Hello,
I preface this by saying that I am well aware that Chromaggus is one of the harder bosses on this server and has been already nerfed to be manageable by solo bots and I know that the powers that be are already on the fence about "nerfing" him any further. But considering how frigging joke Nefarian is compared to this guy. I don't see why not work on this guy a bit more.
Problem:
Anyway, as non-vip andy who has had previously no problem soloing chromaggus even with 2 breaths. The combo of 2 breaths with one of them being the Acid breath is way too much for the bot healers who already struggle with dispels and mana conservation during the fight. Especially Horde side. The healers constantly over heal the DoT dmg of the Acid breath leading to bad mana conservation in a fight that demands mana conservation. Also the DPS loss because of bronze debuff stun and LoS micro is too much in a fight that demands good dps so that the healers do not run out of mana too early. The fights usually end in a wipe in 2 scenarios. Tank(s) die due to healers going OOM or the dispels fail and mind controlled raid members heal the boss.
Possible solution:
Basically the bots cannot beat the dps check before healers run out of mana due to the massive dmg the tanks take from the Acid breath dot+armor debuff and DPS loss from being stunned by the bronze debuff. I wouldn't remove any breaths. But I would try to solve it by filling the bot's inventory with a stack of Hourglass Sand so that they can dispel the bronze debuff from themselves.
I don't know how hard it would be to make the bots do that, but not only would this mimic actual player's interaction, but it would make the fight soloable without crossing fingers for good breath rng. It would also open up more variety in raid composition since casters can become more viable when they can dispel their own bronze debuff.
Edit: Another simple, more straigtforward nerf is to simply remove Chromaggus' Enrage at <20%. But I don't think that is necessary IF bots could use Hourglass Sand.
So, I don't know how any of this works (bot programming), but bots could already spawn with Hourglass Sand in their inventories and be programmed to use them when they have the bronze debuff.
I also on principle don't believe that having a VIP for the extra dps is a viable solution for content that is advertised to be soloable. Unless of course, its advertised to be soloable IF you have VIP.
I have no problem microing the bots as it is fun. But this isn't fun. And I think I might have to wait for next reset and wish for a more lenient breath composition.
Of course the flip side is that the boss can roll 1 breath or 0 breaths or 2 breaths with fire and freeze breaths. These are all doable. But a combo of Acid breath plus another breath every 30 seconds is too much for the Horde side healers.
Thanks. This server is everything I've wished for so far.
Chromaggus fine tuning
Re: Chromaggus fine tuning
Hello! I'm new here as I just started about a week ago but I've finally run into the same issue as you have with Chromaggus being the first real roadblock for me personally. This really is an excellent write up and covers pretty much every issue I was facing as well. As a Non-VIP I've been able to complete most leveling dungeons without fault and the entirety of MC, ZG, and Onyxia raids without any issues and for the most part it felt like smooth sailing up until BWL. I noticed a few pulls leading up to the boss itself to be quite challenging but the topic at hand is Chromaggus and he takes the cake thus far. I think I may of done at least 20 attempts using the line-of-sight strategy with healers and having the melee move to your position every 30 seconds to avoid the breathes but each attempt is failure. I at least got him to enrage a few times and had him as low as 6% at one point but truthfully it feels far more challenging than it should be. Either everything else was very easy by comparison or something is going on here that needs to be looked into - keep in mind this is from a non-vip point of view. Apparently I am also unlucky with my first attempt being a "double breath" fight which might be complicating my issues but nonetheless I have really enjoyed all the content prior to this fight as far as balance goes. This server still remains my favorite among all the Vanilla WoW adaptations out there and despite Chromaggus being a bit disheartening I still plan to continue to experience the other content and enjoy seeing how far my bot management skills take me.
TL:DR Chromaggus as a Non-vip is harder than any boss in MC, ZG, or Ony and it isn't even close
Edit - Week two I was able to successfully take him down. Without double breaths (Ice/Acid) it was much more manageable but still the most challenging boss prior to Naxx or AQ40 for me personally.

TL:DR Chromaggus as a Non-vip is harder than any boss in MC, ZG, or Ony and it isn't even close
Edit - Week two I was able to successfully take him down. Without double breaths (Ice/Acid) it was much more manageable but still the most challenging boss prior to Naxx or AQ40 for me personally.