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The Art of War(craft): Surviving battleground PUGs
Zach has always been a Kobe Bryant fan, ever since his rookie year and even through those air balls he took in game 5 of the first round of the playoffs against the Utah Jazz in 1997. In fact, it was those three air balls that convinced Zach that Kobe was his favorite basketball player ever. Because taking those shots took guts. And taking those shots eventually resulted in Kobe's hitting game-winner after game-winner many years later. Zach also writes about the battlegrounds, and this is his cue to tell you that if you keep trying and you have guts, you just might become the Kobe Bryant of WoW PvP. All right, probably not -- but it's an inspiring thought, anyway. More than a few comments on last week's column made me pause for thought, in particular some responses to my assertion that battleground play is an excellent stress reliever. I have to admit I've had more than my fair share of hair-tearing moments in the battlegrounds ... I might have made it easier on myself and my blood pressure had I pursued achievements using premades. But I'm a pugger at heart. That's likely to change when rated battlegrounds debut in Cataclysm, but for the vast majority of my PvP life, I've lived and died through PUGs. The glaring exception would be the old school honor grind, when going it alone was tantamount to tanking your weekly ranking. I think PUGs are awesome. Yes, they can totally drive you nuts and sometimes be a colossal waste of time, but I've come to appreciate the wonder in a group of strangers coming together and performing well. There's a certain satisfaction to be gained from that -- I'm sure many of you have found PUGs that just clicked, where everything just worked out and everyone else on the team possessed more than half a brain and a decent grasp of the game. Those instances feel good, don't they? They happen only on occasion, but when they do, I personally think they make up for the times when I feel I've been grouped with, um, complete morons. For today's column, I've prepared a handy guide for you folks that should help you survive the wonderful world of battleground PUGs. After all, between now and Cataclysm, you just might need it.
Blood Sport: Griefers in arena
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: Eurythmics' Sweet Dreams. An awesome '80s song -- who can dispute this claim? Last week: We talked about some fun things to do in arena while Wrath of the Lich King and the old world are still with us. This week: All of us have had that random guy in a battleground get under our skin. Maybe he's proclaiming how terrible he thinks you are over /battleground chat, or he's an annoying jerk in some other way. Griefers are a part of the game, and they're here to stay. Nothing excites them more than making others miserable. Maybe you are a far better person than I, but I tend to wish ill towards these individuals. There are lots of ways to exact revenge upon griefers or rivals, particularly in arenas. Justice can be fun -- very fun. Some people, however, take it too far or make it menacing. Revenge is fine; trying to make someone quit the game or use RL money for a server transfer (for instance) is not. I mention the latter because I knew a guy who recruited someone from the #2 arena team three days before season 7 ended. They never invited him to the team, thus assuring themselves #1 gladiator because they had no competition. That goes beyond creating a rivalry into the realm of downright douchebaggery. While I suppose what he did is completely legal, I don't know a lot of people who want to transfer over to play with him after what he pulled. His ex-partners actually play with the guy that he recruited instead of him. Poetic justice, I suppose.
The Art of War(craft): The battlegrounds as a bridge between content
Welcome to this week's installment of The Art of War(craft), a confusingly named column that actually discusses PvP and not, you know, art or crafts. It's a play on Sun Tzu's military treatise and predates the Paladin talent The Art of War. Yeah, the column's been around that long, even before arenas became the new hotness. Soon arenas'll be the old, busted joint and battlegrounds will be the new hotness. Or just hotness, because the battlegrounds are actually pretty old. I've always believed in the replayability of the battlegrounds. It's why I've always thought they were some of the most valuable content the game has to offer. It's heartening to see how Blizzard has committed to giving more attention to battleground development in Cataclysm. Moving forward, I think it will only make the game more robust. At this point in the game, as the next expansion looms on the horizon, a feeling of impatience and even boredom pervades the playing community. The upcoming Ruby Sanctum is what I'd call pantawid gutom, a Filipino term that literally means "something that helps one get across hunger" It's not a real meal, just something to prevent us from starving. The sad thing is, no matter how awesome the Ruby Sanctum will be, it won't be appreciated as much, because everyone is looking forward to Cataclysm already. Arthas is dead. Bring on the new bad guy. Right now, it's a bit of a waiting game. Killing time. Even our WRUP asked a couple of weeks back what people were doing in the time leading up to Cataclysm. I wasn't able to submit my answer to the bonus question thanks to my email flaming out, but my response would've been the same as it always is during the lull between expansions: I hit the battlegrounds. While the rest of the raiding world is waiting for the next big baddie, my true enemy never left -- players of the opposing faction. This is why I'm so stoked that Blizzard is ramping up the tension between the two factions in the expansion and bringing back the conflict that's supposed to be at the core of the game. We needed to be reminded that it's WARcraft, not cuddle-and-be-chummy-in-neutral-cities-craft. Battlegrounds are a great representation of the ongoing battle between the Alliance and Horde and overall gives Blizzard the most bang for their development buck.
Blood Sport: Fun things to do in arena
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: On the Apple HQ Rooftop -- The Beatles last live performance. Last Week: Dawn Moore (no relation) was kind enough to take the column over and discuss the merits of PvE gear in arena. She did an awesome job, and I think you'd all be doing yourself a disservice to not go back and read her work. Dawn charged me to find a term for people who arena. Many of you suggested gladiator in the comments section. Shame on you. Gladiator is a title reserved for the best arena players. I'm going to pitch the suggestion of Face-Smashing Blood Hungerer. FSBHer for short. I guess Arenaist would be sufficient too. This Week: Fun things to do in arena! What more needs to be said? So guys, it's been a while. Exams were a bit hectic, but we're over that now. Blood Sport readers are the best readers in WoW history, and I know you're all wanting to massacre me for leaving you for so long. Ahh, my kind of people. Cataclysm is drawing closer every day, but I've found myself just playing the auction house and occasionally doing other knick-knack type things in my free-time. Arena has become slightly less fun for me lately -- and I think I know why. All my gear is going to be obsolete soon! Noooo! Oh well. I've started trying to have a lot of fun in arena lately. My friends and I have been trying to figure out ways to have the most possible fun in season eight. Here are a few of our suggestions for spicing up your "special arena time." Play a ridiculous spec.
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.
Blood Sport: PvE gear in arena
Want to crush your enemies, see them driven before you and hear the lamentation of their women? You'd better come back next week then, since this week Blood Sport has been hijacked. While Blood Sport's usual writer, C. Christian Moore, completes his 12 labors, a plebeian priest by the name of Dawn Moore has stepped up to the helm. Try to ignore the sounds of crashing objects, shattering glass and screeching cats. Mr. Moore is out this week, performing heroic deeds, winning the hearts of women, and living up to the descriptor "a gentleman and a scholar." For this reason I, Miss Moore, have been assigned to fill in for him. The reason for this has nothing to do with the following conversation. Alex Ziebart: Whoa, I just realized you and Colby have the same last name. Mind = Blown. Dawn Moore: *facepalm* Michael Sacco: Whoa, I never noticed that either. I am certain Mr. Moore's readers are filled with dread that an ill-qualified priestess hailing from the PvE side of the WoW.com has come to play checkers on their chessboard, so to soothe your minds I have provided ... Listening music: Find Yourself by John O'Callaghan and featuring Sarah Howells. The full version is better, but the music video is far too amusing and weird not to link. Last week: You had the reflections and speculations of a gladiator on the future of PvP in Cataclysm. This week: You may well die a little inside, as a lowly challenger tries to tell you something you don't already know about PvE gear in arena. Chance of failure: 85%.
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.
Blood Sport: Underdogs
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: Star Wars stuff, by the Symphony Orchestra of Radio Television of Serbia. I'm not too fond of the whistles and chanting/cheering, but whatever. This is easily the best live Star Wars video I could find on YouTube. Last Week: We talked about the great Mortal Strike nerf of 2010 and why it's great for arena. Actually, scratch that. It's great for any kind of PvP. This Week: Underdogs. Everyone loves the underdog. You know you were rooting for the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series last year, even if you weren't a baseball fan. Why? Because the team that was supposed to win it all (and subsequently did) was the New York Yankees (also known as baseball's Evil Empire). While Joe Girardi might not be Darth Vader, and George Steinbrenner only slightly resembles the Sith Lord, people just know -- almost instinctively -- who the "bad guys" are, and we root for the underdogs.
The Colosseum: Salinelol, shadow priest of Illidan
The Colosseum takes us inside the world of the gladiator to interview some of the top arena fighters on 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. If you'd like to be interviewed for The Colosseum, please feel free to contact us -- be sure to include your armory as a link! This week, The Colosseum had the pleasure of interviewing Salinelol, shadow priest of Illidan. Salinelol is a member of the rank 1 3v3 team on his battlegroup (US Rampage) and one of the world's highest-rated shadow priests. Read on to find out what he has to say about priests, arena strategy and Cataclysm. The Colosseum: Why do you play a shadow priest? What is it about the class's toolbox that appeals to you for competitive arena? Salinelol: I mostly like it because I'm so good at it, I don't really like doing things that I don't excel at. It was between priest and one of the faceroll classes, so I chose this. I pretty much like shadow's ability to off-heal. The ability to off-heal and not run OOM (out of mana) if you're good with your mana is a huge tool. Very interesting. You mentioned that priest isn't a faceroll class. What makes it more difficult to play than other classes? Well, I think that it's harder than some classes because of the priest's need to decide between what to do in any given situation. The priest can do damage, focus on CC or damage reduction, or just out-heal the damage. Each of these come in handy for certain, specific situations. Can you go into detail about your PvP spec?
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 Colosseum: Bandler, priest of Blackrock
The Colosseum takes us inside the world of the gladiator to interview some of the top arena fighters on 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. If you'd like to be interviewed for The Colosseum, please feel free to contact us -- be sure to include your armory as a link! This week, The Colosseum had the pleasure of interviewing Bandler, priest of Blackrock. Bandler is on one of the highest rated 5v5s in the world, as well as having exceptionally good "high scores" for arena statistics. Read on to find out what he has to say about priests, arena strategy, and practical advice. The Colosseum: Why do you play priest? What is it about the class's toolbox that appeals to you for competitive arena? Bandler: For me, priests are one of the most versatile classes. We're able to do steady healing, yet we can put out a lot of damage at the same time. What's the coolest thing you've ever done in arena? Don't be modest. I guess Shadow: Word Deathing a Blind is cool.
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.
Blood Sport: 20% Mortal Wounds
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: "First Day of My Life" by Bright Eyes. Beautiful song. Jack Conte put out an absolutely magnificent mashup featuring Aphex Twin, too. It's not recent, but it's still awesome. Last week, we discussed moving out of fire ... in PvP. We also featured some robots making out. (Bjork is awesome.) This week, we'll be talking about some future Cataclysm changes. I'm as giggly as a schoolgirl over these PvP modifications. We'll start off by discussing the recent change to one of the oldest and most notorious PvP mechanics. Healing debuffs (a.k.a. Mortal Wounds/Mortal Strike effects) are dropping to 20%. Dropping is probably the wrong word -- plunging might be more accurate. English really needs a word that means "fall to the death," because that's closer to what's happening here. We'll create a word -- deathfall. Healing debuffs are deathfalling to 20%. Bornakk "All equivalent debuffs" means if you have the debuff today, you will have it in Cataclysm, but at 20% healing received. To avoid further confusion, we are talking about Mortal Strike, Furious Strikes, Wound Poison, Aimed Shot, Permafrost and Improved Mind Blast. We are also strongly considering having all of these effect cause the same debuff, called Mortal Wounds, which is a physical effect and therefore undispellable. This allows the behavior to be more consistent regardless of who is applying it and lets us consider things like how easy it should be to dispel poisons (since Mortal Wounds would not be affected). Heals will be smaller and health pools will be larger in Cataclysm, so we don't expect Mortal Wounds to feel as mandatory as it does today, but this is clearly the kind of thing that will require a lot of playtesting and feedback. source
The Colosseum: Zanso, warrior of Crushridge
The Colosseum takes us inside the world of the gladiator to interview some of the top Arena fighters on 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. If you'd like to be interviewed for The Colosseum, please feel free to contact us -- be sure to include your Armory as a link! The Colosseum had the pleasure of interviewing gladiator Zanso, warrior of Crushridge. Zanso's 3v3 team, CAN WE BE IN THE TIE, is 2700+ rated, and currently the #3 warrior-priest-druid composition worldwide. Read on to find out what he has to say about warriors, arena strategy, and Cataclysm. The Colosseum: Why do you play a warrior? What is it about the class's toolbox that appeals to you for competitive arena? Zanso: When you think of a warrior, you think of a two-hander, and Mortal Strike, but when I play it, it's more than that. Warriors have so much utility, more than any class in PvP I believe -- to do so much more (Defensive Stance, etc) and thats why it's still appealing to me. What's the coolest thing you've ever done in arena? Don't be modest. Probably the coolest would be when I Intervened my priest partner then cast Spell Reflection. I killed an elemental shaman with his own EMCL (Elemental Mastery + Chain Lightning). That's very cool. Have you ever played any other games competitively? If so, what skills did you learn from them that helped you to be a better arena player? I was always a Counter-Strike player (1.3-Source) -- I have learned to never give up or lose hope if I'm facing skilled, well-known opponents. If you think you're going to lose, you probably are.
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 Colosseum: Loinclothz, Hunter of Sargeras
The Colosseum takes us inside the world of the gladiator to interview some of the top Arena fighters on 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. If you'd like to be interviewed for The Colosseum, please feel free to contact us -- be sure to include your Armory as a link! WoW.com had the pleasure of interviewing Relentless Gladiator Loinclothz, hunter of US Sargeras-A. Loinclothz is currently holding down top-five positions in every bracket on his battlegroup. His fourth-ranked 2v2, fourth-ranked 3v3 and first-ranked 5v5 make Loinclothz one of the top-rated players in the world. His 5v5 is also ranked #2 on U.S. realms. The Colosseum: Why do you play a hunter? What is it about the class's toolbox that appeals to you for competitive arena? Loinclothz: I suppose the reason why I decided to play a hunter in the beginning is because when all my friends picked up WoW for the first time, we all chose different classes, and because I was the last to pick, I got the hunter. Nobody else wanted to play it. I fell in love with the class almost immediately -- I think the reason is because a hunter brings to the arena (and the game in general) a playstyle completely unlike any other class. You can make comparisons between, say, a rogue and a warrior being in melee range and using energy/rage, or a warlock and a mage being spellcaster types. Hunter has its own distinct playstyle which combines an awesome physical DPS but from a ranged perspective. Also, because of the dead zone, the way a hunter moves in arena is completely unique and extremely enjoyable. Do you still play with any of those friends? I don't. This was actually back in vanilla. Out of the group of us that started, only a couple made it to level 60 and raided seriously, and eventually all of them (including myself) quit when The Burning Crusade came out. I started playing again about two months after the release of WotLK, and the only reason was to test out this exciting new thing called "arena."
Blood Sport: Moving out of the fire -- in PvP?
Listening Music: All is Full of Love, by Bjork. Icelandic Fantastic! I don't even know a third of what this video is about, though. Last Week: We talked some Ring of Valor problems and solutions. This Week: This is kind of like Ring of Valor part II, kind of not. I wanted to talk about PvE elements in PvP a bit more. I dunno, it's a weird article. You've been warned. Onto the show... "Don't stand in the fire, noob!" That's really what skill is, right? In the many years I've been playing WoW, I think every guild application I've filled out, I've scribbled "I can move out of fire" somewhere on it. Now if I actually could move out of the fire is an entirely different question, but hey, whatever helps me get accepted, right? Some guilds even have a humorous section devoted to asking the applicant questions like... "Can you move out of fire?" "Can you do a good Chewbacca impression?" "Can you put out more dps than the tank?" "Am I pretty in pink?" So why am I writing about guild applications? This is the arena column. This isn't PvE! Well, arena has become more like PvE than you might have originally thought. Don't write me off just yet!
The Colosseum: Abni, mage of Mal'Ganis
The Colosseum takes us inside the world of the Gladiator to interview some of the top Arena fighters on 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. If you'd like to be interviewed for The Colosseum, please feel free to contact us -- be sure to include your armory as a link! Today's interviewee is Relentless Gladiator Abni, an arcane mage from Mal'Ganis. Abni is currently on the world's #1 rogue-mage-priest composition. In addition to holding the #1 3v3 spot down on the Stormstrike battlegroup, Abni is also #1 in 2v2. In this week's column, we asked him about rogue-mage-priest, his particular character choices, and the state of arena in general. Read on to see what the Relentless Gladiator mage had to say. WoW.com: In YOUR opinion, which classes are lagging behind right now?
