Learning Curves

First of all, apologies for the lack of updates. We're not going away a la Resto4Life. We're just a little lacking with post topics that don't cause our readers to retch from the QQ that oozes from my written words after I continuously fight DK/Lock/Pally teams in 3's as a Resto Druid. Since the game and the players seem to be holding their collective breaths for 3.1, there is this almost palpable pseudo-apathy among the seasoned raiders and arena junkies alike that 'things will be better soon'. Even if it might be remotely similar to joining a cult, I'd like to put myself into that perpetually hopeful state with everyone else and pray for some beneficial changes to the classes I enjoy playing. I hear the juice is quite good, too.

I've been playing with my Priest more and becoming reasonably proficient, or so I thought. A previous Gladiator friend of a friend and I have been talking, theorycrafting, and generally shooting the proverbial shit, when I managed to convince him to try 2's with me on his Ret Paladin. He's a 2400+ player on his Priest that he doesn't play anymore, so I figured I could learn something from him. If anything, the random misogynistic comments that come out of him when something crazy happens always lighten things up.

Even if we didn't do so great, (about even in the 18-1900's) I definitely learned alot from that outing because nothing makes you play better than someone screaming at you, "Why are you standing there?" or "Fear! Fear now!" or "Holy cow, you're so bad!" At least I know now what I'm doing wrong. While I consider myself a reasonably good player, he's definitely a few steps up and one thing that struck me is his explanation of the difference between Gladiators and non-Glad's:

The difference is that there is no thinking at the higher levels. If you don't Freedom the Kidney or Mass Dispel the bubble, as an automatic reaction, you lose. If you have to think about it, you lose.

You know, in retrospect, it's really not that far fetched. How many raiders can do Sarth3D in their sleep now? Probably a ton. What about the Heigan Dance? Probably completable with your eyes closed. Regardless of the activity at hand, it's really a matter of conditioning and strategery.

So, back to 3.1. Let's hope it comes soon and brings a more balanced Season 6. Otherwise, I'm going to pop my Asian racial and finish up leveling the Mage so I can graduate myself from a broken class to a Kalgan approved class. (Kalgan plays a Mage)