Vezax: The Spreader of Discord

I've never really encountered a fight that caused such a disparity between the raid roles as General Vezax. The three positions are so unlike the other that it can cause some strife as the raid works to communicate, at least, it has for us.

After several days of working on him, we finally downed Vezax-medium mode. I say this because we presently lack a Death Knight tank, forcing us to learn how to complete the encounter as it was intended to be done: By kiting. In the time that we worked to relearn the fight, we discovered how distinct the differences between the raid positions were.

For this fight, there are three groups: The melee, the healers, and the range. The melee, being hindered by Aura of Despair, bear the responsibility of interrupting the Searing Flames; DPS is a second priority. They may or may not help breaking the Saronite Vapors for the healers, but for the most part remain dutifully behind the boss. Additionally, they must be fully behind the boss, as we recently discovered that the more Vezax parries, the harder he hits, and with this boss and his wonky hit box, that is a very important thing to prevent.

The healers stand under Vexaz along side the melee, wandering out only to take advantage of the mana-providing Saronite Pools. They stay under the boss to prevent any undesireable Life Leeches and Shadow Crashes. Their main interest is to heal effectively while conserving their mana, and to get mana quickly from the Saronite Pools as to not present a target for Shadow Crashes.

The range DPS bear the majority of the the particulars for this encounter. They must stay together as much as possible, so the Shadow Crashes will stay in one spot that they all may take advantage of. We manage this by making sure everyone has "Show special warning for Shadow crash is near of you [sic]" checked in DBM, that way they may move away when Shadow Crash targets someone in the pack. The range moves sideways for Shadow Crash, and the individual that has Life Leech runs backwards. This movement strategy is critical to keep Life Leech damage to a minimum while maximizing Shadow Crash pools. Range must be good about managing their mana, so they do not have to go to a Saronite Pool any more than necessary, which would compromise the "Shadow Crash dance" by providing a target outside the range group. Range also have the responsibility of breaking the Saronite Vapors for the healers. It takes a careful eye to make sure they can kill the Vapor near enough to the boss, and prevent it from breaking in the kite path and away from the tank at all times.

While we were working out a decent strategy for the kiting method, it occured to me just how much of a difference there was between the three raid roles for this fight. The range cannot comment on how the healers are doing, because, unlike their usual positions scattered amongst the range, they are moving very little up in melee range. The melee cannot ask the range to do any more than what we are currently doing, because we have more to mutlitask than any of the other raid roles in this encounter. Each group is secluded in their own little world, with different priorities and needs in order to succeed.

It took a bit to rearrange our thinking in terms of three groups instead of twenty-five individuals, but in the end we successfully pulled off the kite-kill (after two, 1% wipes).

And what did he drop? Our fifth pair of Darkcore Leggings, the fucker.