft hit/expertise capped (capped when only attacking from behind), by doing this, the DPS are already in position for their maximum potential.
Additionally, Many bosses may have abilities that can be detrimental to your group if they're facing it. Turning them around is a sure fire way to make sure you don't subject your group to the bosses that have these abilities (like a cleave damage, Fiery breath, or other frontal only AoE attack).
Watch out though, some bosses also attack from the rear.. and with things that hit harder than flatulence!
Additionally, Many bosses may have abilities that can be detrimental to your group if they're facing it. Turning them around is a sure fire way to make sure you don't subject your group to the bosses that have these abilities (like a cleave damage, Fiery breath, or other frontal only AoE attack).
Watch out though, some bosses also attack from the rear.. and with things that hit harder than flatulence!
Friday, December 30, 2011
#05 - Crotch Encounters!
And Here are the magic scripts you'll want to enter into your chat window!
You could use an addon that does this for you as well, but if you like being minimalist, just run these once and you'll never have to worry about it again!
Script 1:
Now, even if you're not tanking, YOU can be empowered to know all and see all!
Script 1:
/script SetCVar("cameraDistanceMax",50)Script 2:
/script SetCVar("cameraDistanceMaxFactor","3.4")Just copy and paste these into your chat window like you would normally type into, hit enter, and you're done. Except now you'll notice how far you can zoom out now and see much more of your surroundings, where the safe spots are, where the adds are spawning from, or position your camera on the opposite side of a boss if you're tanking with your back to a wall. This is one of the simplest solutions and tanking secrets as to how tanks seem to know everything that's going on around them.
Now, even if you're not tanking, YOU can be empowered to know all and see all!
Sunday, December 11, 2011
#04 - Blow it off... with cooldowns!
This will likely be the last Segment of the year. So let's make it through this burn-phase of the holidays with some cooldowns!
I mention an Addon called Power Auras. This addon has been around for a while. Even though there are basic Auras built into the default UI now, to alert you when you get an "On Chance" ability that happens, Power Auras allows you to decide what same or additional information you want to know, how it alerts you and where it alerts you. Maybe you want a big red identifier when your health drops below 40%, or maybe some easier to see indicators when other classes cast special abilities on you. Or maybe you would rather have them off to the side instead of right on your character.
By setting up your own custom auras you can make it phenomenally easier to know when to use your cooldowns in an emergency, but can also help you pace out your cooldowns to use 1 after another in succession, increasing your longevity over a greater duration, especially when you're receiving mitigation or reduction buffs from other players.
Most tanking cooldowns have a 3 minute duration or less. With this kind of availability you can use at least 1 of them nearly every group of trash mobs in dungeons or raids and really decrease your dmg taken (and healing required to keep you alive) so your healer can start healing those guys over there standing in the fire ;) .
In addition to Self alerts via visuals or audio indicators (or both), you can also have Power Auras alert you to Primary or Focused target buffs or debuffs, number of stacks, or a countdown for how long of a timer remains on it.
Allow me to wrap up with another addon which requires Zero setup, works with ANY class or role, extremely handy way to augment Power Auras or use by itself: In-line Auras.
This Places a small ticker, tracker and/or timer on any of your action buttons that have a HoT, DoT or use some kind of resource to build up an ability (like Combo Points or Holy Power). It will countdown your HoT/DoT ticks, tell you your stacks *right on the spell icon*. The advantage here is that there's no additional GUI hogging up your screen and you get the same information as other DoT/HoT trackers out there. One quick glance at your action bars and you know what's up!
I mention an Addon called Power Auras. This addon has been around for a while. Even though there are basic Auras built into the default UI now, to alert you when you get an "On Chance" ability that happens, Power Auras allows you to decide what same or additional information you want to know, how it alerts you and where it alerts you. Maybe you want a big red identifier when your health drops below 40%, or maybe some easier to see indicators when other classes cast special abilities on you. Or maybe you would rather have them off to the side instead of right on your character.
By setting up your own custom auras you can make it phenomenally easier to know when to use your cooldowns in an emergency, but can also help you pace out your cooldowns to use 1 after another in succession, increasing your longevity over a greater duration, especially when you're receiving mitigation or reduction buffs from other players.
Most tanking cooldowns have a 3 minute duration or less. With this kind of availability you can use at least 1 of them nearly every group of trash mobs in dungeons or raids and really decrease your dmg taken (and healing required to keep you alive) so your healer can start healing those guys over there standing in the fire ;) .
In addition to Self alerts via visuals or audio indicators (or both), you can also have Power Auras alert you to Primary or Focused target buffs or debuffs, number of stacks, or a countdown for how long of a timer remains on it.
Allow me to wrap up with another addon which requires Zero setup, works with ANY class or role, extremely handy way to augment Power Auras or use by itself: In-line Auras.
This Places a small ticker, tracker and/or timer on any of your action buttons that have a HoT, DoT or use some kind of resource to build up an ability (like Combo Points or Holy Power). It will countdown your HoT/DoT ticks, tell you your stacks *right on the spell icon*. The advantage here is that there's no additional GUI hogging up your screen and you get the same information as other DoT/HoT trackers out there. One quick glance at your action bars and you know what's up!
Monday, December 5, 2011
#03 - Line of Sight
If you've ever watched the Death Star try to get in Firing Range, then you already have a basic understanding of what Line of Sight is (LOS). The Rebel Base has aggrod the Empire and the Death Star just wants to eat it for lunch but that other darn planet is just in the way! Ok, maybe that is a galactic stretch of an analogy.
Whether you've got the means to take it to them, or drag them to you, or silence any enemy healers at ranged, there's still plenty of situational things that can happen where being able to manipulate mob positions based on your terrain can be quite advantageous and give you that edge other tanks may lack. Remember to communicate to your group about a LOS pull., DPS love to begin, often when you're not quite ready,
There isn't always terrain or an object to force these mob types into a location. If you're in this scenario always bring the Melee mobs as close as you can to the Caster/Ranged mob. However, next time you have a chance and there's a stairway, wall, corner or some other kind of structure that can't be cast through, give it a go. Use the Los!
Whether you've got the means to take it to them, or drag them to you, or silence any enemy healers at ranged, there's still plenty of situational things that can happen where being able to manipulate mob positions based on your terrain can be quite advantageous and give you that edge other tanks may lack. Remember to communicate to your group about a LOS pull., DPS love to begin, often when you're not quite ready,
There isn't always terrain or an object to force these mob types into a location. If you're in this scenario always bring the Melee mobs as close as you can to the Caster/Ranged mob. However, next time you have a chance and there's a stairway, wall, corner or some other kind of structure that can't be cast through, give it a go. Use the Los!
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