Totemlly Awesome

Some nights, things click just right. Some nights, not at all and your footwork can be completely off, your timing just not right and the simplest of tasks becomes infeasible.

We like Ulduar hard modes for a number of reasons: it's a great fun raid environment to be in with a bunch of friends in a relatively non-stressful setting; it challenges you to execute mechanics with finesse and to respond to changes in the fight and raid leader requests; it requires you to develop the habit of going to learn fight strategies and to become familiar with the tools where you find the same; and most of all, on some fights, it demands exceptionally high "raid handling" or "footwork". ICC is a poor "training ground" for new raiders: the fights are simply just not complex enough as evidenced by the simplicity with which they can now be brute-forced with level 85 gear. Ulduar, on the other hand, has mechanics that have nothing to do with gear - for example, going insane in Yogg's prison with no Keepers. (Of course we also like it because you get a nifty looking mount and titles.)

The other night, after raiding enthusiasm had set in a little too deeply and we were up way too late, we suddenly stopped clicking and kept making small mistakes that prevented us from working the General correctly in hard mode: we would accidentally nick an unseen saronite vapor spawned inside the boss and have to start over; or someone with the Mark would happen to run past a bunch of us and heal the boss enormous amounts.

It was late - we were tired, and we were getting sloppy. True to KOU form, we didn't get upset - rather, we took a breather and gave it another push. We had been making cleaner and cleaner passes at it. This time we executed it perfectly and it was a major rush at the end - as if it were current tier! Not because it was difficult to handle the complete lack of mana re-gen or because the boss fight itself was hard, but rather because our footwork had been impeccable and it was an exemplary personal performance each new raider put in!

We do not have to wait for challenging mechanics like Yogg-Saron to sharpen the saw - we each have an opportunity in every heroic we do to improve on our footwork and in our execution of our role.

As you gear up and rep up in heroics, take as many opportunities as you can to perform each boss fight and each pull with the best footwork and execution that you can - it will serve you well in the demanding fights ahead in Tier 11 and coming in future content releases.