Project Lore

At first, I didn't give it much thought when a WoW acquaintance asked me to join his 3v3 arena team for the tournament. "Sure," I said. "Sounds like fun." Actually, I didn't think it was a serious request. I mean, really - he was asking me, of all people? I'm still working to ding level 80 for the first time, and haven't ventured much into the realm of PvP. Back in the pre-BC days when my main was a warrior, I played a bit of Battlegrounds in Warsong Gulch. Even then, I never dared walk into an arena. And since I switched to my rogue, I've been focused more on leveling and only try out a battleground here and there when bored. So it seemed like an odd request. But the idea grew on me. I kept thinking about how fun it would be to play a super-beefed-up version of my rogue. A nice change of pace, I thought. And it turned out the guy was both serious and persistent in asking me to join. I explained my lack of experience, and he didn't seem to mind. So I caved. I paid my $20 fee. Rolled Pixiestixy. Signed the team charter. Decided on a 41/5/25 mutilate spec. Set up my action bars. And spent a couple hours figuring out the best gear, enchants and gems to use. All I needed was confirmation that the team had been formed so we could start playing toward 200 matches (and a glorious, golden-armored pet murloc) before the April 6 deadline to qualify for the next round. So I waited. And waited. Played around with some macros. Admired my glowing-red berserking Deadly Gladiator's Shankers. Waited some more. A couple days later, I got an e-mail. My friend decided to play with a couple of his other (and, as it were, more experienced) friends, instead. I sighed in exasperation. I saw it coming, but had been hoping that wasn't the case. So I started with the obligatory search for a PuG. It seemed no one wanted a PvP noobie in their group. I don't blame them - most people who sign up probably have at least some clue what they are doing. I got no responses, not even to "BElf rogue LF a good time." I started asking RL friends (I had my husband convinced at one point, but we still needed a third). I saw several PuG requests from people saying they would just play 200 matches and lose each one to get the murloc. Pet collectors, I guess. But, somehow, that feels like cheating to me. If I'm going to do this, I oughta at least try, even if those attempts are futile. So I made a final effort to PuG it before the extended deadline to register last Friday. And finally, found a couple of takers. Myself, an affliction warlock (who also said he was no good at PvP) and a hybrid holy/ret paladin (who wanted to make top 1,000 teams to earn the Vanquisher title, but said he'd stick with us even if we lost). We became The Misfits. The first few matches were mayhem. I had absolutely no experience to back up everything I've read about PvP. And let me tell you, the experience is much different. It's way harder to keep track of everything going on than I had expected. We only played 6 matches the first night, with an even 3-3 record, and set a time to play again Saturday. Another 12 games in Saturday, and we had been getting worked. Despite me starting to get a better feel for the hectic arenas, our record was 6-12. Our paladin kept going AFK between matches. And then, the dreaded message. Pally "has left The Misfits." Teamless, again. I'm taking a break to work off the annoyance, then perhaps back to PuG-ing. What have I gotten myself into? So who all's in the tournament? What have your experiences been so far? How should us who are new to PvP find a group willing to stick it out through the 200 matches? And is there still enough time to squeeze in 200 matches before the 6th?

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Did you hear that Season 5 of the Arena would be ending soon?  Well, thanks to Ulduar and its new tier set, Blizzard is forced to close up the Arena season that Wrath brought us and begin anew.  The heads-up was announced early last week, but it lacked any concrete information.  If Blizzard is to stick with their usual two weeks notice, then that means Season 5's demise may come with the launch of Ulduar or very shortly after.  Content Patch v3.1 and all of its goodies are expected to drop sometime in early to mid-April. The end of an era brings the beginning of another though.  The original news posting did not specify end of season rewards, but we have them now.  According to WoW Insider via the PTR, the best of the best Arena players will be soaring through the skies on a Frost Wyrm under the terrifying title of a "Gladiator."  I couldn't care less about the title, but I have wanted to plop my Gnome butt on that Frost Wyrm since MMO-Champion posted the screenshot after Wrath's launch.  Sadly, it'll never happen for me.  What about you guys?  Anyone have a shot at what I consider to be the most badass mount in the game?  Sorry Chopper. The flip side of the closing is that Arena Season 6 will begin soon, and Boubouille has the goods on that too.  You will notice in the picture that the Druid set is far from finished, but really, nothing could be worse than their Tier 8 Raid Set.  The rest of the gear looks nice, but I would much rather drape myself in a raid set for almost every class. That being said, I should have expected something bad to happen after raving about the incoming rogue set before it was completed.  Look how ridiculously out of proportion the Gnome Rogue is in his Ulduar set.  His collar is eating the burning shoulderpads...and his head.  Undead design for the win. Just to keep the PvP information flowing, those of you interested in the Arena Tournament that was announced a few weeks back, may want to take a peak at a thread from Aratil and one from Vaneras.  The two blues posted the very early standings for Blizzard's 2009 Arena Tournament, with the Rogue, Mage, Priest combo still holding on to the top standing in the European bracket.  However, Death Knights, who expert players expect to take over the brackets, have definitley done so, with 13 of the 20 top teams rolling DK, Paladin, Hunter/Warlock. Admittedly, I am no PvP expert, so I will allow you pro PvPers to draw your own conclusions.  Excited for the end of season festivities, or are you realizing that all your hard work will still leave you short of a Frost Wyrm?

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