What should I expect from Black Morass

[noodlenugget]

I am in the process of doing my Kara attunement and as you know, this requires a trip to Black Morass.

I have never been there and thus far have only peeked inside Old Hillsbrad. Did the first pull, wiped, and was conveniently summoned by the wife for dinner.

I have a few questions...

From the little bit of OH that I saw, it seemed like it was gonna be never ending. Mobs just kept coming. Am I wrong? If not, is BM the same?

Do I need to complete OH before going into BM? Is a key needed? If so, can someone who has a key get me in?

How difficult is it compared to SL? Does it take as long?

What should I expect? 5-6 man pulls?

I would appreciate feedback from people who are more casual players. Feedback from 1337 players who have it on farm status doesn't really help since I don't fall into that bracket. They're all gonna say its easy. Not that I want to hear that its hard, but a less 1337 opinion for me holds a bit more weight.

Thanks in advance.

[clevins]

You need to complete OH to get access to BM... If you're having trouble with OH, BM might be a nightmare.

basically the instance is 18 waves broken into 3 groups. When you enter, clear the trash off the center islands... an instance guide should show you which ones. Do NOT go near to Medivh - this starts an event that can't be halted aside from leaving and resetting.

What happens is this... when you go near to Medivh portals start opening, one after the other. A main mob comes out... then adds come out. You need to kill the main mob and the adds, then move to the next portal ASAP. The portals don't wait forever to open, and if your dps is lacking you can get the next portal opening before you're done.

Portals 1-5 are have a main elite mob and normal adds. Portal 6 is a boss. There's a brief pause, then the same thing happens... 7-11 are like 1-5, 12 is a boss. Another pause, then 13-18, 18 being the final boss.

Group composition: Ideally one tank, one healer, 2 dps and one person on adds. Ranged dps is good on adds - my guild has a very good mage who handles these.

Strategy: When you come in, talk to the NPC and get a Chronobeacon. These summon dragons that help fight for a bit. Clear trash, then start the event.

Have the tank get aggro on the main mob and start dpsing... have the person doing adds burn them as the come out. Do this as fast as you can... the portals will not necessarily wait for you to finish and if you have 2 open you're almost certain to wipe. The non-boss portal mobs don't hit that hard, so your healer can usually drink a bit right at the start... way better than going OOM. Oh and all mana using players should top up after 6 and 12.

I usually drop one beacon on the 11th wave so that you get a small break before the second boss allowing healers and other mana users to drink up. On the second boss we let the adds go and have everyone burn down the boss, then kill the adds. Medivh's shield can take it... it doesn't have to stay at 100%. I use the other four beacons on waves 14, 15, 16 and 17. The gap between 17 and 18 is very short - you need to kill the 17th wave as fast as possible. I've seen people drop 2 beacons on 17... if you have good DPS you should not need to, but... Oh, one tip - try to kill the adds near the main group... if you chase them, the healer has a hard time getting to both the player handling adds and the tank/DPS.

BM is an instance that's tends to be either pretty easy or impossible for a group. If everyone is good and esp if you have one person that can burn down the adds freeing 2 dps to help the tank, then it's pretty easy. However, if you wiped on the first pull in OH, your group has some work to do... that's a fairly easy instance for five 70s. Of course if you're 66-68s, then it will be harder...

[Tiddly]

I think you need to do Old Hillsbrad first before you can get into BM..

When you get there you will need to clear all of the trash mobs in the area, crocs and spiders.. When the event starts you need clear 6 portals and then a boss. These are pretty much constant, kill one and another portal opens etc..

You tank the boss and have a mage kill all of the adds, you do get a few seconds to drink/eat if you can dps the elites down quick enough.

the main problem is getting the elites down quick and moving to the next portal as soon as you can. One mistake and you have to start it all over again from the start :(

I went with a guild run to help someone get attuned the other night and finished the second boss.. our healing pala got a disconnect which left me (shadow priest) trying to heal, nedless to say, wipe happened and we had to leave it.

My advice would be give yourself a few hours to do it, it actually only takes an hour if that but wipes mean you need to do it all again.

I think, a dps/tank warrior, mage, pala, rogue should be able to do it easy.

A DPS warrior may be better as he only has to worry about tanking 1 mob so should help them go down quicker

Good luck

[Goretusker]

Actually, the fact that you wiped in old hillsbrad has me a little worried since it is very easy. (unless your groups avg level was 63...)

Morass isn't actually that hard you just have to be prepared.
You should have Teamspeak... A lot of water and food, some potions.

Do not forget to take a beacon from the npc at the entrance, each party member should have one.

You need a Mage... (at least in the beginning, once you know the instance well you may be able to do it without)

The trick is having the Mage aoe all non elites all the time while the rest of the group dps down the elites as fast as they can and then help the mage finish off...

Drink whenever you can!!!

The first boss is ridiculously easy...

The second Boss needs to die fast because he applies a stacking debuff to the aggro holder which reduces healing, that is why we usually drop two of the beacons near Medivh and then all focus fire an the boss.

The third and last boss hits less well geared tanks pretty hard, a hunter with tranq shot may help there.

Thats about it... now you are attuned to kharazhan

[Serkon]

In OH mobs dont keep coming, you go to them, and there definatly is an end to it :). with a group of players that know what they are doing OH shouldnt take much longer than 60 to 90 mins.
You need to complete the Quest in OH to gain access to BM, no key required just some kind of attunment.
from what i have seen in my 2 visits in BM, it is different than the other instances in TBC, wouldnt say its much harder than the other instances once you have adapted to its style, as mobs here really keep coming. the whole event is timer based so unless you are fast enough you will get swarmed with mobs. focus should always be on the elite mob that comes with the group as the 'normal' mobs from that wave stop spawning when the corresponding elite is dead. cant really say how long the whole thing takes but it shouldnt be longer than an average instance run in TBC.

[clevins]

One more thing.. if you find OH and BM really hard... you're not ready for Karazhan.

Yeah you can get keyed and go in, but trust me, it won't be fun. Take the time to work well as a group and to get good blues from quest rewards and instances... that will make it easier.

[vendel]

OH is a joke for a group of 70's, if you wipe on the first pull something is seriously wrong. Usually do this 2 or 3 man while the rest of the group is on the way.

The rest of the instance is a little harder but with good CC is a breeze. The instance would be far tricker except for the fact it seems to be balanced around a group that is level 66-68, at 70 there should be no problem

[noodlenugget]

Thanks for the quick replies.

For the record, I will have to tank.

As far as OH goes, I can't actually remember what level I tried it but I do remember it was a PUG. But using guildies, it should go smooth. I have a lot of faith in my guild.

So, looks like I will have to do OH this as well. Seeing as how my guild wants to jump into KZ this weekend, I got quite a lot of work to do...

[Aerath]

No offense, but I think you might not be ready just by completing BM.

Especially as Tank... You -need- to be crit immune when you go into Karazhan and blasting through the key chain does not automatically give you the gear upgrades needed.

[noodlenugget]

No offense, but I think you might not be ready just by completing BM.

Especially as Tank... You -need- to be crit immune when you go into Karazhan and blasting through the key chain does not automatically give you the gear upgrades needed.

None taken, I am currently in all quest blues which to my understanding will suffice for most of KZ, but I would at least like to get the attunement completed so that when my gear is a bit more up to par, I will be able to hang. Granted, I DO need to get my DEF rating up, I am currently at 479. I started tanking later in the game and never picked up tank gear along the way.

Feel free to look me up on the armory, I am the only Noodlenugget in the entire WoW universe:thumbsup: (A check of the armory tomorrow will reveal 100 new Noodles) . I am probably in DPS gear ATM, so you won't really get a good picture. That and I am currently arms spec. I respec on weekends for instances. When prot spec, I am pushing 13k armor and I have nearly 12k HP unbuffed.

[dwarfenhelm]

we had a few probs to start with in BM then every thing clicked into place and its a 25 min farming run now. best group i think is hunter on add duty. and then 2 others of any class dps the rift lords and a crit immune warrior tanking the rift lords. if you have 2 people on add duty then the fight goes on for to long. just dps the rift lords as fast as you can. use your first beacon on the 12 rift (2nd boss) all of the party just dps the boss ignore the adds and let medivhs shield hold them then as soon as lord is down use first beacon and help it clear adds. we only tend to use one beacon now unless something bad happens and our priest or druid doesnt need mana pots

[Frostshokula]

Actually, the fact that you wiped in old hillsbrad has me a little worried since it is very easy. (unless your groups avg level was 63...)

Considering the earliest you can get into any CoT instance is 66, his avg would be at least 66.

[rgirty]

I haven't seen anyone post this, but you can completely skip the 17th wave. Just don't go to that portal, pick a spot off to the right of medhiev and wait for the boss to come. Mana up, buff up and get ready. The 17th portal will simply despawn.

Also, on the second boss have all 5 people dps him and work on him. It does not matter if the adds get the shield down to 50-40 or even 30% as long as the shield has 1% when you engage the last boss and you down him you will win the encounter.

We usually down the boss quickly, clean up the adds and the shield has 60-70% less. The second boss is the most troublesome and having 5 people on him can make the encounter much easier. Especially for those doing it for the first time.

Have one person *usually the priest/healer call out and ping the map on where the portals are. Unless he pings, do not run to the portal. The #1 thing that wipes groups in BM is the tank goes leeroy into each portal while the healer is trying to gain mana. The portals do not spawn as fast as people think and it is much more important for the healer to have mana than to engage the next mob.

I've completed BM about 30 times as the Holy Priest Main healer, 10 times as a 10/48/3 fire mage for dps, 5 times as a disc spec and about 6 times as a shadow spec priest.

Don't let the tank run into portals early, use all 5 people on the second boss, and save all your beacons for the last boss.

After the 2nd time lapse, place your beacons at the dragons flanks and rear. This enhances their life span as they don't get killed by the aoe. Combined 3 or more can do a good bit of damage.