Oooo - a worthy solo scenario - The Thunder Forge :)

[IYM]

Well -

I just hit a solo scenario that was a worthy one, and not a walk
through. Most of the solo scenarios meant to advance the story lines,
like the ones at the island of Thunder, were not difficult and were not
really meant to be that way.

However, I did just get to one that was challenging. If you are doing
the legendary quest line, they have a nice one for you. Once you are
done with the sigals and the 6K valor, the two battle grounds, and the
mini raid boss they introduced at 5.1 down at the landing, the next
thing you have to do is collect 20 "Secrets of the Empire" (similar to
the Sigals) which drop the same way from the Thunder King raid(s). Once
you do this and go back to the Black prince and turn it in, he asks you
to meet him at the Thunder King's forge on the Island. Once you go
there and talk to him, he starts a solo scenario that is a bit of a
challenge. :)

A 6 phase scenario, where it get interesting on phase 5. This is no
walk through and I wiped 3 times and had to quit for the night as it was
late. I'm going to give it a go again tonight, but as I had to leave
the instance I have to do the first 4 again.

(description of fight where noted courtesy of Noxide, ty!)

[In the Scenario you have to defend Wrathion while he charges up the
thunder forge, you have some shado-pan guys helping you out. There are a
few waves and the last wave has a 10m+ hp mogu.

During this there will be blue lightning balls appearing at certain
areas and it is marked with an arrow, you go pick it up and you get a
buff that increases your damage and healing.]

*(this part is not that bad...)*

[Once you do this part you get to enter the forge itself where Wrathion
summons a celestial blacksmith to start charging the anvils to temper
the lance. You have to defend the blacksmith from sha monsters during
this and you have a celestial defender helping you out. There are
multiple anvils and once each one is charged you can click them to deal
aoe damage. There are also green pillars of light that appear which you
can stand in to heal.

After all the anvils are charged, Wrathion does a massive aoe and thinks
it is over but instead summons a sha boss with 30m+ hp.

The celestial defender is supposed to be the tank while you do damage.
The boss has a couple of abilities.

-Main one is Insanity which does massive aoe damage and you HAVE to
interrupt it or you die. If you click on one of the charged anvils (they
all get recharged if you used them in the first phase) it interrupts the
ability so make sure you save them.
-Does a meteor shower which will appear as circles on the ground and
will follow you around, just dont get hit.
-Banishes the defender for a short amount of time and you gain aggro, he
doesn't hit too hard but if you dont want to risk it just kite.

(umm - he hits pretty hard on a clothie, let me tell you!)

When the sha boss gets low the lance becomes clickable. Click it and use
your special action button to kill the boss and the scenario is done and
you receive the lightning lance for the next quest]

SO -

If/when anyone does this scenario, do yourself a favor esp if you are
not a self healing class, like my mage. Bring bandages, health/mana
pots, etc that you can use....trust me, you'll need them. Also, make
sure you are repaired before going in. If you die on the last phase, as
soon as you rez, you do so with half health and half mana, and the
fight starts instantly. You have enough time to buff and that's about
it. It's a solo scenario, so you can't leave to repair and come back.
If you do, you have to do the whole thing over from the beginning.

If I recall, I said something along the lines once that this legendary
quest line seems to be making you explore all facets of the game from
farming mats, forming a raid team, winning PvP BGs, questing, etc. I
was wondering what else could they make you do and got my answer. This
seems to have raid type of mechanics with little screw up room....and
only you. No one to help or carry you through. Hard core raiders will
enjoy it, casuals will find it challenging, and questers will be
frustrated to all hell. I have ilevel 510 gear, am a clothie mage and
was getting smacked a bit for sure.

The good thing is that once I get him (and get him I will), you get the
lightning spear/rod. The next quest is to down Nalak and thrust the
spear into his dead carcass and I'll be finished with Part III and will
await 5.3 to continue. The reward is very nice - One of the following
and I think you can buy additional ones from the BP vendor:

Legendary Meta-Gem Stats:

Capacitive Primal Diamond: 324 Crit Rating / Capacitance � Chance on hit
to gain 1 charge, at 5 charges hits your current target for (280 + 75%
AP) Nature Damage. 15 base RealPPM, no ICD, PPM affected by specialization.

Courageous Primal Diamond: 324 Int / Chance to cost no mana on
beneficial cast.

Indomitable Primal Diamond: 324 Stamina / Chance on being hit to reduce
incoming physical damage by 20% for 15 seconds.

Sinister Primal Diamond: 324 Crit Rating / Chance on dealing damage to
gain 30% spell haste for 10 seconds.

Tyrannical Primal Diamond: 665 PvP Power / 775 Resilience (PvP Gem,
Obtained through Alternative Method).

[Catriona R]

On Wed, 01 May 2013 14:14:59 -0400, IYM <nor...@whitehouse.gov>
wrote:

>Well -
>
>I just hit a solo scenario that was a worthy one, and not a walk
>through. Most of the solo scenarios meant to advance the story lines,
>like the ones at the island of Thunder, were not difficult and were not
>really meant to be that way.
>
>However, I did just get to one that was challenging. If you are doing
>the legendary quest line, they have a nice one for you. Once you are
>done with the sigals and the 6K valor, the two battle grounds, and the
>mini raid boss they introduced at 5.1 down at the landing, the next
>thing you have to do is collect 20 "Secrets of the Empire" (similar to
>the Sigals) which drop the same way from the Thunder King raid(s). Once
>you do this and go back to the Black prince and turn it in, he asks you
>to meet him at the Thunder King's forge on the Island. Once you go
>there and talk to him, he starts a solo scenario that is a bit of a
>challenge. :)

I'm still chickening out of the battlegrounds lol, must get round to
them, then I can start farming LFR :-)

<snip>

>The celestial defender is supposed to be the tank while you do damage.
>The boss has a couple of abilities.
>
>-Main one is Insanity which does massive aoe damage and you HAVE to
>interrupt it or you die. If you click on one of the charged anvils (they
>all get recharged if you used them in the first phase) it interrupts the
>ability so make sure you save them.

Phew, was thinking "erm, what about classes without interrupt spells?"
there but that's alright :-)

>If/when anyone does this scenario, do yourself a favor esp if you are
>not a self healing class, like my mage. Bring bandages, health/mana
>pots, etc that you can use....trust me, you'll need them. Also, make
>sure you are repaired before going in. If you die on the last phase, as
>soon as you rez, you do so with half health and half mana, and the
>fight starts instantly. You have enough time to buff and that's about
>it. It's a solo scenario, so you can't leave to repair and come back.
>If you do, you have to do the whole thing over from the beginning.
>
>If I recall, I said something along the lines once that this legendary
>quest line seems to be making you explore all facets of the game from
>farming mats, forming a raid team, winning PvP BGs, questing, etc. I
>was wondering what else could they make you do and got my answer. This
>seems to have raid type of mechanics with little screw up room....and
>only you. No one to help or carry you through. Hard core raiders will
>enjoy it, casuals will find it challenging, and questers will be
>frustrated to all hell. I have ilevel 510 gear, am a clothie mage and
>was getting smacked a bit for sure.

Sounds rather like the warlock green fire solo scenario; I've watched
my bf try it and he gave up, it's likely fine for hardcore raider
types who are used to really complicated stuff but it's hard for more
casual players. being on the more casual side myself, it sounds like
I'll find this quest tough if/when I get there! Sounds fun as well
though :-)

[Cryptoengineer]

On May 1, 2:53 pm, Catriona R <catrionarNOS...@totalise.co.uk> wrote:
> On Wed, 01 May 2013 14:14:59 -0400, IYM <nore...@whitehouse.gov>

Thanks for the tips. I'm sure I'll need them.

I'm still working through OpenRaid.org to try to get a 'change of
command' run going (the miniboss)

pt

[skibber]

On 01-05-2013 21:44:12, Cryptoengineer wrote:
> OpenRaid.org

OpenRaid.org ?
what is this.

[IYM]

On 5/1/2013 2:53 PM, Catriona R wrote:
>
> On Wed, 01 May 2013 14:14:59 -0400, IYM <nor...@whitehouse.gov>
> wrote:
>

Woot! Got him on my 3rd attempt last night! I switched to frost on my
mage and I don't really know exactly how much a difference it made, but
as this is a constant moving fight, It must have helped. Before I
started I grabbed some health pots (which I used) and mana pots (which I
didn't touch). I also changed one of my talents to evocate with the
glyph which gives me back a little health when I use it, which is why I
didn't end up using my mana pots as I used my evocate (whcih replenishes
mana) a few times. I also changed to a frost bomb talent, and reforged
my gear for frost from arcane.

I really enjoyed this, as I had to think about the fight and what
talents to switch to. I figured that as I had to run for my life a lot,
I could launch a orb at him, throw a frost bomb at him and have my water
ele doing something to him. I would throw out anything else I could
while moving - something that was dogging me doing it as Arcane.

I would have gotten him on my second attempt except for a screw up on my
part I was not expecting. When he's at around 6M health, wrathion
decides to get involved (little sh$t just stood there being entertained
by my wipes) and yells out the the Lightning Lace it ready and that I
should quickly use it to finish the Sha off. I had just used the last
anvil and was looking around for the lance. Didn't see it hovering in
mid air. You have to get it (little gear symbol, so a pick up), then
once you get it a button pops up on your screen. Target the sha and
click the button and he dies. Well, I got it late, and was about to
click the button when he cast another insanity and killed me. I knew
where to look the next attempt when I downed him.

> <snip>
>> The celestial defender is supposed to be the tank while you do damage.
>> The boss has a couple of abilities.
>>
>> -Main one is Insanity which does massive aoe damage and you HAVE to
>> interrupt it or you die. If you click on one of the charged anvils (they
>> all get recharged if you used them in the first phase) it interrupts the
>> ability so make sure you save them.
>
> Phew, was thinking "erm, what about classes without interrupt spells?"
> there but that's alright :-)

Actually, the charged anvils are the *only* way to interrupt Insanity....

>>
>> If I recall, I said something along the lines once that this legendary
>> quest line seems to be making you explore all facets of the game from
>> farming mats, forming a raid team, winning PvP BGs, questing, etc. I
>> was wondering what else could they make you do and got my answer. This
>> seems to have raid type of mechanics with little screw up room....and
>> only you. No one to help or carry you through. Hard core raiders will
>> enjoy it, casuals will find it challenging, and questers will be
>> frustrated to all hell. I have ilevel 510 gear, am a clothie mage and
>> was getting smacked a bit for sure.
>
> Sounds rather like the warlock green fire solo scenario; I've watched
> my bf try it and he gave up, it's likely fine for hardcore raider
> types who are used to really complicated stuff but it's hard for more
> casual players. being on the more casual side myself, it sounds like
> I'll find this quest tough if/when I get there! Sounds fun as well
> though :-)
>

I will say, it was satisfying getting him down. Lots of messages and
fights on Forums about some saying he needs to be nerfed and others
countering that he's a legendary quest and supposed to be a challenge
and that the length and challenge of this quest line is supposed to weed
out the "baddies" as one guy called them, and that not everyone is
*supposed* to do it. I'm not sure I agree 100%, but it was nice
getting him playing the game the way it was intended. At level, no
nerfs, me vs. him and figuring out how to do it and with what tools to
do it with. I appreciated it...

Now - need to find a Nalak group as I apparently need to use this lance
not on his carcass, but during the fight. Basically, wrathion figured
out the controls and had the lance forged while I was fighting the Sha,
but it is not charged up. He wants me to charge the lance using Nalak,
so the lance will drain Nalak's lightning during the fight and charge
the lance but will make him angry and will fight it. I have no idea
what that means, but I guess I should mention it to the raid group when
we form that I'm on the quest and he may get pissed at me in particular
when I use it. :)

[Cryptoengineer]

Check it out. I've just joined, and don't know all the details.

It's a 3rd party site that allows strangers to assemble and coordinate
cross-realm raid groups and dungeon/quest groups; sort of a higher
order LFR, but without the 'completely random' aspect. People propose
a date and time for an 'event' and others sign up to be available at
that time. You register yourself with the site, and then list your
characters.

pt

[Catriona R]

On Thu, 02 May 2013 07:51:44 -0400, IYM <nor...@whitehouse.gov>
wrote:

Congrats! Out of interest; is it a dps racey thing that will suck for
non-dps specs or do you think a lower dps character can survive if
they're smart about the other stuff? My dps is improving with gear but
it's only around 45k in optimal conditions, which I realise is low
compared with a proper dps spec of my gear level, though it'd be
competitive enough around MSV gear lvl I think. I've been delighted
with how Blizz has managed to tune almost everything to be soloable
for even healers this expansion (yeah, slower than dps, but it's
possible!), would be disappointed with this if I have to wait till I
get geared up in 5.4 gear or even worse have to wait till next
expansion to have enough dps, but I'm hoping they've tuned it right
again :-)

>> <snip>
>>> The celestial defender is supposed to be the tank while you do damage.
>>> The boss has a couple of abilities.
>>>
>>> -Main one is Insanity which does massive aoe damage and you HAVE to
>>> interrupt it or you die. If you click on one of the charged anvils (they
>>> all get recharged if you used them in the first phase) it interrupts the
>>> ability so make sure you save them.
>>
>> Phew, was thinking "erm, what about classes without interrupt spells?"
>> there but that's alright :-)
>
>Actually, the charged anvils are the *only* way to interrupt Insanity....

Nice, equal playing field for everyone then ;-)

>I will say, it was satisfying getting him down. Lots of messages and
>fights on Forums about some saying he needs to be nerfed and others
>countering that he's a legendary quest and supposed to be a challenge
>and that the length and challenge of this quest line is supposed to weed
>out the "baddies" as one guy called them, and that not everyone is
>*supposed* to do it. I'm not sure I agree 100%, but it was nice
>getting him playing the game the way it was intended. At level, no
>nerfs, me vs. him and figuring out how to do it and with what tools to
>do it with. I appreciated it...

Nice one :-) I kinda agree that it's meant to be a challenge, but
we'll see just how much I agree when I get there, depending whether I
can actually kill him lol :-P

>Now - need to find a Nalak group as I apparently need to use this lance
>not on his carcass, but during the fight. Basically, wrathion figured
>out the controls and had the lance forged while I was fighting the Sha,
>but it is not charged up. He wants me to charge the lance using Nalak,
>so the lance will drain Nalak's lightning during the fight and charge
>the lance but will make him angry and will fight it. I have no idea
>what that means, but I guess I should mention it to the raid group when
>we form that I'm on the quest and he may get pissed at me in particular
>when I use it. :)

I was reading the Nalak page on wowhead yesterday (out of curiosity to
see if there's a reason he sticks the stormcloud on me every time -
doesn't seem so, guess he just hates me then!), and some people
mentioned this quest - apparently you don't need to be in a raid,
don't even need to be the same faction as the people fighting him,
just chuck the spear when he reaches 10% (or 8-9% for safety to avoid
lag making it not work and suchlike); seems it'll spawn an add or
something which you can kite off out of the way and everyone's happy.
At least that's what I gathered without paying a lot of attention as
it wasn't the info I was looking for at the time, but yeah, it should
be ok anyway :-)

[IYM]

On 5/2/2013 9:56 AM, Catriona R wrote:
> Congrats! Out of interest; is it a dps racey thing that will suck for
> non-dps specs or do you think a lower dps character can survive if
> they're smart about the other stuff? My dps is improving with gear but
> it's only around 45k in optimal conditions, which I realise is low
> compared with a proper dps spec of my gear level, though it'd be
> competitive enough around MSV gear lvl I think. I've been delighted
> with how Blizz has managed to tune almost everything to be soloable
> for even healers this expansion (yeah, slower than dps, but it's
> possible!), would be disappointed with this if I have to wait till I
> get geared up in 5.4 gear or even worse have to wait till next
> expansion to have enough dps, but I'm hoping they've tuned it right
> again:-)

You'll be happy to know then, that there is a different strat for
healers....supposedly... lol. You supposedly have to heal the
Celestial Gaurdian (your tank). If you keep him at full health, he gets
a haste buff. That and the healthier he is the more damage he does.
You also have to de-spell and remove bad crap from him a lot, all the
while doing avoiding the same crap you would have as dps and hitting the
anvils to interrupt insanity. So it sounds like it's just as intense as
dps, except your healing instead of dps'ing.

I haven't obviously done it, so I can only go by what I read.

>I was reading the Nalak page on wowhead yesterday (out of curiosity to
>see if there's a reason he sticks the stormcloud on me every time -
>doesn't seem so, guess he just hates me then!), and some people
>mentioned this quest - apparently you don't need to be in a raid,
>don't even need to be the same faction as the people fighting him,
>just chuck the spear when he reaches 10% (or 8-9% for safety to avoid
>lag making it not work and suchlike); seems it'll spawn an add or
>something which you can kite off out of the way and everyone's happy.
>At least that's what I gathered without paying a lot of attention as
>it wasn't the info I was looking for at the time, but yeah, it should
>be ok anyway

Good to hear - I can even "do my thing" while the horde is downing him.
But this is the first I'm hearing that he had to be at 10% and that an
add would pop up. Glad to be prepared....thanks...

[Catriona R]

On Thu, 02 May 2013 10:26:45 -0400, IYM <nor...@whitehouse.gov>
wrote:

>On 5/2/2013 9:56 AM, Catriona R wrote:
>> Congrats! Out of interest; is it a dps racey thing that will suck for
>> non-dps specs or do you think a lower dps character can survive if
>> they're smart about the other stuff? My dps is improving with gear but
>> it's only around 45k in optimal conditions, which I realise is low
>> compared with a proper dps spec of my gear level, though it'd be
>> competitive enough around MSV gear lvl I think. I've been delighted
>> with how Blizz has managed to tune almost everything to be soloable
>> for even healers this expansion (yeah, slower than dps, but it's
>> possible!), would be disappointed with this if I have to wait till I
>> get geared up in 5.4 gear or even worse have to wait till next
>> expansion to have enough dps, but I'm hoping they've tuned it right
>> again:-)
>
>You'll be happy to know then, that there is a different strat for
>healers....supposedly... lol. You supposedly have to heal the
>Celestial Gaurdian (your tank). If you keep him at full health, he gets
>a haste buff. That and the healthier he is the more damage he does.
>You also have to de-spell and remove bad crap from him a lot, all the
>while doing avoiding the same crap you would have as dps and hitting the
>anvils to interrupt insanity. So it sounds like it's just as intense as
>dps, except your healing instead of dps'ing.
>
>I haven't obviously done it, so I can only go by what I read.

Ohh, awesome! :-) I did not expect to get a healing fight, that's even
better than just dpsing then, great, that should be really really fun
then, looking forward to it.

> >I was reading the Nalak page on wowhead yesterday (out of curiosity to
> >see if there's a reason he sticks the stormcloud on me every time -
> >doesn't seem so, guess he just hates me then!), and some people
> >mentioned this quest - apparently you don't need to be in a raid,
> >don't even need to be the same faction as the people fighting him,
> >just chuck the spear when he reaches 10% (or 8-9% for safety to avoid
> >lag making it not work and suchlike); seems it'll spawn an add or
> >something which you can kite off out of the way and everyone's happy.
> >At least that's what I gathered without paying a lot of attention as
> >it wasn't the info I was looking for at the time, but yeah, it should
> >be ok anyway
>
>Good to hear - I can even "do my thing" while the horde is downing him.
> But this is the first I'm hearing that he had to be at 10% and that an
>add would pop up. Glad to be prepared....thanks...

Think he has to be 10% to use the spear or somesuch, at least it
sounded that way, I could've got it entirely wrong though as I wasn't
paying a whole lot of attention other than thinking "oh cool, more of
the legendary chain then" ;-)

[skibber]

Sounds interesting I will sign up and give it a try, been looking a bit on
the side but it did not give me so much.
Thanks for the info :-)

skibber