Malygos DOWN!

This should be a rather emo blog entry whining about how folks aren't punctual or don't update me on what their availabilities are; really, that's how this post played out in my head. But the truth is that we had a brilliant weekend raiding and while we definitely need to address concerns regarding punctuality and maybe even commitment, I need to talk about the great things that happened so I don't forget it months down the road when these achievements will have been eclipsed by newer ones.

On Saturday afternoon we began our Naxxramas run at 12:30 and proceeded to demolish every wing in the raid. We cleared the entire instance in 5 hours - still long compared to more hardcore raiders, but a vast improvement over our usual 9 to 11 hour raid time. We one-shotted every boss but Grobbulus and Kel'Thuzad. Grobb, a technically difficult fight, really caused us a lot of headaches. We were quite unlucky with our DPS positioning in some cases, which led to too many slimes spawned. Kel'Thuzad, on the other hand, was harder for us due to void zones spawning under the adds, where the tanks couldn't see them.

Azmuth paid for a new Ventrilo server for us, which we'll be trying out over the next few months. For the first time I really feel pressured to talk over Vent - it's different now that we don't have that many players around. I'd really like to maximize the use of the Vent server while we have it. The Vent server was quite useful for some of the harder fights, but as usual, we avoided using it.

We also tried out a new strategy for the 4 Horsemen, which led to a one-shot instead of our usual 5-6 attempts. The DPS start the fight right behind Lady Blameaux's position, while the tanks wait near the front of the room where Baron Rivendare and Thane Kor'thazz will start the fight. Once the fight starts, they then pick up the melee horsemen and kite them back to the ranged horsemen. On three marks, everyone swaps sides, and the tanks need to taunt off each other to ensure that the melee horsemen stick to their sides. While we had a few deaths, this strategy really worked for us, and we'll be using this in the future.

Sunday was a rough raiding day for us; even though we had a posted raid time of 12:30, we started at 2 pm due to lack of raiders. We finally downed Malygos after 21 attempts - 21! While hardly a flawless victory, it was a victory nonetheless, and we'll be coming back next week with high expectations for ourselves.

Killing Malygos unlocked an Achievement, of course, and I'm proud to note that Avierra is now a Champion of the Frozen Wastes, along with Azmuth, Silverwisp, Elauris, Damo, Brutusk and Calimdan.

Well done, everyone. Well done.