The Colosseum: Meetsi of Auchindoun
by Michael Gray 
Feb 21st 2009 at 8:00PM
The Colosseum takes us inside the world of the Gladiator (Brutal, Vengeful, Merciless, and otherwise), to interview some of the top Arena fighters in the battlegroups. Our goal is to bring a better understanding of the strategy, makeup, and work that goes into dueling it out for fame, fortune, and Netherdrakes
Holy Paladins are a bit of a hot topic right now. While moment-captured statistics will certainly indicate they have a measure of power in Season 5, this isn't the first time that's happened. Back in Season 1, Holy Paladins were the class-to-have. But as soon as Resilience and mobility became popular in Arena compositions, Holy Paladins became a thing of the past. Even the so-called "lolret" seemed to fare better in the Arena that the plate-wearing healers.
With all the uproar about Holy Paladins right now, it's fair to take a second look at the class and tactics in the weekend Arena column. Meetsi of Auchindoun was kind enough to share his thought on the Arena with us, especially from the perspective of an Arena healer. You might also recognize him as partner to Infractus, from last week.
WoW Insider: What are the strongest points of operating as a Paladin in the Arena?
Meetsi: Paladins have a few advantages in Arena which make them desirable healers, as 49/0/22 they become virtually Stun-immune with Blessing of Freedom greatly increasing survivability against Double-DPS.
Also, Blessing of Sacrifice and BoP lend great survivability to your partners enabling you to save your own bubble. Sacred cleansing ( along with the regular cleanse ) is great for keeping team mates out of CC and reducing damage. It's great for keeping wound off as well.
WoW Insider: What's your opening strategy? What do you like to do as soon as the gate opens?
Meetsi: Our opening strategy generally consists of Infractus rushing in to catch someone out of stealth or get a quick upper hand on someone. Meanwhile, I buff Sacred Shield and judge his target 40 yards away.
WoW Insider: One of the claims about Arena balance is that it will get better as Resilience improves. Have you seen any of that happening? Or do you think that your survivability is reliant on your class choice?
Meetsi: Surviving is about using cooldowns correctly, and going offensive when your CC is up. It's less based on class than it was before in my opinion.
WoW Insider: How do you work out target designation? (Does someone call it out, or is everyone on their own to figure it out?)
Meetsi: I Call strats from the gates, everyone starts on what I call. Then, we argue what's best afterward. There are a few pre-determined things to do based on composition, of course.
WoW Insider: What do you think about the new hidden, personal rating? Does it seem to make the game better or worse to you? Do you consider the hidden rating an unfair penalty to experienced players?
Meetsi: There are advantages and disadvantages to this hidden rating for experienced players. One advantage is that levelling a new team is quick and easy ... like 50 or so games.
But what if I want to play Retributio instead of Holy? First, my gear is nowhere near on par with my Holy gear. And I'm simply not practised. Why should I have to fight 2300 players?
WoW Insider: Did you play in previous seasons? What do you see the differences in the new season being?
Meetsi: I played a Druid in all the other seasons. The main difference I noticed is games are decided a lot quicker and more often by cooldowns.
WoW Insider: What's the key for your composition's strategy? Are there multiple tactics you can use?
Meetsi: We use multiple strats to keep the enemy unaware of what is happening next. If something doesn't work, we try something else in quick succession. We try to limit their time to react. Like, HoJ-ing a DPS and swapping to them quick with a Blood Elf Silence, and then dropping a Hungering Cold on their healer.
WoW Insider: What are you trying to improve?
Meetsi: Personally, I'm trying to improve my timing with Blessing of sacrifice, now that it is like a shield wall for the target, CC break for me, and now on a Two Minute cooldown.
WoW Insider: A lot has been made of healers not having a strong role in Season 5. What do you think about that commentary?
Meetsi: I think its overexaggerated. A lot of healers are still trying to play the complete defensive role they were playing in S2 and S3 and that's the reason they are unsuccessful. You won't last like that. Kill or Be Killed.
WoW Insider: What are you hoping to see improved in 3.1? We've seen some changes, obviously, but there's more to come.
Meetsi: In 3.1, I would like to see the survivability of Rogues go up, Survival Hunter damage go down, and a few tweaks for Warriors.
WoW Insider: What do you think is the significant difference between an "amateur" and a "pro" Arena fighter?
Meetsi: The biggest difference between a mediocre player and a good player is someone who can anticipate exactly the next move of the other arena team. Generally, I can tell you what they are going to do before they do it, meaning I can be ready to react. Instead of waiting for it to happen.
The Colosseum is an interview series by WoW Insider, meant to reveal strategies, compositions, and tactics from the Arena fighters who use them. For more PvP information, be sure to hit up Blood Sport and the Art of War(craft).Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Interviews, Arena, The Colosseum
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
matt Feb 21st 2009 8:06PM
Interesting article, gives great incite to anybody that has a holly pally and wants to do some basic arena.
Allen Feb 21st 2009 8:12PM
I just want to stop in and say thanks to Meetsi for recognizing that Rogues have no survivability right now. Alot of people just disregard Rogue problems, but it takes a smart player to realize when other classes need some love.
Rofllol Feb 22nd 2009 11:07PM
LOL
Logan Feb 21st 2009 8:18PM
The "Blessing of Sacrifice" Meetsi mentions repeatedly is actually named Hand of Sacrifice: http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=6940
I only mention it because there is an important distinction to be understood between a paladin's Blessings and Hands. You can have one Blessing on you per paladin, and one Hand on you per paladin.
Nice tips, thanks!
Heilig Feb 22nd 2009 12:42AM
He calls it Blessing of Sac because everyone who's played WoW for more than a few months does the same thing. It was a blessing for four years, it's only recently changed.
Oteo Feb 21st 2009 8:30PM
Granted, I'm no arena player so most of my information I get from reading blogs like this, but did anyone else feel the urge to do a huge eyeroll when they read that Meetsi played a druid in arena pre-LB nerf, in addition to playing in one of the more "OP" class combinations (holy pally/DK).
If I were to open the dictionary and search for 'FotM,' would I find this person there?
apoxic Feb 21st 2009 10:11PM
This was my exact reaction. But hey, whatever floats your boat.
Heilig Feb 22nd 2009 12:45AM
While I absolutely hate arena and wish it would disappear, what do you expect from someone who absolutely adores it, as these guys obviously do? Do you want them to play an underpowered class taht has difficulty winning just so you will feel better about it?
Arena is about winning. You do what it takes to win. if that means gemming and gearing properly, you do that. If it means practicing a lot, you do it. If it means playing the classes that are currently hardest to beat, you do that.
Put it this way: Do you think that if you were to log on his account and play his OP class with his OP partner that you would win as much as he does? If the answer is yes, then why aren't you rolling a pally right now? If the answer is no, STFU and learn from the guy.
apoxic Feb 22nd 2009 3:12AM
@Heilig
Sure, arena is about winning. But isn't it more of a feat, and something to be proud of if you do it with the class you like best? Taken this guy might have loved druids, and rolled a Paladin for Wotlk because he felt that this is what he wants to play now (Arena Overpowerdness aside), but from an outside perspective it doesn't look like it.
Why always pick the "easy" way, where's the achievement in that?
FotM aside, this guy might be a great PvP'er, but the class choices makes any achievement pale, in my eyes at least.
Oteo Feb 22nd 2009 3:26AM
The situation is more like this:
Hearing someone revel in their Arena glory when they got to that rating by playing a hugely unbalanced class combination is like hearing the varsity baseball team gloat about the 'strategy' they used to pwn a PuG of non-athletes in an intramural, shits-n-giggles T-ball competition. They might have skill in playing baseball, sure, but it's still not impressive.
I'd be more intrigued if the gladiators that were interviewed were playing classes that are underrepresented in PvP.
Heilig Feb 22nd 2009 11:38AM
You guys are still missing the point. It's not the Varsity team playing the scrub Middle Schoolers. It's the varsity team playing the next town over's Varsity team. At this level these guys aren't playing against double prot warrior 1400 teams. They are playing against the best of the best, who have ALSO picked the same overpowered team comp. The question of which class is OP is moot. These guys HAVE to play the OP classes because that is what they are coming up against. Half the strategy in arena is comp/countercomp. Teams that are playing in 1500's can play whatever comp they want because they're going up against equally (un)skilled teams. Once you break 200, that doesn't fly. You have to use the best tool for the job, and right now that's Pally/DK. In S1 it was Pally/Warrior, S2/S3 PMR's owned the world, and S4 was about longevity when double melee and a druid ruled all. Now we're back to burst being king like it was in S1 and the same people are complaining about exceptional PvPers using the best tool for the job.
Picking this comp in today's arena doesn't give you an advantage. It's the standard. NOT picking this comp puts you at a disadvantage. If you want to read about people going against the odds and intentionally making things harder on themselves than they have to, go read 15 Minutes of Fame. THIS column is about people that do whatever it takes to win, and that will ALWAYS include picking the right comp.
Oteo Feb 22nd 2009 12:54PM
Your scenario implies that ALL teams at their rating are DK/holy pally, which is simply not the case. While it's true that there are probably a lot of teams that are, there are also some teams at the same rating who are going to be using class and class combos that are normally seen as weaker in Arena, which is entirely due to the natural abilities of the class, and thus not commonly used. In other words, some of those wins that keep them at 50% wins (which maintains their rating) are coming from fights where the advantage is theirs not because of the people behind the keyboard, but because they rerolled to whatever class was strongest in arena at the moment.
It's not the varsity team vs. next town's varsity team, it's "varsity team of school that gives out thousands of dollars in sports scholarships to attract top athletes" vs. a school that doesn't. One just has an advantage that is not based on strategic superiority on the field.
I don't want to see interviews of people using this tired, unbalanced class combination who, if the playing field were more even, would probably be at a lower rating because their OP class is making up for a deficiency in skill. I want to see interviews with people who are at an equal or higher rating as these FotMers using nontraditional classes/combos, who are at that level not because their class' inherent, needs-a-nerf-for-PvP skills, but because of their own, vastly superior strategic abilities.
Heilig Feb 22nd 2009 8:56PM
So, to put it more simply, you want to hear from the people who have found the counter-comp to DK/pally. Seems equally boring to me to hear "well, we know the vast majority of the teams are DK/Pally, so we hold our cooldown X until they blow Cooldown Y and play classes A and B specifically to be able to beat all these FotMers out there. But WE'RE not playing the FotM, we change to COUNTER the FotM, so that makes us different."
I will say again: ALL high level arena players do what it takes to win. If that means playing DK/pally, they do it. If that means rerolling the classes that can BEAT DK/Pally, THEY DO IT. At this level the players are all the same. Look at the last major 3's tournament. The people that won decided to play the counter-comp to the people who came in second. They were beaten up front in the first two matches, switched comps, and won the last three. Don't even begin to tell me that any of those six players had more skill than the others, they are all world class players. Comp is king, and saying that people who have figured out the counter to the FotM OP comp are better than the FotMers is just ignorant.
A high level player is a high level player. They know they're playing the OP class, and all the people that are interested in ALSO playing the OP comp can learn tactics by reading what these people have to say. Just because you're taking the moral high ground and deciding to lose on your chosen class rather than win by playing the comp game doesn't diminish the skill of the people they are choosing to interview.
Oteo Feb 22nd 2009 10:25PM
You're the one missing the point now. We're saying we want to hear from the people with HIGHER ratings than this team playing underpowered classes, who arguably have far more skill. And tournament =/= arena. There's nothing about this team that suggests they're at a rating where they're not being carried by their class combo.
I think the problem people have with the DK/Holydin combo is that the combo is so unbalanced it takes very little skill to reach high arena rankings. You speak as if high ranking is the same as skill, which would mean "skill" pre-3.0 was keeping LB rolling constantly if you were a druid, or win trading. Both of those could have/do result in high rankings... does that mean those players are skilled? No.
The complaint here isn't that they're winning... It's that their record is tarnished by the fact that they can't win with strategy using a more balanced class combo, and that WoW Insider isn't interviewing the vastly superior players who obviously are at a DISADVANTAGE, yet still manage to stay afloat at higher rankings. We just want to hear from someone else.
Going to all lengths to win, like class re-rolling, is fair game, but it's just. not. that. impressive. I feel the same way about DK/holydin combos as I do about all the baseball players, like Roger Clemens, whose impressive records are tarnished by allegations of steroid use. I don't know how to make this more clear. It makes the wins worth less in many people's eyes, like if you were betting that the Patriots would win the Superbowl in 2008. It's not exciting, it's not risky.
Jagoex Feb 21st 2009 8:37PM
Sorry to sound semi-negative, but this is just another expected read from an expected overly-successful player utilizing an overly-successful class. Nothing new here.
What classes have the last three Colosseums featured, btw? If I recall correctly, 4 of the last 5 have been Paladins and Death Knights.
Matchu Feb 21st 2009 8:44PM
Do an interview with a successful Warlock.
Passerby Feb 21st 2009 10:20PM
I'm sure they would have done that already if they could actually find one.
Big Matty Mack Feb 21st 2009 10:29PM
Maybe instead of focusing on fixing the former FOTMs like Rogue and Warlock, you could look at the few classes that have never represented well in the arena?
BooDizz Feb 22nd 2009 8:47PM
Number 1 team in 2s atm is Lock Pally.
lbizzle Feb 21st 2009 8:46PM
Not only is this guy a holy pally, but a resto druid in TBC? Could you get any more FOTM?
Seriously, could this column get some interviewees whose opinions are worth hearing and have done something commendable, like a warlock doing well at the moment? While I'm complaining, ask some less cookie cutter questions.