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re: Another Boss Down!
on 02-09-2011 18:51
Congratulations to everyone who attended tonight ... we have now officially cleared Bastion of Twilight. Good going guys 
We now only have two bosses left before we get the new guild mount - and our first crack of that is tomorrow (Saturday 3rd). We have virtually a full group signed for it already, so I'd really like to keep the momentum going.
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re: Another Boss Down!
on 03-09-2011 6:29
I thought I'd share a couple of thing that I learned during this fight, in case it benefits anybody else in the future.
As a holy priest, our mana regen has been severely nerfed since Wrath. Long gone are the days when we would use our Shadowfiend once every other fight, and Hymn of Hope was reserved for fights like the Lich King.
Mana can be a big problem during this fight and managing your mana-regaining cooldowns becomes very important. Over the course of our attempts on Cho'gall I discovered that it becomes best to first use the Shadowfiend early in the fight when you're at around 70% mana. Although this may seem like a waste of a cooldown given that in ideal circumstances the Shadowfiend can restore up to 50% of a mana pool, what this does do is basically return you back to 100% mana and give you a second opportunity to use the Shadowfiend around Phase 2, where it will become extremely useful, if not vital.
Hymn of Hope should be used around 30-40%, particularly as it will also provide a nice boost for the other healers who may also be struggling with mana at this point. There's no point trying to opt for an early Hymn of Hope pop as the cooldown is too restrictive and you won't have time to channel such a spell during Phase 2.
Your mana pot will be a situational. Personally, for the 10k you get off it, I prefer to pop it in Phase 1, around the 60% mana mark, although I can see some people trying to keep it until Phase 2, if only to chuck out an extra Prayer of Healing. The reason I prefer a Phase 1 pop is largely because it means that you'll be using your Hymn of Hope closer the phase-change, meaning that you head into Phase 2 with slightly more mana and also that your fellow healers should in theory head in with slightly more mana.
Mana-returning cooldowns such as trinkets with a use effect, Blood Elf arcane torrent etc. should be macro'd to specific abilities. If you're using Healbot, I can refer you to a guide on how to use a macro in Healbot that will pop an ability like Arcane Torrent and cast the heal at the same time. Healbot (and I assume Vuhdo) can also be set to pop your trinkets with spells, effectively ensuring that they're always off cooldown. Not watching cooldowns and knowing that circa every 2 minutes you'll be getting your boost of mana will be very helpful in this fight.
Divine Hymn will become almost mandatory during this fight and it is best that this is saved for Phase 2 unless you have no other option but to use it during Phase 1. Similarly, if you're running with another healer capable of an AoE HoT, such as we were with PE's druid, it is probably best to arrange who uses what first. During our second to last try (the last being the successful one), both PE and I used our abilities at the exact same time, meaning that the effect of my Divine Hymn was lost in PE's tranquility. On our last, and successful attempt, I waited until PE had used her Tranquility before I popped Divine Hymn - result = we succeeded and everybody lived!
And, as said above, if you use your Shadowfiend earlier in the fight than you normally would, it should be available again by the time you're on Phase 2 which allows for you to spend the extra mana on the less efficient but more appropriate abilities such as Binding Heal, Prayer of Healing and Divine Hymn.
Unless you're trying to top yourself to get into Spirit of Redemption form for the few seconds of mana-worry-free healing (I've purposely topped myself before now for that reason!), always use Binding Heal instead of Flash Heal in Phase 2. In fact, due to the changes to Binding Heal since the launch of Cataclysm it makes more sense to use Binding Heal over Flash Heal most of the time - just remember, you can't cast Binding Heal on yourself!
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re: Another Boss Down!
on 03-09-2011 11:35
Kathrella wrote:Similarly, if you're running with another healer capable of an AoE HoT, such as we were with PE's druid, it is probably best to arrange who uses what first. During our second to last try (the last being the successful one), both PE and I used our abilities at the exact same time, meaning that the effect of my Divine Hymn was lost in PE's tranquility. On our last, and successful attempt, I waited until PE had used her Tranquility before I popped Divine Hymn - result = we succeeded and everybody lived!
Haha .. I noticed that as well :P
I think that is one of those things that, once we get used to the mechanics of the fight, and people are more used to being in the right place at the right time, doing the right thing, we'll have a better understanding of the best time to pop these things.
To be honest, on that last fight we all seemed to go into phase 2 with a lot more health (and everyone still alive), and I suspect that I probably popped my tranquility a little early - but then, as we had two similar raid heals, it probably made sense to have one earlier and one later, rather than waiting until we were desperate for the heals.
Oh .. I also discovered that I could remove the mind control using decursive - when i right clicked on the box for the MC'd target, it auto-cast Cyclone. Tauren also have the War Stomp which will remove mind control.
The main problem with Cyclone, especially when tank healing, is that it takes time to cast .. during which time I cannot heal.
War Stomp is a much shorter cast time and, if the targets are close to each other, can release both at the same time - although it has a longer cooldown (generally only useable every third Mind Control.
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re: Another Boss Down!
on 03-09-2011 12:32
The only slight issue I had with one of your cyclones was when it dropped me into a blaze! 
I found a quick Psychic Scream/Dispell combo worked on occasion, although due to its mana inefficiency I largely reserved it for getting healers out of the Worshipping but when I was physically the closest to the dps (or two) that were suffering from it I popped them out of it too.
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re: Another Boss Down!
on 03-09-2011 12:47
I have to say .. I didn't even know it would work until the last few goes at it .. and even then I wasn't sure how it would work for the recipient. It was just one of those things - I saw it light up on Decursive and thought ... "I wonder what happens if ..."
I would certainly recommend, for those classes who have targeted CC, trying Decursive .. it does save time having to locate the person, target them and then cast the spell.
I have, of course, occasionally been on the receiving end of a Cyclone in PvP, but I'm not sure if the same rules applied in this instance.
I do know that the fear sometimes simply broke me out of MC and within a split second I had control of my character again, but other times I seemed to be running around randomly for several seconds after MC broken. I don't know if that was possible a difference between the Warlock's Fear and the Priests Psychic Scream.
But its certainly better than being stuck mind controlled for ages
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