March 06, 2007
40-49 Paladin Tactics for Arathi Basin
I apologize for the title lacking wit. I feel so witless, like I don't have my wits about me. Must be Zanzil's Juice.
Anywho, I've been AB'ing it up, in hopes to get my AB boots, then I'll be hitting the WSG to get the epic lvl 50 bracers, then it's power level to 58 time. As I've been playing my Paladin, I've noticed a few things that are quite different than PvP'ing with my low level Warlock, my Warrior, my Priest, my Rogue, or my Mage. The Paladin really is there for support. If it's anything more than 1v1, the paladin is supportive only. He can't handle taking down two of any class, like all the others above can, but in a 2v2 situation, he makes all the difference for a positive outcome. Whether he's healing, standing around with Concentration aura and dropping judgments, or swinging his weapon around for some mild DPS, he's great in a many vs many encounter.
The Paladin is also a machine in the 1v1 encounter. I haven't had trouble taking anything down in 1v1.
The issue is, the numbers on the scoreboard don't show the paladin's usefulness. You don't often see a Paladin at the top (Where I'm used to being), but you often see them mired in the middle. In the 40-49 bracket, I'm stuck in the middle of the scoreboard with, on average 15 killing blows, 20000 damage, and 20000 healing (I don't keep track of HK's, meaningless stat that it is, "I was in the vicinity when people died, whoopadeedoo"). The score doesn't show the paladin's effectiveness. The score doesn't show that you bubbled and hit people trying to cap your flag. It doesn't show that your blessing of might increased every rogues DPS by 20. It doesn't show that your concentration aura allowed all the priests and mages around you to be that much more effective.
The Paladin is amazing in PvP, but the numbers simply don't show it. And, at times, the player may not even feel it.
Posted by mrh176 at 08:59 AM
March 05, 2007
The New PvP, and Arathi Basin
My my, how this game has changed. I've been on the outs for a while now, but I've got my seksy new Draenei Pally and I've caught the PvP bug. So now, in this new Honour Token world, I'm forced to review and reflect on what is wise in the way of picking PvP battles. It took me 10 AB battles to get my lvl 48 Pally Belt. Back in the day, it'd take a month of AB battles to hit honoured and get your belt, but you never had to AB again, and could always get the updated gear. Now I have to AB more to get my 58 belt, if I want my 58 belt. That, and there's no 60+ rewards for AB or WSG...
So what does this mean? This means, you PvP in early brackets to twink your character now. There's no reason to stay in any bracket, like before there used to be. So what do people do now? My suggestion is to plan out what exact PvP rewards you want as your character progresses. Also, plan out what rewards are worth your time investment. 30 WSG win tokens for a +7 stamina, 6 hp/5sec trinket? Only you can answer that question for yourself (how often you win vs lose). Sometimes, it might be better to farm stuff and buy gear in the AH. Once you spend your PvP Honour and Tokens, it's gone for good, and there's no XP in it. So is the 10-30 WSG matches worth a mediocre trinket? Is the 7-20 AB matches worth the belt for your bracket? Will that time investment make it that much easier to lvl your character?
PvP is a much different beast now then it was before. Still fun, but the rewards are much more piece-meil, and some of the really good rewards end up going to players that don't deserve them (like the lvl 60/70 GM weapons).
Posted by mrh176 at 11:18 AM
