Well, after yesterday’s concerto for the smallest violin in the world, a happy tale of things gone right. Scarlet Monastery again, which I’m learning actually consists of four separate sub-instances, each with a boss at the end. The line up: Me (Warrior), another Warrior, a Warlock, and…get this…TWO Priests! As you can imagine, I felt somewhat more optimistic about the whole thing as we sallied forth this time.
It went well – I was main tank, which is just as well. I have absolutely no experience as secondary tank, and haven’t a clue what is involved – keeping an eye on runners, DPS and trying not to agro myself, I guess. I’m so used to spamming Threat specials as soon as they light up, that I’m not sure I know how to be inconspicuous anymore. But everyone was on the ball, at the keyboard, knew what to do and could cope well when the unexpected happened. They were a little more anarchic than I’d like, but then again, I sometimes go a bit far with the meticulous planning and footwork; MMO by numbers, and I guess part of the fun is that slightly hectic feel.
They were all in the same guild, which was interesting. This has happened to a few times before, and there is clearly something to be said for repeated teamwork; groups of guildmates are, on average, a great deal more competent than the usual five-random-pick-up group. We made it as far as the second of the four Bosses, some kind of gladiator champion chap. He killed me, but the rest of the party killed him, and it felt like a death worth dying, unlike most. Also, having two priests fighting to resurrect you takes the sting off it a bit. I didn’t win any of the blue shiney dice rolls, but ticked off several steps on a quest that will give me a decent one anyway, but most of all, it was just reassuring to see that these Instances can be, and are, still being done right. Swings and roundabouts, I suppose.
The group then dissolved, as it was quite late – I tend to be a very late night player, but can understand that others might want more sleep than I get. The important thing was that it must have been the first group in a while that parted amicably, rather than amid a harsh series of recriminations and hissy-fits.
They asked, and I accepted, and I’m now in guild number four. We’ll see how that goes, but I’m strangely hopeful this time…