The Mage solo thread, because who needs a DK ?

[LocNess]

Araitik, I'd like to point out that you better hurry and solo everything you want to solo ASAP because I'm testing Dragon Soul on the beta (to see if the Blazing Drake is, in fact, soloable like they said), and I'm THREE-SHOTTING bosses, and they're doing under 1k hits to me (and with iLevel 660 on the PvP realm, I have over 240k HP).

So yeah, sadly this thread will be useless come WoD, but at least it'll be here for "legacy" sake!


Edit: Yep, Madness is definitely soloable.

*video snip*

Bleh. I enjoy some challenge in soloing, so maybe MoP raids can provide that. But oh well, admittedly they said soloing would not be an issue and they stood by that. I am happy I could solo for my Blazing Drake too so I can get my Emerald Drake. Was Spine any issue?

[Polarthief]

This won't affect mop content, and that's what we most likely will be soloing in WoD.

It will slightly! Because MoP is 10 levels behind instead of 5, we'll be getting a decent boost. If 15 levels turns us into 3-shot kings on DS bosses (with a 0% buff mind you; the beta has a 0% buff up atm), 10 levels won't be too far behind.

Bleh. I enjoy some challenge in soloing, so maybe MoP raids can provide that. But oh well, admittedly they said soloing would not be an issue and they stood by that. I am happy I could solo for my Blazing Drake too so I can get my Emerald Drake. Was Spine any issue?

I agree. I enjoyed the challenges! I remember when Karathess in SSC was still the biggest and most badass mofo ever because of his mana burn ability.

Spine survivability/DPS wasn't an issue, but barrel rolling was...



For anyone confused why the hell I was going back and forth constantly, Deathwing is incredibly weight-sensitive when it comes to his spine, and even moreso when only one player is on it. In fact, it's so sensitive that he will always roll, even if you're in the center, so the only thing I could think of was to constantly go back and forth, waiting FIVE FUCKING MINUTES (the original speed clocked in at just over 3 full videos on Fraps, which was over 5 minutes) for bloods to spawn. There was literally nothing hard or challenging; all I did was spam AE to blow up everything, then ABarr to pick off bloods. Corruptions don't Fiery Grip you because you're the only player, so just spam away at Ice Barrier and you're untouchable.

As far as the rest of the fights went, everything was a piece of cake. Honestly, there was more downtime of waiting for NPCs to stfu than me actually fighting bosses (with the exception of failed Spine attempts trying to figure out my strategy).


PS: To the observant, yes. This is a different character than my Madness fight. I didn't record Spine, so I had to make a whole new character and redo DS just for the sake of recording it Sadly, my capture and editing software didn't seem to appreciate that so much... (PS: If anyone knows of good, free, capture software, I'd love to hear what you use!)

[LocNess]

It will slightly! Because MoP is 10 levels behind instead of 5, we'll be getting a decent boost. If 15 levels turns us into 3-shot kings on DS bosses (with a 0% buff mind you; the beta has a 0% buff up atm), 10 levels won't be too far behind.



I agree. I enjoyed the challenges! I remember when Karathess in SSC was still the biggest and most badass mofo ever because of his mana burn ability.

Spine survivability/DPS wasn't an issue, but barrel rolling was...

*video snip*

For anyone confused why the hell I was going back and forth constantly, Deathwing is incredibly weight-sensitive when it comes to his spine, and even moreso when only one player is on it. In fact, it's so sensitive that he will always roll, even if you're in the center, so the only thing I could think of was to constantly go back and forth, waiting FIVE FUCKING MINUTES (the original speed clocked in at just over 3 full videos on Fraps, which was over 5 minutes) for bloods to spawn. There was literally nothing hard or challenging; all I did was spam AE to blow up everything, then ABarr to pick off bloods. Corruptions don't Fiery Grip you because you're the only player, so just spam away at Ice Barrier and you're untouchable.

As far as the rest of the fights went, everything was a piece of cake. Honestly, there was more downtime of waiting for NPCs to stfu than me actually fighting bosses (with the exception of failed Spine attempts trying to figure out my strategy).

Yakety Sax was a great touch, and thank you on the input. Good to see a lot of misses and such, dodging damage as a Mage is soooo much better than attempting to heal it back. Be interesting to see MoP raid soloing altogether, as I figured some bosses might be kind of sketchy just how mechanics work. Been a lot of group work this expansion.

[Saiyendra]

It will slightly! Because MoP is 10 levels behind instead of 5, we'll be getting a decent boost. If 15 levels turns us into 3-shot kings on DS bosses (with a 0% buff mind you; the beta has a 0% buff up atm), 10 levels won't be too far behind.





I agree. I enjoyed the challenges! I remember when Karathess in SSC was still the biggest and most badass mofo ever because of his mana burn ability.

Currently the beta has a 16.5x damage bonus and a -90% damage reduction for level 100s on Cataclysm and lower content. There is no scaling on MoP bosses, though. You will fight them at your natural stats.

Mione posted a spreadsheet that has the formulas in the death knight solo thread; you might want to check that out.

Also, didn't Fathom Lord have an ability that dealt damage equal to 50% of your health?

[Kazuchika]

Also, didn't Fathom Lord have an ability that dealt damage equal to 50% of your health?

Yeah his bolt would hit mana users for 50% of their maximum HP.

[Araitik]

Araitik, I'd like to point out that you better hurry and solo everything you want to solo ASAP because I'm testing Dragon Soul on the beta (to see if the Blazing Drake is, in fact, soloable like they said), and I'm THREE-SHOTTING bosses, and they're doing under 1k hits to me (and with iLevel 660 on the PvP realm, I have over 240k HP).

So yeah, sadly this thread will be useless come WoD, but at least it'll be here for "legacy" sake!


Edit: Yep, Madness is definitely soloable.

Madness has already been soloed in Heroic by a Russian Mage, back in March (on live, obiously)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn2OBVxm2oY

[Polarthief]

Yakety Sax was a great touch, and thank you on the input.

If it didn't last 5m, I wouldn't have added it, but after realizing how incredibly boring the fight was, I had to speed it up and thought "y'know, Yakety Sax would probably fit this perfectly...". I also added the song to Madness because I always played that when my guild got to him. It's the most fitting song for it

Good to see a lot of misses and such, dodging damage as a Mage is soooo much better than attempting to heal it back. Be interesting to see MoP raid soloing altogether, as I figured some bosses might be kind of sketchy just how mechanics work. Been a lot of group work this expansion.

Ice Barrier covers most of it, though the lower level mobs thing is a joke. I was so scared when I went in, thinking it'd be impossible, then I two-shot trash. Got scared at Morchok, 3 shot him, and took a 400 melee hit. I was laughing so hysterically PS: Nuclear Blast on Spine takes out after 20% of your barrier. TWENTY PERCENT of your shield, and that used to oneshot.

I wonder how quickly we can kill Alysrazor with full buffs...

Currently the beta has a 16.5x damage bonus and a -90% damage reduction for level 100s on Cataclysm and lower content. There is no scaling on MoP bosses, though. You will fight them at your natural stats.

Mione posted a spreadsheet that has the formulas in the death knight solo thread; you might want to check that out.

That's not going to stay as is for MoP though, is it? I thought it was a scaling down system, and that's just a blanket change.

Also, didn't Fathom Lord have an ability that dealt damage equal to 50% of your health?

He would use a special ability that hits you for 50% of your MAX (not current) HP, but only if you had mana, so being a Paladin tank was pretty much asking to die.

Madness has already been soloed in Heroic by a Russian Mage, back in March (on live, obiously)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn2OBVxm2oY

And while that's impressive, the average player can't do that (see: Ragnaros), and especially with Drake Collector tied to it, they have to make it significantly easier, though right now, it's waaaaay too easy.

(Bluh, I see even some Russians can't have good taste when it comes to music >_> Really wish people would stop using dubshit in their gaming videos)

[LocNess]

If it didn't last 5m, I wouldn't have added it, but after realizing how incredibly boring the fight was, I had to speed it up and thought "y'know, Yakety Sax would probably fit this perfectly...". I also added the song to Madness because I always played that when my guild got to him. It's the most fitting song for it



Ice Barrier covers most of it, though the lower level mobs thing is a joke. I was so scared when I went in, thinking it'd be impossible, then I two-shot trash. Got scared at Morchok, 3 shot him, and took a 400 melee hit. I was laughing so hysterically PS: Nuclear Blast on Spine takes out after 20% of your barrier. TWENTY PERCENT of your shield, and that used to oneshot.

I wonder how quickly we can kill Alysrazor with full buffs...

Yeah, dur Ice Barrier is pretty helpful in negating damage. Forgot about that (admittedly I haven't used that talent since like H Dark Shaman progression in Jan/Feb). Alysrazor will be nice because it is super easy it just takes awhile, and if you fall asleep for a second you get too far behind and she despawns. My Disc priest will be thankful too, takes like 8 bloody minutes.

[Polarthief]

Yeah, dur Ice Barrier is pretty helpful in negating damage. Forgot about that (admittedly I haven't used that talent since like H Dark Shaman progression in Jan/Feb).

With TS gone and Alter Time being only useful in some scenarios, get used to having the barrier ALL the time now.

Alysrazor will be nice because it is super easy it just takes awhile, and if you fall asleep for a second you get too far behind and she despawns. My Disc priest will be thankful too, takes like 8 bloody minutes.

Alysrazor is already super easy. I can even solo her on 25H on live; now it'll just take 10 seconds (and she's one of the very few bosses whose mount I don't have yet and can solo).

[Araitik]

PSA : The Juggernaut Focusing Crystal, ilvl 582, gives 101 Leech on Beta. At level 90, this equals 1.77% healing. That means at level 100 I presume it'll be something like 0.5% or less.

Don't bother farming if you don't have it

[LocNess]

PSA : The Juggernaut Focusing Crystal, ilvl 582, gives 101 Leech on Beta. At level 90, this equals 1.77% healing. That means at level 100 I presume it'll be something like 0.5% or less.

Don't bother farming if you don't have it

Between normal and heroic, I have killed Iron Jugg 25 times just on my Mage, saw it drop once on Normal. Still irks me, but at least I won't have to be irked for long.

[Saiyendra]

@Polarthief (I'm on my iPad right now, so quoting would be too much work).

Yes, you are scaled up against low level content, and your damage increases based on the level difference. It is not a smooth curve, though. If you are level 100, you get no bonus damage against level 90 content.

[Deleted]

Why are mages complaining that Madness is not soloable on live? Just did it on my alt Mage (543ilvl, Arcane spec). Don't stand in melee range of the corruption tentacles, stand in Rune of Power with the glyph of Evocation, use Ice Barrier and Ice Block the impales. In the last phase pop cooldowns, and use MI when the 2 adds spawn.

[Saiyendra]

They're talking about Heroic Madness, which is still soloable, albeit with some difficulty.

[Polarthief]

They're talking about Heroic Madness, which is still soloable, albeit with some difficulty.

Why do you need to do Heroic? Blazing drops on Normal too. Unless you want the red one whose name I forgot.

Do I need to make a soloing video of Heroic now, too? 10N was a fucking PUSHOVER, so I'll try 10H or even 25H (assuming I can do heroic Spine... those debuffs will probs kill me)

Edit: Headed there now, but my game is in "Playable" and not "Optimal" (because the beta launcher decides to download at 0B/s). Will be testing as Arcane using i660 PvP gear (i690 when in PvP), which I believe is the Season 1 (Warlords) gear, so roughly Normal/LFR raid-geared. Will post results, but no shitty video this time (now my only problem is is this considered "Heroic" or "Mythic"?)

[Saiyendra]

Life Binder's Handmaiden, which is possibly my favorite mount in the game T.T.

[Polarthief]

Update 1: Lol. Morchok and Zon'ozz made me yawn so far, just like Normal. I found almost no difference, except that Morchok lived for 5s longer because there was two of him and it glitches.

Life Binder's Handmaiden, which is possibly my favorite mount in the game T.T.

Yeah that. My guild was nice enough to farm Heroic Madness for like 7 weeks cuz most of us wanted one. We also got THREE Blazings (2 in main group, 1 in sub group that I tanked), and I offered the winner of the first one a nice chunk of change, and he would have accepted, but apparently the rest of the guild found it in poor taste, so I gave it back :\ Don't even care for Blazing; I just want it for Emerald/+1 mounts for Felfire (BERYL) Hawk.

Update 2: Yor'sahj and Hagara too. I even pulled Yor'sahj with all his slimes up. AO+AE = looks like a unicorned rainbow-jizzed everywhere, lololol. In all seriousness though, first 4 bosses I 100-0'd without taking 1 point of damage because Ice Barrier is ftw. It's pretty nice as it's over 20% of my HP with 5556 SP (248k HP, 27,502 Ice Barrier).

Update 3: FUN FACT: Forcing Gariona (Blackhorn) to retreat before Blackhorn is dropped onto the boat causing you to fall through the world and die XD (Edit: Apparently the same happens if your Supernova doesn't kill both the drake and the add that's riding him -_- Died TWICE because I kill stuff too fast lol)
REAL Update 3: Okay so I took some damage on Blackhorn, but I'm watching Game Grumps and barely paying attention because it took forever for shit to spawn and come down. Ultraxion is a pushover still, so at least Experiment 12-B is available (on Heroic too, lol).

Update 4: Just like I expected, Blood Corruption: Death is why we can't solo Spine, but then again, ANY non-healer can't solo it either. The only thing I can think of is constantly killing the Corruption tentacles, but how you can manage that, the extra amalgs, the bloods, and the constant moving for the rolls; I don't even. That's way too much for any one person to do. I'll make sure Celestalon realizes this.

Update 5: Did Spine on Normal, and they did in fact overlook that Spine was not soloable on Heroic.

[Saiyendra]

Update 4: Just like I expected, Blood Corruption: Death is why we can't solo Spine, but then again, ANY non-healer can't solo it either. The only thing I can think of is constantly killing the Corruption tentacles, but how you can manage that, the extra amalgs, the bloods, and the constant moving for the rolls; I don't even. That's way too much for any one person to do. I'll make sure Celestalon realizes this.

Ummm. . . Just about any tank class can solo Heroic Spine (100% possible on every tank class, only monks have done it so far, though).

[Fungj]

Ummm. . . Just about any tank class can solo Heroic Spine (100% possible on every tank class, only monks have done it so far, though).

Think that was with constantly killing tentacles.

[Deleted]

Thought I'd quickly say a few things on my experiences with Al'Akir 25H:

The key thing on this fight is finding the safe zone on the platform, that being the very thin ring around him that doesn't allow him to melee nor electrocute you. Obviously this means you can play something other than frost as a tank is no longer needed.

Squall lines force you to reposition, but blinking through between two markers is sufficient. If you don't have markers, aim a little more outward than inward; it's better to take electrocute ticks than to take a (possible crit) melee.

Oddly enough I think Flameglow is the best option, as there are several sources of tiny but incessant damage sources that you'd rather not bother losing a global to Ice Barrier. The issue with losing these globals every 25-60 seconds is that the berserk is only 10 minutes.

However the flipside is that Flameglow is very poor for phase 3 as you're going to start taking 45k lightning bolts and 50k wind bursts, and as Arcane you don't have any ground to place a rune (thanks blizzard for making arcane utter shit as soon as a third dimension is involved) for the HP regen. And by the time I died there were about 10 seconds left on berserk anyway.

I have a feeling if I went Fire and made use of the stormlings to both roll a huge Feedback buff and create bugged combustions, it would be feasible. However, I have a burning (freezing?) hatred for Fire and I never plan to use it as long as Fire continues to betray me on a daily basis.

If someone feels like they have the gear and the patience to give this a go, be my guest. Fire seems to be the key to everything and I'm not even fully heroic geared. My best attempt at 25H is 19% with only 10 seconds remaining upon death.

As for 25N, it was almost insulting how much easier it was. Al'Akir has like half the health he does in Heroic.