Author: Corgi

We enter The Burning Crusade, backed by years of experience at grinding and camping mobs whilst ten thousand other players fight for the same kill. For many, its a battle against the pack as they move in one heap between areas. At time of writing, Zangarmarsh has become the Hellfire Peninsula of BC release. Thankfully, Blizzard have given us some easily accessible instance content without having to trapse the Earth.

Personally, the levelling speed has a concern. To see players hit L70 in basically what’s been 3 and a bit days, was a mistake. However, if you ignore the power grinders most seem to be actively engaged in content which is great to see.

Of course, with levelling comes comments…

Context is a wonderful thing!

And even more amusingly, the above two pictures were sized manually – yet are pretty equal in height – win 😀

After a few rough weeks where we encountered the end of the uni/school year, we lacked the time to progress further into Naxx. This week tho, we overcame a rather odd obstacle that gave us some grief previously.

So, with the usual amount of fanfare – we bring you:

The larger version is available.

On our first day of serious attempts, SI has defeated the famed Naxxramas roadblock Patchwerk. After a session of healing practice whilst the DPS /afk’d and browsed the Interweb, Patchwerk fell to 35%. After some fine-tuning, Patchwerk was defeated with 0 deaths in the raid.

Simply astonishing – well done guys!

The larger version is available.

As someone said on the day, Why don’t we just rip off her legs and go stab? – we proceeded to do just this after a successful two week period in which we’ve gone above and beyond what we have done before. Fast clears through Naxx, BWL and AQ coupled with short staffing due to timezones – everyone I think definitely got something out of the previous few weeks of raiding which enabled us to take down the big spider thing.

The larger version is available.

In potentially a first kill mirroring Nefarian, Nestra collected a Wraith Blade whilst Raster and Inhibitor collected Desecrated Gauntlets . However, it did nothing to put a hole into Inhibitor’s DKP pool. Penalty time.

UPDATE! We also ventured into AQ tonight to attempt to defeat the Twin Emperors now that we were able to commit some time to the brothers in arms. The end result was two corpses, and some epic loots!

The larger version is available.

Drognen (Vek’lor’s Diadem) and Eiliah (Vek’nilash’s Circlet) collected their 2.5 headpieces, whilst Merihim (Boots of Epiphany) and Nickelplate (Belt of the Fallen Emperor) collected some nice pieces as well. Unfortunately, some players missed out on this raid due to sleep or overcrowding.

And to show we’re not all about the loot, sometimes we can have a bit of a laugh also:

Onward!

After some floater attempts last week, we managed to push into Faerlina and defeat the woman and her harem.

The larger version is available.

Loot wise, Trubbert picked up Icebane Pauldrons whilst Gwydeon collected his Desecrated Bindings .

We are currently looking out for a Priest and a Druid to join the team as we begin the push deeper into Naxxramas. You should be good at your class, and not have a loot whorish nature.

Our Recruitment forum details the application requirements, so head there.

Today we moved further along our journey towards Sapphiron and beyond by downing Noth. The encounter itself is quite technical, with less margin for error than really experienced previously.

The larger version is available.

Grats to all the attendees and players who fought hard for this victory 🙂 Grats to Saeco on Noth’s Frigid Heart also!

SI is currently on the lookout for a warrior who loves the sword and board. You must be Australian, of at least 18 years of age, and able to raid Monday/Wednesday/Thursday evenings and Sunday afternoon.

We do not expect that you are laden with T2 epics, but have the skill to match the gear you have earnt to date.

To assist you, we have prepared the following question:

Q: A doomguard is currently beating on a healer. Do you?
A1: Throw on your two hander and try and beat the rogues on the epeen meters
A2: Continue dpsing the MA target and abuse the healer for not fading
A3: Leave your sword and board on and taunt the doomguard
A4: Fake a disconnect to save on durability

Please include your answer in your application @ our Recruitment Forum

Update:

We thought we’d post some of the good responses:

– I’d let the healer die, then shift to bear and hump the corpse!
– A5. Continue DPSing MA target, and yell on vent for a banish on the doomguard. To maximize raid dps and healing, while the doomguard is crowd controlled. Then after everything is down, attack the freshly unbanished doomguard, kill, and say thanks to the warlock who was paying attention.
– A5: Bandage the healer!

Okay, so as most will know we’ve started on our Naxxramas journey. We’ve met with some good progress, screenshots as follows. All in all, we’ve progressing very well – with the Instructor battle going pretty smoothly. Corpse despawned, so we went and took a photo in the battle room instead!

Belatedly, we also downed this guy the other week 😀

Large images of Instructor and Anub available.

On the Recruitment front, we are currently searching for a Paladin (preferably with Blessing of Kings or willing to respec to) who can make at the least, our weeknight raids. Gear isn’t as important as experience of some kind – be that MC, ZG or AQ. You should enjoy healing (and not suck at it), be able to buff without being reminded – and not have a nervous itch to break out a 2Her to get SoC crits. Apply on the Recruitment forum if you are this type of player.

Times like this I remember the days of Paladin tanks and Paladin dps – sadly for applicants, now isn’t that time!

As we progress in Naxxramas, we stop and reflect on some of the things that make you laugh. Two such things were as follows. Firstly, we have Psychotic teaching us the benefits of concentrating on boss encounters:

And secondly, we have Tabion attempting to shortcut his way to EPL. History will show however, that he beat Blur to LHC:

When we made Strangely Hordish, way down the track we wanted to achieve two things – run Molten Core, and PvP against each other. Late tonight, SI went down bravely 2-3 to the SH juggernaut.

Relevant end of game chatter:

Today, Hallie has left SI and a few players have joined her. Officially, we wish that group of players all the best in their endeavours. Noone can put into words the effort Hallie has undertaken to building SI, and her loss will be felt.

Moving forward, we are unsure what to do about the Red concept. Naturally, we request all players give us a few days to assess what we have in front of us. There will be a few positions available in Blue.

We have also revoked all access for all players no longer in SI. I have no personal wish to contact 100 players, so this will have to do. Those that left today and wish to write a goodbye post are welcome to use General forum to do so.

Naturally, this is not an ideal situation for anyone – your patience is appreciated.

Today we rolled into the Temple proper, after handling some tall Egyptian guys and their weird abilities. After some impromptu training on the job (and long dinner breaks for some), we had a look at the two big guys and had a play with them – they looked lonely.

You can view the bigger version here.

So we rolled the dice and got a full raid group. And of course, after the efforts of a week or two ago it was a matter of time. Much nerd excitement was to be had following the kill but most will agree this was pretty satisfying, especially with only 6 dead on the kill attempt. Well done guys! 🙂

You can view the bigger version here.

We are currently searching for players who can offer good raid attendance and skill, but won’t get upset at sitting out. These players should be of the Priest, Hunter, Druid, Rogue variety. This opportunity is ideal for players wishing to progress in end-game content, and are good at what they do – but tempered by a non-permanent slot in our raiding roster.

Apply in the Recruitment forum if you fit this mould!

(We are no longer recruiting, thanks to all)

All raiding players should be collecting NR gear as a matter of priority this week. Refer to this thread for further information. All players will be automatically assumed to have progressed significantly through this list by Sunday!

As is always the way with SI, when the moons and planets align and we get to spend some time in an instance – bosses die. This week, Fankriss gave up some shiny epics as we plough towards playing with some Emperors.

You can view the bigger version here.

We’re operating on a new raiding schedule which should help alleviate some problems we’ve faced, whilst going forward with a much slimmer roster.

 

What does Vaelestraz?

• Essence of the Red: (Buff)– Gives the raid a 3 min buff that has different effects depending on what class you are,
  • Casters gain 500 mana per second
  • Rogues gain 50 Energy per second
  • Warriors gain 30 range per second
• Flame Breath– A frontal attack that does around 5000 damage, the higher your Fire resistance is, the lower the damage you will take.
• Fire Nova– This is a massive AoE attack that can not be out ranged, it does about 500-1000 damage each time it is cast, as with Flame Breath a Higher Fire Resist help you.
• Burning Adrenalin – For 18 seconds, all your abilities are instant cast. After 18 seconds you will explode and anyone in range of the explosion will take heavy damage, and maybe kill them.
  • Cast on a mana user every 45 seconds.
  • Cast on a tank every 45 seconds.

Positioning & Pull

• Mages, Warlocks, Hunters are place just to the left of the door, near the pillar as u walk in. (Warlocks place their imps with the Tanks).
• Rogues (and the Rogue party healers) are on the far side of Vael against the wall (opposite the door), and run in once fight starts.
• The the healers (not the rogue healers) are to the right upon entering Vael’s room to heal the MT’s. Ensure you can heal all the people you are supposed to be healing.

The Fight

• Once the fight has been triggered, and the MT has landed a few Sunders on Vael, the other warriors go in and begin to build aggro. They try to ensure that
• All DPS on Vael after a few seconds. This is a DPS fight, where aggro must be controlled.
• Druids and Paladins heal the MTs.
• Priests cast Prayer of Healing on their groups.
• If you get Burning Adrenalin, you must immediately go to your assigned area to blow up. However, you can continue casting from there.
• Hunter / Mage / Warlock Burning Adrenaline assigned area is to the west corner. Rogues will not get Burning Adrenalin.
• Healers are to run to the East Corner.
• Rage, Energy and Mana is not a problem in this fight, as you regenerate as fast as you use it. This fight is all about aggro control, and keeping people alive.
• Full FR gear must be worn on this fight. All players should have 250+ FR.

From a class point of view

Druids	Druids heal the MTs. Concentrate heals on the MT who has aggro, however, keep the other MTs alive. When the 1st tank dies Druids should switch to the next tank asap and keep him alive until he gets Burning Adrenalin. If you get Burning Adrenalin: Use Healing Touch on the MTs, and anyone else who needs healing. This has now become an instant cast spell.
Hunters	Hunters are part of the DPS group. IF a hunter has improved hunters mark, they should use it when ever its not on Vael. Hunters should FD as often as possible to minimise aggro.
Mages	Mages are part of the DPS group. Mages need to ensure they do not pull aggro. If you get Burning Adrenalin: Cast Frostbolt continuously.
Paladins	All Paladins are healing the MTs. Concentrate heals on the MT who has aggro, however, keep the other MTs alive. Buffs: Fire resist aura should be on.
Priests	Prayer of Healing is used in this fight. If you get Burning Adrenalin: Use Greater Heal on the MTs, and anyone else who needs healing. This has now become an instant cast spell.
Rogues	Rogues are part of the DPS group. Feign as often as possible to ensure aggro is kept under control.
Warlocks	Warlocks are part of the DPS group. Warlocks need to ensure they do not pull aggro.
Warriors	An order will be assigned to the MTs. Try to ensure you maintain aggro according to the order. Once the first MT has aggro, start to build aggro.

What does Kurinaxx do?

• Physical Attack – Hits for 800 – 1000 and has a forward cleave attack for 800 – 1200.
• Sandtrap – spawns directly under random player’s feet and takes a few seconds to expand, then explodes. Explosion is a 15 yard radius AE which causes 2000 damage and applies a 20 second debuff which reduces chance to hit by 75% and silences casting.
• Mortal Wound – stackable nondispellable debuff that reduces healing by 10%. This is applied by Slash, so it will hit multiple people in front of him.
• Summon – brings a player to immediately in front of him. This includes players who have died and run back into the instance, so don’t release and re-zone if you die.
• Enrage – at 30% health.

Positioning & Pull

• Ranged and Healers position themselves in an arc around the front of Kurinaxx, just inside range, but with about ten yards between each person.
• Melee lines up to the sides and attack from there once Main Tank has charged.
• Main Tank charges from the front to start the fight.

The Fight

• MT will get debuffed with Mortal Wound. Other tanks should keep up with MT aggro.
• Once MT reaches 3-5 Mortal Wound debuffs, MT2 should take over using taunt. Repeat until you run out of MTs.
• DPS should keep up steady but reasonable DPS until the Enrage.
• Players should stay at a distance from each other, whilst trying to keep within heal range of someone.
• If a sandtrap spawns under a players, everyone nearby should move away until it explodes.
• If you are hit by a sandtrap, you should bandage.
• Once Kurinaxx Enrages, everyone should go to maximum DPS, and all Healers should be overhealing the Main Tank.

From a class point of view

Druids	Heal priority: MT, group, raid. Overheal the Main Tank once Kurinaxx reaches 30%Enrages. Stay at a distance from other people, bandage if you are sandtrapped.
Hunters	Keep up steady DPS until Enrage. Once Kurinaxx Enrages, maximum DPS. Stay at a distance from other people, bandage if you are sandtrapped.
Mages	Keep up steady DPS until Enrage. Once Kurinaxx Enrages, maximum DPS. Stay at a distance from other people, bandage if you are sandtrapped, then wand until Silence wears off.
Paladins	Heal priority: MT, group, raid. Overheal the Main Tank once Kurinaxx Enrages. Stay at a distance from other people, bandage if you are sandtrapped. Buffs: Devotion
Priests	Heal priority: MT, group, raid. Overheal the Main Tank once Kurinaxx Enrages. Stay at a distance from other people, bandage if you are sandtrapped, then wand until Silence wears off.
Rogues	Attack from the side to avoid being debuffed with Mortal Wounds. Once Kurinaxx Enrages, maximum DPS. Run forward through Kurinaxx if a sandtrap appears. Run away and bandage if you are sandtrapped, then return and resume DPS.
Warlocks	Keep up steady DPS until Enrage. Once Kurinaxx Enrages, maximum DPS. Stay at a distance from other people, bandage if you are sandtrapped, then wand until Silence wears off.
Warriors	Switch between tanks when the MT has 3-5 Mortal Wound debuffs. You can taunt the boss. Once Kurinaxx Enrages, maximum DPS.

1. Kurinaxx
2. Rajaxx
3. Buru
4. Ayamiss
5. Moam
6. Ossirian

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