Thoughts on Ulduar

Wow, I was really unprepared for Patch 3.1 this week. My offset wasn't enchanted, incomplete, and I didn't even have enough money for dual spec! I had several real-life plans this week that conflicted with raiding that I had made thinking 3.1 was still at least a week or two off. I'm sure others did as well, and we had poor attendance as a result.

Now we're stuck on Razorscale, Emalon kicked our ass, and we've gotten a nasty shock about our abilities as raiders on progression content.

As others have observed, Ulduar is much harder than Naxx. Someone said that Naxx made them a worse player. I'd tend to agree.

Fortunately, I think once people get back into the groove of making progression attempts, after having been so long without any, things will get much smoother. For now, though, like last night's raid, progression will be painful. Sort of like going back to the gym after a long hiatus.

Now then, on to specific comments about bosses.

Flame Leviathan - I wasn't present for the 25-man version of the fight, but I did it on 10 man just fine. Very well-done fight. I think this proves that Blizzard is finally getting vehicles, and by extension, vehicle-based encounters, right.

Ignis - I guess this is what Blizzard meant when they said they were making trash harder in Ulduar. Wow. Still, they are doable. I wasn't present for the actual attempt on this boss, but I wanted to comment on the insanity of these Molten Giants compared to, say, Naxx trash. From the write-ups, Ignis himself seems to be of compareable difficulty to Razorscale, perhaps with less emphasis on healers and more on raid coordination (as I've said before... not our strongest suit).

Razorscale - Fun fight. I did this as both Shadow and Discipline spec (I switched mid attempts). It's definitely a healer-tank fight. Didn't seem particularly hard though. I did have some issues staying out of the fire... I'm not used to having to move when I'm healing. A Penance channel caused me to die because I foolishly waited for the spell to finish before I moved. Keep in mind it's just slightly more than one second with my haste rating. That was enough to end me, shields, heals, and all. We're changing our setup a bit and I think our attempts will get much better. For the moment, 85% is our high score though.

In general, I'd have to say Patch 3.1 brings a lot of welcome changes to the table. I'm still sad that my Death Knight tank was destroyed in the name of dual-wield nerfing, and sacrificed on the altar of tank homogenity, but I'm enjoying the changes they made to Shadow spec a lot. Critting dots, an Unstable-Affliction-like change to Vampiric Touch, an Improved Devouring Plague talent... it's pretty awesome. I killed myself on one of the Emalon trash because I cast DP too early, forgetting the new initial damage component, and crit on the cast at the worst possible time. Hello trash mob... goodbye shadow priest. Definitely a "that guy" moment.