The dish on parenting ... check out the new ParentDish!
Posts with tag fast

The fastest way to play Arena PvP

We've covered the topic of keyboard turners before, but Paul over on LJ has a similar distinction between control schemes -- he set up a spectrum that has clickers (or those who click all their icons with the mouse) on one end, and pressers (what he called "experts," though that's a little too biased for our tastes) on the other -- those who use the mouse to control movement only, and hit keyboard buttons to use abilities.

Personally, I do a mixture of both -- some icons, especially on the top rows, are easier to reach with the mouse than on the keyboard, so I click them. But most of the lower icons are easier to just reach up and click the number buttons on the keyboard, so that's what I do with those. Still Paul isn't really interested in the ways people do it -- he's interested in what's best. In Arena, getting abilities cast and out as fast as possible is often more important than anything else, so it definitely seems like relying on the mouse for movement (and maybe even binding oft-used abilities to mouse keys) would be much faster than clicking on icons periodically. Of course, there's always the option to do both at the same time.

It would be interesting for sure to see what kind of schemes and setups winning Arena teams use -- I'd imagine that they'd have to play with default interfaces, so while keybindings and macros would probably work best, they wouldn't be able to go too overboard with customization. At the highest levels, is it faster to click and press or just use the mouse for movement?

Do records even matter?

There have been a few records set recently. Some are people claiming to have leveled to 70 the fastest, some are groups of players downing a boss on the PTR before anyone else in the world, while others are PvP records yet to be made. Everyone likes to say "we broke a record." It makes them feel good, gives them a sense of purpose and measurable accomplishment, and generally will put a smile on their face. Even I've done that here at WoW Insider occasionally: "Hey, we had a record number of hits that day, cool!" (No, I'm not going to say when that was, I'll leave it up for you all to comment on and guess.)

With all these record breaking accomplishments, it begs the question: do they really mean anything? Does it matter if you've leveled up to 70 in the time that most people are still working on getting the Deadmines quests done? Let's take a look at what records do and do not provide.

One thing that they do provide is competition amongst a small group of players. To borrow a phrase from marketing, we'll call these players "alpha players." They are the ones that will always be the first to jump on new content, the first to let everyone know how to do it, the first to complain, and the first to get the benefits of completing the content. These alpha players are pretty hard core, and use world firsts and records to challenge each other. There is literally a whole 'nother side to the game that many of us don't ever see – hard core time based competition.

Read on for more and vote in our poll, after the jump!

Continue reading Do records even matter?

The fastest class to level with?


Breanni at WarcraftPets.com has spent quite a bit of time evaluating the nine classes of World of Warcraft and ranking them based on DPS, survivability, speed buffs, and downtime. The result? A very informative discussion of the classes comparative strengths and weaknesses. Breanni's list, ranked from slowest to fastest, with some comments of my own:
  • Paladins: Excellent survivablity, but comprably poor DPS, even with a retribution build.
  • Warriors: Good DPS, but moderate downtime (fight, bandage, fight, bandage, fight, bandage).
  • Shaman: Reasonable DPS, but survivability and downtime issues. (How does a Shaman restore their mana? By sitting down to drink every third fight.)
  • Priest: Spirit tap makes downtime no problem, an.d a shadow build provides great DPS -- but not as good as other classes
  • Mage: Great DPS but poor survivability (cloth armor and low HP)and a good amount of downtime (pesky evocation cooldown).
  • Warlock: Capable of similar damage to a mage, but with pets and more health (usually), they have much better survivability.
  • Druid: A feral build provides great potential to do damage (cat form) and absorb damage (bear form). Combine that with healing ability, and you've got a great class to play.
  • Rogue: Excellent DPS and pretty high survivability, too (vanish, evasion, sprint, etc!).
  • Hunter: High damage, neigh unkillable in PvE, and if they ever do get in over their heads, they can feign death and get away without an annoying corpse run.
I have to agree with Breanni's choices for the bottom and top of the list, but I think a lot in the middle could be mixed around. (I think Warlock could compete for the number two spot, personally -- but I tend to play Demonology spec, while Breanni leveled with an Affliction spec.) But enough about my opinions -- what do you think is the fastest class to level?


RESOURCES

Class Columns
Pimp My Profile (1)
(Druid) Shifting Perspectives (40)
(Hunter) Big Red Kitty (37)
(Hunter) Scattered Shots (13)
(Mage) Arcane Brilliance (38)
(Paladin) The Light and How to Swing It (47)
(Priest) Spiritual Guidance (22)
(Rogue) Encrypted Text (33)
(Shaman) Totem Talk (43)
(Warlock) Blood Pact (26)
(Warrior) The Care and Feeding of Warriors (47)
Gameplay
(Arena PvP) Blood Sport (22)
(BG PvP) The Art of War(craft) (21)
(Casual) WoW, Casually (21)
(Engineering) Hoof and Horn Research and Development (17)
(Guild Leadership) Officers' Quarters (55)
(Professions) Insider Trader (55)
(Raid Healing) Raid Rx (18)
(Raiding) Raiding 101 (3)
(Raiding) Ready Check (19)
(Roleplaying) All the World's a Stage (36)
Hybrid Theory (13)
AddOns and UI
AddOn Spotlight (80)
Macro Anatomy (12)
Reader UI of the Week (26)
Reader WoWspace of the week (29)
The Creamy GUI Center (11)
Lore and Stories
Around Azeroth (470)
Barrens Chat (1)
Know your Lore (57)
Tales from the Lion's Pride Inn (14)
WoW Moviewatch (466)
Features
15 Minutes of Fame (17)
About the Bloggers (23)
Ask WoW Insider (55)
Back In The Day (3)
Breakfast topics (681)
Build Shop (34)
Gamers on the Street (19)
Guildwatch (75)
He Said She Said (4)
It came from the Blog (25)
Phat Loot Phriday (85)
Two Bosses Enter (61)
Well Fed Buff (22)
World of WarCrafts (19)
WoW Insider Show (50)
WoW Rookie (36)
[1.Local] (5)
Classes
Death Knight (50)
Druid (266)
Hunter (258)
Mage (159)
Paladin (265)
Priest (221)
Rogue (166)
Shaman (242)
Warlock (177)
Warrior (179)
News
Account Security (9)
AddOns (237)
Analysis / Opinion (2698)
Blizzard (1473)
BlizzCon (187)
Bugs (215)
Burning Crusade (365)
Contests (205)
Economy (183)
Events (368)
Expansions (565)
Fan stuff (826)
Features (620)
Forums (251)
Guilds (463)
Hardware (23)
Humor (723)
Interviews (134)
Lore (270)
Mounts (129)
News items (1408)
NPCs (186)
Odds and ends (1603)
Patches (1117)
Podcasting (72)
Ranking (51)
Realm News (282)
Realm Status (227)
RP (158)
Rumors (32)
Virtual selves (611)
WoW Insider Business (278)
WoW Social Conventions (137)
WoW TCG (49)
Wrath of the Lich King (256)
Strategy
Alts (86)
Arena (163)
Battlegrounds (108)
Bosses (304)
Buffs (116)
Cheats (69)
Classes (286)
Enchants (29)
Factions (145)
Guides (325)
How-tos (362)
Instances (625)
Items (794)
Leveling (242)
Making money (161)
PvP (697)
Quests (344)
Raiding (673)
Talents (119)
Tips (541)
Tricks (218)
Walkthroughs (75)
Media
Comics (62)
Fan art (33)
Galleries (131)
Machinima (545)
Podcasts (52)
Polls (55)
Screenshots (611)
Races
Alliance (103)
Draenei (62)
Dwarves (15)
Gnomes (39)
Human (14)
Night Elves (42)
Horde (102)
Blood Elves (69)
Orcs (25)
Tauren (41)
Trolls (22)
Undead (21)
Professions
Alchemy (75)
Blacksmithing (55)
Cooking (66)
Enchanting (70)
Engineering (108)
First Aid (16)
Fishing (57)
Herbalism (44)
Inscription (10)
Jewelcrafting (79)
Leatherworking (59)
Mining (42)
Skinning (28)
Tailoring (64)
Retired
Azeroth Interrupted (24)
World Wide WoW (8)
/silly (14)

RSS NEWSFEEDS

Powered by Blogsmith

    Featured Galleries

    Magisters' Terrace walkthrough
    Patch 2.4 Sunwell Isle
    It came from the Blog: Children's Week Gallery
    Children's Week: Stormwind
    Children's Week: Orgrimmar
    M'uru loot
    Children's Week: Dornaa's quests
    Children's Week: Shattrath City -- Horde
    The Darkmoon Faire

     

    Most Commented On (30 days)

    Recent Comments

    Weblogs, Inc. Network

    Other Weblogs Inc. Network blogs you might be interested in: