Battleground changes

Well since the 2.4 patch changes, a lot has changed in Battlegrounds. Some for better, some for worts. I wouldnt wanna appear like the average "nerf yeller", but the AV changes appear rather odd... I know Blizzard wanted to balance things out, but I would hardly call changing everything in favour of the Alliance a balanced solution.

The starting location move was well thought out, and I think it was fair. The rest of the changes could have been ok, but all of them combined just doesnt even out. Still, I would be a happy camper if they just provided Horde with an alternative route into Alliance base, then everything would be dandy.

On the other hand... even with all these changes, in my Battlegroup Horde still wins majority of the matches, but now it takes twice as long. This really comes down to Alliance doing some pretty idiotic stunts all the time. As long as Horde avoids capping SH graveyard, we can push through their defense and win eventually.

Sidenote: according to my test run this morning, it appear AV weekend bonus is broken? I did not notice any additional honor gained?

On good news, however, I really like the way "For great honor" repeatable has activated other Battlegrounds than just AV and EotS. Even WSG now gets some serious players besides just the premades. And since I had nice stack of other marks, running WSG was a really good way to score 1,5k honor per hour until I ran out of AB marks... and now I have to farm them, so that I can buy my belt. Oh well, live and learns, and greedy bastards always suffes, I s'pose!

Im getting close to full epic now, just neck and waist missing. Well I still dont have a PvP mainhand either, but Im saving up for Season 4. Since our Arena teams have started getting some ratings lately (albeit slowly), I might even get a chance to buy S4 mainhand as soon as the season changes. We'll see..

First week of lvl 70

Ok I have been level 70 for a week now. I just purchased my third Gladiator's Kodohide item, and I have purchased the Sergeant's Heavy Cape. So altogether, I have been able to get my hands on one new epic item, roughly every second day since I dinged.

Well of course this speed of things will not be able to continue for ever. I will run out of "cheap" items soon enough, and then the pace of gearing will go down to about 2 items per week, according to my calculations. Of course Arena points will add to that, but it will take some time for them to accumulate.

I need to start doing a little bit of instances, though, too... I just purchased the Season 1 helm, and I need the enchant for it. And that means I need to get my Thrallmar rep up to revered. Oh well, I guess Im forced to do *some* PvE as well...

PvP Gearing for a Resto Druid

I've been doing some calculations regarding the Honor-bought gear available, and enchants for them. The reason why I started doing that was a discussion I had with the GM of one of the realms leading PvP Guilds, and the gear requirements imposed on me to reach Trial there. To make a long story short: I want to get max resil in shortest amount of time.

I did some evaluations on how much Resilience I could get into each slot, divided by 1k of Honor. I use this value as a guideline when choosing what to buy next. And this is what I came up with.

The best Resilience per 1000 Honor (Rp1kH, neat shorthand, eh?) value is received from Sergeant's Heavy Cape. It gives 2,12 Rp1kH, and with a price tag of just 7,548 honor and a few dozen AB marks, it's a nice buy. Of course it gives just 16 Resilience, but the whole idea is to compare that to the price, not go for the largest upgrade. I will upgrade it with the Stealth enchant, which sets me back a reasonable 70 Gold or so.

The next items on the list is the Gloves from Season 1, with a Rp1kH value of 2,10. Again, the price is also quite low, just 10,500, and I actually already have them. Add Major Healing enchant for a price of 200 Gold for mats, and my hands are pretty nice and effective.

The third item on the list is Season 1 Legguards, with a Rp1kH value of 2,00, and a tag of 14,500 honor. A bit steep price, I'd say, but the numbers speak for themselves. The Golden Spellthread needed to finalize them is not cheap either, and should set me back some 300 Gold.

Here's the full chart of the Rp1kH values, for a Restoration Druid. Not quite sure about the weapons at this point, and Wrists, Waist and Feet are missing, and I'll calculate them later.

Sergeant's Heavy Cape	2,119767
Gladiator's Kodohide Gloves	2,095238
Gladiator's Kodohide Legguards	2
Gladiator's Kodohide Helm	1,931034
Veteran's Band of Salvation	1,843472
Gladiator's Kodohide Tunic	1,793103
Gladiator's Kodohide Spaulders	1,777778
Gladiator's Reprieve	1,666667
Talisman of the Horde	1,481481
Vindicator's Band of Salvation	1,437908
Medallion of the Horde	1,177648
Vindicator's Pendant of Salvation	1,176471
Gladiator's Salvation	0,714286
Gladiator's Idol of Tenacity	0,125

Well, I hope this will be of some use to someone else as well. I actually have a more inventive comparison of the Gear, which involves a balanced comparison value including price, +Healing and +Mp5 values, but as I said, I need my Resilience up a.s.a.p.

Arena Recipe: add one Warrior

Yesterday one of my RL mates (who has also played the game since 2005) transferred his lvl 54 Warrior to the same Realm where my Druid is, and he is coming over so that we can boost his toon proper. The aim is that by this time tomorrow, he will be level 60+

The big idea here, of course, is that Warrior is just about the most ideal companion for me, and he will suit the 3vs3 team with our Mage as well. But I have to say, the thing I am most looking forward to is getting to do some 2vs2 fights with him, basically just outlasting pretty much anything the opponents can throw at us. Well, after we've got our act together, that is.

A lot of work to be done, still. But atleast now the foundation should be well in order, and we can start laying down the bricks and mortar to build up our team.

New Beginnings

I am starting this blog to keep track of my project in World of Warcraft: to become competent in PvP. I am by no means a newbie by now, having played the game since the European launch in early 2005, but I have never participated in PvP, bar some random outdoors battles and a few battleground runs every now and then. As of writing this, I have never set my virtual hoof in Arenas, nor have I ever visited Eye of the Storm, either.

My faction is Horde, the race Tauren, and class of choice is Druid. Having played a Druid earlier in PvE, back before the Burning Crusade, the class feels good and I particularly enjoy healing. It is a versatile class, and at the moment it is very potent class in PvP, as far as I've understood. Some even say it is the best PvP healer right now.

I started this project in early December on a new toon, on a new realm. I am currently at level 65, with crappy gear, a mixed resto/feral build, and a whole lot of ambition. My mate is at level 62 with his Mage, and we both have some 10k honor and a bunch of BG tokens stashed away, waiting for us to ding the big seven-o. By that time I hope to have close to 100k available for immediate re-gearing, to get us started with our Arena project.

By now our aim should be clear to everyone. We intend to level up and build up some Honor on the way. Then we are going to get some basic, entry level epics for PvP. Hook up a 2vs2 for starters, and start learning. While the main objective of this blog is to keep a few of my mates informed with our progress, I will occasionally rant about other issues as well.

I like to rant.

So Moo! to you, too. And I hope to see you again.