A few weeks back I posted a brief Getting Started in Challenge Modes Guide. After a bit more research, I have added some new "essentials" to my list and while I could have added them to the original post I thought it was a substantial enough change to warrant a post of its own so here it is:

• Restorative Amber: a must for healers and also good for EVERYONE;
• Golden Carp Consomme: a cheap backup plan for healers;
• Rod of Ambershaping: CC for EVERY CLASS that drops from Ski'thik, a rare in Kun-Lai Summit;
• G91 Landshark: Uncapped AoE of around 40,000 per target for EVERY CLASS on a 1 minute cooldown;
• Nearly Full Vial of Polyformic Acid: free damage buff on Darkmaster Gandling obtained by killing Prof Slate, and looting an Empty Polyformic Acid Vial and using it after picking up the buff from the table from ANY run of Scholomance;
• Battle Horn: drops from Blackhoof in Valley of the Four Winds an essential TANK item;
• Drums of Forgotten Kings: for when you don't have a Druid, Monk, or Paladin in the group;
• Runescroll of Fortitude III: for when you don't have a Priest, Warlock, or Warrior in the group;
• Invisibility Potion: Grants Invisibility for 18 seconds and allows you to skip the maximum allowed number of trash mobs;
• Lesser Invisibility Potion: Grants Invisibility for 15 seconds and allows you to skip the maximum allowed number of trash mobs;
• Flasks: Essential for max DPS/survivability;
• Potions: Essential for when you need massive burst but watch out it doesn't stop you using an Invisibility Potion as your potion CD of 1 mnute only starts after you LEAVE combat);

There are also some additional essentials if you have certain professions:

• Goblin Glider: Allows ENGINEERS to deploy a goblin glider and fall slowly for 30 sec which can be faster than running through mobs;
• Invisibility Field: Allows ENGINEERS to use Potions as this is a free  Invisibility Potion;
• Nitro Boosts: Allows ENGINEERS a speed boost when there is no call to use Invisibility;
• Embersilk Net: usable by TAILORS with 425 skill to have a 3 second ranged root that also deals fire damage;
• Drums of Speed: usable by LEATHERWORKERS with 340 skill to provide a 30 second movement speed buff every 2 minutes;

If you can think of any more items that could be great in Challenge Modes post a comment to this post and I'll add them to the list.

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The past few weeks me and the guys of Exhumed have been running a lot of Challenge Mode dungeons as we're attempting to get our alts the Challenge Mode armour sets and also aiming for a few realm bests on our mains. While these are truly a challenge, we have proven that you don't need to be the best players in the world to complete them in gold times or even use perfect group set ups. 

We've also encouraged a few guildmates that previously thought they weren't good enough or were simply too scared to join in. We've also seen people give up because their first experience was a wipe-fest. My post today is to give a few hints, tips, facts and dispel a few myths about Challenge Modes. 

For those of you that don't know, a Challenge Mode dungeon is a Mists of Pandaria Heroic dungeon that has been buffed. Your goal is to kill all the bosses and a set number of enemies as fast as you can. Each dungeon has 3 medals you can obtain, gold, silver and bronze. The medal you obtain is based on your time and varies from dungeon to dungeon. There are some other changes, which I will cover later in the article in more depth but in short your gear is normalised down to iLevel 463, there is no loot and there can be additional trash packs.

The first concern people have is that their gear isn't good enough, but if your gear is from the Pandaria heroics, Raid Finder or the Timeless Isle, then it is because your gear will be scaled down to be iLevel 463, which is the same as you can earn in a Pandaria heroic. While on the gear subject there are a few things that need stating because they matter:

• Gems don't scale down so this means gear with gem sockets are more powerful than those without and the more gems sockets the better;
• Socket bonuses don't scale down so items that favour your primary stat (int/str/agi) are more powerful than those with secondary stats (except maybe spirit);
• Tier bonuses don't work so that off set piece may be better than a tier item especially if it has more gems and a better socket bonus;
• Tegendary items don't work and that is especially important for the legendary meta gems as you will also lose your helm's socket bonus.
• Eye of the Black Prince (the extra socket you can put on MSV/HoF/ToES/ToT weapon) does work so these are liable to be stronger than Siege weapons;
• Legendary cloak is still the best option even minus the proc;

The next question they ask is "Am I good enough?" and while this is more tricky to answer accurately, I believe that most people are good enough on any character they play well. So if you can move from the fire and do respectable DPS you should be able to get golds.

The only other thing that you need to do is to have completed the dungeon on heroic mode and find 4 friends to go with.

The biggest challenge in facing your party is trash! You will wipe on trash more than bosses and you will wipe often but don't panic, there are no repair bills earned inside. Trash packs will make you want to scream, shout, cry and sometimes want to eat rabbit pie but once you master them you'll feel like a god.

The majority of time used and tank damage comes from trash. You don't have time to CC often and you'll need to chain pull packs or even fight multiple packs at once. tank and healer cooldowns are used most frequently during trash pulls and DPS need to assist with interupts and stuns to minimise incoming damage. Your group needs to find its limit on each trash pull and stay on the edge. Too much trash will wipe you, not enough will slow you down. When my group is attempting realm best times we spend a lot of time trying to add trash to our pulls to find the very limit of what is possible.

To be honest the easiest part of challenge modes are the boss fights. That isn't to say that a run cannot be made or spoiled when fighting a boss. You need to have high DPS, avoid everything that is avoidable as boss special attacks will often one shot you.

As a healer you need to be looking for opportunities to DPS and to get out of combat and drink/Restorative Amber to regen mana. If you're out of combat and at 60%-90% mana just grab a drink while the tank and DPS go pull the next trash. If you're below 60% use Restorative Amber but make sure you announce this to the party so they can use self-heals and be extra cautious. 

As a DPS/tank if your healer is refilling mana eat/bandage/Restorative Amber/heal yourself to save them having to use mana when they re-enter the fight. It can be the difference between success and failure.

The rewards you get from running a Challenge Mode are few but the ones you do get are very nice.

• 9/9 bronze medals gives you an account-wide title, "the Undaunted";
• 9/9 silver medals gives you the choice of one of four Pandaren Phoenix mounts which is character specific;
• 9/9 gold medals gives you an 8-piece class armor set which is statless and transmogable;
• When you get gold in a dungeon, you get a personal teleport to the outside of that dungeon. It has a shared 8-hour cooldown with all dungeon teleports but this is reset when you complete any challenge mode;
• Valor, for each challenge mode completion you will receive 70 valor points if you earn a medal you receive bonus valor. Bronze gives 55 extra valor, silver 80 and gold an extra 95. There is also a daily quest which sends you to specific dungeon  which rewards 70 to 90 extra valor and a Heroic Cache of Treasures.
• If you get a realm best time (requires a minimum of 3 players from your realm) you earn a title (the title is removed if someone beats your time) and Feat of Strength.
• Upto 430 achievement points.

As mentioned earlier, these dungeons are challenging, they're not the simple AoE fest that the heroic dungeons are right now so you need to be prepared and that means consumables. The ones we use when doing challenge modes are:

• Invisibility Potions (18 seconds) for skipping large amounts of trash, it triggers a global 10 minute potion cooldown for all of your potions.
• Lesser Invisibility Potions (15 seconds) for skipping small amounts of trash, it triggers a global 10 minute potion cooldown for all of your potions.
• Flasks, tanks should run with a DPS flask!
• Banquets or Noodle Carts, preferably of the 300 stat versions.
• DPS potions for pre-potting and bigger trash/boss fights. Use with caution if you need to use Lesser/Invisibility Potions later as leaving combat doesn't happen often and the 1 minute cooldown only starts ticking down when you leave combat!
• Restorative Amber essential for healers (requires honored reputation with the Klaxxi) but everyone should have some for emergency out of combat health regen when the healer is recovering their mana.

This isn't intended as a comprehensive guide and I'm sure I've missed things out but if you have found the short overview useful, please share with your friends and leave a comment below, especially if this has helped/inspired you to Challenge Mode success.

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While I may have been slack lately here on the blog the same hasn't been true in real life or in game. My guild, have been trying all expansion to set up an RBG team and I had been resisting the urge to join in. Partly because I got my hands full with raiding but mostly because I've never been a big PVPer (or particularly good at it). I have however now joined in the and the team is now coming together under the leadership of Dribblebutt and Siyara. 

The raiding has been going well too as we have now added 3 kills in the past 2 weeks after having a few issues with the "farm" bosses slowing us down which meant we were getting very little time to progress and as we still needed gear it was a little early to start extending raid ids.

Annoyingly, my shifts at work have meant I missed the last 3 weeks of raiding Throne of Thunder and that included the first kill on Megaera, missing 1st kills sucks but having had almost no time even wiping on a boss makes that suck a load more as I feel I have missed out on a whole chunk of content. As a raid leader though it pleases me that the guys can perform without me there and is a testament to the work my no. 2, Artherion puts in.

Thankfully, I did get back into raiding this week and Wednesday night we were on fire and managed to clear the first 5 bosses in under 90 minutes 1 shotting everything upto Megaera. This meant that we had a full raid and a half to work on progression and in the 90 minutes after the mid-raid break we managed to kill Ji'Kun.

Thursday was therefore a night for Durumu. Now I have had real issues with Durumu in raid finder, not because I'm a dumbass who dies to the beam but because I simply cannot see a way through the Eye Sores. This was a major worry but after this week it seems that it is a little easier to follow people when using a birds eye view and I did sometimes see the path but only when it was a good route. Just proof that a good idea spoiled by bad implementation, I wonder if colour blind mode makes it easier? hmm.

On top of those two things, I'm still running challenge modes as me and the guys keep pushing to get golds in the remaining ones. Sadly, the ones we have left are the real tough ones and the margin for error is really tiny and one mistake is meaning that we're failing by a few seconds. 

Lastly, my time in game has been absorbed by leveling my warrior to 90, taking my count to seven. I bet the local old folks home haven't got that many! Now all I need to do is gear her up in both tank and dps gear and I'm good to go to the next one. 

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Man I have been busy the past few weeks. This sadly has had a negative impact on my blogging. Firstly real life has bitten my ass big time. I work in a team of two, my shift partner recently got the sack which means my employers need to find a replacement and don't have the usual 4 weeks notice to soften the blow on those left behind. This means that I have not had a chance on my night shifts to put together the thoughts I have had for posts. Yeah I guess I have been lucky in the past that I can actually do my blogging at work but that now isn't happening as much as it could.

Secondly, I have now got a second major in game activity that is absorbing a lot of time: Challenge Modes.

If you're finding LFR a tad easy and raiding tough to get into get yourself 4 buddies who you trust and go run challenge modes, it is harder than normal raiding and if you and your friends can pull of the teamwork and coordination needed you get a huge buzz. Just don't expect great times for your first few runs. I'll be posting more detailed tips and stuff as time goes by but a few basics are below:

• Treat it like a raid flask, best food and use pots;
• Some instances NEED Potions of Invisibility, use the 18 second version it allows a bigger margin of error;
• Use your classes complete toolbox, some instances have better uses for specific talents and glyphs;
• Learn from your mistakes you will make a ton of them like you do all the time, now you get penalised;
• Accept that other people will make mistakes, they're not as perfect as you;
• Accept bad luck, you will get a pat at the wrong time, you will get poor dodge rates, the lift in Mogu'shan Palace will be at the top when you want to go up;
• Run the daily when you have your Challenge Mode session this will give you exposure to them all;
• The "easiest" ones are Gate of the Setting Sun, Mogu'shan Palace and Jade Serpent pick one of these and run it over and over again;
• Don't reset the first run of a day, it will let you see the whole instance again and refresh those brain cells of what you need to do;
• Resets can be made from INSIDE the instance, this will prevent you getting the "you have entered too many instances messages";

The good news is that it will make you a much better player, I know I am a better priest for it. But the best advice I'll give is to have fun and I will be back to posting more frequently soon, rather than twice in one day!

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