The Grinch Round Two

So it was brought to my attention that the Greench fight was a bit harder than I let on.  So this morning I took one of my tougher characters to test it out solo.

Hópe - level 85 Enhancement  Shaman IL 365.

With all the tricks and tools a shaman has she can really work wonders being the first character I played that could solo Problem and deal with other difficulties the game tosses at me.

The result?

Well it didn't go too badly but it was a struggle like Problem was.  In fact I am reasonably sure he would of killed me if not for two things.  First he has a habit of forgetting his target and hopping around giving me time to heal.  The second was that help in the form of a hunter needing the quest showed up.

I had the health bars on so I could watch the pet's health and that's when I noticed something curious.  The pet is a 'Tank' pet, the Tenacity pets having defenses much like a player tank would only a bit weaker.  That turtle both took the its and avoided damage better than Hope.  Hmm perhaps my idea of the fight was skewed by the fact when I did it alone I was a Tank.

To the Paladin Robbin!

Ris an IL 362 Protection Paladin will be our next test subject.  Got buffed, ready and...um.
wait no you cant ugh.. stun locked frozen twice and splat.


Ahem.  So that had to be luck right?  Right?

Round two went better only because another hunter showed up.  Again their pet took far less damage and shrugged off what they did take faster than I could.  but I did manage to collect some data.

Ris
Damage from The Abominable Greench
2 fights
120,550 Melee
79,200 Abominable Crush
31,714 Cleave

Hope

Damage from The Abominable Greench
1 Fight
130,515 Cleave
116,435 Melee

So...huh.  Looks like I had a fluke my first run through.  I wonder how my hunter will do, wearing armor that's 'like so totally yesterday's'.

Nightwill, Beastmaster Hunter IL 355
Well my pet was better able to take the damage, and I can see where if I had top gear it would be able to tank the enemy without needing much help.  The heal from growl combined with Mend Pet was pretty awesome.

Of course that didn't stop him from stunlocking me and well the picture tells the story.

A priest showed up and attacked as I was dying and another hunter had weighed in while I was running back, add a warrior and he was easily finished off.

Given that they have removed the group quests from the game and the very minor rewards from fighting this guy I am wondering why he was so overtuned.  Unless you have some really well geared characters your basically screwed on getting him done - forced to hang around and hope that someone shows up and feels like working together.  This is retro thinking on Blizzard's part.

So unless you happen to need the pet really badly he probably isn't worth the danger and potential boredom.  If you just have to have it, and I know Ill keep doing him on my one pet collector each day, then be careful.

Well there is a very rare epic dagger you can sell/use too.

Miniature Winter Veil Tree
BOE
One-Hand Dagger
695-1291 DMG 1.80 Speed
551.8 DPS
+174 Agility
+262 Stamina
Durability 80/80
Requires level 85
Item level 378
Equip: Increases Your Hit Rating By 110
Equip: Increases Your Haste Rating By 110