I tried my best not to be too judgemental but I honestly could not stand the video. If It wasn't for the expansion, I would be much more experienced in making videos but I have to say the arena clips took a lot of the enjoyment from his video. Please, save those clips for something different. I'm no fan of Neilyo like Ming. I didn't find his video to be the greatest thus far nor the most entertaining. If anything, Tosan was the most entertaining video and Eviscerate's was the most educational.

His dueling opponents were just average in my opinion. I've fought harder with less cooldowns. Ah, and the dreaded cooldown conversation. I'm sorry but even with todays' standards I find that kind of usage was obnoxious and wasteful. Taeveril is without question at least twice as better as any mages that appeared in his video. If your new to the game and looking for something to learn from, by all means Neilyo is the foundation for that but if your going to be top notch, hes either going to have to come out with something better or your going to have to watch something else.

Sure he shows the occasional "Sap through Cheapshot" that was made widely public like a year ago and the easy to do "Vanish POM Pyroblast from 20 yards" but don't lose your pants over it. If no one makes a dueling video for a while and I decide to, I'll be sure to have quality opponents with a high teaching value. That is all.

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Posted By Venick to Venick and Taeveril's Blog at 7/31/2007 10:51:00 AM

Pandemic started off the week slow dropping to an all time low of 7th so far this season, but at the end of the week they pulled it together and bounced back to #2. Trounce still leads the rankings but slowly creeping up on them is TeamPandemic and We Lose Cuz Daorok sux. Keep reading to find out all the statistical breakdowns and who were the big losers and winners this week.

Averages of Top 50 5v5 Teams – 7-30-07
Rating: 2273.98 (Last week 2242.52)
Wins: 157.1 (Last week 157.56)
Losses: 41.1 (Last week 43.24)
Win Percentage: 0.8076 (Last week 0.8010)

Overview: The average rating went up this week by about 30 while the wins and losses stayed relatively the same. The only thing these numbers could represent is a new re-make team making it into the Top 50 bumping the older ones with more wins/losses out. One example of this would be CAPSLOCKCREW who transferred their team to Tichondrius losing their old record of (345-56) and trading it for their new one of (76-13).


POWER 5 RANKINGS
1. TeamPandemic (Tichondrius) – US #2
Lineup: Warrior, Mage, Elemental Shaman, Holy Priest, Paladin
A bumpy week for this team as they started it off very rocky dropping to 7th overall in the US, but towards the end of the week they regained their form going 59-22 for the week and improving their rating by 22 in the process. It's nice to see that the top teams actually play more than just 10 games a week while maintaining a top rank. They continue to stay #1 in the Power Rankings again because of their continued dominance over the #1 Battlegroup Bloodlust.

2. CAPSLOCKCREW (Tichondruis) – US #11
Lineup: Warrior, Hunter, Warlock, Holy Priest, Paladin
You will notice they no longer have (Kel'Thuzad) attached to their name that's because they are no longer on that server. When you transfer servers you lose all your arena teams and their ratings and have to re-build each of your teams. This was no problem from this top team seeing as they went (76-15) an 85% win percentage which is roughly the same as on their old battleground. The good thing about re making a team is that every team you play will always be higher ranked than you so you will always get a lot of points from beating them (around 20-30) and when you lose you'll barely lose anything so It make it extremely easy for top teams to regain their status just by winning.

3. We lose cuz Daorok sux (Korgath) – US #3
Lineup: Warrior, Mage, Hunter, Resto Shaman, Paladin
This team has been on an absolute frenzy these last few weeks and its still going and probably wont stop for a while. This week they went an impressive 16-0 and gaining 42 rating in the process, compared to last weeks 49-3. In the last two weeks they are 65-3, which is an amazing 96% win percentage well above their total right now that is 85%. If they continue to keep winning at this rate if they win 20-30 games next week should be enough to give them the #1 spot for the first time this season.

4. Trounce (Mal'Ganis) – US #1
Lineup: Warrior, Mage, Elemental Shaman, Holy Priest, Paladin
Still holding strong at #1 they continue to hold off TeamPandemic, the usual #1, and We lose cuz Daorok sux who has been extremely hot as of lately. This week Trounce only played 10 games, but won all of them improving their rating by only 16 points meaning they were only beating teams that gave them anywhere between 1-2 points. I am not a fan of teams only getting their 10 games in a week so they can just get their Arena Points, if they want to stay on these power rankings they will need to play more then 10 next week before I drop them off.

5. Rag Dolled (Tichondruis) – US #4
Lineup: Warrior, Mage, Elemental Shaman, Holy Priest, Paladin
This team hasn't made too much noise so far this season, but has steadily climbed up the ranks each week. They have slowly moved up the rankings and now they are US #4, which is this teams all time high. Out of all the teams in the Top 10 they have the lowest win percentage at 75%, which means they like to grind out their ranks. This week they went an impressive 46-11 while gaining 53 rating which moved them from 6th to 4th, expect this team to continue to keep climbing possibly into the Top 2 next week.


TOP 5 MOVERS (Teams only in Top 50 for previous week included)

(+45) – Owls That Fly at Dawn (Tichondrius) NEW->5th
Lineup: Rogue, Warlock, Warlock, Shadow Priest, Resto Druid
Not sure if this team was created 1-2+ weeks ago or this week, but regardless they have shot up all the way to 5th out of no where. They are 100-25, which is an 80% win rate, no easy feat on the #1 Battlegroup Bloodlust. One thing that is for certain though is they have a really stupid team name, and hopefully that's some kind of inside joke because I am pretty sure a 4th grader could make something cooler than that.

(+42) – TEAM EG (Illidan) 54th->13th
Lineup: Warrior, Warlock, Elemental Shaman, Holy Priest, Paladin
Last week they were in the opposite list being one of the Top 5 losers dropping 43 ranks, this week they almost gained all of them back. A few days ago they even made it up into the Top 10 but have since barely fallen out, If a team can rebound as much as they can it says a lot – they will probably stay in or around the Top 10 for a few weeks unless they have another bad week.

(+27) – DOOM TRAIN (Uldum) NEW->23rd
Lineup: Rogue, Mage, Warlock, Shadow Priest, Resto Shaman
This is the first time this team has graced the Top 50, and they are ranked fairly high playing a lineup that is far from cookie cutter. While they did make it all the way to 23rd they do have a fairly low win percentage of 77% playing in the weak Cyclone Battleground. If they want to stay on these rankings they will have to prove them selves week after week by gaining ranks and improving their rating and record.

(+26) – Smug Lyfe (Eldre'Thelas) NEW->24th
Lineup: Warrior, Mage, Elemental Shaman, Holy Priest, Paladin
Considering they play the extremely popular cookie cutter build it's surprising that they have such a low win percentage, which is 70%. I've seen this team hovering around the Top 50 before and might have been in it two weeks ago, I cant remember, but given the fact their win percentage is so low they must have just had a good week, I don't expect them to stay around this rank for very long with that low of a win percentage.

(+25) – MIC (The Underbog) NEW->25th
Lineup: Warrior, Rogue, Mage, Holy Priest, Paladin
Hailing from the weakest battleground: Retaliation, this team has an extremely impressive win percentage of 96% and grace the Top 50 for the first time. Even on a "weaker" battleground that is no easy feat especially playing with two melee: a warrior and a rogue. The website I used to calculate all the rankings/statistics just recently added Retaliation to its list (it wasn't added because they merged two BG's together to make it) So they could have been in the Top 50 before, I don't know. With a 96% win percentage they will probably be here for awhile, expect this team to moving up ranks.


BOTTOM 5 DROPPERS (Teams only in Top 50 for previous week included)

(-235) – Weekend Respecs (Korgath) 15th->250+
Lineup: Warrior, Warlock, Elemental Shaman, Holy Priest, Paladin
Holy crap I'm speechless right here, 235+ ranks? I think that will be a record for a very long time on this website, the best part is it might even be more then 235 ranks. I really don't think this team is a sold team either because a team who sells their team can only lose about 100 rating in one week; this team has lost more than that and still have members with games played on their lineup. Last week they had a rating of 2247 with a record of 135-51, this week they went 3-17 and lost 200 rating in the process dropping them completely out of the Top 150 by 100+ rating. Their actual rank is probably something closer to 300 or more but Ill go easy on them and say they are ranked 250. Some times teams have an off night, and losing to teams you probably should beat 2-3 times in a row would probably prompt you to stop, but 17? I don't know who or what they lost to but could only assume they weren't smart enough to stop after they lost 50 or even 100 rating.

(-71) – FoRtY PeRcEnT AzN (Cho'gall) 9th->80th
Lineup: Warrior, Mage, Elemental Shaman, Holy Priest, Paladin
This team was up around the Top 10 for quite some time so it's surprising to see them drop this low. Last week they had a 2270 rating with a record of 105-12, this week they tried to just get 10 games in which turned out to be extremely costly. They went 3-7 and lost 90 rating in the process, playing 10 games to get arena points isn't worth losing almost 100 rating they should've just not played.

(-59) – Diablo (Deathwing) 18th->77th
Lineup: Unknown
This team had a brief stint in the Top 50 last week but quickly threw it all away. Last week they were 2239 with a record of 150-50, this week they tried to get just 10 games in and probably lost to some very low ranked teams going 7-3 they some how lost 50+ rating. If you want to be a top ranked team you can't wait till Sunday or Monday night to get your games in, and 10 games a week definitely doesn't cut it unless your battleground is extremely weak.

(-46) – Mississippi Roadblock (Blackrock) 35th->81st
Lineup: Warrior, Mage, Hunter, Holy Priest, Paladin
This wasn't a horrible weak for this team, but it wasn't the best either. To maintain your rank in the Top 50 US you'll usually need to gain at least 30-40 rating each week, so If you go down even a little bit or break even your going to lose a lot of ranks with teams passing you. This is what happened to Mississippi Roadblock, they mediocre 4-5 this week and have lost only 30 rating but its good enough to drop them 46 spots and get them on the list for one of this weeks biggest losers.

(-36) – is this a new arena (Alter of Storms) 13th->49th
Lineup: Warrior, Mage, Warlock, Holy Priest, Paladin
Two weeks ago this team was barely hovering in the Top 50 in the US, and here again they are ranked 49th. After a great week shooting all the way up to 13th they didn't continue that play this week and lost everything they gained. Despite having a winning record this week of 9-4 they dropped roughly 40 rating and that was enough to drop them 36 ranks.


TEAM OF THE WEEK
CAPSLOCKCREW (Kel'Thuzad)- US #11
Lineup: Warrior, Hunter, Warlock, Holy Priest, Paladin
After transferring and remaking their team they shot up all the way to the top 10 before the week was even over, they have since then barely dropped out of the Top 10but the fact that they can regain their status and that quick gives them the award for top team this week. Another impressive note is if that they play more then every other team in the top 50 and still maintain an great win percentage, if you combined their two teams they would be 421-69 which is a win percentage of 86%.


IRONMAN TEAM AWARDS – (Top 50 Team Only)
Wins – (289) TeamPandemic (Tichondrius)
Losses – (150) Shame (Wildhammer)
Games Played – (413) Shame (Wildhammer)


STOCK RISING
(US #5) Owls That Fly at Dawn (Tichondrius)
Lineup: Rogue, Warlock, Warlock, Shadow Priest, Resto Druid
If they can shoot up to 5th in the US while playing in the Bloodlust battlegroup that means they are good enough to stay up there, and for awhile. Expect this newly made team to stay up in the Top 10 for a while and even get better every week.

STOCK FALLING
(US #31) Team Pulse (Feathermoon)
Lineup: Warrior, Mage, Elemental Shaman, Holy Priest, Paladin
I really enjoyed covering this team especially since they were a '900 Club' team while maintaining a Top 10 US rank, but as each week goes on they keep dropping. Two weeks ago they were all the way up to 4th rank, then last week 8th, now 31st if this trend continues they might even drop out of the Top 50 US by next week. They have kept their win percentage at an decent 87%, so they aren't completely out of it a good week or two of play and they could possibly re join the Top 10 or even the '900 club' once again.


On a side note, I have recently just quit WoW. I got extremely frustrated with PvE and both PvP/Arena in this game and decided to give everything away on all my characters, It might just be a break or for good who knows. But try not to be too surprised if this site stops getting updated, I may lose the will power to keep doing this especially if im not playing.

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Posted By Arenablogmaster to Arena Blogger at 7/30/2007 02:47:00 PM

Bloodlust Battlegroup took the #1 spot last week to every ones expectations, but will they be able to hold #1 this week? TeamPandemic falling almost out of the Top 10 with poor play this week could hurt Bloodlust by next week unless they turn it around. Nightfall held strong at #2 last week but rumors have it they could be losing their #1 team to Bloodlust which will completely nuke them to the bottom of these rankings. Keep reading to find out more!

Information taken from Top 10 Teams only on each battle group.

Average Rating Per Top10 Teams: To determine the battlegroup rating I simply calculated the top 10 team's rating from each battle group's and added that together with the amount of matches those teams played to get their 'Battlegroup Rating'

Rank - Battlegroup - AverageRating - GP - Battlegroup Rating - Gain
1) BLOODLUST - 2267.1 - 2159 - 4426.1 (+529.8)
2) RAMPAGE - 2222.8 - 2178 - 4400.8 (+645.7)
3) VENGEANCE - 2218.1 - 2179 - 4397.1 (+634.6)
4) VINDICATION - 2208.8 - 2106 - 4314.8 (+605.2)
5) NIGHTFALL - 2181.1 - 2034 - 4215.1 (+391.8)
6) SHADOWBURN - 2175.4 - 1998 - 4173.4 (+588)
7) STORMSTRIKE - 2214 - 1773 - 3987 (+512.3)
8) CYCLONE - 2199.4 - 1779 - 3978.4 (+334.6)
9) WHIRLWIND - 2130.9 - 1665 - 3795.9 (+452.7)
10) RECKONING - 2204.1 - 1568 - 3772.1 (+103.1)
11) RUIN - 2192 - 1425 - 3617 (-103.7)
12) EMBERSTORM - 2006.7 - 1471 - 3477.7 (+460.2)
13) RETALIATION - 2042.2 - 1416 - 3458.2 (N/A)


Overview: Bloodlust barely holds the lead while their poster team TeamPandemic is falling quickly down the Top 10 ranks, from 2nd to 7th. Last week Bloodlust led by 73 Rating, this week it has been dwindled down to 26. Closely snipping at Bloodlust's heels is Rampage and Vengeance who were ranked 4th and 3rd last week. Rampage's burst up the ladder came from some unexpected play from TeamEG who was ranked outside the Top 50 in the US now shot up to 10th with 2300 rating, as well as great play from the Cho'Gall server. Vengeance who had just an impressive week is being fueled by We lose cuz Daorok sux, who has shot up 400 rating since the last rankings were released, their server Korgath also holds the majority of the top spots helping bring BG rating up. Trounce the #1 team in the US for the past two weeks has helped bring their Battleground Stormstrike up to 7th from 10th, moving it out of the bottom tier to a mid tier Battleground now. Last weeks #2 ranked Battleground Nightfall has dropped all the way down to 5th, and with rumors that their #1 team CAPSLOCKCREW will be transferring they will most likely keep going down. Almost every server had a good week gaining this week except for Ruin the only Battleground to drop rating.

Be sure to check back next week to see if Bloodlust can maintain its narrow lead, and if Vengeance and Ramage will duel it out for the #1 Ranked Battlegroup.

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Posted By Arenablogmaster to Arena Blogger at 7/27/2007 10:45:00 AM

This week another 5 teams drop off the list, especially #1 from last week ONE EIGHT VII who falls completely off the radar. Top ranked Team Pulse also leaves us after having a medicore week. Can Trounce take the #1 spot in the 900 Club while holding #1 in the US overall? Will Game Over another Top 15 team be able to challenge Trounce for the top? Check below to find out more to see which teams stayed and which didn't!

Guidelines for becoming a 900 Club team: Maintain 150 Top US Rank, while holding .900 win percentage in matches.

Update 3: 7/27/07

Rank - Team - Win/Loss - Win%
1) Trounce (Mal'Ganis) 178-14 0.9270
2) Game Over (Black Dragonflight) 134-12 0.9178
3) Slash Cyclone (Bleeding Hollow) 120-11 0.9160
4) SeeYouNextTuesday (Tortheldrin) 196-21 0.9032
5) Espada (Stormscale) 100-11 0.9009
6) Spray n Pray High Life (Mannoroth) 89-10 0.9000
7) Clan Hex (Lightning's Blade) 97-11 0.9000
8) Yea We Lift (Mal'Ganis) 104-12 0.9000


Overview: Trounce takes the #1 spot this week while maintaining the #1 rank in the United States which is extremely impressive even if their battleground is considered "weak". Game Over stays strong on these rankings although they've only played about 20 matches since our last update versus Trounce's 30+. Slash Cyclone, in shambles over the loss of one of their teammate, has yet to play a match but stay in the Top 150 in the US they will be able to stay on another week maybe two with out playing before dropping out of the Top 150. Last weeks #1 ranked team ONE EIGHT VII has gone 45-25 (64%) since our last update dropping their total win percentage to 72% and will probably never join these ranks again. Team Pulse a Top 10 team who also maintained 900 Club status has since dropped out of the Top 10 and dropped their win percentage all the way down to 87% from 94%. New teams fill spots #4-8 this week, with the exception of Clan HeX who barely made it in last week and is now barely staying in. With most of these teams barely being above .900 there might not be any 900 Club Teams within a week or two, stay tuned to see who can hold out the longest!

Be sure to check back tomorrow to see the new Battle Ground Competitiveness Rankings!

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Posted By Arenablogmaster to Arena Blogger at 7/27/2007 09:08:00 AM

I had spent most of my time slowly deciding on what arena pieces to grab because my ultimate choice would be my spec. Taeveril had been yelling at me to go combat maces probably after all my ranting about how every arena rogue in top brackets are. Indeed I have no doubt its an exceptional build but I have my personal issues with the spec.

First off, combat does not give me that roguish feel. You jump in there, pop Adrenaline Rush, and start whacking away even if your trying to position yourself behind the target as if your daggers. This in turn ruins my "craving" of making a video as combat.

Second, I'm quite frustrated with the fact that a pve type build is better overall than lets say those of dagger specs. Well I'm sure a lot of rogues out there could disagree - I can understand. I love daggers and can see with a certain spec how they would shine but then I see how maces compensate and in my opinion; in most cases, conquer and overwhelm.

I tested combat maces on the test server and found myself out dpsing almost every dps class, but even so, I was still skeptical because of the lack of skilled players. So here I am, combat maces - now just another rogue like all the arena rogues. Discuss my build choice if you like.




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Posted By Venick to Venick and Taeveril's Blog at 7/25/2007 02:58:00 PM

So there were a couple of hangups it seems but it looks like the RogueSpot t-shirt is finally here. The title of the post links to the shirt. Check it out! There is a very small quantity this time around to see if this is something that will sell. If so expect more shirts and and more designs.

Welcome to my weekly Melee of the Top 50 teams in the US, this will be released every week. This will cover the 5th week of this Arena Season 2 spanning from the 17th to the 23rd of July. Read below to find out more about your favorite 5v5 teams! Who will be #1? Trounce and Pandemic battle for the top spot continues as 14 new teams join the Top 50 this week, with others plummeting off especially the big loser this week Team EG dropping completely off the Top50 after being ranked 11th. Keep reading to find out more!

Averages of Top 50 5v5 Teams – 7-23-07
Rating: 2242.52 (Last week 2236.72)
Wins: 157.56 (Last week 136.5)
Losses: 43.24 (Last week 31.3)
Win Percentage: 0.8010 (Last week 0.8366)

Overview: Of the Top 50 teams this week the average ratings went up by 21 rating with the 50th rank making it in this week with 2191 Rating versus last weeks 2145. Overall the top teams lost about a game more then they won this week dropping the win percentage of all teams by about 3% which is a large number.


POWER 5 RANKINGS
1. Pandemic (Tichondrius) – Anything less then #1 is a bad week for this team, and they have been getting their butts kicked by Trounce so far this season. Even though they are ranked #2 right now one thing you might consider this: Pandemic hails from Bloodlust the #1 most competitive Battleground, while Trounce is from Stormstrike(which was 10th out of the 13th Battlegrounds). Their win percentage from last season is relatively the same staying above 85% which is better then the average Top 50 team, but not as high as you'd expect the #1 team to be after 1.5 seasons of playing almost the same lineup.

2. Trounce (Mal'Ganis) – Trounce is showing they are one of the teams to beat this season, challenging Pandemic for the title they held most of last season for the #1 spot. Most of the week they held the #1 slot except for a brief day where Pandemic pulled ahead by a few rating but Trounce answered back shooting 40 rating above them. If Trounce's Battlegroup's Rating wasn't so low I would give them the #1 spot, unfortunately it is 10th/13 battlegroup's at the moment.

3. We lose cuz Daorok sux (Korgath) – Starting the season very slow they finally got to where they belong at the top. Another favorite and top team from last season they shot up to the #4 spot this week with great play and getting there with less games played then the other teams around them. Expect them to keep climbing.

4. CAPSLOCKCREW (Kel'Thuzad) – Another top team from last season, they are doing it again holding up one of the top spots. Surprisingly they are the only horde team in the Top 5, the way racials are in this game you'd think there would be more I guess not. Another interesting note is they have almost twice as many games played as other teams in the Top 5 with the same win percentage as them, they hail from Nightfall which is currently ranked #2 on the Battleground Competitiveness rankings.

5. Pulse (Feathermoon) – Another team that wasn't around the top last season or even to my knowledge alive, is Pulse, they have amassed an amazing win percentage of 95% which is no easy feat even if you are from Cyclone which is 8th/13th in the Battleground Competitiveness Rankings. It would be nice to see them play more games and sustain that same winning percentage (they currently have only played 110 games compared to the others around them playing 200+).


TOP 5 MOVERS (Teams only in Top 50 for previous week included)
(+37) – is this a new arena (Altar of Storms) T50th->13th
This team barely made it in the Top 50 last week with 2145 rating, now they have shot up all the way to 13th with 2253 rating. They went 29-14 for the week increasing their total record to 156-33.
(+27) – We lose cuz Daorok sux (Korgath) 31st->4th
For the first 3-4 weeks of the season they didn't really play enough games to get back to their top spot where they belong, now they have and did so and in the blink of an eye. They went from 31st rank with a 2162 rating all the way up to 4th with 2350, during this stint of 200 rating gain they went an amazing 41-3 in Vengeance Battlegroup currently ranked 3rd/13th which is no pushover battlegroup.
(+23) – No Druids (Stormreaver) 40th->17th
Barely hanging in the top 50 last week 8 rating above the Top 50 cut off they proved this week they belong there. Shooting up from 2153 rating to 2242 with a 9-2 record.
(+15) – we r Godzilla u r japan (Tichondrius) 22nd->7th
Last week they were ranked 22nd with a dismal win percentage of 70% which is extremely low even for a team barely in the Top 50. This week was different however they went up 15 ranks to 7th going an impressive 39-11 while improving their win percentage to 72%.
(+14) – Downie Trip (Barthilas) 24th->10th
One good week puts them in the Top 10, after being ranked 24th with a record of 122-23 at 2190 rating, this week they went 18-1 improving their rating to 2264 enough to nab them a spot in the Top 10.


BOTTOM 5 LOSERS (Teams only in Top 50 for previous week included)
(-47) – Smug Lyfe (Eldre'Thelas) 32nd->79th
The #1 loser from this week is Smug Lyfe; although they were only 32nd ranked they dropped the most ranks out of any team ranked in the Top 50 last week. Last week they had a rating of 2161, which is good enough for the 32nd spot, this week they went 8-5 losing about 20 rating dropping out of the Top 50 by a lot all the way down to 79th.
(-45) – E Harmony (Sargeras) 20th->65th
At an impressive 20th rank last week they completely fell off the radar this week. They were at 2200 rating with a record of 166-48, but this week disaster fell for this team as it looks like they only tried to get 10 games in going 7-3 losing 43 rating and 45 ranks in the progress.
(-43) – Team EG (Illidan) 11th->54th
They didn't drop the most ranks this week, but in my opinion they were the biggest losers. Usually a team that can obtain a top 15 rank is quality enough to stay on there or hang around at least in the Top 50, but not Team EG. Not only did they lose 44 rating, they also had double the amount of losses this week then they had all season combined going a surprising 31-15 but losing rating and a lot of ranks in the process.
(-28) – Xlyr and friends (Shattered Hand) 21st->49th
A week of not playing will kill you in these rankings and this has happened to xlyr and friends, they dropped 28 ranks so far this week just because they haven't played a match leaving their rating at 2194 and record at 123-15.
(-24) – Not quite Vanquish (Staghelm) 23rd->47th
Although they have gained 10 rating this week improving their rating to 2196 from 2186, they have fallen behind other new teams that have gained rating this week. After a mediocre week of 16-9 they drop 24 ranks.


TEAM OF THE WEEK
We lose cuz Daorok sux (Korgath)
Going an extremely impressive 41-3 this week in the Vengeance (3rd/13th) Battlegroup they have climbed up to Top 4 again this season. After a 200 rating climb in one week you would think 68 more rating to gain the #1 one spot would be nothing, but we will have to wait and see if this team can claim #1 for the first time this season which has been dominated by Pandemic and now Trounce.


IRONMAN TEAM AWARDS – (Top 50 Team Only)
Wins – (328) CAPSLOCKCREW (Kel'Thuzad) – US #3 – 2362 Rating – (328-54)
Losses – (144) Shame (Wildhammer) – US #24 – 2231 Rating – (239-144)
Games Played – (464) YO (Thunderlord) – US #43 - 2203 Rating – (321-143)


STOCK RISING
(US #12) The Fallen Angels (Tichondrius)
This team wasn't ranked in the Top 50 last week, but has managed to jump all the way up to 12th spot, with great play and a 2261 rating they have a current record of 133-32 which is no easy feat on the #1 ranked battlegroup: Bloodlust.


STOCK FALLING
(US #39) Dejthstoneegslyfunecima (Cho'Gall)
Not sure where to start with this team, last week they weren't even on the Top 50, yesterday they were ranked 6th, and today they are ranked 39th now after losing 81 rating in one night. Not sure what to make of it, but losing that much rating and dropping that low can be extremely detrimental to a team, I do not expect to see them back in the Top 10 any time soon.

(1. I only count the Top 50 in some rankings because I could care less if a team goes from 200th 85th rank, seeing as it is much harder to go from 50th-10th)
(2. To refer to my "Battleground Competitiveness Rankings see: http://arenablogger.blogspot.com/2007/07/most-competetive-battlegroup.html)
(3. Also sorry for such a long post I am an HTML newbie that doesn't know how to make it more then one page.)

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Posted By Arenablogmaster to Arena Blogger at 7/23/2007 02:02:00 PM

Support This Thread
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=330873387&sid=1

I love the ideas on this forum. Everything is well-rounded and seems to still have a self-balance unlike those, "Give rogues mail armor!" posts. The changes proposed are quite simple yet effective. I firmly believe our cooldowns have dipped in usefulness and that by reducing their length, brings their effectiveness back up to let's say, that of a Mage's Frost Nova.

A Mage's Frost Nova might not be too powerful but can be used frequently unlike our failing Vanish, Sprint with a slow affect, or Evasion that works effectively against two classes in my opinion: Rogues and Feral Druids. I'm not saying it can't or shouldn't be used against Retribution Paladins or Enchanement Shamans but they can still do damage through it or null its usefulness.

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Posted By Venick to Venick and Taeveril's Blog at 7/19/2007 08:16:00 AM

Blind - Blinds the target, causing it to wander disoriented for up to 8 sec. Any damage caused will remove the effect.



So, to answer the question, is Blind a viable form of crowd control? Yes and no. It does have a 3 minute cooldown (thanks blizz for that 1 minute cd tease) without talents, so that is definately a limitation. It's nothing like a hunter's chain trap. Can it be resisted? Yes,and generally, if a mob is immune to poisons, it will be immune to blind. But when it does work (which in my experience is 98% of the time), you've effectively stopped that mob in it's tracks for the next 10 seconds. Try it sometime, especially to lengthen the duration of your only true form of crowd control; sap.


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Posted By Doomilias to A View from Behind at 7/13/2007 04:28:00 PM

There are many players out there that firmly believe this coming change will deliver a fatal blow to their classes balance / performance. If correct, so far it removes everything but Death Coil. This in itself is extremely surprising. I think many people would agree it is an effect that removes control of your character, however, blizzard disagrees or probably thinks it would be too much of a nerf for warlocks.

Whatever happens, there is a good and bad side to the new trinket. The great thing about the trinket, as many know, is that it will remove every snare, slow, or subduing affect. Therefore, it causes you to think tactically to the affect that you find suitably the most dangerous. Unfortunately for rogues, I believe our most dangerous effect is Blind but Blind is our most valuable asset in every aspect of pvp. Vanish would come close if it didn't break all the time; but more to the point, the new trinkets will render it useless unless the enemy uses it on something before hand. At the same time, whats the most deadly effect that could happen to you as a rogue? If the rumor is right, Death Coil is out of the question. So what about Cyclone? You can't be too foolish to break it quickly, he might reapply it. Or Hammer of Justice? Is it really worth it, especially if you can predict and time when hes going to use it. Or maybe a third Frost Nova after you Vanish and Cloak of Shadow out of the first two - should you still save it?

These questions will probably be passively answered as we learn the hard way, or possibly blizzard will change it again. I think the new trinket hurts us more than it helps us - I happen to like our current trinket. It is absolutely helpful when it comes to fighting rogues and paladins, perhaps even a warrior if your quick enough to remove his Intercept. And since we're the most control oriented class, the removal of anyone of our stuns by any class, as well as Sap and Blind will probably end up causing our death. Many people would probably disagree but if you can play your class as well as the rogue your fighting, you'll find the new trinket so much more beneficial.

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Posted By Venick to Venick and Taeveril's Blog at 6/09/2007 11:58:00 PM

In case you think you ended up on Cosmopolitan.com or something, don't worry---this is still Out of Mana, I just wanted to put a slight spin on in this post. 50 ways to keep your man hot? Really, as if 50 is really neccessary. 10 secrets that she'll never tell you? There's more than 10, hun'. A perspective on WoW PVP? Now we're talking.

See the way my (warped) mind looks at it, fashion has very much to do with WoW as well as any other MMO. I'll make my case very simple and brief:

1) Gear = stuff that makes your play experience easier/better, but also satisfies narcistic tendencies. If you think looks has nothing to do with WoW, go take a look at NE Rogues and NE Priests, who really get shafted on racials for PVP, yet people still roll. Go look at faction imbalances that were created instantly from WoW's retail. Go look at the Blood Elf power diet plan. Go look at Orc's shoulder graphics right now (lol, poor Orcs, they'll be fixed soon).

2) In the old Honor system, the Rank 10 and Rank 13 equivalents were the helm and shoulder pieces, the 2 most visible slots on your character. Before Armory, and while /inspect is still limited to same faction, recognizing what stuff your opponent has on was a big factor in what you could expect from them. After the new Honor system was implemented, various threads and topics paraded around the WoW Forums from the more hardcore PVP crowd, mocking the new "Rank 13 shoulders guy, we salute you" (beer commerical reference) which ridiculed the toons with Field Marshal shoulders but crap gear otherwise. The general response? "Hey, they look damn good."


Rank 13 shoulders may appear larger than they really are.

3) All the random stuff that can be collected for display purposes---old school being Orb of Deception and the like, new school being stuff you can get off via WoW TCG codes. I mean really, if you have the Witch's hat and Ruby Slippers from Kara, you might as well hunt down the up and coming Broom. There is a definate market for things that make your character stand out even more.

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Ok, so why does any of this matter? Well, the general PVP'er constantly seeks 1 thing from what I can tell, and that is information.

"What spec should I use?"
"What type of gear should I get?"
"How do I beat X class with Y?"
"10 secrets she'll never tell you."

Which is fine, no one knows EVERYTHING there is to know, there is alot to be learned. However, the sooner you learn "how to learn" yourself---that is to grasp the ability to take in knowledge and information, and then constructively add it to your arsenal, the better off you will be in the long run. At some point, learn how to fish instead of being fed by others.

So without further sidetracks, a major fashion PVP tip to pick up:

Consider what gear you do /show to the opponent, as well as make educated assumptions from what they /show you.


/show helm, go Giants?

I'm actually a Yankee's fan, but you wouldn't know that if you saw me rocking SF on the street. With no hat, you couldn't even reliably assume I watched baseball at all. Why no Bronx Bombers? When I go see the Red Sox with my friend who lives in Boston, the aggro range would be huge.

There are 2 pieces of gear you can manually hide, and maybe 1-2 others you can get away with depending on the situation. The helm and cloak via your Interface options, and if you have a Tabard, you can cover up your chest if you are a noncaster. If you are a caster and rock a Robe, then your pants are automatically masked.

I know you are proud of your gear and want to flaunt it, but consider how much info it gives to your opponent. Anyone remember Benediction for poor Priests? They called it a "Self Hunter's Mark", flagging them as a squishy healer in BG for the opposing DPS. My Druid at the moment recently switched from the healing Serpentwhatever staff from Steamvaults to a less visible mace/offhand swap---I can safely say that a big, distinguishable stick that's known to add +Heal strapped to my back caused enough unwanted attention. Remember the engineering goodies from LVL60 PVP, mindcontrol and rocket sapping? If they were displayed on me (as a Pally), the smarter opponents would take pre-emptive measures to negate it when I'd try and ninja a lightly guarded node in Arathi Basin.

Hiding your helm is a solid choice, most head pieces of any worth are very recognizable, especially when distinguishing PVE and PVP gear. Let's turn it around then, and see what happens when your opponent chooses not to /hide. That Mage has red/yellow hood? Crafted, no meta, no Resilience. Arcanist Helm V2.0? Crafted, no meta, more STA centric. Reddish flea collar? Gladiator Season 1, meta gem, Resilience, ugh. That Mage has /helm off? I HAVE NO FREAKIN' CLUE.

The average UI interface will tell you several quick things like Class, Race, HP/MP/Energy/Rage etc. It's up to you to learn what different pieces of gear look like and use that knowledge to be prepared and plot the correct course. If I see a Druid dressed up as a ninja and the batwing staff (quest reward from Ring of Blood, easy to spot), I'll strategize very differently from when I see a Druid with leaves and sticks on his shoulders and a pink dress. Lastly, if he's sporting 4 pieces of Gladiator (Season 1 has different color scheme from the T4 sets), I'll have to prepare in advance for his move speed increase when it comes to kiting.

Now you can say Armory does this in a superior way (especially for harder to see items like belt, bracers, etc.), and I'll agree---although it's more hindsight and has its own limitations. Not everyone logs off in their PVP gear, some people even switch up specs completely at times of the week for both PVE/PVP, and some people just wear Tinfoil hats (or log off /commando). If you meet into the same opponents over and over, it's definately worth it to look them up to give you a better picture. But nothing will replace the intuition and knowledge you gain when you meet them for the first time in battle, by learning to correctly identify gear on the fly.


My friend needs to l2belt herself, especially with no gear swapping in Arena next patch.

I'll end with a quick Arena anecdote, 2v2 with us being Rogues vs. 2 Frost Mages. We knew they were Frost because when it comes to Mages, recognizing if they can Iceblock is very important, and Ice Barrier often gives this info away for free. Well they were both Frost so we have to force Ice Block asap before Water Elementals overwhelm us to the point of 0 cooldowns---which happened, we lost that match, being exhausted of resources after 1 mage went down.

What we should have done that might have helped? Picked on the one with crappier gear. One had Oblivion Hood, which is the Lock Dungeon Set 3 and stacked with a meta and STA, the other had something unrecognizable (as well as unrecognizable shoulders, they smelled of AH). Had we went after the latter Mage things might've turned out different, he would've went down faster and we might've spent less time eating bolts and novas to come out ahead at the end.

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So to conclude, be wary of what gear tells you display to your opponents, and learn how to quickly recognize what different (and most popular) gear looks like to give you an advantage.

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Posted By Megan to Out of Mana at 7/15/2007 12:42:00 PM

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=174505927&sid=1

"Blind duration reduced to 8 seconds, cooldown reduced to 1 minute, Blinding Powder is no longer required to use."


This statement was featured in the announced 2.2 Patch Notes. However, it was removed and confirmed by Blizzard to be a mistake. You can find this comfirmation here:

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=174636576&sid=1

The gossip is that someone got on a friend's rogue account and asked Blizzard to revert the change. Amazingly, they listened; but I'm not sure the change was even going to happen from what Blizzard says. Either way, this is ridiculous. I'm appalled with them, the poster, and the Crepe who responded.

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Posted By Venick to Venick and Taeveril's Blog at 7/13/2007 05:27:00 PM

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Posted By Doomilias to A View from Behind at 7/09/2007 12:49:00 PM

Before expansion, the classes were much more balanced then they are now in my opinion. You could watch someone and tell that they know what they are doing. You could fight them and expect a difficult but remotely fair battle.

I'll use my class as an example: A rogue's cooldowns back in the day were very useful because a rogue was balanced and that was possible because health did not make for long fights - so what cooldowns I used benefited me greatly. A skilled rogue; however, knew what to do, when to do it, and how to do it - depending on what their opponent did. In other words, he would use his cooldowns wisely. If you were skilled against a rogue you could predict what move or cooldown hes gonna use and counter it. This concept followed with pretty much every class. This also helped distinguish between good players and bad players. It was a kill or be killed world.

(You might disagree here so please read the next paragraph to understand my point.) Now-a-days this has changed greatly. For example, if a rogue wants to beat a warrior, a good option is to open Garrote, Evasion, Rupture, etc. This is no different from using blind every fight to bandage or using Preparation against every resilience geared opponent. Whats worse is using many cooldowns and still losing.

The point is, rogues are required to use cooldowns, sometimes many cooldowns, sometimes even during the opener as a shutdown to even have a chance to win. What does this mean? It means our cooldowns aren't as powerful now. How? Because of resilience and health. This also blurs the difference between a skilled rogue and a horrible rogue. I'll repeat the difference: Before expansion, a skilled rogue used his cooldowns properly. He knew what to do, when to do it, and how to do it, depending on what his opponent did. A noobie rogue uses cooldowns because there up. You can not tell anymore if the rogue is using cooldowns because hes smart of if hes using them because he can.

No other classes speak for this blur between good and bad players than Beast Master Hunters, Feral Druids, Affliction Warlocks, and Warriors. They also changed what balance there was and skewed it drastically in expansion. This includes to some degree, healing classes which are significantly harder. I understand blizzard made them this way to compensate for 5v5 and the possibility of getting smashed by two dpsers in 2v2 but I'm getting smashed by healers in duels. They have so much health and resilience, its hard enough just to break through their bear form armor or Power Word: Shield. I'm not saying I never win against them, its just outrageous at how difficult they are, how many cooldowns I have to use, and how well they heal with 5 wound poisons on.

To finish my point, I had much more interest in the old school World of Warcraft. Old school Warcraft was more balanced than new school. The expansion dropped what skill this game had in the first place by merging the noticable differences between good and bad players, making some classes have an easier mode, and healing classes to be flat out harder to beat. And for me, the loss of Blackrock Mountain ruined what world pvp I had and loved to do.

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Posted By Venick to Venick and Taeveril's Blog at 7/10/2007 10:35:00 PM

Yesterday, Trashlock rejoined our team and we didn't hesitate to start working on our 3v3. In no time we boosted our rating up from 1500 to 1764. It doesn't sound amazing, I know. Trashlock had to leave early but with such a good win/lose ratio, I think it makes up for such a low rating. As said before, I think Warlock/Rogue/Mage combo is amazing. You see very few dps teams like this in the arena.




I have a feeling however that this won't last for long. 2v2 dps teams already lost their momentum since everyone got a lot of resilience and health. In 3v3, it taking us longer to cut through one dps while silencing and crowd controlling the healer. On top of that, warlock dots will be effected by resilience. (http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=174832155&sid=1&pageNo=9#169) I'm in total agreement with this change but our combination's golden age was short lived.

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Posted By Venick to Venick and Taeveril's Blog at 7/10/2007 05:53:00 PM

I just got a copy of the guide saved off from Google Docs and hosted here at RogueSpot. You can get to it by clicking on the title of this post. I am at work so I haven't had time to format it properly but I did read bits and pieces of it! It is an excellent read and I highly recommend it regardless of how you play your rogue... daggers / swords / maces or pvp / pve. I wont get to detailed into what the guide contains but I would like to thank Osiris for giving RogueSpot permission to host it! Definitely have a read through on this guide. There is also a forum thread for discussion on the guide here. Look for a revision to this guide shortly after Osiris' returns from Blizzcon!

Update: Title now links to a high resolution higher quality version of the video please give it a look see. Well I finally finished producing my first short video. I went for Entertainment value here so please give it a look at let me know what you think. You can get the high quality version hosted at RogueSpot by clicking on the link in the title of this post or you can watch the lower quality youtube version here. ~CS

The Mage and Rogue classes are unique. In my opinion, they are the most tactical and skill oriented classes in the game. Combining them in the arena means conjuring deep into the thought of strategy and using every avaliable ability and manuever and make it into an advantage. Alas, this also brings a high margin of error and heavy dependency on luck.

From the beginning, it was quite obvious that two damage classes are not meant to coincide in 2v2 arena. Only recently was this fully brought to my attention when we lost far too many battles. Yes, Season 1 was incredibly different and prehaps easy; but this was only from a lack of experience and well-geared players.

For Season 2, pure dps teams (preferbly mage/rogue) do not have enough damage to break through a 300-350 resilience and 12,000 health target before one of us being killed by their damage dealer. In addition, healer classes are capable of instant healing, making it un-interruptable and thus harder for us to subdue them. With the information and research Ming has accumulated along with personal experience, tells us that two damage classes are no longer effective in 2v2 arena.

Today, we experienced 15 loses. What you may want to know is that 12 out of 15 of those loses were against Warlocks. Are we weak against Warlocks? Maybe. Are Warlocks overpowered? Maybe. Are we doing something wrong? Maybe. One thing I know for sure is that a Warlock and Druid/Priest/Paladin (hell even Warlock/Warlock and Warlock/ShadowPriest) combo is almost unbeatable. To break it down even more, 2 of those encounters were Druid/Warlock, 4 Warlock/Priest, 2 Warlock/Warlock, 2 Warlock/Paladin and 2 Warlock/ShadowPriest.

"God Tier: Warlock/Paladin, Warlock/Restoration Druid
Top Tier: Warrior/Paladin, Warlock/Priest, Rogue/Priest, Rogue/Restoration Druid" - Ming

Among the research of my own, the research of Ming, and personal arena experience, I conclude that Warlock/Healer combo is god tier; but other then Warlocks, other losses we experienced also included healers. As explained above, we do not deliver enough damage. Hopefully we just had bad luck and before the end of the week we can pull it back up.

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Posted By Venick to Venick and Taeveril's Blog at 7/05/2007 12:20:00 AM

Ever read QQ posts in forums where people cry overpowered and unfair because they were owned by a certain class in PVP, yet when they start mentioning details, it's clearly because they had no extensive knowledge about abilities/talents that they faced up against? "So then the Lock insta feared me for 10 min and I couldn't dispel anything or I'd get silenced, 7 DOTs ticking on me while his Felguard critted me for 2k and then he insta summoned a voidwalker and shielded himself and also became immune to all my fire spells." Yah, and the fish that got away? It was thiiiiiiiiis big. So I decided to take a look at the trees, and speculate on the infamous 41/41/41 specs for the 3 classes I play in Arena atm (Lock, Druid, Rogue) to wonder what it would be like---would it make the class super overpowered if you could snag all 41 talents from each tree? Or would it just make your gameplay a huge mess with too many things to do and consider? So, without further ado: Warlock - 41/41/41 If you think people complain about Locks now, look at this monster. All the goodies from Affliction---UA, Instant Howl of Terror, Curse of Exhaustion kiting, Siphon Life and Drain Life tanking, harder to dispel DOTs with Shadow Embrace as an extra layer of dispel protection. I took 2 points in Imp. Drain Soul just for the threat reduction so you don't get instantly squashed when you have full powered DOTs AND Destruction nukes making your threatmeter go nuts. At the same time, you've got full survivability from Demonology (Soul Link, STA talents, Imp. Health effect from Fel Armor) and Nether Protection from Destruction (lawl poor Mages). One of the other choices you made with only 61 talents for PVP was that you had to either focus on survival, disruption, or burst---but very rarely could you excel at all 3. Say hello to Nightfall + Backlash + Shadowburn + Conflag, now if only there was an option to have your own Felhunter/Felguard attack yourself so you become a Shadowbolt turret of doom. Overall: NERF LOCKS. -- Druid - 41/41/41 Honestly, I had a rough time spec'ing with just 61 talents, with 123 it was no better. There are a few fundamental problems and trying to get the best spec while reaching 41 in each tree reveals this: 1) Druids cut off too many abilities when shapeshifting about, making your choices in talents not always 100% useful. Yes, shapeshifting into different forms provides ultimate utility and situational, but there is no synergy between having your Wrath cast .5 faster with no pushback and your Mangle and Shred crits---that's a ton of GCD's and mana spent inbetween, PVP Druids already feel the pressure of having to do alot in a small window of time. 2) Each Druid tree is so bloated with either "must have" talents or 5/5 requirements (or both) that it's hard to navigate up in point spending. I still wish Restoration wasn't such a mess, as of now I'm 49 points in my real spec and I still don't have everything I'd want for a PVP support healer. Ridiculous! 3) What kind of gear would I even think about wearing for 41/41/41? Hybrid gear all the time or swapping between 3 sets with Itemrack macros, provided I get out of combat reliably? And this isn't even considering my poor bag space. This problems leads me to believe that 123 talents would stretch the Druid too thin in the gear department, being caught in Balance gear at the wrong moment in Bear form is practically the same as being caught in Catform during an assist train---instead of covering up weaknesses, the Druid Overall: As it stands now, successful Druids have to master all their forms, but when they are limited to spec with 61 talents, they can rely on their strengths and tactics with clearer purpose. 123 talents may take away from that focus and overwhelm the average Druid player. -- Rogue - 41/41/41 Rogues took me the longest to consider, because different spec'd Rogues still share the majority of the same cooldowns, what differentiates the class is the weapon choice---Mutilate daggers, Backstab Prep daggers, Mace/Sword/Fist Combat, Hemo, etc. Like the Druid, spreading points around too thinly leads to more of a mess than desired, I stuck to the idea that a Rogue will dedicate himself to mastering weapon swap for the right situations. A huge weakness in Rogue PVP that is somewhat better is when the Rogue is unhindered (Mutilate and daggers specs shine because of free positioning) versus when they are focused on and snared to hell (Combat, nonpositional, "tanking" the enemy). 41/41/41 allows that nice opener with fast CP generation of a Mutilate spec (avoided Backstab and Ambush talents since Mutilate was available), then swapping to a Mace Combat playstyle (with Hemo instead of SS, SS talents really bloats the spending in Combat tree) for sustained damage when position becomes a problem. This flexibility plays almost like a Lock, burst when the window is viable, tank and disrupt as much as you can when you're under fire. Obviously the huge boost is that you can snag all improved and reduced timers on cooldowns available from the various trees, as well as Preparation. Overall: With good weapon swapping, you get the extra choices depending on the situations you run into at the cost of more GCD's on switching. I took Mace spec because it's heralded as the best Combat spec, and also put 2 points in daggers to help when you are Mutilating, but of course your choices could vary. So a substantial boost to the power of Rogues, of course then'd you still cry about 41/41/41 Warriors. -- Any thoughts? Or maybe some example from the other classes? -- Posted By Megan to Out of Mana at 7/03/2007 11:10:00 AM

Well I think the spammers have reached a new low! Im not really sure if they are really spamming even I mean... isnt the point of spamming to advertise something? No matter how crappy the quality of that something is. So my philosophical question to you is... If a tree lands on a spammer in the woods, does anyone really care? Seriously though... If a post is unreadable, unintelligible, contains no links, no advertisements, and no keyword branding is it really SPAM? Lately I have been seeing these posts crop up that say hey Im new here... etc with no links... no nothing. Im wondering if the bots are using it as a first post mechanism to bypass the spam protection ... i just wonder if they realize they have to wait a set amount of time in addition to making a good post... Oh well the fight continues... However I am just baffled as to what the hell is the point. ~CS