Blood Sport: Griefers in arena
by C. Christian Moore 
Jun 2nd 2010 at 7:00PM
Want to crush your enemies, see them driven before you and hear the lamentation of their women? Blood Sport investigates the entirety of all things arena for gladiators and challengers alike. C. Christian Moore, multiple rank 1 gladiator, examines the latest arena strategy, trends, compositions and more in WoW.com's arena column.
Listening music: Eurythmics' Sweet Dreams. An awesome '80s song -- who can dispute this claim?
Last week: We talked about some fun things to do in arena while Wrath of the Lich King and the old world are still with us.
This week: All of us have had that random guy in a battleground get under our skin. Maybe he's proclaiming how terrible he thinks you are over /battleground chat, or he's an annoying jerk in some other way. Griefers are a part of the game, and they're here to stay. Nothing excites them more than making others miserable. Maybe you are a far better person than I, but I tend to wish ill towards these individuals.
There are lots of ways to exact revenge upon griefers or rivals, particularly in arenas. Justice can be fun -- very fun. Some people, however, take it too far or make it menacing. Revenge is fine; trying to make someone quit the game or use RL money for a server transfer (for instance) is not.
I mention the latter because I knew a guy who recruited someone from the #2 arena team three days before season 7 ended. They never invited him to the team, thus assuring themselves #1 gladiator because they had no competition. That goes beyond creating a rivalry into the realm of downright douchebaggery.
While I suppose what he did is completely legal, I don't know a lot of people who want to transfer over to play with him after what he pulled. His ex-partners actually play with the guy that he recruited instead of him. Poetic justice, I suppose.
Smurfing
"Gear smurfing" is making your armory profile appear to have much worse (or much different) gear than what you actually wear in an arena game. For instance, if you wanted to use a lot of PvE gear in arena, you might put on a lot of PvP gear with +resilience gems in them. When opponents look on your armory page, they might believe you to be a hard target to kill because you're chilling out at 1,500 resilience (when you're actually wearing something like 900 inside the arena gates). This provides a large advantage if your opponents get deceived, even if just for a few games.
Gear smurfing is hardly griefing and is a fairly common practice among the top teams on each battlegroup. About one in every three to four teams has at least one member who gear smurfs. This isn't really a big issue for most players.
"MMR smurfing," however, is a big deal. Smurfing is a term that has been used for quite some time in online games. It is a fairly common practice in online FPS games (Halo 2, anyone?), as well as the arena ladders. Smurfing is intentionally losing games so you get paired up against far less skilled opponents.
If you recall back to The Burning Crusade, top arena players would start new teams at 1,500 rating just to "own noobs." Matchmaking Rating (MMR) was created to alleviate this problem -- if players wanted to feel superior to other players in arena, they would have to do it versus people of similar rating. For the most part, MMR has been successful at keeping really high-rated opponents away from players just starting out with arena and having a 1,100 or 1,200 MMR. However, this has started to change in the last few seasons.
Why the resurgence?
2v2 no longer gives rewards. High-rated arena players can find other high-rated arena players to fool around with in 2v2 with no consequences. They're going for gladiator in 3v3 and 5v5 -- not 2v2. 2v2 provides the outlet to make people angry (their goal) while retaining little to no consequence for themselves.
Smurfers make a lot of people kind of happy on their way to the bottom. Then they'll make a lot of people very, very upset when they take 20+ points from them easily. You see, the idea is to get their 2v2 MMR rating to 900 or 1,000 so that their gear and skill is overwhelmingly overpowering. When they enter an arena, they will absolutely destroy whoever is on the opposing side.
Maybe you've played against a smurfer and been on the winning end -- the arena gates open and ... there's no one on the other side. Boom, +16 points. Sweet, I guess? Even winning against a smurfer and getting a good chunk of points isn't very satisfying. It's super-unsatisfying when you fight them, they destroy you and you lose 25+ points. Feels bad, man.
Solution The best thing to do here is to just stop queuing. If an opposing team is decked out in the best arena gear and stealing away 20+ points from you, they're probably going to be playing for a while. Your team just doesn't want any of it. Spread the word to other people on your server if you see them playing 2v2. Griefers love nothing more than a steady stream of opponents to annoy -- try to take that away from them.
Playing as annoyingly as possible
Pillar-humping the entire game -- they don't even try to win. They just try to not lose for as long as possible. They do as little damage as possible while burning your mana. Then, when you're completely OOM, they don't kill you. They just watch you squirm. They constantly crowd control your teammates, only to run away, mount up and flee to another part of the arena.
Or, conversely, they get you very low on health and then crowd control you or your teammates so they're freaking out trying to get heal or get healed ... then they just stop and /dance. Then, after a 20+ minute battle, they'll either just obliterate you in 10 seconds or leave the arena. Even if you win, you don't feel like you've accomplished anything.
And they always have annoying macros for opposing teams they disdain. These macros are usually filled with 255 characters of /spit, /fart, /clap, /lol, etc.
The worse is when they win by getting a killing blow with unarmed melee or a Shadowfiend. Or they rank 1 Resurrection someone on your team (yep, it's possible), just to instantly kill them with a Shadow Word: Death.
Solution If you're completely outclassed, you can learn what they do to kill you when they actually go for a kill. You can also probably learn a lot from your opponents in the way they heal, do damage or coordinate crowd control.
If you're wondering how to make them stop, well, you probably can't. Your best choice of action is probably to try to enjoy the game as much as possible. Instead of struggling to win (which your opponents will enjoy seeing you squirm), you might incur a quicker death by stopping and /dancing. If they're going to waste your time, you might as well waste theirs. Remember, their whole goal is to get you as annoyed as possible.
Taking it beyond the arena
If they want to take it to the next level, they'll make a level 1 "spy" on your server and send you trolling messages. Some of my personal favorite openers:
- "yo dude you suck at arena srsly go get a lyfe"
- "Good games chap, care to go give it a go in the near futures?"
- "we just beat you in arena and i like your sword where did you get it i want one"
- "You're really good but your partner is terrible; I bet you could hit 2800 if you ditched him."
Want to ascend the arena ladders faster than a fireman playing Donkey Kong? Check out WoW.com's articles on arena, successful arena PvPers, PvP, and our arena column, Blood Sport.Filed under: PvP, Blood Sport (Arena PvP)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Ikarus Jun 2nd 2010 7:06PM
I think one of Annie Lennox's best songs is "Love song for a Vampire" from Bram Stokers "Dracula" (and no, I'm not a twilight/Vampireophile)
Rakah Jun 2nd 2010 7:39PM
"This video contains content from Vevo, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds." QQ
Hasjarl Jun 2nd 2010 7:07PM
+1 for "douchebaggery"
Glaras Jun 2nd 2010 7:17PM
I just stepped into the arenas for the first time two days ago, running 2v2 with my daughter, who's done the arenas before. We ran 10 matches, going 2 wins, 1 tie (both sides lost points when I and the surviving shaman on the other team traded chain lightning and dropped each other simultaneously) and 7 losses. The losses weren't close; we were destroyed. That experience, plus your article, are really making me think I should just stay the hell out of them. Being frustrated and angry constantly because you can't even fight back is no fun, so why would I want to go in there?
AltairAntares Jun 2nd 2010 7:45PM
Totally agree. There seems to be an extremely high barrier to entry for the arenas, and very little in the way to helping people find their way over it.
Krugeroff Jun 2nd 2010 7:50PM
@ Glaras
this is exactly why I stopped doing Arenas
Vandersveldt Jun 2nd 2010 8:43PM
This is not an attack, listen to what I'm saying, not how I'm saying it, and realize I'm giving honest advice that I believe in. With that said, the best way to learn ANYTHING is to fail and fail again. You can slowly get better by playing people worse than you, or you can have the tenacity to throw your head against the wall repeatedly (this wall being better players) until you figure out a way through it. Except for the people that seriously outgear you, anything you see someone else doing, you can do. Unless you're missing a finger or something.
Mr. Tastix Jun 2nd 2010 9:02PM
I love Arenas but I feel the same way as you do; I feel like I'm bashing my head against a brick wall and not getting anywhere. I've been in fights with S8-clad people when I only have S6, and it's bloody frustrating. I also, however, agree with Vandersveldt.
These people want you to give up, to give in, and I'll be damned before I let that happen. You CAN beat them, but it's not going to be easy.
Personally, I feel Blizzard should implement similar mechanics for Arena matches as they do for queuing in battlegrounds or a random dungeon. You'll generally find that when you get into a battleground, you're with others that are closely geared with you, this is to limit the number of twinks fighting undergeared people. The Random Dungeon Finder is similar in the fact that you can't queue up for certain dungeons (ToC and all the ICC5-mans, for example) until you reach a certain average iLevel.
I wouldn't mind it if Arena worked somewhat like this. No, gear does not equate to skill but it helps. And getting trashed by people who are obviously leagues better than me (you can't get S7 or S8 with a low Arena rating, so if you're starting out and see people with this gear you can safely assume they know what they're doing or have found 2-4 people to carry them).
Bebofire Jun 2nd 2010 10:52PM
Mr. Tastix -
It's really not as bad as you'd think. I recently dinged 80 on my pally, farmed bg's/heroics for a while to get some baseline pvp/pve gear, then found a furious geared DK and ran into arena with 2200 spellpower, 22k health and about 600 resilience. We went 30 wins, 10 losses, ending with about 1500 arena rating and 1600 mmr (team started at 1100 rating or so). I'm also still wearing blues...
I think that gear really doesn't determine skill, but if you're dissatisfied with your performance due to gear then it's easy to simply farm out HKs in battlegrounds until you acquire something of a baseline, which will enable you to attain the rating to keep progressing in gear.
My hunter (main) has something of a similar story, just a longer one.... I started arena somewhere in the middle of last season in mostly bad raid gear, doing 2s with a Naxx geared priest, and we capped at about 1500. However, I kept improving my gear, playing around with different partners, practicing more, learning from arena-junkies, and now I'm the second highest rated hunter on my server (first faction...yeah I know, crap server =P) with 2250 rating in 3s.
I guess what I'm saying is that you shouldn't focus on your current performance, but I disagree with you that arena is impossible to enter into, the type of gear you're allowed is plenty to get you to higher ratings and obtain even better gear, but this isn't the only factor in how well you perform by any means. If you think that your experience in arenas is unfair because your opponents outgear you, you need to understand that you have access to the same gear from battleground HKs and frost badges that they do, so there's nothing preventing you from upgrading your own gear.
Lastly, I couldn't disagree more with a system of arena matchups being based off gear, I can guarantee that a 2800 team could equip full blues, and even if they fought against you (wearing furious) they would utterly destroy you. Gear simply isn't as large of a factor as you're making it, so this type of system wouldn't make sense.
Pat Jun 3rd 2010 12:54AM
Vandersvelt I don't know why but I read your comment and it actually seemed like I was reading the lyrics to a song O.O
As for Arena's.. I touched on them, Did not enjoy them.. Constantly get harassed by my friends to join there 2's or 3's team to grind arena points. I just wish Resilience and Arenas went away. Why not force people who do arenas to choose from set gear.. each class could have 3 armour sets that gives the appropriate stats/bonuses for that spec. No arena rating required, when they que up they get a menu to choose from. A level playing feild where a players skill (And ping) are what sorts the best from the good.
Gothia Jun 3rd 2010 4:05AM
We are talking about the 1 percenters again that ruin the experience for the other 99 percent of players. These bad apples are in every aspect of the game, but it takes it to a personal level because of the amount of frustration you will go through.
Another problem with starting this late in the expansion is gear levels and learning different comps. These strats will change every season and expansion so you are way behind the learning curve, but you can still get some nice expeience to take with you later.
Advice: Take it slow, try to learn something from every match. What worked for you? What didn't? What can you do to improve? Learn from your mistakes and focus on your strengths. Take breaks when you get frustrated or angry.
Vandersveldt Jun 3rd 2010 12:52PM
@ Tastix. We do usually get paired up against people our skill lvl, the problem is those people that downgrade themselves, what they called smurfs up in the article (Had never heard the term before tbh). Starting out in arena sucks, because you have to fight through them. But eventually you get up to where it's just you, and the other people that fought through them. The field should be lvl then.
Also, it's not about "You CAN beat them!" Because with all things being equal, they should be you. They're not a PvE encounter, they're other human players, and no one is guaranteed anything. What it is, is, "We can win, 50% of the time!" If you're doing that, then everything is going about normal. Yes, there are arena gods that win more than 50% of the time, but I think striving for that is too stressful. I enjoy a game when we fought well but lost to another good comp.
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With that said, just remember that arenas aren't BG's, you don't cap a flag, you don't work together to capture and control nodes, it's straight up pure deathmatch. When someone better than you beats you, there is no need whatsoever to feel bad about it, and when someone equal to you beats you, there's no need to feel bad unless you can't figure out what they did to win.
Go out, get Gladius, it's an addon that works like a revers healbot. It shows the enemy team, they're names, they're health, how long left on they're bubble, how long they'll stay poly'ed this time, what spells they're casting.... More importantly it works like healbot in the way that.. I set mine up to cast polymorph on anyone who's name I right click on. If I middle click on one of their names I cast counter spell. You don't have to be looking at them, you don't have to know where they are, you don't have to have them targeted. They just have to be in range and in LoS. If you think that's cheap, it's really just a level playing field. I guarantee the people beating you have it, it's a staple of arena.
Vandersveldt Jun 3rd 2010 12:54PM
omg... wtb buy an edit button about 7 different times on that post. Pls ignore spelling and grammar... /facepalm
Kira Jun 15th 2010 9:49AM
@Vandersvelt
Basically I completely agree with Vander. A guildie and I just started arenas for the first time ever (I'm a holy paladin, shes a survival hunter) and although we did alright (3 wins, 8 losses) one of those wins was against a shadow priest lock combo that absolutely destroyed us the first three times, and on the fourth time, we just managed to figure out a way to beat them. Losing is just as valuble as winning, if not more so. It gives you the oportunity to look at how the opponent is playing, and try to think of ways to defeat them.
dsbx Jun 2nd 2010 7:22PM
I would like to know what the brilliant designer was thinking when they set one of the daily dalaran fishing quests in WG... was that to feed the gankers or test ppl on their goodwill to opposing factions when they are OBVIOUSLY on a quest not engaged in pvp?
will the world ever know?
- cheers =)
orlochavez Jun 2nd 2010 8:59PM
Fishing in WG does not automatically mean you are doing the fishing daily. You can just go to WG to fish, quest-free, for the ingredients to fish feasts. This quest does not demonstrate a flaw in design. Rather, it demonstrates the already existing motif of sending players to various places for daily quests rather than have everything be Isle of Quel'Danas-type dailies that are all in one sub-zone.
Additionally, there are places in WG where you can fish where it is difficult to see you, and thus difficult to engage you in PvP. Look under bridges, behind trees & structures, or find a place of your own to try and reduce your visibility.
GormanGhaste Jun 2nd 2010 10:06PM
Dragonblight 12.7, 40.5
Viper007Bond Jun 2nd 2010 7:31PM
Damn I loved that song growing up. Was one of my favorites at the time and still is pretty good stuff. Annie Lennox rocks.
vazhkatsi Jun 2nd 2010 7:44PM
OMG you read my mind! i've been singing this song to myself all day long
gamerunknown Jun 2nd 2010 8:07PM
As annoying as the emotes can be, I think arena is balanced pretty well in the penalties for leaving early, not being able to remain infinitely in stealth, etc.
I must admit I've won a game using the "do nothing but kite/heal" strategy. I won the first game with a new partner and didn't want to lose the second, but he died fairly early in after a poly/CS combo. I decided to try and outlast the mage's dps anyway and did so. Eventually the mage left the arena and their partner (resto druid) left too.