To help narrow the gap in between release of the expansion and the start of the first arena season at level 80 (Dec. 16th), I thought I would post an arena review as well as a short Rogue/Mage video (Me/Rocklee) filmed entirely from his perspective. The video was made in about 2 hours of filming. Watching the movie again I noticed it showcases the new Arena’s very nicely. The entire video was shot in patch 3.0 (just prior to WoTLK) so it’s level 70 with some 80 abilities.
THE RING OF VALOR (Orgrimmar)
This is by far my new favorite arena. Incorporating many new aspects to the environment and making it very complex. The first thing you will notice as you finish loading is that you begin the match below in an elevator shaft. Something that somewhat upset me is that the elevator takes about 15 seconds to reach the top and the elevator does not start moving until the standard 1 minute buff time is finished. While I know my job is easy and I don’t have much to do in the prep room, I’m sure almost everyone would agree that you don’t need 1min 15sec to get ready for a game. If anything I would expect them to subtract time spent in the prep room and/or add a “ready up/bypass” feature for each team to hit once they are ready.
Looking back on all of the arena games I’ve done, which is upwards of 3,000, (going low on this lol) this would mean that I have spent a minimum of 3,000 minutes jumping up and down in a prep room. Imagine if you could do it all at the same time, that would make for a fun day!
Once you have reached the top of the elevator, your opponents will be rising to the top at the same time. You will be face to face with them from the start of the game. The order in which everything happens is:
1.) You rise to the arena surface and can see the opposing elevator rising with you.
2.) Your opponents will load in (assuming they are not all stealth) a short time after, only allowing you a split second to make a strategic decision.
3.) The gates enclosing each arena will fall and the match will begin.
The pace of almost every game played on Ring of Valor will be set the moment the match begins. As a rogue you will have many options. Early on I noticed a lot of people standing as close as they can to us, allowing for a quick Sap before the fight even begins with Dirty Tricks. Even after playing the same team twice I realized that you have to become more cautious and hide in random corners to prevent being taken out of stealth by Flare/Blizzard etc.
The key to most games is your teams reaction here, and knowing prior whether you will be playing defensive or offensive as a whole. A rush strategy seems to be the most obvious so you are able to take advantage before they do. Top teams will be able to adapt to this enviornment
In total this arena boasts 4 pillars which go up and down as the game progresses. 25 seconds into the match the first two larger pillars on each side will rise. They will remain in the air for 20 seconds then rotate to the smaller pillars located more towards the center. In addition to the smaller pillars rising, at the same time walls of fire will divide the arena into 3 areas. This wall of fire if stood in, will hit you with a pretty nasty dot called Flame Trench. This debuff will last for 3 seconds after you are out of it dealing a considerable amount of damage. This debuff is not magic and cannot be dispelled and does not break stealth. The main thing I would like you to remember about the fire is that you CANNOT simply jump over it like a Ringling Bros. Circus tiger but you can Shs, Blink, etc to avoid it.
DALARAN ARENA
The darker and more symmetrical map in WoTLK is Dalaran. You will begin in a large tunnel from the start, make sure you exit it though as soon as possible, failure to do so within just a couple seconds will result in you getting blasted out of the tunnel and removing you from stealth.
The map is a square room with another square in the center. The only access to this upper platform is from 2 sets of stairs on each corner. These will be in the area you land in once you leave the starting area. On the opposing corners of the elevated platform are 2 stacks of boxes that can be used for line of sight.
The final feature of this map is the waterfall that turns on and off periodically from the 3 pipes in the center of the map. This waterfall will knock you back in a random direction but causes no damage.
The strategy on this map of course involves taking the higher level in the center, this like always will give you the upper hand. The center pleateau is too high for you to jump up, forcing you to go around to the stairs in the case where you fall down. Making you an easy target if you are standing down below in contrast to being up top to avoid taking damage.
Both these maps are more interactive than anything we’ve seen before in Arena (except tornadoes!) and I am much more supportive of this idea compared to the random tornadoes that used to be in Nagrand arena. I can’t wait to see what positioning strategies teams can come up with once the competitive arena season starts at level 80.
NEW ARENA SHOWCASING VIDEO – Rogue/Mage 2v2
Steam coming soon…
http://files.filefront.com/2v2newMapswmv/;12541548;/fileinfo.html
Now that you are familiar with both of these new maps here is your chance to see them first hand. As mentioned above the video is filmed entirely from Rocklee’s perspective at level 70 about a week prior to WoTLK release. Nevertheless it provides great coverage of both new arenas as well as a dip into the new level 80 abilites. But sry no DK’s. Enjoy everyone!
Related posts:
Nice ,looks sweet
nice arena vids to
Comment by Goretech — December 5, 2008 @ 5:12 pm
Mage PoV? really?
Comment by Ataraxia — December 6, 2008 @ 4:04 am
[...] RogueRogue just posted a review of the two new arenas in Wrath, Dalaran and Orgrimmar. Basic strategy and line of sight areas are mentioned, and although it’s from a rogue perspective it’s still a worthwile read if you didn’t get to know them until now. We have less than two weeks till Season 5 starts and knowing the arenas is just as important as having the right gear. [...]
Pingback by Wrath Arena Review — December 6, 2008 @ 9:22 am
Nice Reviwe.
Oh btw @Akrios:
COuld you pls upload your interface ? Im waiting since the damn patch came out and nothing worked ^^
Comment by TheTruth — December 6, 2008 @ 1:24 pm
hey Nition
?)
) i assume your mage friend was laughing his arse off that he got his sheep reflected at him.
great video , great music and great skills (are you sure this isn’t Eviscerate 10
after watching this video i have a few notes ..
- even with the arena unbalance after the patch 3.02 .. skills still matter.
- that mage partner of yours is really decent, does he have any videos of his own ?
- nice 1v1 with that retarded moonkin, you should really make a pvp movie of your own mate.
- why did you dismantle that moonkin in BEM arena? although i know it was a misclick (lol busted).
- and finally you fail for dying from the Flame Trench dot (although it happened to me
————–
can’t wait to see more pvp videos of you guys.
Comment by Kiba — December 6, 2008 @ 3:17 pm
Great moive for some reason it ended when u guys where running into a new fight but ohh well good shit
Comment by Alkrym — December 6, 2008 @ 10:10 pm
AH yeah, and, could you pls tell me, how your partner is skilled ? Ive seen this arcane ultimate…infact Ive got an mage and would like to test this thing out
Comment by TheTruth — December 7, 2008 @ 2:20 am
HAhaha, bet that mage got his shoulders after 3.0
arcane is hard, huh?
Comment by yoyo — December 7, 2008 @ 4:15 pm
rocklee is a beast
Comment by Bullfury — December 8, 2008 @ 12:17 am
—————————————————————————————————–
rocklee is THE GREEN beast
—————————————————————————————————–
fix’t
Comment by Kiba — December 8, 2008 @ 3:04 am
Which country are you from, Akrios?
Comment by Nemanja — December 8, 2008 @ 12:18 pm
Which glyphs are you using?
, pretty nice with a sap from the beggining
Comment by Kraxkrax — December 8, 2008 @ 12:31 pm
[...] RogueRogue just posted a review of the two new arenas in Wrath, Dalaran and Orgrimmar. Basic strategy and line of sight areas are mentioned, and although it’s from a rogue perspective it’s still a worthwile read if you didn’t get to know them until now. We have less than two weeks till Season 5 starts and knowing the arenas is just as important as having the right gear. [...]
Pingback by Wrath Arena Review | Warlock Guide — December 8, 2008 @ 3:18 pm
@Nemanja – Akrios is a silly Canadian!
Comment by Jexy — December 8, 2008 @ 5:08 pm
Hi,
This is my Mutilate spec. Akrios, Nition and all u guys. Please, feel free to critize it. Tell me u like it, or not (and why not). Maybe not the best, but looks strong to me.
(My Glyps:
Major: -Rupture, -Vigor, -Evasion
Minor: -Vanish, -Safe Fall, -Blurred Speed,)
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=f0efoeMoVroIzZ0xZebfbh0do
Thank you.
Comment by GARFIELD — December 8, 2008 @ 5:19 pm
Hi Garfield, imo your spec looks good just a few things.
Just remember Quick Recorvery (Assa) is a nice thing if you wanna play with a healer .
Also I should go for Improved evicerate instead of Ruthlessness since deadly trow does no longer interupt for all specs
But the 3 point in Camouflage are just pointless because the 15% speed does not stack with Fleet Footed (Assa) If its for the cd just spend 1 point in it.
and fill up Dirty Deeds.
this will probs be mine spec,
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=fhxfoeMoiroczZ0xZebbbhhdb
Comment by chrusader — December 9, 2008 @ 8:19 am
Thanks chrusader. I totaly agree with the Camouflage. My bad.
The Quick Recorvery and Improved evicerate is tricky, because the Focused Attack looks good to me. I have to work on my build a bit more (im just a casual rogue), but i see the point in your build and i like it. I going to try yours now and later on maybe i will modify (or not
). Thank you.
Comment by GARFIELD — December 9, 2008 @ 3:20 pm
Hi again chrusader. I did my research and I think u are wrong about Camouflage.
I tried it. The Carbonite Quest addon can show my speed, so my results:
The our speed:
Without Fleet Footed and Camouflage:
Run: 0% Stealthed: -30%
With Fleet Footed only:
Run: +15% Stealthed: -20%
With Fleet Footed and Camouflage:
Run: +15% Stealthed: -2%
So the Camouflage DOES stack with Fleet Footed in stealth.
So what do you think about this:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=fhxfoeMoiroczZ0xZebfbh0db
Comment by GARFIELD — December 9, 2008 @ 4:27 pm
because Camouflage not speed increase, the Camouflage decrease the 30% speed penality to 15%, then the Fleet Footed icrease our speed with 15%. So the stealthed speed with Camouflage not 70%, it is 85%. Then the Fleet Footed 0.85 x 1.15 = 0.9775, 97.75%. This is why our speed is -2% with Fleet Footed and Camouflage.
Sorry guys for this ot of posts. (WTB edit button)
Comment by GARFIELD — December 9, 2008 @ 4:45 pm
Wow, nice Arena guide, pretty original I must say. From playing a Rogue I must say that I like the new arenas as to me they seem more sneaky in ways that I can still lurk in the shadows and pounce upon my victim!
-Visin
http://www.azerothnow.com
Check out the popular WotLK Mage Build here if you would like to read some of my work as well…
http://azerothnow.com/wotlk-mage-builds/
Comment by Visin — December 9, 2008 @ 11:30 pm
hey Garfield, I checked form and I also see that fleet footed does stack now ,
thats good news
Thx for the info
Focused Attacks look also nice for me wish i had more points, but my eviscerate crit like 4500-7500 depends on armor don,t wanna miss that
with -15%
if you wanna have 1 mutilate more from Focused Attack you need 30 crits white or yellow doesn,t matter seems nice but i wanna go for imp eviscerate
Comment by chrusader — December 10, 2008 @ 1:01 am
I like your spec,
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=fhxfoeMoiroczZ0xZebfbh0db
I also think the speed and lower cd on stealth is beter then a second combo point from opening attacks.
I will probertly go this spec wenn arena start
Comment by chrusader — December 10, 2008 @ 5:38 am
Hi chrusader.
Im happy if u like it. I like this spec too. I agree with u about the speed and lower cd on stealth, With mutilate, we do not need the extra combo point (Opener+Mutilate give us already 4-5 CP).
In fact i still cant decide between Imp Eviscerate and Ruthlesness. I have to try them and see. It is depends on my playstyle.
Comment by GARFIELD — December 10, 2008 @ 12:48 pm
lol
Comment by Omfg — December 10, 2008 @ 3:07 pm
yeah the mage is rocklee, he had a pvp video pre-bc that I remember seeing. definetly one of the better mages out there. and haha at how he still play pom spec and manages to get that high in ratings.
Comment by Steve — December 13, 2008 @ 2:28 pm
not bad imo
Comment by Charles — December 15, 2008 @ 6:16 am
haha, u worte steam instead of stream
Comment by simon — December 31, 2008 @ 4:34 pm
Hello, What is the name of the song video? [Rogue/Mage 2v2]
thanks
is a great video
Comment by Hello — January 2, 2009 @ 9:09 am
pls what is the SONG LIST?..btw nice video..:)
Comment by Unresistable — January 4, 2009 @ 2:09 am
Pls I need songs this video please, I love
.
Comment by Sefirotcler — January 4, 2009 @ 9:10 am
Спасибо! Буду теперь заходить на ваш блог почаще!
Comment by PsyMonk — May 22, 2009 @ 11:27 pm