combo breaker

2009-02-06T18:16:00.001-08:00

Jesus, a year.

Shit.

GG NR

2008-02-05T23:22:00.000-08:00

Taking a break till WOTLK.

Last update till then:

Vurtne.net

Yes, that's right, he's back.

Don't forget to vote for vurtne at Warcraftmovies.com!

monday madness, comps and emo rage.

2008-01-15T14:35:00.000-08:00

Ran R/Pr/WL/H/D to 2k+

120 points of upward rating, earned with sweat and blood. Mere single digits from an all-time high.
-100 points from CLC setups at #2, #3 and #5 in BG, respectively.

WR/PL >>> R/D in 5s. Period. Better in gib, better in outlast, just *better.*

Only counter I see is in 5/5 outlast. 4dps is outdated and too easy to counter.

imo.

"You most certainly can."

2008-01-12T02:11:00.000-08:00

In our continued efforts to support fair gameplay in World of Warcraft and to provide a positive experience for players, we are currently taking steps to ensure fair and enjoyable competition in the Battlegrounds. Starting immediately, we will be issuing warnings and penalties, including suspensions and the removal of Honor points and recently acquired Honor rewards, for non-participation in Battleground games. We are taking action against thousands of accounts immediately, and will continue to monitor these situations and regularly take action against violators. If you encounter a player in a Battleground who is intentionally not participating in the battle for an extended period of time, please help us track the situation and report the player as AFK. For information on how to complete an in-game AFK report, please go here: (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/pvp/battlegrounds/info.html). All reports will be thoroughly investigated, and corrective action will only be taken if the violation is confirmed. Thank you for your support and best of luck to you in all of your games in the Battlegrounds!

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=3881781638&sid=1

Bornakk for President.

The master of shun-poo shares his vision

2008-01-01T22:31:00.000-08:00

Buddhist, a bright (and rather cool) rogue video producer, has submitted his "dream talent" changes to the rogue trees.

The post can be found here: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=3686704971&sid=1

I know Blizzard wants us to be some support class or something like that, but before any of that occurs, we should already look like this, at least as far as I see it. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Before doing anything, read this: -It may be overpowered to an extent, but it isn't imbalanced. If you think it's overpowered, find a way to tune it down, while leaving the talents where they are. Moving talents into logical positions may make the class OP, so find a way to make the talents worse, but not misplaced. -You'll notice some of the stuff is out of date (Hemo, for example)... If I don't mention the change below, then I didn't make the change, so I assume patch 2.3.2 has taken effect on the talents before I made changes. ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ http://www.war-tools.com/?p=vt&i=45562 Changes: Tons. Mainly rearranging. Deleted a useless talent, changed some other useless talents. Assassination tree: -Dagger specialization moved to Assassination tree. -Effectiveness of Improved Backstab increased to 15/30/45%, Dagger Spec is now a prerequisite. -Added Evasiveness: Increases chance to resist movement impairing effects by 3/6%. -Replaced Improved Poisons with Pestilent Strikes: Increases the critical strike bonus of all attacks against poisoned targets by 6/12/18/24/30%. -Master Poisoner now Reduces the chance your poisons will be resisted by 1/2/3/4/5%, increases your chance to resist poison affects by 6/12/18/24/30%, and increases your chance to apply poisons by 2/4/6/8/10%. -Vigor now also reduces the energy cost of Backstab by 10. -Improved Kidney Shot now increases damage done during Kidney Shot by 5/10/15%. -Deadened Nerves is now a 3 point talent which reduces physical damage taken by 1/3/5%. Combat tree: -Duel Wield Specialization is now a first tier talent. -Precision is now a second tier talent. -Duel Wield Specialization is a prerequisite to Precision (reverse of what it used to be). -Lightning Reflexes is a third tier talent in the Combat tree which now also increases the chance to avoid ranged attacks by 1/2/3/4/5%. -Remorseless Attacks is now a forth tier talent which increases attack speed by 1/2%. -Murder is now a forth tier talent in the Combat tree. Subtlety tree: -Improved Ambush now increases the critical strike chance of Ambush by 20/40/60%. -Initiative now gives you a 30/65/100% chance to gain a combo point when Ambush, Garrote, or Cheap Shot. -Ghostly Strike now costs 35 energy, and increases dodge chance by 15% for 10 seconds. -Improved Eviscerate is now a forth tier talent in the subtlety tree, and now increases the damage done of Eviscerate by 10/20/30%. -Shadowstep now increases the damage of your next ability(except shiv) by 50%. Explanation for all this: -Defined Tree roles. Assassination tree is the crit and poison tree. It's good for critting and poisoning, as well as the Imp kidney shot. Combat tree is for DPS. Subtlety is for burst and mobility. -Backstab. It's our class defining ability, but no one uses it. Putting Dagger spec in the assassination tree with backstab spec as well as adding the energy reduction effect to Vigor should increase the viability of the spec, and reduce the uselessness of some other talents. -Useless/Misplaced talents. Tons of talent points in our trees were completely useless or misplaced. Lightning Reflexes and Remorseless Attacks are good examples of completely useless talents. -Scaling. For example, Vigor doesn't scale. It gives you 10 energy, which is negligible in an arena match, in which you will spend thousands of energy. -Resilience. Blizzard clearly doesn't want talents that reduce the effectiveness of resilience, for resilience's whole purpose is to counter ridiculous crit. Instead of reducing resilience, I simply added more damage done with critical abilities when the target is poisoned, making crit viable in our Crit/Poison talent tree. Makes sense. -Duel Wield Specialization is too important to be that deep in combat. Besides, think about it. We're ROGUES, our very class is specialized in Duel Wielding. -Subtlety is more of the attempted instant burst tree, so Imp Eviscerate if better off there. Also, Eviscerate was too weak (and probably will still be even if the talent change I proposed were to go through). -Mobility. Now it's pretty evenly distributed everywhere. The Assassination tree has a total of 15% resistance to movement impairing effects, but only one sprint (which doesn't break snares on its own). Combat tree has imp sprint and higher DPS, but no prep. Sub tree has prep and shadowstep, so it is still the most mobile tree, but still has the worst DPS. -Shadowstep was lacking in sustained DPS and burst. 50% instead of 20% will help, and shouldn't be too strong. That's 50% extra damage on one ability every 30 seconds. Also took Shiv out of the effected damage bonus, because shiv is the obvious first thing you want to do when you ShS to your target, but you don't want to waste the damage bonus on Shiv.

America gets stomped; rock paper scissors at it's finest.

2007-12-09T01:37:00.000-08:00

For anyone who didn't watch the CGS tourney, I'll give you a quick recap:

Competitive European teams vs. Sponsored 1700rating american teams in the ultimate rock-paper-scissors format.

The entire tourny can be pretty much summed up on the first round of DnT's fight, when they were playing priest / warrior against warlock / druid....and they refused to sub out their priest for a druid, pretty much costing them the match before the gates opened.

$30k on the line, as well as your reputation and your BGs reputation, to be pulling an idiotic move like that is begging to lose.

And the Europeans obliged.

In other news, Warlock / Druid wins 2v2. More at 11.

Season 3, mage buffs, and more

2007-11-27T05:38:00.000-08:00

Season 2 ended with a bang last night, with blizzard DQing many of the top teams (when I say "top," i'm referring to the teams with an arena rating at, near or above 3k, Merciless Wintraders.

There's still speculation as to whether it's perm, but it's nice that they at least won't let people BLATANTLY cheat the system.

On the PTR all mages are getting iceblock.

Ya, you heard me.

Cold snap will be moved to the 21point slot, similar to prep, and the 11 pointer will be "icy veins," the animation to which keeps making me think i'm lagging out, and which will have minimal impact to deep frost builds, because the water elemental is so damn powerful.

Mana gems are now going to give back 1800-3k mana, with 3 charges, as well.

While these changes will hardly fix the real problem, they are leaps and bounds in the right direction.

Happy season 3!

2.3 and warriors

2007-11-19T02:12:00.000-08:00

Today I had an interesting series of WSGs.

Nerf Intervene.

http://files.filefront.com/warsong+bug+ownagewmv/;9061738;/fileinfo.html

2.3!

2007-11-12T23:18:00.000-08:00

Servers go down in a few hours for 2.3.

I'm 2k+ rated 5v5 and have 0 games in.

GG.

Hide N Go Seek

2007-11-07T11:40:00.000-08:00

Blizzard finally announced the start of 2.3 and Season3, respectively.

2.3 will begin on nov. 13.
Season 3 will begin 1 week later, nov. 20.

Farm heroic mech while you can!

Farewell, Raddy

2007-10-24T12:43:00.000-07:00

It seems Radikal, of Radikalnoise, has finally left the blog scene. I'm a bit late on writing this, but tbh I was hoping he was gonna come back.

This is unfortunate, as he was far and away the most entertaining blogger around, and will be missed.

/emo

In other news: tons of changes for 2.3, which will still never come out before our grandchildren are playing.

Newsflash: WoW is balanced around 1v1 ?!

2007-10-18T19:08:00.000-07:00

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=2366705803&pageNo=1&sid=1#4

Taken from Eyonix, explaining the new hypothermia nerf:

"We were finding that the current duration of hypothermia was simply not long enough. Mages were easily able to buy the time they needed to iceblock a second time when fighting the same opponent. This is basically what we were looking to prevent."

Yes, they went there.

On the bright side, our S3 Glove bonus is sex on a stick.

2.3, Gloom and Doom inside.

2007-10-14T19:43:00.000-07:00

It's not in the patch notes, but blizz just confirmed plans to seriously reduce or possibly remove hunter deadzone.

This comes at a time of a confirmed disarming shot, mortal shot, arcane shot that dispels and a myriad of other game-breaking hunter buffs.

Against a hunter the strategy was nova in place, get in deadzone, polymorph.
With the removal of deadzone and the reluctance of blizzard to change the pvp glove bonus for mages to 50% polymorph pushback resist (like the warlock gloves do for fear), mages will now face a choice- we will either have to polymorph a hunter while he and his pet wail on us, with the hunter using ranged attacks at 6 yards+++, or face the possibility of 2-3k raptor strikes, all melee pushback involved, wingclip snare, and, of course, traps, by attempting to sheep in melee.

There are a TON of changes coming in 2.3, but I find myself unable to focus on anything else as much as this- it's a longstanding mechanical restriction placed on the class being removed, with no counteractive tweaks to the classes most affected by it- non-melee classes hurt by most by pushback and absolutely needing to make use of the deadzone.

"The only 2 classes that used to be paper, have been upgraded to corrugated cardboard while mages have been downgraded into safety scissors." -Faxmonkey

ISK is back

2007-10-08T20:14:00.000-07:00

Our favorite shaman returns from the dead!
And he's gone through some changes, from the look of it...

Check out his new "social commentary" on the state of warlocks in pvp:
http://files.filefront.com/lvl60gearWarlockwmv/;8657700;/fileinfo.html

(You vurtne fans out there might catch the not-so-subtle homage to one of the greatest pvpers of our time)

2.3 The good, the bad, and the WTFugly.

2007-09-28T01:40:00.000-07:00

(Information taken from http://www.worldofraids.com/#7593)

PVP effect:

Patch Winners
Shamans (obvious one there, dps and mana regen buffs across the board, as well as 2h weapons being base trainable. WHOOOO! They finally read the petition I signed. Took em a few years.)

Paladins (Ret still needs a lot of work, but the sheer strides taken already shows blizz has serious intentions to tweak the spec into viability)

Priests (the new Dwarf/Draenie racial seems good as an interrupt, but not much else, as it is an incapaciate, so you can't use it while they are dott'ed and have it last the full duration (2 seconds). It may actually turn out to be great, but i've yet to see the specifics. The *real* winners here are NON-Dwarf/Draenie priests. They get fear ward. Yes, it's a nerfed version, but it's fear ward. And lets not forget about the changes in healing scaling as well as the new (HOT!) pain suppression changes.

Patch Losers
Warlocks (3 lines of text in the entire patch notes. 2 Nerfs and a buff nobody would notice unless it was mentioned specifically in the notes)

Druids (an intensity buff that will be noticable in arena's, but the other buffs will be pretty much unknown. Most druids wont spec moonkin for pvp viability and druids who have tree of life will still end up in travel form far more often)

Non-shadowstep rogues, especially with points in ruthlessness. As long as shadowstep remains a 41 point talent in sub, it has such an opportunity cost that you won't see it used too much in it's present patch-note state, even as awesome as it sounds.

Expect an edit when I'm sober-er.

Two videos

2007-09-25T15:02:00.000-07:00

A couple of hunter videos for you.

Huntology 7

"Huntology 7" which has one of the best edited aimed shots in hunter video history. Hint: it involves kazzak and a mage, you'll know it when you see it, hopefully you laugh as much as I did :) Just skip the WWF intro.

What is a Yoens
One of the few survival hunters to ever make it like this in PVP.

FANTASTIC hunter vid.

2007-09-25T01:20:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update for anyone who may have missed this blockbuster release:

Sazaib's "Releasing the Beast" is by far the best edited, most strategic and all-around most entertaining hunter vid i've ever seen...Check it out!

http://files.filefront.com/rtb+FINAL+CUT+LQavi/;8596026;/fileinfo.html

"So easy a warlock could do it"

2007-09-23T00:59:00.000-07:00

Don't get me wrong, this isn't a QQ about warlocks, but hear me out:

I was on my Warlock in EOTS today, simultaneously topping kills, damage, AND healing.

And it's not like I was just pressing buttons- EOTS is serious bizzle-ness. I was actually playing pretty hardcore...cancelling HoT within the Quartz "redzone" while switching targets to banish a succy and then deathcoil + CoT a pally trying to heal his warrior, then noticing nightfall procced and switching to the warrior to finish him off.

And then my buddy Dereck walked by and saw me breaking my arms patting myself on the back, and laughed. "I have a warlock too," he told me, "Let me show you how I play."

And he did.

He pulled the stereotypical tab+dot.
No curse variation for long-casters, no targetting priority, no strategic LOS games or positioning or even trinketing out of CCs...

And my score didn't change.

By now, you've probably realized that this actually IS a warlock QQ, and that I was full of shit earlier when I indicated otherwise.

At this point being a lock is so easy Dereck could do it.

And lock V lock feels a lot like Highlander...an epic struggle between immortals.

Blizzard, please nerf highlander.

I pvp in RL

2007-09-18T19:15:00.000-07:00

So I recently turned in a movie review of "Superbad"...

It went a little something like this (cutting out some of the juicier parts that may or may not be considered evidence of remorselessness for administrative proceedings if they happen to find my site)

Finally, a movie that lives up to it's name! Superbad neither suprised nor dissappointed in this regard as so many hyped-up films do!

Exiting the theatre could only be described as elation, which, given the mental-masturbatory back-patting nature of the film, should not be confused with fellation, which costs twice as much and lasts half as long, or in my case, half as very, very, long (You know it!).

Dull and monotone are words too vibrant to describe the horror that was dialogue in this movie. It was as if a pair of newlyweds in their wedding car ran over a cat, and the cans accompanying the "Just Married!" sign got tangled around the poor mangled creature. For the rest of the movie, I felt as if it was dragging itself along the roadside with it's one good paw, yowling in pain while the cans jingled and rung behind it with every move, the wiring pulling tighter on the cat's fur.

But that's just me, my friends thought it was ok."

So ya, administrative evaluation for the win.
Don't rock the boat without a lifejacket, kids.

On Blueberries and Chipmunks

2007-09-18T00:09:00.000-07:00

Lately there has been a great deal of discussion about arena "tactics."

I quote the term because the discussion itself centers on what should be considered an exploit and what should not.

For instance, tonight in 2v2 Sadist and I went up against warrior/pally...but the warrior had around 70% of his rage bar, leaving the gate.

This, of course, was the result of a rage exploit more and more warriors are using, of late.

Also, more and more warlocks are realizing the benefits of sacrificing a voidwalker 15 seconds or so before prep buff fades and then summoning a felhunter, providing them with a temporary ~3k hp shield, as well as limited no-pushback casting for moves such as UA or even for draining, as well as preventing warriors and bear druids from gaining any rage while attacking for the first (pivotal) moments of the fight.

Quoting Haet, from the Arena Junkies forums:

"The warlock thing is annoying, especiallly when you are a team that needs to rush and eliminate locks as fast as possible. Its not as much of an obvious exploit as starting with 50+ rage but how can it be working as intending at all to start with a 3k shield that lasts 30 seconds? Sacrificing voidwalker is supposed to be the warlocks "Oh shit i am using a useless pet and im about to die, let me summon a real pet and win" button. Matches are supposed to simulate the most common and fair circumstances. It is very common for a priest or mage to put up a shield before engaging an enemy. Its very common for a warrior to be able to battleshout or commanding shout before they engage. Its not common at all for a warlock to see an enemy, summon a voidwalker, sacrifice it, and then summon a real pet and attack. Its not common for a warrior to kill chipmunks for 30 seconds before rushing an enemy."

Well, tonight, it seemed like every team we faught had the corpses of either 30 squirrels or a blueberry in their starting area.

I broke an oath to myself and broke out the wizard oil...only to find that apparently *that* exploit had been hotfixed.
This *is* a good thing- it prevented us from actually going through with it, forced us to play "fair", even if we were the only ones.

I'm fine with that, but blizz, if you can hotfix this stuff so quickly and silently, why not sweep the board?

The meta-gem question

2007-09-17T00:28:00.000-07:00

A lot of people ask me "what meta gem should I choose?"

Ok, nobody really asks me that.

But if they did, I'd totally have the answer!

For a while now i've been rocking the 18stam, 5% stun resist gem-
http://thottbot.com/i25896 and been enjoying it.

But...a friend of mine suggested to get more "bang" for the slot.
So I took his advice and looked into http://thottbot.com/i25893 and the elusive http://thottbot.com/i32409

One provides 50% reduced cast speed on your next spell (pretty huge) and the other provides a straight-up 3% crit dmg increase. Yes, it looks like it's a melee meta, but it actually DOES work on all crits....so casters benefit, too.

I got the 18stam gem back in the day when I was rockin' 7k hp, and it made me feel a little safer.
But once you acquire enough pvp / gladiator gear to fit well above 9k with or without the 18stam, an 1.5 second fireball seems awefully sexy.

I'm a convert after just a few BGs. Faster sheeps and arcane missiles are so sexy, and I've even blown the proc on conjuring water faster (raiding viability up to wazoo!)

To all the people I laughed at for getting mystical skyfire- I apologize.
You were right.
It rocks.

BM or MM for BGs

2007-09-17T00:16:00.001-07:00

That is the last time I will ever do an AV as BM. Ever. That is all.

TierWulf Introduction

2007-09-14T22:11:00.001-07:00

Sup, it's Tierwulf, I was asked by Opportunist to show some good hunter videos and the every-day hunter pvp perspective. My posts may be long and drawn out or short and simple. Beware the wall of text crits.

I'd like to start off with a little perspective about the hunter class. It's alot more complicated than most think...one of the easiest to play but one of the hardest to master.

This video is from a fairly renowned hunter named Luptis. It's his/her first video and as of the last armory I did it seems Luptis has quit (not surprising, he/she got a front row seat to the rise and fall of the class). Aimed shot was king, and those instant freeze trap hits for full duration..*drool*. Oh wait, you couldn't be in combat :(
Do not expect anything fantastic but Luptis WAS considered one of the best recording hunters of his/her time. If anything watch it to laugh at all the funny small damage (700 taking a good chunk of their hp? Hehe..)
The ending has a little funny surprise that can still be done today if you have half a mind :)

Luptis 1st PVP

Pretty funny eh?

Now let's fast forward to present day. HP has increased 3 fold (often more). Arena is now the king subject of PVP. What part do hunters play? Can they even compete? Well, yes.. though we are seriously underrepresented as we don't bring as much as other classes to the table (mortal strike lololol). The primary build of an arena hunter now is not about complete damage. With the addition of resilience, we're just not a burst class. What you will now see is an MM makeup with some survival thrown in. Imp stings with a scorpid pet to ensure that viper doesn't get dispelled, entrapment so we can forget the unreliable freeze trap, deterrence for those times you need to escape that melee, etc. Stack around 12khp+ get some res and you are set. Now you just need a disc/holy priest with decent gear and a good arena spec. Funny how my wife rolled priest when we started on shattered halls and now we do arenas. It's easy to communicate as we're in the same room so now we just need alot more gear to start. All things considered we have had a pretty good experience in the arenas so far. Now instead of boring you ON TO THE DEMONSTRATION!

Just another day of Two Vee Two

Most fights are a simple idea with moderately complicated mechanics thrown in. The simple idea? Drain the healer's mana and toast them. The mechanics? The correct traps, using pillars, keeping them off the priest, getting a mana burn in, keeping your viper sting on...yeah.

Here's the armory of the top arena hunter to get an idea.

Hamchook

So how many BM hunters are you encountering in the arena? How many hunters are just throwing that entire pretty blue bar at you all at once? They have the right idea. They're just about a year too late.

Warlock and Warrior pvp video showcase

2007-09-12T23:45:00.000-07:00

It's coming up.

The truth is I really want to show you some videos worth watching, and both warriors and warlocks have this disturbing trend of producing a huge number of videos that seem to throw skill by the wayside.

Pat and Maydie =/= skill, people! Give my mage a healbot and he'll rape groups of the clueless and undergeared till he goes OOM!

And while I personally liked Drakedog 7, A lot of his earlier ones really *were* nothing more than seduce + nuke....those are strategies I don't want people to come away from here thinking they can rely on.

So ya, the search continues until I have enough movies to fill up a proper post.

If anyone reads this and has any movies, don't hesistate to post them in the comments. I'll credit you with the tip and the movie will be shared (if it doesn't completely suck, that is)

WSVG Cancelled

2007-09-12T23:42:00.001-07:00

http://www.thewsvg.com/

I heard NOTHING about this until a bit ago off Radikalnoise.

HOLY CRAP.

...

That's it, I'll come up with something that sounds semi-knowledgable about this later, but for now i'm too shocked.

The best pvp movies of all time (Cont, quick update)

2007-09-09T16:23:00.000-07:00

DRUIDS

Druids are probably one of the most fun classes to pvp with, there's so much versatility in them, and a great druid pvp video is hard to come by because of the extra amount of "umph" needed to play a class like that to it's fullest.

Regardless, here are some of the top druid vids of all time.

Deep Feral
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7003802035566527790

The vid linked is Deep Feral 5, but the entire series shows the insane versatility of druids, as well as how potent they can be when used intelligently. Druids are certainly one of the most powerful classes when in the hands of someone who really understands the mechanics.

Hafu Druid/Warrior 2V3 Arena
http://files.filefront.com/Hafu_2v3_Druid_Warrior_Arena/;8233632;/fileinfo.html

This video was originally shown to me by Tierwulf, a contributing writer for the site.

Another amazing druid video, slightly different from Deep feral in that this showcases druids as a support role- and how potent they can be.

Unmatched mobility makes focus firing a dangerous gamble, as Hafu can (and does) escape, all the while the warrior is pounding on them.

It should be noted that at certain scenes in the movie, Hafu switches to regen gear for innervate.
If the patch goes through that restricts gear changing in-arena, druids like Hafu will be inadvertantly hit. I don't want to turn the review into a crusade against restricting gear-swapping and instead putting an effective resist cap...but it's worth thinking about :D

Fat Cow and the Pro
http://www.warcraftmovies.com/movieview.php?id=42569

Most arena 2v2 with the highest rated druid/mage combo at the time during season1.

Nately, the mage, came out with a video that didn't make the top mage cut- but his druid partner is much more talented, imo.

But that's just me- check it out and see for yourself.

Nerf Druids 5- Cow Ninja of Doom
http://www.warcraftmovies.com/movieview.php?id=41727

Great movie, great editing, lots of skill. Another interesting playstyle.

More to come!

The best pvp movies of all time.

2007-09-07T14:53:00.001-07:00

I lived on WCM for a long time.
We've seen em come and we've seen 'em go.

We have all seen lists of the best pvp movies....they are highly subjective and entirely opinion, and expect nothing less than that for this, but I feel a few movies that are constantly overlooked are being flat-out wronged.

So without further ado, movies that changed WoW (for better or worse), and in no particular order.

I'll be covering this 2 Classes at a time, because there's so much content.

Mages:

Vurtne 3.
http://www.warcraftmovies.com/movieview.php?id=30148

We start off with one of the more controversial pvp movies.
Vurtne is a Swedish mage who includes multiple 1vN scenarios, lightning-fast reactions and the most comprehensive grasp of game mechanics i've seen demonstrated in a movie.

He is also an amazing director, his scenes are generally lighthearted and the editing doesn't take itself too seriously. The music is not that same old grunge rock that makes it into every other pvp movie, although he has actually introduced a few songs to mainstream pvp music-dom in this video.
It's also funny to see a mage in blues going slow-motion and zooming in for those 1k crits.

A lot of people put down Vurtne's movies with comments like "I can do that - it's nothing but mindless engineering spam." or "His opponents sucked"
Some of this is true. Vurtne uses a metric shit-ton of trinkets (that's the equivalent of four "ass-loads") and grenades.
But looking in context, he's using magister gear against AQ40 players.
And many of his opponents *do* suck. But even 2 or more terrible players become infinitely more dangerous when faced at once, especially with sub-par gear.

Many people don't like to praise his video's because there are a lot of haters out there, but I have yet to see a mage play with the confidence and almost psychic attunement vurtne seems to play with.
Amazing movies.

NOTE: A lot of people like Voidim movies. Voidim movies are, imo, vurtne movies + gear.
I like em, but Vurtne is just...well, he's Vurtne.

Vicious mage Clazzi
http://www.warcraftmovies.com/movieview.php?id=29312

While we are on mage videos, here is one that is often overlooked.
This movie features an arcane/fire mage, in world pvp and BG situations.
The opening to this movie is one of the best run-on pvp scenes of all time, from the start right up to the finish, it could not have been better if directed.

Radikal: Water elemental dueling on test III
http://files.filefront.com/rad3wmv/;7580761;/fileinfo.html

Great opponents, great player, *intense* duels.
Check out his blog- Radikalnoise.blogspot.com
Amazing mage, plays much more aggressively than most and
he's also one of the most brilliant bloggers out there.
(Inspired me to make a blog bitching about locks, but that's neither here nor there)

Agramon 2

http://www.warcraftmovies.com/movieview.php?id=44899

Some extremely techie play from an top-rated mage against top opponents.
Not much more to say, Agramon is the mage I wish to be, in many ways.
Very subtle moves, like wanding to pushback cast and then blinking behind to stymie the cast...great stuff.

Rogues:
Corrupt: Nightmare X
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2568937129099109933

Flagship rogue movie, and the model to which new rogue movies are often judged.
This movie came out at a time when many classes were, on paper, virtually impossible for a rogue to defeat (well-geared hunters with pulses), and Corrupt shows us not only innovative strategies (one of the first, if not THE first, movies to utilize sap+CS w/o breaking sap+run+restealth for CP generation) but does so with style and flair.
Great watch.

Ming PTR 1.11 Duels
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-869734319858751727

As far as I'm concerned, Aliens abducted ming at around patch 1.8 and replaced him with an adroid bent on making a mockery of the rogue community without them actually realizing it.

But this is the crowning acheivement of the "Old ming."
I can sense with my Sharingan that this video is a real Tim-Duncan-Style Slam-Dunk.

Perkulator 3
http://www.warcraftmovies.com/movieview.php?id=16381
You know, when I come back to it, this movie isn't really *that* amazing. But damn, it's just watchable. Haddaway 5min duels ftw.
What is love?!

Bizzlesnaff 2
http://www.warcraftmovies.com/movieview.php?id=42538
Featuring some of the worst opponents to ever ebay, vs. a naked rogue with grey fist weapons or worn daggers.

Also featuring some fun pvp
Also featuring an interview with Champp jones. That alone makes this movie a must-see, I will forever quote the Champp.
"Call me pots 'N pans"

Neilyo 4
http://www.warcraftmovies.com/movieview.php?id=41407

The entire series is gold, but 4 is the magic number for me- Neilyo acheives one of most spectacular scenes, the airborn-gank. That's it, check skills at the door, forget gear, screw opponents, the movie already wins before you judge those. AIRBORN GANK, baby.

Every last Nerf Sap movie
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6210261902551666821
Starting there, and ending up at Nerf Sap 8.

Dahis: Transformation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTQn3wq__o4
Amazing rogue, and I hear an excellent warrior.
As you will see next post, there is a terrible shortage of "skilled" warrior pvp movies out there.
I'd love to see his.

That's it for the top PVP video's of the genres.
There are some I forgot, and some I didn't have time for. I'll edit them in later.
This is the the meat of what I remember, though.

PVP items you've probably never thought of.

2007-09-07T09:04:00.000-07:00

Some things seperate a good pvper from those truly great ones.

One is versatility.

If you want to be more flexible and prepared when fighting out in Azeroth or Outlands, here are some often ignored and generally unknown items to make those gank sessions shine.

Every item on my list will be usable by any 60-70player.
None will require a certain faction, be specific to a profession, or be quest-related consumable (any quest reward listed here will be re-usable infinitely).

I'm not going to list items such as really sticky glue or slumber sand if you have no reliable way to farm them indefinitely.

With that said, here are a few things that may make your world pvp experience more interesting.

1) Magic Dust
http://thottbot.com/i2091
No longer purchasable, but farmable. Seems to have dodged the nerf patch where anything over 60 became impossible to use items against.

Expect a nerf once blizzard realizes that.

2) Discombobulator Ray
http://thottbot.com/i4388
Yes, the rumors are true, you can no longer dismount people using the ray.
However, it is a great item (at a very low cost to make) for escaping your target or pursuing.
For world pvp it's essential. While these require engineering to create, they do not have an engineering requirement to use. They can be purchased from any engineer who knows the recipe.

3) Dog Whistle (or Glowing Cat Figurine http://thottbot.com/i5332 or even Barov Peasant Caller http://thottbot.com/i14023)

If you have the rep, even the netherwing badges http://thottbot.com/i32864

The idea behind guardian items is two-fold.

First, extra spell pushback against casters.

Second, a great item to pop against rogues you feel are going to blind and attempt a restealth opener.

If they blind you and try to kill your pet with hemo/sinister strike or any CP generating move, they also lose all combo points on you. And even if they do blind you and kill your pet, They may not get out of combat fast enough to restealth on you.

Situational items, but great.

4) Heart of Noxxion
http://thottbot.com/i17744
Removes lvl 70 poison just as easily as lvl 40.

If a rogue forces you to get serious, this trinket is a great snare break.
Save your pvp trinket for the KS or blind.

5) Tidal Charm
http://thottbot.com/i1404

Everyone knows about tidal charm.
In my personal experience I find it to have around a 50% success rate on level 70 targets.

That's still definitely worth it.

6) Darkmoon Card: Twisting Nether.
http://thottbot.com/i19290

I'm guessing most of you have been in arena.
Well, a 10% chance for a 20% hp/mp rez is pretty damn insane.
I've heard stories about it chain procc'ing on a priest w/improved death...basically, he spent half the fight in angel mode, with uninteruptable uuber heals.

Granted, the odds of it chaining for you are slim to none, but since I can't use the Gnomish Poultryizer ability in the arena (it would be way to OP, actually. They should lower the CD, diminish the effect greatly, and make it usable) then this card vies for the spot with icon of the silver crescent and talisman of the horde.

But as the person who gets focus'ed first on my team, I see a lot more benefit from this card than I would if I was taken out last, and rezzing back to face a 2v1.

That's all I for now, I may just save a few tricks and spread em out over installments of the list for when I have nothing else to write about.

Day 1: Who I am, what to expect

2007-09-07T08:48:00.000-07:00

Welcome to another World of Warcraft PVP blog.

I'll be your host, Oppo.

The reason behind this blog is mostly frustration at the lack of updates from my favorite blogs, or *certain* pvp blogs abandoning principles and joining forces with controversy-mongers who type out things about basketball, naruto and meeting girls online (We're not naming names here).

Cards on the table, here's what to expect:

No matter where this blog goes, whether it takes off (unlikely) or bombs (I can see it now), I will not sell out if I have even a single reader.

I won't swarm you with WoW gold buying or PLing ads (I don't think I can if I wanted to).

In-depth strats and reviews on certain items and techniques you may not have seen before.

Little goodies :D

With that being said,
Welcome to Combobreaker.