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Friday, January 16, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Sup
Wrath has been a pretty sizable disappointment to most serious players. PvE is trivial to the point that no decent guild can take it seriously, and it requires less than 4 hours to do all of the game's current content, not exactly enough to keep a guild busy for a week. PvP has improved little from TBC. Arena is more of the same with generally worse balance and less skill, frustrating new maps, and permanent nerdrage amongst the hardcore over the increased, instead of decreased, RNG.
While I call the above reaction typical, I'm not sure what my own feelings on the game are -- I guess just ambivalence. The big changes that I felt the game "needed" didn't come in WotLK. Mainly, rated BGs, no racials in arenas, more complex DPS rotations in PvE that require sensitive timing, generally more sensitive and timing dependent play in PvP, and a way to bring the game back into the non-instanced world and thereby recreate server identify.
RNG continues to be a large problem especially as Blue's stance is that "it isn't a problem." I'm not so obsessed that I think the game needs NO randomness, but I think the game would improve with a bit less -- hopefully, the dispel resist changes are indicative that Blue is willing to compromise a bit on this topic of debate.
Ultimately, I'm not sure I'll ever love the game again as the game is so clunky when it comes to actually playing. I don't want to do 3s or 5s really -- I'd rather just run lots of stupid 2s comps so I can fraps. (Which I can't really do in 3s or 5s because they are terrible to watch. Yes, even 3s. Yes, terrible) My compromise is just playing a bunch of characters across a bunch of accounts but this involves the huge pain of keeping gear up to date on a handful of characters. Why is team hopping not allowed again? To prevent bad kids from getting gear? Seems to prevent a lot of players from just PLAYING the game. endrant I swear.
I'm really not one to glorify vanilla wow although I get that ranting like this makes me sound that way, a bit. Balance wasn't great and the game was quite simplistic and pretty goddamn boring. Rivalry keeps you coming back though.
I'm certainly not going to say anything stupid like "WoW is dead" or any such crap because honestly the game is probably only going to get more popular in the coming year and is weirdly improving (though not to the point where we'd like considering wrath was supposed to be a big step forwards) -- I hope that more depth becomes apparent as metagame starts to play a bigger role in arena gameplay and strategies and mixups begin to emerge.
It's been my opinion since the beginning of the season that damage has been greatly overestimated and that the scaling of healing is truly the scary part of wrath arena. It's a bit unclear if this will turn up true or not, but my experiences thus far leave me still believing it.
For the very select few who know who my priest is, I'm leveling him right now, and I'll hopefully be running the same team as last season. ^^
While I call the above reaction typical, I'm not sure what my own feelings on the game are -- I guess just ambivalence. The big changes that I felt the game "needed" didn't come in WotLK. Mainly, rated BGs, no racials in arenas, more complex DPS rotations in PvE that require sensitive timing, generally more sensitive and timing dependent play in PvP, and a way to bring the game back into the non-instanced world and thereby recreate server identify.
RNG continues to be a large problem especially as Blue's stance is that "it isn't a problem." I'm not so obsessed that I think the game needs NO randomness, but I think the game would improve with a bit less -- hopefully, the dispel resist changes are indicative that Blue is willing to compromise a bit on this topic of debate.
Ultimately, I'm not sure I'll ever love the game again as the game is so clunky when it comes to actually playing. I don't want to do 3s or 5s really -- I'd rather just run lots of stupid 2s comps so I can fraps. (Which I can't really do in 3s or 5s because they are terrible to watch. Yes, even 3s. Yes, terrible) My compromise is just playing a bunch of characters across a bunch of accounts but this involves the huge pain of keeping gear up to date on a handful of characters. Why is team hopping not allowed again? To prevent bad kids from getting gear? Seems to prevent a lot of players from just PLAYING the game. endrant I swear.
I'm really not one to glorify vanilla wow although I get that ranting like this makes me sound that way, a bit. Balance wasn't great and the game was quite simplistic and pretty goddamn boring. Rivalry keeps you coming back though.
I'm certainly not going to say anything stupid like "WoW is dead" or any such crap because honestly the game is probably only going to get more popular in the coming year and is weirdly improving (though not to the point where we'd like considering wrath was supposed to be a big step forwards) -- I hope that more depth becomes apparent as metagame starts to play a bigger role in arena gameplay and strategies and mixups begin to emerge.
It's been my opinion since the beginning of the season that damage has been greatly overestimated and that the scaling of healing is truly the scary part of wrath arena. It's a bit unclear if this will turn up true or not, but my experiences thus far leave me still believing it.
For the very select few who know who my priest is, I'm leveling him right now, and I'll hopefully be running the same team as last season. ^^
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
24
Jack: I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD BRO
Jack: BRO, WTF HAPPENED TO YOU BRO
Tony: ...
Jack: GIMME A HUG BRO
Tony: ...
Jack: I KNEW YOU WERE A GOOD GUY BRO. IM SORRY I DOUBTED YOU BRO.
Tony: ...
Jack: WTF BRO. YOU HAD THIS OTHER BRO BEHIND MY BACK THIS WHOLE TIME?! IM SO JEALOUS BRO
Tony: YOU WERENT THERE BRO
Jack: ITS OKAY BRO
Tony: WE CAN BE THREEWAY BROS
Jack: OMNOMNOM
Tony: OMNOMNOM
Newbro: OMNOMNOM
Jack: BRO, WTF HAPPENED TO YOU BRO
Tony: ...
Jack: GIMME A HUG BRO
Tony: ...
Jack: I KNEW YOU WERE A GOOD GUY BRO. IM SORRY I DOUBTED YOU BRO.
Tony: ...
Jack: WTF BRO. YOU HAD THIS OTHER BRO BEHIND MY BACK THIS WHOLE TIME?! IM SO JEALOUS BRO
Tony: YOU WERENT THERE BRO
Jack: ITS OKAY BRO
Tony: WE CAN BE THREEWAY BROS
Jack: OMNOMNOM
Tony: OMNOMNOM
Newbro: OMNOMNOM
Monday, January 12, 2009
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Because Why Else Do Nerds Come Here
Than other to learn to exploit.
In Dalaran Sewers, a mage can blink as the current pushes him out of the starting tunnel, and if you do this as you are midair coming out of the tunnel and then run to the back grate quickly, you can sit up in the start indefinitely.
Hotfix inc?
In Dalaran Sewers, a mage can blink as the current pushes him out of the starting tunnel, and if you do this as you are midair coming out of the tunnel and then run to the back grate quickly, you can sit up in the start indefinitely.
Hotfix inc?
Dear Vishak
You make me feel warriors are overpowered.
Ming's most recent post, here, points out that the top 100 of the 2v2 bracket is now 43% paladin/DK, a level of imbalance never before seen in WoW, and if you've been forced to listen to my nonstop bitching and raging for the past week, you know I'm well fucking aware of the ubiquity of this comp.
We're still running double Arcane mage 2s, which is definitely cheese, but no double Arcane team has cracked top 100, in fact, none is in the top 350. After playing 400+ games on this comp, I understand why.
Basically double Arcane earns a free win against a handful comps in Ogrimmar arena. Almost any non-paladin single DPS healer can be killed within 10 seconds of the game's beginning by having both mages blow both sets of Mirrors, and simply IWINing the single healer through 8 seconds of Imp CS. At the same time, Dalaran Sewers have such brutal LoS problems that against any reasonable comp, it is nearly a guaranteed loss.
Holy/Unholy is basically impossible without extreme luck in any map. It's to the point where we have a strategy that is relatively easy to counter, but we probably manage to win 1/4 of these matchups still simply due to the fact that every kid who plays this comp is fucking terrible.
Strat:
Imp CS split between both on the start, barrage and drop ghoul, sheep+slow on the dk, if possible get an opening poly on pally too. Burn a global or two on Spellstealing DK as the ability to grab a freedom off later can be huge. Reset and drink, reapply Mana Shields and Frost Wards.
Phase two requires one mage targetting the Pally with Mirror Image so that Mirrors sheep the DK while both mages attempt to chase down the pally and use cooldowns to force Bubble. Ideally only one mage should blow Cooldowns here. One mage will be taking huge damage due to Death Grip + Strangulate + AMS cleave. After bubble, second mage assists peel as much as possible, mage under pressure rocket boots - > evocate to save his life. (He should be sub 30% even if he basically never eats a melee attack) If there's a gargoyle up, the mage not resetting, must kill it with Barrage+scorch if he has the space, if not, Barrage->reslow someone->Barrage.
Phase three requires killing the paladin but AMZ is still up, or if AMZ was used to protect the paladin last time, then the paladin still has Bubble -- one or the other was used in phase two. If not, you've lost. You repeat the same thing as in phase two, hopefully the DK is pressuring the mage who hasn't burnt boots+escape artist+evocate. Again two Imp CS + a cooldown set on the pally and you should force a bubble. This is nontrivial and basically impossible if the palladin is well positioned however and often you will need to burn rocket boots here just to actually force the cooldown.
Phase four requires managing to get at least a partial reset but now you've got a paladin with no Bubble. The mage who used cooldowns in phase two should now almost have them back but both mages are hurting on health and mana and most games you shouldn't even last this long. Phase four you simply somehow manage to get the paladin and kill him as quickly as possible with one set + Imp CS.
Phase five pits two mages who are likely low on health and mana and completely out of cooldowns against a DK. Just kidding because ghoul rez is probably back up and he will ghoul rez his teamate. Phase 5 involves killing the ghoul and getting CC on the DK and resetting once again.
Phase six involves finally killing the DK, often one of the two of you will be dead by now, but a single mage who was able to get a reset shouldn't have much trouble here. When he AMZs, reset again, or when he gargoyles, kill it and reset.
Now. IS THAT FUCKING RETARDED OR WHAT?
Double Arcane also has significant problems with any team with paladin healer. Rogue/Paladin, BM/Paladin, Feral/Paladin (Totally impossible), and unexpectedly, Warrior/Paladin.
Warrior/Paladin is interesting if the warrior is fury. Intercept->HF->Intercept is extremely dangerous and generally the warrior does so much damage and is such a devastating peel for the paladin that you can't ignore him well and focus the paladin. And as much as people complain about 7k Barrage Crits and 9k Pyros, these require multiple long cooldowns, I've been autoattacked for over 5000 and Bloodthirsted for nearly 8000. Beyond praying for amazing MI polymorphs or a gib on the paladin before he bubbles, I'm pretty clueless on how one would ever beat this comp as double Arcane. (Stoicism is cool bro) Freedom makes using Slow to cover poly impossible very often and once poly can't resist a cleanse and buy you an extra global or two without the warrior raping face, I'm not really sure you can do much.
Feral Druids seem like a sleeper class to me, at least in the small brackets. Their damage and survivability are quite high, though they do have pretty severe mana limitations. I'm not really sure if it is metagame or balance that limits their success currently.
I don't feel as Ming does that the problem is just DKs -- he's of the belief that paladins are mostly fine. Fifty percent representation in the top 100 isn't fine. They're the best healer in both short and long games, provide the best support to their teammates, and provide unbelievable offensive support even as Holy. DUMB.
Nerf everything.
Ming's most recent post, here, points out that the top 100 of the 2v2 bracket is now 43% paladin/DK, a level of imbalance never before seen in WoW, and if you've been forced to listen to my nonstop bitching and raging for the past week, you know I'm well fucking aware of the ubiquity of this comp.
We're still running double Arcane mage 2s, which is definitely cheese, but no double Arcane team has cracked top 100, in fact, none is in the top 350. After playing 400+ games on this comp, I understand why.
Basically double Arcane earns a free win against a handful comps in Ogrimmar arena. Almost any non-paladin single DPS healer can be killed within 10 seconds of the game's beginning by having both mages blow both sets of Mirrors, and simply IWINing the single healer through 8 seconds of Imp CS. At the same time, Dalaran Sewers have such brutal LoS problems that against any reasonable comp, it is nearly a guaranteed loss.
Holy/Unholy is basically impossible without extreme luck in any map. It's to the point where we have a strategy that is relatively easy to counter, but we probably manage to win 1/4 of these matchups still simply due to the fact that every kid who plays this comp is fucking terrible.
Strat:
Imp CS split between both on the start, barrage and drop ghoul, sheep+slow on the dk, if possible get an opening poly on pally too. Burn a global or two on Spellstealing DK as the ability to grab a freedom off later can be huge. Reset and drink, reapply Mana Shields and Frost Wards.
Phase two requires one mage targetting the Pally with Mirror Image so that Mirrors sheep the DK while both mages attempt to chase down the pally and use cooldowns to force Bubble. Ideally only one mage should blow Cooldowns here. One mage will be taking huge damage due to Death Grip + Strangulate + AMS cleave. After bubble, second mage assists peel as much as possible, mage under pressure rocket boots - > evocate to save his life. (He should be sub 30% even if he basically never eats a melee attack) If there's a gargoyle up, the mage not resetting, must kill it with Barrage+scorch if he has the space, if not, Barrage->reslow someone->Barrage.
Phase three requires killing the paladin but AMZ is still up, or if AMZ was used to protect the paladin last time, then the paladin still has Bubble -- one or the other was used in phase two. If not, you've lost. You repeat the same thing as in phase two, hopefully the DK is pressuring the mage who hasn't burnt boots+escape artist+evocate. Again two Imp CS + a cooldown set on the pally and you should force a bubble. This is nontrivial and basically impossible if the palladin is well positioned however and often you will need to burn rocket boots here just to actually force the cooldown.
Phase four requires managing to get at least a partial reset but now you've got a paladin with no Bubble. The mage who used cooldowns in phase two should now almost have them back but both mages are hurting on health and mana and most games you shouldn't even last this long. Phase four you simply somehow manage to get the paladin and kill him as quickly as possible with one set + Imp CS.
Phase five pits two mages who are likely low on health and mana and completely out of cooldowns against a DK. Just kidding because ghoul rez is probably back up and he will ghoul rez his teamate. Phase 5 involves killing the ghoul and getting CC on the DK and resetting once again.
Phase six involves finally killing the DK, often one of the two of you will be dead by now, but a single mage who was able to get a reset shouldn't have much trouble here. When he AMZs, reset again, or when he gargoyles, kill it and reset.
Now. IS THAT FUCKING RETARDED OR WHAT?
Double Arcane also has significant problems with any team with paladin healer. Rogue/Paladin, BM/Paladin, Feral/Paladin (Totally impossible), and unexpectedly, Warrior/Paladin.
Warrior/Paladin is interesting if the warrior is fury. Intercept->HF->Intercept is extremely dangerous and generally the warrior does so much damage and is such a devastating peel for the paladin that you can't ignore him well and focus the paladin. And as much as people complain about 7k Barrage Crits and 9k Pyros, these require multiple long cooldowns, I've been autoattacked for over 5000 and Bloodthirsted for nearly 8000. Beyond praying for amazing MI polymorphs or a gib on the paladin before he bubbles, I'm pretty clueless on how one would ever beat this comp as double Arcane. (Stoicism is cool bro) Freedom makes using Slow to cover poly impossible very often and once poly can't resist a cleanse and buy you an extra global or two without the warrior raping face, I'm not really sure you can do much.
Feral Druids seem like a sleeper class to me, at least in the small brackets. Their damage and survivability are quite high, though they do have pretty severe mana limitations. I'm not really sure if it is metagame or balance that limits their success currently.
I don't feel as Ming does that the problem is just DKs -- he's of the belief that paladins are mostly fine. Fifty percent representation in the top 100 isn't fine. They're the best healer in both short and long games, provide the best support to their teammates, and provide unbelievable offensive support even as Holy. DUMB.
Nerf everything.
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