Earlier this morning, I was really thinking hard about how I can become a better player. Realizing that I dig into things way to much and need to take a step back and play every 1.5 seconds better. It may sound like the brain has to do a lot there, but really it’s easier than it looks.

Since the beginning of the season, when we first started playing together, strategies were incredibly difficult with our comp. Those of you that may not know, it’s Hazek(Hunter) and Kielo/Phuuphom(warlock), and myself, the druid! Coming up with strategies for certain comps that you play is one thing, but becoming a better player on your own level is a whole different thing. I’ll try to explain this the best I can, but it’s some what hard.

I guess I will just list off some things that will hopefully take you from where you are now to the next level. First thing you want to do is understand every single class in the game. Spells, abilities, cooldowns you name it. Take advantage of everything, know what’s coming and know what you can do with it. For example, a hunter… By the time you see you are facing a hunter, you should already have your strategy in place for what you, yourself are going to do. Depending on your class obviously.

We were on the ATR 2 nights ago and we came across a mage/lock/druid team. We beat them both times with ease. Not to brag about it, but simply because each of us knew exactly how to beat them. Based on what specs they were and what spells we knew they could do. I’d love to tell you guys all of our strategies, because I know they are very good and could be helpful, but my team would kill me! But I’ll just give you this one as an example of using the smallest part of the basic game that some people forget. We played them on Lordaeron both games. Once Hazek saw the comp we were playing he laughed… He knows how to beat that team the moment he sees them. On vent, Hazek says “Draining mage”. You’d be amazed at how serious he was about his comment. He did just that, the whole game… that’s it. He knew that they could only last for so long before the mages mana was gone. Kielo, as a soul link warlock, won’t die with HoTs on him. So me and Hazek just sat in the starting zone with each other taking zero damage while Kielo spams them with dots and mana drains. Hazek comes out only to viper then comes back to me while I keep HoTs on Kielo. Simply enough, the most basic idea in the game made it an easy win.

I don’t know about the rest of the community and how they play, but sometimes you have to start with the basics to improve your play. Most teams with our setup would have tried to do the same thing, but they would fight giving a chance for a death on the hunter or the druid. Just take a step back and look what you have to play with and what you have to do. It’s easier than it looks in most cases. Not that its SIMPLE, but easier than you may make it out to be.

In the end, you should have your own idea how to beat every class 1v1. Although you may never win versus some classes, like myself vs a soul link lock, you need to find a way to make yourself as efficient as possible. Warriors going for a 2k mortal strike and taking a 1000 damage from a fireball isn’t worth it if they are going to live. It becomes a math game, and if you can shield reflect that 1000 damage it’s better. Little things like this can change the game for you. Learn how to make yourself more efficient and take advantage of the easy stuff. Don’t be in LOS if you don’t need to. Drink when your out of combat. Many other things are on the table, but learn what you can do.

Tags: General · Articles

One of the important things most people tend to overlook is their own key bindings. It’s very easy to get used to some terrible key bindings just like how it’s very easy to get addicted to smoking, both are bad habits and both are hard to change.

There are 2 KEY issues to consider when binding for Arena.

Key issue 1: Key spells/abilities interfering with movement.

Assuming you move normally with your fingers, A W D would be your primary movement keys (please avoid back pedaling with S). This requires your index, ring and middle finger doing most the work, leaving your pinky and thumb used for modifier keys (shift, ctrl, alt). Because the nature of the game, A and D are used the most during movement while spamming primary attacks. Which means your middle finger will be the one that’s free during combat - considering there are alternative ways for moving forward like auto-run or holding down both mouse buttons. If you play around with your middle finger a little bit, you’ll notice that in order to stay in “form” with A and D both under your ring and index finger, your middle finger can only comfortably reach 2 and 3. So how many of you still have your main attack bound to 1? Or age old-expired ability like Eviscerate still bound to 2? Well I too was in that situation not too long ago…

When Shiv was introduced the Rogue class, it was quite late in our Rogue career. Unlike Warriors whose been using Hamstring since level 8, Rogues didn’t have this spamability until 70! That means most of us(unless you were brilliant and planned way ahead) really didn’t have a place on our keyboard for it from the whole journey of 1-60, and 60-69. It’s no wonder some Rogues end up putting Shiv on an awkward binding like… Shift+E (that’s me!). Unfortunately, I was able to get used to this binding before heading for S1 Arena. It wasn’t until early S3 when Mattyo constantly barraged me with verbal harassment whenever I failed to stick on a Druid did I finally break this habit. Looking back, there would have been dozens of games we could have won, had my Shiv been a less of an interference with my movement (especially during Sprint). So the lesson? Bind your primary attack and snare to 2 and 3.

What about interrupts? Those are one of the most important key if not the most important for some classes. Now again we go back to our hand. Which finger has the highest dexterity and speed? The inventors of mouse have already answered this for us, your index finger is by far the fastest and most accurate in execution. Using this logic, it’s only smart to bind something as important as spell interrupt to your index finger. Make a small circle with your index finger at the default D position and you’ll notice the choices are E, R or F.

Key issue 2: The dreaded push-to-talk key (voice communication).

Ever had a teammate who cuts off during the battle while communicating game breaking information? It’s most likely that person is a victim of the push-to-talk key. Not only does this problem interferes with your game play, it could also cause someone to fail communicating effectively or even drop to a mute during key moments.

Although the best option is to create a hands free environment, this simply isn’t an option for the most of us. Too often are the push-to-talk key bound to restrict your abilities. Modifier keys such as shift, ctrl, alt all puts a huge restrain on your hand movement (hold one down yourself and try to move your hand around), and binding it to the middle mouse click can sometimes interfere with target selection or camera. If you kept yourself updated with modern computer ware, you should have 1 or 2 keys on your mouse placed nicely under your thumb. I have found them to be the most effective keys for voice communication as I can hold them down for long periods of time without fear of hindering or interrupt my game play.

Now I know most of you are already very used to as well as comfortable with your current key bindings, but if you want to take your competitive Arena gaming to the next level, your key bindings would be the first place to look at.

Tags: General · Articles

So the Tournament Test Realm has been live for a bit, and I wanted to give anyone who hasn’t had a chance to hop on an idea of what it is looking like so far for us.

I kind of like that it is more or less a time capsule back to season 2 as far as gear is concerned, because I don’t think the S2 set is bad at all, as far as stats and looks.

It’s probably a given that you will be wearing at least 4/5 Season 2, and you can mix and match some PvE gear in depending on the comp you are running. Here are some of the more interesting PvE pieces you can bring in:

Belt - Cord of Screaming Terrors - 2 sockets, huge damage, and nearly all the hit you’ll need is there (if you get the spellblade)

Neck - Pendant of the Lost Ages - Reduction on silence, big damage, and OK stam/int

Trinket - Serpent-Coil Braid from SSC. For any mages looking to compete seriously here, I suggest you take a look at using this thing, rather than the Icon of the Silver Crescent for your 2nd trinket (it’s a given you will be using the PvP trinket as your first). You get +225 damage on use, in addition to 600 more mana from your mana gem (~3000 versus 2400) when you use a gem, also spell hit and a ton of crit rating. It also kinda gets you in the mindset that you will use your gem as soon as you drop as much mana as it will restore, which is a desirable characteristic of a PvP mage. You can’t get the damage until you use the gem though, so it’s not really something you can pop at the start, but you can still use icy veins.

You can also use the Nexus Key (staff with huge crit) but I honestly wouldn’t recommend it as you give up a 30+ resilience.

Some Good news:
Icy Veins change is pretty decent. I still feel like there needs to be more done for pushback for frost spells, but I mean I’ll take what I can get.

Blink mana is down to 470 static (from about ~670). Combine this with Serpent Coil trinket, buffed mana gems, nerfed mana drains/burns, and the result is a mage that can fight significantly a bit longer than on live.

Some Bad News:
Mystical Skyfire Diamond (MSD, the 1/2 cast one) is trash now. It gives you 320 spell haste for like 4 seconds, that feels more like 2. I’m using one that is +14 dmg, 5% stun resist. I don’t like it very much.

Chaotic Skyfire Diamond (CSD, +12 spell crit and +3% critical damage) is not appearing on the TTR. It seems like a lot of newer stuff is arbitrarily not included. Things like executioner are not available either though, so I won’t cry too much here.

All in all I put a mage together with 9.7K life, 410+ resilience, and 860 frost damage (9.3K mana, but it was a gnome). It is possible to push over 900 damage though (was up to 940 with balanced stats), using the Icon and different gemming. You can definitely put a character together to lay down some major hurt quickly, especially in the hands of an experienced player.

If you haven’t hopped on yet and are considering playing in the tournament, it is a little easier to get gear/gems now, as they added more vendors. It’s still pretty laggy though, but fun if you want to try out new classes. Anyway, hope you found this semi-informative, good luck.

Tags: Mage · Articles

I should state first and foremost that I run Mage/Druid/Warlock in 3v3, and focus on this bracket in my gear and specs much more than I do in the other brackets. However, I respec about once a day, so armorying me is worthless, and I should also say that I have multiple gear sets and a very odd idea about how to gear myself anyway - if you’re not familiar with exactly why I do this, please don’t take these to heart as HOW YOU SHOULD GEAR YOURSELF if you’re new to the arena, or whatever.

That said, I currently hold 2100, 2221, and 2159 rated arena teams in the respective brackets (impressive(?) given how little we care about rating =/), and have been gladiator both seasons (not that that means anything); but at least I can say it ~ (Ziss: I would think Agnos is more known for his achievements at WSVG…)

Below are my two not-run-of-the-mill specs to try out and discuss, specifically designed with a caster heavy makeup in mind, in 3v3.

17/33/11 - Nightfall, Soullink, Shadowburn. Aka the Agnos spec (by at least one or two fairly well known warlocks).

Disadvantages: While this is a jack of all trades spec, or something like that, this spec specializes in nothing. It grants a decent amount of survivability with Soul Link, but loses CoEx and Siphon from the popular SL/SL build. It has a good amount of burst between shadowburn and nightfall, although lacks the punch of SL/Ruin, and loses a point in Demonic Knowledge in order to get 2/2 nightfall for the uncontrolled but efficient burst power that the talent grants. While you have amp curse, it’s pretty much only going to be used on an agony - so i’d recommend stacking hit on your gear (i recommend this regardless of your spec) and putting points in CoA, rather than suppression or fel conc - you should be chaining shadowbolts with this, not drain life’ing.

Advantages: This spec is the ultimate shadowbolt spec. You have a good amount of instant (dot) damage for kiting and draining teams, but 17/33/11 focuses on putting out a lot of quick shadow burst with little to no warning or setup. Eventually, during a cast you’re going to get a nightfall, and that’s 4k damage to drop on someone (plus crits): excellent time to drop a kidney shot or shatter, depending on your team makeup.

Personal Experience: Speaking of crits, shatters, and kidney shots, my personal experience is that 17/33/11 works in 3v3, where its utility outshines sl/sl, as opposed to 2v2, when playing with a mage. A 5v5 team is usually less fluid, so it may be better to pick a more specialized soullink (or non SL for the VERY specialized teams) build. But in 3v3, a lot of things can go back or forth, especially when running druids (specifically, and from what I’ve tested, this works with mage/warlock/druid and rogue/warlock/druid). Crits are something most warlocks won’t ever expect to see, and the word being present in a strategy must make me seem like a retard. However, I’ve worn upwards of 21% crit on gear (plus talents) all of season 3, and have held high ratings doing so (even going from 2250 to 2300 in 3s as a full conflag spec, but that’s another story). When you play with a mage, the concept of BURST is important, and you never know when a well-timed 3k shadowbolt crit can tip the scales … or catch someone off guard and kill between cooldowns. (I’ve had marginal success in 2v2 as this playing with a rogue, but with a mage, sl/sl is still loads better).

On the topic of crits, I lead you into my next spec:
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Tags: Warlock · Articles

— 2345 Lineup —

Class Comp

Disc Priest / Holy Paladin / Elemental Shaman / Ice Mage / MS Warrior

Strengths

- Great switch ability with intercept from the Warrior and instant MS, along with easy switching for the mage/shaman

- Two offensive purges on targets can “clean up” opposing players very easy, especially when a BoP or BoF appears

- Bloodlust will help either defensivly or offensivly, including a big burst or fast mana burns, or quick CC and fast heals to counter a burst

- Two big burst stoppers with Pain Suppresion and BoP

- A very typical lineup, so mirror matches will occur often, meaning more skill will make the difference…. and some RNG.

Weaknesses

- Has been around for so long, that many know how to counter it well or realise how to play against it… including several lineups designed just to beat it

- Not a whole lot of strong CC, only sheep is really spammable

- Warrior can get caught if pushed up and stuck in beserker often

Overall Summary

This of course has been the most long lasting lineup all through the three seasons, and thus has gotten the name “cookie-cutter” as well, because it has been so popular and works so well. It is a fairly easy composition to run as well, and does give you a good amount of switch options, with plenty of burst potential. Even if the Shaman has already used cooldowns, he can still put out plenty of damage, allowing for multiple burst attempts through out a fight. It of course has potential to still be a top competitor in any BG, but has died off as the dominat composition, that is for sure. Still very fun to play, and worth while if you can get the players for it

— 2346 Lineup —
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Tags: 5v5 · Articles