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Blood Sport: Beginner's Guide to Arena, Part IV
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: Zero, by the Smashing Pumpkins. I knew I wanted to feature the pumpkins today, I just didn't know what song. I sifted through maybe twenty or thirty songs. I thought about featuring Cherub Rock, Bullet with Butterfly Wings, Today, and The Everlasting Gaze, among others. 1979 was out of the question -- it feels like too much like Sesame Street to me. In the end, it came down to Zero or Eye. I wanted to feature the Ghost in the Shell video of Eye (NSFW), but it's got a little cartoon nudity in it, so that's why we're going with Zero today. Last Week: Part III of our beginner's arena guide. We discussed very basic arena strategy for many popular specs of each class. Last week's column is pretty long -- about twice the length of a normal Blood Sport article. Check it out if you have the time; it'll set a good foundation for today's subject. This Week: We'll be talking about the qualities of a skilled arena healer. Full article after the break!
Blood Sport: Beginner's guide to arena, part III
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: Modeselektor's Tetrispack. Allison Robert offered a challenge to our most beloved columnist last week. Ms. Roberts has chosen a clever and palatable piece with Richard Shindell's On-A-Sea-Of-Fleur-De-Lis. And now we come to my retaliation. My wife recommended our musical selection today -- it just happened to be on the absolute opposite end of the spectrum. How fitting. We love this song, albeit mostly for the intro. Upon your first listen, if you correctly predict the timing and type of shift in the first thirty seconds, serious e-props to you. To wit, Robert: pan flute > no pan flute. Your move. Last Week: part two of our beginner's arena guide. We featured the cute ukulele kid who pretty much controls the internet right now. After that, we discussed frequently asked questions from new arena players. We talked about how to spec and what team composition to choose, with two different types of answers (easy and long). Today, we'll be talking some very basic class strategy. If you know your class inside and out, you'll know what I'm going to say when it comes to your class and arena. You can still learn about other classes here. I've written over 2500 words about individual class perspective inside arenas, that's a lot. Full article after the break.
Blood Sport: Beginner's guide to arena, part II
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: The cutest kid you've ever seen covering Jason Mraz. Blood Sport normally features the musical works of professionals. For this little guy, we have to make an exception. My favorite part is right before the first verse. I love the intense scrunched face and little head nod. I dare you to find anything even half as cute. That video of a tickled kitten has nothing on this. Last Week: part one of our beginner's arena guide. First, we fielded a possible complaint about catering to casuals. After that, we talked a little bit about some of the best ways to gear up: finding an arena team, doing battlegrounds, and running Vault of Archavon. Check it out if you have the time. This week, we'll talk about some frequently asked questions players have when considering jumping into the arena. Read on for part two of our arena guide for beginners after the break!
The Colosseum: Patch 3.3 and the Arena
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. There have been no immediate changes to the Arena directly due to patch 3.3. Okay, well, that's not entirely true, but the changes to the Arena are mostly change by implication. Nonetheless, there's enough little things that will affect the gladiators that it's worth spending a little time examining. Probably the biggest change we've been hearing about is that you can now pick up Arena points from doing your daily battleground quest. At 25 Arena points per daily, It's not a huge amount of points. If you're already a very highly rated arena team, then you're probably not going to get a large amount of use from an extra 175 points a week. What the extra arena points do successfully, however, is promote a reason for battleground-players to try out the Arena. While they could use the Arena point to pick up extra Honor points, it's not like those have ever been hard to come by. Instead, these new Arena points will hopefully tantalize those who haven't tried the Arena in Wrath of the Lich King. If that does happen, it will lead to some amount of inflation in Arena ratings. That would provide some relief to teams who are struggling to get a little higher, as well as introduce new players to our favorite e-sport. Take a look behind the cut to see what else might be changing.
Blood Sport: Improve your play
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: Imogen Heap's Hide and Seek. Imogen Heap is quickly making a name for herself as one of the most profoundly talented artists today. I've been surprised how often I've heard her music recently, as I had always presumed she would remain as an unrealized genius; an underground phenomenon. Her independent work is both euphoric and mentally stimulating. I am elated she has gained some notoriety, even if only within the past few years. Hide and Seek is one of those rare, almost one-of-a-kind tracks that has an incredibly strong gravity in its simplicity. The power of the minimalistic approach creates a forceful (but delicate) melody. Although I love some remixes (Tiesto's is particularly intelligent, as the paradox of stripping away the essence of the song by adding unnecessary elements isn't present, unlike in oh so many other remixes), the original is something akin to a Greek sculpture -- beautiful in the nude. Last Week: We discussed our hatred for Scrubby McDouche. Even if you've never stepped foot into an arena, you've probably played with someone who has the god complex thing going on. He always has an excuse for his shortcomings. He is never to blame for the raid wipe, game loss, or his sub-optimal play in any aspect whatsoever. This week, we're going to be examining the opposite kind of arena combatant. Playing with this individual is not just a good experience -- it's the reason many of us continue to play MMOs. She does everything in-game well, and has fun doing it. She is probably the best player you know, and certainly the most enjoyable to arena, raid, and level with. Today we're going to discuss how to own it up in arena, both theoretically and realistically. Check out what makes a good arena player tick after the break.
The Colosseum: Celestior of Mal'Ganis
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. Celestior of Mal'Ganis is the mage member of LOL YOU MAD, the 1st ranked 5v5 team on the Stormstrike battlegroup. His 2v2 team is currently ranked 19th, and his 3v3 team is ranked 56th. This all adds up to a mage that probably knows his PvP-fu. Celestior was kind enough to talk to The Colosseum about his impression of the current season, as well as what keeps motivating him to play. Check out what he had to say behind the cut.
Blood Sport: Scrubby McDouche and his army of excuses
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. Lcd Soundsystem is pretty unique. I can definitely groove to some of the beats James Murphy creates. Tribulations is one of my new kicks, and it'll be our listening music for today. It's also kind of fitting for our subject matter. Don't expect a lot of the techno-disco-dance-punk genre (or whatever you want to call it) in the future, because well, there's not a lot of it out there. Savor the moment. Last week, we finished up the 3.3 Patch Notes. This week, we're going to shift gears and talk about an issue that I think is about as important to PvP as kicking ass and chewing bubblegum. We'll be discussing how to avoid the noobsauce, terribad, furious badiator, or whatever flavor of the month term is going around for the holier-than-thou arena player. I personally call him Scrubby McDouche. Check out what's up after the break.
The Colosseum: Daryonic from Shattered Hand
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. Mages in the arena are still something a little special, even if we've managed to pull away from the days of Death Knight and Paladin dominance. Arena Master Daryonic from Shattered Hand is the Mage on the battlegroup Ruin's 4th rated 5v5 team, FORTHENERDPOINTS. (At the time of this writing, he's also on the 12th rated 3v3 team titled Vs WMDs.) Like many PvP players, Daryonic has shifted his focused away from 2v2 arena toward 3v3 and 5v5. We were able hook up with Daryonic, who took the time to share with The Colosseum his views on current arena dynamics, and what might be coming next season. Check it out behind the cut.
The Colosseum: Rheek of Blackrock
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 Frostwyrms. We're especially focused on the people who play these games, to further shed light on the world of the PvP player. Blackrock is currently the most electronically famous server for arena PvP in the World of Warcraft. We were very excited to have the opportunity to interview one of <sup fresh our turn baby>'s own druids. Rheek of Blackrock was kind enough to discuss a myriad of arena related topics and personal history. At the time of this interview, Rheek is on a very respectable 2357 rated 3v3, Team Fanatic. A somewhat unorthodox wizard cleave team, his 3v3 composition is a resto druid / frost mage / destruction warlock combination. Take a look at what Rheek had to say after the break!
Blood Sport: Patch 3.3, part III
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. We've come to a fork in our musical journey, where I'm going to start branching into genres and/or artists you might not have heard of (if you have, great, feel free to tell me what a giant douche I am for underestimating you). Today we'll be listening to one of my all-time favorite indie-folk tracks, Cold Cold Water, by Mirah. The Star Wars tribute video is a nice touch, if you're into that kind of thing (I am). Last time, we went over hunters, mages, and paladins. This week, we're going to round out the classes with the exception of rogues and warriors (they're not getting any high-impact PvP changes at all). We'll also talk about some cool glyphs and enchanting changes. Next week, we'll start doing stuff other than patch notes. I'd like us to throw around more opinion and less analysis. Read on to find out what's up in arena for priests, shamans, warlocks, enchanting and inscription in Patch 3.3!
The Colosseum: Crinox of Burning Legion
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. Crinox is a hunter on the Burning Legion server. His 2v2 team is rated 2199, while his 3v3 team is rated 2212. Crinox took the time to hook up with us, and answer some basic questions about what it's like in the Season 7 arena. Before we get into the interview all the way, though, I wanted to take a moment and mention that we're always interested in interviewing new, highly ranked Arena players. Just drop a line to gray AT wow.com. I'll follow-up with an in game mail to verify that the character is actually the interviewee, and we'll get things under way. Without further ado, let's jump behind the cut and talk to Crinox.
Blood Sport: Patch 3.3, part II
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. David Byrne and The Talking Heads are a personal favorite. Miles Fisher seems to love them as well. His cover of This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) is homage to one of the most beautiful, striking melodies I've ever heard, and as such, it will be your listening music for the day. (NSFW Warning: The video is a parody/reenactment of American Psycho, so view carefully.) Last time, we went over the Will of the Forsaken nerf, 100% pet resilience, death knights, and druids. The patch looks to be a very interesting bag of surprises for arena enthusiasts, we're getting major changes to the way some races work, as well as nearly every class is getting a pretty substantial change or two which will probably help them in PvP. We don't normally see patches where most classes are buffed, but this could be one of them. Read on to find out what's up with hunters, mages, and paladins in Patch 3.3!
Blood Sport: Patch 3.3, part I
Ahh, lovely Radiohead. The entirety of Scotch Mist (which is In Rainbows played live) will be our listening music, as I expect today's article to be somewhat...lengthy. Starting out with "Weird Fishes" is a nice touch -- you gotta love Radiohead's set order diversity. By the way, I'm going to continue supporting the Blood Sport column with listening music, due to overwhelming positive response. If you have any suggestions for songs, please let me know in the comments below! Instead of talking about minor changes, I'm going to try to only hit the major ones here, as this is a giant patch. If you think I skipped something important, please let me know via the comments below and I'll reply. Today, we'll be covering pet resilience, the Will of the Forsaken nerf, death knight, and druid changes, and what they hold for arena combatants. Expect the other classes and item/glyph changes soon! You can find all about Patch 3.3 here. Check out what the last major patch of WotLK has for gladiators and challengers alike after the break!
The Colosseum: Trendz of Hyjal
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 Frostwyrms. We're especially focused on the people who play these games, to further shed light on the world of the PvP player.There haven't been many warlocks interviewed in the history of the Colosseum. We were very excited to sit down with Trendz of Hyjal today to discuss a myriad of arena related topics and personal history.Vanquisher Trendz is currently holding down the #1 spots in both 3v3 and 5v5 on the US-Whirlwind battlegroup. His 3v3, Rival Thilaume, a wizard cleave (two spell dps casters + healer) and his 5v5, Last Game Moms Calling makes Trendz the highest ranking warlock on US-Whirlwind, even though he has no 2v2.Take a look at what Trendz had to say after the break!
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!
The Colosseum: A Euneek opportunity
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. Furious Gladiator Euneek is one of the top Paladins in BG9. If you haven't already heard, BG9 (Bloodlust) is often considered to be one of the most competitive battlegroups in WoW. Obviously, Euneek's achievements in BG9 are that much more impressive for being in that highly skilled environment.Euneek was kind enough to answer some questions about the new Season, the changes which are affecting Season 7, and then also how he is coping with the new season. Check out what he had to say behind the cut!
The Colosseum: A basic guide to the Arena rating system
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. When our new PvP guru C. Christian Moore wrote about a team skyrocketing to a 3206 team rating, a commenter pointed out to our staff that all the various language, acronyms, and "points" involved in the Arena can be somewhat confusing. It can be hard to figure out what the heck we're talking about.I think that probably makes sense when you consider there's probably about ten different kinds of "points," three different ratings, a few different ranks, and two different kinds of spendable currency. (While I'm not looking to delve into all the Battleground dynamics here, you have to keep in mind that Honor Points do have a pretty real effect on the Arena.)So, this time in your neighborhood Colosseum, we're going to take a break to enjoy a basic guide to the Arena rating system, and try to clarify the difference between Team rating, Personal rating, and Matchmaking rating. Check it out behind the cut.
The Colosseum: Retrospective, Summer 2009
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. We're now officially under way in Season 7. And since this is only the first week of that season, it's a little tough to know who's going to end up on top. The subtle push-and-tug back and forth of so-called Cleave teams versus the traditional Rogue-Mage-Priest will probably be the most interesting battle in the 3v3 bracket, while it's simply far, far too early to tell who's going to dominate the 2v2 Arena.It being this early in, I wanted to take some time to take a look at the past few months of Arena interviews. We've been pretty fortunate to get a good variety of folks to talk to us, and it's always good to take some time to reflect on lessons of the past. This is how we learn, after all. Or, at least, until we can all download infallible knowledge directly to our brain. Anyway, let's take a look back and who we talked to this summer.
The Colosseum: Dynlor and Domustie
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. One of the challenges in presenting Arena each week is that it "takes two to tango." (Or, for that matter, it takes two to waltz, rhumba, and even a whole lot more to square dance.) As we get a chance, we try and look at several different angles to Arena competition. This week, we're able to look at two members of the exact same team, Uh Oh Polio. Dynlor is the team's Paladin, while Domustie is the team's Druid. Check out what they had to say after the cut.
The Colosseum: Dimitrius of Korgath
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.Last week, we had the opportunity to look at a mega-mix of about six different gladiators from Korgath. However, since it's likely going to be a little while before I can come back around to Korgath, I wanted to make sure to include one final person. This person is Starcaller Dimitrius. While Paladins have probably had enough face time in the highest Arena echelons since Wrath of the Lich King, the accomplishments from Dimitrius are a little different from what we've featured before. Specifically, Dimitrius has achieved the #1 spot on his battlegroup in 5v5. Take a look at what Dimitrius had to say behind the cut. Don't worry -- the interview is fairly short, especially as compared to last week's epic.
