The Colosseum: Twixz
The Colosseum takes us inside the world of the Gladiator (Brutal, Vengeful, Merciless, Furious, and otherwise), to interview some of the top Arena fighters in 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.
Twixz is a successful Arena player who launched his semi-professional Arena career during the Season 5 Arena Tournament. After placing 4th in the official Blizzard tournament with a Paladin/Death Knight/Hunter team, Twixz went on to compete in the MLG Dallas tournament as part of eMg. Twixz's team won that tournament with a Beast Cleave setup.
We were lucky to have Twixz share some thoughts on the current state of the Arena. Check out what he had to say behind the cut!
WoW.com: How do you feel the Resilience change (to reduce all damage) is affecting the overall dynamic in the Arena?
Twixz: The Resilience change (or you could call it the Resilience nerf or the Resilience buff) increased the amount of damage reduced but also made it so you need much higher amounts of resilience in order to get the same percentages of reduction. It does not have much affect on the overall dynamic in Arenas at the moment. With the iLevel of the gear available in the game, the amount of damage being put out is still very high.
Of course, it would be higher if they didn't give Resilience that slight change. But overall not to much has changed.
WoW.com: Which gear do you think has more overall quality -- PvE versus PvP gear? Do you think that's a "fair" dynamic?
Twixz: I feel PvP gear has more overall quality in most situations. While PvE gear can sometimes bring advantages to the table when you know who you are playing against before the gates open, there are very few (if any) classes that wear PvE gear more than PvP gear.
For the most part, I feel like the "fairness" for live play is there. Even though it might be imbalanced at times, I think it is good for live ladders. The current system brings variety to everything.
WoW.com: What do you think is significantly different in Season 7, as opposed to previous seasons?
Twixz: A lot of people will point to the amount of top end damage on the two-handed weapons this season, but I'll take it in another direction. The amount of Spellpower that is being used in Season 7 is getting really high. Casters are dropping players' health bars faster then ever!
Another thing I have been noticing early in Season 7 is the amount of different compositions being played. Most seasons, you see just a few comps over and over and over again. But this season, I honestly have been seeing so many different variations of comps that it's a little surprising.
It is very refreshing to see unique comps being played instead of the same old Tri-Plate Cleave, RLS, RMP (you also must note that I'm talking about my experience on my battlegroup. I'm sure (and I hope) every battlegroup is different in popular comps). Also, I would like to note the amount of damage on two-handed weapons is also very high.
WoW.com: Which classes do YOU feel are lagging behind? Why do you think that is?
Twixz: I don't feel like any one class is lagging too far behind in WotlK. If I had to choose the bottom classes, I guess it would have to be Hunters and Druids right now. But that's only if I'm being forced to choose. Overall, I love the variety and don't see many weak classes.
WoW.com: There's already talk of inflated ratings, due to the way Matchmaking Rating is working. Have you felt any difference?
Twixz: Honestly, I feel MMR (Match Making Rating) is harder to gain then ever. It seems really easy to tank early on in the season. Ratings seem to be steadily capping right now. Although I am sure there will be teams pushing 3k, I do not think it will get way out of hand or anything. Overall, if there is any difference one way or another it seems pretty minimal.
WoW.com: How have you changed your team in the current season?
Twixz: The main changes we have made from the last season to this current season has been changing the healer for our team. Last season, we focused on mainly playing with a priest healing. But as we learned at MLG Dallas, Paladins seemed to add another dimension to the comp. It has been very successful for us to go from just playing Priest to using either Priest and Paladin according to the situation.
WoW.com: Most of our readers will never have attended something like MLG Dallas. How'd you get started doing that? What's it like? (Editor's note: MLG Dallas a high-end gaming tournament, with a significant cash prize.)
Twixz: Our ticket to competitive gaming started out on the Blizzard Tournament Realm in Season 5. We ran Pally/Survival Hunter/Death Knight and qualified in the top 8. (We were 4th place to be exact).
This got us a paid trip to Germany for the US regionals. We then contacted potential organizations for sponsors. We were looking for someone who would possibly pay for us to attend the MLG season if we got invited by MLG.
We found eMg who agreed to pay for us to attend MLG if we represented their company and sponsors. It's been a snowball effect ever since.
The Colosseum is WoW.com's interview series spotlighting strategies, compositions, and tactics from the Arena fighters who use them. For more PvP information, be sure to hit up Blood Sport and the Art of War(craft).
