If you are having problem with Stone guards you can try too get some better players or just get better yourself. Get some more tries on stone guards and more loot from valor and looking for raid. If you still cant kill them you can always just keep trying until blizzard activates the overall damage/health nerfs to the raids later in the tier.
Stone Guard is joke of an encounter. Given, my group did wipe around ten times while myself and the other tank learned taunt swapping. If your tanks and healers are up to it (not a DPS race by any means) it shouldn't be too challenging after an hour or two of learning the fight.
That said, I do agree the difficulty with chains is significantly different from the combo without chains. It is still an extremely easy fight compared to encounters like Elegon or some of the bosses in HoF, but the difficulty is definitely inconsistent. I don't think this warrants a nerf, a more likely answer would be to have chains every week, to standardize the difficulty.
Note: My guild is not very good. But we managed to down Stone Guard in one try the second week of attempts (took around a dozen the first week). We are still stuck on Elegon, for an indication that we are in no way anything more than a casual guild.
My VERY casual guild is 6/6N
I honestly believe that stone guards is the hardest fight in the instance.
It didn't take long to down it, but it doesnt really get any easier once you've beaten it, as opposed to the rest of the fights which are absolutely trivial once you've downed them once.
OP: it is clear you are not a type of player that the devs want. If I were you, I'd immediately stop sending them my money. This is the only language they listen to. Also, watching them cry as they have to subsume their egos in order to keep their jobs is incredibly satisfying.
"There is a pervasive myth that making content hard will induce players to rise to the occasion. We find the opposite. " -- Ghostcrawler
"The bit about hardcore players not always caring about the long term interests of the game is spot on." -- Ghostcrawler
"Do you want a game with no casuals so about 500 players?"
this only works if there is a large group like you, and not as many that counter you.
so if you have someone who wants stonegard to be nerfed otherwise their gaming experience will be diminished it counters someone who's experience would be harmed by such a nerf.
easiest way to get around this is to set diffrent things for diffrent players. something like:
hardmode for players who want a challenge
normal for players who take a bit more casual approach
looking for raid mode (easy mode) for players who are just playing for fun
Two comments:
1) There is a hole in this for 10 man groups that want to have fun among themselves.
2) At the current level of fun provided by LFR, I doubt I'm going to be continuing my subscription very long.
It looks like, again, the raid designers have let their egos get away with them. Complexity for the sake of complexity and satisfying the top few percent of the player population.
"There is a pervasive myth that making content hard will induce players to rise to the occasion. We find the opposite. " -- Ghostcrawler
"The bit about hardcore players not always caring about the long term interests of the game is spot on." -- Ghostcrawler
"Do you want a game with no casuals so about 500 players?"
Stone guards is more annoying than anything, especially when jasper and cobalt are up. felt like i spent more time taunting and moving then i did actually tanking (albeit i was tanking while moving) just doesn't feel like a fun fight in the slightest mechanic wise, its just move taunt move taunt move taunt. As for chains if you can't manage that your raiders need to take some Ritalin and learn to focus on standing near there partner.
The biggest issue with chains, is that it is 100% lethal if not handled properly. If you step in a puddle, blue circle you'll probably take a chunk of damage, but it isn't going to wipe you unless you're doing it excessively.
Chains will quickly kill two of your players if a mine appears on top of them, and they choose to run in opposite directions. While not as rough as a bad tank-swap, it's not an easy mechanic to work around.
The best tactic, is to not even bother trying to break them, just play buddy system and stand on top of whoever you're linked to. It sucks as a healer if you're chained to a melee who has to constantly follow the dog between tanks, but realistically, there are more punishing encounters for healers who're bad at movement. The do 0 damage as long as you're close to your buddy.
If you try and break them, there's a significant chance it's just going to link you to the same person again (our mage was chained to our WW monk 3/4 times in one kill)
Stone Guards is fine. Blizzard won't nerf it. If anything it teaches casuals not to tunnel.
As a casual who just downed this boss last week on Normal, this kill felt more epic and satisfying than any H DS kill. This tier is the best tier since ICC, with a whopping 16 bosses, more than DS and FL combined. I hope Blizzard continues making 16 boss tiers with complex mechanics and not just lame tank and spank fights (lol Morchok and Ultraxion).
Your the reason blizzard ruined the game. If you cant do stone gaurds normal without crying on the forums you really need to consider if you should play a different game or focus more on pet battles or something. I hate to be a douche, but the only advice i can give you, is to get better.
Sorry if this upsets you.
Get yourself 9 completely random people and pop in there. Make sure the other 9 are brand new to it. Don't watch any videos or use anything but a vague pass over the dungeon journal.
Oh, and be wanting to chill after a week at work, and have a few drinks inside you before setting out.
It'll take you half an hour before the tanks get it, and then you'll have to work on everything else. Not entertaining.
I thought you were referring to heroic guards. I can completely see a random pug group having problems on guards. I thought you were referring to heroic, which inherently means your team understands the fight, it's just one new mechanic.