Filed under: The Art of War(craft) (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.

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.

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.

Zach thinks Conan is funnier. This has nothing to do with World of Warcraft. But it's good to say it, anyway.

Considering that we have ourselves a bit of time before the next exciting thing comes out -- Cataclysm and the new Battle for Gilneas Battleground -- I thought it'd be a good time to write up a quick guide to fighting the different classes. Since we ended last year with a basic primer to the battlegrounds, we'll use the start of the year and the lull before the next expansion to compile a guide to fighting the different classes. That should probably hold true for a bit until Cataclysm turns our World of Warcraft upside down.

Let's start with the druid. My excuse was that we're supposed to do this alphabetically, but I realized that death knights actually come before druids now. While Blizzard has always tried to maintain a balance among classes in a rock-paper-scissors kind of way, I don't think anyone -- regardless of what class they play -- who has ever encountered a druid has snickered to himself about how easy the fight is going to be. Druids, by and large, have a very high survivability as a class. Pair this with their supreme mobility and you've got one hell of a fight on your hands.

Zach is a Battlegrounds junkie. Even when he's hocking up asthma-generated globules of radioactive phlegm, he still manages to squeeze in a little slaughtering time.

Happy New Year, folks. I hope all of you had a good 2009 and are reading this without a lingering hangover or, like me, some form of bronchial complication stemming from the smog generated by all the festivities' firecrackers. We're kicking off 2010 with a quick look at the year that just passed, and boy, was it ever a good one.

More than any other year in the World of Warcraft, 2009 was a fantastic year for the Battlegrounds. Some very significant changes implemented that year renewed their relevance; furthermore, Battleground enthusiasts also received a verbal commitment from Blizzard developers that that aspect of the game would receive more focus and attention. The year began with the effects of Wrath spilling over from 2008, with the new and exciting Wintergrasp giving new life (and lag) to the world PvP experience. The first important change, however, was to come later with patch 3.1 in April 2009.

Zach is a Battlegrounds freak. Even if he doesn't raid or quest or sell things at the auction house, he'll make sure to get a small dose of Battlegrounds PvP to brighten up his day. You should, too. They're like vitamins. Bloody, face-melting, honor-gaining, sword-clashing vitamins.

This little thing called patch 3.3 came out some time back, maybe you'd heard. I had planned it to be my return from an unintentionally self-imposed hiatus from hardcore play, considering that all the tools would now be in place to allow all players of all gear levels to catch up the the penultimate level of content. It was a good plan, except that a few things here and there kept me from jumping right into it when the Fall of the Lich King went live.

The new Dungeon Finder system is getting rave reviews from everyone who's tried it. I think it's an awesome tool -- quite possibly one of the best things to happen to the game. The coolest thing about it for me is that the concept stemmed from the Battlegrounds! That's right... the Battlegroup-wide grouping system is inspired by the way Battlegrounds get players from various realms from way back since Patch 1.12 in 2006. Who'd have thunk it, right? The rest of the PvE population getting something good -- something really, really good -- from the PvP aspect of the game.

Blizzard has been cleverly trying to sprinkle PvP elements into the PvE side of the game, such as the Princess Delrissa encounter in Magisters' Terrace, and its more recent, scaled-up version, the Faction Champions in the Trial of the Crusader. If the message isn't already clear, Blizzard is trying to make you like PvP. At any rate, this whole new PUG craze is a happy byproduct of the cross-realm Battleground system. The only difference is, in Battlegrounds, group composition isn't as important.

Zach enjoys the Battlegrounds a lot. He thinks it's one of the most re-playable content in the game, so he writes about it every week to spread the word. When all players are finally in the Battlegrounds bashing each others' brains out, he'll consider his mission complete, and he'll sneak out to farm Shoveltusk Meat in peace.

We're now at the end of our Absolute Beginners series, which has been surprisingly helpful to a lot more players than I expected. As it turns out, the game still gets a lot of new players even after five amazing years, which is really cool. Players still leveling up might want to check out where we kicked this series off, an introduction to the Battlegrounds. Once you get an idea of what its all about, you can get your feet wet (or swords all bloodied...) in Warsong Gulch. Ten levels later, you can enter the proving grounds of Arathi Basin, or wait until you level up a bit more for the snowy landscape of Alterac Valley.

Players who have upgraded to the Burning Crusade and leveled past 60 can get a taste of some space action in Eye of the Storm. When Wrath of the Lich King shipped, Blizzard introduced a brand new Battleground unlike anything that had come before it, an assault and defend scenario that was about as balanced as a Battleground could be because the factions took turns playing the exact same map. Strand of the Ancients also introduced the new vehicle combat system and destructible buildings, which made for a whole new gameplay experience. Click on read more to see what this Battleground is all about.

Every week, Zach takes you on a guided tour of the Battlegrounds, kind of like how those tour guides take you on a safari. Except that instead of boring old lions or lazy zebras on a savanna, you've got bloodthirsty, axe-wielding orcs and stubby gnomes pewpewing laser beams from their fingertips.

So you know a little bit about the Battlegrounds now. The PvP equivalent of dungeons and raids, Battlegrounds along with Arenas cater to those players who enjoy going head to head against enemy players aside from dragons, murlocs, or fires on the ground. In the past few weeks we'd gone through complete beginners' guides to Warsong Gulch, Arathi Basin, and Alterac Valley. Those were the first three Battlegrounds firmly set in Azeroth.

In the Burning Crusade, Blizzard introduced a fourth Battleground called Eye of the Storm. Set in the tempestuous environment of Netherstorm in Outland, the Battleground looks unlike anything that has come before or after in the game -- fighting on asteroids make it literally out of this world. Long after players have leveled past Outland content, the Eye of the Storm is the one lasting legacy of the Burning Crusade that players will continue to experience even after Cataclysm has come out and players level to 85. Hit the jump to find out what this Battleground is all about.

Zach is a huge fan of the Battlegrounds. He loves those instanced mini-games where you bash other players' faces in almost as much as he loves Pringles Screamin' Dill Pickle. That's a lot of love right there. So much love, in fact, that he writes these weekly Battleground and world PvP columns just for you (and also because he greatly fears the lolcat hell controlled by his bosses).

Alright, newbies, it's time for today's Battlegrounds primer -- Alterac Valley. This huge, 40-player-per-side Battleground was an ambitious project by Blizzard intended to give players a sense of epic battles. In it's original iteration, Alterac Valley had more NPCs roaming the battlefield, including a massive troll in the Field of Strife who has since packed his bags "for greener pastures". Those greener pastures turned out to be Zul'drak in Northrend, as Korrak the Bloodrager shows up in the Ampitheater of Anguish as the penultimate boss. It's a sweet nod to old school players, and his yells never fail to tickle my old, nostalgic bones.

The old Alterac Valley didn't have the resource mechanic, which I'll explain shortly. Instead, the only way to end it was to kill the enemy General, which sometimes took quite a while. Back in the day, it wasn't uncommon to have Alterac Valley, or AV, games that lasted for hours and hours or even more than a day. There were numerous quests which included turning in race-specific enemy player drops which could be turned in for reputation with a particular Horde or Alliance faction.

It was also one of the game's highlights to summon elemental lords into the battle -- an Ice Elemental named Rokholar for the Horde and a Forest Elemental named Ivus for the Alliance. Those elementals can still be summoned in the current version of Alterac Valley, but rarely make an appearance in today's fast and furious environment. The game has changed quite a lot since its inception, so we'll go through the AV basics right after the jump but make sure to read the Battlegrounds primer along with beginners' looks at Warsong Gulch and Arathi Basin.

Zach loves the Battlegrounds. He could probably play World of Warcraft entirely though the Battlegrounds, because he's kind of lame like that. If he could have the word 'Battlegrounds' tattooed on his rump, he totally wouldn't... because dude, that's just wrong.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote up a basic look at the Battlegrounds for all the new players who don't know anything about it. From the looks of it, Blizzard expects an influx of new players, too, so newbies will always be on the lookout for 'For Dummies'-type information. Because we're such awesome folks over here at WoW.com, we're ready to oblige. Last week we answered some basic questions about the game's first Battleground, Warsong Gulch. This week, we'll answer some beginner's questions about Arathi Basin, the next Battleground leveling players are eligible to enter. Hit the Read More button to, you know, read more.

Zach loves the Battlegrounds. He loves them so much that he spends nearly all his playing time mucking around in them. He loves them so much he writes a column devoted to them. He loves it so much he makes a comic based on Battlegrounds play. You could say he eats, lives, and breathes Battlegrounds and world PvP. And maybe some Krispy Kreme doughnuts. It's kind of hard to get by without doughnuts.

Alright, so you have some kind of vague idea about what a Battleground is. Basically, Battlegrounds are where players go to consensually bash each others brains out. Or fry them. Or freeze them. These instances are designed for players to enjoy PvP, get a bit of honor and, if you're not already at max level, some experience. In the future, Blizzard has revealed plans to make the Battlegrounds even more like instances or dungeons by hinting at possible actual loot rewards. It's an interesting concept we'll have to revisit sometime in the future.

For now, we'll get back down to the basics. Last week we discussed how to get inside a Battleground. That's easy enough, especially with the new changes to the Battlegrounds queue system. This week we'll take a closer look at the different Battlegrounds available. Think of it as a nice buffet of PvP that you can choose from. What kind of Battleground you choose will depend on what kind of game you want to play (or more realistically, what Marks of Honor you still need. We'll get to that later). Hit the jump to check out this week's featured Battleground, Warsong Gulch.

Zach takes you on a tour of the Battlegrounds and world PvP. Think of it as the casual player's guide to World of Warcraft PvP. This will consist mostly of hopping around from place to place hitting things, spouting all manner of asshattery, and playing heavy metal music. Ok, that's not entirely true. Zach doesn't play heavy metal music when he PvPs. He plays Mika. Because fewer things are more embarrassing than getting pwned by a player who listens to Love Today while PvPing.

This post is for noobs. Now don't get your knickers up in a bunch. It's alright. We were all noobs once. I remember the first time I entered Warsong Gulch and had no idea what to do with the flag after picking it up, eventually dropping it at the flag spawn area it thinking that was the way to capture it. Naturally, the enemy returned it and promptly capped, resulting in a torrent of insults and less savory emotes throughout that game. Ah, the good old days.

Of course, if I'd let the experience intimidate me, I probably wouldn't have entered another Battleground again. But I'm nothing if not stubborn, so I eventually slogged my way through Warsong Gulch (it was the only Battleground back then) and got the hang of things. These days, Battlegrounds are considered to be a "casual" form of PvP, which is easily enjoyed by solo players as well as groups. Since we've gotten more than a few questions regarding how to start playing the Battlegrounds lately -- it turns out that despite having 11 million players pick up the game, a lot of people are only just starting to play World of Warcraft -- so for today we'll take an absolute beginner's look at the Battlegrounds.

The Art of War(craft) strives to bring you anything and everything related to PvP. Well, mostly anything that isn't covered by Arenas, anyway, since that's kind of Colby's territory. And stepping on Colby's territory can get Zach into trouble. I mean, have you seen that guy? Those beady eyes and razor-sharp teeth? Yikes! Oh wait, that might've been a shark. Or it could've been Colby after someone drank from his Chai Tea Latte in the office fridge. He's just kind of a monster that way.

Patch 3.2 introduced a new 40-man raid Battleground, technically the biggest instance since old world Naxxramas. In Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King, raid dungeons were cut down to 25-players and the two Battlegrounds since then, the Eye of the Storm and Strand of the Ancients, were limited to 15 players per side. Isle of Conquest sees the return of epic battles not seen since Alterac Valley. Well, okay, epic battles with less lag not seen since Wintergrasp, anyway. If you're just hit Level 80 or are curious about the new Battleground, here's a quick guide to help you out.

What's the deal?

There are essentially two ways to win the Battleground, identical to the new and improved Alterac Valley -- kill the enemy General or deplete the opposing team's Resources. The Horde forces are led by Overlord Agmar, the orc after whom the Horde base in Dragonblight is named, the leader of the Kor'kron Guard who looks like he's wearing Northrend greens or blues, at best. On the other team is High Commander Halford Wyrmbane, the leader of the 7th Legion and whom Alliance players will typically first encounter giving quests in Wintergarde Keep in Dragonblight. He isn't any better off than his rival, as he looks like he's in Sunwell epics. Cool, right? Alright, now let's figure out how to kill them.

The Art of War(craft) takes you through the paces of the myriad faces of World of Warcraft PvP. Zach, who writes this column, is tragically unfunny and has asshat blood running through his Asian veins. If you're looking for humor, head over to the musings of Christian or Allison. If you want some lore or news, Alex and Adam are your guys. If, however, you feel like bashing someone's face in and dropping The Flag of Ownership on their corpse, you, my friend, have come to the right place.

Season 7 started a while back, and we've now got Colby on the team to pick up on the Arena scene with Blood Sport. He covers all the basics of the latest Arena season in his debut column, so head on over and read up on everything you need to know. That's your primer. On today's The Art of War(craft), I'm going to discuss other things not quite covered by the basics.

First of all, what does a new Arena season mean to the Battleground enthusiast? I mean, who gives a shmoo? Arenas shmarenas, right? Well... not exactly. The sad fact is that Arena players are going to be playing the Battlegrounds, anyway, since the non-set pieces are purchasable with Honor points. While these items also drop off Koralon, the Flame Watcher, the fastest, most efficient way to obtain non-set Relentless Gladiator pieces is through Honor farming in the Battlegrounds.

That means successful Arena play, or at least the most conscientious preparation, requires Battleground participation. The converse isn't necessarily true. The gear disparity in the Battlegrounds is extreme, and it isn't uncommon to find players fresh from hitting Level 80 hitting the maps to grind Honor for gear upgrades. Gear isn't as critical, but it's a definite advantage. My view on the matter is that Arenas are a necessary, but fun, evil.

Every week, Zach brings you the World of War(craft), which talks about PvP in all its myriad shapes and forms. It will be humorless and dry and deathly boring because Christian Belt already has the monopoly on funny and because cracking jokes in a PvP column just doesn't work since PvP people are supposed to be asshats, anyway.

BlizzCon came and went and nothing is going to be the same again. At least not after Cataclysm, the third expansion for the World of Warcraft. Cataclysm is set to change the face of the game more than anything we've ever seen, it'll almost be like WoW 2.0. The classes are the same, but there'll be new races, new abilities, new mechanics, and a new, revamped world with a renewed faction conflict that will have deep implications for PvP.

Gameplay will change significantly, particularly for Warlocks and Hunters, and there will be changes to talents, talent tree passive benefits, racial abilities, as well as entire systems to rate Battleground play. There will likely be an overhaul to the Arena ratings system, as well, perhaps as soon as Arena Season 7 kicks in. Blizzard isn't content to sit idle on its success, but has in fact taken the opposite direction by overhauling the entire game. They're turning Azeroth on its ear, and it's going to be insane. After the jump, we'll take a look at how the Cataclysm is going to shape World of Warcraft PvP.