tigermeat
16-09-2008, 06:05 PM
Ok, so I have been messing around with old school instances because when I started playing WoW, nobody would bother running them as outlands was the easier route to get gear/gold. I recently ran scholo and found it to be fun and challenging and I made alot of money for not much time. I figured I would try Stratholme as I have never been inside and had no idea what I was walking into.
So I should have figured something was up when I first went into the instance. You cant get out. The only way out (if you dont have the key to the city) is hearthing. Oh well, I forget that and move on. First pull is no less than 5 mobs, but they are just trash, not even elite so they never knew what hit them (I am on my arms warrior, im pretty ruthless). I get to the next pull, huge group of around 7-8 mobs, 3 are elite ghouls. I manage to destroy them with about 1/4 health left, but I notice I have a disease that ticks for 150 health every 10 seconds and reduces health regeneration by 100%, and it lasts for 10 minutes...
After I die from the disease, I decide I need some way of cleansing. Had to hearth and get some jungle remedies, bought out the AH in IF and headed back. So now Im angry, get back into the instance and charge the next pull. Sadly there is a patrolling ghoul in the mix who also aggros some invisible wraith thing who, in turn, spawns 2 elite gargoyle things. I manage to smash a few baddies down but they overwhelm me and I end up corpse running back, now pretty much fuming.
I realize that even though this is old school, i need to be careful. I start watching the pats, but it looks like they always chain pull something. I can see why nobody does this instance, its a complete mess. Anyways, i finally fight my way through to this church looking building. Kill a miniboss and he drops "key to the city" hooray, now i can use the backdoor!. I also notice the mobs wont aggro unless you pretty much walk right through them, so I can skip all the massive pulls of disease giving ghouls and look around some more. Lastly, I dont know if its a glitch, but when I have 2 diseases on me and chug a jungle remedy, it doesnt dispell either of them. Happened 2 times.
I walk into "the dead side" or the gauntlet, and notice there is no way to skip all the pulls, there is just too much trash, pats and monsters clogging the way. I start pulling and somehow manage to aggro the entire instance. I die shortly after. Corpse run back (go through the gate, not the main entrance, its way faster) and try again. i manage to slowly clear all the junk, the pulls are really easy if you can avoid the gargoyle pats. I basically 2-3 shot most mobs, always have full rage, whirlwind, cleave, mortal strike, execute. Crits are flyin around like crazy, Im totally covered in spattered blood and theres a trail of undead bodies left in my wake.
I find a rare elite spawn called "stonespine" and slaughter him without mercy. Cant remember what he dropped. Get to this boss called Nerub'akan or something. He puts up a decent fight, drops some plate gloves which are BoE i believe. I auctioned them for around 20 gold.
I slowly work my way around the gauntlet, killing all the minibosses, and going in to clear out the ziggurats. When I kill the last guy (some Pallid or something) i see this gate open up. I peek inside and see around 20 stitched horror dudes waddling around in this huge courtyard. Yummy scourge!
I kill them all (they are actually fairly tough) and as I kill the last one, This big dude called Ramstein comes out and I am stuck in combat with low health. I die, almost decide to quit, but run back, run to ramstein, eat some food, then slay him. I have very low health after the fight, and am immediately set upon by a massive wave of skeletons. I die again. Never even saw the baron. How many waves are there? sheesh, this place sucks.
On the other hand, I did the "scarlet side" without dying once, much more enjoyable, farmed 7 righteous orbs (sell for about 40-50 gold on my server) and various other blues/greens and about 200 runecloth. Did wipe on Cannon Master Willy though, but I did him last so I killed the Scarlet Crusade head honcho dude, cant remember his name because he wasnt hard at all. I have 2 questions to those of you who managed to read this whole thing:
1. Do the skellies keep spawning before the baron, or can I kill them and get out of combat to heal?
2. How do you kill Cannon Willy? do you have to use the cannonballs and shoot the cannon? I kept taking damage from some unseen source, and I noticed you can "use" the cannonballs and the cannons.
To conclude, stratholme would suck SO BAD as a group of 5 60's. For me, It was ok fun, the scarlet side is easy and very profitable, and after my repair bills and autions, I made around 500 gold. Warning - Not for the faint of heart!!!
So I should have figured something was up when I first went into the instance. You cant get out. The only way out (if you dont have the key to the city) is hearthing. Oh well, I forget that and move on. First pull is no less than 5 mobs, but they are just trash, not even elite so they never knew what hit them (I am on my arms warrior, im pretty ruthless). I get to the next pull, huge group of around 7-8 mobs, 3 are elite ghouls. I manage to destroy them with about 1/4 health left, but I notice I have a disease that ticks for 150 health every 10 seconds and reduces health regeneration by 100%, and it lasts for 10 minutes...
After I die from the disease, I decide I need some way of cleansing. Had to hearth and get some jungle remedies, bought out the AH in IF and headed back. So now Im angry, get back into the instance and charge the next pull. Sadly there is a patrolling ghoul in the mix who also aggros some invisible wraith thing who, in turn, spawns 2 elite gargoyle things. I manage to smash a few baddies down but they overwhelm me and I end up corpse running back, now pretty much fuming.
I realize that even though this is old school, i need to be careful. I start watching the pats, but it looks like they always chain pull something. I can see why nobody does this instance, its a complete mess. Anyways, i finally fight my way through to this church looking building. Kill a miniboss and he drops "key to the city" hooray, now i can use the backdoor!. I also notice the mobs wont aggro unless you pretty much walk right through them, so I can skip all the massive pulls of disease giving ghouls and look around some more. Lastly, I dont know if its a glitch, but when I have 2 diseases on me and chug a jungle remedy, it doesnt dispell either of them. Happened 2 times.
I walk into "the dead side" or the gauntlet, and notice there is no way to skip all the pulls, there is just too much trash, pats and monsters clogging the way. I start pulling and somehow manage to aggro the entire instance. I die shortly after. Corpse run back (go through the gate, not the main entrance, its way faster) and try again. i manage to slowly clear all the junk, the pulls are really easy if you can avoid the gargoyle pats. I basically 2-3 shot most mobs, always have full rage, whirlwind, cleave, mortal strike, execute. Crits are flyin around like crazy, Im totally covered in spattered blood and theres a trail of undead bodies left in my wake.
I find a rare elite spawn called "stonespine" and slaughter him without mercy. Cant remember what he dropped. Get to this boss called Nerub'akan or something. He puts up a decent fight, drops some plate gloves which are BoE i believe. I auctioned them for around 20 gold.
I slowly work my way around the gauntlet, killing all the minibosses, and going in to clear out the ziggurats. When I kill the last guy (some Pallid or something) i see this gate open up. I peek inside and see around 20 stitched horror dudes waddling around in this huge courtyard. Yummy scourge!
I kill them all (they are actually fairly tough) and as I kill the last one, This big dude called Ramstein comes out and I am stuck in combat with low health. I die, almost decide to quit, but run back, run to ramstein, eat some food, then slay him. I have very low health after the fight, and am immediately set upon by a massive wave of skeletons. I die again. Never even saw the baron. How many waves are there? sheesh, this place sucks.
On the other hand, I did the "scarlet side" without dying once, much more enjoyable, farmed 7 righteous orbs (sell for about 40-50 gold on my server) and various other blues/greens and about 200 runecloth. Did wipe on Cannon Master Willy though, but I did him last so I killed the Scarlet Crusade head honcho dude, cant remember his name because he wasnt hard at all. I have 2 questions to those of you who managed to read this whole thing:
1. Do the skellies keep spawning before the baron, or can I kill them and get out of combat to heal?
2. How do you kill Cannon Willy? do you have to use the cannonballs and shoot the cannon? I kept taking damage from some unseen source, and I noticed you can "use" the cannonballs and the cannons.
To conclude, stratholme would suck SO BAD as a group of 5 60's. For me, It was ok fun, the scarlet side is easy and very profitable, and after my repair bills and autions, I made around 500 gold. Warning - Not for the faint of heart!!!