PvP Improvement Help

[Doks]

So, I am a long-time Warcraft PvE player. Played from TBC through Mists before hanging it up. I came back for Dragonflight. I decided to try PvP this go around due to the introduction of Solo Shuffle, which seemed like a good way to get my feet wet at arena.

I was originally going to play warlock (Demo), but the absurd queue times drove me to switch to a healer. I tried Preservation but just couldn’t overcome the class and PvP learning curve combination. I switched to Disc because I had raided in WotLK as that spec.

Ok, with the background out of the way. I’m struggling to find any consistency. I’m stuck at 1000 - 1100. Lot’s and lots of 3-3 marches. The matches are generally quite long and end up being decided by dampening. I feel like I’m doing pretty good at the general use of CD’s and healing. I believe I am not doing enough with purges, dispels, and offensive pressure.

On the other player side, I’m struggling with people’s lack of understanding of personal defensive use, peels, and CC. Ironically, the most frustrating games have been when the other team actually knows how to use those strategies and I just get to watch other people play the game. Yes, I know that effective use of LoS is key to avoiding a CC chain but that can’t happen when your team can’t use a personal defensive CD or maintain good positioning to give you LoS for heals.

I totally understand that I am not stuck at this rating because of other players. I’m looking for any advice on how to get my own play improved - where to invest my time first. Any recommendations for UI, improvement videos, play modes, or other things that will help me get over this rating wall?

[Talon8669]

So, I am a long-time Warcraft PvE player. Played from TBC through Mists before hanging it up. I came back for Dragonflight. I decided to try PvP this go around due to the introduction of Solo Shuffle, which seemed like a good way to get my feet wet at arena.

I was originally going to play warlock (Demo), but the absurd queue times drove me to switch to a healer. I tried Preservation but just couldn’t overcome the class and PvP learning curve combination. I switched to Disc because I had raided in WotLK as that spec.

Ok, with the background out of the way. I’m struggling to find any consistency. I’m stuck at 1000 - 1100. Lot’s and lots of 3-3 marches. The matches are generally quite long and end up being decided by dampening. I feel like I’m doing pretty good at the general use of CD’s and healing. I believe I am not doing enough with purges, dispels, and offensive pressure.

On the other player side, I’m struggling with people’s lack of understanding of personal defensive use, peels, and CC. Ironically, the most frustrating games have been when the other team actually knows how to use those strategies and I just get to watch other people play the game. Yes, I know that effective use of LoS is key to avoiding a CC chain but that can’t happen when your team can’t use a personal defensive CD or maintain good positioning to give you LoS for heals.

I totally understand that I am not stuck at this rating because of other players. I’m looking for any advice on how to get my own play improved - where to invest my time first. Any recommendations for UI, improvement videos, play modes, or other things that will help me get over this rating wall?

I have found the key to winning at PvP and largely extended to solo shuffle is don't die and to kill the other guy; so maybe try that.

[Ravenyx]

At that sort of rating its all about basics. A lot of pvp guides on youtube and stuff don't really focus on that. I'd say the big big area to focus on at that level is your positioning. Its probably the single biggest impact on your games. Generally you are going to want a pillar to use to your advantage and avoid LoS. Other players are going to pull you away from that pillar, either the other team because that's their goal - or your own team by having their own poor positioning.

Other key areas:

Keybind everything and learn it. There are a load of guides around for this stuff. Frequently used stuff needs to be closest to your fingers natural resting position. Getting targetting sorted also important. A lot of guides cover this. If you change your binds go and learn them in skirmish and random bgs. It usually takes a few hours for muscle memory to start working.

Sort your basic add-ons out but don't go overboard with ALL of the ones people suggest. Get them sorted one at a time.

Ensure gearing correctly, murlok.io is good for this as you can compare to top players.

After that just start to try and understand your priority cooldowns etc. Another note I think Holy is a bit superior to disc currently.

[Doks]

At that sort of rating its all about basics. A lot of pvp guides on youtube and stuff don't really focus on that. I'd say the big big area to focus on at that level is your positioning. Its probably the single biggest impact on your games. Generally you are going to want a pillar to use to your advantage and avoid LoS. Other players are going to pull you away from that pillar, either the other team because that's their goal - or your own team by having their own poor positioning.

Other key areas:

Keybind everything and learn it. There are a load of guides around for this stuff. Frequently used stuff needs to be closest to your fingers natural resting position. Getting targetting sorted also important. A lot of guides cover this. If you change your binds go and learn them in skirmish and random bgs. It usually takes a few hours for muscle memory to start working.

Sort your basic add-ons out but don't go overboard with ALL of the ones people suggest. Get them sorted one at a time.

Ensure gearing correctly, murlok.io is good for this as you can compare to top players.

After that just start to try and understand your priority cooldowns etc. Another note I think Holy is a bit superior to disc currently.

Thanks a bunch for the suggestions. Is there a particular source for the keybinds guides (YouTube?)?

[Aleksej89]

Team Arena in Wow is very similar to Dota/league in terms of how roles interact, and how dependent you are on your teammates.

Try googling "wow YOUR CLASS pvp guide" and take a look at what is there, both written and video.

Also take a look at youtube/twitch videos of people playing your class/spec in PVP - you can often learn a ton just from watching better players.

Unfortunately there is absolutely nothing you can do about how your teammates play... text communication in WoW is not designed for fast paced arena.
And i have never heard anyone use the voice chat.

[agentsi]

Skill-Capped has some great guides made by current and former Glad players, who also participated in the AWC. I tend to look there first myself, then spread out to individual streamers, etc.

[Yarock]

It's not a perfect system. There's always an obscenely soft target at low MMR so you get a lot of 3-3s. I'd recommend twitch not only can you easily find a gladiator level player to watch you can also ask them questions in real time. Youtube also has lots of good stuff but with bliz making balancing changes so often avoid old videos.

[Ravenyx]

Thanks a bunch for the suggestions. Is there a particular source for the keybinds guides (YouTube?)?

Skill capped do good stuff. Then maybe see if there are any channels from high rated people who play your class. To some extent key binding guides from other classes will work if they are for your role. I don't play healer, I assume they bind some stuff differently to DPS players.

[BlackRedGreenofc]

So, I am a long-time Warcraft PvE player. Played from TBC through Mists before hanging it up. I came back for Dragonflight. I decided to try PvP this go around due to the introduction of Solo Shuffle, which seemed like a good way to get my feet wet at arena.

I was originally going to play warlock (Demo), but the absurd queue times drove me to switch to a healer. I tried Preservation but just couldn’t overcome the class and PvP learning curve combination. I switched to Disc because I had raided in WotLK as that spec.

Ok, with the background out of the way. I’m struggling to find any consistency. I’m stuck at 1000 - 1100. Lot’s and lots of 3-3 marches. The matches are generally quite long and end up being decided by dampening. I feel like I’m doing pretty good at the general use of CD’s and healing. I believe I am not doing enough with purges, dispels, and offensive pressure.

On the other player side, I’m struggling with people’s lack of understanding of personal defensive use, peels, and CC. Ironically, the most frustrating games have been when the other team actually knows how to use those strategies and I just get to watch other people play the game. Yes, I know that effective use of LoS is key to avoiding a CC chain but that can’t happen when your team can’t use a personal defensive CD or maintain good positioning to give you LoS for heals.

I totally understand that I am not stuck at this rating because of other players. I’m looking for any advice on how to get my own play improved - where to invest my time first. Any recommendations for UI, improvement videos, play modes, or other things that will help me get over this rating wall?

I would not suggest asking for advice on forums, especially this forum. There is a lot of "Faux Pro" here that have no idea what they are doing and will actually give you really bad advice.

If you want to become better in arena don't ask for advice on forums, but instead look for how pro players are playing on Twitch or Youtube. You'll see builds, their play style, and really take the time to analyze what they do, compared to you.

Record yourself playing, and try to spot your mistakes and what you could have done differently.

You'll improve much faster this way.

[nvaelz]

Logically there's 2 parts of strength in WoW PVP, the ability to coordinate/communicate with your teammates and the ability to play the game.

I don't really say anything and I assume my teammates will force me to save them etc, my strength is that i've been very intent on being strong at this game, so I advise you to progress naturally with the intention of wanting to be good.

It's not easy, but something high rating players have in common is how much they play, atleast most of them unless you are naturally very smart and can efficiently play the game without much time put into it.

You have to realize that alot of people that beat you pvp every day for years. It's not easy to get ahead.

But yeah, be inspired to grow and become stronger, and don't let anything stop you.

Something more tangible I would advise you to do is optimize your keybinds/targeting so it takes as little effort as possible, and potentially fix your keybinds so that you don't misspress etc to increase consistency.

Not to confuse little effort with your feeling of not being used to a new keybinding, that's not an issue in the long run.

----

More than likely your position is restricting your teammates into narrow areas where they have no flexibility(really annoying), and being cc'ed is normal, get over it.

If you're good at the game you'll navigate better and have a greater understanding on how to position, WHEN to position/use cds/save cds etc.

Just play more

[Dristereau]

WoW has a lot of knowledge requirements that means its sometimes difficult getting started, especially PVP. 13 Classes now means its difficult to know everything. Some general tips I have;

1) Know yourself (Class/Spec/Interface) - It sounds basic but knowing how your Class/Spec works is best to start with. What does your spec do best, and how/why does it do it? Have you keybound your abilities and can you play without constantly worrying about what to press next in a PVE environment? Setup your UI, keep it clean and have what you need to see visible (Health Bars/Arena Frames/Team). Also use websites like Murlok.io and Drustvar, they will give you a breakdown of what the Top 50 of each Class/Spec is using in Solo/2s/3s/RBGs. Murlok.io is great, you can see talent builds, PVP talents, enchants, gear (embellishments and tier).

2) Watch streams - If you want to know more watching arena streams can be massively helpful. There are plenty of streamers playing Solo Shuffle and watching them/asking questions can really help. I personally really enjoy Trillebartom on EU who plays all Classes and has pushed 2400 with all Healers in Shuffle, but CDew is also great for seeing Healer Shuffles (was streaming some Disc Shuffle last night).

3) Knowledge - Quoting Khadgar here but Knowledge is Power. Knowing how Classes deal damage and when they will deal damage is really important. Using Demo Lock as an example you have Tyrant to worry about especially when the Warlock has a plenthora of pets, and also the end of the Nether Portal for the Pit Lord. Learning the basics of each Spec, how it deals damage, how it heals, even looking at the breakdown will give you a better idea of the damage and how/when it will happen.

4) Trading - Especially when starting off knowing to Trade cooldowns for cooldowns is a really big thing. Enemy Warrior caught you in a Spear of Bastion, use Power Word Barrier. Paladin has Avenging Wrath active, use Pain Suppression. Cooldown trading helps to mitigate big damage, and using cooldowns early on is a better idea than being dead with them still available. Learn what you can get away with and you can also use Crowd Control to prevent damage. A Paladin with Wings active will do some damage if you have Pain Suppression active, but if you use Mind Control/Fear/Knockbacks you can prevent much more.

5) Use Addons and Weakauras - These can be overwhelming so I definitely recommend starting small. Something simple like better Arena Frames with Gladius or SArena, and using Omnibar to track enemy interrupts (can be great so you know when you're safe to cast or want to fake an interrupt).

Personally I've mainly played 2's over the last few Expansions and haven't done that much in DF yet. But I have a friend I play with in 2's that makes it sometimes more relaxed (depending on the rating ) so if you have someone to play with constantly and talk about what went well/badly in a game it helps. Shuffle is a bit difficult on that one, it's just luck who you end up with, of what I've seen of streams it's probably safer to use your own CD's to save someone that to expect them to use it themselves.