Arena. I do. Do you?

Recently I formed a 2v2 arena team with a feral druid buddy of mine, and for the past two weeks we have been noobing it up in the arena. The first order of business for us was to decide on a team name and after much thought we settle on "are we dead yet".

The next order of business was to go and see what actually went on in this mythical arena place ... at first it seemed that just a lot of dieing went on, at least on our part. The other team seemed to do a lot of winning, and we didn't think that was very fare :( . So we set about he painful process of learning.

Lesson 1

Kill the healer.

If it can heal in any way shape or form kill it and kill it now. If you don't kill it the dps will kill you.

It's that simple, so what are you doing hitting that rogue?

Healer! Kill! Now!

Don't argue just do it.

Lesson 2

Don't run far out in front of your stealthed arena partner.

That one was all me. The kitty was stealthed and I had torn across the arena and charged into their starting area before he was even half was across. Predictably we lost. Now I give him a few seconds to make his way out before giving in to my warrior instincts to charge head long into the enemy.

Lesson 3

Favoritism - Warlocks, Shaman, Hunters. Thats what I will target regardless of the other more important targets around. In that order too.

It turns out I have an almost uncontrollable warlock fixation, if there is one in the arena I completely loose my cool and hound him until he or I are dead. And let me tell you there is nothing more dogged than a warrior. Ask any hunter or druid and they will tell you that you can kite a warrior around for hours and he will never give up.

Shaman are a close second on my list, I thought it was Hunters that I preferred but it turns out that of the two I will hit the Shaman every time. I guess it's because they are one of those nasty healing classes ... that and they thought wearing mail would save them, pfft, silly squishy person.

Then it's the hunter, oooh the hunter. Even though I will hit the Shaman before the hunter I get much more pleasure out of a hunter kill. With the Shaman killed I get the satisfaction of a job well done, but with the hunter I get a wave of pure pleasure. I have however come to fear the BM hunter.

Damn you Bestial Wrath!!!

Damn you to hell!!!!

Lesson 4

Aversion.

Mages, mages, mages.

It turns out I would rather take on anything but even the most under geared mage. I hates 'em it's that simple. Well it's a little more complicated than that. I hates 'em cuz they dun stop me hittin' dem wid ma big axe. And let me tell you there is no bigger sin in a warriors book than that. I don't mind if you can kill me hands down no contest, I don't mind if you kite me around for hours, I don't even mind if you stun me repeatedly, but if you just point blank refuse to be hit ... well thats just not kosher.

Lesson 5

Trinkets.

This one took a lot longer than it should have to sink in. If you don't already have it get the Medallion of the Alliance NOW. This is another one of those kill the healer things. It's just non negotiable.

Did I just hear you back talk me on this?

No?

I better not have!

Anyway long after we worked out how to deal with my warlock fixation this was still a problem. Fixing the warlock thing was easy, my arena partner just yells at me in voice chat until I hit the correct target.

The trinket problem only came to light when we figured out how to win a few games.

We win by pure, unadulterated melee dps. There is no finesse to it. I charge the target and Ham String it before the charge stun wares off. Then the kitty pounces and by the time the pounce stun wares off the target is close to death and unable to run away (refreshed Ham String). It then gets finished off by fast damage and a big Execute (as if there is any other kind). Leaving us 2v1 Muhahahahahaha!!!

Then Kitty backs off and throws a couple of HoT's on whoever needs it.

The problem appears when half of the dps is missing due to being sheeped or frost nova (thats me), or being feared half way across the arena bouncing off walls in terror (thats kitty). Then the non cc'd team mate gets killed and it's 2v1 Booooooooo!!!!!!!!

I believe the reason it took so long for the lesson to sink in is that I can break fear any time of day or night, and Kitty can break sheep and other cc by changing form. But we are both completely helpless in the face of the cc our class doesn't deal with.

Lesson 6

The nemesis.

Every team will have a certain combination they are weak against, for us it takes just one member of the team to be a paladin.

Damn you!!!

You PvP cockroach!!!!

As stated above we win by pure, unadulterated, brute force and ignorance ... Then comes the bubble. The bubble kills us and we hate it. It pops up at that critical time when the pounce has worn off and I cant execute yet, leaving us without our main advantage and a fully healed pally. One of which danced after healing himself, Grrrrrrr!!! Thats just rubbing it in.

*Mutter mutter ... damn cockroach ... mutter mutter*

All is not lost! There is a slim hope. If I can fear the dps and kitty can throw that whirl wind thingy on him for the duration of the bubble we can still do it. It has only worked once as it requires good timing and the dps to be close enough to be feared, but it can be done. And that keeps us going.



Ok thats enough lessons for today. Now let me entertain you with some exerts from last nights 2v2.

We played 30 matches of 2v2.

Why?

Because it's fun, and the more we play the better we get.

I wont list out all the games as that would take too long, and I can't remember half of them anyway. The week before we also managed to drag our rating out og the depth where we were facing teams with a prot warrior (It was almost humiliating to be pared that low).


Mage, Shaman - BeM.

Me: Kill the shaman!!

Kitty: Ok

*Some time passes with me soloing the restro shaman and the other two out of line of sight*

Me: why is the mage dead? *Having noticed it was 2v1 now*

Kitty: I thought it was the Shaman.


Hunter, Hunter - BeM

Me: Target my target to concentrate dps! *I tend to get shouty in arenas*

Kitty: Ok.

*Some time passes in a whirl of pets frost traps and jump-shotting hunters, in which I manage to kill the non-BM hunter then die*

Me: Where the hell where you?

Kitty: Dead

*I had fought everything but the first 20 seconds solo without noticing that they had focus fired kitty into next week*

Shaman, Warrior - Ruins

Me: Kill the Shaman!!! *My Shaman preference was well noted at this stage*

Kitty: Like I need to be told, always leave the warrior till last. *It's just too much hassel to kill them with any kind of healing*

*We do our thing, for 5 seconds and I'm left standing wondering why I have no target*

Me: What the hell happened to the Shaman?

Kitty: He did know what hit him. *we then laugh so hard the warrior nearly kills us both ... we really had killed the shaman in under 5 seconds*


Comments After: Warlock, Priest; Warlock, Priest; Mage, Warrior. In Order

*kitty spends entire match feared*
Me: You need that trinket.

*kitty spends entire match feared*
Me: You Really need that trinket.

*I spend entire match sheeped then frost novad*
Me: I really need that trinket.


Warlock, Mage - BeM

*kitty gets feared and I get nuked ... again ... then kitty goes stealth*

Me: You really Really need that trinket

Kitty: Shut up.

*Kitty then catches the warlock separated from the mage and goes through him like he was stuffed with catnip ... I'm serious I have never seen a 'lock die so fast*

Me: Wow!! why Didn't you do that earlier?

*Kitty says nothing as he's busy breaking off to stealth again*

*About five minutes ensues of me shouting instructions, the mage going nuts jumping about the place, and Kitty trying to get in position behind him *

*Kitty gets behind the mage ... see warlock for details*

Me: Did you need me at all?

Kitty: No.




Coming soon, our adventures into 3v3 arena ... Look out world we got ourselves a cockroach ... I mean Pally