Upswag
Legend
I'm from the same era of [MENTION=24731]MYT[/MENTION] (That 2's team he's talking about 
). Really quick history, because I do think Nasti is not getting the respect he deserves. This isn't just some random old guy popping out of the woodworks who once was terrible. This is the co-GM of arguably the best US twink guild of all time (Make Your Time, wish Pwndepot was up so you newer twinks could go search them). No guild inspired hate like MYT did (I'm sure Pizza, and/or Atax if he still plays, can back me up on this one) because they did everything they could to win and they did win. So if he's washed up now, as I'm sure most of us would be after a long, long break (or if he's not, I don't know, I don't care) at least give him the benefit of the doubt when he's talking about back then. They really were that good. Think WT except everyone played 19s still.
Now [MENTION=17093]Healsatin[/MENTION], I do want to answer why I think some of us transplant players from other times can come in to the bracket and do well, or better, then currently long-term players. [MENTION=19918]Skeezin[/MENTION], I'd love some backup in terms of just saying I'm not talking shit here, and it's not my style - I can back up what I say. Anyhow, I came back on my mage Icjyr for a little bit, regeared, went Arcane etc. When I did start again, everyone told me to go Frost; Arcane wasn't good, you're just not going to compete. Fair, but I'm a stubborn idiot so fuck it, I stayed arcane. What followed was interesting. I did well. Really well even. Now a lot of this is attributed to Horde just being better at the time with healers (meaning I could sit in mid and not spend the whole game running/kiting) but I went 9-0, 7-0, 8-1 etc respectively and I would generally be on the top end of damage.
I talked with @HB about it a little and I came to an interesting conclusion. I think in every "era" there are players who are really, really good. Think of your Pizza's, Beau's, Obliviate's, Atax's - those guys who everyone knows is just on another level. It's not that they hit their "5 buttons" better - they just make less mistakes. They make those crazy plays you weren't thinking about, they're in the right place, when you have 10 HP left, they seem to be the person with the clutch heal that saves you, the clutch sheep that frees you or the kick at the right time.
Those players are going to be the best in any era. Why? Because they adapt. They don't play to a mentality, they don't believe in metas. Yes, the other 19 players in the BG might be sitting in mid hitting each other because that's what you do. But these players are the ones trying to sneak a hit on your EFC when you're not expecting it, the ones trying to slow your team in the tunnel so their FC gets the flag that much faster, the ones pushing way up more than they should because landing that one CS might turn the tide. What they are not, are the players competing to stand behind each other to multi-DoT or cast as much as they can so they can prove they do the most damage.
That's the difference. And I understand that. Most of you are new to WoW (new in the sense that you've only seen the one or two metas). You don't remember when RBGs first came out and every guild had an RBG team that had a different strategy. You didn't see rogue FCs, Enh FCs, Kiting vs Defending vs Mid vs Assault First and all of those crazy strategies. And that's okay. But you have to understand that WoW is not a single sourced game. It's dynamic. You have to adapt. You have to change.
The reason I did well on an arcane mage (and I do think that I have at least a little something to do with all of these other mages now being arcane) was simply as I told [MENTION=19918]Skeezin[/MENTION] and [MENTION=3652]Nicozy[/MENTION] was because I pushed. That's why I got mad at your guild when I quit 19s a few weeks ago in that 9 man team. SPECIFIC ANSWER tailored JUST for you [MENTION=17093]Healsatin[/MENTION] - you guys don't push forward. Time and time again I was the most advanced in positioning as an arcane mage (not advanced in the skill-sense but rather the literal position sense, I was standing the most forward). Why? Because I noticed their healers were close enough that I could CC them (they weren't used to being CC'd since hunters stopped having them), but also because everyone thought so little of arcane mages that they just let me free cast massive damage into them. (see 2 pre-conceived notions that gave me a huge advantage and gave long term players a hindrance). Most of these games I literally stood to the right side of the rocks in the middle and arcane blasted while alternating sheeps on healers. Nothing special. I'll be the first to admit it. Anyone who figured out that they could stand there could have done what I did, and hell I know some of you could do better.
The difference? You didn't. No one else positioned there. No one on the Alliance team thought "Hey, maybe we should move a bit so we're not getting casted on through rocks." Please. Please. I'm begging you. Pretend one time when you play WSG that you aren't going to do what you usually do. Don't go healing your friend or the Godmode player that you know is good. Don't not heal (BARB) someone because you don't know who they are. Don't position in the same place you always do because that's what you and your 7 guildies do every game. Change it up. Adapt. Do something different.
It'll be a more fun game, you'll find you're much, much better at it AND you'll stop judging how you did via a damage done sheet because you'll accept FOR YOURSELF that no matter what anyone else did, you contributed to your team.
PS: You'll find you're at the top of the damage meters doing that anyhow.
TL;DR: I write too much - Don't do what the All-Stars in the bracket are doing. They understand why they do what they do because they put in the work and the struggle figuring it out. If you just copy their talents, their glyphs, their playstyle, you've only learned half the battle - what to do but not why you do it. When you face someone who does something even moderately different, you won't be able to adapt whereas that player you copied will. IE: Messi, Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Andre Agassi, JK Rowling (or whatever you consider to be your passion with it's respective hero) - all had different steps in their lives that contributed to their greatness. Messi was short, so he learned to be quick and agile, poor, so he learned how to juggle to support his family. Tiger Woods grew up with his Mom's Asian discipline so he learned how to work 24/7 to get better. Jordan's childhood contributed to his "never losing" persona and so on. You could in theory, spend all your time mimic'ing them. You could learn Tiger Wood's swing, you could learn how Messi hits the football, how Jordan arcs his hands just so for a swish or how JK Rowling puts words together so they sing. You could learn all of this, but you would never be as good.
In WSG, copying what WT does, or HB, or whoever you think is good might teach you the meta, but it doesn't teach you WHY the meta is so good or WHY this specific meta works. It doesn't allow for creativity. And like the previous examples, you will never be as good.
). Really quick history, because I do think Nasti is not getting the respect he deserves. This isn't just some random old guy popping out of the woodworks who once was terrible. This is the co-GM of arguably the best US twink guild of all time (Make Your Time, wish Pwndepot was up so you newer twinks could go search them). No guild inspired hate like MYT did (I'm sure Pizza, and/or Atax if he still plays, can back me up on this one) because they did everything they could to win and they did win. So if he's washed up now, as I'm sure most of us would be after a long, long break (or if he's not, I don't know, I don't care) at least give him the benefit of the doubt when he's talking about back then. They really were that good. Think WT except everyone played 19s still.Now [MENTION=17093]Healsatin[/MENTION], I do want to answer why I think some of us transplant players from other times can come in to the bracket and do well, or better, then currently long-term players. [MENTION=19918]Skeezin[/MENTION], I'd love some backup in terms of just saying I'm not talking shit here, and it's not my style - I can back up what I say. Anyhow, I came back on my mage Icjyr for a little bit, regeared, went Arcane etc. When I did start again, everyone told me to go Frost; Arcane wasn't good, you're just not going to compete. Fair, but I'm a stubborn idiot so fuck it, I stayed arcane. What followed was interesting. I did well. Really well even. Now a lot of this is attributed to Horde just being better at the time with healers (meaning I could sit in mid and not spend the whole game running/kiting) but I went 9-0, 7-0, 8-1 etc respectively and I would generally be on the top end of damage.
I talked with @HB about it a little and I came to an interesting conclusion. I think in every "era" there are players who are really, really good. Think of your Pizza's, Beau's, Obliviate's, Atax's - those guys who everyone knows is just on another level. It's not that they hit their "5 buttons" better - they just make less mistakes. They make those crazy plays you weren't thinking about, they're in the right place, when you have 10 HP left, they seem to be the person with the clutch heal that saves you, the clutch sheep that frees you or the kick at the right time.
Those players are going to be the best in any era. Why? Because they adapt. They don't play to a mentality, they don't believe in metas. Yes, the other 19 players in the BG might be sitting in mid hitting each other because that's what you do. But these players are the ones trying to sneak a hit on your EFC when you're not expecting it, the ones trying to slow your team in the tunnel so their FC gets the flag that much faster, the ones pushing way up more than they should because landing that one CS might turn the tide. What they are not, are the players competing to stand behind each other to multi-DoT or cast as much as they can so they can prove they do the most damage.
That's the difference. And I understand that. Most of you are new to WoW (new in the sense that you've only seen the one or two metas). You don't remember when RBGs first came out and every guild had an RBG team that had a different strategy. You didn't see rogue FCs, Enh FCs, Kiting vs Defending vs Mid vs Assault First and all of those crazy strategies. And that's okay. But you have to understand that WoW is not a single sourced game. It's dynamic. You have to adapt. You have to change.
The reason I did well on an arcane mage (and I do think that I have at least a little something to do with all of these other mages now being arcane) was simply as I told [MENTION=19918]Skeezin[/MENTION] and [MENTION=3652]Nicozy[/MENTION] was because I pushed. That's why I got mad at your guild when I quit 19s a few weeks ago in that 9 man team. SPECIFIC ANSWER tailored JUST for you [MENTION=17093]Healsatin[/MENTION] - you guys don't push forward. Time and time again I was the most advanced in positioning as an arcane mage (not advanced in the skill-sense but rather the literal position sense, I was standing the most forward). Why? Because I noticed their healers were close enough that I could CC them (they weren't used to being CC'd since hunters stopped having them), but also because everyone thought so little of arcane mages that they just let me free cast massive damage into them. (see 2 pre-conceived notions that gave me a huge advantage and gave long term players a hindrance). Most of these games I literally stood to the right side of the rocks in the middle and arcane blasted while alternating sheeps on healers. Nothing special. I'll be the first to admit it. Anyone who figured out that they could stand there could have done what I did, and hell I know some of you could do better.
The difference? You didn't. No one else positioned there. No one on the Alliance team thought "Hey, maybe we should move a bit so we're not getting casted on through rocks." Please. Please. I'm begging you. Pretend one time when you play WSG that you aren't going to do what you usually do. Don't go healing your friend or the Godmode player that you know is good. Don't not heal (BARB) someone because you don't know who they are. Don't position in the same place you always do because that's what you and your 7 guildies do every game. Change it up. Adapt. Do something different.
It'll be a more fun game, you'll find you're much, much better at it AND you'll stop judging how you did via a damage done sheet because you'll accept FOR YOURSELF that no matter what anyone else did, you contributed to your team.
PS: You'll find you're at the top of the damage meters doing that anyhow.
TL;DR: I write too much
- Don't do what the All-Stars in the bracket are doing. They understand why they do what they do because they put in the work and the struggle figuring it out. If you just copy their talents, their glyphs, their playstyle, you've only learned half the battle - what to do but not why you do it. When you face someone who does something even moderately different, you won't be able to adapt whereas that player you copied will. IE: Messi, Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Andre Agassi, JK Rowling (or whatever you consider to be your passion with it's respective hero) - all had different steps in their lives that contributed to their greatness. Messi was short, so he learned to be quick and agile, poor, so he learned how to juggle to support his family. Tiger Woods grew up with his Mom's Asian discipline so he learned how to work 24/7 to get better. Jordan's childhood contributed to his "never losing" persona and so on. You could in theory, spend all your time mimic'ing them. You could learn Tiger Wood's swing, you could learn how Messi hits the football, how Jordan arcs his hands just so for a swish or how JK Rowling puts words together so they sing. You could learn all of this, but you would never be as good. In WSG, copying what WT does, or HB, or whoever you think is good might teach you the meta, but it doesn't teach you WHY the meta is so good or WHY this specific meta works. It doesn't allow for creativity. And like the previous examples, you will never be as good.
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