Hateful-Gladiator
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Arena Season 6 details revealed
Blizzard Europe poster Ancilorn posted the lowdown on Arena Season 6 (Bornakk posted the same on the US forums), which is slated to begin at around the same time that Patch 3.1 is released. There will be some key changes to this season, the biggest of which will be that all teams will start at 0 rating instead of the traditional 1500. This way, players will generally have an upward progression throughout the season before plateauing at their estimated skill level.Another change is that Blizzard has reevaluated the item requirements, feeling that many of them were too difficult to obtain. The lowest rating requirement for an item is currently set at 1250, which may seem low but considering players will be progressing from 0, that's a 1250 point spread. In Season 5, the lowest rating requirement is 1615, which is a mere 115 points from the starting point of 1500. It remains to be seen how much of the continually changing Arena system will award points and how easy or hard it will be to move upwards from 0. More details on the ratings after the jump.
Arena Season 6: Rise of the Furious Gladiator
Kalgan hopped on over to the forums to make a significant post that previews what can happen in Arena Season 6, the tiers of gear available, and what will happen to the Vault of Archavon. One of my fears going into the next Arena Season was that Archavon the Stone Watcher would lose his relevance, as he drops significantly lower tier gear a full season behind the current one. This would have greatly devalued control of Wintergrasp. However, Kalgan reveals that a new boss in another wing of the Vault of Archavon will drop the Furious Gladiator pieces. He makes no mention of past season's gear, and says that the new boss' loot table will be structured slightly differently drom Archavon's. This could mean that the 10-man version can drop the Honor-bought non-set pieces rather than a lower tier of Arena gear and notes that the boss will not drop the chest piece. In the same post, he pegs the chest piece at a 1750 rating requirement, which should probably indicate that the boss will not drop items with a higher requirement (head, shoulder, weapon, etc.). This is an important announcement that ensures the relevance of Wintergrasp. The boss is also expected to drop Tier 8 pieces, making it equally appealing to PvE players.
Wrath 101: PvP welfare gear
With gear upgrades these days being so easy to come by, I'm not so sure 'welfare epics' is such an accurate term for PvP gear anymore. That said, Arena Season 5 started the other day without so much as a whimper. It kind of crept in quietly, without even a patch to go along with it. I'm sure it's taken a few players by surprise to see so many new PvP gear available from different sources that it can get confusing. I know I wrote about it in an old post, but quite a bit has changed since Beta, and some things don't quite apply. Don't worry, we're here to help you make sense of it all.First of all, in the new PvP rewards system there are three tiers of PvP gear. The Savage Gladiator, Hateful Gladiator, and Deadly Gladiator are equivalent to Level 80 dungeon blues, 10-man raid epics, and 25-man raid epics respectively, with a lot of item points thrown in the way of Resilience and sometimes Stamina. These items aren't the best for PvE, so gear accordingly. You'll be wasting a lot of item points by way of Resilience, so keep in mind that all this new gear is best for your Battleground and Arena pursuits.
UPDATED: Season 5 FAQ
Just like that, Arena Season 5 sprang upon Wrath of the Lich King. Even though Blizzard already made the announcement, it still feels kind of sudden. If Season 5 caught you with your pants down (we really hope not), then let's get you up to speed with what's happening in the latest and (hopefully) the greatest Arena season yet. Here's a quick FAQ about the new Arena Season 5.NOTE: Most of these answers are based on information taken from the Patch 3.0.8 PTR, such as gear availability and ratings requirements. If the items don't show up when servers go live today, this post will be updated when they finally do.At what level can I join Arenas?You can enter Arena skirmishes at any level, with brackets at Level 71-75 and 76-80. However, only Level 70 and Level 80 players may participate in rated Arena matches, acquire personal and team ratings, and earn Arena Points to purchase Arena gear. Only Level 80 players are eligible for end-of-season rewards such as titles and possible new 310% speed flying mounts, although none have been announced or found in the data files as of this writing.
Season 5 FAQ continued
Is it true that all Arena and Honor PvP gear require Arena ratings now?No, although the very best ones do. Savage Gladiator gear are excellent rare quality items that require no Arena points to purchase but cost quite a lot of Honor. These items are also purchasable with Emblems of Heroism, so players don't even have to participate in a single Battleground or Arena match in order to buy them. [EDITED: Removed all reference to Arena requirements for Savage Gladiator gear]Hateful Gladiator items require more Honor and Arena points and decent performance in Arenas... if you choose to buy them from an Arena Vendor. The gloves, chest, and leg pieces all drop from 10-man Archavon, so you can get Hateful Gladiator items from sheer luck. All Hateful Gladiator pieces, including the shoulders and head, are purchasable with Emblems of Valor. Most casual players will have a shot at Hateful Gladiator gear even without having an Arena team simply by joining a 10-man Archavon PUG.Even Deadly Gladiator items, the best of the best PvP has to offer, can drop off the 25-man version of Archavon, so again players needn't worry about Arena ratings. The only real pieces that require any true participation and dedication to Arena play are the Deadly Gladiator weapons, and head and shoulder pieces. These are not available through any other avenue but Arena points and personal and team ratings of 2030 or higher.So contrary to what many players have been crying about, this ironically makes Season 5 the most casual-friendly season and allows even complete carebears to run around in full PvP gear. It makes no sense, but the system is actually much more accessible than any other season before it.But what about the filler pieces like the belt, boots, and bracers?Hateful Gladiator Honor pieces do not require any Arena ratings but cost quite a bit of Honor and can be bought in the Hall of Legends in Orgrimmar or the Champion's Hall in Stormwind from the Apprentice Armor Quartermasters. Deadly Gladiator Honor pieces only cost Honor (no Arena Points required) but have moderate personal and team ratings. This means that players wanting the absolute best PvP filler gear must participate successfully in Arenas in order to purchase an Honor item. Note that since no Arena points are required, players need only to play enough games to raise his or her personal and team rating to the required level and purchase the item. Since personal and team ratings are calculated live, players can become eligible to purchase items as soon as their ratings change with every match.Should I even bother with Savage Gladiator gear?It could be much worse. Savage Gladiator items are several steps above the craftable PvP sets but inferior to the easily obtainable Hateful Gladiator gear. With persistence and luck, it's far easier to get Hateful Gladiator pieces off 10-man Archavon or even Deadly Gladiator from the 25-man if you get into a group. It will take much longer (you can only try Archavon once a week) but if you shun PvP, it's definitely the best route.On the other hand, Savage Gladiator items confer the Gladiator bonuses, which the craftable PvP sets lack. It also has higher Resilience and Stamina as well as sockets. Honor is extremely fast at Level 80 and it's possible to get over 10,000 Honor in a day casually playing Wintergrasp and some Battlegrounds. It will take some time considering the cheapest piece, the gloves, cost 50,000 Honor. I recommend pursuing the shoulder and head pieces first if you are eyeing Savage Gladiator at all. [EDITED: Removed all reference to Arena requirements from Savage Gladiator gear]Where are the Savage and Hateful Gladiator weapons?Good question. It seems like Blizzard has decided to restrict Gladiator weapons to the Deadly Gladiator or 2030 level. In the Beta, there were three tiers of weapons similar to how there are three tiers of armor sets, but these lower tier weapons no longer appear to be available. It remains to be seen whether they'll bring them back at some point in the future, although it's not very likely.Will there be better Level 70 Arena rewards?No. Go buy Wrath of the Lich King and level up. Level 80 is where it's at.
Breakfast Topic: Are you ready for Season 5?
It's finally here. The real reason I rushed to 80 and moderately gear up by mid-December is because I wanted to be ready for Arena Season 5. To be quite honest, now that it's here, I'm a bit nervous. Not nervous, that's not the right word... giddy, I think, excited like a six-year old going to the playground. Strangely, though, I've been having so much fun in Wintergrasp that I've hardly given a thought to Arenas.Now that I've given mulled it over a bit, I realize that the gear gap -- or lack of one -- is going to become immediately palpable simply because so much gear is readily available in Northrend. Any player who has just hit 80 will have immediate options for gear, and it won't be so hard to catch up or gear up for Arenas. Even without Resilience, so much gear has massive amounts of Stamina. I mean over 100 Stamina for a trinket? That's kind of insane. Players have so many options for gear now that some people won't even be doing Arenas to get Arena gear.It's going to be a completely different ballgame. The presence of Death Knights will completely change Arena PvP, as it already has in PvE. Knockback effects such as Thunderstorm or Typhoon will be exciting tools in the movement-heavy environment. How will players react to a sudden Death Grip into the opposing team's kill zone? Will HoT-impairing effects like Shadow Embrace or Plague Strike be enough to curb Druid dominance? We'll see. It's exciting. Are you prepared for Season 5? Not just in terms of gear, but psyched and ready for the unpredictability of the metagame, at least for the first few weeks?
Ask a Beta Tester: Leveling, the Taunka, and mounts
All of us here at WoW Insider are staggering around somewhat zombie-like in the wake of BlizzCon with the patch (probably) coming tomorrow and the amount of information we're hoping to get out in the next 24 hours. So in all truth I don't know whether the answers to today's questions are completely factual or just stuff that started swimming in front of my eyes at 1:00 this morning. Arthas is actually a girl underneath all that armor, just like Samus Aran. The zone music to Icecrown is "Won't Get Fooled Again" by The Who. The Hateful Gladiator cloth belt is a pink tutu. Flying bunnies will be available in the next expan-(Sound of a short scuffle in the background, followed by a whip crack)Thank you, Dan, a little perspective is always useful in these difficult times.Jason asks...Will Northrend be accessible at 68 like Outland was accessible at 58? Or do I need to be a solid 70 to quest and instance in Northrend?Technically, Northrend will be accessible to anyone with the Wrath of the Lich King expansion installed; you can hop a boat or zeppelin on any character of any level. There's no "You must be THIS HIGH to cross through the portal to Outland" restriction, but you won't be able to pick up any of the quests available in Northrend until level 68. Could you grind your way to 68 in Northrend from the mid-60's? Maybe, but I wouldn't recommend it.
Lake Wintergrasp: Balance, badges, bosses, and bling
I have to confess that I haven't spent as much time in Lake Wintergrasp as I thought I would. Even when we got premade Level 80s to fiddle around with in the Wrath Beta, I ended up spending very little time in the zone because it was simply too confusing. It didn't help that every build wiped your talent points, so I'd end up logging in to a crossfire without any abilities on my hotbars. In general, my Beta experience with what still promises to be my favorite zone of all time was rather unfulfilling.The good news is that there's a lot of work being done on the zone and the siege vehicles and buildings do a nice job of blowing up. I also appreciate the return of my favorite guys from Alterac Valley, like my Pusoy Dos buddy Lieutenant Murp. In general, though, Lake Wintergrasp needs a lot of breadcrumb quests and hand-holding just for people to get the basics. Blizzard has big plans for the zone, and they detailed a lot of those in yesterday's PvP panel.The zone is massive. In the Beta, there were areas that felt somewhat abandoned and felt empty. This is certain to happen in live realms, as there are off-hours of play. But Blizzard's aim is clear: they want this place to be all combat all the time, with hundreds of players bombing, killing, attacking and defending. In fact, they prepared their servers to handle such a load. If this happens -- and by the Light, I hope it will -- and hundreds of players do fill the zone for unadulterated combat, I'm going to have one hell of a good time.
Blood Sport: Everything Savage, Hateful, and Deadly
I realize now that the debate about Arenas will never end. A lot of you don't like it -- this is apparently the wrong blog site to enthuse about it. But the fact is that Arenas are a big part of the World of Warcraft today. Some would say too big, but I personally think it fits its niche rather nicely. There's a lot of room for debate on this, and reading through everyone's comments in past columns, it's easy to see that there won't be any resolution to it. Well, we're not talking about that today. This column is for people who like Arenas. If you're not a big fan of the format, you can skip right to the end of the column and post your well thought-out arguments about it (a lot of you are very impassioned about the matter, and I'm greatly impressed) or you can skip to another post as we've got a lot of good reads elsewhere around the site. No, this column is for those Arena freaks, the guys who get giddy when the queue pops up and get an adrenaline rush when the gates open. The next Arena season is going to be fun. We'll have ten more levels to slog through and a lot of experimentation to do before we settle on a PvP groove and find out which specs and playstyles actually work for us. At the end of it all, when we finally hit Level 80, a new era of Arenas will begin and there'll actually be three tiers of gear to reward every level of play. For anyone who's ever stepped foot into an Arena and liked it, it promises to be the best season yet.
The Art of War(craft): Kalgan speaks on Blizzard's PvP philosophy
Like it or not, Arenas are here to stay. I think we should all learn to live with that. A couple of days ago, Kalgan showed up on the Beta forums and put up a lengthy, illuminating post about Blizzard's philosophy when it comes to PvP itemization. He talked about and mostly defended Arenas and the existence of Arena ratings for obtaining PvP gear. It goes a long way towards explaining the new tiered itemization -- an impressive three tiers that appear to be concurrently available -- within the PvP system.One poster's contention was that there was no access to PvP gear before engaging in Arenas was countered with Kalgan mentioning their efforts to include craftable PvP gear. This was an omission in The Burning Crusade that became apparent as the seasons progressed, with newer players or Level 70s struggling to break into the Arena format faced against opponents who had gathered gear through several Arena seasons. This was addressed philosophically with the introduction of Outlands reputation PvP gear, which were identical to the rare PvP sets obtainable through Honor. I say philosophically because by the time these item sets became available to players, it was too late. Starting Arenas at that point would find players matched up against other players wearing epic gear from the past seasons. In fact, wearing such dated gear only served to mark the player as easy targets.
Savage, Hateful, and Deadly
Really, who comes up with these names? They're not so bad, though. They just sound funny when you bunch them all together -- like what we're about to do now. You see, more Gladiator gear has popped up on the Beta realms, with a slew of Deadly Gladiator items showing up on Wowhead and previewed on MMO Champion. We've seen Savage Gladiator items, which are blue quality gear for PvP, and I made a quick post about Hateful Gladiator items a week ago. Now comes the Deadly Gladiator pieces, which have been dropping off the Wintergrasp raid boss.Right now it's too early to tell if this is really how PvP loot will be distributed, although a faction-locked raid boss really does provide a good incentive to participate in Lake Wintergrasp. It might simply be a way to quickly distribute Arena PvP gear in Beta for more testing. For one thing, it's highly likely that Archavon will be dropping tokens rather than the pieces themselves. Furthermore, this leaves the Arena system without any rewards left to give -- though Deadly Gladiator weapons have yet to show up. It's pretty safe to assume that the way these items are distributed will change greatly between now and November 13.
Victory in Lake Wintergrasp yields a raid boss
If you're one of those people that absolutely hates PvE in PvP and vice versa, you're not going to be much of a fan of an aspect of Lake Wintergrasp that was introduced recently. After your faction wins in Wintergrasp, a raid boss becomes available to you for four hours afterwards: Archavon the Stone Keeper. Like all Wrath of the Lich King raids, this instanced raid comes in both 10 and 25 man flavors. It seems like a rather quick and easy fight, and its rewards are a bit curious. Beating this boss yields high end PvP gear. You know, Hateful Gladiator. And the 25 Man version? 4 pieces of Naxxramas equivalent gear.Currently, the encounter is trivial according to just about everyone that has tested it. The 10-man version is a breeze, and the 25-man version can be done with 10 people. I think it's safe to say this encounter isn't complete yet, or at least it needs some major retuning. I'm not sure how I feel about what loot this encounter drops. If it's intended, it seems like a rather trivial way to award those things. Season 5 armor from a raid boss? I know around Patch 2.4 they put in the ability to trade armor tokens from dungeons for old season gear, but this boss is essentially awarding the cutting edge arena gear for a 10 minute jaunt into a dungeon. Granted, your faction needs to have control of Wintergrasp, but the point remains. It's really, really easy to get gear that should take a little effort to get. There's still the RNG to deal with, but I still think this boss should have a wholly different loot table.
Rise of the Hateful Gladiator
While the actual news isn't nearly as dramatic, it seems like the Arena Gladiators have taken a turn for the worse. From Season 2's Merciless, which wasn't so bad, and Season 3's Vengeful, which was alright, we progressed (regressed?) to Season 4's Brutal Gladiator, which was brutally ugly. The first Level 80 Arena gear has shown up on wowhead, and it's hateful. No, really. The new Arena gear is called Hateful Gladiator and it's actually pretty sweet, with single pieces conferring up to 1.3k health.It's too early to tell if the stats will keep until release, but it's safe to say that players should already looking ahead to the end of Season 4. Blizzard has stated that there will no longer be any further iterations of Level 70 Arena gear, meaning that Level 70 Arenas will end on an ugly note. Curiously, even the Honor-bought gear such as rings and amulets, are also called Hateful Gladiator (who thinks up of these names, seriously?) instead of Guardian or Vindicator. The new Hateful Gladiator items still have placeholder graphics and are seem to be in Beta merely to help test the broken Lake Wintergrasp. For now, we PvP addicts to content ourselves with the small nugget that Season 5 is going to be a Hateful one.
