WoW Wednesday: Garrosh Kills (Literally) .

With Warlords of Draenor near, people have been running Siege of Orgrimmar like madmen, jumping in one group to another, attempting to obtain some of Garrosh’s delicious BoA weapons in preparation for the expansion, while some just want him down for the first time in order to obtain the Ahead of the Curve achievement. For months, I’ve seen so many groups attempt Garrosh and fail, dissolving just as quickly as it formed. Two or three wipes are the usual in these groups before everyone gets discouraged and start calling each other bad.

Gotta admit; he’s badass.

I am no stranger to the horrors of pugging and I find myself lucky that I rarely do it anymore since I found a great static that was glad to have a player like me. A lot of people aren’t as fortunate as I am or the small population of players that actually have guild runs or cross-realm statics, and I can imagine how difficult it is. There are still certain times when I have to pug, like when I’m on an alt I want to gear, and it’s the same story every time I find a group. Whether or not experienced in raiding, gear and time spent does not distinguish who has what it takes or falls flat on their face. I find it amusing that a lot of people still don’t know what is killing most of their pugs, mostly just blaming gear or DPS issues, when most of the time, it goes far deeper. So, here are some tips that can help both veterans and newbies alike in order to get that ever satisfying Garrosh kill.

Don’t Be a Douche

If you’re new with not that much experience, try not to tell your raid leader or other members on what to do unless they ask you for it. If you think you have a game plan that is actually much more effective than the one being planned, by all means, go ahead and give your opinion politely. I’m sure the raid lead will be reasonable enough and give counter arguments in a proper fashion if your plan is kind of off. If he won’t, then find a more sensible group.
Know the Fights

OH GOD, SOMEONE INTERRUPT ME!

I can’t stress that enough. It’s bad enough that someone walks in a raid with mostly the lowest PvP gear available this current season and that said person also wipes the raid at Malkorok due to actually avoiding the puddle section he was assigned. It infuriates me to no end that they decided to bypass LFR and Flex just try and get gear as quickly as possible and then have no idea on what to do in the raid itself. We’ve pugged people in half PvP gear and half PvE gear, and that’s just fine. Pull your weight properly (DPS, heals, or mechanics) and I assure you that any premade or pug will be glad to have you along.

Be Relatively Geared

It’s hard to go find a pug or premade these days that’ll accept a reasonable item leveled player. I mean, I even saw someone on oQueue once that was making a Garrosh Flex kill, but required people who were joining to have the Garrosh kill achievement and a 560+ ilvl requirement. Dude, that’s just stupid. Like I said earlier, a lot of people are in a rush, but let’s not lose our minds, yeah? With that said, if anyone is nice enough to invite you on their own or gave in to your nagging tells to get into their group, be properly geared at least. A legendary cloak isn’t truly necessary, but it does up your chances to get into a great group. Fresh Normals can have people in the 535+ bracket and do just fine, so I’m sure if you’ve been doing other raids in the past, that won’t be a problem. It’s a problem, however, if you don’t optimize your gear for your role. Asking on the forums or a robot isn’t that hard.

Listen And Understand

This piece of advice can be used in any aspect of your SoO raiding experience. Whether it be on loot rules or a fight plan, listen to whoever is calling the shots in your raid. Being inattentive will only net you a kick from the raid and/or disbarred from entering that static forever. Make sure that you understand completely any form of instructions that was given out as it assures the rest of the raid that you’re a team player, through and through. If you need him to repeat the instruction or if you don’t understand a part of it, don’t be afraid to ask again; people appreciate that as it shows that you’re trying your best to help the group out. Being incapable of this can even create a lot of drama, especially concerning loot rules for every boss. A lot of groups have different ways in handing out loot, so don’t be a douche, listen and learn, and everything will go just swimmingly.

Immediately downed Garrosh after dropping to 10m N from 25m.

Mechanics: Do Them

I’ve seen a lot of groups fall apart just because nobody was brave enough to actually do some specific mechanics that could possibly make or break the raid. The engineer duty on Garrosh is one of the easiest mechanics that a single DPS can do, yet, a lot are afraid to them for some reason or just don’t care at all. More often than not, DPS that can do engineer duty are just number munchers and only care for tunneling on Garrosh to have that leet parse. I’ve even seen some DPSers even claim that since they’re highest DPS, they were the ones carrying the raid. True, DPS meters do matter in a lot of fights, but won’t really matter if you all get killed by a freak iron star or died from too many ravagers from attacking Nazgrim in defensive stance. I don’t really think you carried there at all, buddy.

This is what happens when ranged DPS don’t like doing Engineers.

It’s the people who do belts, the people who take the engineers, the people who grab orbs; it’s these people who actually carry the group. Now, if you can do all these and volunteer for them, or at least having the presence of mind to do them in case no one else does, raids will love you for it, and most will find you an indispensable part of the group, making your chances of getting that coveted 14/14 on normal or heroic that much higher. Besides, those mechanics aren’t hard. If you’re a huntard that is incapable of doing belts and forcing a warrior to do them in your stead, do us all a favor and delete your character.

Patience is a Pandaren Virtue

I once got into a Garrosh-only group and was the last dps to be allowed in. The final spot was reserved for a tank that took about an hour to arrive. Yeah, that’s a pretty long wait just for one boss, and I can understand that most of today’s gamers have fast-food mentalities. Seven of the nine people in the raid group left during that wait, leaving me and the one who made the group as the sole ones left. I did not waiver and sat idly by the fiery furnaces of Garrosh’s throne room while I browsed the internet. Not a second sooner did a tank enter the group and offered to solo tank it. That meant more dps on Garrosh so the run could proceed much more smoothly. And in another stroke of luck, that tank also offered to bring in his other guildies that were similarly geared as he was. Before me and the raid lead knew it, we became the pugs in what was an actual guild run. That was the best group outside of my static that I ever had. That just came from being patient.
If I have to explain any further, then that probably is the biggest reason why you aren’t Conqueror/Liberator of Orgrimmar yet. But, of course, I don’t expect you to hold out on a fifty billion minute wait on a group that you just know is going to suck the minute combat starts. You have to be able to pick and choose which group to stick with well. When you find out that they have an odd strategy like ignoring both engineers and just avoiding the iron stars, well, obviously, apologize for your immediate departure and proceed to depart immediately.
Patience does not only apply to the wait that sometimes occurs in filling a group, but also the persistence in getting up after a few wipes. Don’t just bail; give the group a chance and perhaps the last two just had some very unlucky RNG. Both healers getting mind controlled at the last phase really isn’t something people expect or are prepared for. Just try to have a higher threshold for failure, lest you be one forever.

7 distinct BoAs and counting! Hurrah!

Don’t Stress Out

Don’t stress out on it! – When I first started raiding seriously, my first raid lead was just completely obsessed with taking down Garrosh for the first time, and that obsession had eventually broken the raid apart. He would extend lockouts, bar people who were good, but not good enough in his eyes from joining, and was just a flat out slave-driver. It’s never a good thing when you get to a point where you’re determination becomes so overbearing that you tend not to see anything else right other than your own views. You suddenly become a detriment to the team, a nuisance of a massive ego, and mentally impaired to perform adequately. Be careful on this, as it may lead more to your own downfall rather than Hellscream’s.

Now You Know Your Place in My New World!

Yes, I soloed Garrosh. I’m that big of a liar.

This is a line you probably heard an innumerable number of times if you bothered reading up until the end. People can accomplish so much more if only they had more positive qualities in this game. If you learn them here, you’d be surprised that most of these actually apply to other games and real life situations. In short, if you gimp yourself with your bad sportsmanship in-game, I sure as hell would not like to meet you in real life. Prepare yourself adequately and have some presence of mind. I’m sure you’ll get this arse of an orc down before he can say, “Pitiful”.