1:7 = Bad Win Ratio

So WSG saw TLDNR and KTALGSTO today over several hours (about 4). It was nice finally getting to sit down and actually having some play time again. But, it also seems that the coordination available today was sub-par at best. We won our first round and lost 7 from there.
The picture shown is of the winning team. And before you say "you probably had more 16-19's than the other team" I should point out that we had 4 people above level 16 and the other team had half of their crew above level 16. It was truly due to how much coordination was happening between those people that were of higher level and the fact that the high level characters knew their role in the game, to retrieve the flag and return it. Where as every round afterwards the high levels seemed to just sit in mid-field farming honor kills and allowing the level 10-13 to try and "win it". And while we may have had a few good attempts, it was made very clear that we were not meant to carry the flag. And 5 out of 7 times we lost 0-3, when we probably could have at least given the Alliance a run for their money.

So, if you have a character on Nordrassil, either Alliance or Horde doesn't matter, and would like to try and make things happen in these BG's hit me up at TakingBackPVP (at) Gmail.Com and we can setup an invite. At the moment it's still only me and KTALGSTO/Tinibubbles in either guild, so we would welcome the company. And once we have at least 5 people in either guild we will begin to schedule PVP premade events.

Moar PVP

We made our way into WSG on Chrgr and Tinibubbles again this evening. Had one miserable failure and then a pretty decent, we were up against evenly leveled opponents and I had some fun chasing down level 14 hunters and teaching them what the backside of a warriors hand feels like as I pimp slapped them.

Having a pocket healer is so awesome!

I also got some video of the 2nd encounter. As well as a screen shot of the winning team. Those will be in a post tomorrow!

Cross Battlegroup BG's?!

Wow is all I have to say.

While sifting through many Wow.com articles I actually stumbled across this one after reading about the War Games article.

Yet another post by Mr. Tom Chilton that sends chills down my spine. I am now waiting for him to say that BG's will be in brackets of 5 levels (which with the level cap being 85 still makes sense to me).

We're currently expecting both normal and rated battlegrounds to be cross-battlegroup (within a region) for the launch of Cataclysm. So, players queueing from anywhere in North America (for example) could play vs players on any North American battlegroup, etc. This applies to all regions, not just North America.

Here is the source.

War Games

Hello,

I'm back, kind of.

There will probably be a bit of a delay on any more PVP related posts due to a compatibility issue with windows 7 and my wireless card, at the moment I am posting from my laptop which, while great for browsing and posting to my blog, isn't that great for WoW. Can we say 13 FPS in the middle of the night when no-one is on?

Well, aside from that I am happy to make mention of something I stumbled across on the WoW.com blog, pertaining to a War Games style PvP option that may come sometime in Cataclysm. Now remember, they haven't said it's for sure, but rather "something they are working on". Remember dance studios?

Here's the quote from Tom Chilton:

---

Q u o t e:


Too bad. Cross-server BGs were one of the things that, while convenient, overall have hurt the game and it's sense of community.

At least an option to only queue on-server would be nice.

---

We're simultaneously working on a "war games" mode for battlegrounds that allows groups to challenge other groups to a battle in a specific battleground (including horde vs horde and alliance vs alliance). Granted, the rewards aren't significant, but it's more for players to be able to have fun battling their guildmates and friends or for players on a server to throw down for the sake of pride and bragging rights. ... You'll still only be grouped with players of your language, although your opponents can be from whatever part of the region, regardless of language.

Here's the source.

This is very exciting news for anyone that likes organized PvP and has been wanting some more organization in BG's, especially with rated BG's coming into play in Cataclysm.

Twilight Highlands: Twin Peaks

I am very excited that they just released the information for this amazing looking battleground! Check it out for yourself here:

Located within the Twilight Highlands, the Twin Peaks remains a crucial point of high ground for staging effective and debilitating attacks against the black dragonflight and the Twilight's Hammer, who dominate this foreboding environment. And now, two previous occupants of the nearby city of Grim Batol vie once again for control of the peaks' defenses. The Wildhammer clan, architects and original owners of the once-great fortress city, maintains some operations in forested outposts of the highlands. The Wildhammers now call upon heroes of the Alliance to help claim the peaks and fend off the Dragonmaw orcs. The Dragonmaw clan, having spent years working to enslave red dragons, once again provides strategic importance to the Horde. As the Dragonmaw and Wildhammers fight for territory they once called home, the Alliance and Horde carry out the struggle to control the Twin Peaks.

Capture the Flag

Twin Peaks is a new 10 vs. 10, capture-the-flag-style battleground. Much like in Warsong Gulch, players must work to dominate variable terrain, infiltrate the enemy base, and steal the enemy flag, returning it to their fortress while remaining in control of their own flag. The first faction to capture three enemy flags before time expires will win the battle.

Dominating the Terrain

Although the Wildhammer and Dragonmaw bases are virtually identical, the terrain surrounding each base is not. Players will need to work to control an asymmetrical field where the mountain peaks are divided by a valley river. A single bridge over the river serves as a choke point in the center of the map; although deep, the river can be crossed. On either side of the river sits an outpost where temporary character enhancements can be claimed. In addition, tree stumps and rocks throughout the valley create strategic points for you to use line of sight to your advantage. To prevent absolute domination by one faction through its control of the enemy graveyard, the Horde and Alliance players resurrected in Twin Peaks will spawn from one of two graveyards per faction.

Wildhammer Longhouse

Serving as the Alliance stronghold in the north, the Wildhammer Longhouse hovers above the valley, atop a series of plateaus. With three entrances to the complex, players have two primary means of reaching the longhouse: scaling the plateaus to the northwest, or using the stairwell up the middle in order to access any of the three openings. Be careful, though! Falling or being knocked off the cliff can not only cause damage, but it can also hinder a successful offensive against or defense of the base.

Dragonmaw Clan Compound

Acting as the Horde base in the south, the Dragonmaw Clan Compound sits over a body of water into which the valley's river feeds. With three entrances to the compound, players have a few means of getting inside. One entrance on the southeast side requires riding up an incline and crossing a knee-deep river. A second entrance is through a water pipeline leading from the surrounding lake, while the main entrance can be accessed via a bridge over the waterfront. You'll want to be aware of your surroundings when you use the main entrance, though, because players can be knocked down into the water, slowing their advance or crippling their defense.

Those who seek to control Twin Peaks will face an intense battle. The lands surrounding this ever-troubled location are key strategic strongholds of Deathwing and all of his followers. The Twilight Highlands are as rich with history as they are fraught with disaster and tragedy. Will the Dragonmaw clan, reinforced by Garrosh's Horde, take control? Or will it be the Wildhammer dwarves, reunited with their Ironforge brethren and accepted into the Alliance, who seize the peaks?

Source

Level 19 Prot Warrior PVPing in WSG

This is a perfect example of why I am rolling prot for pvp. Best part is the end.

Level 29 2v2 Arena/BG Teams: Mage/Priest

Before I start, I want to express that this series on team makeups are complete theorycrafting on my part due to personal experience and view point. I welcome any comments stating otherwise, as a matter of fact right here I will also ask, what do you think are the best 2v2 teams? But without further adieu here are my thoughts as to why these teams work.

Mage & Priest

The Mage: Mages... when I think of mages I usually get angry, thinking about being turned into a sheep, turtle, cat or penguin. But when I think about level 29 mages, the first thing that comes to mind is Blink, Counterspell, and Cone of Cold. These three spells are probably some of the most powerful utilities in the mage tool box between level 20 and 29, especially in BG's and Arena skirmishes. Blinking at the right time can keep you out of conical effect spells, if you blink behind your opponent it can interrupt a cast, speaking of casting, Counterspell is effective to cancel out a healers ability to support their partner or flag carrier, since most healers utilize a single school of magic. And Cone of Cold is easily one of the best spells shared between offense and defense, either as a means of kiting when being on the defense or slowing your opponent down to allow melee to get into range if you are on the offense, in pvp 8 seconds can mean life or death. While more situational you also receive your Ward spells during this bracket, Frost and Fire ward can easily offset a good deal of damage at these levels. Also while not quite PVP related you also receive your teleports, and a mages ever friendly Mana Gem and Evocation spells. Now as far as spec's go, I have to admit I am bias towards Frost in PVP, especially at this level, you can't quite get all of the talent points distributed for a good PoM/Pyro spec, Arcane seems a bit like the good ole days of the 5 second mage, and Fire while somewhat bursty, doesn't seem quite powerful enough yet. But I am up for a challenge, below are my takes on decent pvp builds for each spec.


Arcane - Much of the first couple tiers of the arcane tree seem to be more support talents, related to all three talent trees. Many highlight spells from all three talents rather than arcane specific abilities, with this I truly feel that Arcane at this level is more of a utility option, and that is further highlighted by the good talents you get from this tree. Such as Focus Magic, a 3% crit bonus that continues to stack by 3% each time you crit again during a 10 second period, this is nice, but at these levels a little impractical. Though my favorite talent in the arcane tree has to be Improved Counterspell, a 20 second Counterspell could really gimp an opponent, especially one that uses a single school of magic, like a shaman, resto/balance druid, priest, or a paladin. The potential is very wide. Now another great talent that seems to be a must have for everyone at higher tiers of content is Torment the Weak. Now an extra 12% damage is no joke, especially since you will likely have your opponents frost nova'd or under the effects of Cone of Cold. So while Arcane may not be a single focus output spec it definitely brings enough utility to the table to be considered.

Frost - Ah, frosty, how I enjoy you. Talents in the frost tree brings so much homogenization between spells. You got Frostbite giving you a 15% chance to freeze your opponents by your chill effect, your Permafrost increases the duration of your chill effect by 3 seconds and reduced their movement speed by 10%. Shatter gives you a 50% damage bonus against frozen opponents. Then you have Ice Shards giving you a 100% crit bonus for all your frost spells. and Icy Veins gives you a 20% speed boost when casting your spells. Frost is a great support spec, but it truly shines when you are the one required to control your opponents movement to allow your team mate(s) to burn them down, or when you are a flag carrier.

Fire - Much like Arcane, I don't feel fire really gets good until a little later. Luckily for Fire though is the fact that much of the basic necessities for a fire spec are in these first few tiers of talent points. For example, the wonderful Nuke spell Pyroblast, this is the basis behind PoM/Pyro and many fire specs. Another great talent is Ignite dealing an additional 40% damage to the victims of your fire crits. The other PVP staple for a fire build is Impact, it gives a 10% chance to stun the victim of your fire spells.

The Priest: While I do not have a priest myself, I have known enough to encounter the pitfalls an opponent can run into. Between the Heals, the Shields, and the Fears, a well played priest can be a very scary character to run up against, and most of these tools are learned between 10 and 19, but the toolbox is perfected in the 20-29 bracket, with Mana Burn, Devouring Plague and Flash Heal. Oh and lets not forget, Holy Fire. /cower

Disc - Much like the arcane mage, Disc gets stronger the higher level you are, and at these low levels you are basically establishing your utility. But these utility spells cannot be overlooked, things like Improved Power Word: Fortitude giving an additional 4% health , and Imp PW: Shield giving 15% more damage reduction, Improved Inner Fire giving the priest 12 more charges and a 45% increase to the inner fire spells effectiveness, then you have Inner Focus, their cooldown talent that gives them a 25% crit bonus as well as a free cast. While at low levels Disc may not seem the greatest, they bring a lot to the table in the way of buffs and utility.

Holy - At low levels Holy is the Bread and Butter healing spec. While Disc gives a 15% damage absorption through PW: Shield, Holy is capable of boosting their allies Armor by 10% for 15 seconds when casting heals on them, thanks to Inspiration. Holy Priests are also one of the only ones that has a single talent point self heal, thanks to Desperate Prayer. And their HoT ticks can be a life saver thanks to Improved Renew.

Shadow - Ah shadow, my personal favorite spec in the priests arsenal. Everyone has been the victim of a Psychic Scream or two, but it's shadow Priests that have the lovely talent to improve it, with Improved Psychic Scream the shadow priests cooldown has been dropped by 4%. The talent Shadow Weaving is an interesting one to me, making it so when you have 5 points allotted you have a 100% chance to increase your shadow damage by up to 10% for 15 seconds. Also, you have one of the shadow nukes in the one point talent spell Mind Flay, giving the shadow priest a channeled style DoT, that also reduces the victims movement speed.


So you might be saying to yourself, "ok, so now I understand the classes and the specs, but which make the best teams?" And I will answer "Mage and Priest". But no really, if it were up to me, I would stack an Arcane Mage with a Shadow Priest, a Fire Mage with a Disc Priest, and a Frost Mage with either a Disc or a Holy Priest. Overall my favorite combination is the Frost Mage with the Holy Priest because of the self heal, as well as the control available with the frost spec, also Frost Mages are capable of handling multiple enemies through Chill Effect and the healing specced Priests are capable of either mitigating damage received or healing through it to a great degree. So I definitely recommend trying this combination out.

First day out...

Well, last night went as expected, level 10 in a BG was still as painful as always. But... I was able to keep a couple flag carriers slowed despite losing both matches. I also got my Make Love, Not Warcraft achievement thanks to a slow releasing blood elf. The queue times were somewhat slow making it so we were only able to get 2 in during our allotted 90 minute period of time. But we had fun, Tini was playing under the low level pally motto of Stun and Run... I was charging and thunderclapping my heart out, along with spamming Hamstring. Let me tell you this is not easy to get off on a level 19 FC when you are level 10 and in all white gear except a green +1 Str axe.

What did catch me off guard was during both BG's we didn't have anyone say "if you're not level 16-19 you shouldn't be here!". The only similar comment was one hunter who mentioned that if you were sub-15 you probably shouldn't be trying to carry the flag. Hmm... my level 14 prot pally with the Ironman achievement will beg to differ.

Well... more fun next time.

Level 29 2v2 Arena/BG Teams: Paladin/Warrior

Before I start, I want to express that this series on team makeups are complete theorycrafting on my part due to personal experience and view point. I welcome any comments stating otherwise, as a matter of fact right here I will also ask, what do you think are the best 2v2 teams? But without further adieu here are my thoughts as to why these teams work.

Paladin & Warrior

The Paladin: While in the 10-19 bracket paladins feel very gimped in comparison to other classes, especially rogues, hunters, druids and shaman. It is between level 20 and 29 that much of the foundation is set for a paladin. At level 20 we get to see the wonders that it is to be a paladin, we get Consecration, Blessing of Kings, Exorcism, and Flash of Light. At level 22 you get Seal of Justice. Then at 28 they get a very powerful judgment for PVP purposes, Judgment of Justice. So with the variable blessings and judgments available, and having Flash of Light and Holy Light, a paladin can make for a rock solid healer, or with the different defensive capabilities offered, they are able to hold someone down quite well with pure survivability, not to mention many of the offensive abilities come into play during this level, between spells and talents. Speaking of Talents let's look at a couple builds that seem very viable for me in level 29 Arena's and BG's.

Holy - this spec receives it's major boon through the talent Illumination. This is where Holy Paladins begin to become one of the most mana efficient healers in the game, and it starts right here.

Prot - this spec has 2 points that I feel are interchangeable those are the 2 points that are in Guardians Favor they could just as easily be placed in Improved Hammer of Justice. This really depends on what you are focusing on, You would take Guardians Favor if you are trying to run the flag in WSG, where as you may take Imp. HoJ if you were in arena's or guarding a flag in AB. But the major boon for this spec is Improved Righteous Fury, this 6% damage reduction makes a Prot Paladin one of the biggest pains to kill in battlegrounds and arenas no matter what level.

Ret - Ret can quickly become a major damage dealer when geared properly. These 2h wielding holy rollers have the potential to knock you from 100% to 0% in the matter of a Hammer of Justice. With abilities like Seal of Command and the quicker cooldown from Improved Judgment. A Ret paladin offers a great deal of versatility. One thing about Ret is in my opinion there are 4 talent points that could be bounced around between 3 different talents that require only 2 points each. These talents are Pursuit of Justice, Vindication, and Eye for an Eye. In the spec I provided I left out Eye for an Eye because of how situational it is, this only really works against casters, but if you find yourself going up against a lot of Mage/Priest combos you may be thanking yourself if you took it.

Warriors: Warriors can be pretty devastating in the 10-19 bracket when played correctly. But in 20 - 29, I have one thing to say Cleave, no really, Cleave has to be one of the most amazing melee abilities in my opinion, but if you're thinking "that's not the only good tool in the Warrior toolbox" you're right, but at level 20 it is a very powerful ability. Another powerful ability (if you stay in Battle Stance or like to Stance Dance thanks to Stance Mastery) is Retaliation, counterattacks are great when facing off with other melee combatants. At 22 you receive probably the 2nd best tool in the Warrior pvp arsenal at least in my opinion, you get to piss those locks and priests off with Intimidating Shout. At level 24 Execute is another powerful yet very situational ability, while I love attacks that offer big burst potential, it is often difficult (especially in a BG situation) to pull some of these types of attacks off. Now any and all warrior flag runners in WSG look at level 28 with glee and zeal, this is when the warrior gets the wonderful ability called Shield Wall. Now lets look at the different talent potentials.

Arms - the arms tree is the warriors primary 2h weapon spec. And as such can put out some big numbers despite being slow. The main benefits for Arms comes from DoT damage, for example Deep Wounds and Improved Rend. Also you get Improved Overpower and Taste for Blood which helps proc Overpower. So between DoT damage and big proc numbers Arms can be very dangerous.

Fury - this spec has to be the best spec at rage generation, thanks to Unbridled Wrath. It also gets high scores in consistent damage dealing thanks to Enrage and Improved Cleave. The downfall to this spec to me is there isn't a whole lot of variety to it. Most of the Fury build is just sitting there swinging and spamming a couple abilities.

Prot - Again, prot means sustainability. These builds always mean you are going to stay up longer than everyone else and your focus will always be on out living your opponent rather than bursting them down, and that point can't be driven home any better than with an ability like Last Stand. Mix that with the fact that between Improved Bloodrage and Shield Specialization you will consistently be generating rage, allowing for Cleave and Thunder Clap spamming, and with Improved Thunder Clap you will be able to slow your opponents movement and blast right past them.


So, now the question of why would these two classes work out the best as a team? Well for one Armor value is a huge boon for both classes, these two classes are the only ones that can equip mail at this level. Meaning both classes have high sustainability especially when they work together. If we break it into spec's, I would happily pit a Holy Paladin/Prot Warrior combination against just about anything. Along with that I can also see the mixture of the double burst potential of an Arms/Ret team or the Wear Them To A Nub team that a Fury Warrior/Prot Paladin would make. To be absolutely honest I can see any of these interchanging but the three I just listed would probably make for the best combination, at least in my mind.

So, tell me, in the 2-29 bracket which of these do you think would be the most dangerous combination to contend with?