Blue Posts and Other WoW News: Too scared to Arena
by Adam Holisky 
Jan 27th 2012 at 9:00PM
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Blue posts
Vaeflare -- Arenas
As you already mentioned, in the upcoming patch there is a change to Vial of Shadows that should reduce some of the burst damage you are experiencing in PvP.
Dying in openers certainly isn't fun, and can be incredibly frustrating if you're the one on the receiving end of such a coordinated attack, but don't give up! In addition to perhaps taking some time to focus on other activities such as Rated and unrated Battlegrounds where you have more people to watch your back, you might also consider browsing some PvP videos from other members of the community to not only help inspire you, but to also arm you with a further arsenal of tactics that you can use to your own advantage against opposing teams.
Also, from my own experience, when I was having a lot of trouble against a certain class or spec that I felt countered my usual tactics, I found it helpful to sometimes grab a friend that played that class and spent some time dueling them so that they could critique me on areas where I could improve my skills, including my timing on using certain abilities, and how I could counter some of their own tactics. That way when I stepped back into arenas, I was more confident in my own skills and felt better-prepared for how to expose the weaknesses of my enemies.
Keep at it, and remember there are players out there equally as scared to see you step out onto the Arena floor. :)
Dying in openers certainly isn't fun, and can be incredibly frustrating if you're the one on the receiving end of such a coordinated attack, but don't give up! In addition to perhaps taking some time to focus on other activities such as Rated and unrated Battlegrounds where you have more people to watch your back, you might also consider browsing some PvP videos from other members of the community to not only help inspire you, but to also arm you with a further arsenal of tactics that you can use to your own advantage against opposing teams.
Also, from my own experience, when I was having a lot of trouble against a certain class or spec that I felt countered my usual tactics, I found it helpful to sometimes grab a friend that played that class and spent some time dueling them so that they could critique me on areas where I could improve my skills, including my timing on using certain abilities, and how I could counter some of their own tactics. That way when I stepped back into arenas, I was more confident in my own skills and felt better-prepared for how to expose the weaknesses of my enemies.
Keep at it, and remember there are players out there equally as scared to see you step out onto the Arena floor. :)
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
razion Jan 28th 2012 2:35AM
I may rant, let's see how this goes.
PvP can be scary first going in. I kept myself alone to regular battlegrounds for a very, very long time because of it. I think I avoided Arenas until Cataclysm, honestly, at which point I stopped jumping into battlegrounds for the most part. Weird, right?
I think the ultimate changing factor was that point in late Wrath where my guild on my home realm essentially left me for dead. A month passed and I decided I needed a change--I didn't feel like raiding anymore, and I especially didn't feel like raiding on my main. I took my warrior alt to a new server, and faction changed him. I decided I'd get into PvP until I could get back into raiding for Cata.
I started by sitting outside the faction city gates, and started dueling. At which point, another warrior came up to me and inquired if I was aware I could purchase a shield for around 90 honor from the vendor in Dalaran. I certainly did not, and told him so. He promptly directed and then followed me to Dalaran and showed me where the vendor was. We went back to Orgrimmar where we both took turns dueling strangers and each other more than I dare to count. Within a few hours I received many, many tips that improved my game-play, and I was feeling much more confident about myself because of it.
In under the two hours I was on that realm, I joined that warrior's guild. My warrior is still apart of that guild to this day (and now, my old druid main has joined him). We host raids for the enemy cities often, we do rated battlegrounds on the weekends, and on weekdays we organize premade original battlegrounds (with the help of an addon) as well as arenas and so on.
Lately we've been getting a lot of new recruits, so we've begun taking the guild out to Nagrand Arena in the physical location to set up teams of ourselves against each other to perfect strategies (such as having our resident Death Knight learn the wonders of Death Gripping the enemy healer to the center of the map where his hunter partner will then have a trap ready). We take turns applying pressure to different targets from the other team and rotate, and then once we settle in the practice, take it a step further with War Games.
I've honestly never enjoyed PvP more. Practicing with the guild over vent has been a great time for all of us, and the war games have turned out to be a great teaching tool for new guildies (and sometimes, are even more enjoyable than a 1% victory in Arena itself). As a result of it, Arena is enjoyable now more than ever before because we can recreate scenarios as we please and execute strategies as we come up with them. It may sound like work, but it all just turns into fun and games for us. We all really get a kick out of it.
Like most things in the game, though, the best part about it is honestly the people. As long as you have good people with you, nothing remains scary for long, and even the most intimidating of activities can turn into some of the greatest fun you've ever had. My recommendation to anyone who is thinking about starting to PvP (or has wanted to in the past) is to just go out (anywhere really) and look for people to do it with. Nothing makes PvP more enjoyable than laughter over vent. Find people, and practice. Share your defeats, revel in your victories, and enjoy every moment of it.
At this point it appears I've rambled so I think I'll leave it at that.
mibu.work1 Jan 28th 2012 4:24AM
This is a wonderful antecdote, and I can't agree more that all you really need to break into PvP, especially arena PvP is a cadre (or even stable) of well-known PvP specs to duel against, guild mates able to offer honest criticisms, a bit of time, the ability to accept defeat with grace, and a good friend to play with.
That said, this strategy won't work for everyone. I know for a fact that dueling before the gates of orgrimmar with anything less than full conquest gear this far into 4.3 will get me berated and my sexuality questioned at least three times a minute (hardly matters to you as I'm in a committed relationship, thank you very much Mr. Pwnkllrz, and you were never competition to begin with). A lot of it depends strongly on server makeup, and if most of your servers are what Jeremy Clarkson would refer to as 'Cockholes', then it's unlikely the criticizes will be anything in the neighborhood of 'constructive'.
That said, read what others have said before you about the tricks and tips for PvP, and don't be a sad tosser like me and try to PvP as a hunter, it won't blow over well with the lads.
seso Jan 28th 2012 6:44AM
Whilst I agree that yes, Razion's comment was a lovely story, I have a teeny tiny bit of beef with the closing sentiment of mibu.work1.
Imagine, if you will for a moment, that you are a hunter, new to PVP - specifically, wanting to dip your toe into Arena. You may really enjoy playing your Hunter in PVE scenarios, and so you think "I'm sure I can do at least ok in Arena..." so you start looking into it a little more. You see a news post on your favourite source of WoW news sites out there, and it's title is "Too scared to arena". You think to yourself "Hey, that sounds like me!" so you read the whole thing, comments and all.
Now you come to that last little sentance which questions your decision to play on your hunter; "...don't be a sad tosser like me and try to PvP as a hunter, it won't blow over well with the lads."
Gutted. Defeat, before you even form a team.
I've been a hunter ever since I subbed with this game. I've tried rolling other classes, but nothing will ever feel anywhere near as fun for me as being a hunter. Consequently, all 10 of my character slots on the one server I play on are various different hunters of differing races. Only one of them is level capped, but the rest of them vary from 20~80.
For me, WoW is Hunting. Hunting is WoW. I read a lot about Hunters online, following many different blogs, listening to many different podcasts, looking at the major sources of forum activity and generally keeping well informed. I'm far from an elite raider, due to my guild being more of a social/casual guild who dabbles in a bit of everything. But when I decided that yes, I did want to dip my toe into Arena, despite what people have said, it was such a huge thrill.
For the outright beginner, reading things like "Hunters are not viable at high ratings" may deter you from even trying. But if you think about it, a lot of the vocal people in the community are PVP pros. These are the people who do nothing BUT Arena, and expect to get Gladiator every season they want it. They will say things like "Hunters are useless" and that kind of 'knowledge' will filter down through the ranks, until it becomes 'common knowledge'. These people will suggest you roll a new class that is currently flavour of the month if you want to succeed.
I guess my point in all of this is, if you are a Hunter, and you want to play in Arena - don't roll a new class because that's what everyone else says. Play your Hunter. Play it well. There needs to be more of us out there, doing our thing.
freebeatfly Jan 28th 2012 6:21PM
I think the important thing to remember here is that practice makes perfect. Now if you're rolling ANY class for the first time, and jump into the Arena, you will be eating the floor. Be you a hunter or a mage.
Hunters may not be considered theoretically viable at high ratings - but c'mon, very few people can realistically aim that high. In the meantime, you can still play, enjoy your class and win battles. If you become really excellent, your class won't matter.
(Plus class balance is always shifting - you may wake up one patch and be the big guy on the block.)
The most important thing, imo is to have good friends to go with, to enjoy it and learn from your mistakes. Pvp is harsh and unforgiving, but also opens up alot of potential for you to explore yourself as a player, and to improve.
P.S I'd recommend duelling a friend, not randoms (I personally abhor duels - and I'm a rogue) but you can always find some one-on-one time in BGs, if you're defending a base or whatever. Search the internet, and learn what you can, where you can. :)
Hairfish Jan 28th 2012 10:09PM
All of you who assume you are above hunters: enjoy it while you can.
In MoP, we will be able to SHOOT you point blank.
Stilhelm Jan 30th 2012 12:25AM
There are many more problems with hunters than minimum range. Damage output is laughable in full pvp gear, for example my hunter at around 385 ilvl could only tickle similarly geared healers, while my 370 rogue could cause serious problems for them. Steady shot is slowed by both attack and cast speed slowing debuffs, making it impossible in some cases to regen focus at all. Hunters are the only class that have to spend resources, a GCD, and do no damage to apply an easily dispellable healing debuff. Even when we can shoot point blank, people will still have plenty of time to run behind us during a 3+ second steady shot. As SV, black arrow is easily dispelled, greatly reducing our damage for the duration of the cooldown, while no casters I can think of have 20+ second cooldowns on their dots. Serpent sting is also easily dispelled, cutting damage another 15%, requiring more focus and a GCD while doing little instant damage.