My first TR, level 15: Oh Gianthold, where is thy sting?

Well! Thanks to some sound advice offered on my previous post I've finally got enough Challenge loot to buy my boots. Originaly I had hoped to do the masterful craftsmanship ritual on them so they'd be minimum level 14 (instead of 16) but now that I'm almost 16 anyway I'm gonna belay that goal until my next TR.

So now I'm running through the Gianthold. Last time I was here I enjoyed the GH but it seemed so dangerous and and my DPS seemed too low to make much of a difference. Now it seems too easy, not only do I have all the raid gear available, but I've been getting so much xp from my other new packs (Vault of Night, Demon Sands) that I didn't even start doing Gianthold quests (level 13) until I was overlevel (level 15). But even with all that, I still had two deaths in the GH which I'd like to recount.

First was in the Crucible. We had three evasion characters and they all died in the water. So for fun I stripped of my heavy plate paladin gear and jumped in, fully expecting to die. I didn't even put on my waterbreathing stuff because I don't carry waterbreathing stuff. Anyway, I made it all the way to the end, and then turned left instead of right and died on a bunch o' spikes. Super fun, makes me want to try again some time.

The other should have been death but I was saved by a healer. At the end of "A cry for help" I ran, recklessly into one of the end chambers with the drawbridge and the archers up top. I had been mostly invincible on my fancy-pants TR Paladin tank. But that room was crazy! Within seconds I was nearly out of HP and then I fell into the water so I couldn't use my Unyielding Soverignty or Lay on Hands. Lucky for me someone healed me long enough to get myself out of the water so I could take care of myself again.

Honestly, I'm not really enjoying Gianthold very much this time around. I should have tackled it when I was lower level. That said, I'd never part with my beloved THARNE'S GOGGLES and LIT II Greensteel Dwarven axes (note, plural! I've got two!). Tharnes is great because it has true seeing -- the perfect solution to the problem of displaced mobs. And the LIT II Dwarf Axes are great for basicaly everything. Oh sure, I could probably find something more ideal for this or that niche, but basicaly LIT II is perfect for most things, and none too shabby for everything else.

 I guess when I look forward to fun stuff in DDO's future, I'm mostly looking forward to Hound of Xoriat and Vision of Destruction. I had alot of fun in those raids but I haven't run them for a long time. I'm not an ideal tank, but I hope that I'll be ok in a pinch. Also the new Lolith stuff is for level 15+ and so I'm perfectly situated to enjoy that when it goes live. I also bought the new house Cannith quest pack, I don't know what's in there but that should be fun when I'm at level 18+. So all and all, it looks like I'm gonna enjoy playing DDO for another year at least. :)