Preparing for Patch 5.2

Bashiok covered the details that you should be considering as you prepare in these last weeks before Patch 5.2 arrives. From a raid scheduling perspective, the key highlights relevant to you are that:

• the new 12-boss raid instance will be available on normal mode in the first week of patch 5.2
• the LFR version of the new raid instance will be available in 4-boss wings being released one per week starting the second week of patch 5.2 -- you need 480 level to get into the LFR version
• the heroic version of the new raid instance will be available starting the second week of patch 5.2

MSV - MSV has been dropped off our raiding schedule other than on an off night / alt night. Fri & Sat are for HoF.

HoF - The remaining raid nights before patch 5.2 drops, focus on HoF and spending hours polishing your raiding skills on whichever is your progression boss fight for your raid group. It is literally about studying the mechanics and strategy you are going to execute and paying particular attention to executing that strategy with craftsmanship. e.g. One night on Wind Lord, we dedicated the night to getting our phase one executed perfectly - to which we succeeded and our healers were in solid position going into phase two. It wasn't about whether we downed the boss or not, it was about the craftsmanship with which we executed. It was about practicing our raiding craft in anticipation of entirely new content in 5.2 which would not need our knowledge on Wind Lord but would need our highly polished raiding skills - granted, it was ALSO about getting phase one down well so that we could get Wind Lord down in subsequent attempts. With the remaining time, focus on getting what loot you can out of HoF, sure, but more so, focus on practicing and honing and polishing so that you are at your best to make a sizable dent into 5.2 in the first week.

Patch 5.2 Raid Rosters - This is the time when we are setting up the rosters for at least the first several weeks of patch 5.2 - all factors permitting, we will attempt to keep the rosters fixed. That is, the raid rosters will be set BEFORE patch 5.2 drops so that the raid groups can immediately begin working through the new raid instance the first week of the new content. Now is the time to get in and perform so that we can group people up and let the raid groups gel into performing together.

Remember, there is a new normal and Blizzard has expressed that they feel this is 'working as intended'. In the past, encounter difficulty tuning was set such that

Easy ----------- Hard

LFR-----N-----Heroic

However now, it is generally accepted that the new paradigm of encounter difficulty tuning is

Easy ----------- Hard

LFR----------N---Heroic

Everyone needs to step up their game. There is already plenty of information about each boss encounter  on the PTR version of wowhead.com (link on their page in the top left). People are already posting strat videos and write ups. To be in normal mode raid groups in our guild, you should be zoning in without requiring any explanation of any of the fight mechanics nor boss abilities - neither as they affect you nor as they affect others - and you should have a firm grasp on how your class and raid role specifically can and should support downing the boss and providing the most benefit to the raid group - encounter by encounter. If you are not doing that level of preparation, if you are taking a more casual and social approach to raiding - nothing wrong with that at all - then your raid seat is in the casual / social raid roster, not in the core progression rosters.

We expect to enter patch 5.2 with two (if not three) core progression raid rosters and one social / casual roster. This will support addressing the two different approaches to raiding (more casual and more serious) and the two different paces at which those approaches successfully clear through the content.

As always, if you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask an officer - especially a raid lead. We're not here to exclude you from raiding, we're here to help you succeed in our raiding!

Edit - To give you an idea of where the damage done / dps stands for fights in the new raid instance, the below is a snapshot from icy-veins.com. Granted, it is PTR. The sheer numbers if carried through to live from PTR suggest that the core progression raids may need to stack some gear first before they can take on the mechanical soft enrage with the first boss Jin'rokh at 6 mins (floor covered completely). So plan to be in your raid roster and plan to be working hard to either gear pre launch of 5.2 or continue in 5.2 until ready to beat the soft enrage - either way, both rosters will go into the new raid instance in the first week to immediately start experiencing the new fights.