Ignis...Impossible?

I am a sad, sad druid today. Okay, maybe sad is the wrong word. Infinitely frustrated might be a better word. Our weekly raid quest on Durotan was: [Ignis the Furnace Master Must Die!]

It's really not a difficult fight. There are probably hundreds of different strategies that work....But last night...every strategy we tried failed us...MISERABLY!

Let me reiterate that this is not a difficult fight. Here's Tank Spot's Guide



There are a bunch of other strategies that also work, are easier, or work better with certain group makeups. Nothing worked with our group. Not Ciderhelm's guide. Not the thirty other strategies that group members were suggesting. Nothing.

We started Ulduar at 8:45. We took down Flame Leviathan without any issues at all. We took down the trash in Ignis's wing without any issue. I don't recall anyone dying, but if we did it was only one person. We got to Ignis probably around 9:15pm at the latest. We wiped steadily on him for the next almost 3 hours. I give the group credit for hanging in there...well most of the group. It's really difficult to want to stay in a group that has wiped repeatedly on the same boss.

At any rate, these are the reasons we failed:

• The adds were not being held in the scorch zone long enough, and when dragged into the water, nothing happened. Adds weren't being picked up quickly enough.
• Because of ^ that...the adds were not getting killed.
• Because of ^ that...healers were having to tank adds.
• Because of ^ that...healers were out of mana far too early in the fight.
• Because of ^ that...the players who were thrown into the Slag Pot were dying.
• Because of ^ that...we didn't have enough DPS to kill the boss quickly.
• Because of ^ that...the debuff got too high on our main tank and he ultimately ended up being one shotted.
• Because of ^ that...we wiped.

It's amazing how one missed opportunity in a raid causes a huge chain reaction that ultimately ends in failure. The closest we got to being successful was when we used a "speed kill" strategy. We got Ignis down to 12% before the last standing party members died.

It wasn't a lack of heals either. I kept a close watch on the healing meters and we were all healing our asses off. It's impossible to keep tanks and other raid members alive when you're trying to heal-tank some stone golem that's hitting you for 5-9k per hit. Couple that with having to run to avoid the scorch zones and trying to heal through Flame Jets...it's a recipe for disaster.

I've been in groups where this fight has gone smoothly. I've been in groups where we've wiped once, figured out what the issue was, fixed it and then downed him on our next attempt. Until last night, I had never been in a group where we had wiped SO many times that the trash began to respawn around Ignis. I decided at 11:30pm that enough was enough. A hefty chunk of gold for repairs and nearly 3 hours of wasted time...was enough.

I can't lay the blame on one person completely. We did have a tank that was trying to learn the fight for the first time. That's the ONLY reason I stuck around. He's a guild member and a tank for our guild - so as a guild officer I felt compelled to try and give him the opportunity to learn and be successful...I'm sure he'll learn eventually and I'll try to help when I can. But I can't help feeling the same way one of the pugged shamans felt before he finally gave up - "Saved to yet another failed raid for the weekly quest..." I hear ya, hun...believe me. I do.