Breakfast Topic: Where does your game need work?
by Austin Wyman 
Apr 13th 2011 at 8:00AM
For a long time, I loathed PVP. We're not just talking I wish I was better at PVP. We're talking frothing rage hatred. I was not inherently good at it, I didn't think I needed to gear or talent any differently for it, and my unwillingness to prepare ensured that I would never enjoy it. As a hunter, I was always an early target and would die (at least in my mind) more than anyone else in every BG I set foot in.
One year, while doing the holiday achievement where you need to rack up honorable kills while wearing the gnome disguise from Dalaran, I actually went four times through Alterac Valley back-to-back, getting killed (and losing the disguise) before getting even one HK, all four times. Shouting at my poor defenseless computer, snapping at my Ventmates, throwing things, logging off in a huff ... All this and more was the norm when I tried to PVP. It has taken a lot of reading articles, practicing different approaches, and most importantly, long, deep breaths accompanied by trips to my happy place to get to where I can go do Tol Barad without it being my final gaming action of the evening.
Now that my PVP's in a better place, my next horizon is cash flow. Most of my army of alts have stalled in the lower levels, and my crafting empire has not yet been realized. My main is a dual crafter, and his farmer couldn't keep up when Cataclysm hit, so the professions stalled. Repairs, gems, and enchants are enough to eat up my income from dailies more often than not. I can generally cover my basic needs -- food, flasks, and whatnot -- but I feel pretty much broke, all the time.
Everyone has some area of the game that they feel less than confident in, would like to improve upon, or at the very least, wish didn't make them feel like a noob or an incomplete player. I took the liberty of going first, and you're among friends here -- so what's your Achilles' heel? What part of your WoW experience just isn't where you want it to be?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
all8280bcc Apr 13th 2011 9:38AM
I was just like you. Loathed PVP and a dual crafting and all. After I got my first main to 85 I decided to start tanking. Have never turned back since. You can always use more practice. I guess my major problem is that I tend not to pay attention in fight. I know the fights but tend to just try to go through my rotation with my tank. Hopefully when I get him into Cata zones next week the harshness of non tank-and-spank will get me out of the bad habbits!!
Schadow Apr 13th 2011 6:14PM
It won't really stop being that way until you hit some of the later Cata norms and heroics, although there are a couple of pulls in Vortex Pinnacle that might wake you up from facerolling.
Cata bosses at least have some things to respond to, but you will still be pretty OP until you hit the 85 stuff.
Just remember to re-gear at 80, because there is a pretty massive gear gap between Wrath dungeon blues and Cata greens.
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charlie Apr 13th 2011 8:13AM
My weak area was PvP too. And then somehow I just got into it. My gear isn't enchanted or gemmed for it yet but I am having a whale of a time and read about it in terms of what gear, what pet to use, talents. I too am a hunter and totally agree about dying more often than anyone else in battlegrounds. What annoys me is how much PvP can depend on communication within the team, and most people aren't willing to do that, or give up too fast and let the opposing faction win.
Cigan Apr 13th 2011 8:18AM
Perfect I tell you, I'M PERFECT!!!!!
Anyway, back in the reality based community I would say pvp is a place I need some work. I'm not in quite the terrible place you describe above, but I'm not stellar. I win as many arena matches as I loose, and generally more, but we can't quite get our score up high enough to increase our conquest cap.
Also cash flow. Not so much because of lack of ability. I know what I can and can't post on the AH and how to make cash off it, it's really all about drive and motivation. I don't really have the patience for that part of the game. My PVE is in pretty good shape in terms of healing on my main, but my ability to swing shadow as a priest is somewhat meh. Mostly because I don't really have 2 sets of gear. The spirit as hit talent is awesome, but I just can't bring myself to ditch all other stats in favor of haste on my priest, because at the end of the day she's disc, and that really powns my shadow game.
whitewing Apr 13th 2011 8:19AM
I have 3 different alts at max level, all pumping out gold, and I raid successfully on my healer while doing heroics as dps, healer and tank. Similar to Austin, I don't PVP. Frankly, I don't particularly want to.
Where I actually WANT my game to improve is tanking, I'd love to have a raid-worthy tank among my alts.
shatto.a Apr 13th 2011 8:29AM
I am absolutely terrible at making money. I can't play the AH, and I feel guilty about selling the herbs/ore I gather rather than putting it in the guild bank.
Fa110u7 Apr 13th 2011 12:05PM
If you put all your farmed mats back into the guild bank you should work something out with the guild leader so that you earn some gold on what you put in. I would think half of the going rate on the AH for what you deposit is reasonable, or just ask for money when you need it. Don't forget, you are constantly adding gold to the bank every time you make some.
Kal Apr 13th 2011 8:30AM
My mage, I've got the basics down with her, but there's still times that I'll find another use for an ability and go 'huh, I didn't know I could do that."
Which is probably why her dps is still pretty bad for Fire mage. (Too many buttons, so confusing...)
Myramensgone Apr 13th 2011 8:30AM
I gotta say cash flow I can make enough money to be comfortable. 5k on my main 8k on my hunter but can't ever seem to reach more to get anything cool. Hell I can't afford the vendor mats for the Drake I don't think
Neyssa Apr 13th 2011 8:37AM
I am not good at PVP either but I just love it. I think it is very exciting, versatile and fun: you can never really get bored with it because it is different every time you play. I wish I could learn that situational awareness my teammates have, and be able to LOS every CC, while throwing out freedoms and protections and heals and dispels and undead fears and... its just so much to pay attention to. I prefer it much better than PVE, killing a boss for xth time can become pretty boring.
I guess I just want to improve in that. Maybe kill a few bosses but reaching a high rating is bigger priority for me. I have enough money to buy the stuff I want but I am always looking for more opportunities to fill up my purse (because my boyfriend spends it faster than I can make it :))
Spark Apr 13th 2011 12:14PM
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HappyTreeDance Apr 13th 2011 9:03AM
PvP just makes me angry, but it's something I've decided to try to work on again, mostly because I don't get to play my favorite toon in a raiding situation. I raid on my main, a resto druid, but my pally doesn't get to do much of anything these days. So hopefully doing some PvP on her will both help me get over my bitter hatred for it and give me an excuse to play a toon that I really like.
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A big part of enjoying PvP is maintaining the right frame of mind. Without it, PvP becomes an eventual exercise in frustration. Constant frustration is not fun. And so, for many folks, PvP is simply no fun if not something they feel outwardly hostile about.
So what is the right frame of mind? There is a traditional Chinese concept called "eating bitterness." In simple terms, it means to endure hardship. But there's also other nuances to the concept. In martial arts, eating bitterness is often used to describe students overcoming mental and physical hardships which eventually lead to success in their training. In this way, one isn't just enduring but rather thriving on hardship.
PvP is built from hardship. Most PvP encounters are unfair. As a healer, you'll get focused and interrupted. As DPS, someone is going to come in and heal your target. There is gear disparity - especially when it comes to resilience. Your most effective rotations are going to be interrupted. You're going to run in to people playing a class in a way that seems to be designed to shut you down. Someone is going to run a series of cooldowns against against their target who already blew their cooldowns to survive an earlier encounter. There will be terrain advantages. Teammates will make mistakes (or otherwise be entirely clueless). Eating bitterness of PvP requires acceptance of, learning from, and finally enduring these situations.
One has to first accept that we will be in unfair encounters. If we can accept these situations as a natural part of the environment, we can shift our focus away from the inerrant unfairness of the situation itself to learning from the situation.
One should always look for the opportunity to learn from a given situation whether the inerrant unfairness was in our favor or against us. How did the situation come about? How do we recognize it? How do we place ourselves in it or remove ourselves from it? This is where we can thrive. Every situation is an opportunity to discover new things, challenge old concepts, or re-inforce past lessons. And in this, we can attempt to tip the balance of times where the unfairness of a situation is more often in our favor. Of course, we will still always face the unfavorable side. PvP is about taking risks and there are times when those risks will go badly for us. And we must endure them.
And that brings us back to enduring hardship. We can expect unfair situations. We can learn from them. And with that learning, we can try to avoid bad situations, escape bad situations, turn situations around, or set up the battle to be in our favor. But others are doing the same thing. One must accept when the unfair situation will be against us and not let that overshadow the times when it is in our favor. We tend to be wired to focus on the negative and easily forget the positive. But if we can allow ourselves to learn from a situation and then discard it, we can endure the encounter. And in that way, we have consumed and thrived on the bitterness.
Neyssa Apr 13th 2011 4:02PM
Spark, beautifully said! Cheers!
Spark Apr 13th 2011 4:40PM
And in what has become a custom around here... I'd like to blame the comment system for replying to you when replying to someone else (even though ultimately it was my own doing; I had to re-start my comment after battling the comment system and probably ended up clicking on the first lots-of-purple avatar I saw :P). Thanks for the hat-tip, though.
HappyTreeDance Apr 13th 2011 5:41PM
Fortunately, I read all comments, so I saw this response anyway. ;)
And yeah, I'm aware that most of my dislike of PvP comes from having a bad mindset. I started playing shortly before Wrath was launched, and my first PvP experience came doing AV, as a druid, with droves of L59 DKs in their shiny new blue gear completely owning me over and over and over again. That's not to say I didn't have some fun with PvP. I still have fond memories of doing WSG. Ultimately though, what turned me away from trying to do PvP was that 1) my PvP buddy quit the game and 2) I just had more fun with PvE stuff.
At this point, I think I'm ready to give it another try because I understand how to play the game better now, and I suspect I won't get as frustrated when I die. Constantly. Over and over and over again.
:)
jorge_av Apr 13th 2011 8:42AM
World PvP. I got cold sweats whenever I had to do it in Outland and still to this day I refuse to do any achievements that require me to be in enemy cities. I only did Dangerously Delicious in Wintergrasp once. And I've never set foot in any of the free for all arenas... I almost had a panic attack when I accidentally flew over the Ring of Trials back in BC.
Regular PvP is fine, I even enjoy AV everyone once in a while.
Damn Dirty Ape Apr 13th 2011 8:45AM
In all of my time playing WoW I've never felt that I was particularly good at making money, and yet I find myself with far more money than I've ever had from just playing the game.
I think one of the best 'lazy' money making professions is alchemy. Just log in every day, do a 'Living Elements' transmute to volatile air (or whatever it is that sells for the most on your server), and sell for an easy 250-300 profit every day.
elboricua1974 Apr 13th 2011 8:50AM
Healing. I have tried it, and don't really like it. To be fair I have only tried healing on my paladin. It's more of a play style thing. Sitting in the back casting heals at players and not pew pew'ing doesn't feel right. I like the visceral nature of tanking and dps. It feels more engaging to me. I feel like I am more a part of the action.
A close second is PvP. I do my best to focus down healers, draw attention away from my teams healers, but I don't pvp enough to fully understand all of the objectives in some of the newer BG's and I end up just following the group wherever they go be it right or wrong. I have just under 8k honor kills and my account is almost 5 years old so that should give you an idea of how often I actually pvp.
Roguesan Apr 13th 2011 8:50AM
Seem to be echoing the others here, but PvP is my weakness as well. Currently being held back from that violet proto drake simply because my poor Rogue can't capture that damn flag in Eye of the Storm.
Instead my orphan stands there and watches as time after time, the guy he's supposed to be looking up to gets run down by the faceroll express, all the while with an expression that says "Seriously dude, I could probably do this and I'm an eight year old kid with no armour, weapons or even a recognisable class.. noob.."
Oteo Apr 13th 2011 7:07PM
When I did the achiev (I was a druid so it was inherently easier), I noticed some people who were better at PVP grabbing the flag, running back to base, and offering it to whomever need the cap for the achievement. Bring friends who are decent PVPers.
And if you're into strat? Do this:
For the first part of the game, forget the flag in EotS. Have the team rush a base on the other side so that you cap 3. If your team if good, cap 4 bases. Enemy team craps their pants and turns away from flag.... then use that chance to take control of mid. If I'm playing EotS, I usually aim for getting 3 bases and ignore mid, but if you only care about the achiev then try that.