Magisters' Terrace illuminated
by Eliah Hecht 
Mar 29th 2008 at 1:00PM
Patch 2.4 is just a win all around, if you ask me. Very casual player? Only have an hour or less to play? Hit the dailies. Super-hardcore raider? Sunwell Plateau, baby, the hardest raid yet (or so I hear; I'll likely never see it myself). And if, like me, you flat-out love five-man dungeons, you have a new playground too: Magisters' Terrace, lovingly known as MrT.The gallery below is a comprehensive, step-by-step, illustrated guide to the Terrace on normal mode, starting from the first pull and going all the way through to Kael'thas. First, some quick notes on group composition. In my opinion this isn't the hardest of the level 70 instances (that honor would go to Arcactraz or Black Morrass), so you don't need everyone to be group-specced or raid-geared, but it does help tremendously to have some crowd control available. The more, the better. And if you don't have much CC, you'd better hope you have a tank that can keep threat on multiple targets (might be a bit more difficult for Druids).
The good news is that the bulk of the mobs in the instance are humanoids, and can therefore be sheeped or seduced; traps also work well. There are also a few demons around that can be banished.
But before you can start pulling, you've got to get there. The Terrace is on the new Isle of Quel'Danas (IoQD); taxis from Ironforge and the Silvermoon City will get you there quickly for 25 silver or so. Or, if your realm has completed the quests to activate the Sunwell portal, you can port straight from Shattrath to IoQD. Once you get on the island, just ride east up the road to get to the instance. It's hard to miss, what with the meeting stone and big glowing portal and all.
Click on to the gallery below to see a picture of where it is on the map, and the rest of the walkthough.
Filed under: Walkthroughs, Instances, Bosses, Guides
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Kav Mar 29th 2008 1:29PM
threat on multiple targets hard for druids?
news to me
wtb swipe
also wtb posters who know wtf is up
Eliah Hecht Mar 29th 2008 1:28PM
Somehow I knew this comment was coming. I just had a bad feeling as I typed that sentence. And would you like to see what I wrote? "Might be a bit more difficult for Druids". A bit.
I don't think you can deny that Warriors and Paladins are, on the balance, slightly better at multi-target tanking than Druids are.
andyjay220 Mar 29th 2008 2:27PM
I have to disagree, druids are good up to 3 mobs typically (note good, not great). My guildmate (a very accomplished warrior tank) says that tanking more than 1 (sometimes 2) mobs in MgT is a nightmare for him. My tankadin of course can tank the whole damn instance simultaneously (comedic hyperbole ftw). But I've never heard of druids having a harder time on multiple mobs than warriors.
Lish Mar 30th 2008 10:59AM
"I don't think you can deny that Warriors and Paladins are, on the balance, slightly better at multi-target tanking than Druids are."
Actually it can be denied since it's not correct. As others have already mentioned druids typically have an easier time multi-tanking than warriors.
Greeniemax Apr 12th 2008 12:09PM
Hi,
I'm a feral druid and I do tank, druid is great tank on Humanoids but holding more than 3 is very hard as swipe hits 3 targets and holding more than 4 is extremely hard.
Druid is good for 3-4 targets, best of all for multi target is Paladine tank, though a good warrior could hold as many as well.
MrT is quite hard with 2nd boss or was bugged when I went in with my priest as healer, the tank or any other member of group couldn't take agro off me and I hard to tank as priest, just healed myself to stay alive while they took out the mobs. But that group was sucky with noob mage (somehow from the best guild on our server) and noob lock, sucky DPS from ret paladine, warrior was good but on 2nd boss he couldn't keep agro.
Maybe it was bugged didn't happen when I tanked.
Kav Mar 29th 2008 1:31PM
lol damn that was insta-reply...
Pally > Druid > War imho, after that haggard thunderclap warriors are impotent
Xerous Mar 29th 2008 2:05PM
I Agree. Cleave? I good tank of any class can handle some nasty pulls but Pally>Druid>Warrior for Multis.
Ferenczys Apr 7th 2008 6:57PM
Just a cautionary note, from a warlock who is very much used to being on CC duty:
You have to be careful with seduce in here. Apart from the Blood Elves, you can reliably seduce the Naga or Ethereals that populate the dungeon. It helps to lead with Searing Pain to establish initial aggro right before Seduce lands, ensuring that, if the CC breaks early, the mob will come for you and not your succubus, giving you more time to re-establish a lock.
Banish is phenomenal here, helping to lock down the Sisters of Torment and, if you're lucky, one of the adds during the Priestess fight.
Boss 3 can be tough if you're team isn't focused. The key is CC'ing and focus-firing them down as quickly as possible. It is worth the effort to take out all the mobs in the area so that you can Fear without worry of drawing adds.
I've had two extreme experiences in Magisters' Terrace; the first time was a horrible wipe fest lasting over two hours and requiring two repair bills. The one I did yesterday, in contrast, took just over an hour and had only one full wipe. A paladin tank who knows what he's doing is well-suited to the instance, as he can most easily hold aggro on a lot of targets.
Think of this as a more condensed version of Shattered Halls and you'll be on the right track.
Aikiwoce Mar 29th 2008 1:58PM
Heroic BM is a joke, btw.
Bootsanator Mar 29th 2008 5:57PM
True story. I'd chain-run it if i could for the badges, i love how fast it is.
Dan Mar 29th 2008 1:58PM
V. Nice.
I've found MrT pretty tough so far, mostly because of that damn trash that keeps going wrong, but it's nice to see some solid tactics and pictures.
Totoró Mar 29th 2008 2:22PM
With good players, this instance isnt really that hard. Me and four guildmates made a heroic run last night in 1 hour and 10 minutes. Was quick, fun and very rewarding.
The instance is great imo, because of its difficulty; everyone in the group needs to be on his/her toes, so if one isnt pulling his/her weight, it will be a disaster. Ei. yesterday I did a run with other people, maybe not that experienced in 5 man playing, and it was a wipefest that finally downed Kael after 5 hours.
So Im using this instance to really get to know my guildmates. To see if they are truely experienced players, or only good in raids, where their role is less demanding.
andrea Mar 29th 2008 3:48PM
arc or bm are harder?? guess you play a dps class, then. :)
Bootsanator Mar 29th 2008 6:08PM
The couple of pulls before the second boss, with all of the worms, are my favorite, as a holy priest who has put a point into Holy Nova. My attack hits all of them, causes no threat, and heals my groupmates a smidge also, if any of them are aggroing the worms besides the tank. And also, soooo many sparklies! :P
Dean Mar 29th 2008 7:40PM
There's something of a tipping point with Druid tank AP where Swipe goes from crap and useless to being powerful enough to keep mobs off the healers.
Votum Mar 29th 2008 7:42PM
Mind Control also works well in MgT.
Plus, it's fun!
filledenfer Mar 30th 2008 1:43AM
Just as a slight correction, a decent number of these mobs (if not all, I haven't gotten the chance to try on all kinds), despite the fact that they are humanoid, are unseduceable.
Thankfully though for us Warlocks, the Sisters of Torment are enslaveable, and they help out a lot on those big nasty pulls.
peder Mar 31st 2008 2:13AM
Pally > Warrior > Druid for multi target.
Pally = OP consecrate spam lol.
Warrior = Thuderclap, Tab Sunders, Cleave, Demo Shout, Challenging shout... and if one does get loose a quick intervene.
Druid = Swipe (3 target max per use) can tab swipe?
Lish Mar 31st 2008 11:51AM
"Warrior = Thuderclap, Tab Sunders, Cleave, Demo Shout, Challenging shout... and if one does get loose a quick intervene.
Druid = Swipe (3 target max per use) can tab swipe?"
That's your reasoning behind claiming that warriors are better at multi-tanking than druids???
Um, let's see, for druids: Tab Sunders = Tab Lacerate, Cleave = Swipe (which as you mentioned hits one extra target), Demo Shout = Demo Roar, Challenging Shout = Challenging Roar, Intervene = Feral Charge.
You obviously have no idea what abilities feral druids are capable of. A little research before posting never hurts.
Mindmaster Apr 2nd 2008 11:57AM
Druids rarely have issues tanking imho other than some gear issues caused by the lack of stats on plate vs leather. Multimob pulls of any size can be dealt with if your group knows how to chain attacks with the main assist. Swipe is super-cheap on the rage and you really only need to dump Mangle's and Lacerates into the target that the group is dumping on.
I'm usually tab swiping 3xNumber of mobs then I start demo roar to make life easy for healers. After that it's just dropping mangle and lacerate into the main dps target and passing out more swipes.
Chance of losing aggro is very low in this method and generally it's caused by over-zealous pre-healing or someone who is not the tank breaking the pack and making this process impossible.
My only gripe as druid tank is lack of last stand/shield wall type abilities. But, we can easily tank everything which doesn't require those. (99.9% of all fights in the game)