Posts with tag pvp

Blood Sport: How should you prepare for season 11 PvP?

by Olivia Grace Dec 7th 2011 at 5:00PM

WoW Insider covers the world of player vs. player action in Blood Sport for fans of battleground, world PvP and Arena play. Steering you to victory is Olivia Grace, who spends most of her time in Azeroth as a restoration shaman turning people into frogs.

So you've had a week away from the arena. What have you been up to in that week? Playing in the autumn leaves? Finally cleaning your keyboard?

Or maybe you've been frantically gathering a transmogrification set (once you'd got over the fact that you couldn't transmogrify your paladin into a power ranger)? I know I have, and I'm now in love with Kezzik in Area 52! Perhaps you've been running the new dungeons or flirting with the new raid? ...Or ganking your GM in the Darkmoon Faire's Deathmatch Arena, like @trimbleirl.

If you are one of the people who has done enough hard work in season 10 to get a title, you should give yourself a pat on the back. Well done! You're well on your way to the upper echelons of PvP, and I hope you climb even higher this season! And if you're one of the people who has been working through Battlegrounds every day to get your conquest points, congratulations! You're going to be among the first to get your grubby mitts on the new gear.

But moving on from what you could have been doing to what you could be doing now, what are the top tips to prepare yourself for season 11?

Filed under: PvP, Blood Sport (Arena PvP)

Blood Sport: How will patch 4.3 impact PvP?

by Olivia Grace Nov 23rd 2011 at 6:00PM

WoW Insider covers the world of player vs. player action in Blood Sport for fans of battleground, world PvP and Arena play. Steering you to victory is Olivia Grace, who spends most of her time in Azeroth as a restoration shaman turning people into frogs.

With patch 4.3 imminent and Arena season 10 due to end Nov. 29, it seems reasonable to assume the patch will appear in early December. While you're racing to get your team into title range, get that last piece of gear, or just running laps of your capital city, you might be thinking forward to the arrival of the patch and wondering what your fate will be in PvP as the nerf bat winds up for another swing. Firstly, let's deal with some housekeeping.

Conquest points, the PvP equivalent of valor points, will now be far, far easier to earn from ordinary Battlegrounds. The first daily Battleground win will now award 100 conquest points, up from 25, and wins after that will award 50 conquest point, up from, well, none! The conquest cap will remain, so while it will still be far quicker to reach it through Arena, it will also be attainable via Battlegrounds of the non-rated variety. This makes it far easier for solo players to build up the resilience numbers people often demand (fairly or otherwise) for access to Arena and Rated Battleground teams or just to gear for Battlegrounds.

Filed under: PvP, Blood Sport (Arena PvP)

Scattered Shots: Scatter-trapping with grace and ease

by Basil Berntsen Nov 5th 2011 at 6:00PM

Frostheim appears to be decimated, unable to write this week, over the loss of the most recent raiding gun from the patch 4.3 PTR files. As someone who PVPs to get my first raiding weapon of most patches, I can choose whichever ranged death-dealing machine I want. Of course, as a Worgen (not to mention someone who is generally the butt of many of Frostheim's jokes on our podcast), I usually choose a crossbow after buying, returning and screenshotting the gun.

Today, Scattered Shots will be all about a very basic hunter PVP survival skill: scatter-trapping. All hunters of all specs can scatter-trap, and whether you're being ganked doing dailies, trying to win Baradin Hold, or doing competitive Arena, it's one of those skills that can really set you apart.

Traps on their own are only useful for people you can force to cross through them. Mostly, this means melee, although you can sometimes force a ranged player to cross a trap if you're humping a pillar properly. What do we do when we want to freeze someone who isn't chasing us, though? Freezing Trap is really our most effective crowd control ability. We'll often want it to be used on someone that matters like a healer. Unfortunately, short of stepping up to a healer and dropping a trap on them, there's no way to force them to cross our path.

Filed under: Hunter, PvP, (Hunter) Scattered Shots

WoW Moviewatch: PvP by Ken Ashcorp

by Michael Gray Oct 25th 2011 at 12:00PM

PvP won the BlizzCon 2011 song contest. This isn't Ken Ashcorp's first song, but here's hoping this is the one that turns into a breakaway hit for him. On the BlizzCon floor itself, we only heard a few second of the music -- a disappointment, since you could instantly hear what a catchy tune it must be.

This isn't much of a video; actually, it isn't a video at all. While we don't normally cover non-videos like this, PvP is more than good enough to make up the difference. It's hard to believe this is a battle anthem, considering the lighthearted, fun style, but PvP clearly speaks to antagonistic, heavy-breathed combat. The lyrics are clever and fast-paced, relying on alliteration and poetic timing to convey a sense of anticipation.

Here's hoping someone reaches out to Ken and offers to turn this into some machinima. It's wonderful music with fun lyrics, worthy of all the attention it can get.

Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.

Filed under: WoW Moviewatch

Scattered Shots: Improving hunter PVP

by Basil Berntsen Oct 14th 2011 at 3:00PM

Every Thursday, WoW Insider brings you Scattered Shots for beast mastery, marksmanship and survival hunters. Frostheim of Warcraft Hunters Union uses logic and science (mixed with a few mugs of Dwarven stout) to look deep into the hunter class. Mail your hunter questions to Frostheim. This week, his evil twin, Basil "Euripides" Berntsen, is covering for him while he sleeps off the after-effects of the last Hunting Party Podcast.

Hunter PVP is in a bad state right now. This does not mean that you can't get Gladiator with a hunter, but it does mean you have to be way better to do it than if you were to play, say, a warlock. You also have to do it in a very small subset of viable team compositions, where your warlock alt could succeed in a large variety of team compositions.

Before you burn a hole through that "add comment" button arguing with me about viability and how Arena representation isn't worth the pixels it's displayed on, remember that I'm arguing that it takes more skill to succeed in PVP as a hunter. I'm not arguing that you can't do it, and I know that Arena class representation isn't a perfect measure of class balance. The same way some specs (like BM) are underrepresented in the top 100 PVE raid parses, the highest-rated PVP players in the game tend to play classes they feel they will do best, which skews the representation farther away from some perfectly viable spec/class combos. Arena representation is, however, one quantifiable number we can look into for insight.

Filed under: (Hunter) Scattered Shots

Patch 4.3 PTR: Season 11 PVP sets might blow your mind

by Alex Ziebart Sep 28th 2011 at 4:38PM

Intrepid, independent dataminers have managed to dig up what is probably the Season 11 Arena gear in patch 4.3, and speaking as a paladin (pictured above), it is just incredible. These sets, titled Cataclysmic Gladiator, manage to look both delightfully ornate while still appearing to be valid battle armor. That balance is something Warhammer has always done well but Warcraft has often failed to capture.

Comparisons between tier 13 and Season 11 armor will almost certainly be a hot debate this patch. I'm not entirely sure which side I fall on. As a paladin, this Season 11 armor will be driving me toward PVP, but our resident warrior extraordinaire isn't so hot on the Cataclysmic Glad outfit for warriors. Different people have different opinions -- who knew?

Our thanks go out to Leviathon over at Scrolls of Lore for the images.

Gallery: Patch 4.3 PTR: Season 11 PvP sets

Brace yourselves for what could be some of most exciting updates to the game recently with patch 4.3. Review the official patch notes, and then dig into what's ahead: new item storage options, cross-realm raiding, cosmetic armor skinning and your chance to battle the mighty Deathwing -- from astride his back!

Filed under: Cataclysm

Lichborne: Cataclysm PVP basics for death knights

by Daniel Whitcomb Sep 13th 2011 at 2:00PM

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Lichborne for blood, frost, and unholy death knights. In the post-Cataclysm era, death knights are no longer the new kids on the block. Let's show the other classes how a hero class gets things done.

This is about the time in an expansion's life cycle when PVE content is just getting a little too repetitive, to be frank. With only one instance at the top raid tier and only two dungeons at the top LFD tier, it's pretty tempting to try out a few battlegrounds or an arena or two just to spice things up. Personally, the RBG reward mount is one of my favorite-looking ones out of the whole bunch, so that's even more reason to try this PVP stuff out. This week, we're going to look at some of the most basic stuff you'll need to know if you plan to do some PVP as a death knight.

Filed under: PvP, Death Knight, (Death Knight) Lichborne

Breakfast Topic: What are your rules of engagement for world PVP?

by Mike W. McVey Sep 11th 2011 at 8:00AM

This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages.

I have found that everyone likes to PVP in different ways. Some like to play in the Arena, some in Rated Battlegrounds, some in regular PVP, and some like to do my favorite -- world PVP! I personally have rules for world PVP:

I only attack when I am within one level of my prey.
If they are fighting a mob, I wait until they kill the mob.
I will not attack if they are less than 90% health/mana.
I refuse to camp someone.

If they attack me, the above rules do not apply. My aim is to not die, as I generally do like to run back. If a level 70 tries to kill me, I have no probably one-shotting them. If I kill someone and they start attacking me as soon as they rez, I have no problem retaliating in kind.

I realize I am not a typical world PVPer. I know I am not unique in the hundreds of thousands of times that I have been ganked. But even in a game, I have a problem taking out my anger on another human being, even if it just their avatar. Do not get me wrong -- I still get angry. But I take it out in dungeons or battlegrounds.

Do you have any rules of engagement when you PVP?

Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts

Encrypted Text: Finesse in PVP

by Chase Christian Sep 7th 2011 at 2:00PM

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Encrypted Text for assassination, combat and subtlety rogues. Chase Christian will be your guide to the world of shadows every Wednesday. Feel free to email me with any questions or article suggestions you'd like to see covered here.

World of Warcraft is more than just a game. Over the years, an entire ecosystem surrounding the game has developed, created by the gaming community. I've read a few WoW novels and comic books, seen fanfics and fan art featured on the community portal, and I've enjoyed so many awesome pieces of WoW machinima. It's actually quite common for the community to influence the game itself, as we've has seen countless changes implemented after community demand. The fan-created Leeroy Jenkins video, for example, still represents WoW for most of the world.

When I first started playing the rogue, I watched a lot of rogue-centric machinima. Boss encounter videos weren't very popular then, and so most of the machinima was based in PVP. I watched in awe as Grim annihilated everything in his path. I laughed as Happyminti stomped on characters who were 10 levels higher than himself. I sat agape as Hector leaped off of the tower of Karazahn after a mage who tried to escape. My style of rogue PVP has always been colored by the finesse and grace of these rogues, and that still holds true today.

Filed under: Rogue, (Rogue) Encrypted Text

Choose My Adventure Live: Level 55 to 59 Battlegrounds

by Robin Torres Sep 7th 2011 at 1:00PM

Choose the adventures of Robin Torres as Roblinator the goblin shamanator or join in with It came from the Blog on Zangarmarsh (US-PVE-H) every Wednesday at 1 p.m. EDT.

Today we are celebrating back to school by making the Alliance fly off ledges. Join us by watching the stream above and choosing Roblinator's adventures in the chat room after the break.

Update: The stream is now over. You can watch us play Arathi Basin three times in a row, with the final one being an absolute Thunderstorm of fun. Just click on the image above for the video replay.

Filed under: It Came from the Blog, Choose My Adventure

Choose My Adventure Live: Level 50 to 54 battlegrounds

by Robin Torres Aug 17th 2011 at 1:00PM

Choose the adventures of Robin Torres as Roblinator the goblin shamanator, or join in with It came from the Blog on Zangarmarsh (US-PVE-H), every Wednesday at 1 p.m. EDT.

Though the stats on my gear are pretty nice right now for my spec and level, Roblinator is the worst-dressed character I have ever had in any game. Ever. Just look at the stream above and see me in all my hideous glory. You can tell me your opinion in the chat after the break.

Update: The stream is now over. You can watch us play in three battlegrounds by clicking the image above.

Filed under: It Came from the Blog, Choose My Adventure

Choose My Adventure Live: Level 50 to 54 PVP

by Robin Torres Jul 27th 2011 at 1:00PM

Choose the adventures of Robin Torres as Roblinator the goblin shamanator, or join in with It came from the Blog on Zangarmarsh (US-PVE-H) every Wednesday at 1 p.m. EDT.

Here we are at the young side of a PVP bracket ... again. Join us either in game or by watching the stream above and participating in the chat after the break. Also, we have polls and whining. So click through!

Update: The stream is now over. If you would like to watch the video replay, please click on the image above. The BG queues were very short today, so it's constant ~~dying~~ action.

Filed under: It Came from the Blog, Choose My Adventure

Honor compensation date announced for recent PVP gear debacle

by Mathew McCurley Jul 14th 2011 at 7:00PM

Blizzard's Bashiok has posted a time frame for the previously announced 4,000-honor point compensation package for players who spent honor on old gear during the week between the PVP Season 9 and Season 10. Any player who spent honor on ilevel 365 gear during the transition week will be awarded a free 4,000 honor points, which can go over the point cap and can be spent on the new, higher tier of Vicious PVP gear. This free honor will be awarded to players during maintenance on July 19 (this coming Tuesday).

I think this is a pretty good compensation package for players who were not informed of the change in how PVP gear would be handled this season. The biggest issue from the debacle was that players spent a huge amount of time and effort grinding out honor for ilevel 365 gear during the off-week, then spent it, only to see the gear became useless just days later. Now that work has essentially been restored in the form of new, shiny, over-the-cap honor points. You will not be able to earn more honor points until you dip below the cap again, however.

Filed under: PvP, Cataclysm

Blizzard to offer compensation for PVP Season 10 transition woes

by Anne Stickney Jul 8th 2011 at 10:53PM

Yesterday, we talked about an issue that had PVP players in an uproar: Conquest points were accidentally down-converted to honor points a week early, with excess points converted to gold. On top of that, Blizzard launched a new tier of ilevel 371 gear without warning, just after making ilevel 365 gear available for purchase with honor. Players who spent their points decking themselves out in the latest PVP armor found themselves abruptly faced with the stunning realization that had they saved their points, they could have had better gear.

It was a mistake, and it was acknowledged by Zarhym (Blizzard community manager) in a fairly lengthy blue post, along with a mention that Blizzard was exploring some options to try and make it up to players.

Happily, it appears those options have been explored, as Blizzard's Bashiok posted today with a proposed solution for compensation: Players who were caught off guard by the change will be provided with 4,000 honor points, stacking over the cap. Players will not be able to accumulate more honor until spending below the 4,000 cap, but that should give PVPers a chance to pick up that new gear. This will not be immediately implemented, as it seems Blizzard is still trying to figure out how, exactly, to determine who was affected by the sudden transition and who was not -- so don't expect those 4,000 points on your character tomorrow.

Still, it's nice seeing Blizzard acknowledge something that was clearly a miscommunication in regards to the transition between seasons and that it will be making sure those players caught in the middle of the fumble will be getting something back. Follow after the break for the full announcement from Bashiok.

Filed under: News items, PvP, Cataclysm

Choose My Adventure Live: Balloons and level 45 to 49 PVP

by Robin Torres Jul 6th 2011 at 1:00PM

Choose the adventures of Robin Torres as Roblinator the goblin shamanator, or join in with It came from the Blog on Zangarmarsh (US-PVE-H) every Wednesday at 1 p.m. EDT.

Welcome to the new day for Choose My Adventure Live. Today we have PVP as scheduled, but first, Roblinator is going to help a little orc boy find his balloons. Please join me in game or by watching the stream above and joining in the chat after the break.

Update: The stream is now over, you can watch the replay of the new balloons quest and Eye of the Storm by clicking on the image above.

Filed under: It Came from the Blog, Choose My Adventure

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