I realize today that I said I would post back as to whether Guntir and that potential third had done any arenas; well, I got in contact with Guntir and he said that the other guy wanted to do BGs to grind up some gear first. I know what you are thinking: "why not do arenas as well?" That is what went through Guntir's and my head as well, but whatever - we are in no big rush. Hopefully, he and Guntir will get some games in this week and we will know whether it is worth the time and effort or not.

I have been playing a lot of L4D lately. It truly is a fun game that I can pick up and play for an hour of simple fun. The only reason I bring it up is because we have some nomenclature which basically fits the form "dat [something]" when something is done well (or amazingly poorly). For instance, if you land a really slick pounce as a hunter and it ends up costing the other team a health pack (good teams) or you land an instant-kill smoker pull, one would generally say "dat pull" or "dat smoker" or "dat hunter".

"Dat MS"

I got into work this morning and checked my email, like always, and aside from a number of work-related emails that somewhat bothered me, I was pleased as punch to see that Squanky uploaded two more videos [one and two]. Now, aside from the hilarious strategies used and the one teammate who calls the enemy a "banana" (over which I spent minutes laughing), the overwhelming message to take from these videos is that MS is back to its previously OP status. The first video is Squanky's KFC against a Junglecleave of the disco variety, and the big plan was "kill priest till he dead"; it worked perfectly. The second match is against a Shatterplay and the strategy was "kill mage till he dead"; it, too, worked perfectly. In fact, neither of these videos showed any signs that Squanky's team was even feeling pressure from his opponents.

On the one hand, I am glad to see a Wizcleave get beaten, and I would love to hear that melee run-down comps can compete against Wizcleaves again, but I am willing to bet that KFC/TSG/etc are going to come back in favor to the point of being every other team queued... that is an annoying prospect. In fact, I am reasonably certain that a 25% MS is going to spell the death of priest comps (except, interestingly, RMP will come back to favor because of the peels for the priest) and the reemergence of "must have MS to compete". That may sound like a bad thing, but in the long run it will likely be good for all of us without a healing reduction. Recall, Blizzard is testing the grounds for MS et al and seeing if this last effort is the balancing point for which they seek. If not, as I suspect, then likely Blizz will have to do away with the effect forever and balance healing and damage around, wait for it, healing and damage.

This season may be the TSG season (again), but hopefully it will open the doors to a MoP without MS effects.