April 17th, 2008 at 12:50am
Under PVP Arena Guide
I wrote up about Leatherworking as the hardcore raider’s profession of choice. This is due to one particular item — the Drums of Battle — which greatly increases raid efficiency, particularly if the buff can be kept up indefinitely throughout a boss encounter. The item is so raid-beneficial that even cloth-wearers, who cannot equip any leather items, drop more aligned professions such as Tailoring. For Arena PvP, where each stat point counts towards survivability and lethality, there is no better profession than Enchanting and to a lesser degree, Jewelcrafting. Arena players competing at the highest levels have taken up Enchanting purely for the exclusive ring enchantments. A quick inspection of all players rated 2k and above will reveal that most have taken up at least Enchanting and enchanted their rings with the appropriate enchantments.
Today I dropped Mining to take up Enchanting after months of internal debate. I know the cost involved and it would break my back to level all the way to 375 for the Enchant Ring - Stats and the Enchant Ring - Healing Power along the way, but if I felt that if I were truly dedicated to Arena play, there simply was no other way. In fact, I’m rather disappointed in myself for having taken this long to take up Enchanting. Embarrassingly, I wasn’t hardcore enough. Fortunately, I had informed my wife of this decision weeks ago and she’s been generous enough to amass a bunch of Enchanting materials for me to use in skilling up. She even made me a Spellfire Bag. Now the trek begins.
I’m not as sold on Jewelcrafting for PvP, however, so I’m keeping my Blacksmithing. I also have an emotional attachment to my Stormherald, even though I know the Season 3 mace is arguably better. But as more and more players run around wielding one of the coolest-looking weapons in the game, thanks to the easy availability of Nether Vortexes, I’m pretty sure my love affair will soon end. Jewelcrafting only has unique-equipped gems with minor stat point benefits so I think I’ll pass on it for now. I’m also willing to wager that Wrath of the Lich King holds nice BoP surprises for crafting professions. It feels good to have finally made the jump. At the very least, I can put this silly little racial skill to good use. Enchant Bracer - Minor Health, anyone?
By admin
April 6th, 2008 at 10:08am
Under PVP Arena Guide+ Warlock Guide
V’Ming, a lock who spends his time between Arenas laughing ominously in AV, tanking Olm with his own minions and pondering troll fashion from Zul’Aman, is away on a hellish vacation. He won’t be able to brag about 8k Shadow Bolts this week because, as Amanda noted, he’s acting as a practice piñata for the WoW Insider weekend interns.
Vims is away this week, so I took the opportunity to sneak into his Warlock’s sanctum and play with his toys. For this week’s Blood Pact, we’re going to take a look at the notorious SL/SL spec that’s so popular in PvP. SL/SL stands for Soul Link / Siphon Life, the two talents which are the cornerstones of this build and define its playing style.
Let’s get one thing out of the way: SL/SL is not a damage build. It has no burst and it doesn’t capitalize on damage talents. It is designed for high survivability, utility, and low healer maintenance; to outlast instead of outdamage. In Level 70 Resilience-centric PvP where instagibs are virtually a thing of the past, SL/SL’s endurance is a force to reckon with in Arenas and wreaks complete Havoc in Battlegrounds.
The build
As much as Warlocks depend on Stamina, SL/SL depends on it even more. The more Stamina, the longer the Warlock stays alive. The build depends on the synergy of Soul Link, which transfers 20% of all damage taken by the Warlock to her pet, and Siphon Life, which transfers life from opponents to the caster. This talent combination goes together like panna cotta and honey. Or ham and cheese. Or whatever two things you like to eat together. It’s healthy and yummy and full of warlock-y goodness. Or, as Vims would put it, wonderfully OP.
The 23/38/0 build is a cookie-cutter Arena spec with a variation of one or two points, and it works extremely well. Many attest that it is the Arena spec, and with the world’s top Arena Warlocks sporting the build, it’s hard to argue. The spec has pretty much everything it needs to last in an Arena battle. Coupled with high Resilience and Stamina, an SL/SL Warlock can survive long enough for her non-optimal damage to eventually wear down opponents.
From the first tier of the Demonology tree, there’s Demonic Embrace which increases the Warlock’s Stamina by 15% and Improved Healthstone, which is about the best consumable you can take in an Arena match. From the second and third tiers, Fel Intellect, Fel Stamina, Demonic Aegis, and then Fel Domination to get to Master Summoner. Because of Soul Link, the Warlock’s pet needs to be able to take some punishment, so Fel Stamina helps. Master Summoner is important because many opponents will smartly eliminate the Warlock’s pet, negating Soul Link.
Unholy Power and Master Demonologist on the fourth and sixth tiers give the pet a bit more utility, which is good since you really want it to be around for the duration of the whole match. This makes the fifth tier talent Demonic Sacrifice, absolutely useless. But Warlocks need to pick it up in order to get to Soul Link. And then on the seventh tier there’s Demonic Resilience which necessarily contributes to survivability. Demonic Knowledge (is it just me or are there just too many ‘demonic’ talents?) is pure utility because since the pet needs to be around the whole time, anyway, the Warlock might as well get a bit of punch out of it. And of course, there’s Soul Link.
From the Affliction tree, there’s Improved Corruption. Because SL/SL consists greatly of tanking opponents, it entails a lot of kiting, so instant cast Corruptions are part of the menu. One point goes into Suppression, to close the gap on the 4% base resist rate of equal level PvP targets (two to get a 99% spell hit rating, although this can also be obtained through gems). On the second tier, there’s Improved Life Tap, which helps a self-healing Warlock to keep on fighting indefinitely. Soul Siphon, also on the second tier, makes for a more efficient Drain Life, which really is a fun thing to have while you’re Fearing an opponent and sucking the life out of them at the same time. On the third tier there’s Fel Concentration, which the Warlock needs because when they’re not running around, they’re channeling either Drain Life or Drain Mana; and Amplify Curse, which is cool, but really more important as a pre-requisite for Curse of Exhaustion, which is a kiter’s staple.
On the fourth tier, there’s Grim Reach, and finally on the fifth tier there’s Siphon Life and the previously mentioned Curse of Exhaustion. One point is put into Shadow Embrace because it counts as an Affliction effect, thereby contributing to Soul Siphon. It is also an additional debuff, giving more important debuffs some dispel protection. The last few points are discretionary, with some Warlocks opting for two points in Nightfall, since SL/SL will have many periodic damage effects going on at the same time. Others put points into Empowered Corruption, for more damage, and still others, particularly drain-oriented Warlocks, choose to put a point into Mana Feed.
The play
Siphon Life receives 100% of the Warlock’s spell damage coefficient, which makes it an extremely efficient and powerful spell. The idea is to keep Siphon Life applied on every target, refreshing each time it expires or is removed. The more targets with Siphon Life, the more health the Warlock regenerates, easing the strain on allied healers. Care must be taken to keep the Warlock’s pet alive, as it’s essential to the combo. In Arenas, that pet is usually a Felhunter, which has a relatively decent amount of health as far as Warlock pet selections go. That said, 6k still isn’t much, specially against other players.
In Battlegrounds, which is much more chaotic and requires much less coordination than Arena play, an SL/SL Warlock can wreak so much havoc simply by applying Siphon Life on all her enemies — including pets. The life gain is so massive that unmolested, a Warlock will have a tough time casting spells fast enough to use up mana, Life Tap, and get life back. Even in PvE, SL/SL is the perfect farming spec, enabling the Warlock to tag numerous mobs with Siphon Life, bringing them all together (thanks to the Voidwalker, of course), and detonating a Seed of Corruption — or two, or three — in their midst.
As fun as that all sounds, SL/SL is not a high damage build and given the talents outlined above, is not intended for raid or 5-man DPS. There are far superior specs that can deal damage. An SL/SL lock certainly won’t be shooting out 8k Shadow Bolts. It is built for endurance, and strategies will necessarily revolve around survival. This is why SL/SL works very well in a drain team set up, wearing down opponents’ mana (or even health, with Drain Life) until their options are exhausted while the Warlock still has near full health and mana. While DoTs can be dispelled, Drain Mana is harder to shake off. In fact, the SL/SL Warlock coupled with a well-managed Felhunter is a mana-user’s bane. Very high Stamina and self-healing also give it a fighting chance against a Warlock’s natural foils such as Rogues or Warriors.
Many players consider SL/SL to be a boring spec, which doesn’t require much strategy. Some criticize its lack of burst or dispel protection for its DoTs, while others simply prefer to have more weapons in their arsenal, such as Shadowburn or Unstable Affliction. To a degree, the critics are right: SL/SL is extremely — even mind-numbingly — simple. But that’s precisely why it works. The synergy of the two talents contributes to pretty much one goal: survivability. If a player’s goal is to PvP, then SL/SL is definitely worth exploring. There is no question that a Warlock without Soul Link under its portrait is an easy and tempting target for focus fire in Arenas. Want to survive in Arenas, particularly in 2v2 and 3v3? Go SL/SL.
In a nutshell, SL/SL is one of the easiest (some would say cheesiest) ways to experience Warlock power. Beyond the basics, the spec is only strengthened further by superior kiting skills and pet micro-management. Despite not having too much offensive power, DoTs must continually be applied on opponents in order to keep the pressure on them. Force heals. Encourage mana use. Mana Drain. Outlast opponents. Profit. Is it boring? That’s debatable. Under the right conditions, it is an extremely fun spec to play. Is it OP, as Vims would put it? Oh, absolutely.
By admin
December 27th, 2007 at 01:49am
Under PVP Arena Guide
Whether you’re on a PVP, RP, or Normal server arena is a fun addition in the Burning Crusade addition for all to enjoy. It’s a unique player Vs. player feature that’s not over crowded as battlegrounds was. You can build your own teams and play exclusively with friends on your team. It’s not a random bunch of strangers as you’ll often find in BG. This also helps greatly with organization, teammates can communicate via Ventrilo or Teamspeak for better strategies.
In order to enjoy a ranked arena game you must have acquired level 70. However, you can have fun prior to this if you wish to test it out or practice. Practice arenas are un-ranked and will not win you any arena points towards items. In these arenas you do not need a pre-formed team. You are able to enter a queue as you would in battlegrounds and will be paired with a random teammate(s).
Upon hitting level 70 you can then form your team or join an already existing team. If you decide to create your own team it will be similar to guild creation. You will need to purchase a “charter” and have your selected teammates accept an invite to sign it. There is a limit to how many friends you can invite at the time of creation, however you will be able to add others after the team has been formed.
You can find Arena Organizers in Nagrand, Tanaris, and Blade’s Edge Mountains. These are who you will purchase and turn in all you need to create your team. There are costs to purchase a charter and create the guild and different options are available.
- 2 Vs. 2 - 80 Gold
- 3 Vs. 3 - 120 Gold
- 5 Vs. 5 - 200 Gold
After choosing a name for your team and returning the charter you will be able to customize the team by choosing a team flag. This is very similar to a guild tabbard and allows you to pick out a pictured logo and colors.
The 2 Vs. 2 and 3 Vs. 3 teams are able to compete for arena points and your servers ranking. A 5 Vs. 5 team is the only group able to compete in the official Arena Tournament. This is a competitive feature from Blizzard where you compete against all servers for prizes. The Arena Tournament is split up into seasons and a new winner will be announced for each one.
No matter which sized team you decide to join or create, points are tallied once a week. Arena rankings can be found on the official World of WarCraft website. You can spend your points at the Arena Vendor in Area 52, Netherstorm. There are really nice epic level 70 set items and weapons that can be bought. Not to mention, they look awesome!
Unlike Battlegrounds, you will not earn points for each match you play. In arena it is based more upon skill than participation alone. If you win you will gain points, if you lose then points will be removed. Your overall weekly arena rank will be determined on how many points you have earned throughout that week.
Here is the formula released by Blizzard to calculate points you will earn each week:
X = Team Rating, Y = Arena Points
If X>1500: Y = 1426.79/(1+918.836*Power(2.71828, -0.00386405*X))
Else: Y = 0.38*X-194
Note: 2v2 teams only earn 60% of the arena points, 3v3 teams get 80%, while 5v5 teams get 100% of the arena points.
* Update: As of 3-13-07, 2v2 teams now receive 70% of the points generated from the equation. Confirmation on 3v3 arena point adjustments is still needed.
* Update: On 29 May 2007, the formulas used to calculate Arena Points were changed as outlined in a post on the Official WoW Forums by Eyonix.
In order to receive your points, which are awarded each Tuesday, you must meet a criteria. You must have participated in at least 10 matches for the week and have taken part in at least 30% of the total matches played by your team.
In arena you can expect to rotate between three different, and all challenging maps. The Ring of Trials,
Circle of Blood, and Ruins of Lordaeron - the newest addition just released in patch 2.1. Each map is uniquely styled and will spawn floating diamonds in which you can pick up to have increased stealth detection for a limited time.
You will begin your time in arena within a secluded area. At this time you can use all mana based skills at no cost, this is a great time to buff your group. All of your prior buffs and conjured items prior to entering will disappear. Hunters pets will also be dismissed before arriving in the arena, however they can be re-summoned once the battle begins.
The objective for arena PvP is quite simple, kill your opponents. There is no side missions as you’ll find in battlegrounds, its simply a battle to the last man standing. Once you have died you have the option to come back in ghost form to view the conclusion of the fight. When the last player on either team has fallen the score board will appear and you can click to leave the arena. The score board will show damage and healing done, as well as the total points you have accumulated or lost during the battle. The limitations are few but include no consumables and cool downs that last longer than 15 minutes once you have entered. Bandages and buffs are allowed.
If you haven’t checked into Arena PvP as of yet, I would highly recommend doing so. It’s a breath of fresh air from BG’s.
By admin