The three reasons for the killing of Twos
by Adam Holisky 
Sep 14th 2009 at 5:00PM
Now you might want to kill off some Twos because they're skin jobs with such religious zeal to them they make the one track minded Replicants look like Titan A.E. robots. Or you might want to kill off twos because the bracket was nearly impossible to balance.
According to a recent post by Ghostcrawler there are three primary reasons that they killed off the 2v2 arena bracket this season.
First, the most successful compositions were dominated by classes that were "well-rounded... with lots of offense and defense..." Think Paladins and Druids. Ever try to kill a good Resto druid one-on-one? It can get a little bit insane. Same thing happens in the twos bracket.
Secondly, there exists a problem with healer balance. Consider the following scenario:
According to a recent post by Ghostcrawler there are three primary reasons that they killed off the 2v2 arena bracket this season.
First, the most successful compositions were dominated by classes that were "well-rounded... with lots of offense and defense..." Think Paladins and Druids. Ever try to kill a good Resto druid one-on-one? It can get a little bit insane. Same thing happens in the twos bracket.
Secondly, there exists a problem with healer balance. Consider the following scenario:
- A healer can't keep himself and his partner up in 2s, therefore the healer would never be successful in 3s
- A healer can keep himself and his two partners up in 3s, therefore would be over powered in 2s
To balance that scenario, the healing out and damage in would need to be equalized between not only healers and DPS classes of different varieties, but across different multitudes of each class, and then even against different multitudes of each class. Such a scenario creates a wildly complex three dimensional matrix of possible combinations, which hurts your soul if you try to think about it too long. This is a primary reason why twos were removed.
I should note that there appears to be a misplaced word in what Ghostcrawler said in his post, but the above is what he's getting at.
Finally, the third reason that Ghostcrawler says twos were removed was because of the fun factor. "...larger matches are more fun overall and we think we can offer a better game experience by focusing on them," he says. Since 2v2 matches have moved into the unsupported realm (like Windows Vista, /rimshot), players who enjoy them are able to partake in them -- but Blizzard isn't going to worry about their balance anymore.
And on that note, twos still do offer a great place to practice skills and work out strategies against other classes, perhaps in an unbalanced scenario as well. That makes it all the better so that when you do move into a balanced scenario, your skills and abilities are all the more honed.
Filed under: Druid, Analysis / Opinion, News items, PvP, Arena
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Nazgûl Sep 14th 2009 5:07PM
Sniff...
So long, 2's. We'll miss ya.
*back to RMP*
Os Sep 14th 2009 5:08PM
Yeah except 2v2 was the most fun bracket, 5v5 feals like a zerg rush... and 3v3 can be fun but not as much as 2's!
Ilnara Sep 14th 2009 9:51PM
Except the fun was only 'fun' if you happened to play one of 4 classes...
Rogue, Druid, DK, and Pally. Yeah, then 2's were "fun".
gut Sep 15th 2009 12:05AM
@ Ilnara
i hate to flame but the only class that really has a hard time succeeding in 2's is hunter. disc rogue was one of the top comps last season, and dks numbers have went down significantly with the rise of the warrior. the only class that is horribly unbalanced is prot-holy. moral of story, there are more than 4 classes succeeding in 2's at a high level.
now, i dont understand what ghostcrawler is trying to say. they seem to have just as much trouble balancing 3's, what with beast-cleave running rampant on anyone not in a prot spec, and especially the current reigning champions of over representation at a high level, rmp. and 2's is by far the most fun bracket, no matter what you play. i had fun playing moonkin/enhancement, which by no means is one of the over played faceroll comps. saying that you have to play something good to have fun is just dumb.
Tomnationwide Sep 14th 2009 5:11PM
Leoben cannot die
Leelad Sep 15th 2009 2:36AM
Where did he go though? Saw Karas body then just vanished. didn't even get to see cavil eat his own gun :(
Poor Leoben
Wellsee Sep 14th 2009 5:12PM
I'm an inexperienced druid player. Can someone explain how/why a resto druid is so hard to take down one on one? Is it as simple as HoTs for the druid, DoTs for the opponent? Thanks!
Jon Sep 14th 2009 5:16PM
instant cast heals, infinite mana, infinite mobility, roots/cc, and excellent mitigation.
Banthis Sep 14th 2009 5:16PM
Can't speak from the healer side of it, but from the dps side, it sucks. A good Tree can keep themselves at nearly full health for very long periods of time. With HoT and straight heals, innervate, etc, it can be a pain to get a tree down.
Neirin Sep 14th 2009 5:26PM
Basically, resto druids can pump large, uninterruptible self-heals while running around in circles, throwing hots on their partner, dancing, and baking a cake.
Since PvP balance in wrath has been one burst nerf after another (generally speaking anyway) resto druids have become more and more powerful since their hots are so powerful once they're all ticking.
Also, when I saw the title and pic for this article I did a little happy dance in my head. /love bsg.
Alden Sep 14th 2009 5:30PM
Also, another reason they are slightly harder to take down that wasn't mentioned...
Many druid heals have no cast time, thus mages CS and rogues kick, and other silences that lock out of a tree, are hard to land. Since CS, kick, and others (I think others, right?) can only lock out a tree by interrupting a spell with a cast time.
A holy paly post bubble, for example, is a lot easier for me, as a mage, to burn. Wait till I see that flash of light, then CS, and blow all CD's I have during the time he is locked out of his holy tree.
Even with a druid, if I get lucky to CS a regrowth, usually they have to many hot's ticking, during the silence of the CS I won't have enough burst DPS to overcome the hots.
Shoryu Sep 14th 2009 6:25PM
rend em, fear em, mortal strike, overpower, quick intercept and hit em w a recklessness MS WW and they r pretty much dead.
mazokuranma Sep 14th 2009 6:16PM
Two things regarding a mage attacking a resto druid 1v1.
First, any actual PvP mage will have improved CS, which will allow for a 2s silence.
Second, you should be spellstealing the hell out of him, strip those buffs away. If you aren't casting spellsteal, you are making this fight last so much longer than you have to.
These do not make it easy, but they do make it easier.
Regarding pallies: Nerf them to the ground! ;)
Heh, again though, you'll need that spellsteal, especially to grab that hand of freedom off them. If I get unlucky and can't get hand of freedom off fast enough, that's usually the deciding factor when I 1v1 a pally as a frost mage.
Hubuly Sep 14th 2009 6:34PM
really almost all healers are hard to take out in pvp just because of the fact that they heal like i was in a Heroic old kingdom run ive seen mages shoot there entire mana bar into my double and not kill him (he was undergeared but still) and im a holy priest
tonedeff Sep 14th 2009 7:34PM
Back in BC i used to have a SL/SL lock and nothing was worse then being left 1v1 with a rest druid. The fights would take what seemed like hours!
Erixx Sep 14th 2009 10:19PM
I'll admit things may have changed, but as a resto druid at 70, in a 1v1 any mage that spammed spell steal was as good as dead in the first place. All the resto druid has to do then is out mana you, which isn't the most difficult thing in the world.
Really, it made the duel faster, the resto druid won't bother dpsing until the mage is OOM. Beaten full S3 mages (back when it actually was S3) in scrub epics on my druid by OOMing the mage and still having ~40% mana, then just moonfire ticking for damage.
Xiol Sep 14th 2009 10:36PM
Well...
Say they've got three HoTs up, as they should when they're being hammered on. (PvE gear, YMMV.)
Rejuv - ticks for 2.4k every 3 seconds. Instant cast.
Regrowth - 4.5k (8k crit) direct heal and a HoT ticking for about 1.8k every 3 seconds (I think). ~2 sec cast
Lifebloom 3x - ticks for ~1.5k every second, after 8 seconds blooms for 8k (15k crit). Instant cast.
Couple this with high armour in tree form plus a < 1.5sec Nourish spell (~6-7k, 10-11k crit glyphed with those HoTs on (~70% crit chance)) to top up any major damage... You've got trouble on your hands.
Xiol Sep 14th 2009 10:40PM
Should mention that's with about 2900SP self-buffed, so numbers won't be that high in PvP gear. Not sure how much Regrowth ticks for off the top of my head either, but I think it's around what I said.
InsaneAssault Sep 14th 2009 5:14PM
For those who are wondering what the heck the picture has to do with the article, its a Battlestar Galactica reference. The Twos are a Cylon model (Leoben), whom is pictured above.
Clydtsdk-Rivendare Sep 14th 2009 5:24PM
I thought the Two thing was a reference to binary digits in which the number 2 (and all above it) does not exist. How did it go again? "Everything around me is binary!... I think I saw a two!" "Relax, twos don't exist."