Rube Goldberg

Rube Goldberg was a famous cartoonist, drawing ridiculously complicated cartoons depicting the accomplishment of a simple task.

With the advent of 3.2 and Heroic 5-mans dropping Emblems of Conquest, both my 80s, Alpham and Oilcan, are running Heroics. But since Alpham is geared to MT Naxx25, and OC for Ulduar25+, Heroics tend to be both easy and a little boring to run, with only some bosses in some instances offering much of a challenge.

Both Al and OC, while leveling, enjoyed pushing their limits, taking on difficult fights and pulls, and generally getting in over their heads. Whether it was Al fighting 10-12 mobs at once, or OC triple-trapping/pet-tanking/multi-mob kiting 6-12 mobs, I would seek out situations that would challenge them.

The Heroic Achievements are a start towards this end, but only a start…50% or more of the time you are in a Heroic, you are fighting trash mobs, not bosses. So I’ve begun looking at trash mobs in the same light as I looked at world mobs while leveling: How can I make this more interesting/challenging/technical?

Recently, running Heroics with overgeared folks, I’ve found there are several ways to liven up the trash pulls.

Aggro everything

This generally involves combining two or more pulls into a single pull. Group to the left? Group to the right? Range pull one while body pulling the other. Groups lined up ahead of you? Run through the first (dropping an AoE whatever for aggro) and go grab the second, too. Throw a pat or two into a fight.

Hunter Misdirects help a lot with this, but any ranged class can be used to pull additional mobs into the fight (gogo DK Death Grip!).

Often there’s a technical aspect to this type of pull; in UK, for example, after the first 2 elites, the next groups are to the left and the right, with a pat pathing through, and 2/3 more mobs further ahead. But multi-target pulls usually will miss a single mob on the left or right (must be *just* out of aggro/jump range), so successfully grabbing ALL the mobs can be a challenge.

These pulls can take several seconds to establish, so not only does the dps need to resist the urge to jump in, but the healer also has to endure the pain of watching the tank get to 50% or less while establishing aggro on all the mobs before healing so as not to aggro himself.

You too can Tank!

Another way to liven up a fight is to have a non-tank tank a pull. Mages are famous for this, with Frost Nova, Blizzard/Flamestrike/Arcane Explosion, and Ice Block, but melee plate, Rogues using Evasion, hunter kiting, etc. are all other examples.

The Gunslinger

Many instances have single elite pats, usually tougher than the multi-mob ones. Let a single dps class take it on, one-on-one, with no help. Or maybe just the healer. Stand back and watch an old-fashioned burndown gunfight. You succeed if the mob is downed without any other dps help; you pwn if you succeed without the healer even getting involved.

Quick! They’re not looking!

Many groups have pats that come and go. Wait until the pat as gone away and reached it’s turnaround point to come back (or even as it is coming back). Can you get the group down and dead before the pat returns and aggros?

Aggro THIS!

Screw aggro….go all out single target, on a higher elite (regulars die too quick). The person who has aggro when the mob dies, wins. No taunts allowed!

CC FTW

Crowd Control everything, using all forms. Pets/demons/eles off-tanking, multiple target trapping, fear bombs, hexes, MC…use everything. Got more CC than mobs? Pull more!

Try to get each single target down while everything else is CC’d, one at a time, one after the other.

Proof positive you had a max level before Lich King came out!

Those are just a few ideas; I’ll post more as I find them =D