Arena rewards pages
by Eliah Hecht 
Mar 1st 2007 at 4:45PM
Interested parties have probably already gone up to Area 52 to check out the arena rewards vendor, but this may be a little more convenient. Blizz have posted pages on the arena weapons and armor available for purchase with arena points, and they look pretty sweet (although not as overwhelmingly awesome as the top-rank PvP stuff was pre-BC). One thing that always surprises me a little bit is how much resilience is scattered all over PvP gear. All the sets have +35 resilience as a 2-piece bonus; according to WoWWiki, 39.4 resilience at level 70 gives -1% to be crit and -2% damage done by crits against you. All in all, the priest sets have 156 resilience (other sets, at a glance, look to have similar values), which is a 3.96% lower chance to be crit (and twice that knocked off crit damage against you). More and more, it seems PvP is about crits, both scoring and avoiding them. I guess crits were pretty important before, but this resilience bonanza makes it more obvious.By the way, in case any casters are wondering about whether to go for the War Staff or the Spellblade + Endgame, here's a comparison of the stats.
- Gladiator's War Staff: 48 sta, 32 int, 21 spellhit, 33 spellcrit, 22 resil, 187 dmg/heal
- Gladiator's Spellblade + Gladiator's Endgame: 45 sta, 29 int, 30 resil, 203 dmg/heal
- War Staff: 3 sta, 3 int, 21 spellhit, 33 spellcrit
- Spellblade + Endgame: 8 resil, 16 dmg/heal
As a final point, I would like to commend Blizzard for making multiple sets available for the classes that need them. Druids, Shaman, and Paladins have three sets each (one for each talent tree), and Priests have two (damage or healing). It's just the pure DPS classes, Mage, Rogue, Warrior, Hunter, and Warlock (Warriors are a pure DPS class in PvP, of course), that only have one set. The T4 and T5 gear have similar choices available. Yay for choices!
Has anyone made enough arena points to buy this stuff yet? If so, how's it working out for you?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Evilsandwich Mar 1st 2007 9:31PM
actually theyre damn good for arena, where stamina is often king. Whereas you can get higher dps items, you often end being a glass cannon but with the arena gear you'll be able to outlast your opponents, especially if they cant crit you.
Justin Mar 1st 2007 7:30PM
"I would like to commend Blizzard for making multiple sets available for the classes that need them."
Except there are no weapon rewards for healers.
Zuuler Mar 2nd 2007 7:27AM
I was looking at this on the community site last night. I am at work now so I can't check it, but I think warlocks had 2 gladiator sets available.
multikast Mar 2nd 2007 8:09AM
"The War Staff looks like a significantly better option to me"
me too! and it looks so freaking awesome!
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=24557
probably going to take me about 3 months to get that thing since we don't constantly do arena (only 10-20 per week), nor do we have the gear to compete with the top dogs.
colinsfx Mar 2nd 2007 9:10AM
I'm kinda sad there's no weapon for a sword and shield paladin.
Eliah Hecht Mar 2nd 2007 11:01AM
Zuuler: Oh yeah, so there are two Warlock sets. Hadn't noticed that -- there's one with crit and one without crit, so presumably they're meant for Destro and not-Destro.