Balance Druid (Moonkin) PVP Video: Kiting Mechanics

Posted on 2010 May 31 by Ed Park

This video is narrated footage of my 80 Balance Druid in an Eye of the Storm battleground (queued solo) for the Wrath of the Lich King expansion patch 3.3.3.

I made this video to showcase the kiting mechanics for the Balance spec, as they’re key to defeating opponents and staying alive in PVP. For most of the video I am running without heal support and outnumbered:

(Double-click on the video to see it in higher-resolution / larger screen size on YouTube)

Gear

Most of the gear I’m using in the video is easily obtainable, with the exception of my weapon:

  • From honor points: necklace, cloak, chest, wrists, hands, belt, boots, both rings, both trinkets
  • From Wintergrasp marks: shoulders
  • From arena + honor points: helm, legs
  • From Emblems of Triumph: idol
  • From ICC10 (Festergut): Abracadaver staff

The staff allows me to reach the hit cap and use the 2 points from the Balance of Power talent elsewhere. I will be gradually upgrading my gear over time – I started 2v2 arena’ing with an old friend who plays a Mage and we’re still in the learning process.

Spec

Here’s a link to my 54/17 PVP spec:

http://www.wowhead.com/talent#0xGfuicoIzhquRuZf0Izb:ijfV0m

I have tried many different Balance PVP specs and the one I’m using now is what has worked the most effectively for battlegrounds and arena. My spec is similar to that of the highest-rated 2v2 Moonkin I could find: Leathi.

I may provide some commentary on spec / talents in another post.

Edit (2010/07/09): I’ve switched to a different 54/17 spec:

http://www.wowhead.com/talent#0xGcuiIoIz0AuRuZf0Izb:ijfV0m

You can read more about this spec in my comment below.

Addons

Here are the list of addons that I highly recommend for Moonkin PVP:

With these addons, you can see:

  • the range to targets just above my head
  • my HoTs just to the left of my character
  • my DoTs and cooldowns to the right of my character

If you have any comments / feedback / questions please post ’em.

P.S. I’m back playing WoW (World of Warcraft), after 2.5 years away from the game.

When I quit WoW back in late 2007, I never expected to play it again, because there were several things that I didn’t like, e.g. the grindy nature of the gear treadmill and the way itemization and specs were handled. WoW has changed dramatically for the better for someone like me, so I decided to try it again. Back in The Burning Crusade (TBC), I played a 70 Feral Druid, and I wanted to play Moonkin this time around, in particular because there is so little material on Moonkin PVP.

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Posted in Druid, PVP, Video, World of Warcraft

Putting Allods Online on the Shelf Indefinitely

Posted on 2010 March 28 by Ed Park

This isn’t yet another thread to complain about gPotato (the game operator) or Astrum Nival (the game developer). From what I’ve heard – firsthand at the Allods Online Launch Party hosted by gPotato during the Game Developer Conference a few weeks ago – gPotato is trying to sort out some of the future game patches (e.g. v 1.0.07 and on) with AN and for the time being, gPotato has wisely opted not to implement the 1.0.07 patches and on.

The reason I’ve stopped playing AO is simply because I was bored at endgame and the options for playing didn’t look like much fun.

I was hoping to find a lot of PVP action at level 40, but there are no high-level zones where players go to PVP. The level 35+ zones (Coldberg/Avilon/Dragon Ring/Yazes Shard) have a pretty high density of mobs, which affects PVP, and most players flag themselves off in those zones. Most of the fights I’ve had against other level 40 players was in Asee-Teph, the level 23-27 zone, which by definition doesn’t make much sense. What this game needs is a zone designed for PVP at 40.

On top of that, gear makes a big difference in AO, and at this stage of the server’s maturity there are two options for getting geared up:

  • run the daily reputation repeatables to get level 36 blue gear, or
  • join a guild, re-spec to Full Healer, and run heroic instances to get level 38 blue gear

I don’t want to grind PVE to be competitive gear-wise for PVP, especially when there isn’t that much PVP action in the first place.

I’m not the only person to reach this conclusion. Several people I’ve known since early Open Beta who reached level cap ahead of me have expressed the same feeling of boredom. So I’m done with Allods indefinitely. To those of you I met in-game on Tensess, please keep in touch :)

I do want to play a game where I can PVP most of the time at level cap and remain reasonably geared without having to spend more time in PVE than PVP.

From what I’ve heard, this is now doable in World of Warcraft (WoW), which I haven’t played since November 2007. So I am considering dusting off my level 70 Feral Druid and trying WoW PVP at 80 with Feral or Balance spec. The reason I quit WoW back in 2007 was the gear grind. PVP epic gear is now is accessible even to casual players. People have complained that WoW has become too easy mode in terms of gearing up, but for a player who is thinking about coming back, that makes the game much more attractive.

If you’ve played WoW at 80 I’d love to hear your thoughts about the PVP.

Posted in Allods Online, Druid, PVP, World of Warcraft

Melee Healer PVP Video @ Level 31-33

Posted on 2010 March 19 by Ed Park — 20 Comments

This is my third PVP video for Allods Online (AO). This video includes the following fights:

  • 31 Melee Healer vs 33 Warrior
  • 31 Melee Healer vs 33 Healer
  • three 33 Healers vs 36 Mage and 31 Healer

I turned up the volume on this video compared to previous ones so please let me know if the volume in this video is about right, too high, or still too low.

Many people have asked me how to avoid getting 3- or 4-shot by Warriors and Paladins – kite-healing and CC are the keys. Aside from Holy Shield, you can use your CCs Blind Faith and Heavenly Smite to create a gap and buy time to heal up with Perpetual Healing and Divine Prayer.

Here are tips not mentioned in the video:

  • Cleansing Flame may not inflict periodic damage against Warriors with Stony Resilience (buff icon looks like crossed swords). Your best bet is using melee attacks and timing your use of Heavenly Smite
  • While leveling you should try to keep Faith <= 20%, and try to keep your Wisdom stat as close to your Faith stat as possible. At level 31 I had too low Wisdom and I went OOM too quickly in PVE and PVP

Level 31 Spec and Stats

http://allodsbase.com/en/talents#_2oxv3ne2xye7hcb28nvy

My stats with green Coba Plateau Prospector rep gear:

  • 21003 HP
  • Agility 97: ~2% dodge
  • Luck 106: 19.5% glancing
  • Endurance 147: 7.25% to be crit
  • Intelligence 160: 25.6%
  • Perception 191: 10.9%
  • Faith 158: 23%
  • Wisdom 146

Endurance and Intelligence were high, whereas Faith, Luck, and Wisdom were low.

Level 33 Spec and Stats

http://allodsbase.com/en/talents#_2ox1u7es45xy8e7hcb28nvy4w3

My stats with green Coba Plateau Prospector rep gear:

  • 18581 HP
  • Agility 132: ~6.75% dodge
  • Luck 104: 27.5% glancing
  • Endurance 229: 5% to be crit, 22.7% to be glanced
  • Intelligence 168: 26.9%
  • Perception 221: 10%
  • Faith 187: 20.2%
  • Wisdom 177

These stats were much more balance compared to my level 31 stats, although Luck was still too low.

I also had the blue 2h mace quest reward from a Blackjack Bid chain. I highly recommend doing this quest at 33 or as soon as you can, but at 33 you’d need at least 1 more player to group with.

If you have any comments / feedback / questions please post ’em.

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Posted in Allods Online, PVP, Video

Melee Healer PVP Video @ Level 26-27

Posted on 2010 March 8 by Ed Park — 21 Comments

This is my second PVP video for Allods Online (AO). This video includes the following fights:

  • 26 Melee Healer vs 26 Warrior + 25 Healer
  • 26 Melee Healer vs 26 Caster Healer
  • 26 Melee Healer vs 26 Paladin
  • 27 Melee Healer vs 27 Warrior
  • 27 Melee Healer vs 27 Summoner

I’ve heard a lot of concern from players about fighting Paladins and Warriors, so I included several clips and talked about the matchup mechanics.

Level 26 Spec and Stats

http://allodsbase.com/en/talents#_2oxv3mc1xyc718a20nvy

My stats with green Asee-Teph rep gear

  • 8691 HP
  • Luck 89: 13.9% glancing
  • Intelligence 94: 15%
  • Perception 125: 16.5%
  • Faith 114: 22.9%
  • Wisdom 97

Level 27 Spec and Stats

http://allodsbase.com/en/talents#_2pxv3nc1xyc718a28nvy

My stats with blue Asee-Teph rep gear

  • 10380 HP
  • Luck 85: 17.8% glancing
  • Intelligence 101: 16.2%
  • Perception 153: 8.65%
  • Faith 136: 15.4%
  • Wisdom 122

Here are tips not mentioned in the video:

  • When fighting ranged DPS classes, you don’t have to conserve mana as there will be times when you are out of melee range and therefore regenerating mana

Based on my experience so far in Holy Land PVP, I am going to continue filling out the Verdict ruby tree. Getting  3/3 Holy Avenger should provide an excellent boost to survivability – not only will I get crit less, but when I do get crit, I’ll get 3 Fanaticism stacks which equals burst healing to offset the damage taken.

Life in Asee-Teph has gotten much better since I hit level 26. I still get run over by ?? (high-level) players, but overall my survivability has gone up a lot compared to 25.

If you have any comments / feedback / questions please post ’em.

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Posted in Allods Online, PVP, Video

Melee Healer PVP Video @ Level 25

Posted on 2010 March 5 by Ed Park — 20 Comments

This is my first PVP video for Allods Online (AO). I dinged level 25 today and captured footage of League players attempting to gank me 1v1 and a dynamic 1v4.

This video includes the following fights:

  • 26 Melee Healer vs 26 Mage
  • 26 Melee Healer vs 27 Summoner
  • 26 Melee Healer vs 4 opponents

Here is my current spec:

http://allodsbase.com/en/talents#_2oxv3mc1xyc718820nvy

  • I’ve earned 2 World Quest rubies in addition to the rubies available when leveling, so ignore the calculator saying this is a level 27 build
  • I picked up Divine Prayer 1 (DP) instead of Holy Rage. DP is an excellent instant-cast burst heal
  • I have 2/3 Condemnation, and this reduces the cooldowns for Blind Faith (disorient/snare) and Banished Words (ruby silence ability) to 24 seconds. Both are superb abilities in PVP, and BF is highly valuable in PVE. At level 26 I will take the 3rd Condemnation ruby to reduce their cooldowns to 21 seconds

Overall, I’m really enjoying the playability of the Melee Healer spec. The PVP mechanics in practice have matched or exceeded what I was hoping for when I wrote the Melee Healer Guide.

Here are some comments not mentioned in the video:

  • Always make sure to pre-cast Heavenly Smite. Having an instant-cast AOE knockdown rocks in PVP (and PVE)
  • I didn’t call out when I used DP, but I used it in each of the fights, and you can hear and see the spell animation (it looks like the green shimmer like Devoted Plea)
  • Don’t underestimate the power of the self-healing from 3/3 Brilliant Faith. I talked a lot about PH in the video but when you watch the footage you can see the Brilliant Faith heal procs as well
  • If you use the Kanian racial bubble and Holy Shield, after Holy Shield wears off you’ll still have the racial bubble up – so you have unbroken damage absorption. You can see that in the fight against the Summoner
  • My gear in the 1st fight was from Darkwater, which is two zones before Holy Lands (HL). Yes I know that’s pathetic. I skipped the Elf rep gear because I didn’t want to do the repeatable quest 18 times. That’s simply not my idea of fun. My gear sucked until I was able to acquire the green HL rep gear. In the last two fights I had the green HL rep gear. I haven’t been able to run the repeatable rep quest in HL due to the lack of level capping/balancing mechanics

The PVP action in Holy Lands has been fun at times. However, there is no mechanic to prevent or discourage higher level players from ganking lowbies. I have watched a single level high-level player wipe multiple groups of under-30 players with ease. A lot of players I’ve chatted with are very frustrated with getting 1 or 2-shotted and not having a fighting chance. AO will lose players if the game mechanics are not changed, because life in the Holy Lands in the mid 20s can be pretty rough. A simple level cap would suffice, e.g. Asee-Teph PVP is only for players level 30 and under. This design flaw exists in both Aion and Allods Online and I am surprised that game developers haven’t figured out that level capping/balancing mechanics make for a much more enjoyable and competitive PVP experience that will result in higher player retention.

I’m still playing AO because gPotato adjusted the Item Shop prices to reasonable levels and I wanted to experience the PVP system firsthand. I’m still waiting to see what gPotato does about the 1.0.07 patch, which contains a lot of negative changes and is rumored to have caused many Russian players to quit playing Russian AO. Hopefully gPotato can work with the game developer to not implement those changes in gPotato’s AO.

If you have any comments / feedback / questions please post ’em.

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Posted in Allods Online, PVP, Video
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