Day 1 On Blackrock: Welcome To Big Apple
With the season winding down, and the small batch of elite players on Black Dragonflight all locked into gladiator teams, I had to make a change. At this stage in my career, I can no longer lead a team of players of my caliber to the top 0.5%, I need players who are superior to me to call the shots and correct individual mistakes. Perhaps almost just as importantly, on a medium sized server, it just takes forever to get anything done. I find myself spend much more time waiting for ICC groups than getting the rep farming done. I have never played on a high population server before, so the idea of being able to get into groups quickly anytime is VERY appealing. I am off from work this week, I figure I should give it a shot as I have nothing to lose.
I felt like a hick from South Dakota moving to New York City for the first time in his life, seriously. At 9AM server time, the trade chat on Blackrock was already more active than my old server at 9PM! I had so many messages on my screen I had to download Spam Throttle AND set the trade chat into a separate window! I checked the auction house and everything is cheaper than my old server, because there is just a much greater quantity of everything. In just 10 minutes of logging on I got into a 25M rep farming group and there he was, the melon-crushing enhancement shaman Flexxi from Checksix, who was kind enough to help me get a friend/non-raider spot in Vicious Cycle, one of the best guilds in America period.
About a hour later, I saw a 2700 MMR hunter looking for a team in trade chat. 2650 warlock Pollee and Furious Gladiator Drmayonaise PMed me about running rogue/lock/druid but unfortunately they weren't on at same time so we couldn't get any games done. Of course it is not all red carpet as a priest I PMed about rogue/feral/priest sent me this message:
I ran that comp with a rogue who is no offense, probably better than you, and we couldn't get past 2400, no thanks. - Polite
To be honest, I think he is right. For me to be successful with a comp I need someone who ran it before and call the shots. I do agree with him that the comp has its limitations against hunter cleaves, and he also mentioned the difficulty against top RMP's as you will not be able to rush down the priest consistently. Oh well.
Can Bodi Carry Me To A Gladiator Title On BG9?
Then Bodi out of all people sent me a message about running RLS together. Now I will be 100% honest, I wasn't thrilled, I had the word "casual" in mind for Bodi, he was not what I had in mind when I was looking for someone who can potentially carry me to a gladiator title in BG9, then he linked me his armory.
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Blackrock&n=Qtmantaur
2664 in 2v2 as lock/shaman with Pollee, 68 wins 16 losses, 81% win rate, 11th highest rated 2v2 team in BG9. Damn dawg, you ain't casual no more!
To be honest, hitting top ratings has as much to do with politics as it does with player skills. I could not hit gladiator until I started to blog for you, and built my rep to get better teammates. I definitely improved as a player, but having access to some of the best players in the world is what matters, and the fact that they are willing to play with me speaks for itself. - Bodi
Nick, you are my N-E-G-R-O, enough said.
Unfortunately for me, moving from Brownsville to Bronxville comes with its own issues. I was so excited to see Bodi's success in BG9, I brought it up in Vicious Cycle guild chat when his name was mentioned, and apparently the old money didn't like a big black Tauren's name being mentioned among the elites. I was talking to Bodi and didn't even notice someone named Nobadz left the guild. Then I got a message from Trance the GM that one of the most senior/prominent/important members of his guild left, someone who I did not know existed and did not have a single word with ever. Was it actually because of me, you can't be serious? Oh noes it is actually because of me.
Perhaps the guy was offended by my "from South Dakota to New York City" comment in the guild chat when I expressed my excitement of being on a high population server. Perhaps he actually drives a pickup truck with a gun rack in the rear window. Either way, my most sincere apology to Nobadz. I just wanted a guild chat window with players who already read WOM, and I certainly didn't want to dilute the prestigiousness of Vicious Cycle. Perhaps I should buy you a bottle of Jack Daniel sometimes and we can listen to Lynyrd Skynyrd together. I am sorry. I left VC and joined Bodi's guild Brooklyn, I actually live in Brooklyn, it is a good fit, thanks furious gladiator Uckington. The Brooklyn way, the Brooklyn heat, the Brooklyn spirit, Bed-Stuy, the place where my head rest.
The Team Everyone Is Talking About:
Protection Warrior Straight To The Top In BG9
A player with 115 resilience topping America's most competitive BG? Alloraan and company did just that, and went straight to the top and they did it with a 88% win rate. Protection warrior, marksman hunter and holy paladin, and I watched the live Xfire stream from Jhazy's perspective.
Here are the things I noticed:
1) Even with 100 resilience (and I am sure he would use 0 if he gets a better weapon than S7), Alloraan is still virtually immune to physical damage, and with the huge decline in wizard cleave teams, and all the defensive CDs at his disposal, it is extremely difficult to drop him for most teams.
2) 2500-2600 beast cleave's don't seem to . . . do any damage to them at all. Alloraan seems to abuse the hell out of his taunts, shockwave AOE stuns etc on pets and the team as a whole has just so much survivability. Once the wolves are gone, and sometimes before the wolves are gone, the enhancement shaman goes down in like 2 hits. Flexxi from Checksix the original beast cleave, mentioned that he was crit for 11000 before, the power of tier 10 set bonus (20% higher damage on shield slam and shockwave)!
3) The swaps they have makes RMP swaps look like a joke by comparison. Rogue hero Reckful went down when I blinked, DK's go from 100-0 in 3-4 globals. But more importantly, because you can't really stop a marksman hunter's damage, and because of warbringer's insane mobility, when they call a swap, they hit whatever target they want instantly. This is so different from say, an RMP where the rogue/mage must get themselves open to make a clean swap, and it is not always there for them. With this team, the swap is there anytime they want it.
4) There is no question on my mind a paladin brings more to the table than a druid for this comp. PHD is a stronger comp than DK/hunter/druid, and a paladin is still a warrior's best healer. This is not TBC anymore. Freedom/cleanse/bop/divine sacrifice, superior burst heals, superior buffs, and guaranteed out against one round of burst with divine shield makes paladin the easy choice.
Sorry Draek but I have to agree this is the best protection warrior team in the world today although you were/are the trend setter. I would love to see your team vs Alloraan however, perhaps copy over the characters on the next PTR that is right around the corner?
Very strong players with very strong synergy, playing the best overall comp today, that is what this team is about. Of course, every time when we think of a best comp, someone comes out and makes one that is better, sky is the limit in WOW arena! Even Flexxi is now working on a protection warrior for the next LAN tournament, trying to one-up his beast cleave concept although I am not sure if it would fly in S5 gear . . .