Age: 19
Hometown: Toronto
Game Nickname: Nuvoz
Team: Arenapwnage.com
Favored Class: Shaman
Battlegroup: Bloodlust (BG 9)
Arena Rating Team/Personal: Currently only 2700 due to playing on TR - my personal is probably 2900 though
MLG: How did you end up getting involved with a game like World of Warcraft? What keeps you playing the game?
Nuvoz: I originally started playing World of Warcraft on release of the game with a large group of real life friends; most of them have quit at this point, but two or three still play the game. The people I meet in-game and my friends from real life are the reason I continue to play.
MLG: Before you started playing WoW, did you play any other games competitively? What got you into the competitive aspect of WoW?
Nuvoz: Prior to WoW, I played Counter-Strike but I never played at an extremely high level. I would always enjoy doing scrims with friends but I never put nearly the same amount of effort into the game that I have with WoW.
The main reason why I feel like I have done well in WoW is that when I first got the game, my main goal was to be the best I could at PvP. I couldn't care less about dragon slaying. Beating another player always felt better than beating a computer.
MLG: You recently traveled to your first LAN event. How did your friends and family react when you told them you were going?
Nuvoz: Everyone's attitude towards it was very positive - most of my friends are very into games (mostly Halo) so they understand how exciting it can be to go to a LAN event.
MLG: How did you go about meeting the team you're currently playing with?
Nuvoz: I met Talbadar on the last day of season five while on ventrilo with a friend of ours, Hawtstuffs. We decided to play some RMP on my team that was inactive for most of the season sitting on gladiator ? we went undefeated for 70 games until we were in 3rd place on my BG within 2 hours. We both concluded that there was no one good left on our servers and the next day we transferred to Cho'gall, where the majority of the top quality players were at the time. Since then, we've been playing together on most of our teams. We met Diziet (our new druid) at the most recent MLG event.
MLG: You play a shaman as your main class. What do you think are the shaman's main strengths and weaknesses in arena? How do you feel about the progress that the shaman class has made over the past seven seasons?
Nuvoz: Elemental shamans are a very strong class currently, among the best. The biggest drawback is that they're forced into playing wizard cleaves, because without the help of another caster on the team they don't bring enough crowd control to the table to work in healer + caster + melee comps. Shamans can also have a very hard time dealing with crowd control, but luckily the insane damage you can put out when out of CC really makes up for it.
I also feel like elemental shamans have gotten weaker overall since season 6. With the pace of the game much faster back then, a shaman could solo kill any target he liked in a matter of seconds. These days, an ele shaman can nearly never land solo kills. I feel like elemental shamans are only really overpowered when playing with warlocks - the 13 % damage boost from locks really helps elemental and the spammable CC they offer really helps to line up kills much earlier on in a game.
MLG: Do you play any other classes other than the shaman? If so, which?
Nuvoz: Mage was the original class that I played from 60-80. I got Gladiator every season as a mage, as well as contending for #1 titles, and it remained my main up until the most recent tournament realm where I decided elemental shaman would be a much better choice for our team. That being said, I have played my shaman since the beginning of WotLK, getting gladiator on it every season - both as resto and elemental - and getting relentless gladiator on BG9 in season 7. I considered both of them my mains, really, since I played both equally from season 6-8.
MLG: Outside of playing WoW competitively, what occupies most of your time? Sports? Family or friends?
Nuvoz: I work part-time, but other than that it's mostly hanging out with friends and going to parties.
MLG: If you were to rework any class in the game, what class would it be and what are the changes that you'd make?
Nuvoz: That's hard to say. Every class has its problems and needs its own changes, but none of them need an entire reworking. Also I feel like Cataclysm will be making most of the major changes I would like to see to the game overall, so until they make those I can't really choose a class that is poorly designed.
MLG: Blizzard is making a ton of changes to shaman in the upcoming expansion. How do you feel about all of these changes?
Nuvoz: The game as a whole is changing a lot, and I feel like it's going in the right direction. Even though burst will be much lower, so will healing, and with MS being brought down to 25% and Shadowpriests keeping their 20%, I feel like our team will still remain strong. But who knows? Anything can happen.
As for the new shaman spells, I really like the idea of the Spiritwalker's Grace, where you're able to move well casting for a certain period of time, since lack of mobility was one of shaman's greatest weaknesses as both resto and elemental.
I was somewhat disappointed by the elemental talents because the new main ability shamans gain is an AOE likely to only be useful in PvE. I would really like to see an improved Hex talent in the elemental talents in the expansion that both increases the range and lowers the cooldown. That change alone would allow more elemental shamans to be able to create teams with a melee on them as well.
MLG: For someone just starting out in WoW Arena PvP, what is the most effective piece of advice you could offer? What are the keys to success in WoW Arena?
Nuvoz: Having fast and efficient key binds (don't put Ice Block on f12) as well as having a complete understanding of your class. This could mean both how to put out the best possible damage you can when necessary, and knowing exactly what to do when at risk of dying. Outside of that, it's important to find people you really enjoy playing with who will take the time to learn the game with you and not get upset over losses.
No comments:
Post a Comment