Raiding progress, minus attunements
by Mike Schramm 
Jun 20th 2007 at 2:08PM
Players have pretty much /cheered across the board about the removal of attunements from Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep yesterday-- even the Blizzard curmudgeons over at PaladinSucks nodded in approval.But as Elizabeth asks on the WoW Livejournal, what exactly does this mean? Can your guild change this weekend's Gruul run into a raid on The Eye? Can guilds skip over Karazhan and Heroics now, and just head straight to Serpentshrine? Will we see Void Reaver dropped by most guilds quicker than Isiah Washington from Gray's Anatomy?
Unfortunately, the answer to those questions is probably no. True, the removal of attunements does mean that more guilds can head into SSC and Tempest Keep right away (instead of waiting for 25 of their members to get attuned), but the bosses in both of the big raids aren't real forgiving unless your guild has already seen a few Kara clears, a few successful Gruul raids, and hopefully even a Magtheridon raid or two as well. Just as a reference, Void Reaver, the first boss in The Eye, requires about three or four tanks in the raid, and easily hits for 7k in the space of a few seconds. Likewise, Hydross, the first boss in Serpentshrine, is not nice to raids-- his adds hit for about 5-6k, and he enrages within 10 minutes.
But on the other hand, if you have run Kara, Gruul, and Mag a few times, most guilds are saying you'll have no problem at all with Void Reaver, so guilds who are ready already will definitely benefit from the attunements opening up for all. But if you're still stuck on Curator or Shade of Aran, you likely won't get much out of SSC or TK except a repair bill and a bit of perspective. You'll need to gear up before tackling the bigger stuff.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Tips, Guilds, Blizzard, Instances, Quests, Raiding
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Beorin Jun 20th 2007 2:18PM
Agreed. Just like people thought you could skip BWL and go straight to AQ40 or Naxx back in the day, newer guilds who attempt to do so may be able to get the easiest boss down with a little effort but then they'll be cockblocked due to lack of gear and experience. Lots of newbie guilds killed Skeram. Lots of newbie guilds killed Razuvius. Very few got through Sartura or Noth+.
Morianna Jun 20th 2007 2:27PM
as someone who has not run the attunement quests, I agree with those who say removing attunement was a bad idea. I saw it in PRE-BC with my guild. had people want to skip BRS and ZG and jump to MC and BWL. total mockery of the idea of "raiding" people #1 not knowing what to do, and how to handle situations, which meant more wipes, because there is less room for error in MC/BWL and #2 people were clad in greens and blues. . . INSTEAD of realizing the folly of gearing up in lower raid instances, many people /gquit with the excuse that the rest of the guild wasn't up to par, which in fact we weren't, because people wanted to go to the bigger and better things before they were ready. oh well, personal experience, lol...
Ambril Jun 20th 2007 2:28PM
Yep, you're either ready as a guild to fight a boss like Hydross or you are not. There isn't too much inbetween (whereas Hydross specifically is concerned).
I can certainly understand an initial feeling of disappointment from people who'd gone to lengths to complete these attunements already, but the ultimate fact once the bruised egos heal a little is that this was a great change for everyone ~even hardcore raiders who can now recruit, reroll or use alts in these instances without restriction now.
Rich Jun 20th 2007 2:31PM
This is exactly why this is not a big deal at all. Contrary to what some of the raiders were QQ'ing about yesterday, this isn't a change for casuals, it was a change for Guilds already there. All it did allow guilds to gear up alts without having to do the ludicrous attunement grind over and over.
A group that can't clear Kaz or Gruul won't make it through TK or SSC. Sure, they will attempt it, but they won't get anywhere fast.
crushingbelial Jun 20th 2007 7:15PM
Damnit I am still upset over this attunement lift.
Guilds who can't clear Karazhan, Gruul and Magtheridon do not deserve to be in TK and SSC.
Bar none.
Karnage Jun 21st 2007 5:48PM
for the record Alar is actually the first boss in TK
Cascade Jun 20th 2007 3:57PM
Well, we were one of those guilds...got HKM/Gruul and Mags on farm however just couldn't get the right 25 attuned and online the same nite for TK or SSC. So last nite we canceled the HKM/Gruul/mags clear and jumped into TK. It was a new learning experience; challenging and fun...especially on the trash and we managed to get VR down to 2% as respawns were upon us. So looking forward to the next nite and our expected phat loots.
Nubsause Jun 20th 2007 4:04PM
Last night my guild cleared Gruul's Lair in under an hour and had some time to kill, so we headed into The Eye and killed all the trash (Got 2 mail shaman epics) up to Void Reaver and got him down to 34% (on the 3rd try) before people had to log for the night (and respawns).
Im really liking the idea to take off the attunement, but there are going to be some complaints from lower-geared guilds about how 'tough' this instance is.
brett Jun 20th 2007 5:30PM
Void reavers isn't actually the first boss in TK, but since Al'ar has to be tagged to be pulled you can just run through his room. After the trash has been cleared mind you.
I do expect to see a few guilds who have no SSC experience drop Void Reaver before blizzard decides to buff him. However, he's certainly not "free epix" for the uninitiated.
Ugkul Jun 20th 2007 8:17PM
You didn't need attunements to enter AQ40 and no one was storming through them.
theRaptor Jun 20th 2007 9:45PM
@8 What about guilds who have cleared Kara, Gruul, Mag, and would like to gear up alts or new members?
As others have said, removing the attunement means nothing to progression. If you can't clear the early raids you are unlikely to drop a single boss in SSC/TK, unlike in legacy raid content.
keegan Jun 20th 2007 11:26PM
On the contrary, our guild did just that tonight, and after downing Gruul, headed straight for Void Reaver, where we got some t5 shoulders for our Main Tank, and yours truly ^_^(a resto druid). The TK attunement quest was really bogging us down, since some didn't have the required rep to run heroics.
shael Jun 21st 2007 11:00AM
Al'ar is the first boss in The Eye...
So sorry Jun 21st 2007 9:42AM
@8
You are soft. Guilds that can't clear kara/gruul/mag don't deserve to even play this game! They should be forced to uninstall it and *still* pay for it! Actually, now that I think about it, they don't even deserve to live.