ZA Day 2, not a sob story!
I split this up, because I tend to ramble a lot (as any regular reader knows already). So, day 1 we killed three animal bosses, but it wasn’t our best raid. Sunday we had Dragonhawk on our list, and more Hex-Lord attempts.
Dragonhawk trash was the smoothest we’ve ever done it. Druid roots went perfectly, we only got adds from one Scout, and no wipe, even in the evil pull with the trolls throwing ball for their dragonhawk. In no time we stood before Dragonhawk, and I slapped on my trusty friend, the Petrified Lichen Guard. Our first try was pretty awful, as the assigned hatcher killer fell asleep or something, and the whole platform spawned. The next two tries were a little bit rocky, and the last try was perfect. Cleared all dragonhawks, went on to kill him, with one minute to spare on the Enrage timer. I can now pat myself on the shoulder and be proud of having successfully tanked dragonhawks without a paladin tank, pre-3.0. Go me!
We cleared up to Hex-Lord, had some real problems with the pull of four mobs, had to double tank them. That was pretty rough. And then Hex-Lord himself. As adds we had the ogre, the wight, the snake and the imp. After much trial and error, we killed the ogre, wight and snake to get CC burdens away from the healers and then started DPS on Hex-Lord himself. I will not lie, it took many tries, 8 all in all, but we learned a lot from them, to respond to the various Siphon Soul effects. On try number 8, our DPS stayed alive, the healers worked their butts off, and Hex-Lord kept siphoning warrior and rogue continuously, yay for him not healing himself. Down he went! And like idiots we all excitedly ran out to turn the quest in, thinking we’d get a quest to kill Zul’jin himself, so there’s no screenshot of the firstkill. It wasn’t pretty, but it’s the kill that matters, right? In that anonymous WWS, my name got butchered to Sifr, and I ate four crushes. Sloppy!
After turning the quest in, we went back in. People repaired outside, things were a bit slow, and I got bored and opened the door. Haha. Funny moment of the day. People came back to face death and destruction, but the silly MT who opened the door lived. 
So, should you ever be faced with the situation of first going through the door to Zul’jin, expect millions of mobs to come running out of that door. Wussy mobs, but still. Good times.
Then we tried Zul’jin and in our first attempt learnt what happens when only the tank and a healer are standing on the platform. The next couple tries, we tried to deal with the Eagle phase and got him to 46% in our best try. We had a rogue and a hunter, but that wasn’t enough DPS to get him down to 40%. Any advice welcome.
Killing new bosses is exciting, and I met my biggest goal before the expansion: getting to see Zul’jin. Next up we’ll actually have to kill him, we’ll see how that goes. Wish us luck. 
The more non-spell users for Eagle, the better. Hunters can actually DPS quite effectively during Eagle, as long as they don’t use any spells, like Feign Death or Rapid Fire. Shots apparently don’t count as spells. So the more hunters, feral druids, rogues, dps warriors etc, the better!
Changing aspects will hurt too, for hunters.
(so glad you got to see him pre-3.0!)
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First of all, I’d love to say I absolutely adore your blogs. It’s a lot more casual, light-hearted than other forums posts from tanks (and enlightening). Anyway, during the eagle phase, have the hunter keep up serpent sting (mobility while dps’ing), and the rogue keep up 5 point ruptures (deadly poisons if there’s no windfury). Casters can wand, or if you have a warlock, toss up Curse of Doom (make sure it doesn’t tick into the next phase). You, personally, can dual wield devastate to keep up sunders. O! You’ll have fun during Zuljinn’s final phase – very challenging and rewarding. Enjoy.
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admin Reply:
October 6th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
That’s some great advice, thank you very much. Never occurred to me to actually dual-wield, but it makes perfect sense. Thank you.
Glad you enjoy it over here.
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Ah brilliant!
Get a shaman to pop bloodlust in Phase 3. It’ll help if you’re struggling on DPS. Remember to get people to wand aswell.
And if people heal – Remember to outheal the damage taken. Druids are good here for DoT’s.
This stage is probably an easier one.
You’ll find yourself struggling more on the Lynx unless people know how to get out of Claw Rage.
Also make note of people using bandages and pots in Phase 3. As you should be looking after yourself. Another thing – DO NOT start spamming heals in the phase change. Believe me, it’ll be better to pop Shield Wall and Last Stand, let yourself get some Aggro, and then let the mass healing commence. Or you’ll find the Lynx taking out your clothies in seconds.
Good luck.
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admin Reply:
October 6th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
Yeah, I heard nasty stuff about the Lynx. Looking forward to seeing this guy again.
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Congrats on Hex, it’s a tough fight and many things can go wrong, in some ways I find Hex harder than Zul’Jin himself.
During the eagle phase, make sure that no one stands with their back against a wall, or in a corner, or halfway up the stairs, as then a tornado knockback will not actually knock you back and you can get hit multiple times in a very short succession. If you have a priest healer, tell them to use renews, prayer of mending, prayer of healing, and circle of healing. Shamans should spam chain heals. It usually helps to have one healer stand on top of the stairs to lure one or two tornados up, which leaves more space down below. Casters should only use their biggest damage spells. We tend to run around and try to kite the tornados so they won’t hit other people.
A hint for Lynx, have everyone gather up close behind him if you have a shaman healer along.
Good luck, phase three is the trickiest of them all.
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For Eagle – if your Resto Druid can roll Lifebloom on themself, and the other two healers – the other healers should be able to act as normal, and the druid will actually outheal the damage.
Lynx – Group up tight. The “X damage over time charge” isn’t any greater on cloth as it is on plate, just bomb large heals. Blessing of Protection can save lives, and all normal immunities work. This phase goes by quick.
Dragonhawk – Its really easy this time around! Keep him faced away from the raid, and shift back and forth to keep out of any flame pillars you may not see yet. As long as people keep calm, and don’t forget to watch for flame pillar, you’ll have it!
Yakra´s last blog post..Next: Kalecgos
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Romoreas Reply:
October 13th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Earth Elementals are immune to the damage, so if you have a shaman with you that could help a little. I think you had 2 holy priests with you? if i remember your WWS right. Them bouncing POM around should compensate if you have a lack of physical dps. Just make sure ppl know that if they see a POM on them it’s basically a free chance to cast a spell or to heal someone.
That is definitely one of my most memorable moments of ZA, seeing that phase for the first time (when we were “undergeared” and weren’t doing timed bear runs). I remember someone yelling in vent “OMG there’s like 100 of these tornadoes”
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admin Reply:
October 13th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
We’re still having massive problems with healer death in that phase. We had a resto druid rolling lifeblooms on the two priests, and the priests handling the rest, but healer death just happens every time we try this.
On the flip side, we managed to get to Lynx phase twice yesterday, had him at 36%.
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