Been a while since the last post for a good reason. Not much is changing in my personal arena spheres, and I'm not going to regale you with tales of leveling Grimtock as its relevance to anything other than APV expanding it's empire to hordeside SH is quite low.
Azchire is working out surprisingly well, and really showing us what a druid can do. While I'd prefer him to play much more conservatively, his aggressive 'CC first, ask questions laster' style helped us climb past a couple of tough double Physical DPS teams (our theorycrafted bane) to a near spotless first week of arena play (32-1 2,000+, but who's counting). Nerf druid CC-lock.
Instead of playing Outlast with a heavy mana focus, nearly all of our wins came by way of early and mid-match execute opportunities, as Azchire's pounce -> maim -> charge -> bash -> cyclone x3 effectively turned all our matches into 2v2's, and let Eternia and myself put our experience in that realm to good use. While I don't know if Gladiator 3's is realistic with such a fresh team, 3v3 is once again the most fun arena for us, no doubt a function of an overpowered class combination. (See? I don't have to say 'matrix.' I have a thesaurus too...)
For some reason, we didn't get the urge to play much 2's this week, and although we have ceased selling 2v2 and 3v3 teams for this season, we played 1 win on tuesday, and called it a week. We're floating 2080 right now, and a single good day could push us into Gladiator range. With my ISP flaking lately, I'm a little hesitant to put such a vulnerable team on the line for extended periods of time, but we'll definately play a couple games this week at the least, in hopes of cracking 2,200 once again.
After embarassing ourselves in 5v5 (we really don't know what the hell we're doing out there), it looks like Eternia's going to finish gearing up his warrior via a couple point-selling 5v5's we have going, and run a modified 2345 next season. (We're currently running a non-matrix of Rogue/Hpriest/Mage/Warlock/Paladin, and floating 1850 is usually a good week.) Our previous idea of running 4dps requires a great shadow priest, clutch shaman, and a moderate amount of coordination. While Chans has been diligently gearing up a shadow set, we will likey be without a sturdy shaman for the first couple weeks as we gear up Valk. Add to these elements that none of us have either the experience or inclination to make a pro 5v5, and all the signs point to just going with the scrub express 2345 variant. Our endless pursuit of the perfect 3v3 and finesse 2v2 makes the idea of a brute force, unthinking 5v5 a nice refreshment to the pressure of the other brackets.
We'll probably end up running Warrior/Paladin/Shaman/Hpriest/ Warlock. I know, I know, we should be using a mage, but we're already using two alts, and I feel like a s3 lock is a close enough substitute in 2345 to avoid leveling up a mage. If we were running something really CS intensive, by all means, I'd use the mage, but outside of Sren's mage alt, there's just no ideal frost mages on the server that would be able to compete at the level we require of our teammates, gear aside.
It's a sad, sad world where the APV is more concerned with Zul'Aman than anything PvP related, but after pugging the first couple bosses on PTR, I'm genuinely excited to be getting back into raiding. I've been poaching several of Unos' best raiders to create a mini pve faction (NOT A RAIDING GROUP) for heroics and such, and it looks like I've got enough people to legitimately hack away at ZA for a couple hours every week in pursuit of whatever PvP loot may lie within. I'm refraining from referring to it as a 'casual raid' since I will still be expecting perfection from everyone. Just because we're only spending 10 hours a week in a raid instance doesn't mean you have a license to fail.
Badges won't be the driving force behind ZA raids as we once anticipated. Our heroic runs have been quite fruitful lately, and all of us are sitting on upward of 40 badges already. Coupled with the news that AV marks will also be considered as legal tender toward one of the awards, our need for badges has diminished greatly. Honesly, I'm just looking for any excuse to raid to spec 40 destro. 6.2k shadow bolts on PTR make me feel like half a man on Live.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
A Wash?
Undeniable rogue PvP buffs, with a fortunate emphasis in small arena play, may yet salvage our 2dps team's hope for season 3. Hemo is back and badder than ever, and it feels good to be trending back toward our execute roots. While I'd love to bring back our true execute team, our mage/rogue/priest variant just seems too vulnerable to resist gear to really climb. However, the rogue changes (if you don't know them, go read up) represent a bit of a wash for our rogue/lock 2v2.
While Eternia plays the most skill-intensive class (read: underpowered) in the game, and myself one of the least skill-intensive (read: face-mashing), the only way I can interpret rogue buffs coupled with lock nerfs is a net gain. While Eternia's character was being capped by his class abilities, I feel that warlocks are currently capped by gear. Nowhere is this more evident than our win over Gumbot running Lock/Alt Priest. While Gumbot outskills me three times over (some might argue more), we essentially cancelled each other out due to the ease of arena warlock playstyle strategems.
Fuzzy math inc: With more emphasis placed on an individual warlock's skill level, and an expansion of the rogue class's arena proficiency, the benefit our team gains from Eternia's ability ceiling being raised should outweigh the penalty imposed on un-skilled warlocks. I've played a warlock since release, and no modern-day nerfs could possibly make PvP harder than it was in the dark days before Death Coil, when agility abounded on the high-end Dreadmist warlock armor.
These rogue buffs might be a red herring, however. Both Eternia and myself are still quite worried about the +healing -> %spell damage conversion coming in 2.3. This has been advertised as the end of 2dps teams (for both 2v2 and 3v3), and I expect Wrath spammers and (shudder) resto/ele shamans to be our bane for quite some time. These classes should maintain their mana longevity, but once a 2dps team is identified, dumping mana pools-worth of damage might be enough to tip the already tenuous scales in 2dps vs. Dps/Healsauce 2v2. Only one way to find out, and I suspect we'll find out one way or another within the first month of season 3.
Our 'serious' 2v2 got to 2,071 as Lock/Priest alt (Eternia played Chansobal), and we're going to begin the possibly brief push into Gladiator range on tuesday. Pending teams queueing up against us, the window we have left ourselves to climb to 2,500 or so should be wide open. No excuses to not get Gladiator now, and we do not plan on Queue Dodging or queueing up against alt 2,100 teams of our own creation to achieve our rank.
In 3v3 news, as many of you know, Vlak has left WoW, though not our hearts. We have recruited one of his close friends to push 3v3 Gladiator range, the druid Azchire, in his honor. Initial games have proven VERY promising, as we have weathered the likes of Serennia's 3v3 (the #1 team in the world) with interestingly encouraging results. Azchire is top-notch with CC, very alert on vent, and heals as good as expected. We have invited him to climb into Gladiator range with us via a serious 3v3, and expect to get that team underway early next week.
Apparently, there's a Wal-Mart special on 2healer 3v3 teams, a trend I can only imagine Serennia started. We've basically sleepwalked through, among others, Druid/Priest/Warrior teams, a testament to the overall arena sense of our team. Playing mana pressure isn't a surefire win vs. these teams, but we were at no time in danger during these matches, in part due to good pet management, constant control of the warrior, and WELL TIMED MACE STUNS, BRO. Normally, priests represent a rough time for SL/SL warlocks (bouncing Prayer of Mending charges > face rolling), but so far, priest teams have been our easiest matchups in 3v3. Promising, to say the least...
Still no 5v5 news, save Valkring hitting 63 on his shaman. Go, Valk, go!
PvE segment: APV has been vigilantly running Heroic Mech in an effort to accumulate badges for the 2.3 trinkets/capes. With badges from 10-mans looming, we're starting to lean on locals to start thinking about forming up a regular Kara/ZA badge-farming group, and with the exception of tanks, we've found an abundance of takers. Once a geared tank stumbles into our midst, we should be ready to unlock the dual badge-holes of Kara and ZA. 40 destro is pro, right?
While Eternia plays the most skill-intensive class (read: underpowered) in the game, and myself one of the least skill-intensive (read: face-mashing), the only way I can interpret rogue buffs coupled with lock nerfs is a net gain. While Eternia's character was being capped by his class abilities, I feel that warlocks are currently capped by gear. Nowhere is this more evident than our win over Gumbot running Lock/Alt Priest. While Gumbot outskills me three times over (some might argue more), we essentially cancelled each other out due to the ease of arena warlock playstyle strategems.
Fuzzy math inc: With more emphasis placed on an individual warlock's skill level, and an expansion of the rogue class's arena proficiency, the benefit our team gains from Eternia's ability ceiling being raised should outweigh the penalty imposed on un-skilled warlocks. I've played a warlock since release, and no modern-day nerfs could possibly make PvP harder than it was in the dark days before Death Coil, when agility abounded on the high-end Dreadmist warlock armor.
These rogue buffs might be a red herring, however. Both Eternia and myself are still quite worried about the +healing -> %spell damage conversion coming in 2.3. This has been advertised as the end of 2dps teams (for both 2v2 and 3v3), and I expect Wrath spammers and (shudder) resto/ele shamans to be our bane for quite some time. These classes should maintain their mana longevity, but once a 2dps team is identified, dumping mana pools-worth of damage might be enough to tip the already tenuous scales in 2dps vs. Dps/Healsauce 2v2. Only one way to find out, and I suspect we'll find out one way or another within the first month of season 3.
Our 'serious' 2v2 got to 2,071 as Lock/Priest alt (Eternia played Chansobal), and we're going to begin the possibly brief push into Gladiator range on tuesday. Pending teams queueing up against us, the window we have left ourselves to climb to 2,500 or so should be wide open. No excuses to not get Gladiator now, and we do not plan on Queue Dodging or queueing up against alt 2,100 teams of our own creation to achieve our rank.
In 3v3 news, as many of you know, Vlak has left WoW, though not our hearts. We have recruited one of his close friends to push 3v3 Gladiator range, the druid Azchire, in his honor. Initial games have proven VERY promising, as we have weathered the likes of Serennia's 3v3 (the #1 team in the world) with interestingly encouraging results. Azchire is top-notch with CC, very alert on vent, and heals as good as expected. We have invited him to climb into Gladiator range with us via a serious 3v3, and expect to get that team underway early next week.
Apparently, there's a Wal-Mart special on 2healer 3v3 teams, a trend I can only imagine Serennia started. We've basically sleepwalked through, among others, Druid/Priest/Warrior teams, a testament to the overall arena sense of our team. Playing mana pressure isn't a surefire win vs. these teams, but we were at no time in danger during these matches, in part due to good pet management, constant control of the warrior, and WELL TIMED MACE STUNS, BRO. Normally, priests represent a rough time for SL/SL warlocks (bouncing Prayer of Mending charges > face rolling), but so far, priest teams have been our easiest matchups in 3v3. Promising, to say the least...
Still no 5v5 news, save Valkring hitting 63 on his shaman. Go, Valk, go!
PvE segment: APV has been vigilantly running Heroic Mech in an effort to accumulate badges for the 2.3 trinkets/capes. With badges from 10-mans looming, we're starting to lean on locals to start thinking about forming up a regular Kara/ZA badge-farming group, and with the exception of tanks, we've found an abundance of takers. Once a geared tank stumbles into our midst, we should be ready to unlock the dual badge-holes of Kara and ZA. 40 destro is pro, right?
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
A Time for Change
I never thought I'd see the day when Eternia picked up a pair of maces and succumbed to the dreaded 42/19 mace spec. Day One results were quite underwhelming, as our 3v3 lost to a mirror team that managed to execute Vlak without any kind of mana pressure all match, and a too-close win over a scrub Warlock/Paladin/Hunter team. The frustrations that mount with careless play and demoralizing losses will hopefully be attributed to freak matrix combos and the inevitable grace period associated with Eternia's new spec.
Or we could just be terrible. You know, whatever.
In 2's, we destroyed a couple druid/warrior teams much easier than we had in the past with the new combat mace spec, but suffered an unnecesary loss to Paladin/Warlock. Maybe every team has 'those days', but its hard to get too worked up over these losses, and we still have a couple excuses for sucking. Our teams start in ernest Saturday night after we sell a 5v5, so any kinks in our armor should be exposed by maintainence next week. Here's hoping we can take advantage of a great matrix and do it justice.
Or we could just be terrible. You know, whatever.
In 2's, we destroyed a couple druid/warrior teams much easier than we had in the past with the new combat mace spec, but suffered an unnecesary loss to Paladin/Warlock. Maybe every team has 'those days', but its hard to get too worked up over these losses, and we still have a couple excuses for sucking. Our teams start in ernest Saturday night after we sell a 5v5, so any kinks in our armor should be exposed by maintainence next week. Here's hoping we can take advantage of a great matrix and do it justice.
Monday, October 15, 2007
The Calm Before the Storm
Putting the point-buying community of Silver Hand 'On Notice' means there's no turning back. Now is the time to put up or... fail at putting up. I speak, of course, of our epic RP arena squads, striving for Gladiator status.
Currently, we're planning on pursuing Gladiator status on two fronts:
A streaky Rogue/Warlock 2v2 that has spiked as high as 2,222 rating this season, but suffers from the usual 2dps team weaknesses. Resists and Racial abilities make certain matchups 50-50 vs. us, and those are losing odds when you're getting 5 points off them for wins, and losing 20 for a loss. The hope is to float 2,100, and catch fire one of these nights to cheese out Gladiator range, and /camp there for the remainder of the season.
Also pushing Gladiator, a super-fresh Druid/Warlock/Rogue team with Vlak that has yet to see its natural rating cap. We've pushed to 2,100 (on our clients' teams) with very little effort, and feel great about this class combo. Lack of experience and physical logged-in time are the big barriers facing this team. If we play to our natural skill levels, I predict 2,200 in our future, but whether that will be enough to earn Gladiator status in the inflation-mild 3v3 bracket remains to be seen.
Our client base is a bit overwhelming at this point, and when we resume point selling in season 3, we might take on a smaller portfolio. This would allow us to give more attention to each client, dabble in some pve, and (to be perfectly honest) we're flooded with gold. Until there's some unit of payment (possibly the services of a good Prot Tank...) aside from gold, we're simply too gold-rich to be busting our asses for Sunday- and Monday-night slackers crying about their 1,800 2v2 every week.
Nothing jacks up the price of your 3-7 renewal like 10 minute queues on a Monday night because you put off playing your 3 games for 6 days. Also, nothing gets you booted to the back of the line when said renewals come to call like not having your crap together. Our rules are simple, and they're there to benefit everyone.
1.) Have your 3 games played. If you can't find a partner, and are helplessly anti-social, find someone who wants free points. Trade channel listens.
2.) Send me an in-game mail saying you're ready, and what times you'll likely be on. There's a hierarchy for renewals: Pre-Paid Requests > Mailed Requests > Tell Requests > Scrubs Who Send Me Tells While I'm Already In An Arena Match.
3.) If we can't immediately play your games, pass me lead = pay me by monday. We've had a couple instances where someone tosses me Captain, and then doesn't log back on until maintainence. This wastes an Arena Team slot for one of my alts, and makes me not like you.
4.) If I'm not on, talk to Eternia. If no members are online, log on a horde alt and see if you can find Grimtock, my undead warlock. If none of these options work, SEND ME MAIL. I don't care if I haven't logged on for a month and a half: If there's no mail from you in my mail-box, you don't exsist.
/Angry off.
I know this seems like common sense to most of you, but apparently this stuff needed to be spelled out. I realize you're busy, which is probably why you're buying points. We're on-line more than any human beings should be, but if the first time you log on for the week is Monday, do not expect our services to be available to you. If you wish to make a transaction earlier in the week, and can't find anyone, play your 3 games and send a mail. It's that easy, folks.
Currently, we're planning on pursuing Gladiator status on two fronts:
A streaky Rogue/Warlock 2v2 that has spiked as high as 2,222 rating this season, but suffers from the usual 2dps team weaknesses. Resists and Racial abilities make certain matchups 50-50 vs. us, and those are losing odds when you're getting 5 points off them for wins, and losing 20 for a loss. The hope is to float 2,100, and catch fire one of these nights to cheese out Gladiator range, and /camp there for the remainder of the season.
Also pushing Gladiator, a super-fresh Druid/Warlock/Rogue team with Vlak that has yet to see its natural rating cap. We've pushed to 2,100 (on our clients' teams) with very little effort, and feel great about this class combo. Lack of experience and physical logged-in time are the big barriers facing this team. If we play to our natural skill levels, I predict 2,200 in our future, but whether that will be enough to earn Gladiator status in the inflation-mild 3v3 bracket remains to be seen.
Our client base is a bit overwhelming at this point, and when we resume point selling in season 3, we might take on a smaller portfolio. This would allow us to give more attention to each client, dabble in some pve, and (to be perfectly honest) we're flooded with gold. Until there's some unit of payment (possibly the services of a good Prot Tank...) aside from gold, we're simply too gold-rich to be busting our asses for Sunday- and Monday-night slackers crying about their 1,800 2v2 every week.
Nothing jacks up the price of your 3-7 renewal like 10 minute queues on a Monday night because you put off playing your 3 games for 6 days. Also, nothing gets you booted to the back of the line when said renewals come to call like not having your crap together. Our rules are simple, and they're there to benefit everyone.
1.) Have your 3 games played. If you can't find a partner, and are helplessly anti-social, find someone who wants free points. Trade channel listens.
2.) Send me an in-game mail saying you're ready, and what times you'll likely be on. There's a hierarchy for renewals: Pre-Paid Requests > Mailed Requests > Tell Requests > Scrubs Who Send Me Tells While I'm Already In An Arena Match.
3.) If we can't immediately play your games, pass me lead = pay me by monday. We've had a couple instances where someone tosses me Captain, and then doesn't log back on until maintainence. This wastes an Arena Team slot for one of my alts, and makes me not like you.
4.) If I'm not on, talk to Eternia. If no
/Angry off.
I know this seems like common sense to most of you, but apparently this stuff needed to be spelled out. I realize you're busy, which is probably why you're buying points. We're on-line more than any human beings should be, but if the first time you log on for the week is Monday, do not expect our services to be available to you. If you wish to make a transaction earlier in the week, and can't find anyone, play your 3 games and send a mail. It's that easy, folks.
Friday, October 12, 2007
And the Hits Keep Coming!
Another day, another win over a titan of Tichondrius. Up against a dual warlock set, Eternia and I picked up a win over Gumbot's 2v2 to add another powerhouse name to the list of the fallen.
Running an odd Warlock/Warlock set, my initial surprise was quickly replaced with the giddiness of hope as our Priest/Warlock team managed to dispell most of their dps, and a couple lucky Spell Lock/Curse of Tongues/Fear resists later, took 19 points from what many believe is the best warlock in BG9. Thankfully, Eternia was playing on Chansobal's priest for this match. If we had rolled in there as Warlock/Rogue, we would have gotten beaten into the ground, I'm sure.
As it was, we had no right winning the match. Eternia's still not exactly pro at playing a priest, but the resist ball bounced in our favor more than once, and any victory over a player the caliber of Gumbot is something to savor.
Coupled with our victory over Neilyo's 3v3 last week, I can only conclude that the pairity in the upper brackets must be quite fierce. No wonder all the top teams fall into predictable, mana-based matrices: Any bad luck with an execute/Double DPS team, and that's a 20 points loss to a team you just beat for 5. I was thinking about trying out Double Warlock hordeside (Grimtock is almost maxed for honor anticipating s3), but my little High Warlord might be pidgeon-holed into pairing up with a druid, and saving the All-Lock antics for 3v3 and higher.
So, with my innapropriate man-crush on Gumbot succinctly quashed, I am a bit more at ease in our decision to play 2.3 chicken (re: late season point selling) with the season deadline approaching. I'm looking forward to PTR, but apparently they broke my focus Meta (yet another nerf to 2dps execute teams in s3).
Big Prediction for 2.3: Look out for the resto shaman. They might finally have a place in 2v2, and while they're a complete necessity for any successful 5v5, I'm looking forward to seeing some weird (but workable) shaman 3v3's in the near future. They'll be a powerhouse in the Mana Games with that new Water Shield buff, and with the +healing -> discounted spell damage, I can't wait to see some wacky hybrid DPS/Healing gear/spec shamans make their way in small arena.
Running an odd Warlock/Warlock set, my initial surprise was quickly replaced with the giddiness of hope as our Priest/Warlock team managed to dispell most of their dps, and a couple lucky Spell Lock/Curse of Tongues/Fear resists later, took 19 points from what many believe is the best warlock in BG9. Thankfully, Eternia was playing on Chansobal's priest for this match. If we had rolled in there as Warlock/Rogue, we would have gotten beaten into the ground, I'm sure.
As it was, we had no right winning the match. Eternia's still not exactly pro at playing a priest, but the resist ball bounced in our favor more than once, and any victory over a player the caliber of Gumbot is something to savor.
Coupled with our victory over Neilyo's 3v3 last week, I can only conclude that the pairity in the upper brackets must be quite fierce. No wonder all the top teams fall into predictable, mana-based matrices: Any bad luck with an execute/Double DPS team, and that's a 20 points loss to a team you just beat for 5. I was thinking about trying out Double Warlock hordeside (Grimtock is almost maxed for honor anticipating s3), but my little High Warlord might be pidgeon-holed into pairing up with a druid, and saving the All-Lock antics for 3v3 and higher.
So, with my innapropriate man-crush on Gumbot succinctly quashed, I am a bit more at ease in our decision to play 2.3 chicken (re: late season point selling) with the season deadline approaching. I'm looking forward to PTR, but apparently they broke my focus Meta (yet another nerf to 2dps execute teams in s3).
Big Prediction for 2.3: Look out for the resto shaman. They might finally have a place in 2v2, and while they're a complete necessity for any successful 5v5, I'm looking forward to seeing some weird (but workable) shaman 3v3's in the near future. They'll be a powerhouse in the Mana Games with that new Water Shield buff, and with the +healing -> discounted spell damage, I can't wait to see some wacky hybrid DPS/Healing gear/spec shamans make their way in small arena.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Small World
Fine. I get it. Warlock/druid, Warrior/druid or gtfo. 2v2's was my cup of tea for a while, and though I'm willingly switching focus to the admittedly more strat-intensive 3v3 bracket, 2v2 will always have a special place in my heart. But if the +heal -> 30% spell damage buff goes through in 2.3, consensus among my people says that 2dps might very well be dead, and it couldn't hurt to start hedging my bets toward s3 now.
What better place to start than Warlock/Druid. Vlak and I are still pretty new at this matrix, but it's been a blast so far. We suffered a couple losses today, ironically against (what else) Warlock/Rogue teams, but we figured out our Suck Factor, and every loss brings us closer to a winning strat vs. any matrix. Soon enough, we'll be losing because of positioning, or failure to coordinate CC's, and I'm looking forward to those days. But for now, we're doing a million things wrong per match, and still floating 2,000+, so I can't help but be excited for whatever future Vlak and I might have next season.
Vlak has a similar personality toward arena and competetive pvp in general as I do, and that's as valuable as any amount of skill. I've paired with plenty people who bum out on losses, or people who will keep queueing without making adjustments (dating back to my High Warlord days), and I've found that Vlak revels in losses just as much as I do, but has the same winner's mentality I expect of myself.
The best part about being in an overpowered matrix, and underperforming, is that any time we lose a match, it's our fault. In the 2,200's with Eternia (RIP warlock/rogue), if we lost to certain matrices, it was just how the ball bounced for that particular Mace Stun proc, Spell lock resist, etc. But when you're part of the Yankees, you have no excuses to lose, and that's a really liberating umbrella to be fighting under. The feeling of helplessness dissolves into personal responsibility, and I can feel myself growing with each match.
I'm looking forward to bouncing around a couple of 3v3's this week, most notably Jon and Keire's Warrior/Druid/Warlock combo. We faced Jon's Warrior/Druid team while 2v2ing today, and these guys have tons of potential. Once Jon picks up a weapon upgrade, that 3v3 will really take off.
No 5v5 news, so I'll skip to a very irregular segment: PvE. With Valkring spamming my MSN while raiding, I can't help but catch the "LAWL BIG NUMBERS" bug. I miss damage meters and captive vent audiences, but unless there's pvp gear in Zul'Aman, I can't see myself hoofing it all the way out to the Belf Lands every week just to raid for the sake of raiding.
Since there are apparently no tanks left on Silver Hand, stockpiling Heroic badges has been slow going to say the least. The APV is basically giving out free badges to anyone willing to tank for us for an hour, but there have been surprisingly few takers. Maybe we need to start offering credits on 2,000 rated 2v2s or something. I'm sure we could just eat it for the first month of the season, and farm Karazhan to get badges, but if I ever step foot in that place again, I better be drunk or it will be too soon.
What better place to start than Warlock/Druid. Vlak and I are still pretty new at this matrix, but it's been a blast so far. We suffered a couple losses today, ironically against (what else) Warlock/Rogue teams, but we figured out our Suck Factor, and every loss brings us closer to a winning strat vs. any matrix. Soon enough, we'll be losing because of positioning, or failure to coordinate CC's, and I'm looking forward to those days. But for now, we're doing a million things wrong per match, and still floating 2,000+, so I can't help but be excited for whatever future Vlak and I might have next season.
Vlak has a similar personality toward arena and competetive pvp in general as I do, and that's as valuable as any amount of skill. I've paired with plenty people who bum out on losses, or people who will keep queueing without making adjustments (dating back to my High Warlord days), and I've found that Vlak revels in losses just as much as I do, but has the same winner's mentality I expect of myself.
The best part about being in an overpowered matrix, and underperforming, is that any time we lose a match, it's our fault. In the 2,200's with Eternia (RIP warlock/rogue), if we lost to certain matrices, it was just how the ball bounced for that particular Mace Stun proc, Spell lock resist, etc. But when you're part of the Yankees, you have no excuses to lose, and that's a really liberating umbrella to be fighting under. The feeling of helplessness dissolves into personal responsibility, and I can feel myself growing with each match.
I'm looking forward to bouncing around a couple of 3v3's this week, most notably Jon and Keire's Warrior/Druid/Warlock combo. We faced Jon's Warrior/Druid team while 2v2ing today, and these guys have tons of potential. Once Jon picks up a weapon upgrade, that 3v3 will really take off.
No 5v5 news, so I'll skip to a very irregular segment: PvE. With Valkring spamming my MSN while raiding, I can't help but catch the "LAWL BIG NUMBERS" bug. I miss damage meters and captive vent audiences, but unless there's pvp gear in Zul'Aman, I can't see myself hoofing it all the way out to the Belf Lands every week just to raid for the sake of raiding.
Since there are apparently no tanks left on Silver Hand, stockpiling Heroic badges has been slow going to say the least. The APV is basically giving out free badges to anyone willing to tank for us for an hour, but there have been surprisingly few takers. Maybe we need to start offering credits on 2,000 rated 2v2s or something. I'm sure we could just eat it for the first month of the season, and farm Karazhan to get badges, but if I ever step foot in that place again, I better be drunk or it will be too soon.
Monday, October 8, 2007
Busy Day
Busy day is busy. Just a quick post to update some recent developments. We're getting frustrated with the 0% room for error 2dps 2v2 team, putting additional pressure on us to get our gladiator team out of the way as early as possible. Coupled with the impending sense of doom toward 2dps's viability in s3, I'm afraid we might be retiring rogue/lock as a gladiator team when s3 hits, and only use it for selling teams.
Putting our eggs in the 3v3 basket is no less risky, but the druid/lock/rogue matrix still has some work to do. We suffered our first losses today, two games against the same Paladin/Warlock/ Rogue team. Failure to control their rogue cost us both games, but this setback paled in comparison to a mammoth accomplishment we have achieved today.
Our scrappy little APV team of Vlak, Eternia and myself took down the mighty Team Z juggernaut of Neilyo, Pronne, and Realzz not but an hour ago, securing a 25 point victory in the process. Once deemed the greatest players in BG9, a victory against them with our fresh 3v3 gives us all the confidence we need going into the s2 homestretch. If we can down a near-mirror matchup (Druid/ Spriest/Rogue) played by the best players in the arena scene today, our team might just have what it takes to crack out Double Gladiator status this season.
When we came barreling out of the gate, the only player we could ID was Realzz. Eternia immediately called Team Z, but I figured it was just Real scrubbing up points for some friends. It didn't take long until I saw the undead rogue bearing down on me, and once I saw that nameplate bearing Neilyo's all-too-familiar moniker, the momentary panic was quickly replaced with a bloodlust I've not felt in a long, long time. Eternia quickly found Pronne, and we dispatched him with disconscerning ease. We'd beaten Pronne before, twice actually, but he made a couple bad decisions, and a 5-point kidney shot set up our usual 2v2 druid-killing stunlock rotation beautifully, downing Pronne in the first 30 seconds on the match.
Cleaning up the bad boys of Ticho was a systematic dismantling after that, as Realzz dropped out to heal, and we concentrated on kiting Neil and harassing his healer's mana pool to victory. It was the most high-profile victory of our season 2 careers thus far, although maybe not as epic as how we closed out our season 1 3v3 team (a 27 point win over the #7 ranked 3v3 in the battlegroup). Now that we're on their radar, the inevitable rematch will undoubtedly see them swapping in their warlock for Realzz, providing a true mirror faceoff between the Ticho juggernaut and the scrappy RP server point sellers.
Putting our eggs in the 3v3 basket is no less risky, but the druid/lock/rogue matrix still has some work to do. We suffered our first losses today, two games against the same Paladin/Warlock/ Rogue team. Failure to control their rogue cost us both games, but this setback paled in comparison to a mammoth accomplishment we have achieved today.
Our scrappy little APV team of Vlak, Eternia and myself took down the mighty Team Z juggernaut of Neilyo, Pronne, and Realzz not but an hour ago, securing a 25 point victory in the process. Once deemed the greatest players in BG9, a victory against them with our fresh 3v3 gives us all the confidence we need going into the s2 homestretch. If we can down a near-mirror matchup (Druid/ Spriest/Rogue) played by the best players in the arena scene today, our team might just have what it takes to crack out Double Gladiator status this season.
When we came barreling out of the gate, the only player we could ID was Realzz. Eternia immediately called Team Z, but I figured it was just Real scrubbing up points for some friends. It didn't take long until I saw the undead rogue bearing down on me, and once I saw that nameplate bearing Neilyo's all-too-familiar moniker, the momentary panic was quickly replaced with a bloodlust I've not felt in a long, long time. Eternia quickly found Pronne, and we dispatched him with disconscerning ease. We'd beaten Pronne before, twice actually, but he made a couple bad decisions, and a 5-point kidney shot set up our usual 2v2 druid-killing stunlock rotation beautifully, downing Pronne in the first 30 seconds on the match.
Cleaning up the bad boys of Ticho was a systematic dismantling after that, as Realzz dropped out to heal, and we concentrated on kiting Neil and harassing his healer's mana pool to victory. It was the most high-profile victory of our season 2 careers thus far, although maybe not as epic as how we closed out our season 1 3v3 team (a 27 point win over the #7 ranked 3v3 in the battlegroup). Now that we're on their radar, the inevitable rematch will undoubtedly see them swapping in their warlock for Realzz, providing a true mirror faceoff between the Ticho juggernaut and the scrappy RP server point sellers.
The Matrix Crutch
Never have we felt the effects of having good synergy within a matrix like we did this week. The now-nerfed Rogue/Priest/Lock variation bombed out for us this week, going .500 in the mid-1900's, a pathetic record for us. It looks like the resilience-vs-DoT's buff destroyed that combo, forcing priest/rogue to bring a mage for the burst over the lock for sustained damage. Makes sense. Having a priest as your only healer, (and consequently, opponents' main target) forces you to play an Execute strat, trading healers and utilizing Improved death to win 2dps vs. 2dps. No one will argue that a warlock will help an execute better than a mage, so we're retiring our priest/rogue/warlock combo for now in favor of our new druid matrix.
The honeymoon period with Druid/Rogue/Warlock is still proving quite exciting. So far, we've only encountered one hard counter to this matrix, and we don't expect to be facing much 3dps where we're going. Pushing through 2,100 was a fairly simple task, and once news comes down that s3 is on its way, we'll get serious and push into 3v3 gladiator range, a feat we weren't expecting to get a shot at this season.
Mid-bracket BG9 continues to surprise, as our traditional priest/rogue/lock 3v3 struggled to float 1900, but when Eternia and I played a handful of games with one of our Warlock clients, we went undefeated (ending at 1970) using an unconventional Warlock/Warlock/Rogue 3v3 in the exact same bracket range not an hour later. Maybe it was just the element of surprise, but it might be worth exploring. Traditionally, 3dps 3v3's are horrible to climb above 2,000, as wins garner 10 points, and losses 20, too many things can go wrong over the course of a match.
My infatuation with druids in 3v3 doesn't end with our Warlock/Rogue/Druid, however. I joined a prominant Warrior/Druid team late this week to pal around with some games in that matrix for fun. Warrior/Druid/Warlock didn't command the same synergy that we got with a Rogue, but it was fun nonetheless. Once Jonthan gets a bit more gear, I'm planning on teaming up with him and Keire's druid more often, not for points, but to further research the differences between Rogue/Druid/Warlock and its Warrior variation. So far, the big benefit to the Warrior team is the complete negation of enemy rogues, freeing up myself for CC options, and saving the druid a ton of mana.
Quick 5v5 update: After I crack out a gladiator 2v2 with Chans tomorrow, we're going to ask him to go shadow full time. Valk's finishing leveling up his shaman, and we're hopefully going to have a couple weeks left of s2 to bank him a couple thousand arena points. Should be a fun time to open up s3. We really want to get more serious about 5v5, and a shaman gives us no excuse not to.
In 2v2 news, we're sleepwalking through teams at this point. Even if we get tagged with a loss, it hardly phases us these days. 200+ arena games per day sort of numbs you to bad-luck losses, and when you're running an execute 2v2, the law of averages says you're bound to lose a couple matches vs. healer/dps once in a while. Apparently there was a firesale on Warlock/Paladin at Wal-Mart, because we went about 12 straight matches yesterday facing 4 different Warlock/Paladin teams. All of them failed horribly, but if played correctly, any paladin team should have a decent shot at beating us, especially with BoP + Bubble available to caster/pally teams. In a mirror match yesterday, I got to spell lock a full cast bar Soul Fire. That was better than any win we got all day. Knowing in that instant that you just blue-balled a s2 warlock... it just don't get no better than that.
The honeymoon period with Druid/Rogue/Warlock is still proving quite exciting. So far, we've only encountered one hard counter to this matrix, and we don't expect to be facing much 3dps where we're going. Pushing through 2,100 was a fairly simple task, and once news comes down that s3 is on its way, we'll get serious and push into 3v3 gladiator range, a feat we weren't expecting to get a shot at this season.
Mid-bracket BG9 continues to surprise, as our traditional priest/rogue/lock 3v3 struggled to float 1900, but when Eternia and I played a handful of games with one of our Warlock clients, we went undefeated (ending at 1970) using an unconventional Warlock/Warlock/Rogue 3v3 in the exact same bracket range not an hour later. Maybe it was just the element of surprise, but it might be worth exploring. Traditionally, 3dps 3v3's are horrible to climb above 2,000, as wins garner 10 points, and losses 20, too many things can go wrong over the course of a match.
My infatuation with druids in 3v3 doesn't end with our Warlock/Rogue/Druid, however. I joined a prominant Warrior/Druid team late this week to pal around with some games in that matrix for fun. Warrior/Druid/Warlock didn't command the same synergy that we got with a Rogue, but it was fun nonetheless. Once Jonthan gets a bit more gear, I'm planning on teaming up with him and Keire's druid more often, not for points, but to further research the differences between Rogue/Druid/Warlock and its Warrior variation. So far, the big benefit to the Warrior team is the complete negation of enemy rogues, freeing up myself for CC options, and saving the druid a ton of mana.
Quick 5v5 update: After I crack out a gladiator 2v2 with Chans tomorrow, we're going to ask him to go shadow full time. Valk's finishing leveling up his shaman, and we're hopefully going to have a couple weeks left of s2 to bank him a couple thousand arena points. Should be a fun time to open up s3. We really want to get more serious about 5v5, and a shaman gives us no excuse not to.
In 2v2 news, we're sleepwalking through teams at this point. Even if we get tagged with a loss, it hardly phases us these days. 200+ arena games per day sort of numbs you to bad-luck losses, and when you're running an execute 2v2, the law of averages says you're bound to lose a couple matches vs. healer/dps once in a while. Apparently there was a firesale on Warlock/Paladin at Wal-Mart, because we went about 12 straight matches yesterday facing 4 different Warlock/Paladin teams. All of them failed horribly, but if played correctly, any paladin team should have a decent shot at beating us, especially with BoP + Bubble available to caster/pally teams. In a mirror match yesterday, I got to spell lock a full cast bar Soul Fire. That was better than any win we got all day. Knowing in that instant that you just blue-balled a s2 warlock... it just don't get no better than that.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Spicing things up
Today's theme is 'keeping WoW fresh'. Been doing a lot to distract myself lately, since the arena grind is at a standstill until we're done selling teams, and both my warlock and rogue are just turtling points til next season.
I'm leveling Grimtock (granted slowly) with the pipe dream that I may be able to extend APV's empire into the grimy scene of Silver Hand horde arena. Catching up to the gear curve doesn't conscern me nearly as much as it does my colleagues, but I expect to top out at 1600 with eternia's hordelock and valkring's mage (already 70 and 67, respectively). I'm not much of a quester, so I'm just doing my usual 61-67 leveling strat of grinding Wolves and harpies in AV, accumulating massive amounts of bonus honor on the way up. Might be 70 before season 3 hits, but only time will tell.
Another distraction I'm going to start indulging is firing the old Heroic Farm Crew back up. Apparently, the 2.3 PvP trinkets available for purchase via heroic badges are gamebreaking, so there's no reason not to stockpile badges now. Already have 10 leftover from my glory days, so 3-6 badges a day, I should be at 50 by the time 2.3 rolls around. If push comes to shove, I hear Karazhan bosses will be dropping badges as well, so even if I'm short of 50, I'm confident I'll be able to sew up the trinket within the first week.
Those trinkets look nice, but I just can't see this 'return to burst' thing other arena junkies are talking about. I understand that we're at the resilience cap, and crit numbers are still growing, but Blizzard has done a good job with itemization to prevent a return to crit-based pvp. Adding in an emphasis on Armor-piercing, for example, or my personal prediction: spell haste, are great ways to bring damage increases to pvp without relying on crit.
I've managed to convince one of my closest WoW friends to rejoin the red-headed step child of BG9, and pending leveling, Valkring's shaman should be an integral part of my mythical 4dps 5v5. Valk's return to Silver Hand really opens the door for a LOT of matrices I never thought I'd get to play, and I'm looking forward to trying out Shaman/Warlock, Rogue/Warlock, Rogue/Rogue, and (hordeside) Warlock/Mage with him. Finding dedicated players is the best thing you can do for yourself in today's arena scene, and even if these matrices don't work out, Valkring is a close friend of mine, and I'm sure we'll have a ball. Heck, we might even get to try out some 3v3's with Eternia's alts. I'd love to try out warrior/shaman/rogue. Terrible matrix is terrible, but if Dahis and Minti can get Warrior/Rogue to 2,200 (granted, they climbed on BDF, not BG9), there's no reason we shouldn't be able to float 1850 once we get our alts geared up.
Keep it fresh, kids. Battleground Daily quests are going to be a riot. Heroic instance is heroic. Alt pvp is a good dose of humility. And apparently, Ocktoberfest has come to WoW. You stay classy, San Diego.
I'm leveling Grimtock (granted slowly) with the pipe dream that I may be able to extend APV's empire into the grimy scene of Silver Hand horde arena. Catching up to the gear curve doesn't conscern me nearly as much as it does my colleagues, but I expect to top out at 1600 with eternia's hordelock and valkring's mage (already 70 and 67, respectively). I'm not much of a quester, so I'm just doing my usual 61-67 leveling strat of grinding Wolves and harpies in AV, accumulating massive amounts of bonus honor on the way up. Might be 70 before season 3 hits, but only time will tell.
Another distraction I'm going to start indulging is firing the old Heroic Farm Crew back up. Apparently, the 2.3 PvP trinkets available for purchase via heroic badges are gamebreaking, so there's no reason not to stockpile badges now. Already have 10 leftover from my glory days, so 3-6 badges a day, I should be at 50 by the time 2.3 rolls around. If push comes to shove, I hear Karazhan bosses will be dropping badges as well, so even if I'm short of 50, I'm confident I'll be able to sew up the trinket within the first week.
Those trinkets look nice, but I just can't see this 'return to burst' thing other arena junkies are talking about. I understand that we're at the resilience cap, and crit numbers are still growing, but Blizzard has done a good job with itemization to prevent a return to crit-based pvp. Adding in an emphasis on Armor-piercing, for example, or my personal prediction: spell haste, are great ways to bring damage increases to pvp without relying on crit.
I've managed to convince one of my closest WoW friends to rejoin the red-headed step child of BG9, and pending leveling, Valkring's shaman should be an integral part of my mythical 4dps 5v5. Valk's return to Silver Hand really opens the door for a LOT of matrices I never thought I'd get to play, and I'm looking forward to trying out Shaman/Warlock, Rogue/Warlock, Rogue/Rogue, and (hordeside) Warlock/Mage with him. Finding dedicated players is the best thing you can do for yourself in today's arena scene, and even if these matrices don't work out, Valkring is a close friend of mine, and I'm sure we'll have a ball. Heck, we might even get to try out some 3v3's with Eternia's alts. I'd love to try out warrior/shaman/rogue. Terrible matrix is terrible, but if Dahis and Minti can get Warrior/Rogue to 2,200 (granted, they climbed on BDF, not BG9), there's no reason we shouldn't be able to float 1850 once we get our alts geared up.
Keep it fresh, kids. Battleground Daily quests are going to be a riot. Heroic instance is heroic. Alt pvp is a good dose of humility. And apparently, Ocktoberfest has come to WoW. You stay classy, San Diego.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
The more things change...
... the more they stay the same. Another week of semi-pro arena combat, and somehow, we've found the answer for Priest/rogue. Don't ask me how, but apparently we ball-stomp this combo now. Call it Warrior/Paladin syndrome, where you face a certain matrix for a week straight, getting your ass handed to you, then never lose against them again. Maybe it was just priests stacking Shadow Resist gear all along...
The 2.3 SL/SL nerf is /yawn-worthy. The part that freaks me right the hell out is the insane resto/holy spell damage buff. If these healbots are getting 600 free spell damage, paladins are going to be a nightmare, bringing back the days of 2-shotting the felhunter, making 2v2 much more difficult against paladin matrices. And don't even get me started on resto shamans and their new Water Shield of Imba.
Of course, all these changes will really only affect high-level arena (2,200+) so we should be safe in our little 2,000-2,200 bubble where 2dps teams tend to top out anyway. Still, if Eternia or I want to push into the 2,300 2v2 range and this buff goes live, we're going to have to split up, him partnering up with Chans (our priest), myself pushing with Vlak (druid).
For all the thunder and lightning about arena rebalancing and class imbalance, I find that each team has a natural cap imposed on them by their players' levels of skill. As much as it's heralded that 2dps is nigh impossible to climb with in the deep BG9 high-brackets, Nielyo and Gumbot's terrific teams are always in the back of my mind.
Even if they nerf our classes into oblivion, we're not capping out because our classes are limited. Everyone on Silver Hand (including everyone in the APV) has their ratings capped because of their skill level. The only class balancing that grabs my attention is when I see 2,300-rated teams raise questions about incoming changes. Clearly, those players are being capped more by their class abilities than their skill, as can be noted by the stilted class representation in those brackets.
So, TL:DR version says "It's fine. Learn to play," but there is a certain comfort knowing that we in the lower brackets (1,800-2,200) of arena play have a kind of immunity to class re-balancing. The urge to climb above 2,300 may stike us eventually, but until then, it's great to know that our scrappy little double dps team is just as fun as ever, and, possibly as important for my business, just as easy to climb.
The 2.3 SL/SL nerf is /yawn-worthy. The part that freaks me right the hell out is the insane resto/holy spell damage buff. If these healbots are getting 600 free spell damage, paladins are going to be a nightmare, bringing back the days of 2-shotting the felhunter, making 2v2 much more difficult against paladin matrices. And don't even get me started on resto shamans and their new Water Shield of Imba.
Of course, all these changes will really only affect high-level arena (2,200+) so we should be safe in our little 2,000-2,200 bubble where 2dps teams tend to top out anyway. Still, if Eternia or I want to push into the 2,300 2v2 range and this buff goes live, we're going to have to split up, him partnering up with Chans (our priest), myself pushing with Vlak (druid).
For all the thunder and lightning about arena rebalancing and class imbalance, I find that each team has a natural cap imposed on them by their players' levels of skill. As much as it's heralded that 2dps is nigh impossible to climb with in the deep BG9 high-brackets, Nielyo and Gumbot's terrific teams are always in the back of my mind.
Even if they nerf our classes into oblivion, we're not capping out because our classes are limited. Everyone on Silver Hand (including everyone in the APV) has their ratings capped because of their skill level. The only class balancing that grabs my attention is when I see 2,300-rated teams raise questions about incoming changes. Clearly, those players are being capped more by their class abilities than their skill, as can be noted by the stilted class representation in those brackets.
So, TL:DR version says "It's fine. Learn to play," but there is a certain comfort knowing that we in the lower brackets (1,800-2,200) of arena play have a kind of immunity to class re-balancing. The urge to climb above 2,300 may stike us eventually, but until then, it's great to know that our scrappy little double dps team is just as fun as ever, and, possibly as important for my business, just as easy to climb.
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