by David Piner on May 12, 2008
Messiah's views on the arena tournament:
Last week the Arena Tournament entered its second phase, where teams really start to gel and the fight for ratings starts to get hotter. It also marked the point when David "Xerin" Piner, Gabriel "Darkfact" Zamudio and I (Byron "Messiah" Mudry) got together to hammer (pardon the pun) out a team and get some serious gaming in.
We discussed class choices briefly, and tried to come up with the best options. We decided on a Priest, Rogue, and Warlock although that didn’t seem to be what everyone was comfortable with. We discussed at length our tactics and plans for the arena since none of us were comfortable with our current classes as none us play them on the live servers. While we’re not experience with the classes we’re planning to play we did decide to go at it with as much zeal as possible. Even if this is for fun we’re still going to put our best foot forward.
After much pre-game discussion we settled on a fairly standard team that would allow us to try several new classes (that are well geared) and give us a chance of doing well. We selected the Rogue, Warlock, and Priest team for both healing, utility, and high DPS with your trusty Messiah playing the Undead Priest. While I have my own level 70 Undead Priest, she is not a healer, but instead focuses on the deadly powers located within the Shadow talent tree to melt the faces of my enemies. This would give me a chance to try the discipline tree using a fairly standard (cookie cutter) talent build.
Knowing that the chances are against you is a very scary thing, but very liberating knowing that the score doesn’t affect your own arena team. With that knowledge I had no problem stepping straight into a rated match, skipping the skirmishing, with people I have never arena’d with before. Foolish? Perhaps! Fun? You bet!
The very first team we met was the ubiquitous Druid, Rogue, Warrior combo. While we lasted a while, the direct damage on me as the healer was just too much to take for long, especially since we were all getting used to our classes. It was over in about 3 minutes as they first took me down, then the warlock and rogue. We fought the same team twice more, both ending in loses but getting progressively longer, more tense and much closer. We ended the last match having downed one of them, and having the other two in trouble. Not a bad learning experience.
Next up was a different Druid, Rogue, Warrior team and we were not sure it if was us getting better, or someone else just learning as well. Either way though, we moved through them easily. We CC'ed the druid as best we could while burning down the warrior before he could be healed, then moved through the other two over a long dragged out fight. It serves as a reminder as to the reason I hate druids in arena combat, they are like the energizer bunny, always running.
We had several other games in between, most were back and forth affairs, other than one very nasty burst team that we ran into twice. They had a shaman, boomkin and mage, and could hit and kill any one of us within 10 seconds, seemingly at will. The matches against them were not fun, especially as their chosen target. The rest of the matches though saw steady improvement in our ability and coordination as a team.
We ended of the night with a few wins against the teams that seemed about our skill level. Each of the games lasted in the 8-10 minute range and involved coordination and planning on each side. One team was a shaman, priest and druid (boomkin), which was pretty frustrating as they always seemed to have mana and healing ready no matter who we focused on. The other team was a hunter, shaman and druid. Shamans in full PvP gear can be quite intimidating and cause a lot of damage quickly. Not only that they can switch fairly effectively from damage to healing and back. The games were tense but fun and rewarding.
While we had gotten the bug to keep going, it had already gotten late and we had to call it a night. Over all we did pretty well for a group that never played together, but had progressed nicely as a team throughout the matches, and I can't wait for the next night of arena combat.
At the end of the night, we were exhausted. While we had won several matches, we had our noses bloodied a good deal as well. If there is one really big lesson to learn here it is to play the classes you play on the live servers. Playing something you are used to playing allows you to play it well. Even if it is not the best PvP class, you will likely still do better than the best PvP class that you have no idea how to play. That being said, I think we are going to stick with it, as the games in general were entertaining, and we really only got smoked twice out of all the matches we fought.
The second lesson we learned, expect long fights. There should be very few fights that are over in a minute or two. Everyone will have 300+ resilience and 10k+ health. This allows for tactics and strategy to come into play. Sure there will be the odd burst damage team to deal with that can run through someone faster than that week old convenience store hot dog, but in general, you're in for the long haul. Our average game was 6 - 10 minutes. This made for great fights, and even better learning opportunities. On a live server arena fights are often just about gear, which team has better gear, not about skill. It can be refreshing to just worry about skill, not gear.
Overall it was not a bad week. We got used to playing with each other a bit, got used to our classes a bit, and had a blast in a bunch of matches. While it may be incredibly tough to even touch near the top given the fierce competition; I believe I speak for the whole group when I say, I can't wait to get in and play some more!
Comments or questions? Email us (Xerin@TenTonHammer.com) or post on our forums!