The Colosseum: You Otter know better

The Colosseum takes us inside the world of the Gladiator (Brutal, Vengeful, Merciless, 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 Netherdrakes.

So, check out Otterpoop from Gorefiend. At the time of this writing, Otter's the 13th rated team in his battlegroup, even though many folks expected the dominance of Death Knights to be over in Season 6. He obviously did pretty well last season. If you consider that he's trucking through two seasons with strong performance, one could easily argue Otter's got a decent finger on what's going on with the Arena.

We were fortunate enough to catch up with Otter, and he spent some time talking to us about how he came to settle on a Death Knight for his Arena character, how he met his Arena partners, and what he thinks will happen with Death Knights in Season 6. Check out what he had to say after the cut.

WoW Insider: Okay, Otter, let's start at the top. Did you play the Arena before last season? What did you play?

Otter: Yes. I did, I played the most FotM (flavor of the month) composition. I played Holy Paladin and Death Knight.

Wow Insider: The Death Kknights premiered in Season 5 -- I guess I should have phrased it, did you play in Burning Crusade?

Otter: Oh, I'm sorry, I must have misundrstood you. Yes, I did. A Druid, Mage, and Rogue.

WoW Insider: Why the switch? Were you bored, or did you think the Death Knight had a better chance for success?

Otter: I had actually cancelled my old account due to boredom. Then a close friend of mine offered to let me try Wrath of the Lich King on his account on Gorefiend. So,. I decided to try out a Death Knight.

WoW Insider: That certainly makes sense. Who was the Holy Paladin? How did you meet him?

Otter: When I started anew on Gorefiend, the first thing I started to do was look out for promising players. I finally found a Paladin that in was in my Guild to play with, first. I got about 1800 with under (roughly) 100 Resilience and 19k health.

But then my partner's account got hacked, so I started spamming the goold, old, faithful trade cahnnel. I finally found someone to play with who seemed promising, and we soon reached 2k rating.

But there was one Holy Paladin named Ipvictory that was 2300 at the time, and who every day, I would bug to play with me. Finally, after much begging, I managed to convince him. Within no time, we were over 2400.

WoW Insider: Noting that kind of success from Season 5, how has it been going for you in Season 6? Did the DK changes affect you as strongly as folks predicted?

Otter: It did not affect me strongly at all. As a matter of fact, I'm only 30 rating below what I was when S5 ended. I believe a person who is good at their class can excel through anything.

WoW Insider: Interesting. What did you to do tune your spec and adjust to the new playstyle?

Otter: I am currently playing with a priest, and I have heard that Frost was the best spec for that comp. So I did some research and copied Yur's and Serennia's spec, then made a mixture of them. After that, I just did a shitload of skirmishes to get used to the new spec and to learn the ups and downs of frost

WoW Insider: Well, with that being the case, there's been a lot made about how Death Knights have been suffering compared to last season. If you've overcome that, what do you think the big differences are?

Otter: The main people who are saying that were bad the previous seasons. The Death Knight is such a scrub friendly class, they have trouble as soon as they get to where you have to press more than 3 buttons.

But overall, I would say the main difference is that you actually have to be in melee range to kill something now instead of 30 yards away spamming Icy Touch.

WoW Insider: In your opinion, who are the dangerous comps this season? Who are the guys that, when you queue, you really don't like seeing on the other side?

Otter: Retribution Paladin and Discipline Priest is a HUGE pain, and so is a good Hunter/Druid team. Basically, though, I cringe at anything with a Retribution Paladin. Some people say that Priest / Rogue Should beat us, but I just don't see how if we execute things almost perfectly.

WoW Insider: What is it about the Retribution Paladin that makes it a pain now, instead of in Season 5?

Otter: Well, Retribution Paladins were always a pain. But now, since you have to go toe to toe with them instead of hitting them with Icy Touch from 20 yards away, it means that they can do obscene amounts of burst damage compared to most other classes

WoW Insider: So, if you were talking to someone new to the Arena, how would you suggest they practice and hone their skills? Battlegrounds, maybe, but what do you think the key is to a good "Rocky"-style montage of PvP training?

Otter: I would say do a shitload of skirmishes while gearing up as soon as possible. Then, once your gear is in the right place, play as many Arena games as possible. It also helps to watch PvP movies to see how people play, and hopefully get some tips off of them.

The Colosseum is an interview series by WoW Insider, meant to reveal 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).