General Order of Difficulty in Outlands Instances

[like to play]

I am working my way through the outlands instances rather slowly because I am in a small guild and PUG's are a pain in the backside. I am a lvl 70 protection pally and have so far done: Ramparts, BF, Slave Pens, Underbog, and Mana Tombs, oh and Old Hillsbrad in Caverns of Time.

What instance is next on the difficulty scale and would it be possible for someone to outline a rough estimate of the progression of instances by difficulty?

[swaldman]

I am working my way through the outlands instances rather slowly because I am in a small guild and PUG's are a pain in the backside. I am a lvl 70 protection pally and have so far done: Ramparts, BF, Slave Pens, Underbog, and Mana Tombs, oh and Old Hillsbrad in Caverns of Time.

What instance is next on the difficulty scale and would it be possible for someone to outline a rough estimate of the progression of instances by difficulty?

I guess the next would be Auch. Crypts, followed by Sethekk Halls. The former is... tactically interesting (I won't spoil the surprise), while the latter is straightforward but higher in level.

After that you're on to the lvl 70 instances. Ask four people about their relative difficulty and you'll get four different answers, but it's probably safe to say that Arcatraz is harder than most of the rest, and Steam Vaults easier.

Black Morass (Dark Portal) is a bit of a special case, in that it's either easy or impossible depending on your dps, with little middle ground.

[Mirinda]

I did the Mechanar, Black Morass and Shadow Labyrinth with pugs. They were similar in difficulty to me. All get easier with familiarity, though Black Morass requires the most adaptation and mana management. We saved beacons for the later portals. If you can do this, it's a great advantage. We got away with it by having me the mage and a hunter rotate quickly between adds and boss DPS. Usually you find a tank, two DPS on boss, healer and adds duty. Playing zone defense, we covered adds and finished off the boss when necessary.

My suggestion is build your 5-mans around the healer and a true tank.

[Caldwyn]

Bring an affliction warlock to the Black Morass. He or she can handle all the trash adds with a basically neverending mana pool and self healing (which is how I played that particular instance with my warlock), allowing the rest of the group to focus on the elites. It's cake that way.

[moopy]

Bring an affliction warlock to the Black Morass. He or she can handle all the trash adds with a basically neverending mana pool and self healing (which is how I played that particular instance with my warlock), allowing the rest of the group to focus on the elites. It's cake that way.

Enhancement shammy is pretty good at this too- massive burst DPS (where aggro isn't an issue, too), and self-healing. Works wonderfully.

[swaldman]

Meh. Everybody seems to focus on the adds in BM, but IME that's not the most frequent cause of failure.

A good player of almost any dps class/spec can kill the adds as fast as they spawn - sure it's easier for some than others, but I've even seen a ret paladin do it.

The usual problem is the dps of the remaining players. If they can't get the elites down fast enough, then often the immediate cause of the wipe appears to be the adds - because they are coming out of two portals at once, or because the adds person hasn't had a chance between portals to clear up stragglers and get out of combat to drink.

[coani]

mirinda: what is a "true tank"?
that comments sounds like you're insinuating that pally isn't good enough tank for 5mans, which isn't true, having done all 5man heroics except durnholde/bm (which nobody feels bothered with trying) with pally as maintank.

op: you could try any of the level 70 instances next, they're all fairly even. main difference is different tactics needed (some are easy with heavy cc, some are easier with heavy tanking), though I'd probably rank steamvault as the easiest of them.

but again, depends on group setup... heavy aoe group with good pally tank can zerg through shattered halls in about half hour (something I havn't been able to do with a warrior tanking).

[rgirty]

mirinda: what is a "true tank"?
that comments sounds like you're insinuating that pally isn't good enough tank for 5mans, which isn't true, having done all 5man heroics except durnholde/bm (which nobody feels bothered with trying) with pally as maintank.

op: you could try any of the level 70 instances next, they're all fairly even. main difference is different tactics needed (some are easy with heavy cc, some are easier with heavy tanking), though I'd probably rank steamvault as the easiest of them.

but again, depends on group setup... heavy aoe group with good pally tank can zerg through shattered halls in about half hour (something I havn't been able to do with a warrior tanking).

If you have an instance on farm a paladin is more effective than a tank. Also a shadow priest as the healer is more effective than a true healer.

If you are learning an instance damage mitigation is often the most needed aspect.

I don't think anyone can debate the threat a paladin generates, hower dmg mitigation belongs firmly in a warriors corner. As it should be, they can do little else but tank. Paladins are arguably the best healers in the game, and 3rd on the tanking list IMO.