Last night, a new world opened up and we adventures ventured to the new land. In Howling Fjord you can find Utgarde Keep.  Currently it has two wings leading to 70-72 content.  The first wing, which is for 70-71, is to the left of the stone inside the keep and the other wing is on the other side which leads to a 71-72 instance.  At 70 you will only have access to the 70-71 instance.  You will not be able to enter the other instance until you are 71.

This is going to be a quick list of observations I had late last night while running it. We were all in Kara and Badge gear.

General:

• While it seems to be really large, there are actually very few trash mobs in the instance.  The largest group we encountered were four mobs.
• Mob type are mainly humanoid with some undead.
• Single mobs aren’t an issue. They don’t hit very hard. 
• Be aware, some of the mobs give a debuff that will cause the player to act as a bomb and will cause some aoe damage to the group.  Also, closer to the last boss, there are casters which will inflict a searing pain-like DoT.  Cleanse if you can, it does significant damage if left alone.

Healing:

• Trash
  • The group won’t be getting any real major damage during trash. The only two types to worry about are the dragons which do a flame breath that can hurt and the caster chicks with their searing pain-like DoT. Otherwise  Just enjoy and throw out heals as needed. 
• First Boss: Prince Keleseth
  • Prince Keleseth himself isn’t hard to kill, what is the trick with this fight is the AOE damage, the adds and that horrible frozen tomb.
    • Frozen Tomb: The worst thing about this fight is the Frozen Tomb debuff he casts. It is random, so it is very important to try and keep the party at maxed as much as possible.  The tank and yourself especially, since when you are under the debuff you will not be able to cast, it lasts 20 secs, and the Frozen Tomb causes 400 damage each second. If you are able to keep them topped off even if you get affected, you should be okay. -EDIT- We found out last night when we did the instance again that Frozen Tomb is like Demon Chains and can be burned down. It only has 2000 hit points, so make sure to let your dps know if you are affected.  Knowing this, makes this fight a cakewalk.
    • Shadow bolts: He does a shadow bolt that does 2000+ damage.
    • Adds: The adds only have about 7000 health.  Make sure to group them up and aoe them down.
      • Prince Keleseth Healing Tips
        • Try to keep the group.
        • Renews and PoM should be up at all times to help during the Forzen Tomb effects
        • If you have CoH, you can use to top them off it they are only a little low, other wise PoH.
• Second Boss: Skarvald the Constructor
  • Skarvald the Constructor is the easiest fight in the instance.  This is a similar fight to Romulo and Julianne from Kara.  When you meet good o’ Sharv, he is having a conversation with his buddy.  You will have to fight both and they will need to die within seconds of each other or the one standing will rez the dead guy.
    • The main issue is just controlling the dsp so they both drop at the same time.
    • Simple tank and spank, just heal as usual.  Keep an eye out for your aggro. Both Sharv and his pal like to talk to you and give you kisses in the form of  bolts and axes. Fade, quick heal and back in the game.
      • Skarvald the Constructor healing tips
        • Simple Tank and Spank
        • Watch your own aggro to avoid superfluous damage.
        • Enjoy your loot
• Third Boss: Ingvar the Plunderer
  • Ingvar the Plunderer is the most complex fight in the instance.  He has two phases and does serious AOE and single target damage in both phases. 
    • Phase I
      • Melee must be especially careful because of his Smash ability that does about 13-15k damage if you are directly in front of him.  Also his Cleave can hurt, because it increases his melee ability by 150% to the target and those around him.
      • AOE is called Staggering Roar.  This does 2100-2300 damage to the group as well as silence you for 6s.  You will not see a debuff, but you will hear when he does it.  Start trying to cast PoH for this.
        • Phase I healing tips
          • Cast PoH to bring everyone up from the Roar. 
          • Use GoH for the massive hits.  Your tank and melee will go low FAST, but if you are aware, you will be able to bring them back quickly enough.
    • Phase 2
      • You kill him and he comes back as an undead. During this phase he will be doing heavy shadow damage.
        • AOE here is Dreadful Roar. Does about 3-4k damage and adds a shadow damage debuff.
        • Woe Strike. This one hurt you as a healer.  It does 200% more melee damage to the target, but when you heal the target while under its effect you get hit for about 1300+ damage.  This is a curse and can be removed. 
        • Dark Smash: hits the target big for about 8000-12k damage and then does and AOE effect to the group. Also does a knockback.
        • Shadow Axe: Like Prince the axe will attack someone at random.
          • AOE Healing is very important in this phase.
          • Keep renew, slam PoM whenever it is up and use big heals during large hits.
      • He goes down fast, you just have to survive the damage.

Overall, I have to say I really enjoyed the instance.  It has a great feel to it and it wasn’t difficult at all.  We wiped a couple of times on the first and last boss, but in comparison to my first trip into Ramparts, I found it extremely enjoyable.  Hope this helps!

-Edit-At the request of Rorik, I am adding here the gear I got from the instance.  I got a sweet leveling upgrade to my Light’s Justice that falls, irony enough, from another Prince, it is the Keleseth’s Blade of Evocation

*Image from http://www.tentonhammer.com

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