Arms Quirks: Introduction

Is there really anything "bad" about being an Arms Warrior?!?

Of course not!

However, looking at those minor dings of imperfection couldn't hurt (much) and might just make us better Warriors. So, this isn't so much a QQ as it is a self improvement series.

As I'm sure is apparent by now, I'm not much of a gear-head. In fact, if the entire way gear was handled in WoW was changed to "what looks awesomesauce!" I'd be perfectly happy. I love my current armor, even if the pants have saddle bags (really?) and the shoulders and hat are a little too poky for my liking. Best looking set since the Grand Marshall stuff way back at 60. The Undead Slayer armor comes close, too, of course.

Anyhoo, I'm gonna focus mainly on abilities and how-to fighting for Arms in these posts. There's a few things about Arms that are tricky to pull off, and situations where you really, really need to be able to compensate for the dings in your armor.

We're gonna look at:

The Pretty Ballerina Bladestorm Nerf - Bladestorm can now be Disarmed. Really? I mean, really?

Stance Dancing - You still need macros to dance. Why? Good question but you still need them.

The Specialization Penalty - Why Arms Warriors are the only spec that gets "srprz! buttsecks!" every time you pick up a new shiny pointy stick.

Retaliation - The "Ha Ha right!" of Warrior abilities.

Interrupting - You don't have one, but you can get one for only $9.99 plus shipping and handling.

Gearing - Why is it so @$#%$ing hard to find a Trinket?!?


It takes a lot of work to be a good Arms Warrior. Let's get to it!

-Fri

Arms Quirks: A Night At the Ballet

I suppose we have to start with what Adam Holinksy, the Warrior guru at WoW Insider, calls "The Pretty Balarina Nerf." As of Patch 3.3.3, Bladestorm is now be subject to disarm effects. So if anyone/everyone Disarms you, you'll just be "spinnin' like a fool with our sword on the ground."

Problem: Bladestorm can be disarmed.

Solution: Don't use it. Maybe Retaliation will make a comeback in level cap PvP? :)

This is one of those where someone at Blizzard found the nerf bat laying in a closet somewhere and said "Ooooo, we haven't smacked Arms Warriors in a long while... C'mere."

In PvE...

Doesn't really make much difference. Worse thing that can happen is a mob will disarm you and you'll drop a bit of DPS. Cliiiick it off and start over.

If you're really, really concerned about it, just memorize which mobs will randomly drop aggro off the tank and disarm a random party member. Then don't use Bladestorm around those mobs, or wait until the use the ability and then use Bladestorm. There's can't be more than a handful of mobs with that ability.

In PvP...

Not sure why Blizz decided to nerf Arms warriors in PvP, but this change was clearly directed that way. I wonder if we still get to use our fists? Did Somebody Order a Knuckle Sandwich!

Bladestorm wasn't that great in PvP to begin with since as soon as you used it everyone would focus you, run out of the way, and you'd have no way to defend yourself. It was a quick and dirty cc break if you needed it. It was good situationally, at best.

 I've seen warriors, though, that just pop Bladestorm over and over again every time it pops. Bad!

So, Bladestorm was already a situational ability in PvP to begin with. You really can't just go all spinny whenever you want. If you're focused, you'll get smeared. And some form of cc on your targets is ideal. Waiting until that mage hits freezy feet and THEN Bladestorming is wonderful.

The nerf adds another level of awareness to using the ability. Now ya gots to watch out for any class that can disarm you. Other warriors and rogues being the main culprits.

For example, a Rogue can now just disarm you, follow along beside you slapping Sinister Strike, build up an ungodly number of combo points, and then face plant you in seconds. Not fun.

The only counter we have at this point is to use the ability when it's safe to do so:

* Only use when there's no one around that can Disarm you.

* Only use AFTER the bad guy has already used Disarm.

* Weapon Mastery might be something to consider for PvP, but since Bladestorm is only 6 seconds, it's unlikely to help as far as this situation goes. (An unmodified Disarm will drop to, what? Something like 5 seconds? Meh.)

* I"m completely shocked how many people don't KNOW that you can Disarm a Warrior in the midst of a Bladestorm!  Shhhhh.  Don't tell. ;)

That's about it.

So be smart about it.

-Fri

Tip: Ever get blown off a bridge or cliff by a Shammy? I hate that. As you go over, target the Shammy (or any nearby enemy) and start pounding Charge. As long as you don't go out of range, as soon as the blowback effect wears off (a couple of seconds), you'll charge right back on to solid ground AND stun the bastard at the same time! :) SPRZ!

Cat Prep? Sounds Painful

So five months later here's another post. LOLblog!  Sheesh.

Two things going on here with the lack of posties.  One, of course, is the "real life."  The other is a sad lack of anything inspiring to write about.  I keep thinking "Yah, but there's still plenty of Arms Warrior stuff to write about!" And then realize ... not so much.

So I was poking around Blog Azeroth and they had their Friday 5 topic as "What you're doing to prepare for Cataclysm."  And I said.... hmmmm.... What are I doing?

Well, first, freakin' waiting!   I'm thinking not until November, though. Maybe October, but I bet November.  Yeah, I hope I'm wrong and it's earlier...

Other than the waiting thing, this post turned into a what I'm doing UNTIL cataclysm:

1. I decided to see if I could gold cap.  Something like 214,000 and change. So, Nev and Fri are churning out potions and lotions and glyphs and scrolls and such like crazy.  It's a nice side project and, for the first time for me, going into an expansion with plenty of jingle will be kinda nice. (Started both of the last two completely broke!)  The AH playing is kinda relaxing and beats the heck outta Farmville.

2. Toon leveling. Still slowly leveling up Rowan the Rogue. Not sure what this has to do with Cat 'cept that playing a Rogue in any new battlegrounds Blizz comes up with will be wicked fun. Cause playing a Rogue in battlegrounds is the most wicked fun you can have in a battleground except for...

3. Neveron hit 80, went Shadow for dungeon running and heals for battlegrounds. Healing battlegrounds is more fun than playing a Rogue. No really!  Anyhoo, that was definitely a Cat prep so that we'll have a healer ready to go when the new 5-mans open up.  Healing 5-mans in Wrath is like watching golf on the radio. Blah!  And I'm not tanking any more.  I'm done with it. Pthooey!  (Right.  Expect "Woe is the Tank" posts shortly after Cat hits.)

4. I have two open character slots.  So one will be a Human Hunter.  And the other will be a Worgen.  But.... what shall the Worgen be?!?  So, on a few other servers I'm trying some different classes and seeing what I like best.  (Okay, we know she'll probably end up a Warrior, but it doesn't hurt to shop around.  Maybe a Fury Fury Warrior... hmmmm....)

5. Raiding!  What?!? Fri is raiding?!?  Say it ain't so!  Okay, not technically raiding. I do VoA once a week. Ony occasionally.  The daily once in awhile. And every once in a blue moon I hitch a ride into TotC.  So it's not really, really raiding.  But if it gets me better shinnies to start Cat with it works for me.

Prep for Cat really won't start until we know more.  Like what kinds of concrete changes will be there for Arms Warriors?  What are the new Alchemy stuffs?  What mats will we need?  And so on and so forth.  Just not a lot of details, so really preparing comes down to the basics.  Have plenty of stuffs for the new toons and make it as easy as possible to focus on *playing* with the old toons.

Easy enough.

A nice patch would be nice while we wait, though.

-Fri