PTR testing schedule

0. Ulduar PTR Testing Schedule 02/26/2009 02:31:01 PM PST
Ok, we're going to attempt to have some playtest sessions for Ulduar starting tonight and through this weekend.

The following is the tentative schedule for this weekend:

On the North American test realms:
Hodir - Thursday night, February 26, starting at 7pm EST/4pm PST.
Iron Council - Friday night, February 27, starting at 7pm EST/4pm PST

On the European test realms
Thorim - Friday night, February 27, starting at 7pm CET.
Freya - Saturday night, February 28, starting at 7pm CET.

This schedule could change at a moment's notice due to server, bug, or patch status. I'll try to keep everyone informed as much as possible. Ulduar and the bosses to be tested will remain also open a variable length of time. How long they stay open depends upon a host of factors including designer availability, bug status, etc.

We also hope to have the zone open on Sunday for each respective realm for a longer period of time. We have a couple special versions of Patchwerk setup. One of them is called Patchwerk (DPS Test) and is essentially a massive training dummy for your raids. The other is Patchwerk (Tank Test), and he does not have a Hateful Strike, but his melee damage increases over time.

We're very interested in seeing combat logs and parses for all raid testing on the PTR.

Quick Ulduar FAQ:

Q) Will there be testing available on Oceanic, Korean, or other time zones?
A) There will be some testing available. We do plan on allowing for extended testing on Flame Leviathan, and possibly other bosses. We want encounter designers to be present during testing, which makes testing during some time zones difficult.

Q) Where's all the trash?
A) We don't have everything turned on for these tests, and this sometimes includes trash creatures before each boss encounter.

Q) Where's the loot?
A) We don't have this attached to bosses yet, but we'll have loot hooked up soon.

Q) What about achievements?
A) These aren't implemented yet.
[ Post edited by Daelo ]


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Daelo
Lead Encounter Designer

How we learned it
There's also a companion piece on learning process of going into the boss blind:

The Art of Learning: Hodir

Discussion
Come chat about Hodir and other Ulduar topics in the StratFu Forums.

WWS
Partial WWS from the 26 February PTR.

Abilities
Biting Cold: Deals increasing periodic damage to stationary enemies. Movement diminishes this effect. Effect is 3200 damage stacking. As an estimate, it ticks once every 3 seconds.

Frozen Blows: Physical damage reduced by 70%, but attacks deal 40000 additional Frost damage (partially resistable). 35 sec cooldown or so

Flash Freeze: Encases the target in a block of ice with 44k hitpoints (35k on normal.) Approximately every 45 seconds. Instakills all frozen targets. Long cast time.

Snowpacked Icicles Drops from the ceiling with a clear graphic. Does 12k damage and knocks back 20 yards. Leaves behind a Snowdrift. Snowdrift cancels the effects of Flash Freeze.

Freeze Inflicts Frost damage to nearby enemies, immobilizing them for up to 10 sec. 5kish damage and freezes, 10 yard range around Hodir and/or PBAoE (unsure).

NPC's
On Heroic mode there are 8 NPC's (4 on normal.)

The layout is:

Back row (towards Hodir): MoonkinA EleShmA MoonkinB PriestA MageA
Front row (towards entrance): PriestB MageB EleShmB
Note: The names below are for the horde version of the fight. We will update with the alliance version when we get them.

Moonkin
The two moonkin are Kar Greycloud and Tor Greycloud. They cast Starlight a beam of light that increases casting/attack speed by 50% in its radius (about 3-4yds).

Elemental Shaman
The two elemental shaman are Spiritwalker Tara and Spiritwalker Yona. They cast a buff that increases the critical strike chance of up to 3 friendly targets in a chain by 100% for 15 sec and DPS some.

Mage
The two mages are Goesha Blazweaver and Aurora Blazeweaver. They cast Toasty Fire: Warms nearby friendly creatures, preventing the effects of Freeze and Biting Cold, and increasing Spirit by 4. Toasty fire can be extinguished by falling ice or powerful frost magic. 12 yard radius.

Basically, casters can stand by it to avoid taking the 'biting cold' debuff (which forces you to move periodically.)

Their DPS is the strongest.

Priest
The two priests are Battle-Priest Gina and Battle-Priest Eliza. They help dispell the freeze (frost nova) and do some DPS.

Hard Modes
If you kill him in under 3 minutes for 2 "Rare Runed Chest" loots.

If you kill him in under 6 minutes for 1 "Rare Runed Chest" loot.

Enrage is 9 mins (when he destroys the third chest.)

The Fight
Engage

Hodir pre-engageIt's vitally important to not attack any frozen NPC's before Hodir is engaged, or they despawn.

(note: are there other ways to despawn them? We had some issues)

Hodir has a very small aggro range, so it's easy to wipe recover.

Your tank should run up one of the sides to pull him to avoid hitting one of the NPC's with, say, a glyphed Maul attack.

The rest of the fight
The basics are: Avoid the snowfalls (they lead to icicles), don't get frozen, remove freeze from the NPC's, dps Hodir.

The icicles fall from the ceiling in a Gruul-like mechanic: you notice snowflakes falling (fairly obvious, although their exact area can be hard to pinpoint) and you have about 4 seconds to move out.

These icicles deal sizeable (12k) damage, and is the bulk of the raid damage. Reduce the amount of "getting hit by icicles" and you reduce the number of healers you need.

Periodically he will cast freeze, which is a frostnova: ~5k damage, hits an area, immobilizes for 10 seconds. Can (and should) be dispelled.

Flash Freeze
Flash Freeze is cast approximately once every 30-45 seconds (it has an internal cooldown of 30 seconds so can be cast that frequently.) It is a 9 second cast.

While it's casting, you need to look for those Icicles and find the ones that are, at the start of his cast, still in snowflake form. You will need to move *near* these but not *on* them. You can be very close. Look for a white cloud around them, that's the sign that those are the icicles that will form snowdrifts.

As soon as they form snowdrifts on the ground (which is right after the icicles land) you need to move onto them -- a short strafe is sufficient. This will protect you from getting frozen.

Pets *will* get frozen, so pet classes must recall pets during this period (and bloodworms shouldn't be spec'd into by DK's until this is fixed if you are using NPC's.)

The NPC's will also get frozen and, if you are using them, must be unfrozen as fast as possible.

The blocks of ice have 44khp on Heroic mode, 35k on Normal mode.

Rare Runed Chests
Every three minutes Hodir will destroy one, which presumably contains extra loot. The third one is his berserk timer and he will enrage then (9 minutes.)

Tactics
Protect the NPC's
You need to decide at the start if you will bother with the NPC's or not.

The fight is probably doable either way, although we'll have to wait for the exact tuning on live to know for sure.

Note that they are currently healable.

If you do then it's vitally important to free them immediately after Flash Freeze. This primarily because you want their buffs and abilities, but also because if you do not, they will be killed when he casts Flash Freeze again 45 seconds later (it insta-kills anything still in a block.)

Keep Hodir in range
For the casters, don't tank him where he spawns, keep him more middleish.

For the melee, either kite him in a slow circle around the middle, or have the melee clump up on the back right side, then switch to the back left when a snowfall lands on them. Or simply walk him back and forth

Minimize movement
Smart players won't run all the way across the room just to get a moonkin's buff circle shortly before a Flash Freeze is coming.

Melee shouldn't scatter to find a snowdrift unless it's absolutely necessary: given so many of them on Hodir, it's likely they can just hang out there.

Biting cold, while technically there to encourage you to move, is rarely a big deal since there's usually something to move from. Mobile DPS does very well in this fight.

Raid Composition
Tanking
Only one tank is actually needed here, although a second can be helpful to taunt if your MT screws up.

A 50k-HP tank will never be in danger once your healers are comfortable.

A druid in full polar gear is probably ideal for the fight, but it seems tankable by any class.

Outside of Frozen Blows he doesn't hit very hard: about 16-19k on a druid with a slow swing timer (around 2s.)

When Frozen Blows is up, he hits for 8k-40k frost damage, and about 2-3k melee damage.

Healing
5-6 healers.

You will need raid heals, but also strong tank heals during his Frozen Blows.

Much or all of the raid damage is avoidable however.

DPS
A normal balanced mix of melee and ranged is good.

Comments
If you are asking a detailed question, please use the StratFu Forums instead.

Aggression Says:
Feb 26 2009 10:47 pm

50k HP tank, would that be druid or something then? I'm warrior and at 30k HP atm (still need some tiny HP upgrades such as legs from Malygos and shield aswell). But how the hell would a warrior get 50k hp? hehe I guess it's a typo? You probably mean 40k?

Moepi Says:
Feb 26 2009 10:49 pm

Nice Preview and Guide ! Do the complete Raid wear Frost resistance during the fight or only the Maintank ?

Sekirei Says:
Feb 26 2009 11:18 pm

"I'm warrior and at 30k HP atm (still need some tiny HP upgrades such as legs from Malygos and shield aswell)." You can achieve close to that HP as well. As stated polar set for druids, Icebane set(3 pieces) are the plate equivalent. There is also a frost resist ring with a lot of stamina. Grabbing all those allows a warrior to get a bigger then usual HP pool and a DK to get close to a druids HP pool.

Sounds like a crazy fight