Solving the riddle

Some encounters are just like laying a puzzle or solving a riddle. While you're stuck doing it it seems so hard, almost impossible to do it. And once solved - piece of cake. You just can't understand what kept you from doing it in the first place.

Just like that was our meeting with the third boss in MrT yesterday evening. When I logged on a party from the guild was already there and obviously things weren't going as smoothely as they usually do. This was experienced guys that play a lot and had been doing this instance since patchday, both on their mains and their alts. By now they know how to deal with the bosses.

This time however, they had gotten the worst kind of combination of adds."We're dealing with the ultimate Arena team" one of them complained."We're facing seven mobs today!""What? you must be joking, I said, can there be extra adds from time to time?""Well, including the pet and the minion".

Except for the warlock and the hunter the mob party also consisted of a MS Warrior, a rogue and then the priestess herself. A hard combination for a party that was a little short of cc. While I started out doing my dailies I kept listening to the puzzle laying and the wipes in vent.

Patiently my guildies were exploring every kind of alternative, trying to cc the mobs in different ways, trying new ways to positon, where to trap them, where to take the fight. After over an hour one guy had had enough. You could hear in his voice that he not only was physically tired, but also pretty fed up with puzzle laying. Would I take his spot? I hesitated for a moment. I knew this player was lightyears ahead of me as a player. If they didn't succeed this night with him as a team member, what would be the result if I replaced him? I knew this was a PvPish fight, and while the others were pretty dedicated Arena players, I just suck at it. On the other hand, the leaving party member was a warrior. I was a mage and they obviously lacked cc. Maybe I could be of some use after all? So I accepted.

I wish I could say that we oneshotted the boss after the replacement - that would have strenghtened my confidence - but actually we didn't. I had the privilege to enjoy a few more wipes myself. But on the fourth try or so we actually nailed him! I had been assigned to keep the warrior sheeped all the fight. "Don't you let him go for a second, he hits hard as hell and he'll oneshot you. And he'll stun you so you can't iceblock".This time we tried a new idea, taking down the warlock first of all."He hits hard, but he's weak, we'll take him down in no time at all. And he seems to stand still right in the beginning".Said and done. And suddenly all the pieces of puzzle found their places ever so smoothely. Mob after mob went down, and when we had taken the priestess as number three in the row I was assured that we'd go out from this fight as winners.

The reward was so sweet. You could hear the big smile on the faces over the vent, and although I hadn't been taken part of the struggle the first hour of it, I was as happy as anyone. But happiest of us all must have been the warlock that got his Timbal's Focusing Crystal trinket, after ever so many runs in this instance.Justice, for once, an appropriate reward for the effort!

Best of all, we had done it in a cheerful way, being challenged rather than annoyed. With this attitude I'm convinced we can solve any riddle the game can offer. Tonight Lurker is awaiting us. We'll probably wipe a few times. And then we'll nuke him to death, solving another riddle.