Blizzard: Run Oculus, win fabulous prizes

by Daniel Whitcomb Jan 5th 2010 at 2:00AM

Despite the nerfs in Patch 3.3, it's pretty obvious that whole lot of people still hate Oculus, enough so that they immediately bail when it comes up as a random dungeon. Apparently, it's a substantial number of people doing this, enough that Blizzard's taken notice and taken action.

But they're not removing it from the system. Instead, they're incentivizing it -- or, if you prefer to be a bit more pessimistic, turning final boss Eregos into a loot pinata in the most direct way possible. Zarhym's announced that those who happen to get Heroic Oculus with the random dungeon finder and stick it out to the end will find their own personal loot bag in Eregos' cache. The bags will contain two extra Emblems of Triumph, rare gems, and a chance at the Reins of the Blue Drake, formerly the rare mount drop from 10-man Malygos. To make up for the switch, the Reins of the Azure Drake will have a chance to drop from both 10-man and 25-man Malygos.

Will this staunch the exodus from Oculus? Will the lust for yet another pretty dragon mount inspire people to tough out the dreaded vehicle mechanics? Or will people just tough it out until they get their drake and start group dropping again? It should be fun to see what happens.

Tags: 5-mans, badge-of-triumph, breaking, cache, dungeon-finder, emblem-of-triumph, emblems-of-triumph, eregos, eye-of-eternity, heroic-oculus, ley-guardian-eregos, lockout, loot-bag, malygos, oculus, oculus-loot, pugging, pugs, random-dungeon, random-dungeon-tool, random-heroic, random-heroic-dungeon, random-oculus, reins-of-the-blue-drake, zarhym

Filed under: Items, News items, Instances, Bosses

Reader Comments (Page 12 of 12)

Chris Jan 5th 2010 2:34PM

"whaa... bad mechanics!"
"whaa... poor design!"
"whaa... vehicles suck!"
"whaa... [insert more bellyaching]!"

Shut. Up.

Occulus is, and has always been, fun to me. Now, I get an ezmode chance at a mount.

dkslatten Jan 5th 2010 2:36PM

I don't think people realize that this will just make those people that did not understand the fight mechanics want to stick around and try to get a mount... This will me runs more tiresome to the players who read up and carry so called "noobs" through an encounter.

With more skilled players not wanting to take time to teach new or lazy players, this instance will be dead as soon as the knowledgable players get thier mounts.

There is only really 2 reasons people don't run this:

Some people never take time to learn strats, and therefore, don't want to waste time wiping.

The players that do learn the strats dont want to waste time trying to carry a group.

Yes it is nerfed but there are two types players that create the real difficulty..

You ever try mixing oil and water for a mount?

Cassie Jan 5th 2010 3:43PM

Unfortunately all the incentives in the world don't solve my problem with it -- it makes me motion-sick. I'd find it runnable if it wasn't for that 180-degree turn when you get on your drake. Problem is, I see one of those (or even a substantial piece of one) and I'm nauseous for the next four hours or so. Get rid of that and I'll be glad to do it.

Anubi Jan 5th 2010 4:22PM

I still won't run it. Blue gems are no incentive at all and I'm assuming it's a 280% mount (not sure). Which means it's yet another mount I'll never use since I have a 310% mount. And I don't need 2 more triumph badges. Make it scale with current level badges instead of n-1 badges and then I'd do it. To those saying don't run random then, I have to to get my 2 Frost badges per day. That's all I run, unless guildies need me to tank for them.

I completed Glory of the Hero long ago, the Occulus achievements were the last ones for me to finish. I'm very familar with Occulus and all it's changes. Occulus isn't hard, it's anoying. I tank and the anoyance starts in the first pulls with all the untankable welps. By the time I get to the end of the hall I'm already pissed and ready to ragequit. I HATE the drake vehical mechanics, I hate waiting for the mount animation, I hate waiting for the dismount animation, I hate waiting to dismount because I just know someone will agro a drake, I hate not being able to remount when somone does agro a drake, I hate having to worry about agro in 3 dimentions, I hate having to fly around to god knows how many stupid platforms, I hate having to clear all the drakes around the 2nd boss so they don't agro during the fight, I hate that I have to use a rune or wait on auto attack to make the 3rd boss port to the next platform.

These new "incentives" are complete fail for me. Running Occulus I feel like Homer Simpson in The Shining episode, "Urge to kill, rising, Rising!"

Newchron Jan 5th 2010 4:47PM

Too little, too late.

Sita Jan 5th 2010 4:48PM

I actually really like Oculus. I don't know why everyone bails on it. It's not like it takes an hour to run if you just buckle down and do it. I enjoy the switch from hack and slash on the final boss. And never once, regular or heroic have I had a group wipe. Took longer to assemble a group to actually run it than it did to finish it!!

Junrei Jan 5th 2010 4:50PM

Damn damn damn. Of course I get stuck in Oc today *before* I read this article (oddly it was the tank and healer who stayed, and 2 other dps who left. Both of whom were probably still in the lfg queue by the time we finished lol). I actually stealthed back through the opening trash (oh boy was that fun =P) to see if the chest was still there, it wasn't. Oh well, at least I wasn't on my mount collector toon.

Rabidlemming Jan 5th 2010 4:51PM

@Raze Please calm down, this is the internet and WoW is a game, take a deep breath....and exhale. Try not to get so riled up by some random person on the internet.

Am I a tank? Yep have been for a while, do I think I deserve some kind of award? Nope, and I fail to see how anything I've said could be taken as that. FYI I've left Oculus if I queue as DPS too. But hey if you're offering...me hammer needs a good shinin'.

Honestly I keep saying DPS because I do Tank and my wife always Heals, so that is really the only perspective I have, which of course is going to affect my opinion.

@Aili I probably should do just that, I've just personally had a lot of horror stories in Oc that I do not wish to relive when I get home from work and jump on WoW to get smashed in the face.

I should at least give the group the chance to prove they can at least maneuver a flying mount and follow someone without getting lost, before I vote kick.

@Farproc I've always had the Bronze Drakes use time stop during his Enrage, is it better to use it after he Phases?

Signed,

A Tank who takes his insta-queues for granted

Rabidlemming Jan 5th 2010 5:05PM

And my reply doesn't get stuck where it was supposed to, sweet!

Has no one noticed that while there are plenty of players who hate Oculus (Obviously enough for bliz to nerf it and then "buff"? it) there are indeed some who like it. But guess what, that doesn't make either side wrong, it's called an opinion.

While I disagree with those who say Oc is fine and I should run it even when I don't want to, I don't think we need to stoop to name calling. If you like Oc run it, queue for it specifically, revel in it's awesomeness everytime it comes up. If you don't like Oc don't run it.

I just think Bliz should work on making the instance less annoying instead of turning Eregos into a "loot pinata".

Eva Jan 5th 2010 7:21PM

Wow Insider needs to write an article: Oculus for Dummies.
Seriously it's been nerfed (to the ground baby! - I'ma pally I know what I'm talking about) and if you get over your flight phobia it's pretty straightforwards and fun.
I got both the Make it Count and Bronze Void achievements with a pug.

Tips for surviving oculus:
1) When you get your drake flare - put it on your action bar
2) Think of oc as a wedding cake - you start at the bottom layer and move slowly to the top. Many people just fly up straight to the top when they get their drakes.
3) For each level you fly around in a circle - whether it is clearing the constructs to unlock the Big Dragon Boss guy (I dunt know names sorry) then moving up to chase the Mage Boss guy, or moving to the right each time Eregos phase shifts and summons orbs.
4) Most bosses are tank and spank in Tier 9 gear. Only boss you really need to worry about prior to Eregos is the mage - if you're squishy and DPS is slow - get behind the pillars for Arcane explosion. Tank doesn't need to kite anymore - just tank him adjacent to the pillar so people don't have far to run. You should be able to get him down before the next explosion.
5) Eregos
Oooo everyone is so scared.
Not really - he's been seriously nerfed.
You need 1 red, 1 green, 3 bronze for easy mode
If the 3 bronze drakes take turns time stopping for enraged attacks, the party shouldn't take much damage at all.
When orbs come out - move to the right (see? moving around in a circle again) and stack on each other if you can.
Rinse repeat spam attack buttons
Yay nice lootz.

Seriously people - stop dropping group when you see Oculus!

Sarah Jan 5th 2010 8:06PM

I never got the big deal. I've run this instance both times it came up in the random queue. It's easy to run.

Nagi Jan 5th 2010 9:47PM

I don't want to be "that guy" (or more correctly, "that girl"), but while I appreciate the loot improvements in Oculus...it's just another drake. Drakes and proto-drakes have become massively overdone in the game, to the point that now it's hardly much of a reward to get just another recolor of the same mount that appears in nearly a dozen other skins.

But honestly, I think this is a symptom of a much bigger problem than either Oculus or the new rewards: there's a severe lack of variety in flying mounts. If you look at ground mounts, there's an absolute wealth of choices. There are five (soon to be six) default mount types per factions, plus two class-specific mounts, plus a whole assortment of Attumen's Horses and Ravenlords and Woolly Mammoths that are both easy and difficult to acquire. Even riding the most vanilla ground mount in the game doesn't FEEL vanilla, because it could be several hours before you see another player with the same thing. With flying mounts, however, you're either on a drake, proto-drake, wyvern, or gryphon. That's pretty much it. And unless you're a tailor, engineer, or death knight, getting anything more exotic requires jumping an absurd number of hoops. And even then, once you jump those hoops, most of those really difficult-to-obtain mounts are, surprise surprise, drakes or proto-drakes.

I really appreciate that Blizzard are trying to make Oculus more enticing with a mount, because we all love mounts. But I think before they offer flying mounts as a reward again, they should really, really step back and look at making more types of flying mounts to choose from. And don't make them all exceedingly difficult to obtain, either. The biggest source of redundancy isn't that "everyone's getting the unique ones," it's that so few are getting the unique ones and everyone else is stuck with the same-old boring thing. The game needs some pterrordaxes, bats, wind serpents, some easier-to-access hippogryphs and dragonhawks. Paladins and warlocks need class-specific flying mounts. With flying mounts quickly becoming the default method of travel for higher-level players, there needs to be more variety in the common types, as well as more special ones for players to really strive for.

Narai Jan 6th 2010 1:25AM

I am somewhat convinced that this dungeon is far from randomly selected. It has been my daily random five times in the past two weeks (and sometimes for my alts).

Is gear score a factor in determining random dungeon selection? If so, I'll chain run heroics for a week straight just to avoid this place. I don't care how much of a carrot blizz puts on the end of this stick. In the end, they still hit you with it because of noobs who don't know what they're doing.

And the folks who drop when they see it don't make it much better for others who queue and get thrown in there to fill the void (no pun intended).

At least with a good group you're in and out in 20 minutes. Still, I think they're force-feeding this instance to us more than usual. Anyone else feel the same way?

Steven Jan 6th 2010 9:35AM

so we should expect the changes one day later? since europe are 24h behind in releases!?

Thanks for the info^^

PirateHunter Jan 6th 2010 1:03PM

I'm not fond of Oculus, but I'll do it. I have only got it once on a random, and solidiered my way through it. Oculus was do-able pre-nerf with a group that new tacs, and now that its been nerfed to hell its way easier and quicker. I personally find CoS more annoying, due to waiting on Arthas and following him about, but again, will run through it when it appears as a random, which seems to be everyday.

As a dps, I've not only got a 15 minute debuff for dropping a group, but another 10minute wait after that, so I may as well spend half an hour in an annoying instance and get my tokens.

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