My GM made a call to the general members when the guild hit its
raiding roadblock the other week. I took up the call and set up a heroic night where members who needed badges, reputation, gear or something to do, could have a dedicated night where others would know to be online. I even put a little thought into it. I selected a weekday that the guild doesn't raid on, ensuring that the heroic night - should it become popular - would not interfere with the general operation of the guild. The plan was to have separate groups, or some sort of rotation, that would enable us to run a few heroics over the course of a night. Brilliant, I know!
The first week was not what I would call a raging success. I was only able to notify the guild via the little used forum, which don't garner too much attention. After about an hour sitting around in Guild Chat a group consisting of a healer, tank and ranged and melee DPS was formed, a PUG was found and we were off to tackle the Daily Heroic,
The Oculus. It became the most agonizing instance run of my life, an amazing feat considering that we only wiped once.
I've run my fair share of piss poor PUGs, but that punishment came from other players due to messy pulls, not paying attention, bad play or what have you. Never have I gotten frustrated at the title's design itself, until last week. The Oculus is one of three instances inside Coldarra, the others being another 5-man dungeon,
The Nexus (also the name of the area) and the 25-man raid against Malygos,
The Eye of Eternity. Many of us have likely completed the other 5-man dungeon, as it is one of the easiest Heroics to participate in. The Oculus is known for the opposite reason, being one of the most difficult and least run heroics that Wrath introduced.
For me, the instance is, without a shadow of a doubt, the worst instance ever. The dungeon is high on the fail meter from a culmination of its length, inspiration, execution and general boredom. You spend most of your time flying around the outside of The Nexus killing trash mobs as you make your way to various constructs. The fights with the guardians and constructs are basic, uninspired quick kills. As if that wasn't boring enough, the trash is followed by uneventful
tank and
spank boss fights. It isn't until the third boss,
Mage-Lord Urom, that an encounter becomes interesting. About 90 minutes after we zoned in - no wipes up to this point - we finally pulled
Eregos, the only enjoyable aspect in the entire dungeon. Many players hate the final encounter because it's a very fickle battle, requiring knowledge and near perfect execution. Thanks to a fantastic explanation and constant communication, our group downed him in only our second go.
The designers attempted to make The Oculus heavy on vehicle combat but
it just didn't work. The battle against the blue dragonflight is painfully boring mainly due to all the crappy trash you have to clear to do anything of consequence. Hopefully the team behind The Oculus learned from their mistakes, and passed that knowledge on to the team responsible for Ulduar's vehicle-based encounters. At least those fights inside Ulduar will enable gear to make a difference.
The Oculus was a valiant effort at trying something new, but it didn't come together. If you feel like torturing yourself then you can run it, just be prepared for agony. We ended on a high note, as the the entire party received a chuckle after we downed Eregos. This came by way of the Guild's GM receiving six, yes a half dozen, achievements all at the same time. As for Solidsamm, he shall never return there, daily or not.
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