Posted on Mar 11, 2010 under PvP |
Filed under: Events, Blizzard, PvP
Hey North American players, want to PvP with Blizzard’s QA staff? They sure seem to have been doing a lot of these lately. Your next chance is tomorrow, Thursday the 11th, on the PTRs, so get your strategies ready. The details:
- Anasterian realm (but players on Broxigar can participate too by queueing for randoms)
- 3-11-2010, 4:00 PM PST
- Queue for a random battleground
- The Blizz staff will be in the guild ‘Blizzard’ Horde-side, and the guild ‘Blizzard QA’ Alliance-side.
Who’s going to try their hand against the boys in blue? Get your PTR transfers in now if you haven’t already. And yes, I know our dear friend Mr. Street isn’t in the QA department, but I just love these Ghostcrawler shops. He’s poking Skeletor in the eye, and He-Man in the nostril! So hardcore.
PvP with Blizzard QA tomorrow originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted on Mar 11, 2010 under PvP |
Filed under: PvP, Blood Sport (Arena PvP)
Want to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of their women? Blood Sport investigates the entirety of all-things arena for gladiators and challengers alike. C. Christian Moore, multiple rank 1 gladiator, examines the latest arena strategy, trends, compositions and more in WoW.com’s arena column.
Listening Music: Fix You, the author’s favorite Coldplay song. The best part of this performance, the “crowd run,” happens 3 minutes into it. Watch it, if just for that.
Last Week: Last week, we discussed the racials of blood elves, undead, and trolls, oh my! The last two Blood Sport articles look at racial abilities from a perspective of effectiveness in the arena.
This Week: We’ll be discussing racials, for the third (and last) week straight. A lot of arena players would rather play without racials entirely. On ArenaJunkies, there are lots of people who subscribe to a nerf movement every few weeks and add a little signature or avatar in to say “nerf Will of the Forsaken” or “nerf Every Man For Himself.” What if racials got removed? Would WoW be better or worse because of it?
I have an opinion on it that I’m going to share with you — hopefully you’ll agree. So let’s weigh some arguments for removing racials…
Cons (removing racials would be bad):
Identity
The forsaken just wouldn’t be the same without those three translucent exclamation points. Before I played WoW, I saw a video of an orc using Blood Fury, and I was amazed. The animation looks so cool, and you can get it at level one! Every time I see a tauren shaman run to me, I instinctively jump behind a pillar. It’d be hard for me to get it out of my system that he can’t War Stomp anymore.
Continue reading Blood Sport: Should racials be removed?
Blood Sport: Should racials be removed? originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted on Mar 11, 2010 under PvP |
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, PvP, The Colosseum
The Colosseum takes us inside the world of the Gladiator (Relentless, Furious, Deadly, Brutal, Vengeful, Merciless, and otherwise), to interview some of the top Arena fighters on the battlegroups. Our goal is to bring a better understanding of the strategy, makeup, and work that goes into dueling it out for fame, fortune, and Frostwyrms. We’re especially focused on the people who play these games, to further shed light on the world of the PvP player. If you’d like to be interviewed for The Colosseum, please feel free to contact us — be sure to include your armory as a link!
This week, WoW.com had the pleasure of interviewing Diziet of Lightning’s Blade, a healer who plays a 2500+ rated druid-warlock-death knight 3v3 composition. He also balances competitive road cycling and a PvP blog on Elitist Jerks on the side! Diziet had a lot to say about arena and WoW PvP, in addition to some other things that might surprise you.
WoW.com: Why do you play restoration druid? What is it about the class’s toolbox that appeals to you for competitive arena?
Diziet: I started playing a druid late in season three. I was overwhelmed by the extensive mobility and flexibility of the druid and warlock classes, having played a mage. The concept of playing a flexible class with a seemingly never ending repertoire of abilities was a very different experience than that of playing a mage during late season 3.
Druids provided, and still provide, a great and easy to use amount of ‘raw power’, an amazing amount of healing output usable on the move. That was a very different and powerful play style rewarding basic and strong gameplay. Back then, and still now, druids could just stand in the open and out heal any kind of caster without casting a single spell, based on hots alone.
I always stuck with a very defensive style of gameplay on my druid, utilizing tree form even in The Burning Crusade days. I would try to watch for any kind of hints of target switches or incoming crowd control spells from my opponents and I would try my best to prevent or negate them by doing simple things such as moving away, out of LoS (Line of Sight), or by putting hots before damage came.
Back during TBC, druids had the ability to either play a more control based playstyle with feral charge (a tool I utilized a lot) or with a restokin spec to provide damage (something similar to what priests might do now). I enjoyed those play styles quite a bit too, especially in the 2v2 and 3v3 brackets. With the talent tree changes in WotLK, I was forced to play a more one-dimensional but effective play style.
So, in a nutshell, I was attracted by the raw power of the class (in terms of heal per second, heal per global cooldown, and heal per mana), and used it to build a very defensive healing style.
Continue reading The Colosseum: Diziet, Brutal Gladiator druid
The Colosseum: Diziet, Brutal Gladiator druid originally appeared on WoW.com on Sun, 07 Mar 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted on Mar 11, 2010 under PvP |
Filed under: Rogue, Analysis / Opinion, PvP, The Art of War(craft) (PvP)
Zach broke up this week’s The Art of War(craft) covering rogues because, well, those rogues are darned sneaky! So sneaky that they surprised him with more secret information than he was expecting to write about. So read quickly. Because those rogues have sent all their best operatives to go all Ninja Assassin on Zach’s sorry butt. Read and make it worth the sacrifice.
Rogues. The one class that everybody can truly agree to hate. Or maybe that was the paladin… I forget. Anyway, today we pick up where we left off in this introductory guide on how to deal with those sneaky little scoundrels. In the first part of the guide, we took a look at the most commonly used abilities of rogues in PvP. Today, we’ll talk a little about how the class works and why this defines their limitations and playing style. A deeper understanding of how the class works should give you a better idea of how to handle them.
Combo points
Rogues have a unique class mechanic called combo points, with two sets of abilities that either grant them or consume them and scale according to how many combo points are on a target. The more combo points on a target, the most devastating the effect of their finishing ability. This means that rogues are basically single-target killing machines. Once a rogue chooses a target, they have tunnel vision on that target until that target is dead or are forced to change.
What does this mean for PvP? This essentially means rogues can’t switch targets as easily as other classes. It penalizes them. They won’t lose the combo points when they select another target, but combo points are lost when they apply even a single point on someone else. A rogue focusing on one of your allies is a great target for you because you’re sure to get a lot of free damage in with little fear that she will switch quickly. Rogues are trained through their leveling to keep at one target until it’s dead before moving on to the next one, with very few AoE options, Fan of Knives notwithstanding. After the jump, I’ll break down a list of builders, or strikes that grant combo points, and finishers, or abilities that consume them.
Continue reading Introductory guide to fighting rogues, Part 3
Introductory guide to fighting rogues, Part 3 originally appeared on WoW.com on Sun, 07 Mar 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted on Mar 06, 2010 under PvP |
Filed under: Rogue, Analysis / Opinion, PvP, The Art of War(craft) (PvP)
Uh-oh. Rogues. Those sneaky little bastards could be anywhere. Out of all the classes in the game, there is perhaps no class no more feared for their PvP prowess than rogues. Rogues gain a fearsome reputation by virtue of the nature of the class alone — they can Stealth. Because of rogues, everyone has to literally watch their backs. No place is safe because a rogue can be lying in lurking in some dark corner waiting to strike at the proper time. Through years of leveling in a PvP server, there is no sound in the game more unsettling than the low humming whoosh of a nearby stealthed rogue. In fact, rogue (and by extension, feral druid) stealth is the single biggest reason why I don’t PvP with music on.
And for rogues, it’s all about timing. In the Battlegrounds, it isn’t uncommon to find rogues preying on the weak, those low on life, the defenseless players eating or drinking. They can’t help it. It’s in their nature. The class encourages foul play through Stealth and a wonderful repertoire of attacks from behind. Rogues are at their best when catching their opponents off guard and are extremely capable of doing so. After the jump, we’ll take a closer look at the basic things to expect when fighting a rogue regardless of their spec.
Continue reading The Art of War(craft): Introductory guide to fighting rogues
The Art of War(craft): Introductory guide to fighting rogues originally appeared on WoW.com on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted on Mar 06, 2010 under PvP |
Filed under: PvP, Blood Sport (Arena PvP)
Want to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of their women? Blood Sport investigates the entirety of all-things arena for gladiators and challengers alike. C. Christian Moore, multiple rank 1 gladiator, examines the latest arena strategy, trends, compositions and more in WoW.com’s arena column.
Listening Music: New Slang, by The Shins. My wife turned me on to The Shins maybe ~5 years ago and I’ve loved them and the genre ever since. This live version is raw and beautiful, even if a little slow.
Last Week: We talked about Alliance racials and why Humans are overpowered. Check it out if you have the time.
This Week: We’ll be discussing Horde racials in arena. I’ve included power-rankings as well. Let me know if you think I’m spot-on or way-off.
Tauren
War Stomp: Activate to stun opponents – Stuns up to 5 enemies within 8 yards for 2 seconds. 2 minute cooldown.
This might just be personal bias, but I absolutely love War Stomp. It’s a racial that is often under-utilized — I see PvPers trying to use it defensively a lot of times. This thing is nothing short of an extra stun in a kill-target lockdown repertoire. It can also double as a silence to interrupt healers.
While War Stomp isn’t strictly better than Arcane Torrent, it comes pretty close. War stomp has a .5 second cast time, but works on everyone (silencing melee doesn’t do that much). The .5 second cast time can actually be a benefit, as you have more time off the global cooldown once the ability affects your target.
For an active racial (as opposed to a passive racial), it doesn’t get any better than War Stomp.
Continue reading Blood Sport: Horde racials
Blood Sport: Horde racials originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 02 Mar 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted on Mar 06, 2010 under PvP |
Filed under: Warrior, PvP, Interviews, The Colosseum
The Colosseum takes us inside the world of the Gladiator (Relentless, Furious, Deadly, Brutal, Vengeful, Merciless, and otherwise), to interview some of the top Arena fighters on the battlegroups. Our goal is to bring a better understanding of the strategy, makeup, and work that goes into dueling it out for fame, fortune, and Frostwyrms. We’re especially focused on the people who play these games, to further shed light on the world of the PvP player. If you’d like to be interviewed for The Colosseum, please feel free to contact us — be sure to include your armory as a link!
Warriors in arena seem to be all the rage these days. We were pleased to interview Tredd, a front-page warrior who plays multiple team compositions in 3v3. Read on to see what Tredd has to say about the state of arena!
WoW.com: Why do you play warrior? What is it about the class’s toolbox that appeals to you for competitive arena?
Tredd: To me, warriors are one of the most prime classes when it comes to dealing damage and keeping up the pressure. This is mostly due to the rage mechanic, which allows me to keep using abilities and not having the weakness of having to drink. Also, our incredibly good defensive measures with Shield Block + Shield Wall and Spell Reflect make the class very versatile when going head to head with any other class.
WoW.com: Why do you play arms instead of protection?
Tredd: I currently run arms mostly for the comps I play — Mortal Strike is more effective than prot’s fifty billion stuns. I do, however, enjoy protection PvP as much as Arms. I can’t really say more than that, since prot has Warbringer Intervene vs. Bladestorm etc.
Continue reading The Colosseum: Tredd, warrior of Auchindoun
The Colosseum: Tredd, warrior of Auchindoun originally appeared on WoW.com on Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted on Mar 01, 2010 under PvP |
Filed under: PvP, The Daily Quest
Here at WoW.com we’re on a Daily Quest (which we try to do every day, honest) to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere. Is there a story out there we ought to link or a blog we ought to follow? Just leave us a comment and you may see it here tomorrow!
If you’re interested in PvP battlegrounds, you’re probably aware that patch 3.3.3 is turning the system on its head — completely removing Marks of Honor as well as increasing honor gains across the board. Have a bank full of the things? Well, we’ve got good news for you — at present on the PTR you can convert them to honor at the rate of 2000 honor per mark. Combine that with the recent explanation of Wintergrasp mechanics and what have you got? A lot of excitement about PvP battlegrounds. Here’s what’s making the rounds of the blogosphere.
The Daily Quest: PvP edition originally appeared on WoW.com on Fri, 26 Feb 2010 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted on Mar 01, 2010 under PvP |
Filed under: Priest, Analysis / Opinion, PvP, The Art of War(craft) (PvP)
Zach broke up this guide to fighting priests in personal-sized helpings similar to how he’d slice up a banoffee pie for your devouring convenience. But also mostly because his head felt like it had just been hit by a Mind Blast.
Yesterday we took a look at priests and their most commonly used abilities in PvP regardless of spec. Today we’ll get a little more specific and break down the three basic specs and their abilities in tactics. This should answer some folks’ question about why I didn’t mention Penance, which is arguably the most used priest heal on the battlefield. The answer, of course, is that Penance is the last tier discipline talent and not every priest will have access to it. You see someone in Shadowform, they’re not going to be using Penance. You see someone toss a Guardian Spirit — another awesome angel wing graphic spell — they’re not going to be using Penance. Now that we’ve got that little detail out of the way, let’s jump right into the different kinds of priests you’ll be encountering in the Battlegrounds.
The cool thing about the Battlegrounds as opposed to Arenas is that there’s a lot more spec flexibility. The relaxed environment allows for more freedom to play the spec you want to play as opposed to the spec you need to play in order to be optimal for competition. For priests, in particular, this means the freedom to play any of the three specs as opposed to necessarily speccing discipline in order to enjoy success in PvP. For you, the would-be priest-slayer, this means that you should expect to see priests of all kinds in play.
Continue reading Introductory guide to fighting priests, Part 2
Introductory guide to fighting priests, Part 2 originally appeared on WoW.com on Fri, 26 Feb 2010 19:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted on Mar 01, 2010 under PvP |
Filed under: News items, PvP
Taking place tomorrow from 4:00 p.m. PST / 7:00 p.m. EST until 6:30 p.m. PST / 9:30 p.m. EST is another chance for you to engage in PvP combat with Blizzard employees on the U.S. PTR. The Community Team and Quality Assurance team will queue up via the Random Battleground Finder and fight the pleabes in this battle royale. Want to show Zarhym how much you love him? Now’s your chance!
Also taking place tomorrow is the twitter developer chat with Cory Stockton and Greg Street, so you won’t have an opportunity to exact revenge on Ghostcrawler for nerfing your class to the ground (baby). But there’s certainly a lot of potential for some community engaged WoW fun tomorrow.
In general the blues on the PTR can be quite entertaining… especially when they decide to start turning people into toads and chickens. Good times!
Ujumqin — PvP a Blizzard Employee
Hey all,
Ever wanted to Pwn a Blizzard employee in WoW PvP? Now’s your chance because [today] from 4:00PM to 6:30PM (PST) a few of us will be queuing up for BGs via the new Random Battleground Finder on the US [PTR] realms! Bring your main/alt/premade and show us what you got!
What: Random Battleground Finder
Who: Blizzard Community Team and Blizzard QA
Place: US Servers Broxigar and Anasterian
Time: 4:30 – 6:30 PST
Date: 2-26-2010
(Note: Time/Event is subject to change.)
P.S. Zarhym: We totally won’t replace the Wyvern with an Orc or Onyxia or something. For real. We’ll behave. Promise. Just ask Ghostcrawler.
PvP with Blizzard today originally appeared on WoW.com on Fri, 26 Feb 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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