Catasclysm Averted!
TDC has (once again) saved Azeroth. Deathwing is dead. The Cataclysm is averted. The Dragon Aspects are mortal. And Thrall is going to be a baby-daddy. Here's how we got to this point in the story...
The Deathwing encounter is the culmination of the Dragon Soul raid instance, and is a fight that puts any raid team to the test. Add control, buff management and tactics, environmental awareness and movement all are critical in navigating this encounter effectively. The battle takes place near the Maelstrom, with the four Dragon Aspects in support of the final assault on Deathwing. Each of the Aspects provides a buff, and as you move from island to island killing tentacles attacking each aspect you lose the buff provided by that aspect, making the fight more difficult as you continue. Adds are summoned on each island which require rapid destruction, making target switching paramount. Once the fourth island is cleared of tentacles, the raid must move back to the original island to attack Deathwing's head, while managing a new mess of adds (which if not killed quickly damage the raid beyond healing ability). This last 20% is hairy, as the raid most manage the adds all the while keeping dps on the head to beat the enrage timer. A challenging fight to say the least, and a good encounter to bring the story of the Cataclysm to a close.
This is the last (normal) raid encounter scheduled for the Cataclysm expansion. It's been a fun time raiding, with TDC performing better than ever, clearing each of the raid tiers when current. We will continue to explore DS on heroic modes, and may go back and have fun with some earlier encounters we didn't experience. Great job everyone!