3.3 PTR: DK Chains Of Ice On Diminishing Returns, ESL Financial Troubles Greatly Exaggerated, 3.2.2: Death Of Dual Melee?

When Serennia-sama ditched his warrior for DK in WOTLK, I predicted that he would regret it someday.  The warrior class is as good of a blue chip as it gets, always winning the biggest tournament prizes, always a force to be reckoned with.  While DK was set up to be overpowered to attract fresh players, before nerfed into the ground.

The latest chains of ice change on PTR puts it on diminishing returns against itself.  I have been in many 1v1's against DKs at end of matches, all the DK has to do is get out of melee range once and I get perma kited by COI spams while his DOTs do the work.  And I am sure we have all experienced the joy of infinite COI spams after death grip, while you are trying to get to his healer. 

A long range ability with so much stopping power definitely should be on some sort of DRs, but will Blizzard give DKs something to compensate?  They are the only class without a top comp on SK-100 3v3.

3.2.2: Death Of Double Melee?

It is strange how less than two months ago, every time the gate opens I can expect some form of double melee team on the other side.  Today?  I see double caster teams more often than I see double melee teams, and on SK-100 3v3 ladder, every comp has at least one ranged.  The second highest rated comp, lock/mage/shaman uses two.  The stats doesn't even illustrate the ease for casters to put together a wizard cleave team, as you can throw any two PVP capable caster specs into a team, and you get results.  BG9's second highest team runs warlock/elemental shaman/discipline priest. 

What happened to classic cleave teams like the TSG and the many variations of warrior/ret, warrior/DK teams?  Two casters with 2700 spell damage and bloodlust, hard casting into one melee, that is what happened.  You could outmana a double caster team back in TBC, here in WOTLK with the match played at a much quicker pace, not to mention all the replenishment options, mana is never an issue.  All it takes is a blanket counterspell and two casters getting off their hard casts on one target at same time, and it is a sure kill.  Heck destruction warlock and elemental shaman are more than capable of solo 12-15K bursts on full resilience targets, and in 3.2.2 we can add arcane mage and marksman hunters (not a true caster, I know, but unless it is a plate, same result) into the mix.

But it is not damage alone that makes double caster teams dominant.  It is also the defensive capabilities.  Who are you going to kill?  Destruction warlock?  With the possible exception of beast cleave (STILL a top comp), no team can reliably drop a destruction warlock.  Their damage reduction is out of this world and the 30 second teleport with another DPS peeling is enough to shut down any rushdowns.  Frost mages?  Again, unless you have a hunter on your team, you don't go on the mage, too many roots/snares.  Elemental shaman?  Nasty 30% damage reduction when stunned (and you are forced to stun him to stop the hard casts), 20 yard AOE knock back, 52% physical damage reduction with shield on top of 6% overall damage reduction, AOE roots and stone claw totem for 4500 instant shields (basically a 30 second CD battlemaster that stacks with the real battlemaster).  This class is meant to survive assist trains in 5v5. 

And by the way, I don't think moonkins and shadowpriests are lacking in survivability, give them some easy instant 10K nukes and they will be right there.  And let's not forget the vastly superior CCs casters have over melee.  The only success we had against wizard cleave as rogue/ret/priest is training the healer.  Try to get a sap on the warlock, train the shaman while blowing all of our defensive cooldowns (cloak, bubble) offensively first 20 seconds of the fight, throwing all of our CCs on the warlock, priest pain suppression instead of healing so he can get off some DPS too.  Even then, any time we go past the 1 minute mark against wizard cleave, it is an auto-loss because it is too many CCs and too much damage.  And that is with two defensive dispels for immolation's and flame shocks.

Believe it or not, I actually believe wizard cleave is good for the game, as it really adds variety to comp choices for every class.  I have watched caster cleave mirrors, they are a lot more fun to watch than RMP mirrors and there is a lot of skills involved when it comes to landing and denying the sure kills.  However, immolation/flame shock -> nuke's are just too easy to land, and pretty much requires you to have a priest on your team to be able to deal with it effectively.  Blizzard need to look at what they did to retribution paladins and increase the number of GCDs it takes to get those nukes off.  Caster cleave is very strong with the CCs as it is, they really don't need IWIN buttons.

ESL Financial Troubles Greatly Exaggerated

As the reality of the job market sets in, the second leg of the double dip recession is about to kick in.  Programs like cash for clunker, $8000 first time home buyer credit can only take you so far.  The economy is still supported by income afterall.  As a responsible tax payer who never lived above my means, it simply disgusts me that tax payer dollars are spent to "keep people in their homes", like the 40K a year school teacher who bought a 500K house with no money down, who are you kidding?

In any case, the next 12 months will be critical for many gaming sites/organizations.  It is all about survival and if you can get out of this stretch alive, you are going to be around for many, many years to come.

ESL TV is coming back with a reloaded weekly show, and this time around they will greatly increase PVE coverage, a very smart move consider this allows them to reach a much broader audience.  The Intel Extreme Masters tournament also continued in Chengdu, China (admittedly no WOTLK, as the game is not even out in China), where Chinese players Fly100%/Sky won 1st and 3rd spots in WC3 against the likes of Moon/Grubby.

And with three more international events coming, it sure doesn't look like an organization out of cash.  Then again WSVG had grand plans when they folded too . . .

October 17th-24th 2009 DUBAI - Global Challenge Dubai

Februrary 12th-14th 2010 TAIPEI - Asian Championship Finals

March 4th-7th 2010 HANNOVER - World Championship Final

Can Anyone Beat A Top Frost Mage In A Best Of 5 Duel?

Boy I remember the times when mages had hard counters, but Flyn, the mage who plays with Hydra and until now, lived in his shadows is really coming out with a serious challenge (thanks Yiska). 

Arena rules (what goes in arena goes here), best of 5 duels with full cooldowns, you beat him you win 10000 gold, you lose you only pay 500.  20:1 odd sure sounds good, but so far, no one has been able to take 10000 off him, and he is playing on the #1 server in Europe, Stormscale.

I am wondering why haven't a feral druid challenged him yet.  With instant cyclones off 5 point finishers to heal back to full, complete immunity to sheep/roots, huge damage reduction during deep freeze stuns, that is one class he should have a hard time against.

Either way, it is sad that rogues are simply non-factors in duels these days.  What used to be a classic match-up is now a joke for any top frost mage.  I really hope 3.3 makes subtlety relevant.  I have very little motivation to duel these days when every class has one spec that eats us for free.  Will there ever be a day when a rogue can issue a 10K challenge?