We hadn't really taken any serious swings at Gruul - knowing it was the type of encounter that required not just complete focus but also an insane amount of dps (ie flasks, pots, oils and food) for the first few kills was kind of a turn off. I'm not against buffing but so far I've kind of enjoyed the laid back feel of TBC. So, slackers that we are, we patiently waited for Blizzard's nerf bat to break Gruul's back so we could pick his pockets while he was down.

And so we did - the fight has been nerfed to the point where your only real issue can be the main tank dying. Gruul does some irregular damage which can result in sudden deaths, but apart from that it's, I think, on the same difficulty level as Maulgar. A decently geared group with a fully buffed tank doesn't have to spend more than a few hours tops on him before they see results. And we found a fresh batch of void crystals! Special mention for *insert name of shaman here* for managing to pull adds on Gruul at 15%. I haven't seen a wipe like that since the days of 'omg who pulled that warder' Onyxia!

Serpentshrine is rapidly approaching. Something tells me that's where the real bloodshed starts. Let's hope there's no adds to pull there!