Sinful Spirits of Thunderhorn

One, Two, Three Princes Kneel Before You

Bjornstern — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 14:26:31 -0000

Posted 04/13/2010 08:26 AM by Bjornstern.

So we have taken a couple of pot shots at the Blood Princes over the last few weeks, only a few serious ones. Last week we spent some time throwing ourselves against their combined might and never really made headway - getting them down to around 75% at best.

On April 12th we went in the more seriously, though. A change of approach seemed in order and we borrowed Kinke's Deyn and mixed up our configuration to have three tanks rather than two tanks and a more softer soaker for Keleseth.

We spent the first hour feeling them out. Battling back and forth, some attempts good, some not so good. We got them down to around 25% once or twice, and had times when we didn't get them below 70%.

After taking a break for dinner and other necessities, we returned refreshed. Another try to a little below 50% then it happened. Most of the problem was with Gorlen and figuring out the threat/Dark Nucleus balance. This time we got it right.

Switching to Keleseth at 400K health and we burned him down for our first Blood Princes kill.

We went on and took a couple of quick and painful looks at the Blood Queen. Either she or Putricide is next on our list.

Anyway - as to last night - Good job, Sinful Spirits. And thanks Deyn for coming in and helping out.

- Bjorn

And There was Much Rejoicing

Bjornstern — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 13:46:02 -0000

Posted 04/02/2010 07:46 AM by Bjornstern.

It has been a long drought for Sinful Spirits.

Yes, we have been having fun. That is what we have been here for first and foremost. But we are also here to see content. And last night we finally took our first step in that direction in exactly two months.

We had some bad pulls. We struggled with just how it was going to play out. 50%-60% repeatedly. it was looking grim and Pixelvixen was wondering if she would get the kiting of the big ooze right.

And then...click. It all just fell into place. Aside from one chaotic attempt a month or so previously where we got him down to about 15%, we hadn't been below the 50% mark on any other try. Until he died. As I said, it just...clicked.

Great job to everyone who is there on a much deserved step forward.

And this time let's not take nearly as long for new bosses. Blood Princes and the Blood Queen loom on the horizon. I expect to see them down very soon.

Festergut Follows Stinky into the Unknown...

Bjornstern — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:56:30 -0000

Posted 02/02/2010 09:56 AM by Bjornstern.

So as a group with far more melee personnel than ranged, we have been having some trouble with Festergut. We have mixed it up, changed it around, and basically tried a number of different combinations.

It also didn't help that we haven't yet had a day where we simply came to focus on Festergut. Last night that latter changed.

We mixed it up just a bit more, getting a third ranged DPS out of Bjornstern going shadow and bringing Elfkiller in on his tree, Arzhuul. The first try we ran into the same trouble we have been having of late. So we took a breath and changed the pulling tank to mix up the focus.

And voila`. Festergut down simple as that.

Rotface up next as we continue our slow crawl through the final raid of Wrath of the Lich King.

Another Day, Another Successful Run

Bjornstern — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 16:21:27 -0000

Posted 01/08/2010 10:21 AM by Bjornstern.

So after our success with Deathwhisper on Tuesday, we elected to head into Icecrown Citadel once again on Thursday.

We resumed right where we left off....with the Gunship Battle.

A few personnel changes and thus role changes and we were off. The first go was rusty as we worked out the kinks for the group. Mostly we had boarding party issues. Then it clicked. Everyone had figured out just what they needed to do and more importantly the boarding party worked spot on. A couple of minutes later, the Gunship was destroyed and we were landing in front of the entrance for Saurfang.

Continuing on, we figured we would take some shots at Saurfang. Having studied up on the fight a bit so we at least knew what to expect, we formulated a strategy. That strategy failed almost instantly as the blood beasts wreaked havoc with the raid.

Second try, we decided to have the tanks actually tank the blood beasts. A risky proposition given the increasing marks, but it seemed feasible enough to give us time to figure out adjustments.

And give us time it did. We saw just what we needed to do. made a few minor adjustments and made sure that our tanks could handle switching from the Runes of Blood quickly on their own....we downed Saurfang.

Two new bosses in a typical Sinful Spirits short night. Good job.

Next up, Festergut and Rotface.

Lady Deathwhisper

Bjornstern — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:23:05 -0000

Posted 01/06/2010 10:23 AM by Bjornstern.

Well, the new year is upon us. And along with the new year comes a renewed focus on raiding. Last Night marked the start of the first new raid week after the holidays were over. And as the start of a raid week we had to go and do the weekly raid for our prescribed frost emblems.

Since we were in Ulduar and we hadn't yet done the Heartbreaker achievement, we decided to go after that. Not surprisingly, we are now geared sufficiently to take out the heart. What DID surprise us though was the change in mechanics to the fight. The damage coming in was unexpected to say the least. And we ended up wiping. So we went and did it the easy way and got the raid weekly done. But we will be back. We now know that we can do the achievement.

So off we headed to Icecrown Citadel.

Trash before Marrowgar went smoothly.

Had one oops attempt with Marrowgar, but then he went down nice and easy.

Trash before Deathwhisper was smooth until one healer died and one healer had to take a work phone call. Something about no healers makes encounters in there tough. Regrouping, however, we finished up the trash with no issues. So on to Deathwhisper herself.

Not really sure what to say here. Last time we went up against her, we just couldn't click. This time it was quite the contrary. Lady Deathwhisper fell on the first try. Time to head on to the Gunship Battle. We took a couple of shots at it, but the night was over.

We now know what we need to do and Thursday we will move on to Saurfang. Then the challenge begins.

So a Few Weeks Ago....

Bjornstern — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:15:29 -0000

Posted 01/06/2010 10:15 AM by Bjornstern.

...we waded into Icecrown Citadel for the second time.

Our fist foray into the fabled home of Arthas was met with some reputation from trash killing and throwing ourselves a few times against Marrowgar while he laughed and killed us.

A week later we went back in with a fresh raid, a fresh outlook and three healers who were actually staying connected.

It still took some time getting familiar enough with the encounter. On paper, it looks so simply. Stay out of the fire. But placement is everything. And trying to heal people up during the Bone Storms is nothing short of a pain. Oddly, we managed to handle the transitions from Bone Storm to standard fighting fairly well.

Anyway, a few fights later as we were wrapping up the night, Marrowgar fell. Our first kill in the new instance.

Regrettably, the holidays were upon us. And we were mostly unable to focus too much on raiding as we have families and other things to do during the winter holidays.

A belated happy holidays to all.

- Bjorn

Trial of the Crusader Complete!

Bjornstern — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:58:22 -0000

Posted 12/01/2009 12:58 PM by Bjornstern.

Yeah, we took our time getting to this point. Some people talk of PuGging the raid quite successfully. Well we here run on our own schedule. Nice and easy.

But with the next patch looming, we figured we would try to wrap up the current top end (well aside from heroic) raid.

We waded back in there on a fresh Tuesday and took out the first four bosses with reasonable promptness, which left us Anub'arak for Monday (Thursday having been Thanksgiving).

So on Monday we waded in. Despite what seemed like it should have been a smooth kill, we got off to a rather rocky start. And it stayed rocky for some time. Refinements, refinements, refinements. Mistakes were made all around (yes, yours truly had to fess up to his own), and the raid leader was getting frustrated. Pretty standard new boss fare. Just getting the rhythm down.

Then it happened. Everyone did what they needed to do (or rather what everyone needed to do was refined such that they COULD).The first 70% went by fairly seamlessly. We rolled into the last 30% and hit overdrive. A short time later, Anub'arak was dead.

Congratulations again, Sinful Spirits. We may not be the fastest or most raid devoted guild on the server, but we are seeing everything that is out there.

This week we begin having ToCr on farm and also begin our assault on completing Ulduar. It will be done.

And soon, Icecrown Citadel will be before us and we will slowly tackle it as we have all content.

And thanks for everything.

- Bjorn

When it Rains....

Bjornstern — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:22:56 -0000

Posted 11/20/2009 12:22 PM by Bjornstern.

So we go into this place called the Trial of the Crusader. We're kinda laid back and all, but we figured we'd check it out.

Well we went in there mostly seriously last week. you can read about it in other news items. We managed to take out the Northrend Beasts and Jaraxxus. But it took a little bit of work on our part.

So we went back in there this week. Lo and behold on Tuesday, with the raid reset, we managed to take out the first two bosses reasonably easily. Then we came up against our new nemeses, the Faction Champions. A try or two on Tuesday was all we had time for. But Thursday, November 19 marked a new day.

We marched back in to face down the Champions. One failure. Two failures. Then suddenly on the next try the first three MObs dropped without incident. All our people were alive and their healers were dead. From that point on it was just mopping up. And the Faction Champions fell. Good job Sinful Spirits. Now it was time to take a look at the Twin Val'Kyr.

To be honest, I think taking out the Faction Champions kind of surprised us. So we took a short break for a quick review of what to expect from the Val'Kyr. After formulating our strategy, we waded in. Bam! Wipe. Not to be outdone, we thought we had a little better idea of what was coming. So we buffed up and waded in again. Bam! Graveyard. Again! Bam! Dead. Hmmmm.....time to formulate a new strategy.

Well, our DPS was solid. And we had heard of an alternate strategy that seemed much more straight forward. So we elected to try that.

Squaring off one last time against the Val'Kyr, we took our colors and waded in. We fought valiantly. It was a long, hard fought bat-. Hold it. No it wasn't. Not too long into the fight I looked up to see just how we were doing. Ready to offer words of encouragement. Figuring we had our rhythm. Just as I was about to speak said words....Bam! We had won. And got the three minute achievement to boot.

Great job Sinful Spirits. Two new bosses in what amounted to about a one and a half hour night of free style raiding. it was fun and we got the job done.

Next up - Anub Arak.

The Slow Build Continues....

Bjornstern — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:19:46 -0000

Posted 11/17/2009 02:19 PM by Bjornstern.

Another day another new boss. We may have gotten over another hump and are ready to start moving again.

Last night Jaraxxus fell, and in a fairly easy fashion to boot. We had a couple of failed tries before everyone got their feet under them regarding everything that is happening, but then we settled in.

One last attempt on Jaraxxus, which was probably our fourth of the night and it was on.

Early on, Arzhuul decided to be a martyr for the cause - an inspiration to the nine still standing if you will. So with Arzhuul dead and Jaraxxus down all the way to about 95% the fight began in earnest.

Really not much to be said about this fight. It was straightforward. It clicked. People did what they should do when raiding. Magdelia and Bjornstern stepped it up in the healing department and performed admirably. Everything else was straightforward clockwork.

Stay out of the fires. Burn the adds. Collect loot.

Another job well done. Faction Champions fall this week. Then the Twin Valkyr.

Another Small Step Forward....The Northrend Beasts Fall

Bjornstern — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:41:46 -0000

Posted 11/13/2009 01:41 PM by Bjornstern.

So in a month marred by sickness, we managed to at least put a team together and again throw ourselves against The Trial of the Crusader. using what we learned a couple of weeks past we were able to casually get through Gormok pretty much each attempt. The Two Jormungar continued to cause problems for us, however. With 10 o'clock looming and a call for last attempt we waded into the fray once more.

As always, Gormok fell easily - then the jormungar waded into the arena. With the frustration of paralytic poison and burning bile looming, we made it to the first transition without any problem. A clean switch and we were off again, focusing on Acidmaw. When Tadd got the poison, it was cleansed without incident. First major hurdle passed. Moments later and Acidmaw was dead while the entire group was still standing. But now we had to deal with everyone getting the Burning Bile....and the healers were running low on mana.

A few turns for each healer taking it easy and some steady DPS and Dreadscale fell for the first time in Sinful Spirits history. A brief moment of jubilation and the mighty yeti Icehowl pounced into the room...

Pixelvixen grabbed him and the fight was on.

Nobody dared ask the question of how it would go... The first knockback and he chose his target. Scrambling to get out of the way we surrounded him after he hit the wall....doing a steady amount of damage before Pixelvixen brought him back to the center of the ring. Second charge and Tadd was struck a glancing blow. Somehow, the tank managed to live.....but Icehowl was pissed - seriously pissed. Seeing the big red yeti sent a chill through the healers' hearts. Some serious healing was needed on Pixelvixen for the next few seconds, but she was kept alive. Then we settled into the rhythm of things. A few charges later and the mighty yeti lay dead at our feet.

Congratulations, Sinful Spirits. We may move into Icecrown Citadel when it comes out yet. In the meantime....

Jaraxxus awaits.