Dodging On Stormstrike, DK Buff, Subtlety And Its Impact, Blizzard TR Just Around The Corner?
Most don't know what a labial frenectomy is but I got it tonight. Basically, I got braces like 8 months ago to fix a variety of problems (teeth crowding, gaps, crooked teeth) as part of the whole "Zilea reborn" thing that I was talking about so long ago. Anyway, I had gaps closed several months ago but was recently having some gum swelling. It was a "killing 2 birds with 1 stone" thing but because my orthodontist also wanted to make sure none of the gaps opened up again in the future, I had it done. And because the braces come off soon, what better time than to get a labial frenectomy? It is basically when the orthodontist shaves or cuts away the excess gum in between teeth. The only reason I'm telling this story is because I had shots given to me to numb my mouth and believe me when I tell you that I've had shots before, but nothing as bad as the ones for my labial frenectomy. I literally jolted in my chair and had teary eyes because it was so painful.
And the other point of this story was so that I could give the viewers a glimpse of the new hoochiemama magnet (STD-free).
IEM Global Finals, RLS - A Long Time Coming, AMD Dives Into E-Sports
I was given some very detailed information on the nature of the agreement into which these two teams would be entering into and I can say with confidence that it is one of the best in E-Sports and assuming AMD lives up to their end of the bargain any player would be lucky to represent them. The deal includes everything you would expect from a gaming contract such as travel expenses to and from events which would be agreed upon between the team and AMD, as well as some very nice additional benefits such as a solid salary and computers for all three players on each of the sponsored teams. There are only two teams which have a salary right now for World of Warcraft (Button Bashers and SK EU) and SK EU is only getting a token salary really so this would basically make you one of two teams getting a decent salary from World of Warcraft.
AMD is going to be launching a new website in April for their new line of gaming graphics cards and processors and the gaming teams will be incorporated into that and obviously will be used largely to promote and advertise these new products. Intel is a dominating force in E-Sports at the moment and AMD is looking to break into the scene and challenge Intel, so this is definitely a good way to make their mark on professional gaming. Obviously one of the biggest challenges is to find top level teams for all these games which aren't already sponsored who can be drawn to AMD in order to give them solid representation at the events they attend to further get their name out there. Representing a company well isn't just about getting top placements at tournaments, it's also very much about how you present yourself to the public, how you behave at the events, and what else you can offer a company to get their name out there even more - so this is something to keep in mind.
Along the same lines of pushing into the E-Sports world AMD is planning on holding quite a large tournament in 2011 with a planned prize pool for World of Warcraft of $90,000 for the 16 teams which will be in attendance. The plan is that teams will qualify through a Tournament Realm very much akin to the Blizzard Tournament Realm however it is planned to be played with all the gear available on live servers and Ring of Valor will quite possibly be removed from competitive play for the tournament. The top 8 teams from Europe as well as the top 8 from North America would qualify (Korea is not eligible at this point) and the top 3 teams from those 16 would have their trip and accommodations paid for by AMD. The other 13 teams would be on their own as far as covering the cost of travel and accommodations for the event which is planned to take place in Europe (very likely Germany as Gamescon, CeBIT or something along those lines). They're planning on having the tournament fully streamed and commentated and it should be completely free to watch online for all you E-Sports lovers.
For those of you who think that you're deserving of a sponsorship for World of Warcraft and believe you have what it takes to be chosen by AMD to be one of their teams please contact David Jacobs at djacobs.amd@gmail.com with your application - be sure to be detailed and let him know why your team is the one that should be sponsored above all others. You may also be able to get a hold of him on MSN with that same address so be sure to try getting him on t here as well.
There are also job opportunities for people looking to be E-Sports writers from North America, Europe and Korea for their website when it launches so be sure to check that out if you're interested and think you are qualified and can do a good job!
Well that's it for this week, until next time...
Daddy Is A BG9 Gladiator, 2v2/5v5 Woes, Is 2012 Around The Corner?
Before I joined BG9, I could barely break .500 and 2200 as RMP. Last week, we finished 2709 and ranked 9th in the BG, my best rating ever and best rank since season 1, all in the most active BG in the world. I will probably be one of the few, if not the only fathers to obtain gladiator assuming this rating is enough for title at season end.
What changed? Did I suddenly found a fountain of youth? I can say with confidence that you can probably find literally, 100+ rogues in BG9 who can play at my current level or better. My playing time is extremely limited and my timing/reaction are nowhere peak level. My sharingan is losing its light.
The difference is I have Chumpjohn on my team, someone with not one but THREE characters above 2600 (and once his rogue gets another 100 points, it will be THREE characters above 2700). And what is even scarier is his three characters are melee/caster/healer. It is one thing to play multiple DPS classes or multiple healer classes, but to be able to play classes of such amazingly different roles on such a crappy laptop, he is probably one of, if not the best multi-class players today.
The difference is I have Zunniyaki on my team, who hit 2700 plus with Chumpjohn in 2v2 and calls our plays/strats in 3v3. A vocal leader and probably one of the most underrated players in BG9. I really feel with the right teammates he would be a tournament level priest. Leadership is THE most important ingredient of any top arena team. It doesn't matter how talented your team is, without strong leadership you will never win anything.
And Zunniyaki called plays around my style of play and found ways to work around my weaknesses. You will never have a team that beats the other team from 1-3, you have to manage your strength and weakness and that is exactly what he did. My cooldown management and defensive plays are simply not up to the standard of top 10 BG9 rogues. However my rush down is still competitive so when we played in say RMP mirror, we always went on the priest instead of rogue on rogue. Against anything with a shaman we went on the shaman and so forth.
Like Michael Finley who went from Superstar to role player with San Antonio Spurs and won a championship, I understand my role perfectly on this team and do exactly what I am told. We have seen many big name players try to make a comeback and fail miserably in all kind of sports. The sooner you realize your limitations, drop your ego and accept your new role, the better it is for your team. You no longer have the explosiveness to drive to the basket, so step back and make some open 3's!
Toward the last 100 points or so of the push, I actually did quite a bit of duels on PTR and it really improved my reaction/timing. When you have other people on your team covering for your mistakes, you can get away with a lot of things. Dueling as shadow dance really restored my passion for the rogue class, it is truly the way our class should be played.
And a lot more sophisticated too. Estel's computer got hit by a Google redirect one that also blocked her Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware access. I had to go as far as using Combofix to kill the rootkit thing, and I had to use my computer to look for tips until I finally found Combofix to fix it. Anyone have any recommendations? My computer seems to have a redirect too although it seems to redirect my google search's once every 10 minutes or so, Estel's was doing it 4 out of 5 searches. There is no way average mom/pop users will be able to deal with this.
sorry for blogging again!
Hi. To start things off I would like to apologize for posting another blog in such a short period. I know most of you need at least a few more days to recover from my old one, but I cannot post regular blogs for some reason, only World of Ming ones. I'm sure there will be a Ming blog quickly following this one it is his turn today.
As I have neglected to post a serious introduction, I felt serious blog would be as good an opportunity as any to offer you a bit of insight toward my uniquely bad style of writing and its author. Some of you may appreciate my walls of meaningless text. A preponderance of you will not. I am not going to try and come off as a fantastically gifted being who deliberately riddles his articles with bits and pieces of obscure satire and convoluted humor. If you find any instances of such, understand that it was unintentional. I am just an average guy and a below average writer. Most of my blogs contain nothing but unsubstantiated drivel.
I am a profound believer in the importance of perspective, and as such, I write with a conduct that I feel would amuse me personally. Largely, my blogs will make absolutely no sense, and in the interest of preserving even a shred of dignity, I attempt to construct my more abase points in a manner which will allow them maximum blatancy in the hopes that my readers can construe their deliberately humorous nature. I am not literally trying to insult people. The only players I even have the courage to bash are those who know me on a personal level. Comparable to Fivezors' trashing of Chumpjohn this past week, I am just trying to shed some light on things exclusive to the bg9 circlejerk, while trying to keep the read as fun as possible. However, this will not be a fun read.
The Real Future of Fnatic:
Obviously the fact that my last blog was a complete joke was too subtle (excuse the paradox, also unintentional), so I am just going to present the facts as they are, with no attempts at literary genius. Judging from the many complaints that I have received, what I wrote concerning Fnatic's future as a team was too ambiguous for the readers whom weren't well acquainted with me. As I want to avoid further misinterpretation, hurt feelings, and angry sponsors, I am posting this article in hopes of offering you (the reader!) some clarity.
Fnatic is not falling apart. Fnatic never was falling apart. We have several reasons for being inactive on the live realms, which I will present here:
We went into our first tournament with very high hopes. We were easily the best team, and unquestionably the most practiced. Our confidence going into the event proceeded only as far as the hotel, in which afterward we all experienced bouts of nervousness which lead to stupid mistakes - something that happens to any new LAN team. We didn't manage to do as well as we had originally hoped, so of course this led to the subsequent emo period in which we all just lost interest in WoW until we had to begin preparations for MLG #2.
After once again failing to meet the standards we had set for ourselves, Douja started playing less, as did Woundman and I. We felt it would likely be beneficial to our overall mental health and functionality as a team if we took a short break. Unfortunately, we all started to adapt progressively lazier attitudes when it came to practicing seriously. Douja in particular felt it wasn't worth it, but we would still log on occasionally for our 10 games and win our matches versus the top ranked teams of our battelegroup.
Later on, we all just came to the conclusion that the gap between gear on live and gear on TR was too large to justify spamming queues - particularly when we all have an excess of real life commitments to attend to. Douja didn't want to play, I didn't want to play because he didn't want to play, and Woundman didn't have anyone to play with. However, with our newly reinstated contracts, we plan on working much more and you will once again see us on the live realms. I view my teammates as extremely close acquaintances, and as a product of our friendship, I value their ideas and decisions in directing the team.
Perhaps my World of Ming persona has given my readers the wrong idea. I am not actually arrogant, nor am I nearly as stupid as I appear when it comes to interacting with people socially. My blogs are just that - blogs. In order to separate my writing from that of hundreds of others inundating the website daily, I decided to add that distinctly uneducated flavor in hopes of scoring points for uniqueness. Perhaps orienting my blogs toward a small circle of my personal friends wasn’t the smartest idea. They are usually the only people who find them funny and understand the contents.
I have the utmost respect for my sponsors and I am incredibly thankful to them for giving us the opportunity to perform at tournaments. Furthermore, I am also very pleased that they have been generous enough to allow us future participation at the MLG's this year.
The team of Fnatic (Woundman, Douja, and I) is still together. We plan on picking the game up again seriously, and are doing our best to replicate EG's success. There is no drama within borders, and the contents of my previous blog were nothing but works of fiction generated from my lack of forethought.
Before Woundman left for Germany, he made sure to get consent from all of us, our sponsors, and even some of his other friends to ensure that he was making the correct choice. I personally told him that I would be a massive hypocrite if I refused his request to go. He never ran off like I insinuated in my previous blog. He never even slept with Azael as I also insinuated in my last blog. He did what any respectable team member would, and made sure we were all okay with it, which we were. There is no bitterness between myself or any of the members of EG; we are all still friends and I have the highest regards for them as a team, individual players, and as friends. As for their most recent victory at ESL - well deserved; they are all phenomenal players and it's about time their persistence paid off.
2v2 With Girl Beats World Of Ming Allstars, My New Favorite Song
So likely this is a farewell-introduction post, and i am very, very thankful to the management at WoM for giving me this opportunity.
This past week I've been very consistent blogging. Aspiring to be a screenwriter some day and move to Hollywood, I thought it would be a very good practice for me to write here on Gameriot. It would discipline me to write for an audience, every day of every week with original content and get paid for it. Considering WoWriot gets literally no content anymore aside from WoM, I really wanted to do it, and still do. Also, WoW has been crap in the past years and I hoped to take people's mind off how crappy the game is and make them laugh, which I undoubtedly succeeded during this week.
I apologize to anyone I've But what really got me through this rough period is the lyrical replacements Yog supplied me with.
IEM Recap & Facts You Probably Missed, The Death Of Easymode?, Yog's Trolling Drivel
. Yiska out.
A New Beginning, Thank You - Woundman, The Future of Fnatic
Q: Why would Woundman stay with fnatic when he has just placed 1st in the Global Finals with EG?
A: Maybe he's retarded?
Believe me. I have already been asked this questions hundreds of times. I knew based on EG's poor live performance and their conservative to non-existent means for preparation that they were probably going to win. Why? For the same reasons my completely unseasoned WLD could place second as Blizzcon. This bloody game has a tendency for annihilating any form of consistency, and by extension, all forms of team commitment. The best teams today are your worst teams tomorrow. As such, at the end of every arena season, we are left with a pile of smoldering ashes from which a new team is reborn until the cycle is repeated.
Those that have followed Woundman's rise to the top should be well acquainted with the trail of deception and dishonesty that follows him around wherever he goes. Likewise, you should know that this is in the nature of a recovering meth addict so he is not to blame. He only has one objectives: To become the worlds best rogue. Regrettably, his amazing performance at the IEM global finals has moved him one step forward in attaining his dream and one step away from his faithful team mates. So what will become of his old friends of Fnatic?
This wasn't simply an unexpected turn of fate when Pookz all of a sudden remembered he had final exams 2 days before the event. The day before Woundman left for Germany, I told him my predictions that he was going to win IEM and join EG's roster because Didy's karma is coming back to bite us in the ass. He disagreed and referenced his record with team EG on live the previous night (15-19) and told me that all he wanted to do was experience Germany because he loves to travel.
And what ******* happens? The underdogs that should have never even made it out of group play become global champions? Did Tenderloin just magically happen to get good at WoW all of a sudden? Didy has made damn sure that we wouldn't get away with stealing his team mates, and so far, it seems that he might succeed.
I made my sentiments known to our sponsors and Woundman. I expressed my concerns for how very bad it would be for our team, and how terrible we would look if he manages to somehow place with EG. How does a team stay motivated in playing together when one of their members goes running rampant, sleeping with other teams behind our backs?
Unfortunately for Woundman, he is legally bound by the terms of Fnatic's new contract to remain anchored to this sinking ship. This will mean that the several instances in which Azael probably tried to recruit him were in vain. Fnatic doomed us when they refused our request to attend Germany. From my perspective, there is simply no reason for Woundman to want to remain affiliated with Fnatic, and I certainly don't want to play with someone who is only here due to contractual obligations. As I have not spoken to Wound yet, I am unaware of his intentions. If he sincerely wishes to remain with Fnatic, he will have proven himself a loyal companion indeed. If, alternatively, he chooses to side with EG, I have plans to open a coffee shop right next to his to run his ass out of business.
Depending on how the cards fall, this may very well be the end of the short lived Fnatic legacy. I know for a fact Hoodrych is pushing for the sponsorship behind our backs, and I am not one to refuse Wound should he request to join EG. This is, without further elaboration, a terrible predicament for any team to be placed in when the game allows massive upsets that instill false hopes for future success. He has experienced a taste of the victory and recognition he has longed for his entire life, and is likely eager for its propagation. It may be time for our newer, younger generation to take over. I am growing too old for this.
Farewell old friend - may you find great success and prosperity, wherever you go.
ESL Global Finals Aftermath: Woundman Is The Best Defensive Stopper In The Game Today, PTR 3.3.3 Build 11623 Impression: Please Make Hemo Debuff Scalable! Play Shadow Dance With Only One Extra Key Bind Over Mutilate/Prep
What an incredible tournament as rogue heroes overcame the class's weakness in season 5 gear and presented the beloved rogue community so incredibly well at this year's global finals! Kalimist, Hiren and of course Woundman all stepped up to the plate and when the smoke cleared, three of the final four teams had a rogue, and it is a strong statement to our class's pride with the game played at the highest level!
A lot of people called Team EG a PUG with very limited experience playing together, but what they didn't realize is Woundman played RLS for his entire career in WOTLK, and Reckful-kun himself admitted that Woundman is better in that comp. In a team with no real defensive dispels and no burst healing options like penance/shield, a rogue has to be extremely aware of swaps. Having fought all the big name rogues in BG9, I feel Woundman has by far the best sense of danger and always finds a way to get out of bad situations. He is probably the best defensive rogue in the game today, always getting the big defensive stops for his team and himself. He had some huge kick/gouge's which saved him from potential killing blow's, and kited away from danger to give his team a chance to win. He also read other rogue's mind extremely well and landed huge saps by reading the enemy team's formation.
Azael/Tenderloin played together for quite some time and when they finally obtained the best possible RLS rogue, it just all came together. And I really feel their 3-0 win over X6 Beast Cleave (completing the sweep on Ring of Valor) gave them a huge confidence boost and in a single elimination tournament similar to the World Cup, a team getting hot at the right time makes all the difference in the world. They also had a comp that is simply not played at a high level in Europe/Asia, and the element of surprise goes a long way in a short tournament.
Finally in S5 gear I really feel RLS has an edge over RMP. Watching the BB vs EG series, BB took EG players below 10% over and over and over again, but couldn't finish the job before the dots caught up to them. Also, a big part of RMP's success is the ability to force cooldowns with damage pressure. EG was able to save their trinket/defensive CDs quite a bit longer than they would be able to in S8 vs S8, and dragging the game late is very favorable for RLS. All it takes is one full set of DOTs and a rogue can kill a priest by himself from CS to KS. The warlock is free to CC while doing most of his damage which is very different from mage, who must be in LOS and casting into his target for the RMP to score a kill. And of course, UA ignoring resilience completely (bug as it exists today) made a difference in a low damage high resilience tournament.
Azael probably shed tears of pearl when the smoke cleared, as he won a championship in his very first tournament when counter-comping was in style. Little did he knew, that was the last championship he would see in a long long time. His team went through so many ups and downs, but he is a true believer in Naruto spirit and never, ever gave up. Coming into this tournament no one thought they could even get out of group play, much less winning the whole thing. He played RLS so many times in the past, and suffered so many disappointments.
Yet it all clicked together for him today. Team chemistry is a very strange thing. At this level the talent of the players are all very similar. I really believe Glick/Azael/Yog are all very close in ability, same with Reckful/Woundman/Kalimist, and Kollectiv/Tenderloin although they all have different styles. People watching tournaments at home need to realize WOW is a team game. If your team has the momentum and your teammates make the right plays that suit your playing style, it has a huge impact on your own performance. A championship team is more than the sum of its parts. Compared to other players of their caliber, I feel Tenderloin/Woundman are better at staying alive than anyone else, and Azael himself is a CC/survival over damage pressure type of warlock. He doesn't dish out damage like Snutz and he plays best when he has other defensive stoppers on his team.
Congratulations Team EG! Two global champions for WOM bloggers in a row!
For those of you struggling with shadow dance key binds here is a newbie friendly way of doing it. You won't be shadow dance hero Reckful but you can get almost all of dance's benefits without adding a lot of new binds.
I only had to add one extra key than mutilate/prep since I don't use ghostly strike. It is really weak compared to hemo unglyphed (you have to remember it is 40 energy for 125% weapon damage vs hemo's 30 energy for 121% weapon damage on top of a debuff), and I am not going to waste a glyph slot plus a bind for a very situational move.
I have the same key binds as mutilate prep, except I had to add a new key for shadowstep. Shadow dance is the same key as cold blood since both are burst cooldowns.
My shadow dance bar is the exact same as my regular bar except:
Hemorrhage (Backstab) -> Now Ambush. I can't see any reason to use hemorrhage over ambush during dance when ambush gives 4 times the combo points and twice the damage per energy. Even if I am snared I can still cheap shot eviscerate, by then I should be able to ambush.
Dismantle -> Now Cheapshot. Again I can't see any reason to use dismantle during shadow dance when I shouldn't really be dancing without at least one stun available. That 25 energy is too valuable.
Rupture -> Now Garrote. Dance is for bursts. I would rupture before or after dance, but not during it. Garrote silence is useful and can replace rupture during dance.
Slice and Dice -> Now Sap. Again, dance is for bursts. I can't see myself ever slice and dice during dance. Before/after is fine.
Intel Extreme Masters World Championship Live Blog Day 3, North America vs. England in the Grand Finals
The Final Standings:
1st Place: Team EG $25,0002nd Place: Team Dignitas $10,0003rd Place: Button Bashers $4,0004th Place: SK Korea $2,000
Congratulations to Azael, Tenderloin, and Woundman for Winning the ESL World Championships!
IEM: World Championships Photo Galleries:
http://www.rakaka.se/index.php?newsID=13371
http://www.sk-gaming.com/album/41546
http://www.team-dignitas.org/gallery.php?gid=426&fid=4
Intel Extreme Masters World Championship Live Blog Day 2
5:40am PSTStream A - Semi-Finals6:25am PSTSteam A - Semi Finals7:25am PSTStream A - Graind FinalsStream B - 3rd Place Finals
Two korean teams, one British team, one American team. Should be fun! We'll see you in the morning with coverage by Trance.
Intel Extreme Masters World Championship Live Blog Day 1, Korean Dominance on Display in Group 1
Game 2) Dalaran Arena - SK.US's Rogue Warlock Shaman vs Shadow Cleave(DK, Warlock and Druid) of H2k. This first match has been extremely long, it feels as if it's going to be a mana war game (despite the burst heavy play style of RLS, which is a bit uncommon). Realz is playing very conservative versus H2k, looks like they're waiting to setup a kill. After a very, very drawn out match. H2k ties it 1-1.
They stopped streaming this match around game 3. According to esl-world and SK-Gaming, SK.US wins this match 3-1. ESLtv hasn't been streaming the matches in chronological orderApparently, all the matches were played off stream after this point. I'll update the rankings at the top of the post.
The Relationship of Collective Game Knowledge and the Potential Decline of Interest in World of Warcraft Arena
During my short break from WoW, I managed to play a bit of Starcraft 2 as you all know from my last video blog. That game and RTS in general I find has a much steeper learning curve than MMO, FPS or Fighting Games. So coming back to WoW after a couple of weeks was...easy. The two genres are completely different and can't be compared however I feel that playing other games and genres only improves your game. Actions Per Minute (APM) means very little in World of Warcraft, Counter-Strike or Street Fighter 4, but being conscious of how fast your fingers and eyes move can help your coordination a bit. There are quite a few real life examples of this as well. Such as journalists dabble in creative writing in order to find more colorful ways to tell stories in such a way that's not a boring list of facts.
Of course, this is not always the case. I'd be hard pressed to find a use for being able to FADC perfectly on an arcade stick outside of Capcom games. Not everything is useful, but it certainly can't hurt to know. I'm reminded of the rather cynical first paragraph of H.P. Lovecraft's Call of Cthulhu in this regard.Azael wrote an entry not too long ago about Game Knowledge and Player Skill and their relation to each other. I've had the opportunity to go through the harsh frustrations of trying to make myself a better player in those regards but the question I inevitably ask is, "why?" Let's just say I wanted to be sponsored. I become ridiculously good at the game. I make the connections, make the reputation for myself. A company sponsors my team and I go to an event. What then? What will I get out of putting so much time and effort into something where my value is measured in the transient bits and bytes of pixels; which in turn is represented by values in a database somewhere in California?
Philosophically, there are many who assert that it's not about the destination but the journey. What if this journey inevitably makes you run away, screaming in mental anguish at the fact that the only plausible conclusion is to make yourself an MMO nihilist? Or even worse, a member of the competitive Quake community, obsessed with constant jumping, teleporting and shooting colorful rockets at each other.
Over time, the collective game knowledge of the average player has increased immensely and as a result, we're a better community for it. But what if, as a result of this knowledge, the community becomes jaded? There's been a waning interest in WoW arena and the morale of individuals once dedicated wholly to arena now find themselves raiding significantly more. The lack of interest and loss of fighting spirit among many could be a result of this. But what about myself personally? Am I jaded? Am I bored with the game? Am I doomed to be chasing the absolutely wonderful excitement of discovering PvP for the first time at level 23 on my shaman? The answer is "no". I'm not jaded. I'm not chasing the dragon of what was my World of Warcraft experience before The Burning Crusade.
Sometimes when my fiance and I have dinner we talk about how our relationship will evolve 10, 20, 50 years down the road. There's no way to tell exactly where we'll end up because of the innumerable variables which go into why long term relationships work and don't work. As we go over possibilities looking at the examples of the many that came before us, we know that our relationship as man and wife will most likely evolve. Will we ever fall out of love? The answer is uncertain. As I think about World of Warcraft from Blizzard's standpoint and the community's interest in it, I can only find it very curious that many members of their largest franchise in history managed to get in on the beta. It's as though they know they community is evolving and after over five years, it's time to change things up a bit. That's what happens. In love or in games.
We play for many reasons. To spend time with our friends, to just have fun, to vent frustration. As life goes on and more content is released in patches, expansions and sequels and the expectations are raised of what's known as a result, I predict that the community will still continue to play for their individual gains inside of game and out. What always ends up mattering most is that when you uninstall the application that you spent hundreds of days lost in, that your memories and experiences bring a smile to your face.
The Girls Of WoM, Counter Comping At IEM, Facts About European Teams You Might Not Know, A Team That Should Be Sponsored
Some of you know me, most of you don't (judging by the hit counter my blog had on Gameriot anyway). I'm Yiska, 22 years old, German, fat, bad at the game, been asslicking Inflame and Hydra pretty much the same, Americas bane, not black (obviously) - what a shame. Lame. At this point you realize Bodi brought me here for three reasons: I make Yog and Marxo sound eloquent and intelligent in comparison, I'm not afraid of embarrassing myself (more on that later) and I'm European.
I started doing WoW coverage and vomitting in the blog entry section here on Gameriot in August which kept me from pooping in the comment section on WoM for the most part. I am probably the person with the most comments on this glorious site. I won a couple of blogging contests with Eurospective, embarrassed myself on WoWverload and ArenaCast, trolled Americans on the MLG live blog (and got stomped when Azael outplayed Inflame), got turned down as a writer here for a chick, wrote for compLexity (for example about psychology in WoW) and GotFrag. I recently became the editor in chief on hydramist.net (we are still searching for writers) and I will be free loading at Cebit as the "team manager" for coL.Black. I'm considered an insider of the European scene simply because I have way too much freetime for this kind of stuff. Why you should still be reading this blog is simple: I will be showing tits later in this blog.
During my time here on Gameriot I made this video and I feel it’s kinda relevant again these days:
So counter comping…
Talking to players from the participating teams is always exciting. I can anticipate strategy choices before they happen and maybe guess how it will turn out, and when the games are done, realize that I'm god awful at this game. It's important to note that I do have secrets about other teams and the comps they will run which even my team coL.Black doesn't know and it would really be cheap to sell them out like that unless you are willing to trade pictures of their sisters. I stare into your soul, pro player who wants to remain unknown.
What I can tell you though is that every single European team is able to switch it up with a different comp and that 3 out of 5 teams practiced that off comp actively. This is not really such a special situation though. Even back in the days when Nihilum Plasma was hot, the team always had Warrior/Mage/Druid with Divine Inflame on War and Paperkat on Mage prepared and played it on a high level.
The notion that it takes an immense amount of practice to be good at a comp or even a class could be proven wrong at this event if the comp is either a counter comp and/or does catch the opponent team off guard. This is not because WoW is skillless but because the hardest part to play the game isn't learning your keybinds or remembering the strategy. Once you played against outstanding players of that particular class, an amazing player will understand what beats him and adapt it into his play. Positioning, if you are playing the same role in the comp, is most likely the same. The only substantially different and hard part is to practice this jaw dropping coordination that we saw for example from Button Bashers at MLG Anaheim. There are players on this planet who are just so talented that they can pick up a class and be top notch within weeks. For example if General Another decided to play Mage again today, he'd most likely be top 3 in Europe by Friday. Caliph Kalimist once told me that Another is just different. While he himself can absorb what about 4 or 5 players on the battle field do, Another seems to grasp most actions of every single player on the battlefield at all times.
Fun but not really relevant fact: Do you remember that HON (now BB) won the last Global finals? Hours before Venruki randomly sat down at Xom's PC, logged on his Rogue and played with Another and Orly and they 3-0’d HON in a mirror.
Again this might come across as a European jerking fest, so I will just go ahead and say that I do feel that for example Sodah is one of those freaks of nature as well. So are probably Veex and Valrath too. There are players however who got where they are through hard practice and those most likely aren’t multiclassing. These players tend to lose their skills rather quickly without a sufficient amount of training such as I will post a short Zilea special. I missed this: Yiska out.
Why Now Is The Best Time To Play A Priest. The Return Of The Death Knight? Armory Smurfing, And A Helpful Addon.
I have always loved playing a Priest.Something about finding that perfect balance between offensive and defensive play has always appealed to me. I don't think it's possible to do something more fun in arena than to swap to a target that is on top of you when you're at 30% HP and start chain casting damage into them to assist your partners for a clutch kill. However, my favourite part about playing a Priest this season is that now more than ever, Priests need absolutely zero raiding gear to be viable. Last season, I had to go through the unsavory business of pugging and "reserving" a Solace of the Defeated and picking up PvE leggings to help push my Warrior/Mage/Priest comp to it's potential. This season, as both Shadow and Discipline I am not using a single piece of gear obtained from raiding on my Priest besides the rep ring that almost all serious PvPers can be found wearing. In fact, I have only killed the first boss in Icecrown Citadel on my Priest, and it was only to help a friend's raid so he could grab a Bryntroll.
I replaced my Solace with the Purified Lunar Dust trinket from badges, as it is much better for a Disc Priest where you often spend up to 20 seconds without casting a single defensive spell, where stacks of the Solace's buff would fall off, and it also isn't gimped when you're being CC chained. The trinket is also great as Shadow, as it provides the perfect amount of regen needed to last between mana cooldowns without gimping your damage by using the regen main set pieces over the crit pieces. Before using this trinket, I was advocating using Mooncloth main set pieces spec'd into meditation because of some of the long games I've had against some of the top teams, including games against Ming's RMP where we lost a few times because I went oom using zero regen gear. With Lunar Dust and Full Satin main set, I can take as long as I need to set up a kill, and still drop someone in only a few seconds with crits that come fairly often. As a PvP only player playing as a class that uses almost exclusively PvP gear, I am very happy with the resilience changes and how competitive non-raiders can be with PvPers that also raid.
you've no doubt been frustrated more than once by a bug that has been around since the most recent patch that causes your combat log to stop working. Addons like Afflicted or Interrupt bar that read the combat log and inform you when certain abilities are used, may suddenly stop working in the middle of a match, and stop working until you relog. Thankfully, the author of Gladius has come up with a simple addon that spams a macro to refresh your combat log, which allows your addons to work normally and reliably. Until someone figures out what is causing the bug, this fix should do the trick in making sure all your tracking addons run smoothly.
I hope you've enjoyed reading my blog. Have a great weekend!
IEM: World Championships Preview, Priest Tips from Trance, SC2 Beta: Nadagast the Dominator
As the other writers have said, Blackrock has been the worst server to play on due to latency issues. Vicious Cycle has taken quite a few hits to our raiding team because of this, the lag has forced us to halt raids and attempt whatever boss is more "doable" with the handicap. With some of our raiders having to practice for the upcoming ESL Global Finals Tournament, we've really been struggling to fill raids. If anyone wants to raid with the #1 PvE/PVP guild, send an application to Trancey on Blackrock or check out: http://www.viciouscycle.us
In other Blackrock-related news, it sadden me to hear that the most prestigious guild in Blackrock's history, Nurfed, has transferred to Lightning's Blade due to the latency issues. Being a top 10 US progression guild on the biggest lag-fest of a server is not enjoyable, and I don't blame them for leaving. But, many of them have been friends of mine since the Vanilla WoW days and losing Nurfed brings our talent pool down a couple notches. Blackrock's crowned jewel will be missed.
The ESL Global Finals are on the horizon, March 2nd-March 4th, and this marks an anniversary of one of the most legendary tournaments in WoW arena history. At last year's ESL Global Finals, Orangemarmalade stunned the world with his 1v2'd of the opposing Korean RMP during the Grand Finals. His miraculous play inspired thousands of gamers to be better players and has turned his team, Button Bashers, into living legends. I found this in-depth analysis of Orangemarmalde's 1v2, it only seems right to dedicate a video to such a legendary play that has changed many gamers around the globe:
I expect to see more inspirational moments next week at the ESL Global Finals!
If you're looking for my song list, please check out my new blog on Starfeeder!
My Starfeeder blog mentions my thoughts on StarCraft 2 Beta, review of SC2 Patch Notes, and comparing WoW vs SC Players. There's a clip of Jp and I owning the #1 team(vibe and seksi) on the 2v2 ladder with some overpowered mother ship tricks.
This weekend, MLG/GotFrag is hosting a shoutcasted stream of EG.Louder vs,. Artosis with Jp McDaniel and Day[9] shoutcasting. SC fans, Tune In!
IEM Global Finals Preview ShoW + things
There were some things I was supposed to include in here but I forgo.. oh yeah! Twixz links this in chat for some reason, you might find it interesting.
IEM is discussed in great length and we make predictions and then discuss the newest patch changes. Kintt also enjoys the new Adam Lambert song, go Google it if you’re really that interested.
Not talking about Starcraft 2 when all you do is play Starcraft 2 is really hard.
What does it mean to be, 3000? the team of fnatic NOT attending Germany, australians and their place in WoW in arenas in particular
3000 is more than a number. It is a way of life. An exclusive title earned by only a billionth of the WoW population. A distinction awarded to only the best WoW teams in WoW to have existed.
I am proud to introduce a new steppingstone in BG9 dominance - an acclamation for BATTLEGROUP 9's TOP TEAM on completing their conquest of the WoW arenas! This past weekend, the 3000 barrier for season 8 was shattered by the WLD of "a new chop." I welcome the 3000 rating clubs newest members, Hoodrych and Nadagast.
The competition on bg9 is much more intense than you may think. Picture this. You are the smartest person in your class of 150 students, public school in a low class community in Alabama. You get accepted into MIT after being valedictorian of your school. Upon arriving, you don't understand anything and fall behind after the first day. You then realize "WoW, I'm quiet dumb, maybe I should transfer to a community college where ratings are more easily attained."
Many flock to bg9, but like that of most elite organizations, there are more applicants than there are successful gladiators. It is not a place for the weak, the unprepared, the clicker, or the retarded. Relentless Gladiator's from battlegroups ranging from shadowburn to vindication have already had to transfer off due to being unqualified to buy the gear from battlegrounds. This makes the title of a "3000 rated" player all the more monumental. It is not every day one gets to see the birth of a new 3000 team. If you see these guys in game, make sure to offer them your congratulations.
I have no doubt those of you on bg9 are familiar with this WLD. Regardless of whether you are queuing at 1:00 A.M or 1:00 P.M, there is a high probability of running into them. Unlike my team, who earned our titles through talent alone, this team serves as a prime example of "nature vs nurture". They are the most active team on the battlegroup, and therefore the highest rated. They practice more than anyone, putting in hours and hours a day, and the results don't lie. Even though none of the players posses any natural talent, they have managed this incredible achievement - to take #1 on the most prestigious battlegorup likely to ever have existed. Let this serve as a lesson to all of the low rated arena players. This proves that even YOU, 1500, have the capabilities to be a 3000 rated player. Sure, it may take you much longer, and you are probably going to have to put in a lot more work, but If you want it badly enough, then you can overcome your inherent disadvantages and becomes - 3000.
Fnatic Not Attending ESL Germany
Germany looks to be an exciting event. But, alas, a lack of insight on our behalf has lead to some very angry sponsors. Sorry to say, the RLS of fnatic will NOT be attending ESL Germany. It is a shame because we had a very easy group, which I am certain would have been dominated.
You may have heard news of Woundman's recent methamphetamine relapse. At ESL Edmonton, I found his suitcase stuffed full of Sudafed sealed away in coffee containers from his parents business. I found it odd, but it never crossed my mind that they were being used to create narcotics. It was not until we were about to go to sleep that I noticed something was wrong. Woundman was NOT in the hotel room. This was peculiar because he usually goes to bed at 8 p.m. and it was 5 am in the morning. There was also a huge batch of methamphetamine lying in the bath tub. I walk outside, and there is Woundman, running down the sidewalk.
The hotel room also became unusable and cost fnatic $14,000 which is why we aren't going to germany.
On another note, the team of EG may not be attending either. Apparently Pookz and Azael find each other disagreeable and argue constantly, leaving Tenderloin in the crossfire. After one especially heated argument, Azael knocked pookz's coffee out of his hand and Pookz, who hits the gym every day with protein supplements, renounces his friendship with azael and declares that he would not be attending germany with him. However, in the chance that they ARE attending, it would be with our rogue Woundman. Azael, who switches teammates faster than chump john switches into his birthday suit for minor, seems particularly keen on using Woundman who's methamphetamine enhanced reflexes allow him to vanish vanishes and sap vanishes. No final decision has be made yet, but he seems excited to go. We wish him the best of luck in germany.
Australian Players of WoW
I have never played with any australians before, but from my observations, they are all surprisingly good in arenas. Even though they claim they have "900 latency at all times," they are still faster than most of the players I see. Not saying all australians are good, but most of them are. The ones on bg9 in particular are at the top of their class as players. Some examples like Faction, Houndus, Hotspot, Faction, Uckington, Neilyo are some of these players. All surprisingly good at their classes, and high rated in arenas. You have to question why this is the case. I have never seen a truly terribad australian, however I have seen boat loads of terribly bad americans and europeans.
One of the first things you will notice with australians is that they are all ********. Not only do their accents make them naturally sounds like ********, but they are actually bags of ****. Faction, one of the best australian players, is an example. If you ever talk to an australian in vent, you can never tell if you're being insulted. It is one of the drawbacks to using one for your team. But if you get a hold of a good australian, you will not be disappointed. They usually have no lives and have perfectly geared characters.
Drmayo: Rising Star Or Fence Jumper? Tournaments In S8 Gear, Arena Pro Regimen, Videos Of The Week
To end on a more serious note here are a few videos that warrant a PSA. The first one was this one girl I met over the internet on chatroulette last week. She was actually really attractive according to the webcam and she wanted to hook up with me after I told her I was world champion in a video game. For a second I thought to myself "man, I can really get hoochiemamas by just using my WoW accomplishments". After finding out what she really looked like I almost threw up; until my friend offered me $500 to jump on the grenade. I'm in!
This second video was linked to me by a friend with the caption "God showed me images of heaven". It is self explanatory.
...I think the syphilis is starting to do neurological damage
Bodi Tells Every Old School Starcraft Player Without a Beta Key to STFU, Speaks on the ESL Global Finals
PTR 3.3.3 Impressions: Shadow Dance A Tweak Or Two Away From Undisputed Top Spec
1) 5% overall damage
2) 20 second shadowsteps3) No need to weapon swap if you prefer hemo over backstab (and I do)
That is it, rupture's ability to crit merely gives it a role in PVE over envenom spamming. In PVP? Our bleeds are nowhere near arms warrior / feral druid's. Even with max talents, I find my bleeds to be only good for dueling. A typical double DOT opener like premeditation -> garrote -> hemo -> rupture then shadow dance into cheap shot -> eviscerate -> ambush -> eviscerate's is a lot of damage with max bleed talents/glyphs, but not something you can really rely on for arenas. Until my bleeds tick over 1K against a full resilience target, it is just not worth bothering.
And I feel they are not done yet with shadow dance. There are so many ways they can make this spec just a little bit better. Reduce energy of all specials during shadow dance by 10 similar to the old overkill? An instant +25 energy when you activate it?
Hemorrhage debuff now actually scales with attack power like poisons? A 200-300 damage increase would be much more appropriate with the current gear, and if they make the hemo debuff a bleed effect so it ignores armor, we will finally have something vs shield users. 75 flat damage is a joke, at least allow us to do as much damage as thorns with this thing!
And they really need to allow shadowstep usable in roots again, it doesn't have to remove the root but we should be able to move with the root. It is a small, reasonable change that will really helps us vs druid/mage's. 20 second CD is a HUGE step in the right direction.
In any case, I will probably try this spec with shadow dance/eviscerate/tricks glyphs on live servers when the time comes, at the very least it should be a great off-spec to mix things up. With a buff or two it may end up as THE spec to have.
