How big of a factor is gear in Arena?

[Icecreamcake]

Me and a friend are 535 and 539 and we were in 1500 MMR 2s and got completely stomped. I think it was mostly my fault as I couldn't get out enough pressure and couldn't help save my Priest at times. Most of the people had more health than us and just seemed to do more damage so I was just wondering how big of a factor is gear in Arenas especially at higher MMR? Any tips on how to become better in Arena? I play a Rogue.

[Reveries1]

Better gear makes everything thing easier but it can only get you so far. I would imagine most people who pvp regularly are now at 550 so being under that you would be at a disadvantage.

There are tons of things people can do to be better. I think having and understanding of what classes will do to kill you and what classes will do to survive from being killed is a good place to start (assuming you already know how to do these on your class). This will help you learn when to go offensive or when to play defensive.

2's are kind of a pain because one match will be very defensive comp and the next will be a very bursty offensive comp. In 3's seems to be a lot more stable. If possible I would get a third friend and do 3's instead.

[TheOrzage]

Gear helps a REAL lot. I would consider trying to get full grievous before doing arenas. Gives a better chance.

Rogue is good as sub

[Deviant]

Me and a friend are 535 and 539 and we were in 1500 MMR 2s and got completely stomped. I think it was mostly my fault as I couldn't get out enough pressure and couldn't help save my Priest at times. Most of the people had more health than us and just seemed to do more damage so I was just wondering how big of a factor is gear in Arenas especially at higher MMR? Any tips on how to become better in Arena? I play a Rogue.

I got to 1814 on my mist weaver monk with like 5 pieces of agility gear on but I was playing with two 2k players tho. We got to 1814 rating and our mmr was between 1800-1900 at points. I would have kept pushing but they both just disappeared. My holy priest with full tryannical is 1483issh but my mmr is 1600. Gear matters for dps not much so much for healers.

[Terahertz]

Gear doesnt matter in 2s up until like 1950-2k+ I think. And even then certain classes can get away with low gear.

Your ilvls are decent and aren't the real reason why you lost.

[Rooskie1993]

I dont quite agree, the stat gain difference from grevious to prideful is massive, I boosted a hunter to 90 and greens-to grevious gave me less stat gain than grevious to prideful will. It is kinda stupid and can make a huge difference skill does factor in but depending on comp you will get stomped just because of the DPS they will put out.

[Terahertz]

I dont quite agree, the stat gain difference from grevious to prideful is massive, I boosted a hunter to 90 and greens-to grevious gave me less stat gain than grevious to prideful will. It is kinda stupid and can make a huge difference skill does factor in but depending on comp you will get stomped just because of the DPS they will put out.

I was able to get to 1900+ rating mid season as MW Monk in full grievous gear. In 2s at the least gear is much less of a factor than in 3s. Don't get me wrong, it matters, but unless you're in full greens, you should be able to beat players who are worse than you.

[rda]

With equal skill level, gear wins. No question about it. The question is, how much of a skill level difference gear can compensate. I'd say, the difference between 535 and 550 might be about 200-300 MMR, pre-2000. Unless you counter their setup or they counter yours, of course, etc, there are many things here.

- - - Updated - - -

Gear doesnt matter in 2s up until like 1950-2k+ I think. And even then certain classes can get away with low gear.

No. Sure, everyone can "get away" with lower gear if their enemy plays significantly worse than them, or if the enemy setup is handicapped, or whatever. If all these things are equal, gear will win. 15 ilvls will win decisively.

[Sithalos]

It's a very big factor. More so than it probably should be.

[Rooskie1993]

I was able to get to 1900+ rating mid season as MW Monk in full grievous gear. In 2s at the least gear is much less of a factor than in 3s. Don't get me wrong, it matters, but unless you're in full greens, you should be able to beat players who are worse than you.

Healer anything gear doesn't matter, when you play double DPS gear is a HUGE factor, many people don't like playing healers like my friend plays a WW monk and enhance shaman and I play a hunter.

When you're vsing healer DPS if the DPS outgears you and you're being forced to play really defensive because of it the healer dosnt need gear because they have an easier time living.

I have been 2400+ in rbgs and arenas as a healer and DPS and it hasn't been this unbalanced in a while, 2s is a joke ever since they removed gladiator title its pretty much just to cap.

I really hope the pvp changes fix this in wod and make it back to premop pvp

[Fedster]

Gear does not matter that much. I've hit 2116 rating this weekend in 3s as RMD, playing in 540 ilvl gear.

[Constraint]

Gear doesnt matter in 2s up until like 1950-2k+ I think. And even then certain classes can get away with low gear.

Your ilvls are decent and aren't the real reason why you lost.

Utter nonsense, and you know it. Unless he's a Gladiator in disguise, gear will make a huge difference to him, even at low levels. Don't be so arrogant. Just because most long-term PvPers can get decently ranked in awful gear certainly doesn't mean everyone else can.

OP, just keep plugging away with your conquest cap - you'll get higher, and each week your combination with your friend will improve, you'll start to do things more naturally, you won't die to the same mistakes etc. Just takes practise. Also, duel as much as you can - you won't learn a thing about the game from random BGs, other than how to spot bots which never get banned more easily.

[Gigana]

ilvl535-539 should be able to get to at least 1700. I've taken warriors in 520-530 gear, from trade, with no skype, and got 1800 with them. It's totally doable.

Otherwise, gear is a factor if the ilvl difference is too big, but nowadays everyone's got 530+ so it's no biggie as long as you have the weapon.

[Deleted]

Healer anything gear doesn't matter, when you play double DPS gear is a HUGE factor, many people don't like playing healers like my friend plays a WW monk and enhance shaman and I play a hunter.

I find that generally speaking I could taken down most dps combos with BIS pvp gear, but that healers are generally impossible to take down unless they have both terrible gear and/or awful playstyle.

There is no real Achilles heel for healers since mana ceased to be an issue. Even chain interrupts perfect executed are rarely effective unless the healer makes a bad mistake. My guess is the ilvl requirements for healers are virtually nonexistent, for everyone else you want full grievous at least.

[Deleted]

Depends on your comp. Some comps can get away with tight play where others which need front loads of damage can't.

[DiscoGhost]

Gear doesnt matter in 2s up until like 1950-2k+ I think. And even then certain classes can get away with low gear.

Your ilvls are decent and aren't the real reason why you lost.

my bar is more around the 1800 area for when i need better gear to compete but i agree with everything else this guy said.

[Deleted]

With equal skill level, gear wins. No question about it. The question is, how much of a skill level difference gear can compensate. I'd say, the difference between 535 and 550 might be about 200-300 MMR, pre-2000.

From experience, I think you are spot on.

I'm helping my full tyranical hpriest buddy to cap (as boomkin), and atm we're 505 ilvl (him) and 527 ilvl (me). Around 1400+ mmr we face a tier of fully geared dps/healer comps that are very difficult to beat. My healer has to use much more globals to heal us, so the opposing healer usually has an upper hand on cc. We typically lose these, but often very tightly, sometimes even in 50%+ dampening when my healer definitely cannot keep up with healing through the debuff. Double dps at the same mmr is not a problem though (in tyrannical we used to be around 1950, so not good, but definitely decent).