Sharp as a Razor
click to view
As we've mentioned before, Ulduar is not Naxx; new encounters, uncharted territory, and tighter tuning make the newest raid instance much more challenging that what's been offered so far in WotLK. TDC had the opportunity to start working on this new content in the 25 man version this week, and the increased difficulty provided a welcome challenge.
Our first target of the night (after Flame Leviathan) was Razorscale. This is a nice introductory fight to the instance; it requires excellent add control, on the ball healing, and well controlled dps able to switch targets effectively. Mole Machines (Brewfest, anyone?) disgorge dark iron dwarves of three varieties which must be killed based on threat to the raid. As these mobs are spawning, your allies are repairing harpoon guns that you use to bring Razorscale to the ground, allowing you to dps her (P2). Once you've executed 2 (or 3, if you're slow on dps) P2s, you'll permanently ground her, beginning P3. P3 requires your tanks to drag her around the perimeter of the battlefield, switching off periodically to manage her debuff. Meanwhile, your dps goes to town, working to burn her down before her enrage.
While certainly not the most difficult encounter we've seen, this is a real change from Naxx; all aspects of the game are more difficult, and players need ot be aware of their surroundings in order to stay alive. What's most encouraging about Ulduar so far is that AoE tanking and nuking is not the order of the day; specific kill orders must be followed, and brute force isn't going to work. This is getting more fun by the minute!