kablam
OG
Guide to Arena:
-Class combos: Most of the time on AP, your team won't have an ideal class combo (whether intentionally or not) because there are a limited number of people willing to play and we're just trying to get games going. Whatever the combo is have a plan in mind to maximize each players utility. Have a kill target in mind, work out who you're going to sheep/fear/root etc.
-Don't overextend. Unless you're really really really impatient and are willing to risk it, wait for the enemy team to come to you. Most of the time its easier and leaves your group less susceptible to bursty openers. In the situations where its not, someone more experienced in your team will likely speak up.
-Awareness. Probably the most important thing in arenas. You have to learn to know whats going on. Who on your team is targeting who, who on your team is getting targeted, are they planning to burst anyone, do your mage and healer still have plenty of mana, do THEIR mage and healer still have plenty of mana? A lot of the time going in with a plan can only get you so far. The enemy team has a plan as well and adjusting to it is one of the key parts of optimal arena play.
-Know what the enemy team can use against you. Just like you have CCs and burst and are using them to maximize your utility, so will they. You have to be anticipating their openers, CC targets, kill target, hard switches, etc.
-Keeping your healer alive. Probably one of the most important things. You have to know when to use peels (slows or any other CC that will get the enemy melee off your healer), LoS, and hard target swapping to give your healer some breaks. Vent helps a lot for this, especially if you don't have the highest level of situational awareness, because your healer can just call out when he needs help.
-Keeping the other healer locked down or focusing him. The other healer is what you need to get through in order to win. In some cases, you're team might have enough dps to just completely ignore the healer but when you're in that situation you'll probably just win anyway. A lot of classes have interrupts and CCs. All of these are in the game to be utilized. If you're new to arena and not sure when is the best time to use them, try asking someone in your group that isn't as new. He might have a better idea of how your team should time them and whether you should try and lock out or just burn the enemy healer. This is a very helpful macro that you can use to interrupt a healer or other caster without switching your target: /cast [target=focus] Wind Shear
-Be careful with how you use your trinket and other important CDs. Don't take this as me saying don't use them, because you should. You just need to know when the best times to use them are. Trinket in f2p has a 5 minute cooldown time which is huge. Most of the time it means you'll only be able to use it once in a game.
-Exploit the enemy team. This isn't some cruel tactic and the other team will be doing it as well whether you realize it or not. Some classes are weaker than others and some players are weaker than others. This holds true at max level and in f2p. If they have a particularly weak player (whether it be because of skill or gear) you'll be able to see it almost immediately. He'll be ignoring a lot of the concepts mentioned above and many times, because of this, he can almost be ignored himself. Unless they're playing a ret which is going to hurt no matter how bad you are, weaker players are generally less of a threat than a stronger one. They won't be as familiar with how to position or handle burst and will be completely lost with target swaps. This holds to your advantage. Also, some classes are just easier to kill than others (resulting in them being called squishy). A lock or enhancement sham is going to get torn up by a feral druid or fury war sitting on them. Learn which classes are more vulnerable to burst etc.
-Line of Sight. It can be to your advantage and disadvantage. I'm really tempted to write up a guide on the individual arenas just because line of sight is so important and people should really know how it varies from arena to arena. If the enemy team has a lot of casters line of sight is usually good for you (if you have a lot, the opposite). Healers can jump into sight when they need to throw up an earth shield or flash of light and jump back behind the pillar for protection afterwards. As a dps, you need to be aware of your LoS to your healer. A healer can't heal you if you constantly run back and forth around pillars chasing the druid in cheetah form that you'll never be able to catch. There are lots of addons that can help you if you're having trouble with this; try asking around for them. Also, LoS doesn't just apply to pillars or other objects. Running BEHIND a mage/lock/balDruid etc right before they finish a cast means they can't hit you. Just realized as well, if you don't have show enemy cast bars on in your interface, turn it on. It helps a lot.
-Have fun, it will make you a better player. Believe it or not, you're going to lose. Most likely, a lot. Don't look at is as "Oh no this is all my fault I'm weighing down my team Cotus is the best mage in the world and we just lost its all my fault im gunna be hated by all of AP fuckkkk *ninja logs*" Whether you're losing or not, you're most likely picking up tricks that can be applied to every part of WoW (Yes, including your beloved battlegrounds. Ever wonder why the players that do arenas ARE the "better" players on AP?). Arenas are also a great time to get to know people. Hit up d@+ p@r+ii ch@+ N g3t deh L0Lz r0ll1ng 1N.
P.S. Google what diminishing returns are.
P.P.S. Don't be scared to just ask to join arenas. You might be intimidated by some of the "better" players, but most of them arn't scary. They're willing to give advice and understand that everyone has to start somewhere. Most of the time, teams will even be balanced around this understanding. Nobody plays arenas on AP because they enjoy face rolling. If you haven't picked up from this thread, arena players enjoy balance and competition and will balance teams around that.
Billow outttttttttttttttttttttttttttt.
-Class combos: Most of the time on AP, your team won't have an ideal class combo (whether intentionally or not) because there are a limited number of people willing to play and we're just trying to get games going. Whatever the combo is have a plan in mind to maximize each players utility. Have a kill target in mind, work out who you're going to sheep/fear/root etc.
-Don't overextend. Unless you're really really really impatient and are willing to risk it, wait for the enemy team to come to you. Most of the time its easier and leaves your group less susceptible to bursty openers. In the situations where its not, someone more experienced in your team will likely speak up.
-Awareness. Probably the most important thing in arenas. You have to learn to know whats going on. Who on your team is targeting who, who on your team is getting targeted, are they planning to burst anyone, do your mage and healer still have plenty of mana, do THEIR mage and healer still have plenty of mana? A lot of the time going in with a plan can only get you so far. The enemy team has a plan as well and adjusting to it is one of the key parts of optimal arena play.
-Know what the enemy team can use against you. Just like you have CCs and burst and are using them to maximize your utility, so will they. You have to be anticipating their openers, CC targets, kill target, hard switches, etc.
-Keeping your healer alive. Probably one of the most important things. You have to know when to use peels (slows or any other CC that will get the enemy melee off your healer), LoS, and hard target swapping to give your healer some breaks. Vent helps a lot for this, especially if you don't have the highest level of situational awareness, because your healer can just call out when he needs help.
-Keeping the other healer locked down or focusing him. The other healer is what you need to get through in order to win. In some cases, you're team might have enough dps to just completely ignore the healer but when you're in that situation you'll probably just win anyway. A lot of classes have interrupts and CCs. All of these are in the game to be utilized. If you're new to arena and not sure when is the best time to use them, try asking someone in your group that isn't as new. He might have a better idea of how your team should time them and whether you should try and lock out or just burn the enemy healer. This is a very helpful macro that you can use to interrupt a healer or other caster without switching your target: /cast [target=focus] Wind Shear
-Be careful with how you use your trinket and other important CDs. Don't take this as me saying don't use them, because you should. You just need to know when the best times to use them are. Trinket in f2p has a 5 minute cooldown time which is huge. Most of the time it means you'll only be able to use it once in a game.
-Exploit the enemy team. This isn't some cruel tactic and the other team will be doing it as well whether you realize it or not. Some classes are weaker than others and some players are weaker than others. This holds true at max level and in f2p. If they have a particularly weak player (whether it be because of skill or gear) you'll be able to see it almost immediately. He'll be ignoring a lot of the concepts mentioned above and many times, because of this, he can almost be ignored himself. Unless they're playing a ret which is going to hurt no matter how bad you are, weaker players are generally less of a threat than a stronger one. They won't be as familiar with how to position or handle burst and will be completely lost with target swaps. This holds to your advantage. Also, some classes are just easier to kill than others (resulting in them being called squishy). A lock or enhancement sham is going to get torn up by a feral druid or fury war sitting on them. Learn which classes are more vulnerable to burst etc.
-Line of Sight. It can be to your advantage and disadvantage. I'm really tempted to write up a guide on the individual arenas just because line of sight is so important and people should really know how it varies from arena to arena. If the enemy team has a lot of casters line of sight is usually good for you (if you have a lot, the opposite). Healers can jump into sight when they need to throw up an earth shield or flash of light and jump back behind the pillar for protection afterwards. As a dps, you need to be aware of your LoS to your healer. A healer can't heal you if you constantly run back and forth around pillars chasing the druid in cheetah form that you'll never be able to catch. There are lots of addons that can help you if you're having trouble with this; try asking around for them. Also, LoS doesn't just apply to pillars or other objects. Running BEHIND a mage/lock/balDruid etc right before they finish a cast means they can't hit you. Just realized as well, if you don't have show enemy cast bars on in your interface, turn it on. It helps a lot.
-Have fun, it will make you a better player. Believe it or not, you're going to lose. Most likely, a lot. Don't look at is as "Oh no this is all my fault I'm weighing down my team Cotus is the best mage in the world and we just lost its all my fault im gunna be hated by all of AP fuckkkk *ninja logs*" Whether you're losing or not, you're most likely picking up tricks that can be applied to every part of WoW (Yes, including your beloved battlegrounds. Ever wonder why the players that do arenas ARE the "better" players on AP?). Arenas are also a great time to get to know people. Hit up d@+ p@r+ii ch@+ N g3t deh L0Lz r0ll1ng 1N.
P.S. Google what diminishing returns are.
P.P.S. Don't be scared to just ask to join arenas. You might be intimidated by some of the "better" players, but most of them arn't scary. They're willing to give advice and understand that everyone has to start somewhere. Most of the time, teams will even be balanced around this understanding. Nobody plays arenas on AP because they enjoy face rolling. If you haven't picked up from this thread, arena players enjoy balance and competition and will balance teams around that.
Billow outttttttttttttttttttttttttttt.
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