Project Lore

It was one of those fights that took everything my raid group had to get through it. And that made it all the sweeter when we finally beat it.

I'm talking about that ugly, bumbling, high-pitched experiment of an abomb, Rotface. For whatever reason, my 10-man raid crew had opted to take the right fork in the hallway outside of Professor Putricide's laboratory. Although probably the harder of the two abominations, we set our sights on downing Rotface first, and focused on getting down the tactics we needed to down him.

Our first night trying him out seemed encouraging. Our best attempt had gotten Rotface to 20 percent, and we were certain it was only a matter of time. Then things went south.

We've had a few fluctuating members of our raid crew, and it seemed the more we tried to bring down the grotesque boss, the more he laughed in our faces. Gear wasn't the issue. Coordination, which is key in the fight, just seemed to be lacking. Usually, either the healers or DK tank kiting little oozes around the perimeter would go down first. And a wipe would become inevitable.

Like many coordination fights, there's just a lot to keep track of. Move when Rotface turns to spew green crap all over. Stay out of range of the flowing ooze, and quickly bring the little oozelings to the off tank without getting too close to the giant ooze he's kiting. Move when the big one explodes. And all the while, dps like crazy because the fight gets more and more hectic as it continues.

After a straight month of attempts on Rotface with virtually no visable improvements, morale was lacking big time. It was time for a break. Coordination was the issue, so we tried to improve it with another coordination fight - Sartharion with 3 drakes up. Not the power-through-it way of just focusing on Sarth, but the harder way of taking down each drake first. Actually, we didn't get through that, either. But regardless, something had changed.

Two weeks later, we walked into Icecrown Citadel, still unsure of what we could accomplish in the Plagueworks. But our first attempt on Rotface was promising - down, again, to 20 percent. Another time, we had him at less than 5 percent. Finally, something clicked. Maybe it was the realization that our goal was within reach.

Whatever the case, Rotface was going down, and we all knew it. The next shot, we counted down as we saw the life bar retreating. Everything was going as planned. Finally, Rotface had met his match.

Oh, the cheering. It was such a great feeling to know that we had finally conquered the beast. So we moved on to Festergut, who we had never before put in a good attempt on. The first shot was practice as we all figured out our roles, and the second shot he was down. Compared to Rotface, he was a cakewalk.

Now, we just have to repeat that performance again, and maybe even hope for a little luck with Professor Putricide. But it will never be quite as sweet as the first downing. What memories do you have of taking out a  boss after weeks of trying?