TM is still pretty decent on a caster team because of Spell Reflect, especially now that it is off the GCD.

He said he was waiting for the pvp patch in a week and a half to see the new items. I'd hope they get those stats out sometime real soon, like yesterday. I might want arena gloves for hydross, but if they are a big enough upgrade I might tell the guild to wait.

Fair point. If you find yourself using Spell Reflect often, the points in TM are probably effective regardless of whether you're facing melee or magic dps.

I had assumed the main reason that top arena team warriors took 3/3 tactical mastery over Flurry was almost solely for spell reflect. Overpower is still usable when going from berserker to battle since it costs so little, and the extra rage lost is easily gained back after the overpower is done and the warrior is back in berserker. Spell reflection however isn't usable in berserker so requires a shift to defensive or battle and does cost 25 rage.

It's not really easy to get rage back when you're trying to kill high armor or resilienced targets, I took it for the flexability it offers in general including reflect, OP and for whatever other reason I need it.

I always have a hard time justifying any spec without TM. Spell Reflect's a good example, but also the late match sweeping strikes is much easier to pull off quickly with TM. Usually if you get the opportunity for a good grouping of opponents it doesn't last long. Also late in the match if death wish is already burnt you want to minimize how much you're in battle stance against fear capable teams.

As for the Mace vs. Axe spec debate. I'm currently axe spec using Gorehowl, and I'm an Armorsmith so I have the Bulwark rather than a weapon. The argument I like though is...

Maces can still crit, but an axe can't stun.

Given the right gear to compensate, I'd definitely say mace spec is greater than axe spec.

And finally a question, anyone thought about using the new Relentless Earthstorm Diamond (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=32409) from exalted Consortium rep? Seems like a good way to compensate some against high resilience targets.

http://www.mmo-champion.com/images/n...a2_warrior.jpg

after seeing the Warrior Season 2 gear, what order are you guys getting the gear in? this is assuming you have 5/5 glad (or equivalents) and a t2 bs weapon or equivalent. i've got DT + 5/5 glad set and i'm wondering if i should get 2 glad pieces or a weapon first. my guild is just about to start SSC so i don't think Stormherald is that far away.

of course knowing the stats of the weapons would help a lot. from the info we have now, what are your plans? also say something if the new weapon stats change your opinion, please.

How screwed am I if I want to get started on Arena this season? I was primarily PvE Prot with comedy teams for gathering points for the hell of it, I'm a few vortices from my Lionheart Executioner (I know I know) and I have next to no resilience.

Would I be better off getting the tier-1 glad set then farming for the tier-2 set or should I stick it out and grind more survivability gear/honor rewards while trying to farm up the tier-2 set?

Are there any hard and fast rules I should stick to in arena? Socket wise I just go for crit then str where possible because the Glad sets are loaded with stamina anyway, right?

The Season2 gear will be better but the Season1 gear will be cheaper, so if you're looking to gear up, you may want to consider 2-3 pieces of Season1 vs 1-2 of 2.

Also, start pvping now in the regular BGs (Alterac Valley weekend for lots of honor) as you can get some +res gear/trinkets/rings right off the bat.

I've been some pretty terrible teams all season so I currently have 3 pieces of S1 gear and am about half way to my 4th piece (legs). I'm really looking forward to my 4pc bonus, and since the only piece I still need will be the head, the first piece of S2 gear I will be picking up will be the helm.

Here's my problem: I haven't heard the definitive word on this yet, but I'm assuming that the S1 and S2 set bonuses are seperate. Meaning, you can get 2 pieces of S1 and 2 pieces of S2 and get the +70 res and not the 4pc bonus. For a class like ours with a really nice 4pc bonus, I would be reluctant to break the S1 set bonus as I acquire pieces of S2 gear. How do you other warriors plan on handling this?

It's no different from stacking 2/5 HWL and 3/5 Gladiator for +70 resilience, it's not worth losing the 4 piece bonus, but keeping both sets incase you get a team that likes to try and gib you can't hurt.

Socket wise, you may as well keep to the coloring, I put 8 AGI/8 Crit Rating on everything.

And around 640something armor.

I'm not in 5/5 (3/5 actually but my gear isn't that terrible).

Plans are:

Season 2 2hand Axe starting day (Savagery)
Drop Weaponsmith for Armorsmith -> Craft Breastplate then Bulwark of Kings (3 solid stars of elune, 150 hp)

Season 2 Glove (15 strength)
Season 2 Shoulder (4 str & 6 stam gem, 4 str & 4 cr gem, aldor exaulted enchant)
Season 2 Helm (18 stam & 5% stun resist meta, 4 cr & 6 stam gem, cenarion exaulted enchant)
Season 2 Leg (40 stam, 12 agi Leg Kit)

NOTE: Was going to use Kara +Hit ring here but since the helm has +hit I can switch to a more crit/ap oriented ring

Points/Time allowing:
Main hand weapon
Shield

I made these plans on the assumption that the 2h weapon will have roughly the same +hit rating as the season 1 items. If it doesn't, I just end up using my Kara +hit ring afterall.

My benchmark goals will be 1400 ap unbuffed, 32-35% crit in battle stance, ~13k hp unbuffed.
I'm also farming mats for the engineering gun (27 stam + yellow socket, 4 cr & 6 stam gem)

Just my 2 cents.

13k HP is overkill, you're more then fine with 11k 99% of the time.

True, but I'm one of those guys who likes to just charge in AV and hope somebody heals me. I solo a lot. Survivability is kinda my thing and it makes me somewhat different.

I tend to run into games that end up with it down to me vs a mage at low hp/low mana and then I get poly'd with my trinket down. In arena, when the sob's can just chain poly and run behind a pillar to eat/drink I need to be able to squeeze as much hp regen from second wind and blood craze as possible while shield reflect is on cooldown.

As a class that can't directly heal, I absolutely love blood craze and second wind.

Note: My 5's team from last week isn't the main team I'm on. I was late for our scheduled day so I missed out on the points and just hopped on the guilds 5's (obviously they're undergeared and not doing too hot) for a few games.

But according to Elitist Jerk's own "Working theories for patch 2.1", WF totems can proc off yellow damage.

Working Theories of Theorycrafting as of 2.1

"Windfury Totem does not have any of the cooldown issues that Windfury Weapon does. Its procs do generate rage and threat for warriors and it will proc off of special attacks (yellow damage)."

I got 4/5 armor + 2hand axe, and I'm currently saving my points for the season 2 gear.

I chose to stay armorsmith during TBC, but I'm not in a raidguild so upgrading my Breastplate of Kings isn't really an option. I can upgrade it to the Bulwark of course, but I'd rather have the Arena2-chest as I view that one as better.

So what I've planned for is really just to get 2 pieces of Arena2 when the gear is out regardless of the 4-piece bonus. The bonus is good, really good, but it won't kill me to lose it and I can hopefully focus on getting the 2 last pieces within the next 2-3 weeks then.

This is all subject to change depending on the weapons of course :P

Is sword spec going to make a comeback in season 2? I've pretty much decided I'm either buying the season 2 mace or sword. I just can't decide if mace spec is good enough without having stormherald(xtra weapon proc) and combined with the small amount of feedback sword spec has gotten so far makes it very hard to choose.

i think they are reverting the sword buffs back to their original status this next patch. i just like sword spec because the extra attack can also crit, where as a crit can't crit again for axe spec. i wouldn't go with a mace unless it's stormherald.

i like how i have to pve to get the stormherald for pvp, and i gotta pvp to get a 2h sword to pve with... /sigh.

well you're forgetting about one thing - you can't get the 4piece bonus until you actually wear 4 pieces of the new set. If you spread your points between the old set and the new set, or the new set and a weapon, you'll delay that important 4piece bonus by a few weeks

personally I'm debating whether or not to buy a new 2hander when the new season starts. I just know kael will drop his sword or Teron will drop his mace or axe the same week I drop the points on a weapon

I am looking for some suggestions... Recently I joined a 2v2 with a shaman friend. After 2 weeks playing we are bouncing around 1950-2100 rating. At the moment there are a few combos that make us nuts so i am looking for advice.


1)Shadow priest+warlock- they silence my shaman and deathcoil/fear the crap outta me while they drain tank me etc. I try to kill the priest but they can deathcoil me away from tremor and at the same time triple fear me and keep me snared etc. Other then bend over, what can we do ? i try to shut down the priest and intercept the lock to stop drains. Even if i kill the priest, usually the shaman is so hurt he gets pimp slaped by the lock.

2)double warlock- affliction+ soul link or one of each...We tend to split wins with teams like this UNLESS they have trinkets that suck like the netomatic. We played a double warlock team with both using timbermaw and netomatics and got pimp slapped. I can only escape one and killing the timbermaw does not even yield a victory rush. They can stand at range.. dot the crap outta us and double felhunter spell lock my shaman. Is this just an unwinable combo?

3) Double full frost mages-- 2 pets with root.. 2 mages with root.. 2 mages with double iceblock and snares out the ass. Other then playing LOS kite games and getting luck, I can't see any reliable way to beat these guys. If they make a mistake we can make them pay but they need to make like 3 mistakes or they never die since they can root the hell out of me. This just seems like the old rock scissor from hell for us. We have played teams in 2v2 that when i saw them in 3v3 with my paladin we owned them so hard it was sad.

4)hunter+paladin--- This should be winnable but we rarely beat them. My first instinct was to go for the hunter but any good hunter will keep me trapped all day long. Since my trinket currently does not work on traps AND second win does not consider traps immobilization ( so standing in a giant ice block is not immobilizing.. sure) I am pretty much hosed. Once they trinket change goes live I can probably gib the hunter after his first trap is broken while his next one is on cool down. At the moment though, Hunters are my nightmare. Also they drain all my shaman's mana leaving me high and dry. If i go after the paladin, I end up taking a long time to kill him since smart ones will BOF themselves which makes chasing them hard. They will run me over the damn frost traps and run up to their partner to wingclip/scattershot me off the paladin. Any ideas?

Few things, I would suggest upgrading your level 60 gear with current gear, even if it's just the rare honor rewards.

Against the hunter+paladin combo why doesn't your shaman purge the paladin buffs? Also why doesn't he use a poison cleansing totem and some line of sight dancing to avoid being viper stung by the hunter?

Against the warlock combos I would do your best to wait for pets to agro you, set up a nice totem patch and hide out of line of sight of the warlocks while killing the pets. This should prevent you from being feared and grounding totem will absorb a death coil if a lock pokes his head in and tries to deathcoil you. A warlock without his pet is much weaker than one with his pet, the only pet I'd ignore is the voidwalker since your shaman can purge his shield.

Also if you guys take care of the pets I'd just purge down your target while staying near the totem patch and proceed to tear him up. Don't immediately blow deathwish at the start of the match, save it for a critical moment. The easiest warriors for me to beat with my priest/warlock combo are the ones who use deathwish at the very start and then have no other options for fear removal after their berserker rage is blown.