The Gaming Lizard

Ahh dungeons, one of the areas that has under went some improvements in Cataclysm to feature more fun bosses and even marks the comeback of CC's.....or so the Devs thought. With that in mind, I gingerly signed up for Blackrock Caverns, a Level 78-81 Starter dungeon located inside Blackrock Mountain.

After waiting for >20 minutes, the dungeon queue popped and I zoned in. Initial impression of the area was simply "Wow". The atmosphere of the dungeon is very dark and brooding with a slight dose of purple coloration to represent the Twilight. After the first trash pull, tank died and he bailed. The group fell soon afterwords.

While this is not a rant post about the ridiculous attitude of some BETA players, I find their lack of patience replusive. Honestly, it's a new dungeon, you're not in for loot and everyone is learning so why would you rage quit if there is no communications in the first place mmm?

Following my disastrous first group, I signed up for more only to face similar problems when we started wiping on the 2nd boss. When everything seems to be going wrong, I finally found the correct group and went on to have fun.....albeit with a healthy dose of wipes.

Layout

BRC is a huge dungeon and is very well done in conveying the darkness that has taken hold of the place. Lavas and fires are aplenty and really has an old school feel to it in general. My favourite part of the dungeon happens to be that of a Twilight drake being drained of its energy in the SS above. Maybe I'm a sadist.

After the first boss, a mob named Raz the Crazed will be set loose upon the thrashes, clearing the way for you and shortening the instance.

Bosses

I really have to applaud Blizzard for the sheer amount of creativity flowing about in their stronghold. Despite having more than 100 mobs and bosses, BRC's bosses never fail to display the cleverness of the Dungeon designers. Each bosses has a different unique mechanic not seen before and I can foresee some giving problems when Cataclysm hits live.

The first boss was an easy tank and spank, requiring toons to move when earthquake spawns, killing immobilizing chains and running away from the boss before he casts a One-hit KO spell.

Second boss is significantly harder (but only due to not knowing strat), with most groups disbanding after wiping on her. It's a control fight with toons trying to slow down the rate of transformation of adds before they turn into angry dragonoids. Scary.


Third boss is also a tank and spank with a twist - he must be dragged across the forge to remove his Armor Buff BUT at the cost of party damage. Make him stay in fire too long will cause him to do 10k to each member via his fire aura.

Fourth boss features an AoE fear but poses no problems.

The fifth (There are 5 bosses in BRC!) brings back memories of Blood Princess, Boss will switch between 3 bodies. While the main body is fighting, the 2 minor channels a deadly 0% healing debuff on their target. It is imperative to kite the 2 minors to prevent the tank from dying.




Summary

BRC is a very well thought out dungeon, with unique boss mechanics that may prevent even higher geared people from rickrolling it once 4.4 comes out. While no CC is currently used, I attributed that to the fact we're in ICC gear and BRC is mean for people fresh out of questing in Northrend.

So that's all for the preview of BRC. Stay tuned next week for Vash'jir, one of the 2 levelling zones for 78-81.