January 8th, 2010 -- Posted in Raid |
Now, before we continue down this slippery slope any further, I must give you my disclaimer that assignments are an art, not a science. The key to getting the most out of your healing team is knowing your healers. All I can do is give you some guidelines and a direction to start with. Getting your tank-hating priest to convert is up to you.
Boss Assignments
This is where your assignments can make or break a raid. There’s a reason you have a bull’s eye, err… cool title of Healing Lead. Being one of the most involved parts of raiding, you’re going to encounter all three types of healing on every fight. Each one is broken down below.
Tank Healing
Every fight in the game at this point requires at least one tank managing the boss. A number of fights require 2 or more main tanks taking turns keeping the boss’s attention. Then add on any off-tanks that are handling the boss’s friends and you have the makings of a par-tay. The premise for all of them is the same, though. You’re looking at fairly steady damage with significant spike damage thrown in for good measure. In order to cover whatever the mobs are going to toss at you, you want a variety of healing classes to be assigned to tanks.
Thus I give you the Tank Healing Trifecta: HoT’s, Quick Heals, and Big Heals. The HoT’s will take the edge off spike damage, while the quick heals will keep the tank alive long enough for the big heals will get him or her back up to full health. Priest, Druid, and Paladin are pretty standard, but don’t forget Shaman also have good quick heals in a pinch. continue reading »
November 28th, 2009 -- Posted in Raid |
Here’s the basic story. As you’ve just managed to lay waste to Lady Deathwhisper, you ride the elevator up to where you’ll see the Horde and Alliance doing battle. The fight happens almost identically the same whether you’re Horde or Alliance. The only difference is which faction leader you’re attacking and which faction leader you’re following.
You pick fights with small parties of the enemy faction as you fight your way to get to your gunship. This is the same ship that’s been circling Icecrown for all of Wrath, so you’ll probably recognize Orgrim’s Hammer and Skybreaker. You’ll want to be sure to grab a jetpack as soon as you get onboard, and spend a little time shooting around and getting used to the rocket jump. Even if you’re not going to be part of the raiding party attacking the enemy ship, the jetpacks are too much fun to completely ignore. Also, as has been mentioned before, these jetpacks gave rise to the infamous Rocket Bear.
Once the encounter starts in earnest, you’ll quickly find yourself fighting the enemy in ship-to-ship combat. Let’s take a look behind the jump and talk about how this is going to work.
The basic flow of the gunship battle works like this. You’ll have a series of guns with which you damage the enemy ship. The enemy will be returning fire, but they also have a plan for how to deal with your guns. A mage will come out and attempt to freeze your guns in ice. In order to prevent that from happening, a group of raiders will use their jetpacks to rocket jump to the opposite ship and kill the mage. At the same time, a portal will open on your ship, with an enemy boarding party trying to lay waste to the rest of your team. continue reading »