Forty players gathered on Theramore Isle. Gabryell led everyone into the water, and they bunny-hopped their way toward Onyxia's Lair.
"I came here while questing when I was lower-level. There was a dungeon entrance, but I couldn't get in. I never thought this was Onyxia's Lair."
Old sounded almost nostalgic. He had found the entrance while questing in Dustwallow Marsh in his forties and failed to get in back then too.
Gabryell changed the loot mode to "Master Looter." From then on, Master Looter would be the default for their raid runs.
"Everyone in," Gabryell said, leading the way into the dungeon. Buffs could be applied after they were inside.
The forty players filed in one after another and entered Onyxia's Lair.
"Old, why are you still outside?" Desert asked when he noticed he still hadn't come in.
Old was mortified. "I couldn't get in when I was lower-level, and now that I've grown up, I still can't get in. I forgot to bring my Drakefire Amulet."
"Old, you absolute idiot," Desert snapped.
Gabryell said sternly, "I clearly told everyone to bring their Drakefire Amulets. Why didn't you bring yours?"
Old sounded even more embarrassed. "I think I was on the toilet just now."
Ventrilo went silent.
"Hurry back and get it. We'll pull you over in a bit," Gabryell said.
Old immediately opened a portal and went back to get his Drakefire Amulet.
Gabryell said, "Everyone, remember this from now on. When we run 40-player raids, you must prepare everything you need in advance. Don't make thirty-nine other people wait for you. Everyone's time is valuable. If one person wastes one minute, that is thirty-nine minutes wasted."
With paid game time ticking, one careless minute from one player effectively donated thirty-nine minutes of everyone's time to Blizzard.
"Since you've volunteered to waste everyone's time, you can make it up to them. After the run, mail one gold to each person." With no DKP to dock yet, gold would have to do—and for a broke Mage like Old, that hurt a lot more.
Old had finally saved up a few dozen gold, and now almost all of it was gone in the blink of an eye. He could only weep silently.
"I'm ready. Pull me." Old's voice was full of despair. Thirty-nine gold. That was eighty percent of everything he owned. He truly was a disgrace to Mages.
"Desert, Snowy, come out with me and pull him."
Gabryell and the other two went out and summoned Old over.
After reentering the dungeon, Gabryell began assigning buffs.
"Snowy, buff groups one and two with Stamina and Spirit. DontPanicHealz takes groups three and four, BigHealsShortLegs takes groups five and six, and ServerHeals takes groups seven and eight."
"From now on, if I give you an assignment, type '1' in raid chat so I know you heard it."
The four Priests immediately typed "1" in turn.
Gabryell continued assigning buffs. "We have plenty of Mages. The Mages whose names I call will buff Intellect for your own groups. Group one, I'll handle it. Group two, Coldhands. Group three, Old. Group four, Intriguing. Group five, Milo. Group six, OliveDrab. Group seven, OnlyOne. Group eight, Windrush."
One thing WoW never lacked was Mages. Extra casters were useful during early Onyxia and Molten Core progression. By Blackwing Lair, though, raid spots would be tight enough that six Mages was already plenty.
"Anyone I didn't call: if somebody dies, rebuff them immediately. Players who stay on top of that get priority for future raids."
With forty people, there would always be a few who tried to coast. If someone needed repeated reminders to buff and never rebuffed without being called out, Gabryell had no interest in bringing them back.
"And from now on, everyone runs to the instance themselves. Don't sit in the city waiting for the rest of the raid to summon you."
He wanted a progression team capable of taking first kills, not a retirement home for freeloaders. He had no patience for players who expected to be carried.
He kept working through the buffs. With four Paladins, they had the full set: Blessing of Kings, Wisdom, Salvation, Might, and Light. SevenDays and OldMan, the two dedicated Holy Paladins, went into groups one and two so each main tank had Fire Resistance Aura.
There were three Warlocks, each assigned a different curse. Desert and FirstDate were placed in groups one and two so their Imps could stay with the main tank and off-tank.
"Hunters who want to join raids must have Trueshot Aura. From now on, if you don't have it, I won't bring you into the dungeon."
Of the five Hunters, one did not have Trueshot Aura, so Gabryell had to make a point of it. Without Trueshot Aura, the physical DPS in his group wouldn't want him around. It wasn't the era of Survival Hunters yet.
The main issue in fighting Onyxia was threat control. Gabryell deliberately avoided placing all the Rogues, Fury Warriors, and Hunters in one group to avoid concentrating too many attack-power buffs in one group and making threat harder to control.
Rogues at least had Feint and Vanish, and Hunters had Feign Death. Fury Warriors with too much threat would only drag their teammates down.
"We only have two Druids, so you two will have to work a little harder and cast Gift of the Wild on the whole raid. Luna handles groups one through four, and MushroomHunter handles groups five through eight."
Two healing Druids were enough. One advantage of playing a Druid was obvious: gear competition was light.
Once the buffs were sorted, Gabryell deliberately said nothing about the actual fight. He wanted the raid to learn by pulling, wiping, and figuring things out together.
"Everyone, get back to full. In a bit, Carlos will be the main tank, Susie will be the off-tank, and David and Night will be backup. Keep your threat below Carlos and Susie."
Bringing four main tanks was overkill for Onyxia, but that was one luxury a forty-man raid could afford. When she landed in Phase 3, four tanks meant four chances for one of them to catch threat.
Once everyone was ready, Gabryell skipped the shortcut off the right side and led them down the main path instead.
He had brought three Dwarf Priests and still had not said a word about Fear Ward.
That was deliberate. Nobody here had fought Onyxia before; calling for Fear Ward before they had even seen the ability would practically announce that he already knew the fight.
The best thing about Onyxia's Lair was its size. Unlike Molten Core, it did not bury the raid under endless trash between bosses.
Only four Onyxian Warders stood between them and Onyxia's chamber: three patrolling and one standing in a corner, all between level 60 and 62.
"For the Black Dragon Princess, having only four guards is pretty pathetic. Compared to her brother, she's really fallen on hard times."
The Black Dragonflight mobs at the dungeon entrance did not count. Compared with the forces Nefarian controlled, they were worlds apart.
No wonder Onyxia had ended up relying on an incompetent recruiter like Emberstrife. With a few more competent subordinates, she never would have needed him.
"This is what happens when you spend too much time playing human politics. Stormwind grew stronger while her own Black Dragonflight fell behind."
"Mob incoming!"
Around the corner, they ran into an Onyxian Warder, a level 62 elite. Was that good luck or bad?
A level 62 mob could drop Teebu's. Since Onyxian Warders did not have a fixed loot table, only the level 62 ones were really worth getting excited about.
Because this was their first raid, Gabryell kept the rules loose and opened Ventrilo so everyone could talk.
They were probably going to spend the night corpse-running anyway. He wanted people talking through each wipe, comparing what they saw, and piecing Onyxia's mechanics together themselves.
"I'm going in. Healers, keep me alive."
It was his first raid, and facing a trash mob with health comparable to the final boss of Upper Blackrock Spire made Carlos nervous. He shouted to psych himself up.
Carlos Charged forward, and the melee piled in behind him.
Gabryell smiled. He could already see all the melee players dropping dead.