Our guild has cleared SOA HM a few times now in 8 man HM using different strategy each time.

 

But my question to you is what Strategy do you use for phase 2, 16 man HM?

 

Option #1 Do you somewhat spread out and stay within rage of marked healers. Once the lightning ball spawns to said member, head to the outside, find your ball and run thru... then head back to healers. Members need to be aware of Balls at all times and stay away if it gets close. Rinse and repeat.

 

Option #2 Bunch up in middle, Once the lightning ball spawns to said member, head to the outside, find your ball and run thru... then head back to middle. Rinse and repeat.

 

 

What strategy works best for the 16 man HM and NiM?

 

 

My feeling is this. I feel that the first strategy works better because if you tell members to be spread out (somewhat) in this fight, they have a larger field of vision (which we instruct raid members to increase their viewing distance) to see where the lightning balls are spawning, anything to make this easier is good.

 

If you are spread out, members can make it to the outside faster (because they are closer to the outside and not in the middle) when balls target them. Making it easier to see which ball is making its way towards you, and having a less chance to disrupt "the middle" where the tank and melee are.

 

On contrast, I feel bunching up in the middle... has some issues. Number one being that for some reason balls always end up in the middle any way. Making the group have to reset a few times in the middle. Problem 2, if everyone is in the same spot (the middle) and you that one raid member that doesn't understand the balls of lightning mechanic, he/she can wipe a raid fast. At least if spread out, I feel problem damage would be limited more.

 

In addition option #2 with 16 people in the middle makes the field of view more difficult to see IMO.

 

So what strategy to you use for your 16 man HM and NiMs? Thoughts?

 

Thanks in advance.

First off, everyone should already have their camera distance to max.

 

When running 16 man NiM Soa, there are three lightning balls that spawn. We have noticed that the orbs are most manageable if you have the entire raid spread out on the west side of the platform. You can have the healers in the middle with the tanks if that is what you prefer. When the lightning balls spawn the 3 people who are targeted migrate to the eastern section of the platform and see what lightning ball is theirs. Run directly through the lightning balls. Once they have eaten the ball go back to the west side of the room. Rinse and repeat.

 

Note that even though you have people going to the eastern side of the room people still need to be aware of the orbs and need to make sure they don't stand near them.

 

This is the easiest strat I have seen work.

Spead out -> higher chance of a single member taking ticks from orbs, lower chance a single member will wipe the raid

 

Grouped up -> Lower chance for unnecessary damage, higher chance of a single mistake wiping the raid.

 

I would say if your healers are fine with healing more damage then what is needed in the fight then go for it. But when raiding on NMM I would expect your raid to have the discipline to minimize as much damage as possible and expect that no one does anything stupid to wipe the raid.

 

P.S. an orb in the center is not the end of the world, it only is if the raid doesn't move away.

I agree. My thought is make this fight and phase the easiest as possible to visually see the lightning balls. Once everyone can see them, it's a matter of moving out of the way.

 

I understand an orb going thru the center is not the end of the world.... my thought is this though, would you agree?

 

If everyone is in the same area... once the balls of lightning spawn... the lightning balls are headed towards the entire group. Every time. Making the need to quickly run thru the correct ball more important, and timely.

 

But if everyone is somewhat spread out the balls slowly move towards their target... and not the group where everyone is. Giving more time (though small) for said player to properly engage the correct ball.

 

My thought is spreading out makes more sense, makes it easier to manage when taking into consideration of a diverse experienced raid group.

we all stand at the middle facing east. and when the balls spawn, their targets spread 45% to left, to mid, 45% to right.

I agree. My thought is make this fight and phase the easiest as possible to visually see the lightning balls. Once everyone can see them, it's a matter of moving out of the way.

 

I understand an orb going thru the center is not the end of the world.... my thought is this though, would you agree?

 

If everyone is in the same area... once the balls of lightning spawn... the lightning balls are headed towards the entire group. Every time. Making the need to quickly run thru the correct ball more important, and timely.

 

But if everyone is somewhat spread out the balls slowly move towards their target... and not the group where everyone is. Giving more time (though small) for said player to properly engage the correct ball.

 

My thought is spreading out makes more sense, makes it easier to manage when taking into consideration of a diverse experienced raid group.

 

It's all just pros and cons:

When spread out, worst case is that someone in the back may be targeted and the person closest to the orb may not be paying attention (most likly focused on attacking a mind trap or something). This gives the individual member that is closest, a higher chance of taking damage. Chance of that orb hitting everyone else is much lower though. It's entirely possible that those closest just maintain full awareness the whole fight and avoid the orbs consistently.

 

I just don't like the idea that a single person may be more exposed to damage as opposed to someone else, I prefer it where everyone has the best chance of avoiding damage at all.

 

I personally don't agree with everyone standing in the center either, it's to close to the orb spawns and has the potential to lead to an insta-wipe. my guild stands in a spot between the west of the arena and soa himself. Melee and the tank all stand to the west of soa. What this does is give as much time as possible for any orbs in the east to deflect towards the outer edges when someone starts to run out.

 

This also has issues where a mind trap spawns east and everyone is now moving towards the hazard area all clumped up. We recognize this as a dangerous situation and become fully aware of the surrounding. It's just a matter of recognizing the cons with the strategy you choose and making sure your raiders are aware of what to watch out for.

Edited March 30, 2012 by Codek

To answer your question we do the "stand all in the middle" strategy for both the 8 and 16 raid.

 

On contrast, I feel bunching up in the middle... has some issues. Number one being that for some reason balls always end up in the middle any way.

 

This should not happen.

 

Problem 2, if everyone is in the same spot (the middle) and you that one raid member that doesn't understand the balls of lightning mechanic, he/she can wipe a raid fast.

 

The same as point one.

If you want to go with this (IMHO the easier strategy) then a) do it as long as your members need to master the mechanic b) kick the failers out of the raid.

We bunch up. First person on the list w. the ball emote goes left, 2nd goes right then circles behind Soa, 3rd goes right. This is to avoid dragging any balls through the middle of the room which helps mitigate unnecessary damage on the tanks/melee or anyone who was jacked into the air and then lands in the middle of the room.