Carlos stared at the Arcane Crystal in the trade window, puzzled.
"Gabryell, why are you trading me an Arcane Crystal?"
Gabryell replied, "Take it. Now that you've got one of the materials, can Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker really be that far away?"
It was like finding a mouse and deciding that, since you already had the mouse, you might as well hurry up and build a computer to go with it.
Gabryell had plenty of Arcane Crystals. He could find some time to buy up other players' transmute cooldowns and turn them into Arcanite Bars. Once the rest of the materials were ready, all they'd be missing were the left and right Bindings of the Windseeker.
Carlos had no idea what Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker was, but since Gabryell was giving him an Arcane Crystal, he simply accepted it.
After defeating Baron Geddon and looting the Talisman of Binding Shard, Gabryell suddenly lost interest in the next boss, Shazzrah. With no Binding to chase from it, there wasn't much to get excited about.
What could Shazzrah even drop?
Unless they got insanely lucky, there was little chance of seeing BiS pieces like the Ring of Spell Power or the Robe of Volatile Power. Most of the time, it would just be something like Felheart Slippers, Flamewaker Legplates, or Manastorm Leggings.
"Whatever. If even the Talisman of Binding Shard can drop, what can't?"
After thinking it over, Gabryell decided to give Shazzrah a shot. Maybe he could ride his recent hot streak and pull another BiS item off it.
Following the simple principle that there was no harm in trying, Gabryell said to Smooch, "Smooch, come with me for a second."
The lava pack in front of Shazzrah had already been cleared, but Smooch didn't know exactly where the boss was, so Gabryell had to lead her there and show her the location.
"Gabryell, Danielly's here. Behave yourself," Carlos said, taking off his headset in the dorm.
Igor took his headset off as well.
"Go for it, Gabryell. Tame that little monster."
Hugo joined in on the teasing.
"A girl's best friend is always her biggest rival in love."
Gabryell told all three of them to get lost.
"I'm taking her to find the next boss."
Then he spoke in raid chat.
"Everyone wait here. I'm taking Smooch to pull the next boss."
Gabryell continued, "You've got five minutes. Get some water if you need it, use the bathroom if you need to, and Coldhands, five minutes should be plenty of time to fulfill your marital duties, right?"
OldSeven said, "Guild leader, that's way too much time. One minute is enough for Coldhands."
"Forget one minute. Give me thirty seconds. I'll be right back."
That was Coldhands for you—absolutely shameless.
"Coldhands is a legend. My idol."
"I admire his spirit. I just don't want to become him."
Coldhands claiming he only needed thirty seconds left everyone stunned.
That was way too fast.
A normal person wouldn't even have gotten the car started before he'd already shut the engine off.
Gabryell led Smooch over to Shazzrah.
"This is the next boss. We'll head back to Garr in a bit. You'll use your pet to pull it over just like before."
Shazzrah's Arcane Explosion was nasty enough on its own. Add Blink into the mix, and Gabryell expected the fight to become extremely chaotic. Once things got messy, there simply wouldn't be enough time to remove every curse, and anyone still affected by Shazzrah's Curse when the boss reached them could easily get blown up.
This boss wasn't much of a problem for a raid that already had MC on farm, but for a progression roster, it was even harder than several of the previous bosses. It severely tested the entire raid's reaction speed.
"Let's head back to Garr."
Gabryell planned to give the boss two attempts.
Whether they cleared it or wiped, his consumable buffs would have expired by then. At that point, they would stick to the original plan: pause their MC progression and head over to Onyxia's Lair to pay Onyxia a visit.
After returning to Garr, Gabryell waited until roughly five minutes had passed, then clicked "Confirm Position" on the addon.
"Coldhands, didn't you say you only needed thirty seconds? Why aren't you back yet?"
Gabryell noticed that Coldhands still hadn't checked the box.
Coldhands' voice finally came through.
"Coming, coming. I accidentally went a little over time."
As long as he was back, that was enough.
"For the next boss, we're still pulling it here to Garr. I'm going to rearrange the groups, so take this chance to refresh your buffs."
They needed to spread out for Shazzrah. If everyone stacked together, one Blink followed by an Arcane Explosion could wipe the entire raid.
"Groups 1, 3, and 7, stand where I'm standing now."
Gabryell moved over to the left.
"I'll mark Susie with Moon. Susie, stand in front of the group. If the boss Blinks over here, pick it up and pull it away."
Then he moved to the right.
"Groups 2, 4, and 8, stand where I am now. I'll mark David with Circle. If the boss Blinks over here, David, pick it up and pull it away."
"Everyone refresh your buffs and get into position."
Gabryell continued giving instructions.
"Carlos will pick up the boss first, just like with Baron Geddon. Don't bring it too close to the raid. Melee, stay out for now. Watch how the fight develops first."
He couldn't exactly tell them outright that Shazzrah would spam Arcane Explosion nonstop and that the melee should stay the hell away unless they had a Priest personally shielding and healing them.
For now, it was better to have the melee sit back and watch. Once Shazzrah started spamming Arcane Explosion, Gabryell could tell them to take it easy instead of rushing in to die and putting extra pressure on the healers.
For a progression roster fighting Shazzrah, nearly all of the damage had to come from ranged DPS.
When Shazzrah used Deaden Magic, it gained a buff that reduced magic damage taken by 50%.
For an Alliance raid, Priests were the most reliable way to strip that buff off. If it wasn't removed quickly, caster DPS would immediately lose half their damage. The longer the fight dragged on, the more chances there were for something to go wrong. A few badly timed Blinks into the raid, and sooner or later they would wipe.
"Heals, this boss buffs itself. I'll keep Detect Magic on it. The second Deaden Magic shows up, use Dispel Magic and strip it off."
When it came to situational awareness, ServerHeals was still the best in the raid. Giving him the offensive dispel duty was the safest option.
ServerHeals said, "No problem."
He dueled frequently, so offensive dispels were nothing new to him.
Give the job to a Priest who never dueled, and they might not even know what an offensive dispel was.
An offensive dispel simply meant casting a dispel on an enemy to remove one of their beneficial magical effects.
For example, the Scarlet Illusion from Scarlet Subterfuge counted as a magic buff. You could dispel it off a player from the opposing faction, then sit back and watch them curse you out in a long string of gibberish.
"This boss also throws out Shazzrah's Curse. Mages, decurse the main tank first. After that, work through everyone else—healers first, then DPS."
The fight was guaranteed to get chaotic. Expecting them to decurse every single person on their first attempt wasn't realistic.
Gabryell could only prioritize the main tank so Carlos wouldn't get blown up by an Arcane Explosion dealing double damage.
Everyone else would have to fend for themselves.
Whenever Shazzrah Blinked into their group, everyone nearby needed to move immediately. Anyone too slow to get away was going to die.
"Anyway, let's give it a try."
Gabryell genuinely didn't expect them to beat Shazzrah on the first attempt.
For a progression roster, clearing this boss without seven or eight wipes first would be unrealistic.
"Smooch, go pull it. Be careful not to grab the patrolling dog. Wait until the dog moves over to the left before you pull."
There was still one patrolling dog in front of Shazzrah that they hadn't killed, so Gabryell specifically reminded Smooch not to bring it along with the boss.
After her experience pulling Baron Geddon, Smooch was much more confident now.
"I'm on it."
Once again, she used Eyes of the Beast to control her Wind Serpent and pull the boss.
Hunter pets really had miserable lives.
They ate the cheapest food and took the nastiest beatings.
That was the real reason Druids never wanted to become Hunter pets.
"Everyone get ready. Don't do anything until Carlos has the boss."
The worst kind of player was someone who couldn't sit still. The tank hadn't even picked up the boss yet, and they were already throwing out abilities, dragging the boss into the raid and getting a bunch of people killed before the fight had even properly begun.
So far, Gabryell hadn't found anyone like that in Fearless's raid group.
That meant everyone had good discipline, which was reassuring.
"Here it comes!"
Smooch said, "The boss is here. And my Wind Serpent died again."
See?
Never become a Hunter pet in your next life.
They died more often than the mobs did. Especially once Dire Maul opened, when they could easily die hundreds of times in a single day.
Shazzrah appeared at the cave entrance.
Carlos, already ready for the pull, used Bloodrage and Demoralizing Shout.
Smooch immediately used Feign Death.
"I've seen this scene before," OldSeven typed.
He wasn't the only one.
Everyone remembered it clearly.
This was practically a replay of the Baron Geddon pull.
Carlos picked up Shazzrah and started bringing it back.
Gabryell hurriedly shouted, "Don't bring it over here! Fight it right there!"
Shazzrah's Arcane Explosion had a huge radius. If Carlos brought it too close, the entire raid would get hit.
"Healers, keep Carlos topped off. Don't let him die."
Shazzrah dealt Arcane damage, so before the fight, Gabryell had already told Carlos to swap out his Fire Resistance gear.
Since they didn't have any Arcane Resistance gear, Carlos had no choice but to tank the damage with raw HP.
"Damn, why does this boss keep spamming Arcane Explosion?"
Once everyone realized Shazzrah could cast Arcane Explosion nonstop, they were stunned by how brutal it was.
"That's what makes this boss nasty. Curse is up! Mages, decurse the main tank first, then everyone else. Healers first, then DPS."
Gabryell kept Detect Magic on Shazzrah so that the moment Deaden Magic appeared, he could call for ServerHeals to dispel it.
"Curse is off Carlos," Coldhands said.
Shazzrah's Curse increased magic damage taken by 100%.
An Arcane Explosion that normally dealt around 1,000 damage immediately became 2,000.
That might not look like enough to one-shot someone by itself, but when combined with Shazzrah's nonstop Arcane Explosions, even a tank could go down in two or three hits.
And that was without even mentioning DPS players who only had two or three thousand HP.
"Melee, I haven't called you in yet. What are you rushing for?"
Gabryell had looked away for only a moment, yet several melee players had already gone in.
The instant they got close to Shazzrah, their health bars dropped straight into the danger zone.
"This healing pressure is insane," one of the healers complained.
And when the healing pressure got too high, people died.
Several of the melee players who had rushed in were still cursed. The healers simply couldn't keep them alive.
They dropped almost instantly.
"All melee, stay out!" Gabryell snapped. "Wait for my call."
The remaining melee players saw the bodies on the ground and immediately behaved themselves, not daring to move another step.
"I got Counterspelled!" Coldhands suddenly shouted.
Gabryell said, "Boss has Counterspell."
Counterspell wasn't a major problem.
As long as it didn't lock out the Priest responsible for the offensive dispel, they would be fine.
"Heals, dispel!"
The instant Deaden Magic appeared beneath Shazzrah's portrait, Gabryell called for ServerHeals to remove it.
ServerHeals reacted immediately and dispelled it.
"Groups 1, 3, and 7, leave your positions! Move left—get out of Arcane Explosion range!"
Shazzrah had a tell before using Blink.
Its head would turn toward the direction it intended to teleport, and only a second or two later would it actually Blink.
One or two seconds sounded like enough time, but in practice it was extremely short.
Gabryell's warning had already come quickly, yet everyone had different reaction speeds. There would always be someone half a beat too slow.
When Shazzrah Blinked directly into the position occupied by Groups 1, 3, and 7, everyone immediately panicked.
People scattered in every direction.
Some didn't even manage to run away and simply spun around in circles on the spot.
"Susie, pick it up! Pull the boss back to where Carlos was just standing!"
Susie reacted quickly and moved in to grab Shazzrah, but many of the players who hadn't escaped in time were hit by several Arcane Explosions.
In only a few seconds, Groups 1, 3, and 7 had lost at least eight or nine people.
"We're going to need a few more attempts."
This was exactly what Gabryell had expected.
Shazzrah was a fight that came down almost entirely to familiarity. They needed a few wipes before everyone learned how to react quickly enough to its Blink and escape the Arcane Explosion spam.
Once they understood the pattern, avoided the Arcane Explosions properly, and kept casualties to a minimum, the fight would become much easier.
"We might actually be better off just spreading everyone out. Maybe fewer people would die that way."
Gabryell realized he couldn't expect a progression roster to execute the same strategy as a seasoned raid.
Next attempt, they could try spreading out and see how it went.
Back in WoW Classic, one overwhelmingly Alliance-dominated realm had been the first to finish turning in all the supplies for the Ahn'Qiraj War Effort.
In the early hours of the morning, Ironforge had been packed wall to wall with players, without a free spot to stand.
Reportedly, nearly 40,000 players had gathered there to celebrate.
Even fifteen years later, World of Warcraft had lost none of its magic.
It was still every bit as captivating as ever.