Long time player, used to play holy in prog guilds back in the day and did use mouseover healing. Swtiched to feral in legion, still high rated pve play, and now im on a disc back to mouseover healing again.

Im almost 2300 but find myself falling short and realized I need to finesse my gameplay. I need to be able to target enemies faster and my team. Im currently clicking(I know I know).

I dont remember the muscle memory for mouseover healing. Im re-learning one thing at a time. Im finding it difficult to move around the map and mouseover my teammates. Do high ranked healers use mouseovers? As for enemy targeting, Im starting of with enemy 1/2/3 with mousewheel scrolling up/click/down.

TLDR: Do high arena healers use mouseover and enemy targetting AND is it supposed to feel a bit awkward clunky for a bit? I assume its hover(heal) move - hover - move - hover etc etc

Holy Paladin here, looking to get gladiator for the first time. I'm at 2149 (touched 2195) but it feels impossible to actually play. Not even a skill thing, I can't find many players willing to play... I tried taking lower cr people (because noone signs up) and get hit onto the head if I dare lose a game due to MMR and stuff. Even if I get a good streak, it takes only a single bad game to wipe all the progress...

Signing up for groups feels like a chore, I stare at the screen for hours on end because people only want the lizards and I stay right there, getting frustated not even from the gameplay but a stupid window...

I don't know, I feel like I should have started pushing a bit earlier but I'm a still a "new" player, so I focused on getting Legend first then attempt Gladiator. And I feel comfortable with the right comps, it's just that I can't find anyone.

Am I the only one who's in this situation? Playing in EU, btw.

Foreword - I've grown to love WoW, primarily the community. I'm fortunate to have found some of my closest friends in a CE guild and its what keeps me logging in. I spent a crap load of time editing this in word so I hope you endure my slog because it comes from a genuine place of care.

So I've lurked this subreddit for a bit and started PVP-ing for the first time in Midnight. TWW was my first real expac and foray into WoW and I raided and did mythic plus with maybe 2 or 3 rounds of PVP. I've seen old-heads talk about the "gearing" being the gate or it being overly 'complex' (maybe). To me, the BIGGEST and WORST gate is the community, and this is coming from a Deadlock and Marvel Rivals player. A secondary bonus is it's just not fun enough to ignore those problems.

Full disclosure before I get into it: I lied about never PVPing. My actual first experience was TBC Classic (work friends and ppl from Overwatch got me to try it) and I did some Disc arena casually. At least in the beginning of the season, while it was janky, the people I played with were cool, and fun. (I can't speak for later seasons, I only did it up through Karazhan.) Keep that in mind for later.

My experience this season

Starting Midnight, I actually made it a point that instead of mythic plus I would focus on PVPing outside of CE raiding (thanks M+ community for gate-keeping my Prevoker). The start of the season and for the 2-3 weeks following, I played about 400 rounds of solo shuffle and 15 rounds of BGB as a Disc Priest, Warrior, and Prevoker.

On the Pres Evoker I went 124 out of 235 (through week 3 of patch). For 3/4ths of these games, I was put up against Gladiator mounted players and R1 title holders nearly every game from 1500-1600. Having a slightly above 50% winrate made me LOSE rating... something I've NEVER experienced in my life in a competitive game coming from Marvel Rivals, Overwatch, and Deadlock. This effectively made me completely put off PVP (for good, I told myself).

My buddy, a former Glad, really wanted me to play my Prevoker with him for a Gladiator push and I EVENTUALLY gave it another go. I went in completely rusty and blind (on Solo Shuffle to learn to play):

• First 6 rounds I went 1-5 and was told to "keep myself safe" (thanks buddy!)
• Next I went 3-3 with one giga-chad DK going 6-0
• Eventually it stabilized to a 51-ish percent winrate over 30ish rounds

My MMR went from 2550!! to stabilizing at 2350-2400 over the wins and losses, with my rating after that night of gaming going from 1583 to 2120!

https://preview.redd.it/8nxcdzv5imbh1.png?width=622&format=png&auto=webp&s=e83daefd4846be2cdbfacea88af1cb072a94e3e5

The MMR problem

Now, this isn't the community (aside from the safety conscious player), and I'm aware of the MMR inflation/deflation. But if anyone is aware of Marvel Rivals' issues (which it has MANY, and also of a similar vein), MMR and ranking is the worst thing about it, and this game handles ranking even worse. (also wtf game says 'im 2.3k outside of Chess?)

Going from 1500 to 2100 did not feel good. I did not feel like I was playing competitive games. It felt like it was either against 'smurfs' or new players, with most of them being a 3-3 and my rating only shooting up. This 2100 doesn't make me feel like I earned it (but then again, I actually don't even understand what the skill ceiling and floor really is).

The massive Elekk in the room (or Brontosaurus or w/e the WoW equivalent is): the community

I really wanted to put effort into playing this game because I'm the type of person who doesn't play a competitive game as a half-measure. I looked up guides and came across Skill-Capped videos, as I'm sure most 'normies' looking up "how to play wow arena" do. I opened my wallet and got the subscription.

The website is... fine. The formatting and backend is amateur at best, with QOL things like prompting me to subscribe when I'm already subbed, and the website format itself being both overly designed and undercooked. But the content was actually useful to me. Whether it is worth the money, IDK, but in-depth information is so sparse that this paywalled site is the best you have, pretty much (which connects to another community-adjacent issue: see below). I will say that their addon packs and github link is genuinely useful and probably better than the PVE wow-up packages.

I'm the WC Logs and class Discord lurker for PVE, so my next step was joining the Discord communities, including Skill-Capped's, to get with the "pros". Color me shocked when their Discord is a graveyard of EU-primarily players (sorry EU its just my anecdotal experience from my engagement in there) whose only real responses are gateways to "Carry Services" (for GOLD ofc, except not really, I entertained them in DMs and it's almost comedically double speak for "what's your cashapp").

Which brings me back to the community. It seems as though the top bracket has this cartel where they are incentivized to keep the high rankings and "top 500s" incestuous and paywall it behind money or gold (lol).

Deadlock and Marvel Rivals both have gatekeeping, but more often than not, the top players feel belonging and genuinely love their game and WANT new blood. In Deadlock I would be told I'm trash, then have the same guys teach me laning and phases like the disgruntled mentor. In WoW, you will be called trash (by the people who DO talk), told to quit the game, and that's all. Remember my TBC Classic experience from the top of this post? At least back then, the people were cool. I have genuinely never met a worse community.

The solution, which through lurking here I've learned, isn't to "turn off chat". Because honestly, this game's PVP just isn't fun enough (sorry, it's 'fun' just not FUN enough or brand insulated enough like Marvel Rivals or Overwatch) for the preponderance of players to overlook that. A frustrated player will actually read "quit the game" as solid advice and follow through. Sure, the developers putting PVP in the backseat doesn't help, but the core draw (in an MMO especially) AND problem are the players.

Like Deadlock, when the game clicks (taking like 10+ hours to not be a troglodyte), it becomes fun in its own way. However, the complexity, which has been talked about to death mind you, can't flourish without a genuinely positive and welcoming community.

On gearing (the red herring)

Now, from the perspective of a newish player, I don't mind the gearing. I think in an MMO, especially if you literally just have players that want to PVP, you need a power progression.

On a side note, another game, which exploded in popularity last year, Where Winds Meet, blows the whole gear argument out of the water, with gear mattering more than anything, being forced to PVE to stand a chance, and the power progression being insane, like a 200% power differential. But it was fun enough and the community was positive enough for it to be a non-issue.

For gearing though, I think being able to progress faster in casual modes and making them more rewarding would help. My side note power progression suggestions:

• Be able to get full conquest in like 10 or so BGs / 20-ish skirmishes - like literally skip the worthless honor gear and just make it Conquest. (gearing is almost free in PVE theres literally 0 reason to gatekeep or attempting to stop cross-over hemorrhage from PVE sweatlords going every avenue for .01% extra power)
• Use excess conquest to roll for chances to get specific slots with secondaries like leech and speed (probably less than 1-2 percent power differential, but it gives a carrot and a feel-good hit with that 'lucky' roll)
• Or a better perks system like COD
• Or obviously a seasonal renown system like literally every single pillar that can infinitely progress for carrot worthy rewards. (Like genuinely WTF is honor level???)

But the point is, gear and complexity is the red herring. It's a game's community that kills or elevates a game.

Just my $.02

We can't control what Blizz devs do, but we can push as a community to bring in new players without the parasitic push to monetize the accomplishments.

To wrap it up, this is purely anecdotal as a player desperately pushing past the blemishes. I'd love to know the thoughts of 'veterans' and other 'new-ish' players or if this is uniquely my YMMV experience?

TL;DR: New-ish PVPer coming from Deadlock/Rivals/OW. The MMR system is bad (lost rating at a 50%+ winrate, then jumped 1500 to 2100 in a night and it felt unearned), but the real gate is a community where the top bracket paywalls knowledge behind carry services and the only "advice" is to quit the game. Gearing is fine and even fixable. The community is what kills or elevates a game.

As pres, if I verdant->dispel an affy’s UA it would soak the silence making it high value, does the dispel damage stack with UA stacks? Is dream projection still viable to run as extra dispel against shadow play or are regular PvP talents better

Hello!

I'm a returning player who hasn't played in a few years, and I haven't played arena for longer than that. I'm wondering with the current system how long you get to keep/use non rank 1 titles like glad and legend.

I know in the old days the titles were awarded at the end of the season, and you kept them until the end of the next season when your character was re-evaluated for title status.

How does it work now? I just hit 2300 in solo shuffle and I'm debating if I want to spend time earning legend if it'll just go away in a couple of weeks.

Thank you!

Heya, started thinking about joining a team for RPGs to push HotH next season, since once this season ends, it will probably be the only remaining PvP achievement that may be within reach for me that I haven't obtained yet;

But how does one even find a team that's looking for members?

So, to begin, I haven't PvPed since BfA. Quit during SL and came back in TWW, and haven't touched PvP at all until now. Used to PvP as a DK and a Mage back in the day, but started playing a Warlock when I came back. So that means I'm both horrendously out of practice with PvP and also inexperienced doing so with a warlock.

I would have been happy just kind of leaving PvP alone though, because as I've gotten older I've started to lose that edge. Unfortunately Blizz had to put the prettiest enchant I've ever seen into the game and only as a PvP reward; Galaxy.

I cannot stress how much I hate Blizz right now for that decision.

So, finally, after building up the nerve to do PvP again, all for that one stupid enchant, I got ready. Put on some bloody coin PvP gear, got it enchanted and gemmed, and looked up an Affliction PvP spec on Murlok. About the most ready I'd ever be for this.

Just now finally got into a Blitz game. Had barely any idea what to do. Spent it all solo capping a flag in the corner, heavily debating whether to leave the post or not. The rest of the team got draxxed elsewhere on the map and we lost. Nothing gained except lost time, and now i'm wondering if I'm at all cut out for this. Everyone I've talked to says that Galaxy is easily obtainable but leave it to my failure ass to prove otherwise.

Just feeling depressed and really down on myself right now. I'm likely going to keep trying, but to everyone who encounters a lone warlock out there in blitz, I apologize in advance for ruining the game for you.

Hey everyone,

My team and I are pushing for Gladiator, and we're currently debating between two different team compositions. We’re running a Pres Evoker and a Ret Paladin, but we're torn on our third member.

We're trying to decide between:

1. Pres + Ret Paladin + Warrior (Arms)
2. Pres + Ret Paladin + BM Hunter

Theoretically speaking, which of these comps has an easier time climbing to Glad right now, and why?

EDIT: Just to clarify, we don't have a third partner yet. We're currently a duo trying to figure out which class we should look for in LFG!

Everyone here is posting solo shuffle rating and asking 'am i Glad viable' and similar..

Please do not discourage yourself by getting answers like 'Nah man ' or ' You gotta be at least 2.7+ for Glad'. Ive seen 2.7+ people struggling 2k-2.1 cr 3s and Ive also seen and know people that cant push more than 2.3 Solo getting Gladiator... People work differently and sometimes you will be worse at adapting constantly in Solo shuffle environment than actually playing Organized 3v3. The only thing at this point that is stoping most players achieving Gladiator is finding 2 more people .

Ive been stuck as a fury warrior ( i refuse to play arms) for month and a half before finding 2 nice individuals that were also good players and we achieved gladiator in 5-6 sessions.

Keep LFGing until it clicks and then just try and setup future dates for 3s so you can build synergy and discuss tacts u wanna use vs teams.

Also try looking at Non Glad/Legends players more , there are some hidden gems in Duelist/Elite exp players.

We’re running Unholy DK, WW, and Pres Evoker. We are having a hell of a time beating good Ret/BM + X teams at 2300 CR. Curious if anyone has any advice on what the game plan is.

Our Pres is basically CCed with stun + trap every 30 seconds. Even if they verdant for shroud, it just delays the inevitable for 4 seconds. We try to prevent follow ups, but aren’t always successful depending on off CC and enemy healer skill.

As for me (WW). Going hunter OR ret with freedom is extremely punishing. My disable is essentially useless 80% of the fight, so I use up all my mobility for 2 abilities before I’m out of range again. Yes, I use ROP, sweep to try and lock down, but once that’s gone, it’s quite a pain to catch up.

Our highest win rate is just tunneling the healer into the ground, as we have the highest up time on them damage wise, and they normally lack crazy kiting once freedom is down (compared to charger freedom, or disengage freedom, cheetah, etc). But, pally off heals, Lay, and BOP all make it extremely difficult to cycle through defensive before they are up again.

We obviously try to set up a 2-3 man sweep at the start, and blow up our best target. Then it’s essentially chase mode for 45 seconds till the next go (with defensive ports and such thrown in).

Appreciate any tips people may have.

Never done rated pvp aside from a little bit of bg blitz when it came out. I got my priest geared in honor gear with two conquest items and gathered the courage to queue for solo shuffle. Gates down shits going on everywhere I’m stuck in a fear/stun/silence/sheep/something else probably. I try to use fade but I literally can’t pay attention to what the mage is casting with all these things going on. Fortunately no one was rude like people on here suggest, one got frustrated which is understandable. Also why am I getting matched up with people at rating 2400. I assume thats a lot since mine is 400. Match me up with other idiots for the love of god.

I know this is temporary and skilled people can handle the cc and 50 cooldowns popping off but as someone fresh it feels like I’m walking into a room where 5 people are all trying to tell me a story at once and I’m going to be quizzed on it after. I’m shell shocked.

Title.

Always played PvE, at a good level but appreciate that means literally nothing when you translate across.

I’ve spent some time farming war crates to get some conquest and honour so I’m not trying to pvp in pve gear.

Point is, I am entranced by the illusion. Is it still doable at this point in the season?

I’ve seen a few posts about shuffle vs RBG’s. Honestly I’m totally new to PvP but very willing to learn. Will be playing ret paladin (I main tank pve but tank in PvP bad?) - any tips tricks and lessons I should know welcome.

I watch a lot of healers but most of them are mains on classes other than disc so I’m looking for a disc main streamer.

I know the 27 second sleep is coming from the MW or EVO and can feel them ramping up their 2 button rotation. I slap pain suppression and a void shield on the team just before im hit by the cloud and.....dead. if I trinket out I can try an emergency evang penance but the health bars dont go up. They just stay the same and then they die when it runs out.

I mean atleast I have cc that I have to run up their healers ass to use...I guess?

Buffs should be the only spell that should have any impact on the waiting area. I’ve fat fingered spells / trinkets quite a few times in starting arena and it has no benefit to the game.