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ESA and you!

Posted by Jay | Filed under Arena, Game Industry

Previously I have written about the ESA and its departures. Today Gamasutra, one of the leading game industry websites wrote a story concerning ESA its role.

It seems we’re in for some interesting news. I for one am following this story.

Read more | Comments (0) | June 27th, 2008

Priest Survival Series - Warlocks

Posted by Jay | Filed under Arena, Priest Survival Series, PvP, World of Warcraft

I’m sitting here listening to DJ TeeBee & K - The Deeper Side of Drum & Bass. The remaining posts are very difficult to write. Warlocks, Warriors, Shaman, Hunters, each and every one will feel like the rock to your scissors.

Defeating a Warlock as a disc priest is alot like defeating a shadow priest. The main difference is the shear amount of running and line of sight you’ll have to do. I think defeating a warlock 1 on 1 is a trial and error training. At worst you’ll learn to not freak out at the shear amount of fears that will hit you. At best, you’ll pull out on top every once in awhile.

I had the privilege of having an affliction lock friend to practice with. He later went SLSL for spell eating puppy(SEP) goodness and the duel dynamic changed. All my old tricks for survival are nearly useless against a SEP. Here are some pointers to help keep you, and your team alive against warlocks.

Shield and Renew only before engaging. Any buff will be useless against the SEP target. He’ll just eat it, you’ll waste the mana and more than likely, that target will be burned down.
Good warlocks tend to fear one target, and insta-dot other folks. Affliction warlocks don’t really have a place in the arena, but can be deadly if not handled properly. Affliction locks bring Unstable Affliction(Shiny Red/Orange debuff) and insta PBAOE horror.
You’ll want to be heavy on dispel. Against locks, when you’re target is above 75%, dispelling a DoT is better than a greater heal IMO. Know when to switch to a flash heal.
Get used to using binding heal. Everyone on your team will be dotted, binding heal is a good way to keep you and your target’s health in tip top shape.
If you have silence, save it to counter the locks fear. You’ll thank me later. When you choose to time that silence, will be dependent on your make up and skill level. In my RMP, I play with an undead M and undead R. The first couple fears are usually ignored. We save my silence to prevent 3v1 bust down interruption.
As above, only shield and renew the SEP target at the beginning of the fight. While the mana for healing and damage prevention is wasted, SEP eats it, you’ll protect the valuable SW: F and Shadow Protection for at least another 10 seconds. 10 Seconds in arena is huge!
Never ever, ever, ever, ever, leave you’re healer to fight a warlock by him/herself. Its a death wish for your healer and a uphill battle for your team. For that matter, you really don’t want your healer disc tanking very many targets. When your healer is tanking, they aren’t dispelling, healing or fearing.
Be careful with ProM. I’ve found in 2v2, its a life saver against locks. In an odd way, ProM is less useful in my 3v3. I’ll usually get one or two bounces out of it. I can’t explain why, its my anecdotal evidence.

Overall, in the early parts of our 3v3 and 2v2, I was using the standard healer tricks against locks. Shields, renews and ProM supported by the occasional flash heal. Using that old tactic, we were having a tough time defeating lock teams.

Lightning struck my brain, (maybe reading Out of Mana helped) and I realised I had been playing poorly against locks. I switched to mainly flash heals and binding heals. I would use mana burn and mind blast when the SEP was on me, so it would counter my shadow spells and leave my holy alone. I also started to really manage how often I would dispel.

The result? Immediate change. We started wining consistently against lock teams. 2v2, 3v3, whichever. Lock as first target or third, it didn’t really matter. What did matter was that the result was more consistent. And that’s a medal you can pin to my robe.

A couple notes: I play a BE Priest, no matter what happens, I have a 2 second silence and a free small mana burn. What racial talents help you in your fights? What other tactics do you use against locks?

Read more | Comments (0) | June 25th, 2008

Priest Survival Series - Rogues

Posted by Jay | Filed under Arena, PvP, World of Warcraft

Rogues, the bane of our pvp existence. Fighting and defeating a rogue in 1 on 1 combat will possibly be the toughest battle in your pvp career. Because it is the toughest, you’ll also jump for joy when you finally defeat one 1 on 1. Here is a small list of pointers for 1 on 1 fights. There are very few instances where I take on rogues one on one. I am closer to 30% success rate 1 on 1 versus rogues.

Be ready for a 5 point combo hit. You must do your best to maintain shield and renew on you at all times. Rogues are burst melee dps and as such can deliver multiple 1000s of damage in 2 seconds.
Reflective Shield, Focused Will and Blessed Recovery all help. BR returns critical damage, FW reduces damage taken. Reflective Shield when properly geared will return 1000 points of damage back to the rogue.
Use Fear every time you can. While feared heal yourself with flash heal and reapply renew and shield if down.
Try to keep power word pain applied. Your key to defeating a rogue is to outlast them. Remember they can’t re-stealth if dotted.
Above all, keep moving, try your best to make them chase you. Do your best to not give them your back.

This will be an edge of your seat fight. You can win! Gear will definitely be a factor here. Keep your buffs on, heal when possible and maybe, just maybe you’ll create an opportunity for mind blast + shadow word:death combo for the win!

If you’re a priest, how have you handled fights versus rogues specifically?

Read more | Comments (2) | June 16th, 2008

Priest Survival Series - Paladins

Posted by Jay | Filed under Arena, Priest Survival Series, PvP, World of Warcraft

If you are wondering why I’m not healing you in a BG its probably for one reason:

1. If you are a DPS class and you have lower honor then me on the BG stats page, you’re wasting my time. I’m looking at you folks out there in FULL GREENS that can’t be bothered to buy the FREAKING ALMOST FREE blue pvp set that you earn by QUEST GRINDING to hit 70. You’ll notice I am criticizing your gear and not your skill. You can’t learn to get better if you are constantly eating dirt. O rly? Ya srly! Believe me, I want to heal you. I really really do. Its why I’m a disc priest. What I don’t want is to use half my mana keeping 6k hps from the dirt while that alliance rogue that you can’t see is stabbing out my kidneys.

Because of the above, I’ve resorted to improving my own game. The reason I BG is to compete in the arena. That’s my motivating force, my raison d’etre. As such, I’ve found I REALLY like beating paladins, especially Retadins and tankadins. By improving my 1v1 skills against priests, I’ve learned how susceptible I am to eating dirt. I’ve seen my weaknesses. Most importantly, I’ve learned from them! Without further ado!

Paladins! Whoo hoo!

Retadins:

Stay at ranged, when they catch up to you(they have faster run speed) run through them.
Shield + Renew at all times
Drain Drain Drain. When you’re done draining, them apply SW:P
Dispel all the time

Look out! These bundles of shiny gold joy will surprise you! Getting into melee with a retadin is BAD business. Their burst damage is incredible! Stay at ranged. The question to dispel or drain first is up in the air. I’m unsure of their mechanics, so here’s some ignorance-crafting: The paladins burst is in the form of extra hits. The base extra hit % is fairly low. Dispelling their buffs slows there DPS. On the other hand, they have quite a few stuns and other mana based abilities that will stop you dead in your tracks(<- humor). Draining their mana will reduce that effectiveness and stop their heals.

In either case be ready for a long fight. Trust me, you can do it!

Tankadins:

An object in motion remains in motion. Think inertia! Always be moving around. Drain, dot. Be ready for the long fight. Tankadins are a joke in pvp. Great tanks! Horrible player killers. Follow the above rules.

Healadins:

Longest… fight… ever… Not really. These fights are much quicker than retadins. The main difference? As you drain the ~din there are two reactions; they will try to melee/stun you, they will heal. Heal-bots usually prefer to heal themselves while you drain them. The solution is then simple. You drain, they heal. End result = paladin without mana. Paladin without mana = +20 honor.

General thoughts:

As with priests, there is a general trend against paladins. You will need to drain their mana in order to succeed. Its your job!
Conserve your mana in PVP. When you are low against a healadin, use your fiend. They eat gold for breakfast!
I notice a large majority of paladins are keyboard turners. The reason for this is reaction time when casting a heal is super important. Paladins are generally spam healers, they use flash of light. Remember this. There’s a subtle difference between someone that moves with the mouse + keyboard, and someone that uses one or the other.

Read more | Comments (0) | May 12th, 2008