This happened back on Thursday, but I felt compelled to write this down somewhere because it delighted me so very much.
We took a ten-man group into Bastion of Twilight to play with Halfus Wyrmbreaker (worst. combo. ever. Slate, Storm and Whelps.) and we got to the enrage, which I view as a moral victory.
The trash, the initial trash, was painful. We wiped a few times on it. The first group, not a problem. But we had trouble pulling the second group without pulling either side.
Finally, I watched my tanks as they pulled and I realized what the issue was. They were cheating to the left side and pulling the left side of trash as well as the second group of central trash.
We released. We ran.
“Stand back,” I said. “I’m pulling.”
“Wait. YOU’RE pulling?!” exclaimed my brother, one of our tanks.
“Yes.”
“Okayyyyy.”
Well, why not, right? I have a 35y range on my judgements, I have a bubble.
So I was on the steps, smack dab in the middle of the staircase and ran up to pull the pat as they turned away.
Et voila. Just pulled those four (or five?) mobs. Ran back and bubbled and that trash group died quickly.
Playing a hunter for five years, even if I don’t raid as one most of the time, has instilled in me good pulling habits. I can pull off “risky” pulls that others dare not attempt because I know how to pull properly. Not to say that my guildies or my tanks that night don’t, but there’s a certain something about knowing the angles and typical mob behaviour that can’t really be adequately communicated. It’s just something you learn.
There was a pull I loved (and hated) in Strat Live. I don’t even know if the pull still exists. It was after the rat cage. There was an Abomination that patted left and right and if you pulled it at the wrong time, you’d get a group of trash as well as the Abom and, back in the day, that was almost certainly a wipe. Nailing that pull took me a long time and a lot of practice, but at a certain point, I was able to snag that Abom perfectly every single time.
I know WHY my tanks kept pulling the sides. They didn’t want to stand right in the middle and risk getting both sides. In their defense, I think the safe zone at the top of the stairs in the beginning of Bastion of Twilight is maybe 5 yards wide. Too far left, you get the left group. Too far right, you get the right group. I was definitely taking a chance in standing in the middle, but my hunter instincts were like “just stand in the middle”. I couldn’t even explain why. I just knew.
There’s a certain je ne sais quoi that you get after playing this game for a while. You might not know the trash at all, but you learn to watch for healing spells on mobs with mana bars. You learn to watch for cleaves on mobs with large weapons. You learn how to position yourself and your group and the mobs for a pull.
It’s like you’re playing pool and you see your opponent trying to sink a ball from across the table. And you know the angle’s not right. It looks okay, but you KNOW that the 4 is not going to get sunk. You KNOW it’s just going to ricochet off the side.
It’s about instincts.
I may not have been on my hunter on Thursday and I don’t even know when or if Kurn will ever see the inside of Bastion of Twilight, but, by golly, making that pull is why I still call myself Kurn. :)
It felt pretty damn awesome. :)
There really is something so cool about playing a healer with a (available) 40yd pull, 2 taunts, and 2 bubbles.
That is both awesome and hilarious, Kurn. And I especially love your brother’s reaction. And people say Hunters are “just another DPS class.”
In my defense, as the brother, I’d like to say that our responsibility as tanks pulling was YOINKED away by our over-zealous GM! For shame!!
Also, my beloved sister, you failed to mention, NAY!, realize, that you were life-gripped down the stairs by a priest.
Much love!