"Still messing around?"
"No."
After dying once, OldSeven finally behaved himself and stopped looking for trouble.
This had not been a simple corpse-run lesson.
It had been a blood-and-tears lesson that cost him fifty gold, which made his already miserable wallet even worse.
Wasting fourteen other people's time because one person wanted to be cute was not something Gabryell could tolerate. He really did fine OldSeven fifty gold, partly to punish him and partly to set an example.
Future raids would need strict rules.
Mistakes had to have consequences. Otherwise, people would keep testing the line until raid discipline collapsed.
"I'll sheep one first," Gabryell said. "OldSeven, Milo, each of you sheep one too."
They went down the stairs on the right.
The packs below came in groups of five: three Orc Warriors and two dragonkin.
The mobs here were a level higher than the ones before, and there were more of them in each pull. They could not brute-force everything like they had earlier. They needed the Mages to Polymorph the humanoids and reduce pressure on the tanks and healers.
Gabryell stepped forward and opened by sheeping the highest-level humanoid.
The rest of the pack charged toward him.
OldSeven and Milo immediately sheeped the other two humanoids.
Carlos and Susie each picked up one dragonkin and pulled them upward, away from the lower hall. Fighting down there would make it too easy to body-pull extra mobs and wipe.
"These things hit hard," Carlos said.
Even with his gear, one hit still took off nearly a third of his health. If a clothie ate that swing, they would probably die in two hits.
"This is the second half of UBRS," Gabryell said. "The difficulty jumps here. Don't get careless."
The advantage of having three Mages showed clearly now.
They could sheep all three humanoids at once. With only two Mages, David would have needed to tank one extra Orc, which would have made the healers' lives much harder.
"Kill Carlos's target first, then Susie's," Gabryell called. "Once both dragonkin are dead, Carlos, break one sheep at a time."
While attacking the dragonkin, he kept an eye on the Polymorphed mobs.
They were pulling the packs up instead of fighting inside The Beast's room because the hall below was full of level 59 mobs. Going down too early could easily chain-pull more enemies. To play it safe, they cleared the nearest pack first.
Everyone followed the plan cleanly.
As long as the fight stayed organized, this section would not cause major problems.
The worst-case scenario was not having enough Mages, or having Mages who were too lazy to sheep properly.
Worse than that were the brainless DPS players who broke Polymorph with random AoE or DoTs and then acted surprised when the humanoid mobs ran straight into the healers.
Once the healers panicked, started running, and got killed, the wipe was basically guaranteed.
After clearing the nearest pack, Gabryell led everyone into The Beast's room.
"Whoa, that dog is huge!"
It was everyone's first time seeing a core hound-sized monster like The Beast, so the reaction was understandable.
Once they started running Molten Core and got used to the actual Core Hound patrols there, The Beast would stop looking impressive.
Compared with Molten Core's patrol dogs, The Beast was just a puppy with delusions of grandeur.
"Don't pull the dog yet," Gabryell said. "Clear the trash first. I'll sheep first. Carlos, Susie, pull the dragonkin over and kill them."
The mobs in this hall could not be skipped. They would have to clear them later on the way to the final boss anyway.
Besides, The Beast had knockback and charge mechanics. If they fought him with trash still alive in the room, one unlucky launch could pull more mobs and turn the fight into a mess.
So before fighting The Beast, the usual method was to clear the entire room first.
They used the same safe approach and cleaned out every trash pack in the hall.
Gabryell was satisfied with their efficiency.
This was what a proper raid team should look like.
"Carlos, main tank. Susie, build second threat."
Then Gabryell glanced at David.
"David, do whatever you want. Third tank, DPS, moral support. Your choice."
David frowned. "Why do I feel useless?"
Susie said, "You don't feel useless. You are useless."
SevenDays added, "David finally gaining self-awareness deserves encouragement."
"Damn you all."
David angrily swapped from his shield to a one-handed sword.
"Watch my Fury Warrior damage. I'm about to destroy all of you."
The Beast had a lot of health.
In all of UBRS, only The Beast and General Drakkisath had more than eighty thousand health. This was a real raid-level mob, not some ordinary dungeon boss.
A raid-level mob could not be handled with a casual five-man dungeon attitude. One mistake could get someone killed.
"I'm going in," Carlos said. "Keep me healed."
This time, he did not Charge straight in. He was worried the healers would not be in range fast enough and The Beast would flatten him before they could react.
The moment Carlos picked up The Beast, he turned it around without needing Gabryell to remind him.
That kept the raid out of the boss's frontal attack range.
That was the basic quality of a mature main tank.
Tanking came down to awareness. A tank's ceiling and floor were both decided by how much of that awareness he had.
Carlos had it.
The so-called Fury tank, however, was already embarrassing himself.
"Holy crap, David, what are you doing?"
Carlos had not even stabilized threat yet when David rushed in, slashed a few times, and pulled aggro.
The Beast turned toward him.
Since David was not wearing a shield, he was about as sturdy as a paper bag.
The Beast hit him with a full combo.
David's health instantly dropped by more than half, then he was knocked flying and fell from the upper platform.
Danielly hurriedly shielded him, but a shield was not health and did not save him from fall damage.
David died on the spot.
"David, you're terrible," SevenDays said. "You lasted, what, five seconds?"
David's first experience as a Fury tank ended instantly, leaving him deeply wounded.
"Where was your Lay on Hands?" he complained. "Why didn't you save me?"
SevenDays stared at him.
"If I use Lay on Hands now, am I supposed to heal the rest of the fight with no mana?"
Lay on Hands emptied a Paladin's mana. If he used it here, he would turn himself into a decoration.
Igor added, "I'm Retribution. I don't have time to heal you."
"Luna, battle rez me," David said. "I refuse to let my Fury tank career end like this."
Seeing how pathetic he looked, Gabryell took pity on him.
"Battle rez him."
Lunatori used Rebirth on David.
The moment he stood up again, David became excited.
"Haha! Give me ten seconds, and I'll be a hero again."
Unfortunately, people really should not get carried away.
Before the healers could top him off, and before he even thought to bandage himself, The Beast used Berserker Charge.
The target was David.
"Holy crap, you stupid dog!"
David was smashed into the air.
He had barely been alive for a few seconds before he hit the floor again.
Susie looked at his corpse with disdain.
"You weren't even warmed up, and you folded in seconds."
SevenDays shook his head.
"That battle rez went straight into the dog's stomach."
Technically, it really had.
The Beast was a giant dog, after all.
David, now lying dead for the second time, sounded especially depressed.
"If I ever try Fury tanking again, I'm the dog."
Losing David did not matter much.
With his current DPS gear, his damage was probably lower than Igor's Retribution Paladin damage anyway.
"Don't pull aggro again," Gabryell said. "If anyone gets knocked away, healers, top them immediately."
He did not want more deaths.
Too many dead players would slow the fight down. Once the fight dragged on, more accidents would follow.
With David serving as a warning, everyone became much more careful.
Whenever someone was knocked away or charged, the healers immediately patched them up.
The outer hall had already been cleared, and the room was spacious enough. Even if they had to grind The Beast down slowly, they could kill it safely.
"It's down!"
The moment The Beast fell, David, who had watched the entire fight from the floor, felt the satisfaction of revenge.
"That dog is finally dead."
Then he immediately wanted to stand up.
The floor was cold.
"Snowy, rez me."
He knew SevenDays definitely would not resurrect him right away, so he could only ask Danielly.
Danielly resurrected him, and David was so grateful he nearly cried.
"Snowy is the best. Snowy is the only reliable healer here."
SevenDays said, "Keep talking and I'll let you die next pull too."
David immediately shut up.
Then he looked at the corpse.
"Guild Leader, I request permission to loot The Beast."
He wanted to loot the corpse himself and vent some of the frustration from dying twice.
Gabryell thought for a moment.
Since David had sacrificed himself twice, maybe his blood offering would actually produce something good.
So he nodded.
"One chance to redeem yourself."
If David looted Finkle's Skinner, then his sacrifice would count as successful.
David was overjoyed and rushed up to loot.
Bloodmoon Cloak
Rare
Binds when picked up
Back
45 Armor
+17 Stamina
+5 Spirit
+7 Arcane Resistance
Requires Level 58
Frostweaver Cape
Rare
Binds when picked up
Back
45 Armor
+12 Intellect
+12 Spirit
+10 Frost Resistance
Requires Level 58
Everyone went silent.
What the hell were these drops?
Forget not getting Finkle's Skinner. They had somehow gotten the two most useless cloaks on the table, the kind of loot nobody wanted to look at, let alone equip.
It was like killing Ragnaros after weeks of preparation, only for him to drop Shard of the Flame and Essence of the Pure Flame together just to insult the raid.
After looting something this cursed, David still had the nerve to volunteer?
Not fining him would be an injustice to everyone.
Gabryell exhaled slowly.
"Fine David fifty gold. Any objections? Type 1 if you agree."
In an instant, raid chat filled with 1s.
David's loot luck was so bad it had become a public safety issue.