Ack! Last week we made our first attempt on Hodir. One thing that always irritates me is when you are making your first attempt on a boss, and people start asking "why is dps soooo low! why are people taking so much damage?". It probably has something to do with the fact that we're learning a new fight. Sometimes you one shot bosses, other times you don't. Getting stressed about it is not going to fix it.

Usually I have to wipe at least a couple of times on a boss before I actually "get it". The problem I have with Hodir is that there are just so many things you need to avoid, and be near, and you are constantly running around. I can't constantly keep track of where I'm standing, where I need to be standing, AND looking at people's health bars. Or rather, I can, it's just going to take some time and practice. I imagine that for a lot of the DPS, particularly ranged DPS with long cast times and no DoTs (I'm looking at you mages!) it's just as difficult.

At least a lot of my heals are instant casts! Between shields, prayer of mending, renew, circle of healing, instant flash heals... I *should* be able to heal just fine. But the combination of trying to watch where my own feet land, AND heal other people making mistakes as they try to do the same thing, is pretty stressful. The thing is, I'm not going to complain about how the DPS is making my job harder because UR DOIN IT RONG. They're trying to learn the same fight I am. I can't really give them a hard time when I'm probably making the same mistakes they are and healing myself just as much. At least I *can* heal myself and get more practice.

What makes Hodir tricky for me, is that in addition to needing to know what buff each NPC gives, where not to stand, where you DO need to stand, and when to do all these things, I have to actually watch for these things. This may sound like a complete QQ to the DPS and tanks who have to do this on a regular basis, but in all honesty, I don't really see much of most fights. I see it out of the corner of my eye, and I have little problem getting out of various forms of noobsauce, but I'm not really watching it. I'm too busy staring at your health. At some point, I'll make a whole post about bad healer habits, and QQ about how the game is designed to not let us actually see the fights.

After practice, I will triumph over Hodir. As soon as I stop getting frustrated with others for getting so frustrated with the raid for not one-shotting this boss on our first 25 man attempt. In general, here's what to expect when learning new bosses. Please take note.

1. People will take lots of damage. 
   
2. DPS will not do as much damage.
3. Healers will run out of mana, if they don't die first.
4. Players will stand in bad things.
5. Players will forget to stand in good things.
6. Off-tanks will miss adds.

If you take down a boss for the first time ever on your very first try, and have none of these problems, then you should absolutely be happy and pat yourselves on the back for doing a really great job. However, if you do have the problems listed above, don't waste your energy getting frustrated. Wiping is part of progression, and practice makes perfect. Ask everyone to read up on all the Boss abilities on Wowhead, or watch a Tankspot video, but know that people learn different ways. The best way for almost everyone is to simply go at it again and again, and get hands on experience.