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PvP, Battlegrounds & Arenas One on one dueling to full blown raids, anything PvP!

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February 17, 2011, 03:05 PM	#1 (permalink)
Liris Character Info Lirys 48 Gnome Warlock Spirestone US PvE Guild: Moonlight Requiem Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Tree: Destruction	Warock PvP From The Ground Up Overview: I'm starting this in hopes of building the guide that I wish I'd had. For various reasons, the whole "quest, run instances, raid" thing isn't a comfortable option for me. With the new five-level battleground brackets in Cataclysm, it became a lot more viable to actually level a toon almost completely through the battlegrounds. It definitely takes a lot of the "grind" factor out of leveling, at least for me. In fact, I've already got another level 10 lock waiting to go as soon as I get this one topped off. However, when I went out and tried to find data specific to PvPing at lower levels, I found very little, especially for Cataclysm. Most of what I've found is "85-o-centric". At low level, you don't have Demonic Teleport, for example. Your escape mechanisms are very limited. What's the best way to deal with the fact that you're squishy, and hunters are overpowered at lower levels? I can't give intelligent advice on a lot of things, and I'm not going to attempt it. What I am going to do is give what advice I do feel qualified to give, and hope that some of the "Master 'Locks" will chime in here and there. I'd be ecstatic if a some of them took the challenge, and went back to level through the battlegrounds, and gave us baby locks the benefit of their experience. Just as a general guideline - I progressed mainly by questing through about level 15 or so, but from what I've seen, it's perfectly viable to start at level 10, and hit the battlegrounds, but there are a few caveats, and that's really where I can constructively pass on my experience. Gear: Heirloom items are great, not only for the XP bonus, but the scaling stats. I had the Tattered Dreadmist Mantle, Tattered Dreadmist Robe, Grand Staff of Jordan, Inherited Insignia of the Alliance, Discerning Eye of the Beast, and Swift Hand of Justice. There are new heirlooms for the other slots, but they are tougher to get. That leaves head, neck, back, wrist, hands, legs, feet, and rings. I used a combination of engineering headpieces, jewelcrafted items, and honor purchases from the Silverwing Sentinel quartermaster, League of Arathor Quartermaster, and the vendors in Champions Hall. Occasionally I found a nice green on the auction house, and snapped it up. If you don't have access to heirloom items, there are still choices. For starters, look at this article on "Hand Me Downs", white, non-soulbound items with enchants. Those can carry you a long way into the first brackets. Mindset This is arguably the most important part. You are not a level 85 affliction lock with 100k health and tons of resilience. I'm tempted to say simply "you're going to die", but I don't think it's that simple. I died a lot, at times, but looking back, I think if I'd had a different mindset, I would have survived better. The advice that did me the most good was "Don't go to them, pull them to you." Spec I started as affliction, then dualed to Destro when I got dual-spec. My next lock, at level 10, is going demonology. From what I've seen, that's probably the best choice at lower levels. However, any spec is viable. Everyone's tools are limited. It's more about technique and using your tools. That's part of why I want to do it again. I've learned since then, and I want to see how "now" me does in those brackets as opposed to "then" me. That's what I've got for now. I'll try and update this as (hopefully) other, more capable PvP locks chime in.

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February 17, 2011, 04:17 PM	#2 (permalink)
D1RE Character Info Shagina 90 Human Warlock Grim Batol Euro PvP Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Tree: Destruction	Re: Warock PvP From The Ground Up Okay, I take your challenge. I'll start a new lock to level through battlegrounds, gimme a week or so to get some cloth heirloom first though. See you on the other side. __________________ Life is empty, life is meaningless. When we take a life, we take nothing of value. Warlocks are killers. That's all we do, that's all we are. There are no poets in the bitter business.

February 17, 2011, 11:06 PM	#3 (permalink)
Psynister Character Info Belsynis 85 Human Mage Durotan US PvE Guild: Amicus Fidelis Talent Tree: Affliction	Re: Warock PvP From The Ground Up Thanks for linking to my HMD guides. I frequently twink in the low level brackets with all of the classes, so I can help with up to 19 PvP. I haven't done much Warlocking beyond 19 since 4.x, so 19 is as far as I could get.

February 18, 2011, 12:02 PM

#4 (permalink)

Liris

Character Info
Lirys
48 Gnome Warlock
Spirestone US PvE
Guild: Moonlight Requiem
Profile: Blizzard Armory
Talent Tree: Destruction

Re: Warock PvP From The Ground Up

Quote:

Originally Posted by D1RE

Okay, I take your challenge. I'll start a new lock to level through battlegrounds, gimme a week or so to get some cloth heirloom first though. See you on the other side.

Awesome!!! Hopefully, like I did, you'll discover that it takes a lot of the "grind" feeling out of it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Psynister

Thanks for linking to my HMD guides.

I frequently twink in the low level brackets with all of the classes, so I can help with up to 19 PvP. I haven't done much Warlocking beyond 19 since 4.x, so 19 is as far as I could get.

And again, awesome! Probably the most asked question every is "how do I beat Class X", and part of the answer is "you have to know what Class X can do". That's one of the harder things for newer players to do, I think. Heck, I've been playing over 3 years, and I still haven't played all the classes much.

I turned off the XP on my baby lock at level 10, because I want to make sure I get a lot of battlegrounds in at those levels. She'll be in heirlooms and HMDs, and I want to see how she does with the favorable game mechanics. I'll probably "twink-step" her through all the brackets until I find the one where I'm having the most fun.

February 19, 2011, 02:31 PM	#5 (permalink)
Cribbage Character Info Cribbage 85 Human Warlock Azuremyst	Re: Warock PvP From The Ground Up I did a hell of a lot of leveling through BGs on my current lock. I found lock felt like one of the more powerful classes at lower levels. High damage and the fear makes a good combination. Hunters - I never found a solution. Sub-30 they are very powerful and annoying often travel in assisting packs. The damn spider roots are like the sour cherry on the whole rotten cake. That was all pre-Cata. Maybe it's changed.

February 20, 2011, 01:52 PM	#6 (permalink)
Ondareño Character Info Ondareño 85 Human Warlock Llane US PvE Guild: Imperious Profile: WoW Rankings	Re: Warock PvP From The Ground Up Whats a Warock?

February 21, 2011, 01:04 PM

#7 (permalink)

Liris

Character Info
Lirys
48 Gnome Warlock
Spirestone US PvE
Guild: Moonlight Requiem
Profile: Blizzard Armory
Talent Tree: Destruction

Re: Warock PvP From The Ground Up

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cribbage

I did a hell of a lot of leveling through BGs on my current lock. I found lock felt like one of the more powerful classes at lower levels. High damage and the fear makes a good combination.

Hunters - I never found a solution. Sub-30 they are very powerful and annoying often travel in assisting packs. The damn spider roots are like the sour cherry on the whole rotten cake.

That was all pre-Cata. Maybe it's changed.

I found the same thing, pre-Cata. Since Cata, it's become a bit tougher, or maybe it's more accurate to say other classes have gotten better tools. Hunters are still real tough. My gnome lock, with the Inherited Insignia of the Alliance as pvp trinket, and the Escape Artist racial, can deal with the spider web snare, and still have a trinket escape, but the range hunters have (and shadow priests with Mind Flay) are brutal. Looking back, though, I could have positioned myself a lot more effectively, and still need to work on that. At the 65-69 bracket that I'm currently in, I've gotten better with hunters, but not as well as I'd like. Offensive use of Death Coil, followed with a Fear, seems to work pretty well.

I started the weekend at 65, in the Field Marshal's set, with a couple Outland greens as offset pieces. I replaced the belt and bracers with the Netherweave set, that a tailor alt crafted for me. I finished up last night at level 69, and at this point, my heirloom robe and shoulders are an upgrade, so I've put them back on for the push to 70.

The Soul Swap mechanic, glyphed, is the shiznit. I've always had problems with tab targetting, but what I've started doing is picking a target on the outskirts of a crowd, dotting them up, and then using Soul Swap to load up a stack of dots to unload on whatever target I pick. The only problem I run into is those inconsiderate bastards on my team killing my target before I can "inhale" the dots.

As far as leveling, Blizz has brought EotS down to level 35, so there's more variety, and Alterac Valley starts at 45, I believe. AV can be a bit long, and frustrating, but the XP can be amazing, especially with a win. Even as my level goes up, I'm generally seeing on an average of 5-10 battlegrounds per level. The XP rewards during the battleground go by really fast, but at the end, I'm seeing numbers like "2048xp, 2048xp, 2048xp" followed by either a 10k-ish kicker for a loss, or about 32k for a win. All told, I'd guess that I'm getting 50-60k out of a good AV win.

AV is also a good place to work on tactics. You'll see everything from 1 on 1 duels to a 20+ enemy incoming, and there's room to adapt accordingly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ondareño

Whats a Warock?

Lol.... what results from not being able to edit my initial post.

February 23, 2011, 01:28 PM	#8 (permalink)
kernii Character Info Teasemaid 85 Human Warlock Grim Batol Euro PvP Talent Tree: Affliction	Re: Warock PvP From The Ground Up Have Undead as my main and wanted to do similar and run one through from ground up, as the OP says, "to see what its like with what i know now". Anyone running with a Worgen lock? Now think i should have started human, but tried worg for novelty factor. Damned animations are almost sending me into seizure, especially the galloping mount effect. And i thought the Tauren lollop along was bad on my old druid. ! Wondering whether to bin it before i get seriously levelled. Any favoured racial/Professions people have? I see Human as viable for the Racial escape. Herbalism gives an on demand haste buff which is nice. Any other thoughts? thx Kern

February 23, 2011, 02:34 PM	#9 (permalink)
D1RE Character Info Shagina 90 Human Warlock Grim Batol Euro PvP Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Tree: Destruction	Re: Warock PvP From The Ground Up I'd go herbalism/mining simply because they're quick to level up, you don't have to invest money in them, they generate money instead. I'd go human if you don't have access to the heirloom pvp trinket. __________________ Life is empty, life is meaningless. When we take a life, we take nothing of value. Warlocks are killers. That's all we do, that's all we are. There are no poets in the bitter business.

February 23, 2011, 07:38 PM	#10 (permalink)
Liris Character Info Lirys 48 Gnome Warlock Spirestone US PvE Guild: Moonlight Requiem Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Tree: Destruction	Re: Warock PvP From The Ground Up I'd agree, definitely human if you don't have the heirloom trinket. I went gnome (I have the trinket), which gives me a racial to use on webs/roots, and then my actual full blown trinket. I tried several professions, including Engineering for the headpiece, and Alchemy for the various little helpful potions (Potion of Swiftness is low level, cheap, and almost always helpful). The problem is with engineering, you'll level so fast that you'll outgrow the headpiece quickly, and then have to level engineering more to use the next one. Great for a twink, not so good for leveling. I dropped back took Herbalism, for money, and to support the Alchemy. Overall, I'd agree with D1RE, Herbalism and Mining. Since you're not going to be questing, you have plenty of time to run around leveling those professions while you wait for a queue to pop. Also, both give a little bit of XP each time you do a gather. Additionally, you get Lifebloom (minor heal/haste) from Herbalism, and Toughness (Stamina) from Mining. Another thing to bear in mind: Over time, you'll generate a lot of honor, probably more than you have things to spend it on, gear-wise. They stuck in an honor vendor, in Champion's Hall, where you can spend honor on things like Elementium, Savage Leather, etc. to sell. I've bought Elementium twice, at a 1000 honor a pop, and still had plenty to get my level 60 epic set, and my level 70 Brutal Gladiator set outright.

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