Finding your way through Outland's first instances
by Mike Schramm 
Jan 22nd 2007 at 11:54AM
Definitely my favorite part of BC so far has got to be the instances. We haven't seen new 5-man content in such a long time, and it's so much fun to be facing new pulls, new lore, and new bosses, most of them with brand new models, and even audio! Although, while I do like Magtheridon's voice, it seems like yes, those "puny magics" are actually holding him for a long, long time-- we get it.Most of the new strats aren't too hard to get down with trial and error, but there are a few quirks to figure out. And for that reason, my guild's raidleader, Belacroix of Gothic Bunnies on Thundehorn-H, has punched together a few quickguides of the first few instances-- two wings of Hellfire Citadel, and The Slave Pens and the Underbog in Coifang Reservoir. They're not complete walkthroughs by any means, but if you want a little insight on how to take down certain bosses or what you'll find in there, Bela's guides are a good read.
WoW blogger Relmstein has also been running instances in Outland, and he's got even more complete walkthroughs for Hellfire Ramparts and the Blood Furnace (so far, the Furnace is my favorite). And I have to make a mention of WoW Wiki as well (and everyone that works on it)-- they've got strategy up for almost every boss seen in the instances so far, so if you've got a group stuck on something, they're the place to go.
Filed under: Instances, Expansions, Raiding, The Burning Crusade
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Dr. Doak Jan 22nd 2007 12:00PM
Strategies for these bosses ruin half the fun!
Figure it out, it's not hard ;)
Sylythn Jan 22nd 2007 12:13PM
I had a lot of fun running through Slave Pens for the first time with our upper-level guys. I was 60, so a bit low for that instance, but I wasn't a liability to the group.
It was a good challenge, with a few wipes, but we got through the first two bosses before having to call it quits due to armor damage.
One not-so-usual tactic we ended up using was fear control. We were without our mage, and had no priest (a druid was our healer)...but we did have two warlocks. When we pulled the groups of 5 crab-things, we would chain fear/dot two of them. It was nice to be in an instance big enough to allow that - we only ended up with one fear pull the whole night.
Sylythn Jan 22nd 2007 12:16PM
Oh yeah - and good luck getting through Hellfire Ramparts with undergeared (Azeroth blues and a couple epics/greens) 60's...yeah, I did fine when running with 61-63's - but we tried it later with 5 60's and it was disastrous.
Halicante Jan 22nd 2007 12:40PM
lol @ #2...we did fine on the first day of the expansion with all 60s in the blood furnace. My mage had turned 60 3 days earlier so had crap for gear and everyone else was on alts with pvp blue or zg gear cause we were just screwing around. Didn't wipe once. If your group works well together and knows how to cc, then there shouldn't be a problem.
Doing these new instances is the most fun I've had in months with this game. I guess I hadn't realized how tedious the game had really gotten for me.
Theadrick Jan 22nd 2007 12:44PM
So far all I have done are the Ramparts and Blood Furnace. Both are tons of fun, and even better they can be completed in 1-2 hours. As much as I liked Scholomance for example, I just wasn't keen on spending 4-5 hours there. I'm looking forward to the next instance.
Seper Jan 22nd 2007 1:09PM
Ive never understood preformed strats for instances. My buddy and I have tag teamed every instance since VC. We play it by ear and if we wipe we restrat on the spot.
Ive been in PUG's where everything is strategized so heavily when its not needed.
I can understand it in 20+ man instances but it removes alot of the fun. The most fun we have running an instance is the first run. We dont know whats coming, we dont know the mobs the layout etc etc. If we ran strats before hand it would be boring.
On another question.. is tag teaming instances (at only 1 or 2 lvls above the highest mob) a rare occurance? We are always quite pleased with ourselves after we complete an instance (and in some cases we run them faster then 5 mans (thottbott has times to run dunegons sometimes)). Ive never heard of anyone else doing that though. Its always 5 man groups.