Unbelievable. Three Fury Warriors were actually fighting tooth and nail over the Obsidian Edged Blade. To them, any epic weapon off a 40-man raid boss looked incredible. Even a mediocre one still felt miles ahead of anything from the level-60 five-mans.
"No Stamina for PvP, and for PvE it's worse than dual-wielding."
For a Fury Warrior, Dal'Rend's Arms were much better. Even if your luck was awful, Krol Blade in the main hand with Mirah's Song in the off hand was still a strong setup.
"At this rate, if Shadowstrike drops, people will probably fight over that too."
Gabryell had no doubt the Hunters would jump into the bidding as well. A melee Hunter would kill for that thing.
"Haha, this thing looks awesome."
As soon as Astral got the Obsidian Edged Blade, he equipped it and kept pressing Z to draw and sheathe it over and over.
"Dude, this thing looks like Cloud's Buster Sword!"
DaVinci and BladeSaint could only stand off to the side, staring jealously at the Obsidian Edged Blade and practically drooling over it.
"Man, I hope this thing drops again next time we kill that dog," DaVinci said, disappointed that he had missed out.
Coldhands was convinced he had pulled an amazing weapon and was in a great mood. "Don't worry. I'll get you another one next time."
Gabryell desperately wanted to shut him up. If that thing dropped again, he was going to break Coldhands's legs.
MushroomHunter took the Cenarion Leggings, while OldMan got the Lawbringer Legplates.
Warquell was the only Holy Paladin who hadn't bid on the legs. Deep down, he still hadn't given up on his dream of tanking raids as Protection someday.
"Let's head back."
They had already finished The Molten Core, but they still weren't Honored with the Hydraxian Waterlords. There was no point going back to Hydraxis to turn it in yet. By the end of this lockout, their reputation should be high enough, and they could grab the follow-up before the next reset.
"Watch the Flame Imps."
Gabryell called out to the people at the front. There wasn't any gold lying around up ahead, so why were they rushing?
After clearing the pack of Flame Imps at the entrance to Lucifron's area, he reminded everyone again, "Hug the left wall. Don't pull the imps on the right."
Since they had wiped at the same time Magmadar died, they had already killed the Ancient Core Hound that respawned before his death after everyone was resurrected. There shouldn't be another one waiting for them after the bridge.
"Take the left."
As usual, Gabryell kept the route simple. "Leave the right side alone. Stay left, watch where you're going, and don't pull anything else."
On the way to Gehennas, the two giants on the left side by the bridge had already been cleared before they fought Lucifron. As long as nobody wandered over to the right and pulled anything, they could save some time.
"My flask wore off," Carlos said.
Gabryell checked his buffs. His Flask of Supreme Power had a little over ten seconds left. "Everyone, pop another flask."
When you had money, you could afford to be extravagant. Fearless had enough flasks to keep the entire raid covered.
At the moment, they were probably the only guild willing and able to spend this much on progression.
Most other guilds probably hadn't even figured out how valuable flasks were yet. By the time they did, the prices would be enough to make them cry.
Two bosses in two hours on their first real progression night. Even Gabryell knew that was absurdly fast. If anything, he was underselling it—Fearless had a legitimate shot at a world first.
Among the major Alliance guilds on Tichondrius, Madhouse was still wiping on Lucifron. Halalei had taken a wrong turn and somehow gone after Gehennas first, with even uglier results. Freedom, War Angels, Westreach, and the others hadn't even seen Lucifron or Gehennas yet.
As for the Horde, Gabryell only cared about Hall of Fame. They were in the same spot as Madhouse, still wiping on Lucifron.
Fearless was almost certainly the first guild on Tichondrius to kill a Molten Core boss. As for future giants like Stars and Seventh Heaven, Gabryell figured they were probably around Madhouse's pace. If either of them had gotten a boss down already, it would've been all over the forum by now.
"Two level-63 Destroyers. Tanks, split them. Kill the marked one first."
Around the corner, two level-63 Molten Destroyers blocked the way. With their current gear, a double pull like this could easily flatten a tank if the raid wasn't using consumables.
With Greater Stoneshield Potions rolling, both tanks could handle them as long as they kept the Destroyers apart.
"Easy here. Hunter pulls. Don't grab anything else."
On the way to Gehennas, accidental adds were the biggest danger. At their current gear level, one extra mob could turn a clean pull into a wipe.
"Warlocks, keep the Surger banished. Melee, swap to the Lava Spawns. Don't let them split."
After enough Firelord pulls, the raid had finally figured out what was happening. The Firelord wasn't endlessly summoning more and more adds—the Lava Spawns themselves could split if left alive.
"The two giants behind us are coming!"
They had been fighting against the left wall across from Gehennas. Someone must have backed up too far and pulled the two giants they had skipped earlier.
One Banished Lava Surger, one Firelord, a level-62 Molten Giant, and a level-63 Molten Destroyer.
The pull was already doomed.
"Fuck, how'd we pull another hound?"
An Ancient Core Hound patrolled between Gehennas and the road toward Garr. One happened to pass at exactly the wrong moment, and someone scrambling for room ran straight into it.
Perfect. Another Ancient Core Hound on top of everything else.
Worse, this one had the confusion effect. For a few seconds, the entire raid was helpless while the giants stomped people down one after another.
"Paladins, DI!"
The fight was beyond saving. All they could do now was try to spare a few people the corpse run.
"I DI'd!"
OldMan bubbled and DI'd Victor's Night Elf Priest.
"I DI'd too—shit, no I didn't!"
Igor had barely finished announcing it before immediately correcting himself.
Back in Onyxia's Lair, he had somehow DI'd a Hunter. This time in MC, he managed something even more ridiculous.
He hadn't DI'd the Hunter.
He'd DI'd the Hunter's pet.
"Hahaha! Holy shit, Igor, you're unbelievable."
Smooch burst out laughing when she saw that Igor had somehow used Divine Intervention on her Wind Serpent.
After reaching level 60, she had switched her pet to a Wind Serpent. OneShotCrit had done the same. Hugo, on the other hand, couldn't bear to part with Broken Tooth and had kept him.
"Igor, you're a disgrace to Paladins."
Carlos couldn't take it anymore. He felt embarrassed by association. They were roommates, after all.
Fortunately, two Paladins were still alive, and one of them had managed to DI a Priest. Otherwise, Gabryell would have docked Igor's DKP on the spot.
The five trash mobs wiped the raid with frightening efficiency. In no time at all, everyone was dead except Victor, who was protected by Divine Intervention, and one Wind Serpent.
The Wind Serpent hadn't disappeared.
That meant its owner was still alive.
"Hahaha! I'm one hell of a Hunter. Still alive!"
Smooch's Feign Death had worked, letting her survive the wipe. After combat dropped, she stayed down until the Ancient Core Hound moved away before getting back up.
"Thanks, Igor. Rezzing my pet is such a pain—real thoughtful of you to DI it for me."
Smooch wasn't about to pass up the chance to rub it in.
Igor was pissed, but what could he say? He had managed to botch DI of all things.
Victor clicked off Divine Intervention and started rezzing everyone. He was usually the quietest guy in the raid, but after a wipe he was always the first one bringing people back. When it came to cleanup duty, nobody worked harder.
Once everyone was back up, Gabryell said, "I'll let it slide this time. From now on, anyone who pulls extra trash and causes a wipe loses 5 DKP. That includes me. No exceptions."
One mistake could be forgiven. Do it again and it cost DKP. Keep doing it and you went to the bench.
Once everyone had rebuffed and recovered, Gabryell said, "Smooch, pull. Nobody hang too far back. Don't drag those giants in again."
From here they could already see Gehennas on the right, flanked by his two Flamewaker Elites.
Now they just needed to clear the surrounding trash and make enough room for the boss fight.