PvP teaches better PvE

Ooh, ooh. I see a little common thread going around the community, and look at me, chipping in rather than just looking over at the cool kids, hating on them like in Jr. High School.

So BBB, and Great Green Hunter, and Resto4Life have a little conversational thread going about PvP. I think it all started when BBB exploded in a tirade that only he can deliver in such an entertaining way. To sum up, he was having a little struggle with the fact that for most players at end-game now, if you don't PvP, you are missing out on gear that's an upgrade. And not just an upgrade, but an UPGRADE.

Bottom line for me was that I started actively doing PvP when Season 3 came out. I wasn't around for Season 1, and when S2 came out, I was still figuring out what's what about level 70. Season 3 came out and the Axe was just too juicy. How can I call it PvP if I'm just showing up to lose for one hour a week, four weeks, and I've got my axe.

Well, as it would turn out, the competitive side in me didn't like just showing up to lose. So I showed up to win. I lost anyway, but the spirit became infectious.

I started BG'ing to get my resil up. Along the way, I discovered the PvP Gear Vendors and saw all this shiny stuff that would be big upgrades in PvE also, namely the Vindicator's set.

Kept at the 10 weekly arena games. Slowly got better. Very slowly. Kept at the BG's until I had everything I wanted from them. Then only did BG for fun, which means not a whole lot, but rather a game here or there.

S4 comes out. Lots of new gear available. I'm back in the BG's hardcore, trying to grind out everything that's a PvE upgrade, followed by fleshing out my PvP set, such that I'll do better in Arenas, which will allow me to access more of the PvE upgrade stuff available from Arenas. Dizzy yet?


Either way, back to the topic. I think I might need to change the title because I"m all over the place.

Besides gear, and lots of fun, and lots of frustration, I think PvP has improved my PvE skills.

Most specifically when things go wrong.

Running a Heroic. Chain pulling to get through it fast, your tank isnt waiting for your trap cooldowns to be perfect every time. Trap resists. What do you do?

Before honing skills in PvP: run like crazy, shout wildly, maybe run away from your tank and towards you healer, and feign death.

After honing skills in PvP: wing clip, run away from healers to a safe zone, when wing clip expires, if your trap isnt ready yet, concussive shot, drop trap, wham-o, frozen turkey, run all the way across the battle field (arcane shotting and serpent stinging the skull along the way), and wait for your trap cooldown to expire.

That's one example, but I think that generally, PvP helps players learn how to use their toon's capabilities when things go wrong. In PvP, its always going wrong because humans don't follow the nice and neat aggro rules that mobs do. But they do generally follow some basics.

If you start whacking on a rogue or warrior or even some druids, they're generally going to follow you. In mobs, we call it aggro. With humans, I dunno, its some kind of stubbornness or competitiveness, but they do generally follow you around. Kite them. Wing clip, frost trap, concussive shot. Do your best to stay at max range, and many humans will behave exactly like a mob.

You can even make them change direction. If you're kiting a warrior away from a flag in AB, and find that you're getting too far from the action, drop a frost trap, wait for him to trigger it, then turn around and run right through him, wing clipping along the way. Just like a mob, you'll often find these players turning around to follow you, as if you're on top of their aggro table.

So for me, in many situations, handling a mob and handling a human can be some what similar, and my raiding team benefits from the fact that I have trained in PvP.