Post - 3.0.8

Well, the last week has certainly been a busy one. I think I was one of the few PvPers I know that opted out of "taking advantage" of the Arena-Bug that suddenly skyrocketed some teams to inordinately high numbers just because, well, I didn't see a point. Something in the match was obviously broken, and 1600s teams suddenly being at 2800s? .... No.

A lot "broken" here and there with the patch as well. A friendly hunter FDing, will sometimes drop my target (@$&@$), which reminds me of the old days of WoW when this was how it was in Season 1 and part of Season 2. Shadowmeld seems to not be "working" either, with a sort of built-in lag preventing Shadowmeld --> Swift Flight Form, and a lack of dropping combat in some PvE Encounters and Bosses as well, not to mention a sudden lack of PvP use. :-/ With the right timing, I could feign off an incoming cast, or read as "immune" to a single enemy player spell if I cast Shadowmeld at the right moment during their cast, but.... no more. I don't even know what direction this is headed: if it's a nerf, or a glitch, but it certainly does make my racial poor at the moment.

This week's Arena, when I finally -did- run it over the weekend was a polite mixed-bag. Twos were solid, and then we made the mistake of playing too long (read: into the wee morning hours), and tanking our rating. There's always next week, though. Moreover I'm still iffy about the new system, which basically is not a "zero sum" calculation. Mostly we were winning say, 5-7 points for a win, and the losing team was losing about 4-6 on average. To some extent this gives people that throw themselves into Arena a little pat on the back because you have to steadily chug along to move up, and the slip-ups aren't as soul-crushing (27-29 point losses can HURT), but it still takes a darn lot longer to go anywhere.

Sunday-Night threes, at least, went a lot better and more than made up for 2s. I think I've tried ever spec imaginable and every playstyle to boot to make an awkward mixing of DK+Druid+Hunter work competitively, to little avail. We just didn't have the synergy. Luckily, with the last patch, our hunter went from 2xBM+Readiness to a nice Survival build, allowing for better switches, peels, CC, etc., that I felt it might be worth a go on my part to try a Heavy Resto (16/0/55) build and play it "old School." ;)

At the end of the night, some 53 games later, we went 37-16, bringing us up to be ranking number #163 of 35,000+ teams on BG9. Not bad at all. :)

I honestly hadn't had much luck in 3s this season as a Heavy Resto build in part because I am still subject to a fast gib, and I really, really need solid peels since I don't have the "outs" of other healing classes at the moment. I ran with around 800ish Resil, and a Hybrid Balance and Resto set for the extra +50 Resil (collecting all those damn sets comes in handy sometimes!), and tried to be really vocal about both when I needed help, and to also be aware of not putting myself too close to the "Action." Sometimes that "one" extra Cyclone just isn't worth getting into Intercept Range of that watchful Warrior. ;)

On the whole though: we made it work. Heavy hotting, and incredibly heavy direct heals (<3 Nourish) helped. Which makes me really excited for next week.

While I think the Mage "buff" was a step in the wrong direction, and that Rogues still need a little nerf for PvP, generally, most every fight felt potentially winnable against most comps last night. PMR was probably the trickiest, but we still won a few.

The note that was a weird touch of sadness/joy was the entire lack of Druids. In about 120+ games of threes in the last 3 weeks, I've seen about 3 Moonkin, about 5 Ferals, one Resto/Feral Hybrid, and -0- Heavy Resto Druids. :-/ It felt good to almost "represent" what can feel like a struggling breed, but I have high hopes things will even out a bit more as Paladin healing dominance is addressed. I can assure you, even the Rets feel more in "line" with things, and that changes are heading in the right direction.

Still: Happy Monday. :)