GUILD STRUCTURE

RAID INSTANCES:
We have had some great new additions to our ranks as well as internal growth, and it is getting harder and harder to find spots for everyone within our 10 man Kara raid runs. It is now time to place structure and scheduling in place to ensure everyone has a chance to enjoy this part of wow and reap the rewards to be gained.

From here forward, guildys who sign-up for scheduled events will have 1st dibs for the run. We will have 3 Raid schedules to choose from and once they are filled with the desired classes and specs, the raid team will be set. Each team will also have slots for alternates in case a scheduled member has unexpected aggro. Once an alternate runs with a set team, they will be locked into that team for the remainder of the week. An alternate will not have 1st dibs if the team schedule is set for another night of raiding and all the original sign-ups are present at the raid start.

Each Raid leader may alter this as they see fit.

Kara Raid Start Times
Will be Set as Follows: All time is Server time (Central Standard Time). End times to be coordinated within each team.

Wednesday thru Friday (3 Days a week)


6:30 Murder & Delrio


8:30
Pesce & Castwalter

10:30
Vrie & Zalf :))

Zul'Aman Raid Times (10-man raid)
will be set and coordinated by Pesce. This will be an invitation only event until more of our ranks are better geared.

Gruul Raid Times (25-man raid)
will be set and coordinated by Pesce. Look for it on our calendars.

Other 25 man raid Times we are not yet ready for. We are getting close tho. Keep up your good work.

Raid Rules:

Sign-up
for Raid events to participate. On the fly invites will be limited.

When you sign-up for a raid event, be online and ready to go before the event start time.

If you will not be able to attend an event you signed-up for, make every effort to notify people so alternates can be quickly coordinated.

Keep ventrilo chatter limited.
Ideally, only the raid leaders should be speaking. Jokes, innuendos, comments, idle talk, if not directly related to the next mob or boss pull, should be done through raid type.

LOOT Rules:
SF Operates on a Need, Want, DE, system.

NEED roll
only if it is an immediate upgrade to your current class/spec gear. Raid leaders will call-out the rolls. Raid leaders also reserve the right to verify need, and may make alternate suggestions/compromises.

WANT roll
only if nobody needs and it is an item you can use. This roll is typically for your off-spec fun times.

DE
and Roll on crystals. Top roll(s) receive depending upon the number of crystal created. This obviously requires an enchanter. If none are present in the raid run, raid leaders reserve the right to distribute items as they see fit.

RAID Requirements:
Ventrilo
Speakers (Minimum) Mic (Optional)
Deadly Boss Mods (Or similar)
Guild Portal Account (To view Boss fight Info)
Omen Threat Meters

Group Calendar (To Schedule your attendance)

Failure to have any or all of the above may eliminate you from the scheduled raid run. Have them ready prior to raid start times.

Sample Raid Team Structure by Kara Boss:
Attunement, Moroes, Maiden, Curator (1-MT, 1-OT, 3-Healers, 5-DPS) 2-3 cc classes.

Shade, Illhoof (1-MT, 3-Healers, 6-DPS) 2-3 cc classes.

Chess (is an event. Have fun)

Prince (1-MT, 2-3-healers, 6-7 Ranged DPS)

Nightbane (1-MT, 2-3-healers, 6-7 ranged DPS)

Netherspite (1-MT, 1-DPSOT, 3 healers, 5 ranged DPS)

Each boss has specific class/spec needs. Read Boss Fights within Guild Portal for exact team make-up and strategies.

Guild Structure:

Level based structure: Commanders (lvl 61+) are the leaders of the guild, and have most officer authority within it. Rear Admirals are our designated officers. Combat Officers, Green Berets’, and KP Duty round out the field. See the "guild information" within the game for a full run down.

Play Time has been set to a maximum of 2 months inactivity. If you have not play'd your character within this timeframe, your toon will be removed from the guild. We realize that real life events can have an affect on your wow time, but this practice will be adopted in order to keep the guild uncluttered with abandoned toons. If you should come back to wow once you have been removed, you will be welcomed back into the guild with open arms.

Everyone can invite other players without any restrictions. We do not have sign-up forms. We do not require subscriptions to the blog - nor impose a training period. ALT's are welcome!

Tabards? Are not required, but it'd be nice if your toons wore them.

Begging? is strongly discouraged. I walk near a mile every day from the train to my downtown office, and I pass many beggars along the way. I certainly do not want to deal with it in the game. Please don't impose the uncomfortable request upon your other guildies.
**New Note** I have been noticing more and more people begging other guildies for gold to help buy an assortment of things, including 40 & 60 level mounts. As a player who never asked for any help obtaining my own stuff, I'd like to see this practice end. Money and friendship rarely ends in happiness out in the real world, it certainly has a greater risk within the game. Please be selfsufficient.

Questing/Instances? I have found the game to be much more fun doing these with others of similar level. Plus, you get experience that way. If a much higher level is with you, the WoW Gods do not bestow experience upon you.

ALL classes Now Welcome - Please feel free to invite any and all who seek a fun guild to enjoy the world of warcraft. SF has diversified. Every guild member has the authority to invite others into our ranks.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Zul'Aman Boss Guide

FYI – Druids, remember, this is an outside instance. Root will be a very effective crowd control action.

Important note for anyone at the start of the instance: don't click on the gong until your raid is buffed and ready. It takes several people to channel, and will spawn two elite trolls and a pair of AOE packs when you do.

Nalorakk the Bear
Troll form mangles and charges; bear form bleeds and silences. You need two tanks, one for each form. Taunt off each other when he shifts and have both stay in front to mitigate his brutal swipe. Everyone else: spread out, keep yourself and the tanks alive, and dps like you mean it. This is an endurance tank-and-spank, just a hair less difficult than Prince Malchezaar, and the easiest fight in the instance.

Akil'zon the Eagle
Clearing his trash is half the battle: keep moving like in the Shattered Halls gauntlet, use CC on the elites, and have a pally AOE tank the birds if you've got one. Once engaged, spread out and watch your storm timer. Have everyone group up 5 seconds before it hits, then spread out again once it's over. You can kill the eagles (DOTs and seed are nice for this), but don't shift too much of your dps to it. Stay away from anyone with static disruption: don't let them run into the middle of the group even during a storm. It has a very short range, so they can probably keep alive and not kill anyone.

Lessons in going after Akil'zon (ty to big bear butt)

First, the path to reach Akil'zon is very short. If you are first entering Zul'Aman, and are standing at the steps leading down after having just opened the gong door, then the way to Akil'zon is to your left, a little bit forward, and then hook a sharp left.

The party should assemble there quickly, and look up the path, for at it's top stands a sentry. Assemble and prepare, for once you get within aggro range of the sentry he will run off, yelling an alarm to the other mobs and starting the event.

The path to Akil'zon from this point is VERY short. You have exactly 4 mobs of guards to kill as you fight your way up a ramp, a warrior and a caster. At the very top of this ramp, at the foot of some stairs, is a single enemy named, Amani'shi Tempest. Once you have killed these enemies, Akil'zon rests on a platform at the top of the stairs, waiting for you.

Sounds simple, right? Well, really, it is. However, the gauntlet (running up the ramp while fighting the 4 mobs), as it's called, presents some challenges that are quite fun.

The first challenge is knowing that, once the sentry is triggered, the 'event' starts. From the moment the sentry cries the alarm, at measured intervals waves of birds will fly DOWN the ramp to swarm you. The birds are weak, perfect Affliction 'Lock AOE fodder. Also, periodically two fighter types will spawn at the BOTTOM of the ramp to take your casters from behind. They are stronger than the birds, but go down fast to good DPS. These extra adds will continue to spawn until you begin to engage the Tempest. The very second you engage Tempest, the adds stop spawning.

The challenge in fighting the gauntlet is to push your way through to engage the Tempest as fast as possible, while maintaining focus through the chaos of swarms of birds and attacks from behind. Try to have both tanks up front. The main to engage the warrior, the off-tank to engage the caster. Work fast to burn down the caster. As soon as the caster is down, shift to the warrior... but the off-tank's main role is keeping an eye on the bottom of the ramp, ready to run down and intercept the two fighter adds before your healers die.

As the birds come down, you can use a Warlock AOE to blast them to bits... otherwise, you can just ignore the birds as an entertaining sideshow.

So the paired team would be locked up, caster burned down, warrior burned down too until fighter adds charged up from the bottom of the ramp. At that time, all focus shifts to wiping out fighter adds while main tank just kept his target locked up. Once the fighter adds are gone again, the warrior was finished and the next guard team was engaged.

After 4 sets of guards, the Tempest is right there, and attacking him stops the constant stream of adds... If you've pushed that far, and you had at least half your group survive, then even if it was a sloppy run you've probably got it taken care of. Congratulations... you have survived the gauntlet and can take 2 minutes to rez and rebuff before taking on the Eagle Avatar, Akil'zon.

Now, a few words of warning... once you engage Akil'zon, a mystic barrier forms at the top of the stairs, sealing off the platform. If you have slow players on the first charge up to the platform, some of those players may find themselves on the other side of the barrier, standing on the top steps unable to help... but still able to be targeted by Akil'zons Electrical Storm, pretty much ensuring a wipe. When you decide to engage, everyone must hustle their ass onto the platform. No fighting from the stairs.

Next, the entire gauntlet, all four teams and the Tempest, respawns VERY quickly... and if they respawn when you are fighting Akil'zon, they will all charge up the stairs, run through the mystic barrier, and engage you. The respawn rate, is believed to be about 25 minutes. So do not go AFK after completing the gauntlet. Just don't do it.

Akil'zon deals Nature damage. Having the correct potions, and the Hunter Nature Resistance on, is probably a good idea. Everyone but the tank needs to spread out at least 13+ yards from the tank AND EACH OTHER to keep from getting more than one person blasted by Static Disruption at a time. That means that you need a plan for how you are going to arrange your healers in a circle around the boss, so everyone has someone that can heal them, and reach the tank. So think of it as a similar positioning challenge like the Maiden of Virtue, without the warm up time to have everyone gently nudged into place. You need the plan fixed AHEAD of time, and the players all need to comprehend their place before you start.

Second, this seems to be one of those fights where you only need one tank. Taunt does not work, so it's another Attumen straight-DPS for threat generation fight.

Finally, he does an attack called Electrical Storm. And this is a 'close up on the person picked NOW' kind of fight. He picks one guy out at random, and hits him with a purple lightning bolt that throws him up in the air. A black spot/shadow will form on the ground beneath him. Anyone NOT standing in the black circle/shadow gets slammed for nature damage over time that will build up/multiply and cause serious 'you dead, sucka' wipage.

Mark the main tank with a star... and watch the Deadly Boss Mods timer. As soon as Electrical Storm is up, everyone run in to collapse on the star, so when he chooses someone at random, everyone is already close to being in the right place. And if the person chosen isn't on the tank, then the starred tank shuffles over and everyone follows. Works well.

Rinse and Repeat, and you’ll have the victory.

Halazzi the Lynx
Phase 1 strategy is simple: stack your two tanks on top of each other to split his ~12k saber lashes. Hunters can tranq his frenzy in this phase. At 75% he'll turn into a shaman and summon a lynx spirit. Keep out of range of his earthshock and chain lightning totems if you're ranged, and cleanse the flame shocks. DPS priority is totems, then lynx. Once you kill the lynx he'll go back to phase 1; he splits again at 50% and 25%. After you've killed the spirit a third time, he'll enrage and start dropping more totems.
Jan'alai the Dragonhawk
He's the Aran of Zul'Aman: he'll teleport the entire raid to him, then scatter fire bombs on the ground. Ten seconds later the bombs will burst, so you must find a safe spot to stand in. Every minute or so two hatchers will come out to hatch some eggs on the platforms. Have 2-3 AOErs, a tank, and a dedicated healer kill one hatcher, let the other hatch five or six eggs, then kill him too and AOE the dragonhawks down before another teleport hits. At around 30% Jan'alai will hatch all the remaining eggs himself. Other notes: he does an AOE fire cone at a random target, and has a soft enrage before his 10-minute berserk timer.
Hex Lord Malacrass
He spawns with a random four adds with their own abilities each time (like Moroes), so your kill order will vary. Killing two and leaving the rest CC'd is a common strat. He dots and does a power drain (a nasty channeled AoE) increases his damage output by 10% and lowers the raid by 1%. The damage increases will stack on him through the fight. Power drain has a spell pushback, and its shadow damage is apparently rangeable at 30 yards. Lastly, he does a recurring soul drain which lets him steal class abilities from a random raid member and keep them until the next drain, so be on your toes and react accordingly to totems/traps/heals/fears/MCs/etc.
Zul'jin
The final boss takes on the aspects of all four animal spirits in turn at 20% intervals, wiping threat between each phase. In phase 1 he whirlwinds and casts a debuff on a random raid member that will keep ticking until that player's healed to full. At the start of phase 2 he'll paralyze everyone with a debuff that stuns and damages after five seconds; dispell this off your MT and some healers. Phase 3 brings damaging tornadoes to avoid and a ~1250 lightning bolt hit each time a caster finishes a spell (heals too!), so melee must step it up (aggro's irrelevant in this phase). In the 4th phase he'll fixate on random targets to melee before returning to your MT, and will do a whirlwind with a Leotheras-like debuff (but weaker). Have your tank intervene if possible, and spam-heal fixated targets. Phase 5 is the last and requires you to avoid increasing numbers of void zone-like pillars of fire while he hits you with a stacking + fire damage debuff. Keep people topped off and burn him down.

Side Notes
Sacrifice Timer:
Once you talk to Harrison Jones and start the event, you'll get a 20-minute sacrifice timer. Kill the bear boss within the timer, and you receive a chest containing an additional Badge of Justice and another piece of loot. Each kill within a timer gives you bonus time to get to the next boss plus whatever time you had remaining. The timers and bonus loot chests only exist for the four animal bosses, and if you go over the time limit on one boss, that's it for that raid ID.

Boss Locations: World of Raids has a map of the instance with all the ZA bosses here.

Instance Reset: Zul'Aman should reset every three days on the same schedule as Zul'Gurub and AQ20. If you start a ZA on patch Tuesday, your raid ID will last until early Friday morning.

ZA Quests: Talk to Budd Nedreck in Hatchet Hills, where you can also find the ZA flight point, repair dude, and reagent vendor. He'll give you a quest to retrieve a map from Nalorakk, which will give you a free 20-slot bag and open up two more quests.

Loot: here.

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