I’ve been getting a bit more into PVP, so I’m going to start introducing some more PVP posting.  To start, a gripe of the week:

  Okay, Blizzard.  I understand that Retribution Paladins were pretty derpy in PvE and needed a boost.  Great.  I’m glad they’re buffed.  That being said:  Couldn’t you have found a way to do it to Retribution Paladins only?  I’m tired of getting smashed in the face by Protection Paladins with their vengeance stacked to the max, and dead before I can even get a [Soothe] off.  I really feel sorry for the classes that can’t wipe Vengeance.

Okay, let’s hear YOU sound off about your PVP gripes.

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Hi all. Monsterbaby of the all Druid guild “Druids of the Beast” sent me this a few weeks back and I missed it in my inbox. I’d like to invite you to our first guest poster, who writes a great opinion on season 10 PVP. Please leave your feedback. I’m always looking for guest posters, and if you are engaging enough, there may be a more permanent spot for you!

-Sunfyre

“The new season was kick started a while back and it is already possible to spot the new strengths and weaknesses of the classes. A great number of restoration druids have turned feral – if they didn’t already during the last season. Feral is superior in arena, and you very frequently see your opponent consisting of a feral druid.

However resto druids are not to be underestimated, despite you get the feeling they lack the powerful direct heal for arena. Resto druids are a key element to Rated Battlegrounds. Usually resto druids are to be found as offensive healers, while they can heal a great number of people while running, without getting interrupted.

Moonkins are still the rarest druid spec to find in PvP, you do however bump into them once in a while, usually when you find them in RBG in the top of damage done, with their powerful and fast dots and starfall.

However the druid is still very doable in PvP in all three specs in this season, and having three sets of PvP gear to choose from, you have loads of possibilities.

The gear in season 10, is a major upgrade compared to the last set. Many smaller guilds, which haven’t started in Firelands, nearly stopped raiding, due to the fact, the Honor and Conquest gear is such a big upgrade, compared to the PvE gear.

So when it comes to ups and downs in the new season, it is definitely positive, that druids are still strong in every spec. In arena, you will mostly find druids being feral, due to the lack of abilities of moonkins, and the less powerful direct healing, compared to other healing classes. But it is definitely not impossible to go far in arena, with any spec – as long as you have the skills for it.

The downside of this season is definitely the massive upgrade of gear. The size of the upgrade compared to the amount of time you need to spend to get it, is very unbalanced in my eyes. This also leads to a lot of inexperience people, entering battlegrounds just to farm honor, to receive a strong set of gear, with no intention of using it for PvP further on. But this isn’t really any news, while it has been like that in most seasons.

Another downside with the new season is, you cannot cap conquest points by doing arenas only. This leads to a lot of inexperienced people, wanting to do RBGs, while the skill level and tactical requirement is a lot higher than arenas. Again, it is just to receive a strong set of gear, without having any intention in heading into high rating – so most people are fooling around at incredible low rating.

What I can recommend is, to do Rated Battleground with the same team, over and over again. It is great fun, and with the flexibility of going into several specs, that are all equally strong in RBGs, you can always be sure to get a spot, in case a healer, ranged dps or melee is missing. “

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As promised, there have been some more PVP tweaks made in the latest 4.0.6 builds.

• Moonkin Form now grants 15% damage reduction instead of increased armor. In addition, shapeshifting in or out of this form now breaks roots. Note this is not stated in the tooltip.
• Sudden Eclipse now restores 20 Solar or 13 Lunar Energy. Up from 5 Solar or 7 Lunar.

The change to Moonkin Form is nice, it’s basically giving us Disentanglement.  I’m curious to see if they meant “all rooting effects”, (such as frost nova).  I’d hope so.

The Sudden Eclipse change (4pc PVP bonus) seems like a pretty drastic one, although I would have expected it to grant 20 lunar and 13 solar energy.

Your thoughts?

I apologize for the tardiness in my posts.  I have been really busy working away from home (but in sunny Southern California) the last few weeks, and will continue to be working here through June.  I’ve stopped raiding at this point and you guys are my only connection to my World of Warcraft world!  Also, kudos to Balourd for stepping in and posting in my absense.

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While the other changes I announced did not make the patch notes (they were in previous beta builds that got rolled into 4.0.3a), the following change was made to the 4pc PVP set.

• PvP set bonus redesigned. While not in an Eclipse state, critical attacks against the druid restore 5 Solar or 7 Lunar energy, whichever is more beneficial. This effect can only occur once every 6 seconds.

I must admit I’m a bit underwhelmed.  5 Solar or 7 Lunar energy every 6 seconds?  That’s really not enough.

Personally, they need to somehow make a glyph, or an ability, that allows you to instantly proc an Eclipse.  Give it .. say, a 3 minute cooldown.  Even a 5 minute cooldown.  You just need it once in arena.

Also, give me threat reduction on barkskin.  Thanks.

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Our friends at MMO-Champion have been able to datamine the season 9 armors, however they’re probably not completely finished.  What do you think? Click to enlarge and see all models.

Courtesy of MMO-Champion

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Am I the only one who gets annoyed at all of the QQing by other classes when you kill them just using instants?  (Moonfire, insect swarm, starsurge on shooting stars proc, starfall, moonfire, and more moonfire).  I’m sorry.  Would you like me to stand there and cast a 3 second spell so you can counterspell, kick, pummel, skull bash, etc., etc., etc.?

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• Overgrowth is gone.

You were fun while you lasted.

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I’ve been able to get my hands on a Beta invitation (through a friend’s account). I’ll let you guys know my reactions to Moonkin changes and gameplays. I’ll be questing and dungeoning to have a feeling of everything in-game. Tune in later this week !

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I know there’s a few of you that enjoy Moonkin PvP.  I’ve recently been scrambling to put a set together (finally above 800 resilience!) and have been dabbling in 2s and battlegrounds a bit, but probably won’t be in 3s or 5s for another week or two.

We’ve done a lot of hashing of the numbers for Starfall on the PvE side.  What do you think about the PvP side?  I think it’s a welcome change, and I know it melts faces in battlegrounds and 1v1 duels, but I’ve yet to experience it in 3s or 5s.  Is our survivability decent enough that we can really dish out the damage?  I struggle in 2s against certain combinations just because I can’t always do enough burst damage to break down a healer with 1.2k+ resilience.  I’m not too worried about that because Blizzard specifically does not balance arenas around 2v2s.

How about Nature’s Grasp?  I did do some testing last night and did find that it does have diminishing returns on the charges, and that it’s shared with the actual entangling roots spell.  I think the best application of this would be when you have multiple melee attacking you, as all three should take a full duration roots.

Sound off with your thoughts!

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I’ve decided I’m going to make my off-spec PvP, and begin to dabble a bit in moonkin PvP.  I’ve got a few pieces of the first level 80 arena seasons lying around, as well as some off-set pieces from when I dabbled as resto.  I’m trying to decide though, if possibly maintaining my 2pc T9 and/or 2pc T8 would be worth it at the lower ranks, as they both grant quite a bit of additional burst damage.  Your thoughts?

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