"Hahaha, I'm dying here."
DesertWanderer flooded guild chat with endless lines of hahaha.
"Desert, have you lost it?"
"What, did Desert just get a blue or something?"
DesertWanderer said, "I'm not crazy. Freedom is. They were livestreaming in the TS server just now, and they wiped in the third room because of an add."
"Hahaha, Freedom really embarrassed themselves this time. How did they even dare stream it in the TS server?"
"Send me the TS server for Freedom's stream. I want to watch."
"Same here. I want to see how much worse they can make themselves look today."
A huge number of guild members started asking for the server where Freedom was streaming.
When Gabryell saw the guild chat, he couldn't help laughing. Freedom wiping was exactly what he expected. The only thing he hadn't expected was how fast they would wipe.
"Man, I really want to go watch."
Igor loved this kind of thing, especially when it meant watching a rival make a fool of themselves.
Gabryell said, "Let's finish our run first. The guild's counting on us to get the server first clear of the Stockade—we can't let them down."
Carlos said, "Taking the server first clear would be the ultimate slap in the face to Freedom's full livestream."
There was a Defias Convict patrolling between the left and right sections of The Stockade. Gabryell didn't want that patrol showing up halfway through a fight and wrecking their pace, so before entering the last room in the central section, they waited for a bit at the intersection.
After a short wait, the patrolling Defias Convict appeared, and they pulled it to a safe spot and killed it.
"The linked aggro in this place is disgusting."
Hugo couldn't help complaining. "Every time I pull one mob, two come."
Gabryell said, "We can handle three or fewer. As long as we don't overpull, we're fine."
The linked aggro in The Stockade would still trigger even at level 60. Gabryell had run the place often enough in the past that he was long used to it. Compared to dungeons full of humanoid mobs like The Stockade and Scarlet Monastery, he preferred solo-farming Maraudon. The mobs in those dark Maraudon caves were basically blind. You could walk right past them and they still wouldn't notice you.
There were only two mobs in the last room of the central section. Once they killed them, the party faced another choice.
"Gabryell, left or right first?"
Carlos stood at the fork and asked. Personally, he preferred going right.
Gabryell said, "Right side. If we can clear the right side, then we've basically already cleared The Stockade."
Once they went down the stairs on the right, the mob levels jumped sharply. Now they were fighting level 25 and 26 Defias Insurgents, Inmates, and Convicts.
"Damn, I'm stunned."
Carlos's Warrior was knocked down by a Defias Insurgent and stunned for two seconds.
"Be careful. The mobs here use Backhand and Shield Slam. Both can stun for two seconds."
Gabryell hated the right section the most. Even as a level 60 Mage, if he wanted to stay safe, he could only pull two packs at a time. Pulling three came with a chance of wiping. Pulling four increased that risk several times over.
Every mob on the right side had two stun skills. Pull too many, and you got stun-locked in place until the mobs beat you to death.
"Hugo, pull the mobs out of the room before we kill them. No more than two at a time."
There were four mobs in the room. If they fought them inside, the moment one low-health mob ran, getting even a little too close would trigger linked aggro. If Carlos tried to tank all four at once, his Warrior would probably get chain-stunned, lose control of aggro, and a wipe would be inevitable.
"Focus one mob. Carlos holds the other. Don't let low-health mobs run off and add more."
Gabryell stood at the very edge of the group, ready to use Frost Nova at any moment to stop fleeing mobs from running into the room and pulling extra enemies.
The only reason the group had made it this far without incident was Gabryell's shot-calling. Without him, they would've ended up just like Freedom, collapsing to endless adds.
They carefully pulled the mobs out and cleared them slowly. Gabryell's Frost Nova timing was perfect, never giving any low-health mob a chance to run for help.
They cleared all the way to the fourth room.
"There's a boss!!"
Hugo spotted a named elite in the room, and his eyes lit up like he'd just seen another blue weapon.
Kam Deepfury, level 27 elite, 2400 HP.
Gabryell said, "Quest mob. Kill it."
Kam Deepfury had the same skills as the other mobs, Backhand and Shield Slam. He was only slightly stronger than the trash because his level was higher.
They used the same method as before, pulling him out to a safe spot and killing him. With only 2400 HP, Kam Deepfury wasn't enough to put the team in trouble.
"Lunatori loots."
The moment Kam Deepfury fell, Hugo typed it in party chat.
Lunatori stepped forward, and the loot window popped up.
Kam's Walking Stick (Uncommon)
+3 Agility
+8 Intellect
Requires Level 22
"Why is it green?"
Hugo had no interest in green weapons.
Gabryell didn't need Kam's Walking Stick, but Lunatori's lucky hand still shocked him. If he remembered correctly, Kam's Walking Stick had only a 1% drop rate.
"That hand is way too lucky."
In his previous life, Gabryell had never once seen Molten Core drop two Bindings in one run. Lunatori's luck made him start daydreaming. Maybe Fearless's MT really could be the first to craft Thunderfury and become one of the game's icons.
The Kam's Walking Stick's stats didn't justify its drop rate. Nobody needed it, so they gave it to Igor's Paladin to disenchant.
"Another boss!!"
When they reached the innermost room on the right side, Hugo cried out again.
Gabryell said, "Hugo, stop jumping at everything. There are two elite quest mobs here. In The Stockade, aside from the rare silver elite Bruegal Ironknuckle, who has a fixed blue-item drop table, every other named elite is basically just a quest mob."
"Inside the big room, there are three smaller rooms. Be careful. Same as before, pull the mobs out to kill them. Fighting inside is way too easy to add."
Using his knowledge of the game, Gabryell quickly removed as many wipe risks as possible.
He said to Carlos, "The two elites in here are linked to the two nearby trash mobs. Be ready to take three mobs at once."
"Got it."
Carlos pressed Z, shield and longsword coming out together to show he was ready.
Hugo opened the pull with his Hunter and shot Hamhock out of the center of the room.
Hamhock came charging over with one Insurgent and one Convict.
Carlos stood in the doorway and picked up all three.
"Kill Hamhock first," Gabryell said.
Hamhock was an Ogre Shaman with Chain Lightning and Bloodlust. If they didn't kill him first, things would get messy fast.
"Lunatori, watch the party's health."
"Igor, use Hammer of Justice on the mob that gets Bloodlust later."
Gabryell kept calling the fight while dealing damage.
Hamhock cast Chain Lightning, chunking three players at once. Lunatori was ready and immediately topped them back up. Then Hamhock used Bloodlust, increasing the Defias Insurgent's attack speed by 30%, and Igor instantly hit it with Hammer of Justice.
"Use control on the Defias Insurgent."
Gabryell said, "Once Hamhock dies, switch straight to the Insurgent."
Bloodlust lasted thirty seconds. With 30% increased attack speed, the Defias Insurgent would keep stunning Carlos's Warrior, preventing him from using skills to hold aggro.
Under Gabryell's command, the party steadily killed Hamhock and the two trash mobs.
"Nothing again."
Hamhock only dropped money, leaving Hugo disappointed.
"Hahaha, they wiped again."
At that moment, guild chat exploded once more.
"This is killing me. Freedom is terrible. They wiped again."
"Good thing I joined the group in time to catch this. How are they this bad and still streaming the whole thing in the TS server?"
Gabryell saw the chat and asked in guild, "Where did they wipe this time?"
DesertWanderer replied, "Looks like it was on the right side after the stairs. Their MT, NoobSlayer, kept getting stunned by the mobs and couldn't hold aggro at all, so the mobs went after Bruiser instead. Bruiser panicked and used Blink, but blinked straight into the room across from them and got beaten to death by a whole pack."
Gabryell could picture it immediately. After Bruiser died, the entire room would have rushed the rest of the party. Four extra mobs all at once. At that point, a wipe was almost guaranteed.
Two wipes before even getting through a third of the instance, all while livestreaming. Freedom had thoroughly humiliated themselves.
"If they hadn't bragged about streaming the whole run, nobody would've known even if they wiped a hundred times."
Gabryell shook his head. Freedom had turned themselves into a laughingstock entirely because they were too full of themselves. If they failed to clear The Stockade and just disbanded after wiping, Freedom's reputation would take a serious hit.
"How far are you guys?"
Dreamshade sent him a whisper.
There was no point hiding it, so Gabryell replied honestly, "Just killed Hamhock."
Dreamshade said, "We just killed Hamhock too, but we wiped."
Gabryell froze. Madhouse wiped too?
"Did Bazil Thredd wipe you?"
Gabryell felt only that fight was dangerous enough to wipe Madhouse.
Bazil Thredd was VanCleef's lieutenant and the strongest enemy in Stormwind The Stockade. Level 28 elite. He used Smoke Bomb and Battle Shout.
Battle Shout wouldn't wipe the party. The real danger was the Smoke Bomb, which stunned all nearby enemies for four seconds.
If the healer positioned badly and got caught in the Smoke Bomb, then with four seconds of stun and Bazil Thredd plus his two adds beating on the tank, it was enough to kill an undergeared MT in very little time without healing.
"You guys need a Paladin," Gabryell said regretfully.
Madhouse's healer was a Priest. Without a Paladin's Lay on Hands, they had no way to instantly top the MT off after the stun.
Dreamshade gave a bitter smile.
"We got careless. The healer stood too close and got caught in the Smoke Bomb. But before we wiped, we forced down one of the adds. Next time it'll just be Bazil Thredd and one add. We won't wipe again."
Dreamshade really was the best raid leader in Tichondrius. His ability to adapt on the spot was strong. He knew the trash in The Stockade wouldn't respawn quickly after dying, so when the tank was about to go down, he immediately had everyone switch to one of the adds.
With one less add next time, even if the whole group got stunned again, the MT wouldn't necessarily die.
"Be careful," Dreamshade warned kindly.
Gabryell said, "Don't worry. We have a Paladin."
That was where the advantage of having two hybrid classes really showed.
After ending the whisper with Dreamshade, Gabryell told Carlos and the other three that Madhouse had wiped too.
Everyone would laugh when Freedom wiped. Madhouse wiping, though, instantly made them tense up. None of them dared relax in the slightest, afraid they'd end up wiping too.