Resillence...

On Thu, 1 May 2008 02:28:16 -0700 (PDT), Babe Bridou
<babebridou RemoveThis @hotmail.com> wrote:

>The cool thing about pain suppression is that it's also an aggro dump,
>just like divine shield or blessing of protection. You can't really
>blow it "too soon", because it's not designed for tanking, rather for
>discouraging people from putting too much pressure on you or your
>partner at a specific time. That's why this talent is great: *you* get
>to choose when your enemy will not be able to burst down their target.
>Circle of healing spam sure is good for keeping someone alive, but if
>you spam it for 8 seconds on your target, they have no reason to give
>up and switch to another, because they're not losing anything: they're
>just burning your mana down. With pain suppression up on the other
>hand, they must keep their cooldown stashed somewhere because it would
>be a waste to keep pressuring on a PSed target. So they have to change
>their attitude, that can take a couple seconds, which is enough for
>you and your partner to drive them on the defensive, use a split tick
>for a decisive psychic scream or mana burn on their healer for
>example, which would create an opening for your team.
>
>I think a good way to understand the "Arena Mindset" is to realize
>that there are three variables that decide the outcome of a battle:
>Initiative, Momentum and Parity. Check this (old) forum post on
>Elitist Jerk for more information:
>http://elitistjerks.com/f41/t11904-arena_initiative_momentum_parity/#post354093
>
>In that case, Pain Suppression "breaks parity" by giving whatever the
>target is the ability to sustain more than twice the amount of damage
>from all sources for 8 seconds. It doesn't remove all afflictions on
>the target Unlike Divine Shield or Ice Block, it cannot be countered
>through "Momentum" tactics (mass dispels), but unlike them either, it
>still gives the opportunity to the target to keep fighting
>offensively, and is nigh undispellable. As such, this spell gives your
>team a great asset, boosting Initiative by destroying their focus fire
>tactic, boosting momentum by keeping a damage dealer alive AND
>kicking, and breaking parity by making sure their cooldown bursts will
>be easy to soak. It's neither an end-all, be all spell, but by these
>standards it is sure in a whole different dimension as circle of
>healing. Couple that with Reflective Shield, Power Infusion, Focused
>Power and Improved Mana Burn for one of the very best Momentum-driving
>talent combos in the game, Focused Will and Silent Resolve as very
>good passive Parity-breakers, the only thing a discipline priest lacks
>is Initiative, really.
>
>That's why Priests are generally teamed up in 3v3 with frost mages and
>shadowstep rogues, because those have very powerful Initiative
>abilities (stealth, sap, vanish), powerful parity breakers as well
>(counterspell, sheep, blind, cloak of shadows, ice block, cheat death)
>and really, really excel at Momentum (wound poison, dirty deeds,
>serrating blades, shatter combos, icy veins...), so what's needed is
>just a bit of healing power.
>
>holy paladins and restoration druids, while slightly better at healing
>and breaking parity (along with initiative for druids), severely lack
>in the momentum department by comparison. Restoration shamans and holy
>priests, on the other hand, are relatively worse at breaking parity,
>so they can't exactly help their partners with their momentum
>abilities because they need to spend their mana on healing themselves
>and their teammates out of focus fire.
>
>That's how I see it anyway.

Nice post. For someone who's just starting out in Arenas, there's a
lot to think about here.

Rgds, Frank

> Makes sense, although sounds like it needs a better idea of timing than I
> have to be able to make it work... even if it was available to me I'd
> usually be stunlocked, or else blow it too soon or too late

The timing, unfortunately, cannot be improved by talent build alone. It
mostly comes with experience

> Hmm, I see. Hadn't really thought about it in so much detail, and this
> sounds like only an arena thing rather than general use, but I can see
> your
> point.

It's certainly an example focused on arena, battlegrounds are simply too
random to provide realistic examples. But they do exist there as well.

> I see, so with good timing it can be useful... again the problem is
> getting
> the timing right though

Much of the game (at least pvp wise) is based on timing. Good\bad timing can
win\lose games, just as much as with good/bad choices.

> Assuming you mean close enough together for blade flurry range there?

Not so much blade flurry, my rogue is shadowstep, so no blade flurry
available. I was actually referring to kick and blind. I actually use a
focus kick macro, so I can kick the healer whilst continuing to dps my
actual target. Sometimes I can almost see the shock on the healers face when
i kick him without changing targets

I will tend to try and lead the dps outside of los of the healer, so that
the healer must come close in order to heal (if they are far away). This
forces the other team to make choices, does the dps follow me out of los of
the healer? If he does, the healer must come closer or he must move away.
Coming closer exposes the healer to kick/blind, moving away means I may be
able to bandage and restealth. Of course, it depends on gear and choice
selection of the other team. If the healer comes close, to win, he must
still stay relatively away from me. Many just come and stand right next to
me, which is an awful choice and that's what happened in the games I've
won.

> has 15 yard range untalented, obviously a holy priest with it would take

15 yards is close enough for shadowstep, close enough to be easily blinded,
close enough to kick before a cast is finished. Not saying all these will
happen, but then. If I know a priest is holy, i will be dps'ing them from
start to finish anyway

ave