So I was doing my ussual looking around everybodies blog when I stumbled upon a post on outofmana.blogspot.com Megan has a post there linking to http://meghanohara.org/wordpress/. Following it I think you will be pleasantly surprised to find a well done hilarious comic that has some brutal truths. Give it a look. 5 Stars from me I can't wait for the next one.

PvP. Player versus Player. No timed action patterns, no artificial intelligence (sometimes none at all). Just you sitting at your desk and someone else sitting at theirs. Each of you trying to reduce the others health points to zero. And I stink at it. Well, specifically, Arena. I've tried and I just can't get the hang of it. A big part of it is that all of my talents and gear itemizations are purposed for raiding and dungeon content. I know stamina and reslience are the most important stats to have for being successful with Arena play. But I've never done any serious PvPing. Sure, when the honor system was revamped towards the end of 2006, I was right in there with all of the other BG noobs farming for perplz.

I can take any of the popularly accepted Rogue builds and make them work well for PvE content (yes, I was 20/0/41 lewlstep for my virgin Kara run, and I managed to keep myself in the top 3 dps). But ask me to put together a solid PvP build with talents focused for Arenas, and I'm lost. Does the old school 31/0/30 Cold Blood Prep build work? How about 41/0/20 Mutilate Assassination? I know Combat Maces is one of the more popular newcomers, but what talents in the combat tree are good for Arenas? What about the stunlocking Hemo builds from the past?

Not that I plan on respeccing for PvP anytime soon, I am just curious. I want to know what other people have had success with. I try looking and reading through the forums, but all I get turned away pretty fast by all the trolls and flamers.

So, any advice from anyone out there?

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Posted By Doomilias to A View from Behind at 8/31/2007 10:38:00 AM

A long time ago I once held a contest and gave away an n52. However when I lost interest in WoW the traffic on RogueSpot reflected that and took a nose dive. With donations not coming in its impossible to give away free stuff... However pageviews are up visits are up, yesterday we did 4800 in pageviews. Not an amazing amount of traffic but significant to say the least. I have also taken some time to try and master google adsense away from the gold farmers. You will notice 2 half banners to the right and left of the advertisement under the RogueSpot banner. The center one supports our hosting the outside ones support the community. Hopefully with a watchful eye we can keep the gold sellers off the site. There is a thread running in the CnD where members can report gold selling domains so that I can add them to my block list. With the new ads comes cool stuff. Hopefully the first of which will be to give away some cool stuff. So check out our um... "sponsors" and get pickpocketed by our clever donation button on the right. Feel free to donate as little as a dollar or go for epic status like Seedyrom and donate $40+ And now back to your regularly scheduled programming. ~CS

Recently roguespot was recognized by WOWinsider for its great quality that it brings to all rogue and wow players. Its great for this community to be recognized by an amazing source of WOW knowledge like WOWinsider. We as a community need to continue this effort to make the rogue community the greatest community of all classes. Thanks to people like Cerias, Osiris, Ming and many others; I would have to say that we have the most comprehensive and indepth source of knowledge than any other class in World of Warcraft. I come to you today with a challenge; to add that extra post of knowledge, share that amazing link of strategy with your fellow rogues, and to point others to the place you call home; Roguespot! If you have any information, suggestions, or comments you would like to make. Please send me an email at khormid.roguespot@gmail.com

It really is awesome to be in a guild that is progressing quickly through Karazhan. I know it's not a huge deal considering most raiding guilds are well into 25-mans by this point. But for me, who has bounced around from guild to guild trying to find a home...it's exciting. We had two groups on Prince last night, and as you can see from the picture to the right, we got him down again. Took 6 tries because of horrible infernal drops. Group 1 should get him tonight, and the group I'm in is going to take out Illhoof and then give both a dragons a go.

In other news, heroic Durnholde is totally overpowered for the loot it drops, and I'll never do it again.

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Posted By Doomilias to A View from Behind at 8/27/2007 08:24:00 AM

Ahhh... Diminishing Returns. The enemy of every good stunlock if your not careful. Ever watched a video of a Rogue PvPing and seen him blind his opponent only to restealth and then sap his target as the blind wears off? Is the undead rogue simply playing with his food at this point? Hardly... Many learned rogues understand the concept of diminishing returns. Here is an excerpt from wowwiki.com explaining the process.

• When a spell with diminishing returns is used against a target in PvP, the first effect has full duration.
• On the second use of the same category of spell (e.g. slowing), that spell's duration is reduced by 50%.
• On the third use, the duration is reduced by 75%.
• On the fourth attempt, the target becomes immune to the spell.
• Spells must be used on the same target within 15 seconds of the *end* of the duration in order to be diminished. In other words, if a target hasn't had a slowing spell active on them for more than 15 seconds, the next slowing spell will have full effect.

So the rogue described above is not simply toying with his opponent. He wants to get the full effect of his cheapshot and kidneyshot. Restealthing in a duel against a DPS class has the same effect. Wait your 15 seconds (as long as they cant heal) and then start back in against them with the full effect of your stunlock. If they are a healer blind, heal yourself, restealth and sap to elimanate diminishing returns on your opponent. This concept is something I consider finesse. Sure you can power through a 50% shorter stunlock and kill your opponent but knowing this concept makes your moves that much more debilitating. This is the tool of a skilled Rogue acting with precision not one jumping up and down behind you flailing their weapons hoping for the best.

Labels: notebook, rogue

New rewards are popping up on PTR lately for the violet eye faction. There are some new rewards; a couple leatherworking patterns, a new elixir and a greater agility enchant for weapons. You can see them on PTR currently on Apprentice Darius who stands in front of the Karazhan entrance. Check out this story on wowinsider for details on the new rewards.

Labels: news

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Posted By Doomilias to A View from Behind at 8/20/2007 11:54:00 PM

So I know you've seen them on a bunch of sites, but here they are again for all us rogues to drool over............mainhand and offhand! Now if you were ever curious about the lore behind these blades; be curious no more. These blades once belonged to the demon called Azzinoth who had been one of the doomguard commanders of the Burning Legion during the War of the Ancients. He carried these weapons for a long time until he met his end at the hands of Illidan Stormrage. After Azzinoth fell, Illidan took the weapons and over many years grew continually stronger in skill with these demonic weapons, even more so then Azzinoth was. Illidan still bares these blades today inside the black temple, but now our fellow rogues and warriors can loot these amazing weapons and wield them in battle. These blades can't be combined as one. A little tidbit for those who like to know; Furi of Blood Legion on the US server Illidan was the first to complete a full set of these weapons on August 1st, 2007.

Labels: lore

So I had a couple of messages on my desktop from people who were under the impression the site was closing or moving. No no... One of our contributors is moving his blog which is completly independent from RogueSpot over to gamer riot. I would like to thank Venick for his contributions to RogueSpot and I wish him luck over at gamer riot. RogueSpot however will be around for a good long time. ~CS

"We've partnered with DIRECTV to offer a great value to World of Warcraft players and new DIRECTV customers. Between now and November 30, 2007, players who sign up for DIRECTV will receive 11 months of World of Warcraft FREE! New DIRECTV customers who aren't already World of Warcraft subscribers will also receive a free copy of the World of Warcraft game client. Visit DIRECTV’s Championship Gaming Series site to learn more about this special promotion." -Source So first we had the addition of paypal to the giant we know as blizzard. Now they are working with DIRECTV? I guess that means if you were thinking about satellite, then now is the time to signup.

Labels: news

I have been working on a bunch of stuff behind the scenes for RogueSpot. I want to drive more traffic here as well as add more features to the site. One of those will be a videos feature page. All of RogueSpot's videos will be available through our site or filefront as they are released but I wanted to go ahead and make a youtube channel for shits and giggles. So if you have a youtube account check us out. I put up the Night Elves Dying Video as our first one and Ill go from there. I would also like to network out and make the channel a hub... linking or commenting on other good Rogue Videos on youtube. If you have an account with youtube come join the RogueSpot channel and help me get it kicked off right.

Could it be? Blizzard commented at blizzcon that they would be looking into leveling times and that they feel that it needs to be sped up a bit. What would that mean? Or what about the new system for arena weapons? Come expansion time they plan to knock season 1 stuff to the honor system, season 2 will have its arena point costs lowered and season 3 will not only cost arena points but it will also required specific team ratings. So this new process of moving old season stuff to the honor system and forcing the current stuff to be harder to obtain; how does this affect you? Do you think that blizzard should make leveling faster than it already is? Chime in and let me know what you think.

Labels: rumors

"We're pleased to announce that we're now able to accept PayPal payments for World of Warcraft subscriptions. Both current and new subscribers can now assign their PayPal account as their automatic payment method on the Account Management page. If you wish to open a PayPal account or want to learn more about the popular online payment system, the PayPal website has the details. " -source I know I'm going to stick to my current way of paying for my subscription but I will say that it does open up more choices for alot of other people.

Labels: news

So I was wondering around and recently came across this very nice and new website. Lootables....the new way to search for your item desires and wants or maybe just to compare a new weapon verse an old one. After playing with the tool for a few moments I realized how easy and quick it was to find the item that I was looking for. So I decided hey I want to compare the two offhand axes from the arena rewards...I selected the season 2 and season 1 axe with ease and then to the right of the webpage it will pull both weapons up so that you can make your comparisons; up to a maximum of 4 items. Another thing I like about the information that this site gives is that it shows you the arena costs in a easy to see view without having to scrounge around like on some other sites. Though they may be their own entity they also make sure to give you the links for the items on allakhazaam, thottbot, wowhead and armory. My favorite thing though has to be the guides for leveling up the different crafting professions. Not only does it tell you what items to make at what levels and how many, but it also gives you a breakdown of the materials needed for each craft along with average ah costs and notes for special items drops that may need to be farmed. Check this out for an example. After some playing around and surfing, I'd have to say that this website is truelly something amazing in the works. What are you waiting for? This post is done now go get your butt over there and check it out.

Ever wonder what no social life would look like if you could illustrate it in terms of wow. Probably something like this. Seriously though grats to this guy for all the faction work... but um its time to get outside and get some sun I think. I won't be presumptuous enough to say go get a girl... lets take it one step at a time... lets get outside first. I guess I know where this guy is coming from sort of. Back in the golden age of EQ i racked up 270 days /played in 365 days. Thank god I got off the evercrack. ~CS

Labels: armory

I'm writing this down as a way to memorize what I feel is a solid strategy against warlocks. I've put much thought into this during the 48 hour maintenance in determining what moves I should use and when with the least amount of cooldowns. These fights would be done as combat mace spec, against skilled Warlocks, and I've removed alot of other possible variables - leaving the basic in and out of how to win. This is not to promote how to kill a warlock perfectly. I have not tested these strategies nor do I believe they are flawless.

Affliction / Demonology Warlock (Felhunter)
Undead / Combat / Offhand: Crippling
In this type of fight, it would probably be best to kill him as fast as possible but with some control involved. You can begin by opening with Garrote to provide extra damage rather then Cheapshot. Since you have three seconds of space to act on, I suggest using Shiv and then Kidney Shot. At this point, the fight can evolve into two different ways.

A) The Warlock trinkets KS and immediately AoE fears.
B) The Warlock takes the KS in order to save it for another or possibly Blind.

Starting with A, you want to Shiv as soon as possible after Kidney Shot. Hopefully the combination of PvP trinket and the second Shiv don't overlap and stays applied. In doing so, the fear will go off and assuming your Undead you should Will of the Forsaken quickly. Upon such, I suggest Sprint if he doesn't have crippling on him and/or he applies Curse of Exhaustion. When you catch up, apply crippling (if it isn't) and begin to turn on Adrenaline Rush, Blade Flurry, and Slice and Dice. This is where the rush begins.

Its quite obvious to say that you now have to out damage whatever health discrepancy he has over you and then some. In order to do this, continue your barrage of Sinister Strikes until you reach about 60% health. At which point, a transition is in order. Begin by halting your assault and saving energy. With the trinket out of the way, you can safely use your Blind, Gouge the pet, Cloak of Shadows, and start to bandage. Once completed, Vanish one second before Blind is over or one second before Clos is over. Vanish and restart with a Cheapshot and Kidney Shot combo which will hopefully finish him.

Now to begin with B, continue on by Sinister Striking twice. Try to finish the KS with a kick one second before it ends or as it ends. He'll then initiate AoE fear which you counter with Will of the Forsaken. Perferbly he'd then Death Coil you in which you should dispel with trinket as quickly as possible. If crippling wears off, is trinketed, or he applies Curse of Exhaustion, Sprint back to him and hit Shiv. Turn on Adrenaline Rush, Blade Flurry, and begin racking up 4-5 points combo points.

Once you gather the points, use Kidney Shot now to finally force the trinket and Blind him. Hopefully with enough energy, Gouge the pet, Clos and begin to bandage. Vanish and restart with a Cheapshot and Kidney Shot combo which will hopefully finish him.

Demonology / Affliction Warlock (Felguard)
Undead / Combat / Offhand: Crippling
This fight I feel is much more dangerous. A Felguard can ruin your opening stunlock but also had incredible damage throughout the fight. Good Warlocks will keep their Felguard at a distance so that they may charge you during your the end of your stun. Thats why instead of opening with Garrote, I would suggest Cheapshot.

This keeps the Warlock in place and if the Felguard doesn't charge immediately, hands you enough time to apply Shiv. I would also suggest Kicking him right after Shiv, silencing him for a moment after you get Charged. Now two fight paths can form at this point:

A) Upon the charge the Warlock immediately trinkets crippling to gain distance, applies Curse of Exhaustion, and gets ready to AoE fear when you get close.
B) Upon the charge the Warlock walks slowly away, applies Curse of Exhaustion, and gets ready to AoE fear when you get close.

Starting with A, you should begin by Sprinting and applying Shiv once in range. Fear is irrelevant so Will of the Forsaken and make sure that crippling is on before anything else. Once in melee range, turn on Evasion, Adrenaline Rush, and Blade Flurry. Begin your barrage of Sinister Strikes until 3-4 combo points and Kidney Shot. At this point, do one last Shiv and Kidney Shot.

As soon as you're able to, Gouge the pet and clos. Begin to bandage and one second before it ends, Vanish. Try to Sap the Warlock so that when it ends your next Kidney Shot won't be on diminishing returns. Restart with a Cheapshot and Kidney Shot combo which will hopefully finish him.

Now with B, you should try to conserve your Sprint for later and apply Shiv once in range. As always, break fear and make sure that crippling is applied before anything else. Once in melee range, turn on Evasion, Adrenaline Rush, and Blade Flurry. Begin your barrage of Sinister Strikes until 4-5 combo points and Kidney Shot. He'll probably trinket this KS so immediately do Shiv. Hopefully the combination of PvP trinket and the second Shiv don't overlap and stays applied.

He'll now Death Coil and begin to cast Fear. Don't trinket out of the Death Coil but trinket the Fear. Afterwards, Blind him, Gouge his pet, and begin to bandage. Vanish and restart with a Cheapshot and Kidney Shot combo which will hopefully finish him.

Destruction / Demonology Warlock (Succubus)
Undead / Combat / Offhand: Crippling
Working on this as you read. I'm determining what would be the best option: Killing Succubus (possible instant resummon) or try (pretty much have to) to deal with her and the Warlock.

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Posted By Venick to Venick and Taeveril's Blog at 8/15/2007 03:29:00 PM

I was doing my daily lookup of worldofraids.com I love that site they always seem to have breaking news really quickly. I honestly beleive that Teza (who is a guy, I do not want any RogueSpot Rogues msging him /whisper OMG I do it from behind too! I will smack you) must stay up all nite searching for news. I imagine something like Neo in the opening scenes of the Matrix where hes asleep at his computer and its scanning news articles from around the world. They had a link to Armory Musings... if you flip through the blog it has stats on alot of the European Realms. Its a pretty impressive data mining operation and fun to look through. I scrolled back a page or two to bring up the Rogue report. They break down most popular piece of equipment for each slot by spec and all sorts of other goodies. They also show class and faction distribution for different servers not to mention displaying how much of a certain class went Aldor and how many went Scryer. Check it out for yourself you can spend a good hour on this site just sifting through all the data.

Labels: blogs

The PVP Notebook is something new that I plan to keep up on. It is simply the random things that I note while dueling or playing arena. At the very least it is reinforcement for me as some of you may already know to do these things. For others it may be helpful. One of the things that annoys me in a duel with a priest is his shield. He can keep it up indefinitely and that takes a lot of the bite out of your attack if you front load a lot of your dps. I was contemplating this problem the other day while I was circle strafing a priest outside of Orgrimar. We we're dueling and I didn't want my ambush or my first mutilate to be absorbed. I thought about trying to time it for when his shield died but he was able to keep it up over lapping his shields. I sat there for what seemed like a minute before slapping myself in the forehead. Approaching him cautiously... i smacked him over the top of the head with the blunt end of my dagger with exactly 3-5 seconds remaining on his shield. Since he normally tries to overlap by less then 1-2 seconds I was able to sit out the remainder of his shield and open up on him with ambush or cheapshot into mutilate. Very simple yet highly effective in duels.

Labels: notebook, priest, rogue, sap

I'm a very skeptical person. I like to make sure when I say something that it is either a fact or mildly acceptable. Blizzard could strip rogues of all their cooldowns and I guarantee there would still be at least one person that would say our class is not the weakest. Simply put, I thought we had some problems before expansion but when I look back, we were perfectly fine. However today, we are not.



Someone can always come up with a reasonable arguement of how our class is fine, they can always come up with an example or moment in their playing experience, but overall this class is the weakest. Its hard to go to into specific detail of exactly what is wrong and thats up to blizzard to find out but it might be along the line of cooldowns. Before expansion, a wild use of cooldowns means you can win; usually easily, but it would also mean your pretty bad. It was about knowing what cooldowns to use, how to use them, and when to use them, depending on your opponents move. For example, if the mage does frost nova, I will blind him.



Now, because the increase of health, the new stat of resilience, our cooldowns don't match the continual use of other classes cooldowns. Thus we depand on them more than ever forcing us to blow as many as possible to have a chance at winning. In other words, have you ever seen a warrior intercept multiply times in a short period, a mage frost nova over and over, a druid shapeshift to run and heal, a paladin blessing of freedom again and again, and then look at your 15 second sprint every 5 minutes in which you can still be slowed or snared again.



Our cooldowns do not match the standards of today. And maybe it was necessary in order to balance the power that rogues would have in 2v2, but you know what, I don't think blizzard ever gave it a shot. What class winds up being the hardest to kill in arena? Paladin/Warlock, Druid/Warlock, Priest/Warlock. Go figure? Coincidence? Or perhaps a big misunderstanding?



Now I just want to take your attention off the subject of cooldowns for a moment and switch onto our damage. This is a much more controversal issue but after playing an arena game with a healer, win or lose, I find my opponent warrior and the occasional warlock doing more damage then me. Now why is it that spamming my only main damage move (Sinister Strike) in the end does not match the damage of their dots and instant shadowbolts, or the constant poundings of their two-handed mace? I spend an entire fight (Adrenaline Rush) using Sinister Strike over and over and they end up with twice as much damage then me.



Many people would probably disagree and believe our damage is fine if not greater but unless you come out with significant evidence, you won't persuade me. Other people would just say I don't know how to play my class. And your right, you don't know me so you haven't seen how I fight, even then after they watch me fight some people would say I suck. Sorry, but not even the big shot rogue film makers could bring me down. I'm confident even to know where I stand, not the greatest, but definately not crappy.



All in all, I firmly believe the biggest throw backs for a rogue is their damage compared competition and the new standard for using cooldowns. This games balance has tipped, especially in the form of 2v2 combos. Blizzard can not make several arenas and only focus on 5v5 play. Blizzard can not make a game and focus on battleground play. Theres a simple yet elegant concept that can be used (which I believe blizzard denied to follow) in which every class has 4 strengths against and 4 weaknesses against. If you refuse to do that, your being ignorant. All great ideas aren't accepted at first.

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Posted By Venick to Venick and Taeveril's Blog at 8/13/2007 01:38:00 PM

Unfortunately im not talking about being forced to PVP. That would at the very least be fun. No no... I am being forced into a combat spec. Well... as much as I can stand of one. I have gone from 41/0/20 to 41/20. I have never been a huge fan of the combat builds. I always fancied myself an Assassination / Subtlety Rogue. I like seeing the high damage crits just as much as I like control. I have respecced a half dozen times trying to find a spec that works for me in pvp. So what do you do when your class leader comes to you in a very business like manner and says "I'm concerned about your DPS in Kara." I can't argue with him that much. I knew my dps was crap... I mean I have recap, recount and half a dozen other DPS mods. I think even the threat meter was giving me the impression I wasnt outputting the raw dps I needed. This is to be expected somewhat and this is where I started my argument. I would not go quietly into this good night... err combat mutilate. The main thing holding me back was and still is my weapons. I have an Emerald Ripper finally but I am definitly in need of the Malch. Most of the other DPS are well geared or are not as gear dependent as myself. Luckily the only other Rogue is on our other Kara team which saves me face since I dont have to face off against a full combat Rogue with Arena Fists on the DPS charts. I am also a relative newbie to Kara I have only been with this raiding team for a couple of weeks and due to real life complications haven't been able to raid with them every week. So the other advantage many of them have over me is knowing the encounters well. Knowing what they can get away. Basically just knowing their role a little bit better. You would be surprised how much just knowing an encounter and what to expect helps you out in terms of DPS. It looks like I have alot more gearing up to do. I have to get all my epics gemmed, enchanted, etc. Then I think it will be time to come back and take better look at my dps. Right now I hit hard with my offhand but I am missing the huge crits from mutilate. Id love to know by how much damage the specs 41/20 and 41/0/20 differ over time in kara. Using the dps excel spreadsheet linked from RogueSpot it didn't look like a significant difference. I may have misinterpreted the results however.

Looks like the Rogue Sub tree will get some changes come Wrath of the Lich King. Blizzard is quoted as saying "Rogues want to be useful in raids and instances the new sub tree will give them that and more." New Rogue Sub Tree ~CS

WRATH OF THE LICH KING Level 80 cap - This will be much like it was from 70 to 80. Their intent is for it to have as many quests as we did in BC (tons). 51 point talents - None of them have been announced. Notherend - This is the new continent. It's north on the Azeroth map between Kalimdor and EK. It's a little smaller size wise but it seems to be packed with good stuff from the videos that they showed of the different zones. Hairstyles - You can change your hairstyle. No you can't change your face. They said that they would consider plastic surgery for the 3rd expansion if they chose to do so (they chuckled though). New Dances- This will include being able to pick your dance. Yay, more boys pretending to be girls working for tips in Org, lol. Arthas - The expansion is evolved around him. He will be the main endgame boss to kill but will be someone that non-raiders can interact with as well. And yes his sword will drop in raids. THE DEATH KNIGHT To unlock the DK you must level a toon to 80. After that you will be able to do a questline that will end in you getting a DK. This will be a separate character slot and no, they have no intention of giving us extra slots. So get rid of your two characters that are holding a thousand snowballs. When you unlock him he won't be level 1. You will start at maybe level 55. The DK is considered a prestige class. However, they said it would be balanced. I don't know how they plan to handle this. They have a unique resource system unlike mana, rage or energy. You get 6 rune slots and 3 different types of runes. You can change what kind of runes you start with when out of combat. To use an ability you expend runes. I imagine some spells and abilities cost 1 rune and others might cost 6. The three rune types are blood, frost and unholy. They stated that they don't want to see anyone use 6 of the same rune. In their eyes that means that they failed to balance the trees. I am extremely impressed with that comment. Depending on how you spec them they can DPS or tank. Will they DPS better than a rogue or hold aggro and be easier to heal than a prot warrior? We don't know. They don't carry shields though so you will either DW or 2H tank. The only ability they showed was an incredibly impressive undead summoning spell. They rained out of the sky and there seemed to be a lot of them. It was hard to determine the game play from the cinematics though. We were all wetting our pants during this presentation so you can imagine it was hard to concentrate. INSCRIPTION This is the new profession. One potential example that they gave was sinister strike would permanently get a higher crit chance if you had that spell inscribed. Can you inscribe the same spell more than once and have it stack? I seriously doubt it. You won't need to be an inscriber to get inscriptions. They can be made and sold on the AH. They are thinking of doing the same thing to enchanting as well (thank god). They are also considering making new professions start at a higher level. They don't want you having to level it by killing level 5 mobs when you are level 80. NEW DAILIES They want to incorporate more daily quests into the expansion and possibly sooner. One of which will be a cooking daily. I imagine you will go out, kill stuff, make it into some sort of food and get gold for it. They also want to have PvP dailies. PVP ZONE Lake Wintergrasp in Notherend will be a PvP zone. If you are on a PvE server you will be flagged for PvP in this zone as if you were on a PvP server. There will be constant outdoor objectives which center around siege weapons that you can use to AOE players and other types that do more damage to buildings which is the primary objective. There will be a battleground like this as well. PRE-EXPANSION Priests - They are getting circle of healing, lightwell (which they called lolwell) and spirit of redemption looked at. They are also looking at the discipline tree. They eluded to priests getting damage from healing gear. This would be kind of cool for them. It might mean that 1800 healing is also equal to 500 spell damage or something like that. Shaman - Enhancement will get some love. The itemization lead plays a shaman instead of a lock now. Mages - Their intent is for mages to be the second best single target DPS and the best AOE dps class in the game. I don't think that either is true but they want to maintain that going into WotLC. Warlocks - Their challenge is balancing fear. Locks are too dependent on it. Paladins - Retribution is being looked at. Ugh. Druids - They will be able to do more in tree form. Remove curse would be one ability. They are looking to add more moonkin gear. Right now they have one pair of boots and it's in BT. Warriors - They are getting more survivability in a DPS role and prot is said to become more viable in PvP. Hunters - They literally just laughed at them. Rogues - Their biggest concern is our mobility in 5v5. They are also looking at improving our survivability in PvE. I imagine the mobility will mean that CLoS will remove hamstring and we might get some love when stuck in the middle of frost traps. They consider us the top single target DPS class. ZUL-AMAN This will be a 10 man instance that will require approximately tier 5 to complete. Each boss will drop 2-4 heroic badges. They showed two weapon drops. A dagger and a 2H sword that are about on par with the season 2 weapons. This should come out in 2.3. They also stated that they want to make a lot more 10- man instances. Kara is apparently the most run instance in the game. PVP AV will get an anti-afk feature. You can report someone and instead of opening a ticket it will put a timer on the player. If they don't get into combat within a certain amount of time, they will no longer get honor. They are also looking to balance the sides better. They want to do something about that horrible bridge going into the alliance base and the solo Vandar pull. The expansion will have a 15v15 siege battle. Kill the other base first and win. Season 1 gear will be available via honor vendors when season 3 starts. In season 3 certain weapons will be only available with certain ranks. They said that might mean as high as 1900. THE MOVIE Legendary Pictures is doing it (300 and Batman Begins). They want the same caliber of director that did those pictures. This is a major investment. It will be live action, not animated. Brad Pit will not be playing Thrall lol. They stated that they will respect the Warcraft lore. They don't want it to be just a franchise name on an unrelated movie like Doom. My personal message to you guys is not to set your expectations high on the accuracy of the lore though. I think that it will be very accurate but you will likely see minor contradictions to the novels. So don't get all pissy and give it an F in Yahoo Movies just because X and Y characters couldn't possibly have existed in this time period. It will take place about a year before WoW began. They are expecting it to be done in a couple of years. My guess is that it will come out in the winter of 2009. STARCRAFT II They gave almost no details on it. The demo was amazing though. I'm looking forward to beta testing it. WRATH OF THE LICH KING DEMO Almost nothing to see. We were going to run the 5 man instance but there was a very short time limit and a extremely long lines. Yes, you can use your flying mounts in this zone and more would be added.

What a great week it was for Arena in World of Warcraft finally the Season 1 tournament wrapped up this weekend at Blizzcon with an underdog pulling through with the win in dominating fashion – while showing America's superiority in PvP. The online play for season two has stayed relatively the same Trounce still holds the #1 spot followed by the usual pack of teams from the Bloodlust battlegroup fighting for the most coveted #1 spot. Keep reading to find out more!

Averages of Top 50 5v5 Teams – 8-06-07
Rating: 2306.51 (Last week 2273.98)
Wins: 180.29 (Last week 157.1)
Losses: 47.68 (Last week 41.1)
Win Percentage: 0.8037 (Last week 0.8076)

Overview: Consistent with past weeks the average ratings for the Top 50 US teams have gone up by about 30 again, this week is different though as the average wins are up 30 while the loses only went up 6. This increase in wins means older teams probably moved their way back up in the place of re-made teams that passed them up last week. I am surprised to see that each week the win percentage stays relatively the same I figured this number would have spiked around – I guess I was wrong.


POWER 5 RANKINGS

1. We lose cuz Daorok sux (Korgath) – US #16
Lineup: Warrior, Mage, Hunter, Resto Shaman, Paladin
Did you expect any thing else? They have been dominating online for the last few weeks and now they did it on LAN and then some. Online they've had to remake their 5v5 team so they wouldn't have to wait in queues to practice for Blizzcon in the process they went 70-5 and got their secondary team up to US 18th, two ranks worse then their main team. At Blizzcon their opponents wouldn't fare so lucky as their opponents online as they went undefeated in the tournament winning every single match 3-0.

2. Team EG (Illidan) – US #14
Lineup: Warrior, Warlock, Shaman, Priest, Paladin
They placed 1st at the US finals defeating every team there, but didn't fare so lucky at Blizzconn as they finished a respectable 3rd. Since attending Blizzcon and not being able to play online they have slipped out of the Top 10, but expect them to jump back up there by next week.

3. Rag Dolled (Tichondrius) – US #2
Lineup: Warrior, Mage, Shaman, Priest, Paladin
They just keep moving up, every week they have gone up 2-3 ranks while grinding it out in the Bloodlust battlegroup with a 76% win percentage well below the average of teams in the Top 50. At the rate they keep moving up they could de-throne Trounce within a week or two.

4. The Fallen Angels (Tichondrius) – US #3
Lineup: Warlock, Shadow Priest, Mage, Shaman, Paladin
In the same boat as Rag Dolled, while not as consistent, they have been constantly climbing in and round the Top 10 for quite some time now and have jumped to an all time high of 3rd. They also have a mediocre win percentage of 76% but it is nothing to scoff at. While their climbing has been more sporadic I don't think they will pass up Rag Dolled at the moment.

5. grandmaster storytellers (Mannoroth) – US #4
Lineup: Unknown
This team has stayed in the Top10 for almost 10 weeks now and shows no signs of leaving it yet. They are currently the 4th longest team to hold a spot in the Top 10 at 14 days behind Pandemic, Trounce and RagDolled who have been in the Top10 for 20+. With the drop of We Lose Cuz Daorok sux out of the Top 10 as well as Pandemic falling down they have taken advantage of this and filled their spots but don't expect them to stay here very long at the #4 spot, expect them to drop down to 5th or 6th by next week.

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

(+39) – The Kraken (Bloodscalp) NEW->11th

(+28) – Our Warrior Ebayed (Sargeras) NEW-22nd

(+24) – Ahh Freak (Korgath) 34th->8th

(+21) – No Warriors (Stormreaver) NEW->29th

(+20) – Xylr and Friends (Shattered Hand) NEW->30th



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

(-230) – Shame (Wildhammer) 20th->250th+

(-75) – Natheletes (Nathrezim) 35th->110th

(-74) – Hands up High (Mal'Ganis) 40th->114th

(-34) – Fluffy Bunny (Cho'Gall) 22nd->56th

(-32) – Clan HeX (Lightnings Blade) 28th->60th


TEAM OF THE WEEK
We lose Cuz Daorok sux (Korgath)
Lineup: Warrior, Mage, Hunter, Resto Shaman, Paladin
This is the second time they grace this slot, first when they jumped up 200 rating in one week now when they go undefeated on LAN to become Arena Season 1 Champions! With that win I think they prove that you don't have to be from the "most competitive Battlegroup" to train well and become a top team (TFO is from Vengeance which is considered weaker then the popular Bloodlust). I also think this earns them the right to be called the #1 Arena team in the World, regardless if Pandemic has won all the WSVG 3v3 Tournaments – seeing as 5v5 requires more skill, patience and coordination to do well in.


IRONMAN TEAM AWARDS – (Top 50 Team Only)
Wins – (394) - YO (Thunderlord)
Losses – (162) – YO (Thunderlord)
Games Played – (556) – YO (Thunderlord)


STOCK RISING
(US #2) Rag Dolled (Tichondrius)
Lineup: Warrior, Mage, Shaman, Priest, Paladin
They keep going up and up and up – now there is only one more place they can go which is 1st. At their steady rate of climbing I give them two to three weeks before they dethrone Trounce, unless Pandemic or We lose Cuz Daorok sux jumps up there first, but I believe Rag Dolled will make it there first. Keep your eyes on this team; they could be our new #1 very soon.

STOCK FALLING
(US #5) Team Pandemic (Tichondrius)
Lineup: Warrior, Mage, Shaman, Priest, Paladin - Rogue
Many people thought they would go through this tournament winning every match by blowout in the ways they have at the WSVG 3v3's but everyone was completely wrong. Not only did they not even win a round in a match rumors say they forfeited their lower bracket match because Blizzard wouldn't allow them to play another character instead of their Rogue. In all my years of E-sports I've never heard of a top team forfeiting a match because they didn't like the rules or how things are being run, Its hard enough to run these events for planners but to have a Pre-Madonna teams harping down your necks 24/7 it doesn't help. If Pandemic did forfeit their last match I have lost what little respect I had for this team regardless if they had to play with a sub par lineup – a top team will always make due with what cards they get dealt… and not complain about it.

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Posted By blogmaster to Arena Blogger at 8/06/2007 11:19:00 AM

When I get home I will do a more thorough report, but I figured you guys would be eager to get an update. First off, if you don't like anything that I am reporting, don't shoot the messenger. I'm just reporting my findings. EXPANSION This is the biggest announcement of the show. When I return from Blizzcon, I will give a more thorough report. The big thing that we can look forward to in this expansion is the addition of a hero class. They plan to add more but for now they are planning one new class, the Death Knight. This is a plate wearing melee class that has a couple of spellcasting abilities. Really just look at it as a melee class though as it will play a tanking or up close and personal DPS role only. With the DK you can tank with a 2H or DW. No shield is needed. Also in the expansion is the addition of a new profession called inscribing. This gives you the ability to upgrade your spells and abilities through a permamant buff. For example, one inscription might increase the damage of sinister strike by 2. We have no hard information on this yet. Sounds cool though. THE ROGUE I attended all of the panel discussions and there wasn't a ton said about rogues. At 1pm today I will be attending the PvP panel where I am sure I will hear more. Only two real factors come into play in my mind. One is some up and coming changes to make rogues more viable in 5v5. They didn't say anything specific. Personally, I hope it comes in the form of damage and survivability or frankly anything that we can bring to the raiding table as well. The second factor is the question of how viable will rogues be in raids with the addition of a new heroic melee class. I find it hard to believe that this new hero class will be inferior to rogues in terms of DPS, so our saving grace will be that they give us something that serves as an invaluable utility to raids, like a buff. Don't make too many speculations on this though, a lot will change before the expansion comes out. Sorry for the short report. I will try to write more after the PvP conference.

Another week and another set of rankings, Trounce lost their #1 rank in the 900 Club this week after maintaining a 93% win percentage for quite some time - but this week 3 teams passed them up. Three teams left the rankings this week but finally Retaliation Battlegroup is included and because of that a few of their top teams made it on these rankings, keep reading to find out!

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

Update 4: 8/3/07

Rank - Team - Win/Loss - Win%
1) MIC (The Underbog) 215-8 0.9641
2) My Heat go BOOM (Korgath) 70-4 0.9459
3) Meow Mix (Auchindoun) 202-14 0.9351
4) Trounce (Mal'Ganis) 188-14 0.9306
5) Game Over (Black Dragonflight) 146-13 0.9182
6) Hide and Seek (Auchindoun) 131-12 0.9160
7) Espada (Stormscale) 110-11 0.9090
8) Clan Hex (Lightning's Blade) 107-11 0.9067
9) SeeYouNextTuesday (Tortheldrin) 243-25 0.9067

Overview: MIC from the Underbog which is part of the Retaliation cluster took the top spot this week with an impressive 96.4 win Percentage while playing over 225 games. Runner up to them was We Lose Cuz Daorok Sux's remake team which went 70-4 in one week in their preparation for Blizzcon that starts today. 3rd ranked MeowMix and 6th ranked Hide and Seek are also teams from the Retaliation battlegroup. While Trounce actually improved their win percentage from last week it just wasn't enough to fend off the other surging teams as they dropped to 4th. Leaving us this week is Spray and Pray, yea we lift, and Slash Cyclone - all of which dropped out of the Top 150 in the US making them ineligible for these rankings. Interestingly enough Slash Cyclone finally played for the first time in 3+ weeks and went 9-1 keeping their win percentage still about .900 - hopefully they can get their rating back up to add to this growing list of 900 club teams!

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Posted By blogmaster to Arena Blogger at 8/03/2007 09:53:00 AM

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Posted By Venick to Venick and Taeveril's Blog at 8/02/2007 09:25:00 PM

Been working on a new version of RogueSpot that I can use as the beginning of the site expansion I have been planning. The new version sports a scrollbar-less design that pulls directly from a mysql database. It also means that I do not have to republish the site on blogger every time there is an update to a link. To the right a randomized banner to change things up a bit and towards the bottom of the right hand column an uptodate list of Team Members and Contributors by forum username. The left side pulls directly from the database to list the SI:7 articles that are archived. Along the top of the page you'll notice the start of a menu bar that should grow in the coming weeks and months. For right now its just the Forums soon I hope to add the Video Guide and possibly more... ;-) Enjoy and I hope you find this version of RogueSpot more useful then the previous incarnations. ~CS