Best Life Grip Ever

Oni and I finished our arena yesterday. Frost DK/disc priest. Win-wise we did okay, mostly losing when overpowered ferals burned one of us down. Which, because they’ve been strong for so long, is about half the teams. Thanks, Blizzard. 

Afterward we got Warsong Gulch 2 Lack of Imagination Boogaloo. Whatever that one is called. We capped two flags. Both of us were short on time, especially me. The third flag was back in our room for the win–

And the carrier stopped. He wanted to farm honor for a while. 

We fought for about a minute, then suddenly the BG completed and we had won. 

“Guess he finally got bored,” I said to Oni. 

“Or that’s what happens when I Life Grip the flag carrier onto our flag,” he replied. I looked over to where Oni was standing, frozen as all toons are at the end of a BG. He was on the flag platform. 

And that’s how you take someone’s bad decision, which is going to alter the game for 19 other people against their will, and bring them back into line. Well done, Oni!

Back in the Saddle

Ran a very smooth ZG with the guildies yesterday. Also won BGs on Chilldeed and Chillpaw. Easy and simple. 

Apparently Paranoid beat Baleroc last week, so we are doing quite well.   I look forward to beating him this weekend. 

Trolls, Lightsabers, and Hobbits

Tanked a ZA/ZG yesterday with the guildies. It went very smoothly, with us saving 3 of 4 sacrifices. 

Also got some extra time in, getting a random BG win on Chilldeed and Chillpaw. With Zooe playing the SWTOR beta, and Oni being busy, those are really my only two toons getting regular arena matches right now. And part of that is me; my time has been slightly circumscribed as well. 

Still looking forward to SWTOR. No beta key yet. 

Downloaded LOTRO on a whim. Will install soon; not really planning on being serious about it. 

Simple day

Quiet yesterday. 

We ran ZG but couldn’t figure out the end boss-or at least a technique that would work for us. 

Got a daily BG and a weekly win at TB. Bought Chillblood her head arcanum. And did Therazane dailies. Going for PVE enchant since it gives haste, the best affliction secondary stat.

Two new bosses, and a GM chat

Paranoid got two new bosses down over the weekend: Atramedes and Chimaeron. 

Atramedes felt easy:  we had tried him previously. This time it fell into place, particularly in regards to movement and placement. 

Chimaeron we got by the skin of our teeth. Our healers dialed in the healing needed, and the first time we got him down to the 20% enrage both tanks were on a thimbleful of health. Rubb survived a bit with shields, his own and Teo’s, and I survived a few seconds with my pally bubble.   Then it was a death race, with Chimaeron taking out DPS at a frightening rate. With dots ticking we got him down with one or two raid members standing. 

I also had an interesting chat with a GM. I put in a ticket when a BG popped, but then I was immediately dumped out with the message ‘Cannot enter while an encounter is in progress.’

The GM confirmed that was a bug they were working on. Then I asked if there was a bug where you could queue for a BG and it wouldn’t pop unless you left and queued again. He confirmed that was a bug and said it mostly happened after a BG error. I said either a bunch of my friends and I are all too impatient or it happens a lot more than that. 

He said it can sometimes be cleared by queueing as a group or queueing for a dungeon instead.  He also said this was a known issue they were working on, but that it was a tricky one. I can imagine it is, with all the realms being grouped together. 

Son on a ghostly Pegasus

Aprillian sent the code yesterday, and my son now has a Celestial Steed. 

He really likes it. He says it’s like a ghostly Pegasus, which pretty much nails it. (Nothing like Percy Jackson to foster a basic interest in Greek Mythology.)

My wife worked late last night and couldn’t play. I asked her to log in and check it out, in the morning if possible. 

Meanwhile I worked a bit on Chillpaw. I healed an AB, which we won. It was fun. It was cool getting back into it, as I haven’t healed on him since arenas in late Wrath. In fact that is probably my last healing on any toon. It feels much as it used to. Boy howdy is that Effloresence a mixed blessing in a BG!  Sure, the healing is great, but as soon as it pops even the most thick opponent realizes there is a healer to target nearby-and for the rest of the BG. 

I so rarely get to use the phrase ‘boy howdy.’  In fact that could be the first time. 

Anyway Chillpaw is 82 now and I may also try shadow PVP on Warmheart soon. 

Killing for Gear

The Arena rating has apparently been lifted from all items. Because of this I got Chillhand the 277 shield and am working towards a weapon. 

Because of this, yesterday included a BG, a WG, and multiple randoms on Chillhand. As her gear improves I am getting quite impressed with her abilities. I think that paladins are reasonably good at holding AOE threat even in Wrath content. And her survivability is good. 

I ran a lot with Agi and Oni yesterday. They are both getting good at the new abilities, but still have questions, as I certainly do too. We had fun doing the PvP even without resilience gear. And we were in a solid come-from-behind Arathi Basin. That is one BG where it ain’t over til it’s over. We were down 1500 to 1300 when the Horde took their last nodes to win in a 5-cap.

I don’t think I will be PvPing on Chillhand much in the next expansion. I have had more fun on other toons. But at least I could be useful. Perhaps I’ll change my mind when I do a BG with better gear.