Pics or it didn't happen.
Gabryell had recorded the entire Lucifron kill from start to finish. Now he had screenshots and video proof.
A first kill was worth recording just like any other big achievement. If you didn't record it and post it, who was going to believe you? More importantly, where were the bragging rights?
Gabryell planned to upload the video to the forum later.
Being first to kill one or two bosses wasn't that important. What really mattered was taking down Rag and clearing Molten Core from start to finish.
"The five hound corpses are still there. Don't pull the next pack."
Gabryell was worried Smooch would get trigger-happy and drag another pack over before the bodies disappeared.
"Why not?"
Smooch looked at the motionless Core Hounds on the ground. Now that they had gotten used to the pulls, she still had half her mana left. There didn't seem to be any reason to stop and drink.
"They rez each other," Gabryell warned her. "If you bring another pack over while these bodies are still here, the new hounds can bring the dead ones back."
It was an easy mistake to make.
Experienced full-clear raids were especially prone to it. Once people started caring more about speed, Hunters got increasingly aggressive with their pulls and sometimes forgot the mechanics of the trash they were rushing through.
Smooch immediately understood and committed the warning to memory.
They pulled the hounds one pack at a time and burned them down with AoE, quickly clearing the three packs in front of Magmadar.
"That is one huge dog!"
Magmadar was much larger than the patrolling Core Hounds.
Once he died, the roaming hounds would stop respawning.
DeathScum stared at him.
"My next-door neighbor has a huge dog too."
David laughed.
"Your neighbor's a woman, isn't she? Single too."
DeathScum looked at him in surprise.
"How the hell did you know?"
Before David could answer, OldSeven gave a dirty little laugh.
"My ex had a huge dog before we started dating too. Once she got together with me, she gave it away. Then after we broke up, she got another one."
"Ahem."
Gabryell had heard enough.
"Alright, enough about Seven's love life. I checked some progression threads from other top guilds. Magmadar should have an AoE fear and an enrage."
"They're already ahead of us?" David asked in surprise.
He had thought Fearless was at the very front.
"A few guilds were claiming they reached Garr last week," Gabryell said. "We don't want to fall behind, so we need to pick up the pace."
That was only half true.
A few top guilds really were progressing quickly, but Gabryell seriously doubted anyone had already reached Garr.
He didn't know their exact progress. Based on what he remembered from his previous life, most of them had probably only killed the first boss or two.
Fortunately, very few people in the raid followed every progression thread closely enough to call him out.
As long as he didn't run into some obsessive forum nerd determined to fact-check every word, other guilds made an excellent excuse for all the things he somehow knew.
With that cover, Gabryell could call the fights all the way to Garr without raising too many questions.
"Damn, they're moving that fast?" David said. "Then we definitely can't let them leave us behind."
Everyone was young and competitive.
Losing to another guild was one thing. Watching a rival pull ahead while they were still stuck behind was another.
Gabryell happily added fuel to the fire.
"Some of the other top guilds are pushing hard. Right now, we're the ones chasing."
"Leader, then we need to speed things up."
"Hell, I'll stay up all night if I have to. We're getting to Garr—no, screw Garr. Let's reach the fifth boss and show them what Fearless can do."
"Agreed. Drink up and let's kill this thing."
Gabryell was very pleased with the reaction.
Using other guilds as his excuse had the added benefit of firing everyone up.
Two birds with one stone.
"No all-nighter. We stick to the normal raid schedule. If everybody stays focused, we can pass them in a day or two."
From this point on, Gabryell planned to stop holding back quite so much.
His goal was to reach Garr during their first progression lockout.
If possible, he wanted both Garr and Baron Geddon dead as well.
Lucifron's loot had given him confidence.
This lockout was starting to feel lucky.
Maybe that luck would hold.
Gabryell looked toward Magmadar.
"For this one, just pretend he's Seven's ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend. He's way tougher than Seven. Hell, forty Sevens together wouldn't stand a chance."
"Four things to watch for: an AoE fear, an enrage, fire on the ground, and a frontal breath."
He paused.
"The two dangerous ones are the fear and the enrage."
Alliance raids had an easier time with Magmadar if they brought Dwarf Priests.
"His fear comes roughly every thirty seconds. We have three Dwarf Priests, so before the pull, get Fear Ward on all the melee."
Having three Dwarf Priests was a luxury.
Raids without even one would've killed for this setup.
"Healers and Hunters, stay at max range. The fear has a range, so if you stay far enough back, you shouldn't get hit."
He continued assigning positions.
"Mages and Warlocks, if you're in a safe spot, don't worry too much about the fear. If things get messy, use whatever you have to keep yourselves alive."
Then came the Fear Ward rotation.
"After the first fear, Snowy, refresh Egides. Heals, refresh Susie. BigHeals, yours goes on David."
In theory, Magmadar only needed one main tank.
The problem was the Tranq.
If Crit missed and Magmadar enraged, Carlos could get deleted before the healers had time to recover.
That was why Gabryell wanted Susie and David building threat behind him. If Carlos went down, one of them could take over and buy enough time for Tranquilizing Shot to come back up.
Once they eventually had two Hunters who knew Tranq Shot, Magmadar would become a much more forgiving fight.
For an Alliance raid with multiple Dwarf Priests, he really wasn't that complicated.
"The enrage comes up regularly too."
Gabryell's tone turned serious as he addressed OneShotCrit.
"Crit, you're the key on this one. No tank is living through that enrage for long."
"Put Tranq Shot somewhere you can't miss it. I don't care about your DPS this fight. Keep your cursor on Tranq and the second he enrages, click it. Don't hesitate."
And Gabryell really did mean the cursor.
A lot of Fearless's core raid still clicked their abilities with the mouse instead of relying heavily on keybinds.
Tell some of them to suddenly switch everything to keys and it was like they forgot how to play their own class.
Gabryell knew from his previous life that even after Dire Maul opened in 2005, Hunters capable of soloing perfect tribute runs would still be relatively rare.
Trying something that demanding while clicking every important ability with the mouse made it even harder.
And in Fearless, at least seventy percent of the core raid were still clickers.
Changing that habit wasn't going to happen overnight.
OneShotCrit could already feel the pressure.
"I'll Tranq it the second it enrages."
Gabryell trusted him.
If the shot missed, he couldn't really blame Crit.
They only had one Hunter who knew Tranq this lockout.
"The fire on the ground is simple. Patches will spawn around you, and standing in them will chew through your health fast."
Gabryell glanced toward OldSeven.
"Don't pull a Seven and stand there wondering why even your ex's dog had better survival instincts. If fire appears under you, move."
OldSeven wisely chose not to respond.
Gabryell suddenly thought of Ava Summer.
She was busy with a voice acting competition and hadn't had time to join the progression raid.
Otherwise, he could've had her yelling the classic warning over voice:
"Fire wall! Move out!"
Once Ava finished the competition, he could bring her into the main raid.
She'd make a perfect walking raid-warning addon.
"The frontal breath is easy too. Carlos, just keep the dog facing away from the raid and it won't be a problem."
Any melee who avoided the fear only to wander in front of Magmadar's face and get roasted had nobody to blame but themselves.
Gabryell would seriously consider replacing someone that careless with a player from the bench.
Calls only went so far.
Until they actually pulled the boss once or twice, nobody would really have a feel for the fight.
"Alright. Let's give it a try."
Once the three Dwarf Priests had finished setting up Fear Wards and everyone had recovered their health and mana, Gabryell gave the call.
"Egides, go. Everyone else hold."
Carlos charged in.
"Give him three Sunders, then DPS."