season-eight-predictions
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Blood Sport: Season eight team compositions
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: Deadmau5 with "Ghosts 'N Stuff." The Mau5 might be a WoW player himself, as evidenced by a somewhat recent facebook post (thanks for the tip, Karl)! Check him out on YouTube if you have the time. I actually had a recent in-game conversation about his brilliant techno electronica; his live stuff is second to none. Last Week: Part VII of our Beginner's Guide to Arena. We talked about seeking out and holding onto arena partners. There's a lot involved in molding a successful arena team. This Week: We'll be discussing season eight team compositions and what they might hold for future trends. Krebosh over on ArenaJunkies has compiled some interesting data about the most successful teams in season eight thus far. I wouldn't normally post on something like this at the start of the season -- after all, we're only two weeks in. A lot of things can change, and any speculation as to trends appearing is purely that -- speculation. However, this is the start of a unique season in our Wrath of the Lich King era. Our beloved resilience has been buffed to all-get-out. Season eight has been prophesied to produce a significant deviation in strategy and composition that we haven't seen in some time.
Breakfast Topic: Your predictions for arena season eight
In season seven, we saw beast cleave (beast mastery hunter + enhancement shaman + holy paladin) win the majority of high-profile tournaments and become quite popular. Very few saw it coming. Beast cleave, of course, got handed several nerfs (only one of which was serious) which many considered a death knell, but the composition is still very strong. Towards the end of season seven, protection warriors (and to a lesser extent, protection paladins) were the new flavor-of-the-month craze. Again, almost no one saw it coming. The new season is slated to be quite different from previous arena seasons in WotLK. Resilience is getting a huge boost in effectiveness, increasing the benefit of wearing PvP gear in arenas. Some people (even on arena junkies) are stating that PvE gear will be even better in PvP because of the change. The idea is that arena players can get away with donning more loot from dragons because the added resilience benefit will make up for the forfeited survivability. While I might be wrong here, that sounds like terrible logic. One gladiator is predicting the shift to more survivability will benefit warlocks, warriors, and druids. The same poster believes mages and rogues will be harmed, while everyone else will keep status quo. So, I ask you, breakfast readers: What are your predictions for arena season eight?
