"Something feels off, but I can't figure out what."
"Same. Something's wrong, I just can't put my finger on it."
"This boss is bullshit. I wasn't even standing right behind her and she still launched me into the whelp pit."
"I think I get it. Maybe melee just can't go in on this fight. We stand back and watch, or we get thrown into the eggs."
"Holy crap, what a scam. So melee is just useless here? Why even bring us? Just stack ranged."
During the corpse run, everyone tried to figure out what had caused the second wipe.
The melee DPS had reached one conclusion: getting close to Onyxia meant getting launched into the egg pits.
"Next pull, we're staying back. We'll stand with the Mages, shoot bows, fire guns, whatever. Let's see if she still sends us flying."
"Fine by me. If I still get launched from there, I'm never touching this boss again."
They had blamed the whole thing on Onyxia's mechanics, convinced that melee were simply destined to end up in the whelp pits.
"You guys still haven't figured out what actually sent you in there."
Gabryell sighed.
Not one of them had realized just how enormous Onyxia's Tail Sweep range was.
You didn't have to stand directly behind her. Get too close to her rear half and the tail could still send you straight into the eggs.
"How did the healers let me die, anyway?"
Carlos was still frustrated.
He had been tanking fine.
Then suddenly he was dead.
"The damage came too fast. We couldn't keep up," Igor said.
"We had ten healers."
Carlos sounded personally offended by that fact.
"Carlos, I think your positioning was the problem," ServerHeals said. "You didn't get knocked very far, but you got launched pretty high. The fall alone took about half your health. Then you landed, ate a breath and a melee hit, and died before anyone could get a heal off."
ServerHeals had spotted the real problem immediately.
Carlos had tanked Onyxia in a terrible position.
"So where do you think I should put her?"
ServerHeals thought for a moment.
"Try the lower-left corner. Tuck her into the wall."
He had identified the problem, even if he hadn't found the ideal solution yet.
"All right. I'll try that next pull."
"I'm not saying it's definitely right," ServerHeals added. "I just think it'll be better than where you had her before."
"That's fine. Progression is trial and error. We keep testing positions until we find one that works. If we die, we run back and try again."
"This boss is immune to Taunt, so everyone needs to ease up on DPS."
Susie had failed to secure second place on the threat meter during the last pull, so she made sure to remind everyone again.
"I'll hold back more next time," FirstDate said.
He had been second on threat when Carlos died.
Gabryell finally stepped in.
"Warlocks, no DoTs at the start. Ease into it. If your threat gets too high, wand for a while."
"Without DoTs, our damage is going to suck," Desert said.
"After those last two pulls, one thing is obvious," Gabryell replied. "In Phase 1, stable threat matters more than damage."
"So far, we've identified three major mechanics: Knock Away on the tank, Flame Breath in front, and Tail Sweep behind."
Gabryell couldn't keep sitting back and letting them figure out every detail alone.
"For now, we'll call this Phase 1. Carlos stays firmly on top of threat, healers keep him alive, and everyone else stays below him."
"She has over a million health, and we don't even know how many phases there are yet. Don't dump your entire mana bar in the opening minute."
"So Old actually had the right idea earlier. If you can't control your threat, you're better off wanding."
Gabryell continued.
"Once Carlos picks her up, nobody attacks until I call DPS."
"Warlocks, start with your wands. No DoTs, no Shadow Bolt spam just because you want to look good on the damage meter."
Gabryell had deliberately brought only three Warlocks, so their share of the raid's total damage wouldn't be too large.
"Mages, same thing. Don't open with Frostbolt. Wand at first. Once Susie has built a solid threat lead behind Carlos, then start casting."
"Rogues, stop mindlessly spamming Sinister Strike and Backstab. Use one or two abilities to build combo points, keep Slice and Dice up, and let your auto-attacks do the work."
"And hit Feint whenever it comes off cooldown. Saving it isn't going to hatch you a dragon."
"As for Hunters, I really shouldn't have to explain this. If any Hunter here doesn't know how to use Feign Death, type '1' and I'll replace you."
DaVinci cut in.
"Guild Leader, what about Fury Warriors?"
"Auto-attack."
"For the whole fight?"
"For the whole fight."
"Our DPS is going to be worse than the Rogues'."
"When you convince Blizzard to give Warriors Feint or Vanish, you can start pressing buttons again."
DaVinci immediately deflated.
"DontPanicHealz, BigHealsShortLegs, stop mindlessly spamming Flash Heal. How much mana do you think you have?"
Gabryell called both Priests out directly.
"Start pre-casting Heal. If Carlos doesn't take damage, cancel before the cast finishes. If he does, let it land."
"Same goes for the rest of the healers. Watch Onyxia and start your casts before the damage hits."
"Carlos died because Knock Away caught us in a gap between heals. Next pull, I want heals landing while he's recovering from the knockback, not after he hits the floor."
Without boss timers, the healers had to learn Onyxia's rhythm and anticipate incoming damage themselves.
"For now, I'll still call the dangerous abilities. I don't want another dead zone between Carlos getting knocked back and eating a Flame Breath."
"Guild Leader... so can melee actually go in?"
TwinBleeds had clearly been holding that question in for a while.
Gabryell wasn't going to make the melee stand around doing nothing.
"Yes. Ranged players got hit by Tail Sweep too, so being melee isn't the problem. Your positioning is."
"Then where do we stand?" DeathScum asked.
"Stand just in front of the ranged players who were safe last pull. Onyxia's hitbox is huge. You can attack her from farther away than you think."
"Stay away from the entire rear half of her body. Tail Sweep reaches much farther forward than it looks."
"Guild Leader's right," Coldhands said. "You can hit her from ridiculously far away. I smacked her twice with my staff last pull and gained two points of staff skill."
He laughed.
"Melee can stand in front of me. You'll still reach her."
As long as nobody ended up in the whelp pits during Phase 1, the fight would become dramatically easier.
In an experienced raid, getting yourself launched into the eggs was exactly the kind of mistake that got a raid leader screaming your name over voice chat.
Gabryell immediately thought of one of the most infamous Onyxia recordings in WoW history.
The Wipe Club raid.
Their raid leader, Dives, had completely lost it when a player ended up in the whelp cave during an Onyxia attempt. The recording would later become immortalized through the Onyxia Wipe Animation, along with one line every WoW player would eventually recognize:
"50 DKP minus!"
Gabryell smiled.
"Next pull, everyone stays away from her rear half. Melee, stack in front of me. Ranged and healers, stay with me."
"And if some idiot runs around and gets launched into the eggs..."
He paused.
"500 DKP minus!"
Fifty wasn't enough.
If Gabryell ever recorded his own version of that legendary raid call, he was going to make sure nobody forgot the lesson.