Elitist Jerks - View Single Post

solbergb · 08/01/08, 2:59 PM

Hm...quite honestly, speaking as a player with a very low arena rating but who used battlegrounds to equip himself for the most part because of few raiding opportunities/real life constraints on grouping...

I have exactly one piece of gear paid for with arena points, and tjhe other stuff I have (mix of badge gear, crafted gear, season 2 arena, season 3 honor and season 4 honor with no arena rating) gets only very marginal upgrades by going from season 2 to season 4. The most important piece for me was the arena gloves, but not because of the raw stats (nice, but only a small % of total stam/resil/damage/crit compared to even season 2 gloves, leaving aside PVE alternatives that drop in KZ or 5 mans or can be bought with badges)...but rather because of the 50% polymorph pushback resistance. Those gloves had no rating and took about 5 weeks to earn (but < 3 hours gametime), because being bad at arena is a slow way to get arena points.

At this time the only item I can get with arena points and no rating) that I want is more epic red gems. So I only had to "opt in" for about 6 weeks of the season and if I really hated it, I could quit any time, and just do some SSO dailies to buy red gems on the AH.

Yes, season 4 gear is better than season 2 gear, but it is not the step function that "new 70s blues/greens" to season 2 gear is. The difference in both absolute numbers and % of overall capability is smaller, and small enough that I very much doubt that on a battleground I'd notice the difference if somebody suddenly upgraded all of my pieces to S4 pieces with arena ratings. (I would notice in arena play - the margin for error is less there and the matchups are closer in numbers and ability). Some of the season 4 stuff would be downgrades for my equipment in many roles I use it for, because it has an excessive weighting to stam/resil for which in every environment but 5x5 arena, I'm feeling "durable enough" and instead want more "burst".

My only real concern is if they leave arena ratings on stuff as it's downgraded in future seasons. Ie, if two seasons for now, half the gear still has arena ratings >= 1500, there is a problem. Today, it's still ok. WOLK will come out before the next season, and everything might be turned on its head anyway.

I'd stay that for most of us, the only way to be competitive in arena is to put a lot more time in there learning how to play than 10 games/week. I felt I was able to contribute strongly in battlegrounds long before my equipment added up to 2200 in Armorylite, because there teamwork and strategy is more important than raw individual power. Mostly my better equipment just extends a fight a few seconds or ends it a few seconds earlier - this can matter in battlegrounds but often doesn't. There are some roles where equipment matters more (eg, flagrunning in WSG), so my opinion might be different if I wasn't playing a clothie DPS type.

08/01/08, 2:59 PM	#293 (permalink)
solbergb Piston Honda Jemmy Gnome Mage <Wildly Inept Pacifists> Earthen Ring	Hm...quite honestly, speaking as a player with a very low arena rating but who used battlegrounds to equip himself for the most part because of few raiding opportunities/real life constraints on grouping... I have exactly one piece of gear paid for with arena points, and tjhe other stuff I have (mix of badge gear, crafted gear, season 2 arena, season 3 honor and season 4 honor with no arena rating) gets only very marginal upgrades by going from season 2 to season 4. The most important piece for me was the arena gloves, but not because of the raw stats (nice, but only a small % of total stam/resil/damage/crit compared to even season 2 gloves, leaving aside PVE alternatives that drop in KZ or 5 mans or can be bought with badges)...but rather because of the 50% polymorph pushback resistance. Those gloves had no rating and took about 5 weeks to earn (but < 3 hours gametime), because being bad at arena is a slow way to get arena points. At this time the only item I can get with arena points and no rating) that I want is more epic red gems. So I only had to "opt in" for about 6 weeks of the season and if I really hated it, I could quit any time, and just do some SSO dailies to buy red gems on the AH. Yes, season 4 gear is better than season 2 gear, but it is not the step function that "new 70s blues/greens" to season 2 gear is. The difference in both absolute numbers and % of overall capability is smaller, and small enough that I very much doubt that on a battleground I'd notice the difference if somebody suddenly upgraded all of my pieces to S4 pieces with arena ratings. (I would notice in arena play - the margin for error is less there and the matchups are closer in numbers and ability). Some of the season 4 stuff would be downgrades for my equipment in many roles I use it for, because it has an excessive weighting to stam/resil for which in every environment but 5x5 arena, I'm feeling "durable enough" and instead want more "burst". My only real concern is if they leave arena ratings on stuff as it's downgraded in future seasons. Ie, if two seasons for now, half the gear still has arena ratings >= 1500, there is a problem. Today, it's still ok. WOLK will come out before the next season, and everything might be turned on its head anyway. I'd stay that for most of us, the only way to be competitive in arena is to put a lot more time in there learning how to play than 10 games/week. I felt I was able to contribute strongly in battlegrounds long before my equipment added up to 2200 in Armorylite, because there teamwork and strategy is more important than raw individual power. Mostly my better equipment just extends a fight a few seconds or ends it a few seconds earlier - this can matter in battlegrounds but often doesn't. There are some roles where equipment matters more (eg, flagrunning in WSG), so my opinion might be different if I wasn't playing a clothie DPS type. Last edited by solbergb : 08/01/08 at 3:05 PM.