The second part of the arena tournament has concluded and Ten Ton Hammer has been in the field fighting for the top. With many wins and losses under their belts the Ten Ton Hammer team has been striving to reach the top through the fierce competition and overwhelming low odds of success.

Last week, the Ten Ton Hammer team compromised of David “Xerin” Piner and Gabriel “DarkFact” Zamudio fought in the 2v2 bracket for the practice round of the tournament. After two weeks the tournament switches to remembering ranking and we’ve put together our allstar team of both David and Gabriel and adding Byron “Messiah” Mudry to the mix. Below follows their experiences in the arena.

Here is David “Xerin” Piner’s recollection of the tournament!

As I wrote last week the tournament is an amazing beast. Having all of the gear right off from the start is a great boon at opening up various options needed to succeed in PvP. Any class, any pre-season 3 item, and anything else that you could need are available from the start. So when forming our team this week we went for a decently solid class combo over what was in our comfort zone.

Last week I played a Druid and did seemingly well. Switching between different forms while healing can be a challenging task. This week I switched it up and went with a Rogue. Like the Druid I’ve never played a Rogue but if we’re to do well I’m going to have to swallow my Hunterly pride and go straight to the stealthy face stabbing class. Like last week equipping myself took a good long while and I choose the Claw and Talon of the Phoenix. While attempting to take this serious I would at least like to look cool while doing so. The decrease in stats over the arena weapons is kinda meh, but I’d like to play a few games with glowing phoenix claws! Besides, I always follow the mantra that skill can overcome some of your gear’s flaws.

My colleagues have given a pretty in-depth blow by blow of the games so if you’re interesting in how the games went then be sure to keep reading. Instead I’ll entertain you with my thoughts on playing through the arena servers on a class that I didn’t really know much about outside of leveling one to 30.

To be honest, the arena system works like rock, paper, scissors. The actual formula for victory is a combination of gear, skill, and class choices. The tournament takes away the need for gear and brings everything down to your skill in playing and the classes you bring. Some combinations are better than others but all in all skill plays a key role. So does the ability to work together as a team.

For a group going to the arena tournament to seriously go for the top they will probably go for a more popular combination or a combination that they know will work well together. This is either as a way for them to compensate for their lack of skill by playing something that is easier to handle or as a way to just prepare a solid team for battle. When we went to play we decided that we’d put together a team that was compromised of a pretty solid base.

However, both Messiah and I were playing classes we weren’t used to. This was necessary. I’m a Hunter with a minor in Paladin and he’s a tankadin. We need a healer and we need heavy DPS for a 3v3. So we had to switch classes to something that we’re not used to. This takes a heavy hit to our skill levels playing something we’re not used to.

This is fine since it’s an acceptable loss for us. We lose a good deal of our skill for the ability to form a solid team. However, if we were to really grab for the top we’d run into a problem. That problem is in a world where every bit of skill matters you may often find yourself needing every little bit of anything to win a battle.

However, this is where Blizzard gets my praise. The arena tournament is split into three sections. The first section lasts two weeks and is the “warmup” time. This is where you can practice to your heart’s content in both rated and skirmish matches without anything affecting your rating. The next section, which lasts two weeks as well, makes the rated matches actually count. The final stretch the teams are locked and it’s all out to the finish. This means you have two weeks to practice and you’re going to need it.

It’s true that universally if you’re “good” at World of Warcraft then you’re “good” at most anything. However, practice is a requirement. I wasn’t able to get much practice in with my newly made Rogue and found that I was fumbling more than I was striking. As the games progressed so did my skill in handling all of the new and foreign skills given to me. The skills are foreign so much as in their logical application and not what they do.

Each game was a learning experience and the difference between classes is both amazingly large and eerily similar. What targets to pick, the major goals, melee combat, utilizing skills, personal resources (in this case energy), and the rest were all the same. However, the skills that were to be used were all different. The hardest part is remembering what skills to use when. For instance, Cloak of Shadows is great when you’re under a lot of magic pressure.

The way the fights flow is intriguing. If the enemy is above your skill level then they’ll often bypass you by leaps and bounds. If the enemy is at your skill level then the fight will be prolonged. Often waiting forever to win or lose. If you’re above their skill level then you’ll win quickly. It’s much like the live servers without the fact that it’s more about their gear vs. years and then skill comes up next.

I had a lot of fun these last few weeks. There are a lot of fun and exciting things to do within the arena. While there is only two weeks left in the tournament I can’t wait to play more with everyone and continue trying to reach the glorious prizes for those who are at the top.

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