If you caught the MLG Orlando live stream over at GotFrag TV last weekend, you might have noticed a critical strategic move that many of the world's best players did over and over, particularly in the longer matches -- drink. Because mana-dependent classes don't have a constantly renewable resource such as Rage or Energy, drinking in Arenas is an important skill to master. Watching the tournament was educational because many of those pro Arena players knew how to drink like crazy.The trickiest part of drinking in an Arena match is getting out of combat. Some classes, such as Druids, have an easier time than most but watching players escape focus fire with or without their teammates peeling opponents off them is really amazing to watch. It's a skill unto itself. Night Elves have a ridiculous advantage with Shadowmeld, allowing them to immediately enter stealth upon finding a safe spot to drink. This makes them harder to find, allowing them to get just a few more ticks from Star's Tears. Despite the nerf to drinking inside Arenas in Patch 2.4, players have managed to get those precious four seconds (and hopefully more) to get just enough mana back during matches. In the heat of combat, the nice cold drink is refreshing, indeed. Tips on how slake your thirst after the jump.
Get out of combat
Of course. It's a basic requirement for drinking, but it's easier said than done, specially when you have two Rogues slicing and stabbing your mana-starved butt. This is probably the hardest part, specially for classes with no natural ways to escape their opponents. Sometimes you'll need your teammates to peel attackers off you just so you can get out of combat. It takes five full seconds of you not attacking or being attacked to get out of combat, so it's a fairly small window. Don't cast anything on your teammates such as buffs or heals, as this will refresh your in-combat timer. Once you manage to shake off your pursuers, even for that small period, you then have to find the right spot to drink in (relative) peace.
Get some distance, get out of sight
You have to know the maps and be aware of where your opponents are. You should use abilities like Ghost Wolf or Blink, or even the Travel Form so ubiquitous in Arenas to put as much distance between you and any attackers. With any luck, they'll swap to another target or be crowd controlled. Once you've pulled away, find a spot safe enough to drink. In some cases, these are behind pillars or under bridges, but sometimes, specially with Shadowmeld, you can get away with a sip or two right out in the open. It depends on the situation you're in, but getting out of line of sight is always best. The pillars in Nagrand Arena are natural escapes, as are the four pillars under the bridge in Blade's Edge Arena (and the wooden pillars beside the ramps), and the starting areas in Lordaeron are common places to sit for a drink.
Don't lose focus and don't be greedy
Even when you've sat down for a drink, don't forget that you're still in the midst of a battle. If you're out of combat, your teammates are likely in the thick of it and could use your help. Particularly for healers, taking some distance and breaking line of sight could also mean that you won't be able to get back to your teammates in time. This is one of the most critical points of drinking -- knowing when to drink. It's a judgement call. As a healer, if your teammates are getting beat upon and you're running out of mana, what do you do? Conventional wisdom dictates that you heal until you're at 0 mana, hopefully topping your teammates off to give them enough to last while you drink.
Unfortunately, when healers (or other casters, for that matter) are out of mana, opponents usually call for a target switch, making it doubly hard to escape. The most sensible thing would be to heal until you're just a few spells short of bone dry. You'll need five seconds to get out of combat, anyway, so the last spell you cast should ideally not leave you absolutely drained. Don't wait until you're running dangerously low before you drink, and conversely... don't drink too long. You will almost never get the benefits of a full duration drink (although we saw some massive drinking sprees during the MLG tournament), and sometimes those four precious seconds -- the minimum time to get the effects of a drink in Arenas post Patch 2.4 -- are enough. Ideally, you should get as many ticks in as possible without letting your teammates hang out to dry.
Stock up!
Lastly, don't forget to bring drinks. The worst thing that could happen during a match is finding yourself free and out of combat but without anything to drink. Unless you're a Mage or teamed with one, Star's Tears are the only drink (for Level 70s) allowed in the Arenas. They can be purchased from Brave Stonehide in the Hall of Legends or Master Sergeant Biggins from the Champions' Hall for 25 Silver and 2 Honor points for five. These aren't soulbound, so you can trade them to teammates (sometimes even during a match!). Make sure to have an adequate stock, as the longer matches can see you drinking a lot.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
7-15-2008 @ 6:09PM
CBXE said...
I realize you mine google images for the pictures to accompany your articles, but I find this offensive.
If you search 'drinking water' on google images, you'll find that picture on the very first page. Following the picture to the actual site leads to an article about polluted air and water.
"More disturbing is the fact that all related polluted sources of air and water have not been detected and many are still unaware of the toxins present in the drinking water and the air they breathe."
Not saying you're heartless, because I believe you didn't bother to find out where you were pulling that image from.
I say it needs to be changed. It's making light of a very serious situation.
Reply
7-15-2008 @ 11:03PM
CBXE said...
"Nabbed from puretravelwater.com"
You can disregard my previous comment about the source of the image, but it's still LOLing at a serious situation. Even the page on puretravelwater mentions children deserving clean water.
Oh, but I guess he's hiding from a rogue. Probably not dehydrating or desperate to not die or anything.
7-15-2008 @ 6:33PM
Nick said...
lol @ other peoples missfortune
7-15-2008 @ 7:20PM
JayDizzle said...
Dude your a fucking pussy grow a pair of balls.....censorship is the downfall of a society....read Fahrenheit 451 you pompous asshole....Just because he puts a picture up that you find offensive doesn't mean it has to be taken down or even that he is making fun of a serious issue...I hope your parents had you neutered.
7-15-2008 @ 7:30PM
my2cents said...
Yeesh! First of all, CBXE, I think you're overreacting a bit. Second of all, the people responding to you seem to be overracting MUCH more than you!
Nothing CBXE said made him/her sound like a "pompous asshole" to me. Nor was he/she promoting censorship in the sense that JayDizzle seems to be implying. The censorship in Fahrenheit 451 was not all the same as someone asking a blogger if he'd be willing to replace a picture that the blogger may have not even realized could be seen as insensitive. To compare the two is completely ridiculous.
However, that said, I sill think you're overreacting CBXE. The irony in that picture is pretty sad, but I'm sure Zach didn't mean to offend anyone.
7-15-2008 @ 7:59PM
Roxton said...
@JayDizzle:
Many points:
Firstly, it's not censorship. It's expressing the opinion that the material might be insensitive or offensive.
Secondly, no matter what his point, he made it clearly and fluently, and did not need to resort to insults to make his point. You should take some pointers from him.
Finally, have you really read Farenheit 451? Really? Did you do it for some English coursework? Thought so. Just because you're told to read one book it doesn't mean that every point you make is suddenly made of gold. And please stop using ellipses.
7-15-2008 @ 11:25PM
Zach said...
@CBXE - I didn't mean to offend anyone. A person drinking from tap isn't offensive to me because I see it all the time in my country. That's simply what the picture above is, a person drinking from tap (see the pipe jutting from the ground).
As for children needing clean water, no argument there. Although I'm willing to wager that the boy in the picture has a far stronger constitution than most. =)
7-16-2008 @ 12:15PM
Silverrealm said...
Ellipses "ur doin' it wrong"...
7-16-2008 @ 12:16PM
Silverrealm said...
Ellipses "ur doin' it wrong"...
7-16-2008 @ 5:45PM
wyrd said...
This picture can only possibly offend 2 groups of people. People who visit the originating website so much that they recognize the picture, and those who are looking for things to bitch about and go look for the source of the picture. Congrats CBXE, you are the most pointlessly PC person to read this blog. You win mockery and scorn.
9-13-2008 @ 11:39PM
Like you really care? said...
And what are you doing about besides reading said article and going back to the fridge for another imported bear, or canned soda? I hate people like you who ride others when you your self aren't doing anything accept patronizing.
It's a funny article, and guess what? Most fresh water around the world is polluted, only our pollution causes cancer instead of diarrhea. We all have it worse. Actually, we have it much worse, because we have to listen to snobby 1st world citizens with a big ass mouth. GO away.
7-15-2008 @ 6:12PM
STereo said...
Your point about Night Elves is well taken. For all we hear about racials on the forums, I think Night Elves have the best in the game. I would love to have that fast runback in world pvp (or just pve for that matter).
Reply
7-15-2008 @ 6:31PM
Bobsaget said...
Are you kidding me? I agree that the night elf racial is nice being able to stealth while drinking has its advantages, but there are much better ones. Escape artist, is like having another trinket. War stomp a 2 sec stun is life saver sometimes. And dont even forget the best one Will of the forsaken, Being immune to fear is a huge advantage. I would take any of these over being able to stealth while standing still
7-15-2008 @ 7:08PM
Eternalpayn said...
But I thought Bob Saget was passively immune to fear and charm anyway?
Was I the only one who saw this title and thought it was an article about drunk tanks?
7-16-2008 @ 2:57AM
dart said...
@Bobsaget
Go fight a Drain team as a Druid and tell me that Shadow-Drinking isn't OP.
"I would take any of these over being able to stealth while standing still"
And I'd like to shadowdrink over a stun that always gets resisted, and 5% more HP (Which doesn't matter because you don't kill the druid anyways)
7-16-2008 @ 10:51AM
Bobsaget said...
@dart
Lol of course you forgot to mention will of the unforsaken. Why dont you go play again a lock priest team and tell me being immune to fear isnt a huge advantage there. Hey get this being immune to fear may even allow you to get away to be able to drink. Hmm funny how that works. No the stun doesnt get resisted all the time in world pvp it can still save your skin.
7-16-2008 @ 9:13AM
Arcturis said...
Yep - picture not funny. Definitely ignorant and possiblt racist - you should replace. Black mark on an otherwise excellent website
Reply
7-16-2008 @ 7:00AM
Ic said...
Oh for the love of the gods, it's just a kid drinking some water. Why don't you idiots get off your high horses and stick to the point of the article, rather than taking cheap shots at the author's choice of picture.
7-16-2008 @ 9:14AM
Zach said...
Oh give me a break. I'm ASIAN. I see kids like that drinking from street tap all the time in my country. If it's not offensive to me, it shouldn't be offensive to you, either. It's a kid drinking from tap.
7-16-2008 @ 10:51AM
Ace said...
"His flip flops offend me, this article fails since it offends my view of shoes!"
I'm waiting for this one.
Excellent article, I'm a complete newb when it comes to Arenas and reading stuff like this helps ^^
And yes, when I read the title I thought it was about the problem of people playing while drunk =D. We get plenty of (supposedly) high and drunk people onto my server.
Though most of the time they're looking for an excuse to act silly or like idiots. =s
Reply