I've finally levelled up to 41, out of the range for Uldaman and into the range of the Maraudon instances. Maraudon is a big instance, so it's been split into three parts; Orange, Purple and Pristine Waters (known by most of the the wow community as "Inner"). Orange is the first one on the list to try. I checked out Maraudon on Wowhead, to see how the 3 areas link together and to look for any quests I should pick up. I see there's a lot of people commenting on there that the LFG tool is problematic at level 41-42 because Scarlet Monastery is too easy, and Maraudon:Orange is too hard (it's level 42 to 46), so you're kinda stuck in the middle. This made me a bit nervous about signing up for randoms as I anticipated a wipefest as a group of 41's got overrun by level 46 mobs.
So I tried Maraudon:Orange a few times and I found the following;
The mobs are indeed a high level and it takes a long time to kill them (I helped to dps the mobs when the healing allowed)
The lashers do a nasty interrupt, so the healers should stay at max range
The first boss is very hard, casting lots of poisons and spawning adds which need to be killed fast
The lava spewer keeps spewing lava worms! They follow you for the first half of the instance, so watch out for them hitting you in the back.
The mobs root a lot, but this can be dispelled
If you die, it's a long and confusing trip back to the entrance, but stick to the right wall and you'll be fine.
After I'd already done Maraudon:Orange a few times I happened to see a news post stating that Blizzard mixed up the levels of the first two parts of Maruadon, and Purple is easier than Orange. This will be corrected shortly. They'll also stop the spewer from spawning lava continously.
It took me three tries to finally complete Maraudon:Orange. I think it's so challenging at level 41 that you need a group of committed people who have a bit of skill. It's certainly not something you can rush through and aoe down. Read further on for details of the groups, and a link on how to play PUG bingo!
The first group I had ended pretty quickly. There was no talking, no buffs, no response when I asked for buffs, just a wall of silence from the tanks and dps. I guess the group didn't speak English. I threatened to leave, and I guess the group must have realised something was up because two of the dps left after we killed one mob and I followed them. I had heard how difficult this instance was going to be, and I didn't want to even attempt it with a tank who didn't use tanking buffs.
The next group did slightly better. We had a tank who was enthusiastic and serious about tanking. Perhaps a little too serious.... He typed angrily in chat "who doesn't understand skull????" when someone didn't attack the marked target. The rogue told him to chill and then started criticising him and telling him he didn't know what he was doing, which I thought was harsh 'cause the warrior was actually doing a good job of tanking. After a few minutes of angry exchanges, the warrior quit saying the rogue had "crushed his fun". Rogue says lol. So we wait for another tank and I'm rather annoyed at the rogue but don't say anything. I teleported out because I was low on mana drinks, and in the meantime a patrol comes along and kills the rest of the group. The rogue tells the shammy he sucks for not healing. The groups then breaks apart.
I'd like to note the hunter that was in this group, who said absolutely nothing but treated us to a selection of lovely emotes from her cat. Such as "hunter's pet stretches herself elegantly, then gently nuzzles her master leg". Charming indeed, but completely unhelpful when the group is having problems and you remain silent apart from cat emotes. I was half tempted to sarcastically add "Priest's patience wears thin, as the hunter stands motionless while her pet coughs hairballs up onto the carpet" but I figured it was unnecessary, and would have been rather catty of me...
Finally, on my third attempt, I found myself in what turned out to be a successful group. We were all level 41-42. We had a very good druid tank, who I think had done it before, and she gave us good directions. She even persuaded the group to kite the green slimes instead of standing and taking the poison in the face. I noted that she wasn't using any heirlooms, but with sense and skill like that I would assume this wasn't her first character. Are there a lot of people rolling characters on new servers or something? I'm seeing a lot of people without heirlooms. Anyway, we had 1 wipe on the first boss due to the fact that we didn't handle the adds properly (I think we were a bit surprised by them, and I got aggro by landing a heal just as they arrived) and I wasn't able to keep everyone up while they were being eaten by poison. This is my first wipe in 15 instances, so I'm a bit disappointed, but I was expecting to find Maraudon hard. One of the dps left and was replaced by a level 44 rogue, and the increased damage was enough to kill the boss second time around. The next boss was much easier - he takes some time to kill but he hits like a pansy (and he looks like one).
Well my luck seemed to have changed with groups and I had another excellent group after this, including a very good paladin tank. I must confess that I messed up a bit in this group - I was reading my quest log trying to figure out how to complete some quests (my advice is don't bother as they seem to start outside the instance) and I wasn't paying attention. The paladin had to bubble and heal herself twice because I was either not looking or accidentally spamming heals onto myself. I'm grateful to that group for putting up with such a noob healer.
And finally, here's something fun to do while pugging (if you can afford to not concentrate on what you're doing); PUG bingo!
Cruce posted some card on the forums here:
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=22048447148&postId=220463235221&sid=1
Every time you experience one of the things on the card you tick it off, and the first person to complete the card shouts "bingo!".
Have fun!
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