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The Art of War(craft): Looking ahead to battleground guilds
Zach had hoped his people would be smarter this time around. He was wrong. They're dumber than ever. So, Zach ends up playing video games and escaping to a world where people aren't ignorant, misled sheep. Most of the time, anyway. Arguably one of the biggest features of Cataclysm -- I say "arguably" because World of Warcraft's next expansion is going to have a ton of new features -- would be guild talents and progression. Not much has been revealed about this feature, but it has the potential to forever change the way guilds work. In particular, the emergence of rated battlegrounds combined with guild talents geared towards PvP play can possibly result in a schism between PvP and PvE players, forcing them to choose between a PvE-oriented guild or a PvP-centric one. The guild progression system is such a great incentive for players to be part of a guild and allows guilds a better focus -- a guild's choice of talents should indicate the character of a guild. Although the benefits are relatively minor, they are telling of a guild's priorities, such as increased gold drops off bosses or reduced repair costs. Blizzard has only revealed a taste of PvE guild talents for now, but developers have mentioned that there will be PvP guild talents as well. This is where the potential for conflict arises. Players currently have dual specs that allow them to keep a spec for raiding and another talent spec for PvP, but will guilds have the same flexibility? There's not enough information to know for sure right now, but if there are distinct trees or talent for PvP and PvE, players will have to make some tough decisions when forming or joining a guild. In that scenario, guilds geared towards battlegrounds or even arena play will form and for the first time, players who thrive in PvP will have an environment in which to flourish.
New details about Twin Peaks battleground, Dragonmaws backed by the Horde?
If you're a big ol' lore nerd like me, recent details released on the forums about the upcoming Twin Peaks battleground in the Twilight Highlands probably at least got a "Say what?" out of you. Zarhym - Re: Captured Gronns in Grim Batol! Grim Batol was founded by the Wildhammers. The Wildhammers abandoned their new home after the war with the Dark Irons left the place tainted. The Dragonmaw clan later moved in and attempted to harvest the eggs of Alextrasza for sinister purposes, though they failed to fully satisfy Deathwing. With the four Dragon Aspects confronting both Deathwing and the Dragonmaws, Grim Batol was abandoned. Members of the Red Dragonflight stayed behind to guard its corridors in the Twilight Highlands. ... That I can't say, but there will be a Twilight Highlands Battleground called Twin Peaks. The Alliance will be working with the Wildhammers in a struggle for land against the Dragonmaws backed by the Horde. source The reason this goes into "Did you just say what I think you just said?" territory is apparent to anyone who did the Netherwing dailies in BC or read the novel Day of the Dragon (or our KYL feature on the Red Dragonflight). The Dragonmaw Clan are bad news. As Golluck Rockfist, the Horde Ambassador to the Wyrmrest Accord, so clearly put it, "In years past, the warlock Nekros Skullcrusher abused a powerful artifact to enslave Alexstrasza and much of the red dragonflight. Zuluhed and Nekros are dead, but the debt we owe to the reds is far from repaid." Zuluhed and Nekros? Dragonmaw. The orcs hanging around in the Wetlands attacking people randomly? Dragonmaw. The toothy fellow above? An adventurer disguised as one of the Dragonmaw in the service of Illidan Stormrage himself. The same Dragonmaw clan that made a deal with Deathwing's consort thinking it was Deathwing himself they were working for, mind you. The news that the Dragonmaw are now pledging their allegiance to Garrosh's Horde is very, very interesting, to say the least.
The Art of War(craft): Paradigm shift
Zach resides in a country where leaders are elected on the basis of genealogy, rather than any actual capacity to lead, and where the widow and son of a plundering despot can weasel their way back into public office because the electorate are an ignorant, forgetful lot. He takes much escapist comfort in the battlegrounds, where he can actually smite the bad guys. The wind of change is blowing through the World of Warcraft. Whether we like it or not, PvP's focus in the expansion will shift from arenas to the battlegrounds. Blizzard has announced that they'll be shipping Cataclysm with at least one new battleground, the Battle for Gilneas City, and the promise of much more throughout the course of the expansion. MMO-Champion's datamined screenshots from the alpha -- before Blizzard ordered everything taken offline -- revealed a zone speculated to be a battleground, situated in the Twilight Highlands where the Dragonmaw clan of orcs and the Wildhammer clan of dwarves are locked in deadly combat. From all indications, this battleground will be ready by the time Cataclysm ships. That's exciting and is indicative of Blizzard's commitment to the new directive. Maybe we'll even see more than two battlegrounds on ship. On top of that, wouldn't it be fantastic if the old-school battlegrounds such as Warsong Gulch, Arathi Basin and Alterac Valley got some cosmetic changes to reflect the geographical upheaval that Deathwing wreaks upon Azeroth? It only makes sense, after all. Blizzard wouldn't need to adjust gameplay mechanics, just reshape the landscape a little bit. It would go a long way towards making the old battlegrounds feel new again and could even provide an opportunity for Blizzard to make Alterac Valley slightly more symmetrical. Charred earth, dilapidated structures -- these should serve to remind players that it's a broken world out there instead of feeling a blast from the past every time they zone in. Blizzard has gone all-out for Cataclysm and has confirmed that old instances will be getting some tweaks, so while I'm not holding my breath, it just might happen.
The Art of War(craft): Of honor and conquest
Okay, so The Art of War(craft) is a wee bit late this week, thanks to Zach's being crowd controlled rather handily by his three-week-old daughter. He would normally bubble, but it's on cooldown. Besides, baby poop breaks through Divine Shield. It works better than Shattering Throw, too, with better sound effects. Two weeks ago, Blizzard unveiled their plan in Cataclysm to overhaul the badge system of acquiring gear and instead move it to a point system similar to the one used in arenas and battlegrounds. This change, which applies to both PvE and PvP gear, is significant and goes a long way into validating the PvP method of gear acquisition. Not long ago, Blizzard also adapted the system used by battlegrounds to create the dungeon finder, another example of how systems used in the PvP aspect of the game have improved PvE. It should be clear by now that PvP is an inextricably linked aspect of the World of Warcraft and has only served to improve the overall game experience. Even if you don't PvP, the game you enjoy has been influenced by all the things Blizzard has learned from their experience in designing for PvP. Throughout the history of the game, the developers have tried hard to balance the rewards granted by the PvP and PvE aspects. In vanilla WoW, PvP and PvE item sets were completely different in both design and acquisition. In Burning Crusade, Blizzard stumbled somewhat by making PvP item sets that were mere recolors of PvE gear and were arguably a step behind in terms of acquisition -- the newest arena sets were knockoffs of older raid sets. Wrath of the Lich King provided what has been the best approach thus far by making gear acquisition in both PvP and PvE as parallel as possible. The return to an iterative design philosophy for PvP gear was laudable, as was the expanded method of acquiring gear. Ultimately, though, it might have been overwhelming to have the same gear accessible through too many avenues -- honor, arena points, honor and arena points, badges, boss drops -- which is why the proposed streamlining through a point system makes perfect sense.
The Art of War(craft): Introductory guide to fighting warriors
Each week, Zach talks about his favorite thing to do in World of Warcraft -- PvP. That kind of makes him sort of one-dimensional. Like those folks from Flatland. Except, those guys were actually two dimensional. Come to think of it, being one-dimensional is a pretty groovy concept. Finally, we arrive at the conclusion of our guides to fighting everything. Warriors. The most "basic" class that, at least in Cataclysm, will be available to all races (the selection was unavailable to blood elves for some unknown reason). Fighters are a fantasy staple. Big, burly guy with a sword or an axe. Maybe a shield. Everyone else is optional, really. Some generic magic user, sure. Throw in a dude with a bow and arrow for good measure. But a fantasy setting without a warrior? That's just wrong. In PvP, warriors seem like a staple, too. They're central (or at least a warrior-like ability called Mortal Strike is) to a good number of arena team compositions. You could say Mortal Strike defined the PvP environment such that Blizzard had to dispense Mortal Strike-like abilities to other classes just so they'd be considered viable alternatives to a warrior. The good news is that Mortal Strike is actually a talent, so not every warrior will be walking around smiting every foe with it. The bad news is that even the fury tree has something like it. Not only that, when you're facing a warrior, you have quite a number of things to worry about aside from Mortal Strike or similar effects. After the break, let's take a look at warriors and the most common abilities you should expect on the battlefield.
The Art of War(craft): Three kinds of warlocks and how to kill them
Zach brings warmth to your day with a regular weekly dose of good, old-fashioned PvP. Like a comforting hot cup of cocoa with little pink marshmallows in the shape of stars. And battle axes. And skulls. We'll take this opportunity in the lull between Cataclysm news to continue our introductory guide to killing this and that. Sure, it'll be radically different from now and the next expansion, but it should ultimately be useful to help a lot of beginners getting their feet wet (or bloodied) in the Battlegrounds until then. And believe me, the Battlegrounds is where it's going to be at. So take this opportunity to immerse yourself in the Battleground experience before Cataclysm shakes things up. We left our guides hanging with an introduction to warlocks and the usual abilities they employ on the battlefield. Today we'll wrap things up with a closer look at the three specs. The fun thing about Wrath is that Blizzard made an earnest effort to make each warlock spec feel and play differently from each other, going so far as to tailor certain pets to work better with a specific spec. It was in Wrath where felpuppies became affliction warlocks' best friends, and destruction warlocks were encouraged to hang out with imps. Demonology, as always, had their burly bodyguards. After the jump ... how to spot them and, hopefully, squish them.
The Art of War(craft): The impact of Cataclysm Class Changes on PvP
Zach has secret plans of weaning his two daughters on a steady diet of PvP videos, tutorials and tournament live streams so that one day, they'll make their daddy proud when they become fearsome High Warlords under the new Cataclysm PvP system. Of course, one is only two years and the other is barely even a week old so that secret plan ... might take a while. After five years, Blizzard is overhauling the World of Warcraft almost completely, with the physical changes to Azeroth -- from the rending of the Barrens to the submersion of Thousand Needles -- merely being one part of a major shake-up to the game. Everything is being revisited, including class mechanics, which means class dynamics are going to change a whole lot. That means PvP, the game's version of rock-paper-scissors, is going to be very different. Some classes will play differently, such as hunters and warlocks, who get new resource mechanics in focus and soul shards. Others will get tweaks to their resources, such as death knights, whose rune system is receiving a few changes. Character stats will be streamlined, there will be new itemization, and even entirely new game mechanics such as mastery and the Path of the Titans. The recent spate of class previews have given us a insight to the various masteries, but there's still much to learn about the various Paths. This early into the development of Cataclysm, we should expect that many of the announced plans are bound to change. That said, all of the information we have so far gives us a pretty good idea of where Blizzard is headed with the game. After the break, let's take stock of all the announcements so far and see how it affects PvP.
The Art of War(craft): What the new Cataclysm dispel mechanics mean for PvP
The world as we know it is going to change. We're taking a break from our soon-to-be-obsolete (but still ultimately useful until Cataclysm comes out, at any rate) introductory guides to focus on something that will shake the foundations of World of Warcraft PvP. A few days back, Zarhym took to the forums to explain how Blizzard was going to change dispel mechanics in Cataclysm, and boy, were they big changes. So big that we have to simply set aside whatever it is we're doing and try to wrap our heads around how it's going to affect PvP. Here's some of what Zarhym said: Zarhym Druids will be able to dispel defensive magic, curses, and poison. Paladins will be able to dispel defensive magic, diseases, and poison. Priests will be able to dispel defensive magic, offensive magic, and disease. Shaman will be able to dispel defensive magic, offensive magic, and curses. source While he goes into detail a lot more in that post and through several other posts on the forums, that small nugget of the planned changes in Cataclysm should already give us an idea of where they're headed. PvP is going to change. All healing specs -- not classes -- will gain defensive dispels against magic, the most common debuff type in the game. Most team compositions will have at least one member capable of removing magical debuffs and capable of dealing with almost all forms of crowd control. That's huge.
The Art of War(craft): Introductory guide to fighting warlocks
Warlocks are a pesky bunch. Warlocks. Well, this should be interesting. Perhaps no class has suffered such an ignominious fall from grace in PvP reputation as that of the warlock. Once a fearsome -- quite literally, in this case -- force to be reckoned with, the class has suffered a few bumps in the road that has led it to become less of a threat on the battlefield. Mostly, this has something to do with the ridiculous burst of the low resilience Season 5, which resulted in warlocks getting blown up in the opening ten seconds of a match, the rise of death knights, who are kind of like warlocks in plate armor, and the homogenization of caster gear, which meant far less Stamina for warlocks than they were used to prior to Wrath. As resilience built up in Wrath of the Lich King and burst decidedly went down, warlocks have once again taken a return trip to power. Well, at least respectability. While with the balancing of crowd control, players no longer cry about how OP warlocks are, they still have a powerful arsenal at their disposal. They've also never been more fun to fight. With the distinctiveness introduced in Wrath, warlocks are now (a little) more than just getting your butt feared into oblivion. After the jump, we'll take a look at the common tools you should expect from every warlock and how to counter them.
The Art of War(craft): Introductory guide to fighting shamans
Zach first ground out the Battlegrounds on a PvP server on a shaman, refusing to spec restoration during a time when shamans were only brought to raids because of Mana Tide. Man, those days sucked. This guide shouldn't take us very long unlike the past two weeks' unexpectedly lengthy detour into all manner of backstabbery and ambushness because, as we all very well know, shamans don't PvP. Alright fine, that's not true. But we just don't see them around much. Historically, shamans have always been underrepresented in Arenas and Battlegrounds although not necessarily because the class has serious failings but also because fewer players play shamans than any other class in the game if census numbers are to be believed. Rogue and warlock numbers dropped over the years, too, but shamans have always been in last place for most of the game's existence. Shamans are great, but have never really been established as a threat in PvP and very few players really quake at the sight of a shaman entering the battlefield. Undeserved reputations aside (or lack thereof), shamans are a very versatile class and any player underestimating them could easily be on the receiving end of a fatal shock spell. After the jump, let's quickly go through the shaman's commonly used abilities in PvP before moving to the different specs and what to expect.
The Art of War(craft): Introductory guide to fighting rogues, Part 4
Zach thinks rogues are dastardly, sneaky and will backstab you at the first opportunity. Take this guide, for example. Rogues just ambushed Zach with a ton of useless information. I mean, they're just stabby little things, aren't they? This final part of our exceptionally long introductory guide -- who would've thought rogues could be such a long subject? -- we'll talk a little more about rogue playing styles, the different specs, and ways on how classes can counter them. I mentioned in the very first part of this guide that taking away a rogue's opener is important. If you have means to detect rogues in Stealth, make sure to use it and have instant cast abilities ready to quickly break them out of it as soon as you do. An obvious fact that bears mentioning is that rogues are a melee class. They can't do you any real harm when you're outside of melee range, so the obvious strategy would be to kite them. Rogues have some abilities that allow them to break out of roots and snares, but these are all on relatively long cooldowns, so don't be afraid to reapply them. Even as a melee class, you'd want to keep applying a movement-impairing effect such as Hamstring or even Judgement of Justice. Impaired movement takes any PvP player out of their groove, and it disturbs rogues who must always have the ability to chase or flee.
Introductory guide to fighting rogues, Part 3
Zach broke up this week's The Art of War(craft) covering rogues because, well, those rogues are darned sneaky! So sneaky that they surprised him with more secret information than he was expecting to write about. So read quickly. Because those rogues have sent all their best operatives to go all Ninja Assassin on Zach's sorry butt. Read and make it worth the sacrifice. Rogues. The one class that everybody can truly agree to hate. Or maybe that was the paladin... I forget. Anyway, today we pick up where we left off in this introductory guide on how to deal with those sneaky little scoundrels. In the first part of the guide, we took a look at the most commonly used abilities of rogues in PvP. Today, we'll talk a little about how the class works and why this defines their limitations and playing style. A deeper understanding of how the class works should give you a better idea of how to handle them. Combo points Rogues have a unique class mechanic called combo points, with two sets of abilities that either grant them or consume them and scale according to how many combo points are on a target. The more combo points on a target, the most devastating the effect of their finishing ability. This means that rogues are basically single-target killing machines. Once a rogue chooses a target, they have tunnel vision on that target until that target is dead or are forced to change. What does this mean for PvP? This essentially means rogues can't switch targets as easily as other classes. It penalizes them. They won't lose the combo points when they select another target, but combo points are lost when they apply even a single point on someone else. A rogue focusing on one of your allies is a great target for you because you're sure to get a lot of free damage in with little fear that she will switch quickly. Rogues are trained through their leveling to keep at one target until it's dead before moving on to the next one, with very few AoE options, Fan of Knives notwithstanding. After the jump, I'll break down a list of builders, or strikes that grant combo points, and finishers, or abilities that consume them.
The Art of War(craft): Introductory guide to fighting rogues
Uh-oh. Rogues. Those sneaky little bastards could be anywhere. Out of all the classes in the game, there is perhaps no class no more feared for their PvP prowess than rogues. Rogues gain a fearsome reputation by virtue of the nature of the class alone -- they can Stealth. Because of rogues, everyone has to literally watch their backs. No place is safe because a rogue can be lying in lurking in some dark corner waiting to strike at the proper time. Through years of leveling in a PvP server, there is no sound in the game more unsettling than the low humming whoosh of a nearby stealthed rogue. In fact, rogue (and by extension, feral druid) stealth is the single biggest reason why I don't PvP with music on. And for rogues, it's all about timing. In the Battlegrounds, it isn't uncommon to find rogues preying on the weak, those low on life, the defenseless players eating or drinking. They can't help it. It's in their nature. The class encourages foul play through Stealth and a wonderful repertoire of attacks from behind. Rogues are at their best when catching their opponents off guard and are extremely capable of doing so. After the jump, we'll take a closer look at the basic things to expect when fighting a rogue regardless of their spec.
Introductory guide to fighting priests, Part 2
Zach broke up this guide to fighting priests in personal-sized helpings similar to how he'd slice up a banoffee pie for your devouring convenience. But also mostly because his head felt like it had just been hit by a Mind Blast. Yesterday we took a look at priests and their most commonly used abilities in PvP regardless of spec. Today we'll get a little more specific and break down the three basic specs and their abilities in tactics. This should answer some folks' question about why I didn't mention Penance, which is arguably the most used priest heal on the battlefield. The answer, of course, is that Penance is the last tier discipline talent and not every priest will have access to it. You see someone in Shadowform, they're not going to be using Penance. You see someone toss a Guardian Spirit -- another awesome angel wing graphic spell -- they're not going to be using Penance. Now that we've got that little detail out of the way, let's jump right into the different kinds of priests you'll be encountering in the Battlegrounds. The cool thing about the Battlegrounds as opposed to Arenas is that there's a lot more spec flexibility. The relaxed environment allows for more freedom to play the spec you want to play as opposed to the spec you need to play in order to be optimal for competition. For priests, in particular, this means the freedom to play any of the three specs as opposed to necessarily speccing discipline in order to enjoy success in PvP. For you, the would-be priest-slayer, this means that you should expect to see priests of all kinds in play.
The Art of War(craft): Introductory guide to fighting priests
Zach enjoys PvP almost as much as he enjoys eating his wife's phenomenal banoffee pies. That's saying a lot because, damn, those banoffee pies are freaking awesome melanges of succulent toffee, rich chocolate syrup, perfectly ripe bananas, and luscious whipped cream on a deliciously molded graham crust. He's probably snuck down to the fridge and grabbed a slice now. Kind of like how those pesky rogues steal the flag when you're not looking. Priests are an interesting study for this series, primarily because out of all the game's ten classes, they are the only ones with two talent trees devoted to healing. This means that two out of three times, you'll be encountering a healing priest. That's not exact math, but you know what I mean. Shadow, the class' DPS tree, has had an interesting history with viability and acceptance, having been known as a PvP tree in the game's early years, later gaining raid viability and losing PvP luster. In the current environment, shadow remains a popular PvP tree but it is far easier to find success in Arenas and Battlegrounds with a healing spec. In this regard, discipline, the mitigation tree formerly considered to be complementary and gimmicky has shone. Naturally, most fights against priests, particularly discipline-specced ones, will be long and difficult for most classes. That said, let's take a moment to examine the various abilities used by priests on the battlefield. A priest's repertoire of common spells is rather limited, and most of their key abilities will depend on their spec. A rundown of stuff to expect from them after the break.
The Art of War(craft): Introductory guide to fighting paladins
Zach writes the weekly Battlegrounds and world PvP column The Art of War(craft). He is also a career Paladin who has played the class in all its iterations in various RPGs. He attempts to live high, live mighty, and live righteously. Ah, Paladins. Otherwise known as the game's God-class. Paladins, next to hunters, arguably have the lowest skill to success ratio among all classes in the game. This means that many players with low familiarity with the game can pick up a paladin and play the class with relative ease and have moderate success in the battlegrounds. Retribution paladins, in particular, are so easy to play that it can be addicting. Many players easily get the delusion that they're good. This is what prompted Blizzard to call out the spec, saying that it is successful in lower Arena brackets but significantly less so against tougher competition. Paladins also enjoy a significant psychological edge against a lot of players because of their reputation, giving them an advantage even before the fight begins. Well, today we're focusing on how to fight paladins in our series of guides aimed at teaching players basic strategies against particular classes. We've discussed death knights, druids, hunters, and last week, mages. After the jump, we'll break down a paladin's strengths, discuss their frequently used skills, and eventually their weaknesses. As fearsome as paladins can be in combat, they suffer from glaring weaknesses, too. As long as you keep those weaknesses in mind, you should fare better against them on the battlefield.
The Art of War(craft): Introductory guide to fighting mages
Zach, who's obsessed with PvP, has sworn off playing his high level characters until Razer releases a Mac version of the Razer Naga driver v2.0, which allows key mapping. Because the Razer Naga's awesome and key mapping is badass but gaming on a Mac sucks. Mages are a slippery bunch. Don't be fooled by those pansy dresses and flimsy wands. Mages are fearsome opponents on the battlefield, possessing wondrous abilities taken from the pages of classic fantasy -- they can hurl gigantic fireballs, pop from one place to the other, turn opponents into critters, and even make their own food and drink (which is why it's important to make friends with one)! Nowadays, they can even disappear and make copies of themselves, making them even trickier and more dastardly. Today, we'll figure out some basic things to consider when we're fighting a mage. In the past weeks we've discussed how to deal with death knights, druids, and hunters, so today we'll turn our attention to the archetypal caster class of the game. Some classes will have an easier time with mages, particularly those who can interrupt spellcasting and shrug off spell effects, while others will fall prey to their considerable abilities to snare, crowd control, and their remarkable burst damage. Mages are one-third of one of the most efficient, complementary, and successful 3v3 Arena comps and for good reason. A closer look at what Christian Belt proudly calls, "the best class in the game" after the break.
The Art of War(craft): Introductory guide to fighting hunters, Part 2
Zach continues Monday's The Art of War(craft), which started an overview of the game's premier pet class by checking out their pets. Today, we'll take a closer look at the hunters themselves... A hunter's basic repertoire of attacks consists of shots and stings, the former doing a variety of damaging effects and the latter applying a debuff. Although you only have to worry about one kind of sting being applied to you at any time, hunters have a sting for every kind of opponent. Serpent Sting is the most common, damaging sting, although they can also opt to use Viper Sting on mana-users or even Scorpid Sting against melee classes or other hunters. Stings are nature-based poison debuffs that can be removed by spells such as Cleansing Totems, Cleanse, and Cure Poison. Most good hunters will try to keep a sting applied on a target, as it can confer benefits to the hunter beyond the basic debuff. Even with abilities to remove the debuff, stings can be reapplied almost immediately, so it can sometimes be a mana-intensive effort for both parties. Out of all the stings, hunters will protect and re-apply Viper Sting the most. On top of their sting, hunters also have a wide selection of ranged attacks. You can expect to be the target of their version of Mortal Strike, the marksmanship talent, Aimed Shot, or the Execute-like ability, Kill Shot, so always watch your health. It's very difficult to get the element of surprise against a hunter, who will almost always have Track Humanoids active. Even against rogues, hunters have the option to use Flares, Track Hidden, and even Hunter's Mark if they get the chance. Tracking makes hunters ideal guards on flags in Arathi Basin or Warsong Gulch. Melee players should be wary of approaching a hunter because most will drop a Freezing Trap where they stand to counter rogue openers or warrior Charge.
The Art of War(craft): Introductory guide to fighting hunters
Zach once sat down with Thrall and Varian Wrynn and had a laugh over some glasses of cold, green tea. Two weeks ago we kicked off a series of introductory guides in PvP intended to give players a general idea of what to expect when facing certain classes. Understanding the behavior, capabilities, and limitations of a class puts players off to a great start in PvP, and after discussing the druid and the death knight in the first two installments, we now turn our attention to the hunter. Hunters have long been a force to reckon with in the Battlegrounds, an environment where they thrive. Also, as strong as they were back in vanilla WoW, they're even more powerful in Wrath of the Lich King, gaining new tricks, losing old limitations (e.g., traps can be deployed in combat), and having access to diversity of pets that make PvP encounters more interesting than ever. Hunters are the game's premier pet class. More than even warlocks, hunters rely on their pet to accomplish their goals, with the best hunters mastering the art of micromanaging their pets and its varied abilities. Recognizing a hunter's spec is only aspect of identifying a hunter's strength and weaknesses. Part of learning how to deal with hunters involves recognizing a hunter's pet type who now even have their own talent trees. Let's take a closer look at this master of beasts after the jump.
The Art of War(craft): Introductory guide to fighting death knights
Zach is a PvP nut who is excited at the prospect of more meaningful Battlegrounds play. He is about as unfunny as Jay Leno but has a slightly smaller chin. Last week we kicked off a PvP series on how to deal with specific classes starting with the druid. We featured those slippery shapeshifters mostly because I'm a doofus who thought they were first on the alphabetical list -- cut me some slack, though, since druids were first on the list for years before those upstart death knights came along. Of course, when the game's first hero class was introduced with Wrath of the Lich King, it was no coincidence that their popularity was directly proportional to their being completely imbalanced and overpowered. It was so broken that Arena Season 5 was dominated by death dnights and even unskilled keyboard turners and clickers could sometimes achieve gaudy rankings using the class. While the class has been tuned down somewhat, this hasn't diminished their popularity and death knights remain formidable opponents in the Battlegrounds and world PvP. Today we'll take a look at the dreaded death knight and try to outline a few key points to remember when facing one. Just as with the first installment of this series, these articles are by no means an exhaustive and complete guide to fighting a particular class. PvP depends greatly on context, in part determined by your own class, your environment, your opponent's spec, and player skill among other things. With that disclaimer out of the way, let's take a quick overview of death knights just to give players a general idea of what to expect.
