Blog Posts from "Paladin HQ" - Gameriot.com

"cLeave" & PMR - let's break down the 3v3 FOTM

no.spam@gameriot.com (Zilea) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:11:49 -0400

In TBC, I remember 2 types of comps that literally represented 95-99% of the comps that you would ever play against in the higher ratings post season 2: PMR and any comp with a druid. Yep, no paladins and definitely no shamans. The 1% that played comps that did not fit this mold was always a surprise when I played against it. Unfortunately, Blizzard never really managed to actually break this mold during TBC; it was a new expansion that broke the mold.

Now there is a new style of FOTM that occupies that 95-99% threshold: PMR and "cLeave". I think I speak for everyone when I say that when I queue 3v3 and I run into a comp that is a form of cleave (bm hunter/dk/pally, feral/priest/rogue, ret pally/priest/rogue, pally/war/dk, etc etc etc the list goes on indefinitely), that first moment of seeing it is the moment that I just want to leave (hence, "cLeave"). Before people start flaming, let me go ahead and address my cleave comp in 3v3 by saying: I don't like running it and I feel that in many matches it is not really skill based. I would prefer it got nerfed into the ground so I could run something like pally/lock/dk. However, PMR would also need to get nerfed really hard because if you only subtract cleave from the 3v3 equation, I'm confident PMR would run even more rampant than it already does.

Has anyone ever sat there and queued 50+ games and looked at the types of comps you played? I've never took a hard tally but I can accurately say that in a 50 game session of 3v3 last week, probably 2 matches did not fit the mold of PMR or "cLeave".

I don't care what anyone says, both comps are disgustingly stupid and need to be nerfed. People always tell me "PMR has the highest threshold dude, it's completely balanced". Then why is it 30% of the 5 most popular teams over 2200 are PMR (source: http://www.realmhistory.net/arena-statistics/team-setup.html) and have always been, even since TBC? Are they all really that good? Trust me on this one when I say that less than 5% of the teams over 2200 are actually good. To think that 30% of the teams over 2200, which are PMR, are good and are not just rolling with an overpowered comp is naive and idiotic.

Do people really still believe that the only reason that the past 3 or 4 LAN tournaments have resulted with 75%+ of the final 4 consisting of PMR is because they're all "pro" and they just made a balanced comp work and they're just so much better than anyone else? News flash: the comp is retarded and has huge advantages over everything else in the game. I've never been able to consistently beat PMR in the history of WoW, even with the best players in the game. I've teamed up with every "allstar" I can ever think of and the matches against even low PMRs are never walks in the park, period.

The only thing I can really say in defense of PMR is thank god it's not like cleave comps where there is literally no finesse, but come on. These PMRs can drop 30K dmg in 2 globals followed by one polymorph into a cheapshot -> kidney shot/shatter. Arguing that PMR doesn't need to get toned down is like saying destro lock burst is absolutely fine because locks get destroyed by cleave.

"cLeave" - you know it needs to get nerfed when you're watching a 3v3 stream of a feral/priest/hunter team in the hunter's PoV and the hunter is backpedaling, clicks close to 85% of his buttons (including his attacks) and is 2300 in 3v3. It's too bad I don't remember the guy's name, but it was pretty sad how a guy like that could get as high as he was by clicking just about everything. It was even more sad that his partners were still playing with a guy who clicks almost everything.

Playing with mods vs playing without

no.spam@gameriot.com (Zilea) — Sat, 30 May 2009 01:55:37 -0400

As a Paladin, the single most annoying thing about playing in arena with no mods when you know everyone else is using mods: your Divine Plea will never last more than 1 tick against any team with a priest/shaman on maps like Ring of Valor.
I can't count the number of times I would pop Divine Plea only to have it almost immediately dispelled on that map. And, on a few occasions on the other maps, I learned the hard way that popping Divine Plea 3 yards away from a pillar, even if you are about to run behind it, is not good enough to protect your Divine Plea against teams with Spellalerter/Xperl (Xperl will display buffs on the /focus frame and Spellalerter will tell you immediately when someone uses Divine Plea).

In the bigger scheme of things, though, mods are a serious crutch. I personally never thought so until I started adjusting without said mods. I started becoming more aware of things whereas before I could gaze at the middle of my screen to tell me when a druid was cycloning, a priest was mana burning, etc. If you play with 300 mods, have your frames moved around, buffs and debuffs placed in strange positions, you are just hurting yourself. Sure, you will be completely accustomed to them and play well, but you will slowly become more oblivious to the game and become more attached to relying on your mods to keep you alert.

In the past few weeks I've been watching a lot of streams on Xfire and, surprisingly, there are an awful lot of people that play with few (if any) mods. And many people use smaller mods like Gladius and OmniCC, which is a lot less significant than something like Spellalerter.

To those that do use a ridiculous amount of mods, it's ok to use them, but know that the skill cap is much lower for you because of how those mods are assisting you.

Want to fix arena?

no.spam@gameriot.com (Zilea) — Fri, 01 May 2009 01:36:26 -0400

UPDATE: Sorry to the admins if this appears twice but gameriot is doing some funky stuff. I put this blog up like 3 hours ago and it never actually displayed.

The TR and season 5 are over, and with the end of them, the game has changed dramatically in season 6. Hello priest/rogue, goodbye hunter/X, etc etc etc. Let's cut to the chase: here's how Blizzard will fix arena.

-Increase everyone's HP by 50%
This will fix the problem of people getting insta-gibbed and will nerf the speccs that undeniably need to be nerfed (Ret paladins, feral druids, destruction warlock). The side effect of this will also be nerfing comps that are obscenely burst-reliant, like Priest/Mage/Rogue.

-Remove professions in arena
Anyone enjoy playing against people who have the hand-rocket, lightning generators and rocket boots only to lose because of either ridiculous burst or because people can get away from you when they shouldn't be able to? Yeah, me neither. PMRs are also notorious for utilizing these tools and winning many matches simply because of it (see teams like Affix's PMR, where I'm pretty sure all 3 players are engineering and will drop someone from 100% to 0% in literally 2 GCDs).

-Nerf Mana Burn
With Priest's mana longevity as high as it is now, mana burn needs to be addressed. Now arguably the healer with the most longevity in the game, the priest should not also be the most offensive in the game.

-Remove Vindication
This will also reduce the number of debuffs ret paladins can apply but will address the primary problem that ret paladins just do way too much unpredictable burst damage.

-Remove Unrelenting Assault
We get it, warriors were really bad last season, but did Blizzard really need to add a 75% healing reduction?

-PMR must die out
I feel like this one really deserves some serious attention from Blizzard.

If every comp in the game had the durability to survive an expansion pack and 5 seasons, then the strength of PMR could be justified. Unfortunately, every other comp in the entire game goes through phases (IE: patches hit and a lot of the FOTM comps phase out), yet PMR has been able to sustain its power. From a third party's perspective, it seems fantastic that 3 players can play one comp for tournament after tournament, patch after patch, expansion after expansion.

Problem: if one comp can be powerful indefinitely, then the legitimacy of tournaments become jeopardized for the reason that teams that don'trun PMR have to constantly adapt to new patches, seasons and class changes while the PMR teams can constantly build on their comp and get an innate advantage by nature of having more experience time. Trust me, if I could have run one comp for 5 seasons, I would be invincible, would have a 99% win ratio and be able to take down every team in the entire game. Unfortunately, that isn't the case, and I, like every other WoW player that doesn't play PMR, have to constantly be dealing with the hurdles of FOTM comps being nerfed.

Kill PMR. Force these priest/mage/rogue players to be innovative and create a new comp just like the rest of us are always having to do.

-Remove all proc-based trinkets that release burst damage
I can't even begin to understand how Blizzard intends to address burst damage (from all classes really) in the future without first addressing this. Having 2 rogues open on you with those proc trinkets, lightning generators and handrockets will lead to even a paladin going from 100% to 20% before the cheapshot even wears off.

-Remove the waterfall on Dalaran Arena
Don't think I need to explain why on this one.

-Remove the fire on Ring of Valor
Same as previous answer.

-Make the pillars on Ring of Valor permanently up
Refer to previous answer.

Want to fix arena?

no.spam@gameriot.com (Zilea) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 21:14:37 -0400

-Increase everyone's HP by 50%
This will fix the problem of people getting insta-gibbed and will nerf the speccs that undeniably need to be nerfed (Ret paladins, feral druids, destruction warlock). The side effect of this will also be nerfing comps that are obscenely burst-reliant, like Priest/Mage/Rogue.

-Remove professions in arena
Anyone enjoy playing against people who have the hand-rocket, lightning generators and rocket boots only to lose because of either ridiculous burst or because people can get away from you when they shouldn't be able to? Yeah, me neither. PMRs are also notorious for utilizing these tools and winning many matches simply because of it (see teams like Affix's PMR, where I'm pretty sure all 3 players are engineering and will drop someone from 100% to 0% in literally 2 GCDs).

-Nerf Mana Burn
With Priest's mana longevity as high as it is now, mana burn needs to be addressed. Now arguably the healer with the most longevity in the game, the priest should not also be the most offensive in the game.

-Remove Vindication
This will also reduce the number of debuffs ret paladins can apply but will address the primary problem that ret paladins just do way too much unpredictable burst damage.

-Remove Unrelenting Assault
We get it, warriors were really bad last season, but did Blizzard really need to add a 75% healing reduction?

-PMR must die out
I feel like this one really deserves some serious attention from Blizzard.

If every comp in the game had the durability to survive an expansion pack and 5 seasons, then the strength of PMR could be justified. Unfortunately, every other comp in the entire game goes through phases (IE: patches hit and a lot of the FOTM comps phase out), yet PMR has been able to sustain its power. From a third party's perspective, it seems fantastic that 3 players can play one comp for tournament after tournament, patch after patch, expansion after expansion.

Problem: if one comp can be powerful indefinitely, then the legitimacy of tournaments become jeopardized for the reason that teams that don'trun PMR have to constantly adapt to new patches, seasons and class changes while the PMR teams can constantly build on their comp and get an innate advantage by nature of having more experience time. Trust me, if I could have run one comp for 5 seasons, I would be invincible, would have a 99% win ratio and be able to take down every team in the entire game. Unfortunately, that isn't the case, and I, like every other WoW player that doesn't play PMR, have to constantly be dealing with the hurdles of FOTM comps being nerfed.

Kill PMR. Force these priest/mage/rogue players to be innovative and create a new comp just like the rest of us are always having to do.

-Remove all proc-based trinkets that release burst damage
I can't even begin to understand how Blizzard intends to address burst damage (from all classes really) in the future without first addressing this. Having 2 rogues open on you with those proc trinkets, lightning generators and handrockets will lead to even a paladin going from 100% to 20% before the cheapshot even wears off.

-Remove the waterfall on Dalaran Arena
Don't think I need to explain why on this one.

-Remove the fire on Ring of Valor
Same as previous answer.

-Make the pillars on Ring of Valor permanently up
Refer to previous answer.

Retribution Paladin MS in, balance out; UPDATE: Blizz rescinds change

no.spam@gameriot.com (Zilea) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 19:57:39 -0400

UPDATE: It appears that less than 45 minutes of the patch notes coming up, there was a firestorm of complaints, and Ghostcrawler has responded with the following:

- Ghostcrawler

Crusader Strike - is now an instant strike that causes 110% weapon damage. In addition, if you strike a player while they are casting, their magical damage and healing will be reduced by 50% for 6 sec.

I can think of over 1000 reasons why this is a stupid change and needs to be removed immediately unless retribution paladin's damage drops significantly:
Ever run into a ret pally/dk/resto shaman 3v3 team? Ever seen the damage they put out? Now imagine healing through it with an MS on someone.
An ability that is on a 6 second cooldown with an MS if it lands during a spellcast is beyond stupid when the class getting it already produces absurd, unpredictable burst damage.

God help all of us if you get Crusader Striked during a spellcast and a dk/ret paladin are training your ass.

What's next, feral druids getting an MS?

Blizzard, what are you doing?

Battle Report II, SK-USA collapses

no.spam@gameriot.com (Zilea) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 03:18:05 -0400

Filling in for the lazy bastards at WoM (well not really, but here we go). - Kigz

This is looking like a grim future for team SK-USA, let's hope things turn out well for them. But, will Serennia learn to stick with his teammates instead of cycling to new players on a weekly basis?

Mirror images no longer cast polymorph, SS lasts 1 min, UA & Fear, 75% MS, DKs need nerfs

no.spam@gameriot.com (Zilea) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 19:36:29 -0400

Directly from the test realm patch notes:

Last night I engaged in 2v2 to try to see if I could climb rating. It was looking pretty good, until we actually got into a game. We faced a myriad of pally/dks, of which many didn't last very long, but after eyeing the stats with the new WoWarmory page, it rose a few eyebrows...

Let's take a look at the team we went 0-2 against last night:
FatmommadotTV vs Dark Edge of Insanity
So, the key points that need to be looked at: my warrior did 74,000 damage compared to the DKs 227,000 damage. What's wrong with this picture? Well, I would argue the numbers alone show that DKs need to be nerfed significantly and warriors need to be buffed significantly, but let's go ahead and take a look at the kind of gear the DK is wearing with his shadow/frost damage spec:
Here's the DK
Although the DKs armory is no longer showing it, this guy was using an Earthshaker, from Molten Core against my team.
I'm sorry, but aside from the fact that DK damage is out of control, if you are using a level 60 weapon and suffering no realpenalty to your gameplay, there is something seriously wrong.
If you are playing a pally/dk comp in 2v2, an account closure is warranted.

UPDATE: I decided that I was tired of losing to terrible pally/dks like the one listed above. So, I got a friend of mine to play DK, and we went ahead and queued and ended up vsing the team with the earthshaker. Carnage ensued as we absolutely obliterated them and tanked them hard from their first place position.

What have we learned about LAN tournaments?

no.spam@gameriot.com (Zilea) — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 16:26:42 -0500

For those waking up just now, like me, after refusing to stay up all of last night to watch the ESL matches, the game history is here

For one, Serennia and Sck were never actually on the team that Realz was on that landed him first place at the last tournament (in patch 3.0, mind you). In other words, SK USA should not have gotten a free pass to this tournament simply because one of their members got first place in the previous tournament (you know, with a completely different lineup). And, in the end, it all really showed with SK USA going 1-4.

Number two, it is very obvious from observing this tournament that the teams really are, for the most part, outdated. I know for a fact on the TR and on live that less than 15% of the teams I play against are PMR, and most are struggling to handle the myriad of hunter/lock variants, dk/lock/pally and dk/hunter/paladin.
So it is clear to me that this tournament (and future tournaments) really need to reshuffle the playing deck and start incorporating teams from the TR that are doing well rather than teams from one year, one expansion pack ago. It is similar to the WSVG days of 2007 where the exact same 4 or 5 teams went to every tournament for over half a year, despite the fact that many of those players (IE: Xecks) stopped playing the game halfway through the duration of all those tournaments. It all reeks of croneyism and something should really be done about it.

Number three, the US teams that went to the tournament are ******* awful. Complexity goes 0-5? Gee that isn't a surprise when their main comp is druid/mage/rogue, which is a terrible comp. And, everyone knows if you're playing on an alt to run PMR, you're probably not going to be beating the pure PMR teams in the tournament (or, in Complexity's case, none of them. Grats on 0-5 dude, and thanks for making the USA look so good!). Honestly though, when you are playing on a random BG and not even in the top 20 on the TR, what do you expect to accomplish? I'm pretty sure tonight's Ming blog will continue to anally destroy Complexity, so I'll leave the rest to him.
After watching SK EU vs SK USA and then watching SK USA v Complexity, it was pretty sad how much worse complexity was at running PMR.

Oh yeah, why the **** did those PMRs vs SK USA not try to, you know, sap?
On my experiences vs PMRs on the TR, the mage and priest stay way back, mounted, while the rogue saps either me or my DK partner and they open up on the hunter, dishing out close to 65K damage in less than 10 seconds. None of those teams vs Serennia managed to get a single sap off, or even try.

Number four, I have had this undying nature towards PMR for at least a year now, and watching tournaments where half the teams consist of PMR just makes my blood boil. It is the comp I have always found tantamount to dropping every cooldown within the first 20 seconds to get a kill. And, if that early burst fails, the PMR almost always collapses and loses. I would love to see PMR die out forever. There are other incredibly powerful comps with rogues and mages, folks. For example, I've been running pally/mage/DK incognito on the TR and it is an amazing comp, more amazing than people acknowledge.
PMRs, try something innovative, the environment allows for that (hello shaman/lock/hunter), and any comp is really possible if you work at it in season 5.

UPDATE: I would like to commentate alongside 2GD and that other guy that always gets picked on. I will make it very interesting.

Big changes keep coming, holy/ret speccers cringe, OP priest ability arrives!

no.spam@gameriot.com (Zilea) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 17:58:55 -0500

*New Talent* - When you cast Power Word: Shield, you increase the target's movement speed by 30/60% for 4 sec, and you have a 50% chance when you cast Abolish Disease on yourself to also cleanse 1 poison effect in addition to diseases.

This won't last. And, if it does, rogues are screwed. On a side note, it is pretty deep in the holy tree.

49/22/0 Holy Paladin spec cemented

no.spam@gameriot.com (Zilea) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 23:56:50 -0500

To all holy paladins:
Say hello to your new specc for at least the next 6 months.

-Improved Devotion Aura (Tier 4) now increases the amount healed on any target affected by any of your Auras by 2%. (Previously only worked with Devotion Aura active)
Improved Devotion Aura: The additional healing granted by this talent now becomes active when any Aura is used, not just Devotion Aura.
-New Talent Divinity:Tier 1 protection talent, increases healing done by and to you by 1/2/3/4/5%.

Now, I have heard rumors that Divinity isn't in the prot tree yet on the PTR (corroboration needed), but hopefully it will be soon.

In any case, with the changes to Blessed Hands (no longer 30% dispel resistance), the lowering of Divine Purpose 1 full tier down to make it more difficult to get with Enlightened Judgments, things are looking grim for the holy/ret spec.

To those that went 49/0/22 (like me) and didn't get repentance, the choice of going even farther down the ret tree probably doesn't sound very appealing. And, it doesn't for good reason.

Viper Sting re-designed: Stings the target, draining 4% of mana over 8 sec (up to a maximum of 8% of the caster's maximum mana), and energizing the Hunter equal to 300% of the amount drained. Only one Sting per Hunter can be active on any one target.

Unless I am mistaken, it used to drain 16% mana over 8 seconds. This is a huge nerf nonetheless for hunters against any priest team.

YES! YES! GOODBYE DIVINE PURPOSE SPECCS

no.spam@gameriot.com (Zilea) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 04:02:11 -0500

Divine Purpose has been moved from Tier 5 to Tier 6.
THANK YOU.

I can now enjoy the FUN spec of holy/prot.

Wyvern Sting duration increased from 12 sec to 30 sec. PvP duration reduced from 10 sec to 6 sec.
FINALLY.

Roar of Sacrifice can be used on the hunter only. YEA

OH, AND:

Maim now stuns the target instead of incapacitate.

GOODBYE.

OH WAIT I WONT HAVE DIVINE PURPOSE NEXT PATCH. ****.

WAIT THEY WILL DR WITH HOJ IF PEOPLE RUN FERAL/HOLY PALLY.
YES!.

Pure of Heart (Tier 5) now reduces Curse, Poison, and Disease effects by 15/30%. (Previously was 25/50% but did not include poisons).
**** HEX WILL LAST 7 SECONDS INSTEAD OF 5! DAMNIT. OH WAIT, IT AFFECTS POISON, SO THE NEW 6 SECOND WYVERN STING + THIS TALENT = 4 SECOND WYVERN STINGS.

Blessed Hands has been moved from Tier 5 to Tier 4 and now reduces the mana cost of Hand of Freedom, Hand of Sacrifice and Hand of Salvation by 15/30% and cooldowns by 10/20%.
SWEET! 20 second cooldown on freedom!

CRAP! where do I stand as a paladin after this crap?

Battle Report - Does Blizzard really need a big patch for some of this?

no.spam@gameriot.com (Zilea) — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 21:19:54 -0500

Nerf hunters

From KJ to Tichondrius, why sponsorships mean nothing (especially if not on BG9)

no.spam@gameriot.com (Zilea) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 20:00:24 -0500

About 2 weeks ago, after much debate about what to do about arena partners, I decided to go to Tichondrius. Much of this had to do with the serious lack of talented players on Kil'Jaeden. It's sad, but there are only a very small handful of players that are even remotely adept at arena. I spent literally months battling it out with one of my partners, trying to get him to arena, which he apparently despises. In any case, I have moved to Tichondrius, with a new name. Thanks to some ****** who has been retaining a level 15 horde character named Zilea for close to 2 years now, I am unable to use that name (and yes, I have tried ticketing a GM).

With team rating, personal rating, and now a "hidden" rating, does anyone understand this system in its entirety? I understand the intent is to prevent low level teams from having to play against gladiators who are making new teams/playing with their friends on other teams, but the system appears to be getting more complex as days go by. People are telling me that their PR is going up incredibly slowly now. I guess it could be because their "HR" (hidden rating) is at 1500. At any event, which rating takes precedence in determing arena points now?

Apparently being a duelist and being top 10 is normal nowadays, LF alliance tich pally

no.spam@gameriot.com (Zilea) — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 05:13:59 -0500

So it seems that Blizzard has made damage out of control, to the point where any retard can run heavy DPS teams and get high rated.

Tips on how to find out if you're really not that good and have come across a dumbed down game with out of control damage and are high rated because of it:

-You are a duelist or rival and have never gotten gladiator but suddenly find yourself top 10 in the ladder brackets. (Example: Wildpaw of Kil'Jaeden)

-You click your buttons

-You find yourself beating big name players, even though you've never done so before and don't understand why it is happening.

-You are running stupid comps that no one ever thought could ever be successful in a million years in a balanced game (Examples: Mage/Mage/Rogue, Protwarr/X/Y, Prot pally/X/Y, and my favorite, double BM hunter/Resto shaman).

The fact that my team has actually played a double BM hunter/resto shaman comp and lost numerous times as the hunters insta-gibbed one of my rogues with beast within shows that there is much that needs to be done to fix arena.
Another example that you know the game is broken: the #3 3v3 team on BG9 right now: http://www.wowarmory.com/team-info.xml?r=Kil%27jaeden&ts=3&t=much+like+ur+posting&select=much+like+ur+posting&fl=1. Yes, this team really is a protwarr/dk/pally, and yes they really are rank 3. The reason that team is so high is generally because DKs are completely out of control, but the point stands that damage in general needs to be chopped down.

Unfortunately, most of the fears I had during 3.0 and while leveling are starting to come true: without some tough nerfs to classes across the board, arena may be an unsettling sight for a long time to come. Hell, even my team of pally/rogue/rogue in 3v3 is taking advantage of the damage output, with people dying in the first kidney shot 5 seconds into arena matches as both my rogues pummel the living crap out of the target.

If Blizzard leaves the game as-is, the damage will just continue to propel out of control as Ulduar's 25 man instance comes out. The future of arena is not going to be a pretty sight unless either resilience is changed to cut all damage by a %, as Kintt suggested, or all classes receive a sharp cut in their damage output.

It's your move now, Blizzard. You can either do what is suggested and keep the world peaceful,

or, you can anger the beast within, and the darkness in my soul will come out:

This is not an advertising scheme to make money, so admins don't explode. I'm just looking for any Tichondrius paladin that would be willing to let me play their pally for arena. You will basically be guaranteed decent arena points and PR. Contact me either on gameriot (I don't even know if you can PM anymore, and I don't know how to check my gameriot mail anymore, so don't PM me on gameriot) or AIM. My aim: Zilea

Oh yeah, alliance only.

The zerg train that is arena, hotfix inc for Strand of the Ancients

no.spam@gameriot.com (Zilea) — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 14:31:21 -0500

I would hope by this posting that everyone is aware that Strand of the Ancients is the most effective way to get honor, especially in a premade, because of the current imbalance of the system. I promise all readers that a hotfix will be coming very soon, so listen carefully.

Currently, alliance always goes offense first. This is crucial for premades because alliance can win the first round in ~2-4 minutes (which only goes them that much time when they go offense), while a horde premade, which is always defense first, must sit through the 10 minute timer. This is definitely a big deal if you're trying to farm honor as fast as you can, because very soon it will be hotfixed so that the game randomizes who goes offense first.

So, get your honor now and quickly before it gets hotfixed!

DK nerfs finally hit, pally 3v3 comps

no.spam@gameriot.com (Zilea) — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 15:41:37 -0500

Just a quick update in light of new events before I go to class.

And the list wouldn't be complete if we didn't include the most anti-druid lineup in existence. With a mutilate rogue's Deadly Brew to keep all 3 poisons up, a DK's death grip and a Holy Paladin's 40 yard judgment, any team with a druid will be fodder to this melee train.

Blizzard fails at Raid IDs, Revelations continue on Wintergrasp

no.spam@gameriot.com (Zilea) — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 01:53:04 -0500

If you didn't think I could come up with more problems in WoW to complain about, you'll be in for a shocker.

Does Blizzard read gameriot? Looks like it, Wintergrasp nerfed.

no.spam@gameriot.com (Zilea) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 18:29:34 -0500

Was it the whining? Was it the popularity? Was it the controversial issues?

Who knows, but Blizzard has gone ahead and begun to drop the nerf hammer on Vault of Archavon, the Wintergrasp instance.

after this week's maintenance, it has been changed to a 1 week timer (up from a 3 day timer) for both the 10 and 25 man.Â

Definitely a step in the right direction. Nonetheless, we must push onward. The instance needs to be removed entirely and points need to be awarded for winning wintergrasp instead of going into an instance.

Allowing PvEers to just walk around and get 3 pieces of arena gear, which takes over a month to obtain in arena, even if you're a top player, is stupid.

Comments?

Is DPS being curbed at lvl 80?

no.spam@gameriot.com (Zilea) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 15:35:47 -0500

I've been level 80 for about half a week now and originally I was not disturbed by the lvl 70 pvp damage output in patch 3.0 because I always believed that HP would scale faster than damage at lvl 80.
However, I'm starting to get a little concerned, and it may have to do with the lack of resilience availability, but needless to say Blizzard may need to take a second look at the damage-to-hp ratios that currently exist at lvl 80.

Although I am still wearing a lot of lvl 70 gear and only have 15.4K hp (with like 300 resilience on), I went ahead and tried dueling a few classes.

As ret spec, I dueled mages, rogues, DKs and a few prot warriors.
Against a mage I would say the duel lasted a fairly lengthy amount of time compared to the others, so there wasn't much to learn.
But, against rogues, I would freedom a cheapshot to break it (I'm not exactly the best ret pally btw) and within 2 seconds would be dropped to 5K hp. Surprisingly, I would actually be able to pull off a few wins against some rogues without even shielding due to ridiculous crit damage by me in 2 globals.
Nonetheless, the duels would end in less than 10 seconds.

Against DKs, it was a pretty even matchup but the fights were still fairly lengthy.

Against prot warriors, the most disturbing fight I did, forced me to shield literally 5 seconds into the match (albeit the warrior had 31K hp and tons of epic prot gear on), with me doing less than 3K damage.

As holy, I would lose constantly to almost every arcane/fire mage with no way to really predict the damage. Hot streak or whatever the **** the thing is called which apparently grants an instant cast spell, PoM and the arcane barrage bologna in arcane makes healing through instant 6-9K damage rotations almost impossible to respond to. I would wear all my resilience gear from lvl 70 and still get blown away before I could even react.

Against rogues as holy, the results were equally disgusting. Faking heals would have almost no effect against the new kick which is no longer on GCD. Furthermore, when 99% of rogues right now are mutilate and have all 3 poisons up on you, getting any spells off that have a cast time is impossible. Again, I would get completely demolished in a few short seconds unless I blew divine shield.

Should we be concerned? Has anyone on the beta (maybe you had access to lvl 80 PvP gear) had different experiences? I've been getting increasingly wary on what could be another patch 3.0 moment in lvl 80 arena.

Lake Wintergrasp - A colossal failure, PvPers set back, $100 contest

no.spam@gameriot.com (Zilea) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:57:59 -0500

Blizzard wins at fixing PvE, fails at PvP

no.spam@gameriot.com (Zilea) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:14:56 -0500

My next blog post is going to be related to sick stuff that has an appeal that makes it hard for people to stop reading/watching. Ever heard of Salad Fingers? Ed Gein? If you can't wait and want to get an idea of what I'm talking about go wiki/google it. That **** is beyond belief and interesting.

But, here's a sample:
"He later recounted an incident in which a male lover took him to a waxworks museum, where Fish was fascinated by a bisection of a penis; soon after, he developed a morbid interest in castration. During a relationship with a mentally retarded man, Fish attempted to castrate him after tying him up. The man became frightened and fled."

"He took cotton balls, soaked them in alcohol, and set them on fire in his anus. He also hit himself repeatedly with a nail-studded paddle and would shove needles into his body. He would place these between his rectum and his scrotum."

-Albert Fish

Calling all Paladins on Alliance Tichondrius and Horde Kil'Jaeden

no.spam@gameriot.com (Zilea) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 15:44:15 -0500

The xpac is closing in, and I am curious to know what classes everyone is rolling. A lot of people I know appear to be abandoning druids. Huh? Druids aren't going to be as OP, but they certainly won't be weak. Is this how people react? A class is removed from the OP list and they start hopping around looking for the next OP class? Hint: Play a class and master it and don't rely on OP classes. You can make a class that isn't popular incredibly effective.

Even tournament-goers that I know of are alternating their healers to something other than druids. Gross. Bandwagoning is a scumbag tactic, and unfortunately it will continue.

I'm curious to know what classes you currently play and if you are switching to a new class for xpac. And if so, which one?
I've been interested in the Death Knight, but I honestly know almost nothing about them and have read very little about them during the past few months. Hence why you have seen no comments regarding the DK in my blog. Supposedly they are the counter to druids with their hot-dispel-amabob. Which, in either case, is also disgusting that people abandon classes because they feel they might not be OP anymore.

Give me some feedback.

Slapnuts, Kyle P., anyone? Why is it when I click on the side of gameriot, I get re-directed to an advertisement, even though I don't see an ad where I'm clicking? Fix please.

Left 4 Dead really is amazing, but will the game have replay value?

no.spam@gameriot.com (Zilea) — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 14:41:46 -0500

For anyone that still doesn't know what's been going on, Left 4 Dead is a new game by Valve and my friend told me that it is an insanely fun game and that I should play it on his steam account. Being as hesitant as I am because of the kind of games that he likes, I wasn't really planning on trying it out until I saw others on gameriot saying how amazing it is.

I did try it and it really is incredible. I don't know how many times I can play the same level over and over again online, but I still want to play it more even after beating the first campaign level in expert.

The question isn't whether the rest of the campaign will be fun, most of us already know it will be. The question is whether the game will hold up on the versus mode and whether good maps will be created by the community. I've played Zombie master and overall I find it dull and stupid. Partially because ammo is always an issue, but also because I just don't like the maps very much, etc.

Nobody knows how fun the versus mode will be, and I'm actually thinking of not buying the game until I play it on my friend's account when it comes out so I can see if the versus mode is any good.

If anyone else on gameriot has played Left 4 Dead a lot and knows a lot about this game and wants to give me their two cents on the game (and versus mode) regarding replay value or any other aspect, please let'er rip.

Ret is dead, but not because of the damage nerfs

no.spam@gameriot.com (Zilea) — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 18:37:06 -0500

For those insulting me because of my previous blog posts regarding mana, I'm not talking about judgments of the wise. I'm talking about Judgment of Wisdom. However, seeing the current numbers and experience, Judgments of the Wise's nerfs may have been slightly overboard.

Pre-patch, I was getting something like 200 mana back per judgment of wisdom proc. Judgment of Wisdom and Seal of Wisdom were recently changed to a % based off of the paladin's maximum mana pool, but it appears that the recent patch brought a nerf to judgment of wisdom, something I definitely didn't catch.

My ret pally has 7200 mana on live. Pre-patch, I was getting ~200 or so mana back per judgment of wisdom proc. Post the recent patch, I am now getting 72 mana per judgment of wisdom proc. Huh? My ret paladin is literally choking to keep his mana up while judging wisdom on cooldown and using only the core damage abilities (Divine storm, crusader strike, judgment). A blue mentioned how using just these abilities would be good enough to keep a paladin's mana healthy at all times, and would only dip if the paladin utilized abilities like consecrate, holy wrath, exorcism, etc.

Why did they change it to a % base? Beats me, but even on my holy paladin, I get ~120 mana back per judgment of wisdom proc, which is a complete joke.

At 80? Retribution paladins become crippled. Instead of having a 7200 mana pool like I do on live on my ret pally, I'm going to have ~4500 at lvl 80, which is going to be a very tight mana budget.

Prediction: when paladins realize how badly the wisdom nerf hurts their retribution spec, these changes will be reverted. Will people realize it and complain before lvl 80 comes along and leaves them terrible for months before Blizzard realizes it? Probably not.

Changes that need to be implemented to balance WoW for WotLK part 2, please vote!

no.spam@gameriot.com (Zilea) — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 18:59:08 -0400

We are now less than 2 weeks from the release of WotLK, and as Blizzard scrambles to nerf all of the overpowered classes in record time (not even applying the changes to actual patches, but hotfixes), you have to wonder what happened the past year and a half as druids ran wild without not more than a glance as they tore up the brackets. Were Blizzard employees asleep at the switch?

Onward to part 2 of what else needs to be changed to this game to balance it at lvl 80.

We're 3 days away from having the results come in on who will be our new president (if you live in the USA). Please, I don't care if you don't like obama, just please do the following:

-Vote! I don't care who you support, everyone should go out and vote so that we don't have elections that can be contested by "well if everyone actually went out and voted" blah blah blah. If obama loses and more people vote than ever before, I will be happy with the results no matter how they go. Exercise our rights so that democracy can continue. If you don't like any of the candidates, fine, just go in on election day and vote on your state's propositions or on congressional members.

-Vote because of the issues, not because of what someone looks like. Don't vote for obama because mccain is old and don't vote for mccain because you don't like the color of obama's skin. Don't be a racist, vote on real issues, not on what someone looks like. If you like the personalities of one and you want to vote on that, go ahead. But don't vote for one person because the other person doesn't look the way you would like them to look.

Ret Paladin finally cut down, Mages slowly getting brought down.

no.spam@gameriot.com (Zilea) — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 01:01:37 -0400

After a couple weeks of complete ret paladin domination, they finally brought down some pretty big nerfs that will put them down for the count. Also, mages have started receiving some needed nerfs as well.

-Cold as Ice doesn't affect Deep Freeze anymore.

The Brain Freeze nerf essentially prevents mages from getting their instant fireballs from abilities like ice lance. (Thank god)

Clearly, though, mages haven't received enough nerfs. (Where are the monster Arcane Barrage nerfs that they should be getting?)

Changes that need to be implemented to balance WoW for WotLK.

no.spam@gameriot.com (Zilea) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:41:36 -0400

Under 4 weeks left until the release of WotLK, and although many claim that the current patch is irrelevant to what will become of game balance at lvl 80, there are lessons that have and will be learned during our stay in patch 3.0.

Although people are claiming that ret pallies, mages and even mutilate rogues need to have their damage nerfed, damage isn't what needs to be considered when looking at lvl 80 balance. There are broad, general things that need be tweaked that would improve the game far more than looking at how much damage Divine Storm or Frostfire bolt does, these things can be tweaked easily.

I've had a great time playing arena in this patch. Although I completely acknowledge that damage is out of control (I run holy pally/rogue and we actually killed a warrior in a kidney shot 5 seconds into the match because we both pumped damage and the druid wasn't ready for it) I still feel that being useful for once in arena is a refreshing experience. It's just really fun being able to keep teammates alive against CC-heavy teams with the new buffs to holy shock and the new talent Infusion of Light.

I will, however, comment on how embarrassing the game's current state is in. Up until ~2050 in 2v2 I was still facing ret paladins, most of which were sporting a full s2 set, including the weapon. It's obvious to any astute observer that these guys would be sitting at 1650 with their gear and skill level, because most of them were really bad. Fortunately, at least when I was playing 2v2, there were no ret paladins after around 2050.

Just to get a little feeling on how powerful holy paladins are, I got to 2200 with just 3 losses in 2v2. Sadly, most people are still just running ret paladins and completely ignoring what the holy paladin brings to the table.

I have heard from friends, though, that 3v3 is completely insane with PMR roaming all over the place killing people in the first kidney shot. Apparently, dismantling a warrior prevents them from spell reflecting. lol? That'll get changed real soon.

Also, Obama 2008.

10/14/08 - Rise of the Paladin

no.spam@gameriot.com (Zilea) — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 13:29:12 -0400

We're only 8 days away until what will be, in my mind, the biggest shift of class balance that has ever occurred to World of Warcraft with the implementation of just one patch. Overnight the game you knew and loved will be lost. In its place, will be a new direction of which class is deemed to be powerful and, we will see this new dynamic riddled with class imbalances and bugs that will frustrate those that used to be overpowered/overly represented and will please those that for so long have been sitting in the corner with pure darkness.

We won't see warriors and rogues be the standard melee for almost every comp. Instead, we'll see retribution paladins and hunters.

We won't see druids be the standard healer for 95% of all class compositions. Instead, we'll see druids split their popularity alongside the holy Paladin.

Warlocks will evaporate entirely from the arena scene, with the currently overpowered mages steamrolling everybody with deep freeze and even more ridiculous burst than they have now on live. I just don't see any way in the current PTR for a warlock to ever compete with a mage, and I've heard pretty bad things about warlocks in the beta. So until something changes, mages will reign supreme.

It will be unfortunate for many people who have not had to resort to rerolling classes (warriors, rogues, warlocks) but will inevitably have to with the new changes. Unless the aforementioned new strong classes don't receive some significant nerfs or warriors/rogues/warlocks don't get buffs, we will see these game imbalances carry over to WotLK.

The real loser in 3.0 is the disc priest. From what I have read and understood, they haven't gotten nearly as much as the resto druid or the holy paladin. And, while the holy paladin is going to be incredibly flexible in arena with 6 second holy shocks, the new narrative of arena is simply going to shift from druids dominating to druids sharing their domination with paladins.
I'm still not entirely sure of what to make of the resto shaman.

10/14/08 - (:

Honor not reset. I win. You guys all suck.

no.spam@gameriot.com (Zilea) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 20:26:43 -0400

I told everyone immediately that this honor reset would never sit. I win. Everyone told me I was full of crap, including my guildmates.

September 24, 2008, when I made my post saying Blizzard will never follow through with the honor reset:

http://wowriot.gameriot.com/blogs/World-of-Zilea/Honor-removal-unlikely-to-stick-Zilea-2-release-date/

Zilea 1 Released

no.spam@gameriot.com (Zilea) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:37:49 -0400

Zilea 1 released, link at bottom.

Notes on the video:

The video consists of matches with my rogue teammate Kazel and the games with me running pally/war are with Hoodrych. The video consists of only 2v2 matches.

I think this video is significantly better than the small clips I released in the past because with exception to one match, they're all pretty quick games. The one long match is the Luen/Rngrofl game which gameriot visiters have seen before.

People to thank for the video are Hoodrych and Kazel, who are arguably both the best at their class in World of Warcraft.

Kazel is a rogue from BG9 who has had no time in the limelight because he has been for the most part restricted to me as a teammate. I will say though that with all the rogues I've played with and against, Kazel steamrolls all of them hands down. The only comparison though that matters is with Neilyo, who I've unfortunately never played with but have played against numerous times. Kazel is at the same level or just a small step below Neilyo and it is too bad that Kazel has not gotten much exposure due to his lack of willingness to play arena with other high caliber players.

It's a shame warcraftmovies.com is a giant sewer that takes like 10 days to upload videos, or I wouldn't be using filefront for my video.

Links:

http://warcraftmovies.com/movieview.php?id=90309

http://files.filefront.com/Zilea+1+Finalwmv/;11896426;/fileinfo.html