New to Arenas? Arena DOs and DON'Ts Thread.

[Bop]

I do like the idea of set target interrupts bound. I've never had a high success rate with mouseover interrupts. I use a lot of addons, but I admittedly have not tried a lot of the standard arena-centered ones. It's time I do. Good stuff.

Gladius/Healbot are necessities in arena for basically every class, imo. Healbot is like a mouseover macro that doesn't have you chasing down people with your mouse.

 

[Fael]

Gladius/Healbot are necessities in arena for basically every class, imo. Healbot is like a mouseover macro that doesn't have you chasing down people with your mouse.

I wouldn't recommend mouse over healing as a healer in arenas, stick to targeting your self and party members with hotkeys, and use the appropriate healing spell. It's a lot more efficient as well once you get the hang of it.

 

[Bop]

I wouldn't recommend mouse over healing as a healer in arenas, stick to targeting your self and party members with hotkeys, and use the appropriate healing spell. It's a lot more efficient as well once you get the hang of it.

Healbot is probably the most efficient way to heal. But it will definitely be one of the hardest to learn well.

You have a UI that allows you to bind modifiers to your mouse buttons. That allows for faster reaction times and micro management of allies and their dispels without having to keybind targetting. Keybinding targetting has always been problematic for my playstyle, because I don't have any keybinds that would be easily accessible for that. And this is F2P. At endgame Healbot was a life saver for me.

Keybinding allied targets in arenas is definitely one way to go about it. But it is clunky and non-perfect - at least from my point of view.

 

[Flynn]

The most important bit of advice I'd have to give is that this isn't Blizzcon or anything spectacular, these are f2p arenas.
Know that F2P is very random at times due to us being low levels, and shit happens.
Don't be nervous, expect to lose a few games here and there, and most of all have fun with it.

Some more tips:
- If you have CC, don't be afraid to use it. Turning a 2v2 into a 1v2, or a 3v3 into a 2v3 is incredibly useful.
- Watch your positioning at all times, keep an eye on where your healer is so that you don't LoS them.
- Communicate, communicate, communicate.
- Watch the enemies position. If an enemy is ranging/LoSing their healer, capitalize on it and make them pay for it.
- Don't be afraid to swap targets in the middle of the arena.

 

[Zehj]

not really a tip more arena etiquette but if you queue into a game with uneven numbers let the other team 2v2 or 1v1

obviously johnny feral and his monk friends don't give a crap about playing fair so if you aren't drooling all over your keyboard step back and let the other team have a decent game

 

[Neon]

get a preset team and use a voice communication program all the advice u need

 

[Patrol]

More addons & ui = more crutch, less game. Are u playing numbers and icons and nameplates or r u playing the characters and environment?

 

[Spiriel]

I agree. While ppl can ofc do what the hell they want, more addons arent the best way to go.
For example I use Vial as the only addon in arena and in BGs Battlegroundtarget as addition. Rest is macros.
This isnt vanilla, blizzard put good work in the unitframes so make the best out of it.

 

[Revlo]

In regards to the healing talk. I will give healbot a try and see if it is something that would help. I currently do use mouseover healing over raid frames, which is pretty fast and accurate. I also always keep my focus target as a member on my team. I have a heal focus and heal self bind. If I have more than one healing ability the macros I use have a modifier to simplify things. In 2s I never have to mouseover heal anything with this setup. I also have a target focus's target bind which I spam quite often to be sure I am focusing the same target as my partner. When not using voice communication this helps a lot. In general I don't want to ever hard target a teammate as that pulls my dps abilities away from an enemy.

In 3s though, I do use mouseover on raid frames, but I may end up setting specific party healing macros for each teammate. I need to play with it and see if I have a reasonable amount of keybind space available. I'm gonna give healbot a go to and see how it jives and the benefits of it.

 

[Zatox]

Best advice I could give is don't use heal bit or any form of mouse over healing. Use the key bound targeting functions they give you. I use QES for ally targets and middle mouse wheel up, down, and click for enemy. Mouse over healing has your eyes fixated on your raid frames, not what's actually happening in the game.

 

[Bop]

I disagree pretty heartily with using a different method to heal in arenas as you do in battlegrounds.

I think that's fairly cheap such that it will affect either your performance in battlegrounds or arenas. There's no reason not to use a grid frame (such as heal bot) for healing in both scenarios.

Keybinding healing is pretty basic and less effectual because it is an inefficient use of keybinds - but it's easier to teach than how to effectively use a grid addon. So if you're a new healer in arenas, keybind targetting would probably be easier to teach. But some of the best players in the world use addons for healing in arenas - it isn't a settled subject by far.

 

[Fael]

I disagree pretty heartily with using a different method to heal in arenas as you do in battlegrounds.

I think that's fairly cheap such that it will affect either your performance in battlegrounds or arenas. There's no reason not to use a grid frame (such as heal bot) for healing in both scenarios.

Keybinding healing is pretty basic and less effectual because it is an inefficient use of keybinds - but it's easier to teach than how to effectively use a grid addon. So if you're a new healer in arenas, keybind targetting would probably be easier to teach. But some of the best players in the world use addons for healing in arenas - it isn't a settled subject by far.

What players? Cdew sodah minpojke and countless others don't use a heal bot or other addon to heal. I really don't know what players you're talking about.

 

[Upswag]

What players? Cdew sodah minpojke and countless others don't use a heal bot or other addon to heal. I really don't know what players you're talking about.

I also want to chime in and say you're the first time I've seen someone say use healbot over everything else. I'm pretty sure nearly anyone I've played with uses arena target macros.

 

[Fael]

I also want to chime in and say you're the first time I've seen someone say use healbot over everything else. I'm pretty sure nearly anyone I've played with uses arena target macros.

Are you talking about bop? Lol Im against heal bot in arena in with the target macros

 

[Zatox]

To say that instantly targeting someone via keybind then healing vs wasting travel time to your frames, losing precious awareness is obsolete is a tad bit ridiculous, bop. You're better then that. Don't turn into a mrcer

 

[Bop]

You don't waste travel time to your frames. You're imagining a style of play that is far different than what it actually is in reality.

Grid Frames allow me to multi-task and effectively perform two tasks at once. There is no delay in my performing of one action versus my performance of another, as you have described.

You're burning straw men. "Losing precious awareness" ... Wat? I'm not looking at my frames when I'm using them for a macro. I don't need to look at a part of the screen to click it. Maybe that's where the problem is - you don't think that's possible? You can play against me in arena anytime you'd like, and see if my playstyle is inferior to any other healer in this bracket. I played meta arenas since they were released. I even used keybind targeting in arenas - in fact, I did that back in Merciless and Brutal, even getting Gladiator in Brutal.

I swapped over once I saw the benefit of not having to change targets to heal. You're not giving away the targets of your healing, you free up space on your keyboard for other keybinds, and you certainly do not lose awareness of the match.

I also strongly advise against mirroring your style off of a handful of streamers. The style I adapted was originally used by Revolutiox's Resto Shaman healer in 3's. Last I checked he was 3100 in Cataclysm, making him the rank 1 team in NA during the first 3 months of the season. I met him in WotLK, where he was still a title glad. I can't say for sure what his rating was at that time.

One way to get some of the benefits of grid healing without using an addon would be to keybind @target modifiers for each of your spells. But that is kind of absurd to have to re-arrange the entirety of your bars for that purpose when there is an addon that does the exact same thing for you.

This thread is borderline derailing - so let's get back on focus. If you have questions about the way I heal, you're more than welcome to ask me about it. I've gotten more than a fair share of criticisms for it over the years. Which is fairly amusing, because generally the critics were people just on the cusp of becoming glads, who were angry because someone who played better than themselves was using something they had been ingrained to naturally shy away from.

The Mouse and the Keyboard are both tools for good play. It's borderline ignorance to believe that there are no ways more efficient than the setup you are currently using.

 

[Wizkidone]

To each their own guys, and bop is an excellent healer so let him do what works for him!

 

[Brov]

 

[wicktick]

The Mouse and the Keyboard are both tools for good play.

Either way, healbot is not a "must-have" like you were saying earlier. It works for you and I'm sure it works for other people, but there's no reason someone would need to switch to using it in arenas other than they're more comfortable with the grid than with switching targets.

 

[Spiriel]

So you click insignia or what?