SoC in Kara?

[cajmrn]

hey Guys,

So I ventured into Kara last week. Was an awesome experience and I may have been bitten by the raiding bug (im in a very casual guild OH OOO!!!) anyways there were some aoe pulls where I was very tempted to SoC em up. I held back simply because most of us were new to Kara and have read how agro intensive the experience would be. So I didn't want to be that guy that wipes his guild first time in Kara. With the current gearing of the group we cleared up to Moroes (an amazing feat IMHO!!) didnt even think we could down attumen!!

Anyways with the experience now, what you guys think about SoC in aoe pulls? Will the healer and tank get upset with me?

[Bodhisage]

I would say SoC away. It brings down the mobs very fast when they all start blowing up. Just let your healer know that you will be aoe'ing and generating a lot of threat. Oh go into it expecting to die, that way when you live its great haha.

[rodwise]

IMHO its down right necessary. On the stairway going up to Moroes.. like the song goes, all you need is love.. well all you need is heals and a pally tanlk. Our guild has a warrior tank and pally tank..

God love the pally tank that can keep aggro on 6-8 targets at once. Throw SoC with reckless abandon. I like to SoC 4 different mobs then throw a shadowfury to make sure they all pop. If you have the scrolling combat text on its quite a thrill!!

There are several places where i use it if the pally tank is in the group. I'm a bit more cautious if he is not.

[acetace]

same here... i'll say it's necessary as well... i died pulling SoC but think about this way.... it's either a lock dies from 3-4 SoC explosion aggro... or a poor mage who tries to do arcane exploriosion (or blast wave) with 2/3 of our aoe damage (1 explsoion for me is 1.6k i heard mages can arcane explode for 1k) and pulls aggro much quicker than lock.... i am very willingly to self sacrifice for that -.- besides... repair bill is worthless compare to the joy of watching SoC go on screen... lol at least for me anyways

[Xyndra]

I actually dont SoC here. When I have, I tended to pull several mobs on me and got hit hard. I select target and SB. I may try to SoC again since our group takes them down so fast.

[cajmrn]

Thanks for the responses and advice guys. As usual the key is communication, i'll talk to the tank and healer and give it a whirl next time .

[Maltyrius]

Originally Posted by rodwise

On the stairway going up to Moroes..

Yup, all the non-elite trash packs are ideal for SoC; we usually have a mage pop a nova so I can stay backed up and spam away.

[Morax]

I use SoC on non elites mobs near Moroes..
I use SoC on the beastmasters or whatever that summon hounds near Maiden..
I use SoC on the Siphoners near Curator..
I use SoC sometimes on Illhoof to thin out the imps..

[Peppermort]

oops. see below post

[Peppermort]

yes as you say communication is key, healers should be able to shield/heal you through it.

it can help, as i believe someone else mentioned on these forums somewhere recently, to throw a few siphon lifes (if spec'd into it) on a few targets before opening up on soc, because it gives the tank some time to build aggro and sets up some extra healing on you if you start getting hit by pulling a few of them on to you.

but two other very important things to be careful of is pulling an extra group beyond the one you are actually intending to deal with (especially since some of those group are groups of 4 or 5 elites, a certain wipe for a starting kara raiding guild when pulled unexpectedly while dealing with an aoe group):

1. if you are tab targetting to switch to the next target to seed up (which is the most efficient way), then don't do it without thinking. put up target of target frame in your interface, and when you tab to a new target, check a few things and only seed if at least one of the following is true:
a) your new target has debuffs
b) your new target has less than full health
c) your new target is targetting something (this one is probably the simplest to check with target of target enabled, and the most reliable)
The reason is, of course, so that you don't accidentally pull a new group with careless tab targetting.

2. Be aware of your surroundings and the location of the group your are seeding up in relation to other groups. a seed explosion on a mob near to another group can reach the other group and pull them. If you are down on the stairs and the groups are being pull back down to the stairs you should be safe to seed up down there. when you move up off the stairs you have to be more careful and know where your target is and whether it is in range of another mob to pull with a seed explosion. remember that some mobs in those groups have ranged attacks and therefore won't necessarily pull to the tank with the other melee mobs, so make sure you watch out for them and their position in particular.