As often happens the first day of LFR, I got in on the second boss of the new two-boss raid. Crucible of Storms actually has a fairly long stretch of tough trash before the final boss, as you fight essentially through a part of N'zoth's body to get to the chamber where the quests that led up to it took place.
On LFR, Uu'nat is not terribly complicated form a tanking perspective. In fact, the best advice I can give following our run was that tanks should actually just not use the special item that you are given - the Trident will create an absorption shield that is useful for surviving massive raidwide damage, but the price you pay is that when it expires, any remaining absorption it has is dealt to the raid as frost damage. Because LFR damage is relatively low, you're unlikely to burn through the shield fast enough, and so when it expires it will just kill everyone.
There's actually a mechanic that makes it easier on the tanks, which is that when you get the tank-swap debuff, the N'raqi adds will actually fixate on you - making it pretty easy to round them up. The main thing is that you need to keep them away from the boss so they don't reduce the damage it takes.
Honestly, there's a lot going on here that I think as a tank I didn't get much of a chance to witness, but the lore implications are really interesting.
Over and over, our interactions with N'zoth suggest we're actually doing what he wants us to do. Uu'nat even resignedly says that they'll have to find better champions if he wipes the raid - as if his purpose is to prove you worthy to N'zoth.
Now, we've gotten some spoilers from the 8.2 PTR that suggest we've been mislead throughout this expansion, though it remains to be seen exactly how the various aspects of the story feed into one another.
I do feel 95% convinced N'zoth will be BFA's final boss, but given how this is an eons-old eldritch abomination who, even among other eldritch abominations whose M.O.s are subtle, behind-the-scenes manipulation, is famous for clever tactics and subterfuge, I really have to wonder if we can ever be convinced we're actually foiling his plans.
Let's get into spoiler territory: (SPOILERS FOR 8.2 AHOY)
The Eternal Palace raid seems to be a case of Azshara coaxing us through the instance, eager to let us attack - indeed, it's odd that the raid opens up almost immediately after the patch, at least as planned.
We discover, perhaps during her boss fight, that she has actually lured us to use the Heart of Azeroth to shatter ancient Titan chains - probably like those ones in Ulduar - that have held N'zoth imprisoned for ages. If Azshara dies or not in the raid is still unknown, but it seems that her defeat is all part of the plan.
Theoretically we'll try to prevent N'zoth from achieving his grand plan, but...
Is he trying to get us to kill him to accomplish some greater plan?
We'll really have to see, and probably won't until the end of the 8.3 raid, but I'm really keeping a close eye on this situation.
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