Tournament Realm is up!
Let’s start things off with the Arena Tournament Realm. As we all know, the ATR is up and running. I’ve personally jumped on for a few games of Rogue/Lock/Druid and to make up some gearsets and specs for the future. I must say I’m disappointed with the ATR somewhat, purely because of where the server is located (East Coast). Everyone that’s from Australia/Oceania are at a major disadvantage this time around, it’s not uncommon for me to check my latency and see it spiking to 700-800ms. I can’t see myself taking this ATR seriously whatsoever, with how unplayable it is in it’s current form. The few games that I have played were absurd, we faced spellcleave game after game after game, and with trinkets like Dislodged Foreign Objectand Bauble of True Blood, it comes as no surprise that spellcleave is dominating the ATR. Melee classes without T2 (2200) Arena weapons make melee damage that much more manageable, this makes me question Blizzard’s motives. I mean, why are these trinkets available for use? In most people’s cases on Live, getting to Blood Queen and actually downing her is unrealistic, yet reaching 2200 is simple and can be done with ease, not letting the use of T2 weapons is essentially neutering the classes that need them, after all this is an “Arena Tournament Realm” so why isn’t all Arena gear available?
To recap, my prediction is that some form of spellcleave will take the #1 spot on ATR without much trouble, the damage from an Ele/Affliction/Holy Paladin setup is just unhealable. In a bad spot for a split second? Dead. Cloak down? Dead. Death Coiled with no trinket? Dead. It’s really that simple unfortunately. I applaud any Oceanic Rogues that are working around the terrible latency on the ATR, to the rest of us, suck it up boys.
Covering Dance.
You guys have been asking for a ShadowDance article for a while now, so here’s the best I can do! First off let’s talk about the spec itself. http://www.wowhead.com/talent#fhfcoZhZebrbhGzdVzAfRt:AGr
(Feel free to switch a few things around to work with your playstyle.)
Vigor – The extra 10 energy is great for bursting during your dance duration period.
Imp Gouge – As I play Restodruid/Rogue in 2’s. the CC you can put out with a blind > sap > cyclone x3 > focus gouge is incredible, it may well be overkill but a 5.5 second gouge is amazing versus basically any class, you can also use it to just pool energy if that’s what floats your boat.
Heightened Senses – I don’t see the point in wasting 2 points to counter your own class, not many rogues are using this talent anymore in the 3v3 bracket (as far as I know O_o).
You want to be taking Glyph of Shadow Dance, and also Glyph of Preparation solely for the double kick/dismantle opportunities. The third Glyph slot is entirely up to you. Now let’s talk about applying pressure.
You have very few options on your opener, normally I do something along the lines of CS > backstab > ks > backstab x2 and finish off with eviscerate. That’s all well and good you say, but what do I do during the actual Dance duration? Well, you have 8 seconds to create magic!
First things first Pool your energy. There is absolutely no point hitting dance and running around melee swinging, spamming ambush as hard as you can only to get off maybe one or two. You have to set up your dance as best you can, and try to dance a target that has previously used their trinket, with CC on a healer for 8 seconds and your target sitting through a full cs > ks, your enemy will find it hard to recover. As Buddhist once said, “Kidney shot… looking grim.” – Buddhist vs. Mahiko.
You want to be hitting dance and either using Cheap Shot, or Ambushing depending on class and the situation you find yourself in, from then on its Ambush to 4 or 5 combo points then Eviscerate, or Ambush to 4 or 5 combo points and Kidney Shot, continue this rotation for the duration of dance, if you find yourself with a little bit of energy remaining as dance is about to end, feel free to either garrote or pool, whichever you feel is more worthwhile.
“My crippling poison keeps getting dispelled!” Try your best to work Backstab into your mindless Hemorrhage spamming; the undispellable snare is what will keep you to your target.
To finish things off I would like to touch on a small yet insignificant problem I’ve encountered a fair bit during my time playing 2v2 this season.
Shadowsight
While it’s not a big problem at all in 3v3, Shadowsight in 2v2 has been giving me grief as of late. Playing Druid/Rogue I’m going for a lot of restealths/resets, and quite honestly when a pet class grabs Shadowsight and sends their pet to attack me, completely bugging my stealth to the point where I should just run around in the open, it get’s kinda frustrating. I honestly understand why Shadowsight is in arena, it’s to stop douchebags from running around in stealth after they have clearly lost the match, what I don’t understand is why it comes up for use so soon, in a relatively slow-paced bracket. Currently it’s not a huge issue, 2’s is a “dead” bracket and almost completely worthless, I just think it should take a little longer for that purple gem of goodness to pop up.
I hope you enjoyed the read! ^_^
Related posts:
I liked it, but what do oyu think about imp slice & dice that reckful use? Worth the point to go down there? Becasue at least for me i think its working relatively well
Comment by silencedeath — May 1, 2010 @ 6:29 am
Loved the post was really nice
Comment by Varmt — May 1, 2010 @ 6:33 am
Nice entry.
Comment by iso — May 1, 2010 @ 7:25 am
“Getting to Blood Queen and actually downing her is unrealistic, yet reaching 2200 is simple and can be done with ease”, the word unrealistic is not the case, and for some players even 2.2k might be hard to get.
But what the fuck? Everyone can PvE and now with the 15% ICC buff, Blood Queen is so easily doable. If people seriously want those items they need to dedicate some of the time for PvE aspect of the game. It’s fun and relaxing to raid once a while :p
Comment by Dabi — May 1, 2010 @ 7:43 am
I don’t mean to be rude but lately it seems that this site has become a forums of endless bitching from rogues. Seriously crying about Shadowsight in arena? It is there so you dont have a rogue team who just stands in stealth for 2 hours to wait for the other team to leave. And just because we get t1 weps on the TR doesn’t mean our damage is hurt so badly…
Comment by Evolas — May 1, 2010 @ 8:58 am
@ post 5, I don’t think he was *Bitching* at all about shadow sight, he was simply pointing to the fact that it comes up a bit too quick when your not racing for a quick finish and a hunter can just send his pet and forget about it. He also did say he understands the reason for it being there.
I see that as more of an opinion rather then bitching which last I checked was what forums were about.
As for post 4, I think what he meant by Unrealistic, was not that the encounter is hard, but for a lot of rogues who focus on PVP, the Gearscore disease really limits their chance of getting into a pug and progressing that far in. As the usual pug expects you to out gear the encounters anyway. At least thats the way It works on the last 3 high pop servers Iv been on (EU).
Comment by Warpath2k — May 1, 2010 @ 9:32 am
@6 I’ve gotten into pugs easily with my PvE gear which contains a few PvP items and ilvl 232+ stuff and I’m doing fine with somewhat bad dps of 7-9k. And you’re right about the GS being a disease but there’s always a chance to make your own PuG
I’ve done it and succeeded.
But tbh he didn’t say anything about rogues there. Only about the players to get there in general so..
Comment by Dabi — May 1, 2010 @ 9:45 am
hahah that pic is great
Comment by Kubane — May 1, 2010 @ 11:08 am
I agree with Warpath2.
Comment by Varmt — May 1, 2010 @ 12:02 pm
@7 Well the pugs on my realm certainly don’t *Easily* down queen, especially when there is a rogue there in Half pvp gear doing 8k when a pve rogue does more like 15k on that encounter. They tend to take the rogue with 5.4k GS pve. As for starting your own pug, Like your own achie or GTFO. Sure some PVP rogues will get it and down it but the majority arn’t that lucky. Like I said thats just my Exp from The Maelstrom and Ragnaros (Eu servers)
Comment by Warpath2k — May 1, 2010 @ 2:42 pm
@5 As you may have read, I stated shadowsight is not a huge issue at all, it’s simply something I have to think about every time we play longer-than-normal games. Not having t2 weaps is a damage decrease no matter how you put it.
Comment by Seezylol — May 1, 2010 @ 3:25 pm
Are you going to make a movie whit your shadowdance specc?
dont need to be edit, but so the others can learn form it
Comment by Mentir — May 1, 2010 @ 4:13 pm
I don’t think i’ve ever seen Akrios play Dance.
Comment by errlol — May 1, 2010 @ 4:31 pm
EDIT: Seezylol is bad at paint. Wtf is up with that mages hand on the right side?? Thats just all fuc*ed up.
Comment by Warpath2k — May 1, 2010 @ 6:42 pm
Sorry for the terrible MSpaint skills >:
Comment by Seezylol — May 1, 2010 @ 10:42 pm
Nice job man, loved it
Comment by concept — May 2, 2010 @ 4:01 am
Shadowsight.
Yep terrible thing cuz comes up for use so soon.agree with that
tnx 4 post)
Comment by Fshade — May 2, 2010 @ 4:42 am
Tell me about weapons…i got anarchy and blood weeper because i can’t raid…belive when the difference on damage is huge.
Comment by silencedeath — May 2, 2010 @ 6:39 am
Kidney shot… looking grim. <3<3
Comment by Arwiny — May 2, 2010 @ 7:55 am
this expansion should be called; wrath of the spell cleave, or better yet; wrath of every class but rogues. since the buff eles got, they have stacked resil and become tanks. warlocks with soul link and resil stacked have alos become reiculous tanks. not to mention hpallies and their broken shield opness.
i was talking with a dk yesterday who has shadowmourne, and he cant break 2300. he stated rogues have it so much easier, and that we have best snares in the game, etc etc etc. i see this alot, there are so many misconceptions about rogues and their skill required to play at high leve arena. ive played mage and dk and druid to 2400 and trust me none are even close to the skillcap rogues require.
with the rogue class getting a constant nerf, from TR (t1 weps) to cheap shot sharing drs, to shs being nerfed in s4, to hemo dmg slacking, to ambushes hitting hpallies for 2k, i think its time to hang up the rogue until things start looking up again.
who knows cata might fix somethings, but from the way wotlk went down im gonna have to say no way, they will only fuck it up even more.
ps QQQQQQQQQ
Comment by uschearak — May 2, 2010 @ 10:14 am
“Kidney shot… looking grim.” loling irl ^_^
Comment by Rockins — May 2, 2010 @ 10:39 am
lol’d at the me reference
Comment by Buddhist — May 2, 2010 @ 10:42 am
Don´t know what he´s talking about. Killing Blood Queen is unlrealistic, while reaching 2200 is easy? What is your problem, srsly..
Comment by nekyo — May 3, 2010 @ 3:22 am
idd, that frigin purple gem pops up so soon, i hate it
Comment by PeteBone — May 3, 2010 @ 7:44 am
Buddhi!
Install WoW. Make vids.
Comment by buddhist fan — May 3, 2010 @ 8:50 am
@23 I bet he meant that for most PvPers its unrealistic. For PvErs 2.2k is unrealistic. Doing both is hard and IMO pretty nolife XD
Comment by Hitmaster — May 3, 2010 @ 11:57 am
@26 Absolutely correct, being in a high end raiding guild on a PvP/PvE server leaves you with little room to wiggle if you dabble in both.
For me personally, if you look at my rating/statistics, I’m not a bad rogue by any means, however, with the fact that the “good” PvPers have 1: Been playing together for a long time or 2: Are in a PvP oriented guild, it makes it easier for them to just log on and Arena/BG for the next 8 hours. Whereas I raid 3+ nights a week and work during the week as well, I don’t have much time to participate in games. Since I also Arena with guildies or friends in raiding guilds (My druid on my 3s clicks his heals…) you can tell the difference. I was able to get 1800 rating and gear up a bit with a mage that came back to the game after a hiatus luckily. However, it still makes it rough to keep a partner when you can only Arena once a week.
Uschearak is from my server, he’s definitely one of the better rogues out there, however, again, he doesn’t raid as often as a majority of the ones from our server, thus for him to attain high ratings its a bit easier as he only has one focus.
PvE gear IN general is really broken and imo should be completely barred from Arena. Everything from Deathbringer’s Will, Shadowmourne, 277 daggers from ICC 25 HM being better than 2200 rated daggers…the game has taken a turn for the worst. I remember back with Eviscerate Arena Vol. III with Akrios’ dual Sinister Revenges and thinking, “Damn, he must hit like crazy” even in the 2500+ brackets he continued to use them throughout S5. Having them in the Arena is like using a chainsaw to cut a birthday cake or at least THINK about the stats of what you’re making Blizzard!
Take Darkmoon Card: Greatness for example, introduced right when Wrath hit, this trinket grants 300 AGL/STR/INT or SPR on a proc, which is whenever you heal or deal damage. Sounds good right? The ONLY trinkets that surpass DMC:G for PvE rogues is Death’s Choice/Verdict and Deathbringer’s Will, because they give the same effect but stronger. This kind of gearing on rogues in Arena is the reason alot of other rogues who don’t have the gold to buy gear like DMC:G or the appropriate raiding guild to even see gear like this.
Playing a rogue is by far the most exciting and skill dependant class to play, especially with the constant nerfing and remodeling over the years, however, for those that refuse to give up, alot of times, it is going to dawn on you that giving in might be easier than trying to run uphill.
REROLL PRIEST IMO
Comment by Tokikonae (Stormreaver,US) — May 3, 2010 @ 12:24 pm
wassup tok
ya man i totally agree, but i guess most people that log onto the game would rather fight computerized encounters where you press 1 2 3 then 5. (whoa dont tell anyone my sooper secret pve rotation). i personally came from the halo 2 CSS cs 1.6 generation, and like to think personal skill should be greater than gear. now dont get me wrong, i hate seeing someone create, level, and fully gear a toon with best in slot pvp gear in less than 2 months. but i think it needs to be more seperate. where you either dedicate your time to pvp and follow that route, or you dedicate to pve. not both. and please make it a little tougher to get the pvp gear. yes 2200 is difficult to achieve, but there needs to be more rewards for those who achieve 2400 then 2600. just like heroic icc vs reg icc. imo btw but i think if blizz actually cared about pvp they could fix every problem with it. its not like they are underfunded. lol15bucksamonthfrom10millionpeople
Comment by uschearak — May 4, 2010 @ 8:39 am
….this game……is so hard…..
1st raids…. then… then arenas? like wow guys..
were not like…. all uber…. Ensidia at this game mkay?
2200. fuck… b realistic por favor…
Comment by Mavriic — May 4, 2010 @ 10:24 am
Yoo got the ultimate solution for vanish, after using that skill you get a buff stack(3) that last 5sec something like that…so each stack absorb 1 atack/damage until all stacks are consumer or the times goes off after that any damage will unstealth you again
What you think abaut this hmmm….lol
Comment by Hajaje — May 4, 2010 @ 7:32 pm
good post and think by trinkets you mean wont see a spellcleave with it at such a high frequency and so easily so is hard frequency good luck on tournament realm
Comment by joyo — May 5, 2010 @ 1:56 pm
You forgot to mention focus ShS Kick, as well as using ShD to re focus sap if your CC wears off during the ShD.
Also, if, as it seems, you’re using BS mainly just to proc Waylay, I’d much rather invest points in general DPS increasing talents from Assa than in Opportunity and Puncturing Wounds.
Comment by Leetkiller — May 6, 2010 @ 11:27 am
i <3 you!!
Comment by Claire — May 9, 2010 @ 6:20 am
Good read Shorn Lanord, best read Shorn, Will read again Shorn, BRB reading again Shorn, lol bored at school SHORN LANORD
Comment by Spooky — May 9, 2010 @ 7:04 pm
oh and to Hajaje, your solution to vanish is incredibly bias. I’m assuming you play a rogue and don’t realise how to vanish properly (no offense) but when timed right it will work NOTAGAINSTHUNTERSTHOUGHLOL. your “solution” is too overpowered for rogues, having that would make rogues so godmode when they already have enough cds to survive if played right and have good healer and assist. (hiren kiting reckfuls rmp for a good 30 seconds while his priest was in crazy amounts of CC). I play a rogue, warlock and mage at very high ratings and I have to say rogue is probably the hardest one to successfully arena with because of the RNG that can screw you over nearly vs every team but they are in a good place atm. could be better but Resto Shamans are prob the class that needs the most attention atm, they are just so tunnelable and they can barely do a thing about it. rogues need a damage buff, but they are already a great class. (Iem Global Finals – 3/4 teams in finals had a rogue in it, and the top 3 teams were all rogue teams). Rogues just suck 1v1, so if dueling is your forte, reroll mage and stomp everyone (Y).
Comment by Spooky — May 9, 2010 @ 7:10 pm
Ye about the dance about the armour pen? Socket Ap and Go With ap like mut. or Gem armour pen and get gear with it on i cant remember where but i heard u need 40% Armour Pen passive for Sub i play With a shadow priest and i heard sub is better for the burst plus i like the no dp. so u can gouge more and blind if u need to blind ur target for a switch or something
Comment by Sabrewulf — May 12, 2010 @ 7:34 pm
Socket Arp or go with ap like mut. (Typo ^)
Comment by Sabrewulf — May 12, 2010 @ 7:35 pm
Nice one Seezy brahhhhhh..keep it up!!!! agree with the wizard cleave though….
Comment by Gomeskiz — May 17, 2010 @ 5:11 am
Valuable thoughts and advices. I read your topic with great interest. In the way of baby gift ideas, this one is a winner.
Comment by Tim Fenninger — August 5, 2010 @ 10:20 pm