Sunwell!

Last night my guild hit Sunwell. They haven't been in the zone for a while due to burnout and other reasons. But with the raid nerf they had 35 people online waiting for a spot and the only thing that held us back were stability issues with the server.

Now I know there are probably a lot of people complaining about the change, but the raid nerf was brilliant. Instead of attendence and interest dropping through the floor, people are showing up in droves to try to see stuff they didn't think they'd be able to see otherwise. And while the gear may not matter post-wrath, the relative ease and pace of the encounters creates an entirely new experience. Pre-BC, my old guild was struggling to survive the hump; now it seems my new one is thriving. And I know this isn't just limited to me.

Of course, none of the new kills matter as much. But it's very nice to see the content. Sunwell actually looks more interesting than I was origionally thinking--the front loaded trash is a definite turnoff but once you get past Kalegos things definitely pick up.

Kalegos (sp?) is a fun fight. It definitely requires coordination and good healing. That didn't change with the nerf. It was definitely easier to keep the tanks up, but since special ability damage wasn't changed. Hit Points were much lower, though, reducing the strain considerably and making the fight much easier overall once you know the general strategy. For a guild that had already downed him, we took him with no problems.

Brutalus...after Illidan this was one boss I really wanted to see killed. Not sure why, but I guess him being a major gear check made him something I wanted to get past. Now, however, he is a complete joke. With raid DPS being much higher, and his HP total being 7 mil instead of 10...Brutalus is simply no longer anything but a trivial challenge. The definition of a tank-and-spank. Last night was the first time my guild ever attempted Brutalus and they one-shotted him.

Felmyst...so far this is my favorite fight in Sunwell. Its already one of my favorite BC raid bosses. Again, this seems like a boss less affected by the nerf than Brutalus; much of her damage wouldn't have been affected by the nerf making many of the mechanics just as dangerous as always; but again the loss of so many HP and easier tanking certainly makes the fight a lot easier than before. Still, this fight has it all. Massive raid-wide damage; huge spike damage, deadily laser beams, undead aoe packs; DEEP BREATH, and a chance to shoot the dragon while airborne! Took us 4-5 attempts to figure her out, but loved every minute of it.

Though we still had time left last night after Felmyst, the raid was called after doing the trash before Eredar Twins. I think the officers wanted to discuss some stuff, but who knows. I would have loved some shots at the twins. We did one pull, no strat, and still did fairly well so I'm not expecting us to have TOO much trouble with that boss either (i'm guessing the nerf is going to affect the Twins pretty heavily).

I didn't get any gear (and didn't expect it either) but it was definitely fun to see the fights. And if my guess is correct we're going to be hitting Sunwell hard for the rest of the expansion. I can't see a reason why we wouldn't go for KJ before Wrath. Sure it won't have any real meaning in the grand scheme of things, but hell, it's new content for us and something to do except farm.