Is skill necessary to excel in WoW?
- Thread starter Patrol
- Start date
Patrol
Legend
edit: For the purposes of this poll, skill is how consistently and how quickly one reacts in the optimal manner to any given pvp situation.
Less skilled players will react optimally less consistently and/or quickly, or their reactions will not be optimal, or any combo of the above
Less skilled players will react optimally less consistently and/or quickly, or their reactions will not be optimal, or any combo of the above
Last edited by a moderator:
Squeakyjack
Legend
Dang it hit the wrong button
CripzBlood
Legend
All u need is a priest...
Deadvulcano
Legend
By definition: skill is necessary to excel in WoW, or excel in washing dishes. But I answered no because the word skill is highly misused and skill is not the deciding factor in WoW.
Why didn't Klinda get back to his normal rating? It's the gear. Why didn't his skill overcome this? Because the game is based on time spent. But the disparity doesn't end there. There are significant advantages for certain classes or comps over others. Skill cannot overcome these advantages when the players are equally skilled. Skill cannot overcome broken gear/class/level mechanics.
Can a strong player overcome a weak player in PvP? Yes.
Can a strong player do 50% more dps than a weak player in raids with 1k less gear score? Yes.
But here is the problem:
Can strong player 'A' overcome strong player 'B' in PvP if player 'B' has significantly better gear? No.
Can strong player 'A' do 50% more dps than strong player 'B' in raids if player 'B' has 1k more gear score? No.
youakim
Guest
I voted yes, because gear can only carry a player so far.
kratos
Xarbage
If the game required no skill to excel, would anyone really be able to even excel at all?
If there were no skill involved in this game, everyone would be on the same level of play. There would be nothing to differentiate me from the next player, as we have the same amount of skill (which would be nonexistent) while playing the game.
Dictionary.com defines excel as, "Be exceptionally good at or proficient in an activity or subject."
So how can anyone excel without skill, because without skill, no one can be exceptionally good, in comparison to everyone else.
You could make the claim that then in this case, everyone is exceptional, since everyone is at equal level of nonexistent skill
But if everyone is exceptional, is anyone really?
If there were no skill involved in this game, everyone would be on the same level of play. There would be nothing to differentiate me from the next player, as we have the same amount of skill (which would be nonexistent) while playing the game.
Dictionary.com defines excel as, "Be exceptionally good at or proficient in an activity or subject."
So how can anyone excel without skill, because without skill, no one can be exceptionally good, in comparison to everyone else.
You could make the claim that then in this case, everyone is exceptional, since everyone is at equal level of nonexistent skill
But if everyone is exceptional, is anyone really?
youakim
Guest
damn i got size reducted
this post makes no sense now that inoobupro's got deleted
this post makes no sense now that inoobupro's got deleted
Last edited:
youakim
Guest
Let's be size reducted friends together
inoobupro
Banned
yes, just go horde. Reroll. You and youakim and your whole vasji team.Forever.They have a good horde community on AP.
This game only consists of gear and class.
youakim
Guest
SallyG
Legend
So after I win at the character selection screen and obtain the best gear, how do I excel? Or do things just fall into place from there? Do I need to push certain buttons? Or does that matter?
Inquiring minds.
I do agree that gear plays a huge role, but there is a certain amount of *skill* required as well.
Xanatos
Legend
Arena: It really depends on the comp you play and the one you face imo. As a lock I've been zerked by melee cleaves since 2008. If we faced casters game would often turn quite interesting; knowing when / how to interupt, put pressure, survive the mage etc can take some skill.
Duel: no balance for 1v1; hence the number of rogues / mage / priest duel addicts. no skill involved unless they go against each other
BG: I don't think you need skill either, but you need to be organized, think objectives and get the correct team.
So far I think:
Class > Gear > Skill
Gear before skill because after this patch with baseline 40% resi, a weak gear won't get you anywhere imo
Duel: no balance for 1v1; hence the number of rogues / mage / priest duel addicts. no skill involved unless they go against each other
BG: I don't think you need skill either, but you need to be organized, think objectives and get the correct team.
So far I think:
Class > Gear > Skill
Gear before skill because after this patch with baseline 40% resi, a weak gear won't get you anywhere imo
inoobupro
Banned
exactly 100% agreed, ive bee n trying to say this for a long time, I just dont understand how can people not get such an easy concept. All about teamwork and gear
ok...all you ever needed to do is to push button Y and button X for an easy kill on your enchanted whatever to kill a nonenchanted enemy. Like people said about hunters in cata ..you can just ''faceroll''and it will all fall into its place. P2p vs f2p.
Debacle
Legend
The power of the class is important.
Since Klinda was a focus of the OP, I'll stick with that. Season 11 warriors were very weak. Colossus smash was nerfed for pvp (was a full 100% in s9) among other things and frankly other melee classes just outshined warriors (rogues were ridiculous, paladins had tons of utility and off heals, necrotic strike stacks were super deadly against healers, feral druid survivability was off the charts).
I think the most important thing in arenas is comp. Playing with the right amount of CC that doesn't DR together, the right amount of healing and damage, etc just makes things so much easier.
I want to say that in 85 arenas gear isn't much of an issue. After a few months, just about everyone at the high ratings has full conquest pvp gear. However, season 11 left me feeling a bit sour. The pve trinkets from Dragon Soul and various weapons (heroic gurth / legendary daggers and staff) were ridiculously OP. A heroic cunning of the cruel was brutal in 3s, but it scaled with the amount of players you were facing, so it was much, much worse in rbgs. Get 2 locks, 2 spriests, 2 boomkins all with heroic cunning of cruels with 3 healers and a tank into 10v10 rbgs and you could probably coast to 2.2k+ with ease.
Skill is still important though. Even with the best comp and the bis geared characters all around, if the you and your teammates are trash, you're going to get stomped before you get too high. You still might make it higher in rating than some people believe you should, but I doubt you'd make it to gladiator or even duelist.
In twinking and especially f2p, I feel like less skill is involved. Classes have fewer abilities and cooldowns to manage and thus fewer ways to counter other classes' abilities. Certain classes can practically one shot others (hunters before, hpals briefly, etc). There is so few stats that maxing out those stats with the very best gear is very important.
Last edited by a moderator:
Mephisto
Legend
I feel this question has no real answer, and can be anything to any one person. I personally think it takes at least SOME skill to do well. Playing a rogue in Cata, I rarely ran into a paladin, or caster of any kind who even deigned to fake cast against me. The only one I could think of was some Resto Shaman.
Fake casting doesn't matter atm... but the point is basic skill to me is knowing your class's strengths and weakness, and what advantages you can exploit with your class mechanics fairly well, as well as knowing other classes strengths and weaknesses. like semi-kiting warriors (irks me greatly even today) and chaining kick and gouge together to shut down healers. Right now, it seems people will have to relearn their class and what they can do in MoP.
I rambled on a bit... but the gist of what I think is understood I hope.
Fake casting doesn't matter atm... but the point is basic skill to me is knowing your class's strengths and weakness, and what advantages you can exploit with your class mechanics fairly well, as well as knowing other classes strengths and weaknesses. like semi-kiting warriors (irks me greatly even today) and chaining kick and gouge together to shut down healers. Right now, it seems people will have to relearn their class and what they can do in MoP.
I rambled on a bit... but the gist of what I think is understood I hope.
Swoops
Legend
It seems like you're stuck on the concept of skill in terms of a FPS. WoW is very different from that. Skill in WoW doesn't come purely from mechanics/execution (for example, aiming better than your opponent). Using the spells themselves is very easy. You target someone and press a button. That's it. However, skill becomes a factor when you're processing the spells that you, your teammates and your enemies are using, then reacting as quickly as possible in the most optimal way. Yes, its a gear dependent game in which classes aren't anywhere near balanced in 1v1. People have advantages or disadvantages by default just based on the class they chose.
In WoW, skill is being aware of everything going on around you and acting on that. In a 1v1 battle, gear/class are most important in some order. But the thing that separates people in WoW PvP is situational awareness - working with your team, using line of sight, choosing the right ability to counter your opponents, etc. It's different from aiming quicker than someone and getting the first headshot in a FPS, but it is still skill.
This is how I'd see this fight working out at 20 in Cata:
Shaman purges PW:S, Fort and Renew. Priest has to spam Flash Heal to keep up with the damage. Shaman lines Wind Shear up with a focus dump, other hunter dies. If the Priest gets a fear off to CC the shaman, Earth Shield would have kept the hunter long enough for the Shaman to recover.
The skill isn't picking the right class, its knowing you picked the right class and taking advantage of that as much as possible.
In WoW, skill is being aware of everything going on around you and acting on that. In a 1v1 battle, gear/class are most important in some order. But the thing that separates people in WoW PvP is situational awareness - working with your team, using line of sight, choosing the right ability to counter your opponents, etc. It's different from aiming quicker than someone and getting the first headshot in a FPS, but it is still skill.
This is how I'd see this fight working out at 20 in Cata:
Shaman purges PW:S, Fort and Renew. Priest has to spam Flash Heal to keep up with the damage. Shaman lines Wind Shear up with a focus dump, other hunter dies. If the Priest gets a fear off to CC the shaman, Earth Shield would have kept the hunter long enough for the Shaman to recover.
The skill isn't picking the right class, its knowing you picked the right class and taking advantage of that as much as possible.