On the twelfth episode of the Molsan Method podcast, I recap a couple of random, PUG, heroic runs (Nexus and Drak’tharon Keep) as a tank in World of Warcraft. Mages jump! Death Knights pull! Cats and dogs living together! Mass hysteria! (7:01)

 

 Molsan Method Podcast - Episode 12 [7:01m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (37)

On the fourth episode of the Molsan Method podcast, I talk about the expectations today’s players have on tanks in heroics (4:53).

 

 Molsan Method Podcast - Episode 4 [4:53m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (57)

On the third episode of the Molsan Method podcast, I talk about the upcoming changes to Frozen Orbs in World of Warcraft’s 3.3.3 patch. I rolled “need” on a Frozen Orb for the first time in a recent random heroic, and was called out for doing so (3:18).

 

 Molsan Method Podcast - Episode 3 [3:18m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (58)

So I’ve learned that I don’t tank fast enough. I know I’m probably more of a conservative player, but even I know when I’m pulling packs of mobs at a decent pace… especially since the “Molsan Method” was named after yours truly. However, what I didn’t know was that PUGs formed by the glorious “Looking for Dungeon” tool expect an even more rapid pace. Chain pulling, zerging, and engaging bosses without mana are now standard.

Halls of Lightning – I Don’t Have All Day

In my last two random heroics, I was called out for my slow and lazy approach. In Halls of Lightning, I pulled the first group with Avenger’s Shield. While that was on cooldown, I pulled a stray mob with Exorcism. My tanking abilities were immediately questioned: “Why are we killing unnecessary mobs and pulling with Exorcism?” I stopped to think about this. Am I doing it wrong? While contemplating justifying my skills and approach to tanking to this complete stranger, the person decided to quit the group, leaving us with a “lol I don’t have all day. thanks. bye” parting shot.

Since they were DPS, they were replaced by my friend, LFD, in a matter of seconds with a new person. After we buffed the new guy up, I went ahead and pulled the next pack of mobs, General Bjarngrim, and his adds. We then continued on, skipping the other three corners of the platform, and breezed through the rest of the instance. We stacked up on Loken, took him down with no trouble, and disenchanted all of his loots. I apologized to the group for taking too long.

The Nexus – I Have a Raid Starting in a Minute

I figured that these kinds of people are few and far between… right? Wrong. In The Nexus, we were moving right along, having taken down the first three bosses with little effort. We had a great pace going; there were no deaths and lots of shards passed around (not by me, but by the aforementioned LFD). As I headed down the hallway towards Ormorok the Tree-Shaper, a player asked, “Can we please hurry it up?” I asked, “Why?” and the player responded with, “I have a raid starting in a minute.” Now, me being the literal person that I am figured, “Gee, no way we can finish this thing in under a minute. I hope he doesn’t bail on us… oh wait, he’s DPS, and there are probably fifty DPS players in line for a random.” I confidently told the group, “Ok, I’ll pick up the pace. Let’s go.”

I skipped a few Crystalline Frayers and let the rest of the party deal with them while I headed for the boss. I patiently stopped to tank the elites, and then moved right in on Ormorok. Without any trouble, he went down; we then proceeded into the tunnel, hopped down, and headed towards Keristrasza. We decided to stack up in front of Keristrasza, and we smacked her around regardless of how intense her Intense Cold was (it really wasn’t that intense). Before I could finish typing, “Sorry I took so long” for the second time, the hardcore raider rolled greed on everything, and quickly left the party. I’m going to setup a macro for my apology… I wonder what the macro syntax is for targeting the top whiner of the party? “/target QQ?”

I’ve been waiting for this patch for five years. Far and away, my favorite feature of World of Warcraft patch 3.3 is the new “Looking for Dungeon” interface. It’s more than an interface, though, it’s completely changed how I play the game.

Azjol-Nerub

When I first signed on last night, a tank from my guild was asking if anyone wanted to run a random dungeon with him. I joined him in a party as DPS, and we were inserted into Azjol-Nerub. Right away, we headed down the ramp and started pulling. I buffed everyone along the way. The first boss went down with no problem, and we began chatting about the viability of a dual-wielding, tanking Blood spec for Death Knights. The other bosses went down easily, and I had my first two Emblems of Frost.

Utgarde Keep

I then partied up with a friend of mine, and switched back to my main spec (Protection). We put ourselves in the queue for a random dungeon and were selected for Utgarde Keep. During the run, I noticed something interesting about the party members for these cross-realm dungeon groups: nobody talks. Now, I’m a big fan of no talking, but this was a little strange even to me. The only chatter we had during our UK group was a question about who was tanking, and why the Hunter wasn’t rescued while inside a frost tomb (which I didn’t mind since I still needed the achivement).

Forge of Souls

After a fast and successful run, we decided we would do another random dungeon. In under two minutes (maybe even one minute), I was prompted to enter the dungeon. After clicking the button, a loading screen appeared that I didn’t recognize. It was for the Forge of Souls! I panicked for a second since this was new to me, but wanted to see the new content so we went forth in hopes of obtaining victory. The instance was really cool, and gave off a great perception of depth. It was a mixture of the Nexus and Utgarde dungeons, sprinkled with the Icecrown look and feel. We ended up taking down both bosses in one attempt, and both were fun fights. I did feel bad for the Hunter that refused to move and died in Bronjahm’s vortex. Actually, I didn’t.

Gundrak

Still partied with my friend, I figured why not keep going while we’re hot. Next up was Gundrak; not one of my favorite instances to run, but at least it wasn’t Drak’tharon Keep. While the first three random dungeons were quick, painless, and quiet, we had our first taste of a real cross-realm PUG. About three-quarters of the way through, our Shaman healer started to get pushy and was telling me to keep pulling because he had to leave soon. During the Gal’darah fight, it seemed as though he was distracted, and let two of the DPS die. We prevailed, though, and completed the dungeon. He said, “sorry,” rolled need on the Frozen Orb, and quickly left the group. Who ninjas Frozen Orbs these days? Sheesh!

Caverns of Time: Stratholme

My friend ended up logging for the night, but I wanted one more shot at a random dungeon… especially since the dailies had reset. I wanted a break from tanking, so I switched to Retribution and entered the queue. I watched for several minutes as the estimate to enter the dungeon was frozen at a five-minute wait. It was getting late, so I swapped specs and went back to Protection. I re-entered the queue as a tank and almost immediately found a group. A minimap configuration problem, pushy and undergeared players, wipe with only three minutes left to engage Mal’ganis, and me pulling the gauntlet without talking to Arthas in “Caverns of Time: Stratholme” later… I was done.

Conclusion

In summary, I picked up twenty-three Emblems of Triumph, six Emblems of Frost, over eight-thousand Knights of the Ebon Blade reputation, and well over a hundred gold in profit (not counting Dream Shards and Abyss Crystals). Needless to say, I’m super-pleased with this feature. Time will tell, though, if my luck and success with the groups was due to the fact that the patch was less than twenty-four hours old, or if it was because Blizzard has finally solved the “looking for group” problem and implemented it in a way that everyone loves. You can count me in on the latter.

I received the whisper, “Want to tank heroic AN?” I replied, “sure,” and accepted the group invitation for heroic Azjul-Nerub. Our group consisted of a Warlock, Druid, Death Knight, Priest, and me (Paladin). The Druid is a tank, but will DPS for this instance. The Warlock is party leader and doesn’t want to mark. We pull the first group that initiates the boss fight, and the Priest — our healer — grabs aggro and dies almost immediately. I die next and we wipe.

On the second attempt, I ask that the mobs be marked or I be made leader. The Druid is made leader, but still doesn’t mark the targets. I ask for the adds that come with the mini bosses to be crowd controlled. I’m assured that one will be shackled, and one will be rooted. I then ask if everyone is ready and the Warlock replies, “y.” I pull, and, as you can imagine, the Priest does not shackle, and the root attempt is either resisted or the mob is immune. We wipe again. The Priest then states that the group does not have the “right consistency” and leaves. We disband at this point and I go back to questing.