Filed under: PvP

After the recent changes to resilience and the reduction of healing in PvP, we now move on to spells that prevent damage entirely. Power Word: Shield and Sacred Shield are also being affected, having their effectiveness in Arenas, Wintergrasp and Battlegrounds reduced by 10%. Bornakk broke the news to the forums, which responded about as you might expect, with people who rely on those mechanics frustrated and those who have to try and kill people using them jubilant. I know, I was shocked too.

I'm kind of on the fence about this change. On the one hand, man, as a warrior I hate beating on a shield in PvP. Hate hate hate. It does seem odd to me that we moved resilience to reduce all incoming damage and then reduced all healing to match, though. It seems somewhat like a complicated way to do nothing at all. As someone who sometimes goes resto on my shaman for PvP, I don't really look forward to having my heals heal for less, especially since it's a penalty that will hit me immediately while farming up honor for PvP gear to get resilience will take me time, time my healing will have been adversely affected throughout. How about you? Happy or unhappy about the latest changes in PvP?

Zach continues Monday's The Art of War(craft), which started an overview of the game's premier pet class by checking out their pets. Today, we'll take a closer look at the hunters themselves...

A hunter's basic repertoire of attacks consists of shots and stings, the former doing a variety of damaging effects and the latter applying a debuff. Although you only have to worry about one kind of sting being applied to you at any time, hunters have a sting for every kind of opponent. Serpent Sting is the most common, damaging sting, although they can also opt to use Viper Sting on mana-users or even Scorpid Sting against melee classes or other hunters. Stings are nature-based poison debuffs that can be removed by spells such as Cleansing Totems, Cleanse, and Cure Poison.

Most good hunters will try to keep a sting applied on a target, as it can confer benefits to the hunter beyond the basic debuff. Even with abilities to remove the debuff, stings can be reapplied almost immediately, so it can sometimes be a mana-intensive effort for both parties. Out of all the stings, hunters will protect and re-apply Viper Sting the most. On top of their sting, hunters also have a wide selection of ranged attacks. You can expect to be the target of their version of Mortal Strike, the marksmanship talent, Aimed Shot, or the Execute-like ability, Kill Shot, so always watch your health.

It's very difficult to get the element of surprise against a hunter, who will almost always have Track Humanoids active. Even against rogues, hunters have the option to use Flares, Track Hidden, and even Hunter's Mark if they get the chance. Tracking makes hunters ideal guards on flags in Arathi Basin or Warsong Gulch. Melee players should be wary of approaching a hunter because most will drop a Freezing Trap where they stand to counter rogue openers or warrior Charge.

Patch 3.3.2 heralds the start of season 8, and with it comes a whole load of shiny new PvP gear. Armor sets, weapons, trinkets, the whole deal. MMO-Champion's database has been updated with all of it (stats included, of course), and Boubouille has all of it listed in convenient tabbed menus. You'll find rating requirements there, too.

Of course, if you're only interested in what the armor looks like, we have you covered there. You can head back to our Season 8 preview, or simply check out the gallery below.

As many suspected might have been the case, the recent resilience change seems to have made healing a little too strong in PvP. To continue the efforts of slowing down the pace of PvP in the final arena season of Wrath of the Lich KIng, Zarhym has made the following announcement regarding healing Patch 3.3.2:

Patch 3.3.2 is bringing about a change to the way healing functions in Arenas, Battlegrounds, and Wintergrasp. We have applied a debuff to all players in these zones which will decrease the effectiveness of all forms of healing by 10%. This includes heals from items such as Healthstones and potions, however, it will not affect defensive shields or auras. This change is being made to balance the effectiveness of healing against the recent buff we made to the damage reduction component provided by resilience. Rest assured that we will be closely monitoring the effects both the healing and resilience changes have on Battleground, Wintergrasp, and Arena PvP game play to ensure that fights last a reasonable amount of time without overtly skewing the effectiveness of any class, role, or team combination.

Should we hear any further announcements today, we'll make sure to keep you posted.

Zach once sat down with Thrall and Varian Wrynn and had a laugh over some glasses of cold, green tea.

Two weeks ago we kicked off a series of introductory guides in PvP intended to give players a general idea of what to expect when facing certain classes. Understanding the behavior, capabilities, and limitations of a class puts players off to a great start in PvP, and after discussing the druid and the death knight in the first two installments, we now turn our attention to the hunter. Hunters have long been a force to reckon with in the Battlegrounds, an environment where they thrive. Also, as strong as they were back in vanilla WoW, they're even more powerful in Wrath of the Lich King, gaining new tricks, losing old limitations (e.g., traps can be deployed in combat), and having access to diversity of pets that make PvP encounters more interesting than ever.

Hunters are the game's premier pet class. More than even warlocks, hunters rely on their pet to accomplish their goals, with the best hunters mastering the art of micromanaging their pets and its varied abilities. Recognizing a hunter's spec is only aspect of identifying a hunter's strength and weaknesses. Part of learning how to deal with hunters involves recognizing a hunter's pet type who now even have their own talent trees. Let's take a closer look at this master of beasts after the jump.

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: The Knife with "Heartbeats." My wife has been recommending this song for maybe a month or two now. Even though she doesn't play WoW, she loves reading WoW.com. Valentine's Day is coming up, so I figure I should start laying down the sweet. Hello, love. Your favorite song is featured today. I like it too. Hopefully our readers do as well.

Last Week: We finished up our two part series on resource mechanics in arena. It's been a bit of a hiatus since we last looked at some advice for arena novices. With the new arena season starting tomorrow, there's no better time to define some terms.

This Week: I've been getting comments asking to describe some terms in these arena articles. Arena terms can be quite confusing, even to a hardcore raider! Tanking, for instance, means completely different things. Read on to see what they are!

No, it's not just a case of the obvious being stated. In a discussion of DK design in arenas, Dr. Street comments to clarify the intended role of death knights in arena and other factors. He also makes a good point about the forums in general that bears repeating for emphasis.

"We don't intend for these forums to be the primary way the team communicates our vision for the game and upcoming changes to the community. You'll get a little of that on a few select subjects through the forums and sadly that's all you're ever going to get. It's not that we don't care. It's that forums are not a great medium for that kind of mass communication. I wish sometimes you guys could be satisfied with the fact that we used to not communicate at all and now are able to communicate a little."

Moving on to the specific issue at hand in this thread, the discussion is the old shadow/frost spec that turned the death knight into a much more ranged caster, generating runic power quickly and then converting that runic power into Death Coils at range. It wasn't intended for the class. They have no problem with Death Coil itself being a popular attack, as long as the death knight has to put an effort into staying in melee with its attendant disadvantages to do so.

"The DK that runs around and does nothing but Icy Touch or Howling Blast or Death Coil feels like a rogue who forgoes combo points and openers and everything just to spam Fan of Knives and nothing else."

It's interesting to see players managing to find ways to bend the class out of the original design intent and how Blizzard responds to that: specs like shadow/frost or diseaseless blood DPS were adjusted quickly to put the class back to where Blizzard intended it.

Players will be seeing the arena points they had left after season 7 ended be reimbursed in the near (if not immediate) future. Yesterday players logged on after maintenance to discover their points had been wiped, and that season 8 had not yet begun. Arena points are only wiped at the beginning of a season, not before and not during the transition between seasons.

Crygil's full statement on the reimbursement is as follows:

Arena points were wiped during the recent maintenance following the end of the arena season on January 19th. We initially intended to launch the next arena season this week, but it was delayed due to the minor content patch that needs to coincide with the beginning of the season having some last minute issues to resolve.

Due to the delay in the arena season we are in the process of reimbursing arena points to all eligible participants. Characters will be returned to the amount they had on Tuesday, January 26th. All arena points will then be wiped when season 8 begins. We apologize for the confusion this caused and appreciate your understanding

Rumors place season 8 beginning next week, although there has been no official announcement. Arena season 8 will begin with the release of patch 3.3.2 -- of which we recently discovered translated Korean patch notes.

Season 8 arena gear now available for you to drool over! Even though season 8 hasn't quite started yet due to delays, arena players will be rocking it in style. Although no clear date has been set in stone, the next arena season is expected to start soon (possibly coinciding with the 3.3.2 patch). The above shot is what the paladin gear looks like. Personally, I really like the way paladins, priests and warlocks look. I can't say that there is a specific armor set that I absolutely despise, but do take a look at our gallery and see all the sets for yourself.

If you PvP you may have noticed Arena Season 8 has not arrived today as expected. The forums certainly have, and Bornakk made sure to explain the reason. Apparently in order to start the arena season, the minor content patch 3.3.2 is necessary and since it isn't ready yet neither is Season 8. A brief side question about how people are finding the new resilience changes devolves but should't distract us from the main message here. Arena Season 8 has been delayed because patch 3.3.2 is not out yet. That's the sum total of what we know at this time. Please, do not panic, as soon as we know more about when the season will start or patch 3.3.2 will drop, we'll share that information with you.

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: Fiona Apple's "Paper Bag." The video and song are both unique, brilliant, and enthralling. I'm a huge fan of brevity, but I want this song to last longer. I wouldn't mind if Fiona just sang the same thing twice. I absolutely adore her style. If you don't feel the same way, it's not a big deal -- Paper Bag is an acquired taste. You might appreciate other songs by the same artist, although be warned -- Apple sticks to what she does best.

Last Week: Resource mechanics in arena, part I. Last week, we considered rage, energy, and its green-headed stepchild focus. Our discussion revealed rage to be a mixed bag in most situations, while energy/combo points had many more benefits than detriments. Focus, basically, is slower energy without combo points.

This Week: We'll be talking about the death knight resource system (runes/runic power), and mana for dps casters. Why not healers? Read on after the break to find out!

The Colosseum takes us inside the world of the Gladiator (Relentless, Furious, Deadly, Brutal, Vengeful, Merciless, and otherwise), to interview some of the top Arena fighters on the battlegroups. Our goal is to bring a better understanding of the strategy, makeup, and work that goes into dueling it out for fame, fortune, and Frostwyrms. We're especially focused on the people who play these games, to further shed light on the world of the PvP player. If you'd like to be interviewed for The Colosseum, please feel free to contact us -- be sure to include your armory as a link!

Gladiator Bearzerk of US-Mannoroth won't be wearing his gladiator title much longer -- he'll be upgrading to Relentless Gladiator! Our rogue interviewee today is team captain of a rogue-mage-priest composition named A B C that was able to go on a victory streak and get the coveted title on the last day of the season.

Read on after the break to see what Bearzerk had to say!

In season seven, we saw beast cleave (beast mastery hunter + enhancement shaman + holy paladin) win the majority of high-profile tournaments and become quite popular. Very few saw it coming. Beast cleave, of course, got handed several nerfs (only one of which was serious) which many considered a death knell, but the composition is still very strong. Towards the end of season seven, protection warriors (and to a lesser extent, protection paladins) were the new flavor-of-the-month craze. Again, almost no one saw it coming.

The new season is slated to be quite different from previous arena seasons in WotLK. Resilience is getting a huge boost in effectiveness, increasing the benefit of wearing PvP gear in arenas. Some people (even on arena junkies) are stating that PvE gear will be even better in PvP because of the change. The idea is that arena players can get away with donning more loot from dragons because the added resilience benefit will make up for the forfeited survivability. While I might be wrong here, that sounds like terrible logic.

One gladiator is predicting the shift to more survivability will benefit warlocks, warriors, and druids. The same poster believes mages and rogues will be harmed, while everyone else will keep status quo.

So, I ask you, breakfast readers: What are your predictions for arena season eight?

Zach is a PvP nut who is excited at the prospect of more meaningful Battlegrounds play. He is about as unfunny as Jay Leno but has a slightly smaller chin.

Last week we kicked off a PvP series on how to deal with specific classes starting with the druid. We featured those slippery shapeshifters mostly because I'm a doofus who thought they were first on the alphabetical list -- cut me some slack, though, since druids were first on the list for years before those upstart death knights came along. Of course, when the game's first hero class was introduced with Wrath of the Lich King, it was no coincidence that their popularity was directly proportional to their being completely imbalanced and overpowered. It was so broken that Arena Season 5 was dominated by death dnights and even unskilled keyboard turners and clickers could sometimes achieve gaudy rankings using the class.

While the class has been tuned down somewhat, this hasn't diminished their popularity and death knights remain formidable opponents in the Battlegrounds and world PvP. Today we'll take a look at the dreaded death knight and try to outline a few key points to remember when facing one. Just as with the first installment of this series, these articles are by no means an exhaustive and complete guide to fighting a particular class. PvP depends greatly on context, in part determined by your own class, your environment, your opponent's spec, and player skill among other things. With that disclaimer out of the way, let's take a quick overview of death knights just to give players a general idea of what to expect.

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: Roger Waters and the classic combination of Pink Floyd's "The Happiest Days of Our Lives + Another Brick In The Wall, part II." I hate when the radio only plays half of this piece. Even though Floyd split the piece into two on the album, I find it hard pressed to do the latter half justice by dropping the epic "intro." The helicopters and interlude scream is the best part, be honest with yourselves.

Last Week: We addressed the issue of protection warriors in arena. We talked a bit about a few of Ghostcrawler's posts dealing with the most annoying specialization to face. After that, we discussed some of the problems with both perception and design.

This Week: Before getting back to the beginner's guide to arenas, we'll be discussing energy, focus, and rage. Each have individual benefits and detriments in an arena setting, often very different from one another. More after the break!