Sep 112008
 

Looking around my blog list I came across a couple of interesting PvP posts that I thought you might like to see.

This first one is arena based, but I think it could be easily used elsewhere, in the unlikely event that you can find cooperative players in the BGs. Since my main is a Rogue i particularly liked this one.

Rogue / Rogue vs. Druid / Rogue is no easy match, typically any team with a druid is going to be a tough match for a double rogue team. That said, using systemic decision making and quick reflexes we can learn how to effectively counter these 2v2 teams.
Rogue / Rogue Vs. Druid / Rogue 2v2 Arena Strategy

Gnomes. There’s just something disturbing about them. Must be the remnants of the radiation poisoning. It is rather interesting how those Tauren mallets are just the right size…  Anyway, here’s a fun story of the Hunter and the Gnome Rogue.

The Tauren Hunter was merrily bounding into the Silverwing base in Warsong Gulch; she had been enjoying these player-verses-player excursions lately and was rather fond of her 25,000 honor that she had stockpiled for when she would hit 70 in a couple more levels and would need a nice set of war gear to go with her set of standard adventuring gear. She made it to the roof of the enemy building when suddenly she was jumped upon! By a very persistent gnome rogue.
The Fable of the Gnome Rogue

Rogue’s Eye View has something which some of you know about already, but maybe a few don’t. Hope into your very own premade level 80, then go kill the other 80s!

To those that don’t know, earlier this week it was announced that level 80 premades are available to players in the beta test.

In order to copy over a premade character, you’ll need to log into your account at beta.worldofwarcraft.com and make your way to the character copy section.
Level 80 Premades Available for Beta Servers

Sep 102008
 

Nyhm is a character best know for making a series of well loved videos on YouTube. Most of these videos have hundreds, or thousands, of 5 star ratings from his fans, so check them out sometime. I’ve posted a few of Nyhm’s videos here, but just search his name on YouTube and you’ll find the others.

I managed to catch Nyhm in-between battles against the evil Gnome hordes and asked him a few questions, but note the edits, below:

edit: As you’ll see in the comments there is some, ahem, question, as to whether this fellow is actually the some one as the one who did the videos. I’ve also removed the links to the guides until I get this sorted out.

edit 2: I updated the discussion in a later post, but I should have linked to that post here. Here’s the post that clarifies everything and, yes, I should have linked to it sooner. And yes, I did step in it. My bad.

The commenters below are correct, there are two Nyhms. One does the videos (and it’s his video below) and the other Nyhm writes the guides. Their only connection is the same name and that they both play Warlocks. So as I mentioned in the other post, from here on out I’ll refer to them as Nyhm of the Videos and Nyhm of the Guides whenever I mention either of them.

The interview is from Nyhm of the Guides:

How long have you been playing WoW?

(Since) November of 2004

What kind of raiding and PvPing do you do?

I don’t do much raiding anymore, but I pvp all the time on alts, friends’ characters, and my arena team.

What keeps you playing after all this time?

PvP just never seems to get boring, and I have a lot of friends that play.

Is Nyhm your main character? Or mostly just the face for your productions? (And I did find him on the WoWarmory.)

Nyhm is my main but I don’t play on him anymore

What got you into making videos?

Nothing really, I just decided one day that I wanted to make WoW Videos.

Who’s on your production team? Or do they prefer to remain in the shadows?

My friends help me out a lot.

What equipment and software do you use to make the videos? (He makes videos related to his guides.)

Fraps and Sony Vegas

What’s the first character you’ll be working on when Wrath of the Lich King is officially released?

Deathknight, of course

Are your guides written from your own efforts and experiences or do you have a team behind them?

They are mostly written by me but I have a lot of help from friends

What made you decide to write leveling and gold guides when there is quite a bit of competition already?

One way to keep the game interesting is doing things out of the game like making videos or guides so it was just another WoW related project that I wanted to complete.

So there you have it, the (really short) Nyhm Interview. If you want to check out his WoW guides you’ll find them here.

And now, Nyhm of the Videos will explain, in great detail, why Mages pwn.

A New Excuse to PvP?

 PvP, wrath of the lich king  Comments Off on A New Excuse to PvP?
Aug 282008
 

WoW Insider has a fun post on the Great Dwarf Hunter Nesingwary, seen in Stranglethorn Vale and Nagrand. Nesie, of course, is all about hunting the various beasts in the area.

Now one could argue that he’s just thinning herds that grow impossibly fast or maybe he’s just a minion of evil with his wanton slaughter of innocent raptors, er… critters.

The Wrath expansion seems to be bringing in some competition for Nesie:

But that, of course, doesn’t keep the hippie animal lovers from fighting back — as you might know by now, in the expansion Nesingwary is going to face some opposition in the form of D.E.H.T.A., or Druids for the Ethical and Humane Treatment of Animals.

Here’s the post: Nesingwary’s extinction plan (hasn’t worked)

Now let’s say that Nesie gets tired of these guys. Imagine one part of the quest chain being to harass (ie: kill) DEHTA members: “Ok dude, it’s a Druid. Get 15 of your closest friends…”

Or that the DEHTA crowd gets a quest to harass (ie: kill) Nesie’s hunters.

I’m not saying that this will happen, or is even likely, but it’s fun to think about. Especially on an RP (Role Playing) PvP server.

Anyone have any other suggestions to spice this up a bit?

For the PUG Raider

 Videos  Comments Off on For the PUG Raider
Aug 202008
 

The mighty Nyhm brings forth his wisdom regarding Pick Up Groups (PUGs) and raiding, specifically Karazhan. All of us who’ve been in big PUGs, raiding or not, will nod our heads in agreement.

edit: links to a guide have been deleted.

Aug 172008
 

Twinking is the fine art of taking your character to levels far beyond what he/she should be able to do at any given level. For example, a Rogue twink, at 19, with 2,000 HP? It’s been done.

The [tag-tec]Warsong Gulch[/tag-tec] Battleground (Capture the Flag) has a level 10-19 bracket. Naturally one wants to be level 19, otherwise rapid doom will happen. Then one needs that little edge over the other 19s…

AzerothNow.com has a killer twinking guide for those level 19 Rogues bent on mayhem and slaughter in Warrsong Gulch (and maybe a duel or three.)

So you’ve done your dailies - everyday, you’ve cleared Heroics and Karazhan for Badges until your eyes bleed, maybe you’re even utterly tired of farming Illidan every week or wiping on Kil’Jaeden. But what now? Level another character? Cancel your subscription until Wrath?

Well, I have your solution: why not create a lvl 19 Twink Rogue? But what is a lvl 19 twink Rogue, you may ask. The simple explanation is that they are characters with the best possible gear for their level (including enchants), whose purpose is PvP, and their playground is the 10-19 bracket of Warsong Gulch Battlegrounds.

Here’s the rest: The Ultimate Guide to Lvl 19 Rogue Twinking

edit: A commenter points us to his twinking guides and I may just make use of his level 39 Warlock guide. Very cool. WoW Twink Guide: 39 Affliction Warlock

Arathi Basin Premade, for the Lose!

 Battlegrounds  Comments Off on Arathi Basin Premade, for the Lose!
Aug 052008
 

Played a few [tag-tec]Arathi Basin[/tag-tec] Battleground games last night. Won a couple, lost a couple, and won one in about 2 minutes.

It seems that the Ally side had come in with a premade group, looking to lose! This was a new one to me, though I’m sure you’ve seen it before. (A premade is a team formed before the game starts, generally running Ventrilo, and with an addon that allows them to join as a team.)

The idea is to get in, lose as quickly as possible, get the mark and get out. Rinse and repeat. I was told that they could get maybe 12 marks an hour that way. 2.5 hours or so and you have enough for a piece of gear. Horde side won that game in two minutes.

As for me, I find honor points harder to come by than marks. Only need 30 marks for that chest piece, but 14,500 honor points. 483.3 honor per mark. Hmmm…

I’ll also take that two minute win!

New WoW Battlegound – Northrend Battleground

 Battlegrounds  Comments Off on New WoW Battlegound – Northrend Battleground
Jul 242008
 

From TenTonHammer:

The new battleground being added in Wrath of the Lich King looks to be something completely new and unique. Instead of a battleground where you have to adapt between attack and defense, this one puts you on one side and then the other. That’s right, you play a game as the attacker, and then the teams switch sides and you play it again! Whoever does better in a combined score, wins.

Sneak Peek – New Wrath of the Lich King Battleground

According to the article this is a Normandy Beach Assault, WoW style, and it even comes with seige vehicles! Send in the ninjas and man the tanks.

Now will those vehicles be driven by Taurens or lobbing Taurens? M1 Abrams Tauren Lobber? Or pour in a pile of Gnomes and lob them all?

Ok, that’s not very likely, but it’s fun to think about.

Honor awarded, marks, allowable levels (I’m guessing over 70) and what you buy with those marks seems to be an open question for now.

Naturally the losers in the crowd will try to figure out how to surrender and die to their opponents as quickly as possible and I wonder where the AFKers will hide. Maybe we can lob gnomes at them?

The whole thing looks like great fun to me.

edit: TenTonHammer also has info on the arenas and a video of the WoW devs discussing the new PvP areas. WoW PvP Preview: Dalaran / Orgrimmar Arenas and Northrend Battleground

edit:From WoWwiki – Full Northrend Map, Beta

What’s in an Agility Point?

 WoW Mechanics  Comments Off on What’s in an Agility Point?
Jun 182008
 

Agility is the most wanted stat for [tag-tec]Rogues[/tag-tec] and [tag-tec]Hunters[/tag-tec], but a few other classes have some degree of use for agility as well. So what does a point of Agility get you, if you’re  Rogue? Here are some numbers, taken from WoWwiki.

At all levels, 1pt of Agility (for Rogues, [tag-tec]Warriors[/tag-tec], and Hunters) = 1 Ranged Attack Power (AP)

At all levels, 1pt of Agility (for Rogues, Cat Druids, and Hunters (not Warriors)) = 1 Melee Attack Power (AP)

Other classes get no benefit to their Attack Power from Agility.

At all levels, for anyone, 1 point of Agility = 2 armor points

It also adds to crit rating and defense, but in a variable amount.

At level 70, Rogues and Hunters need 40 agility to gain 1% crit chance, Warriors need 33, and everyone else needs 25.

For their Dodge chance, druids need 14.7, rogues need 20, most everyone else needs 25, and hunters need 26.5.

Gear and Agility

For comparing different items of gear there is the Agility Equivalent Points (AEP) system. This attempts to take any of the value any particular piece of gear might have and give it a value in AEP. As I understand this, you can now campare item A (with X Ag and whatever other goodies) with item B (having Y agility and whatever bonuses.)  So each point of Agility, Stamina, Armor, Hit Rating, Attack Power, etc. will all have AEPs.

Of course, how many AEP each item is worth will vary depending on whether you’re leveling, grinding, PvPing, or Raiding. For example, Resiliance gets a fairly high rating in PvP, but very little for raiding.

Talent builds will change the values as will exactly how you play your characters.

Here’s an example set of values, for PvE (Raids,) from the Pawn Addon Forum where it’s discussed in more detail:

Agility 1

Stamina 0.5

CritRating 1

HitRating 1

Ap 0.5

Strength 0.5

RedSocket 8

YellowSocket 8

BlueSocket 8

For PvP one might use these values:

Agility 1

Stamina 1

Resilience 1

CritRating 1

HitRating 1

Ap 0.5

Strength 0.5

RedSocket 8

YellowSocket 8

BlueSocket 8

Note the increase in the value of Stam for PvP and the addition of resiliance.

Here’s an example: If we take the Gladiator’s Leather Helm, one the the PvP items, we can take it’s numbers and get an AEP value: 34 (Ag) + 53 (Stm) + 8 (Red Socket) + 13 (Crit) + 23 (res) + 18 (1/2 AP) = 149.

You’ll have to come up with a value for armor, the meta socket, and the set bonuses, but it’s a start.

The Elitist Jerks forum has a long discussion on how it all works, oriented towards Hunters, but generally useful for those of you who are more into the exact calculations.

So if you’re looking at nice items from raiding, PvP, or crafting you can use this system to compare them and make a reasonable estimate of which is best.

More on AEP:

Rogues: AEP (MAEP) and you! – Around May of 2005, Ming started a thread on the Rogue forums where he was devising an Agility comparison system for comparing gear using the formula 10 Agility = 10 Stamina = 20 Strength = 20 Attack Power = 1% Crit. …

Arathi Basin, Why Not Win?

 PvP  Comments Off on Arathi Basin, Why Not Win?
May 262008
 

I really don’t quite get it. [tag-tec]Arathi Basin[/tag-tec] Weekend is coming to a close and while I like the [tag-ice]battlegrounds[/tag-ice], some of the players are… annoying.

Why would anyone want to lose? A win doesn’t take much more time and you get the three marks, instead of one, and about 50% more honor. Now admittedly, my best use is probably to imitate a log and let people trip over me, but if you don’t play to win it doesn’t matter what your gear/skill level is.

So for 22 ABs over the weekend (playing Horde on Bloodscalp:)

  • 8 wins, 24 marks, average honor = 343 (Plus 419 honor from the daily AB quest)
  • 14 losses, 14 marks, 218 average honor

Seems to me that if you go in wanting to lose and working to lose you’ll send more time getting your marks and honor than by working to win.

How to lose AB (Applies to AV and WG, too):

  • Attack all five bases, preferably at the same time
  • Fight on the road, where possible, far from a flag.
  • Let the opposing player pull/kite you off the flag while the Rogue ninjas the flag (or backstabs you while the other Rogue ninjas the flag.)
  • Don’t communicate. See attackers coming to your base? Don’t say anything!
  • Sit down and don’t participate. (AFK playng)

How to Win AB:

  • Everyone follows the game plan, don’t wander off and do your own thing.
  • Grab your closest base and keep it.
  • Grab the next two closest bases and keep them.
  • I think it’s best to get three bases in a triangle, for example: Farm, MIll, Blacksmith. That way It’s easier for each base to support the others. Alliance, of course, should do stables and farm (wink.) Stables, Smith, Mill. I like the mill more than the mine for the view advantage.
  • Defend your bases. Don’t grab a flag, cap it, and then leave. Even if just one person stays then that one person can call out enemy assaults.
  • Communicate. Call out the incoming enemy and their numbers. Rogues can spy on bases and call out defending forces.
  • Coordinate. Agree to assault one or two bases at one time, rather than five.
  • It helps a lot if you want to win.

Of course, if the other side is fielding a well-geared, skilled pre-made, the winning is going to be rough. But then, why can’t that pre-made be on your side?

If the other side is all on the same Vent channel and no one on your side has heard of Ventrilo and none of them can type, then it’s going to be hard to win. 🙂