Hybrid PVP

My two current main characters in WoW are a feral druid and a holy pally. I play both of them in pvp and pve, but my druid is mainly for pve and my paladin was mainly rolled for pvp healing. In the last month or so I have rediscovered my enjoyment of pvp and the 2.3 patch changes to AV and the start of season 3 arena have just added fuel to my rekindled love. Hybrid classes are strongest in situations where many roles (damage, crowd control, or healing) are needed over the course of a fight. This occurs from time to time in pve, but it is the case in every fight in pvp. So, while I could play my 70 mage in pvp, I much prefer to play my druid or paladin.

My druid is feral specialized and has a hybrid set of epic and blue cat and bear gear, and a couple pieces of gladiator and veteran pvp gear. I have enough points to get a season 3 chest or something next week to replace the 68 blue chest I am still stuck with. He has great damage and stealth in cat form, survivability and charge in bear, and can root, cyclone and heal in caster. I can help with damage, then pop a few heals and crowd control, and then charge in an finish off a fleeing enemy. The hybrid player excels when they can really take advantage of their flexibility. In small groups this flexibility allows me to play in whatever role is lacking.

Last night I was in a fresh AV, I rode up all the way through the battle and then prowled down below the bridge and up to the mine. A Horde rogue had the same idea, so we hooked up and snuck through the mine and killed the boss in it to capture it for the Horde. We came up and found the Horde just taking the Stormpike graveyard. We snuck across the bridge, and stealth captured one of the towers. Then I headed over to the other tower, I saw a few people in trouble there, so I tossed a few heals to top them up and then went cat form to help deal with a few annoying alliance players. The team had taken relief hut by then, so I moved with the group into the lair of Vanndar Stormpike. There was no tanks in evidence, so I switched to my tank set (thank you item rack), and went at that pompous dwarf. With the support of the other players healing and damaging, I tanked him to his death and the Horde victory. It is this versatility of roles and play that I love so much about playing a hybrid in pvp.

I have been playing pvp for over two years at this point, and I long ago realized the power of healing in pvp. I attempted to use my druid to assist healing in BGs and Arena, and quickly found realized how ineffective it was as a feral druid. I was an easy target out of form, and was not using my specialization’s strengths. Since I was happily tanking in pve on my druid, I rolled a new paladin just to pvp and arena heal. I had never really been interested in healing or in paladins, but their survivability and post-TBC healing prowess sold me on the idea. I had no prior healing experience so playing a healer in a group has been heaps of fun to learn. Also, having a healer in my stable of 70s has been great for those times when my group is in that eternal search for a healer to go to an instance.

My paladin is very different then playing my druid in pvp, but he still brings his hybrid abilities to the table and allows me to do the three roles he is good at: healing damage, taking damage and annoying the hell out of his opponents.
I play much more of a support role on my paladin then my druid, seldom dealing damage on my own, but enabling others to do more damage through buffing and healing them. When I am not busy keeping my fellow Horde players up, I am stunning, mana tapping, and generally harassing the Alliance. Since my build has 20 points of protection in it I can take quite a beating and keep on healing and defending for ages. The bubble allows me time to heal unmolested and works as a quite effective short term agro wipe.

Between my two hybrid classes there is a nice mix of play style options and fun to be had. If you are bored with your single role, damage dealing class, give a hybrid a go and see if you can’t find new enjoyment in the game.

Time Blocks, Casual Raids

A friend of mine just reached the big seven zero and was trying to figure out what to do next. I think we all hit that point when we reach the level cap after months of leveling, and feel a little lost on what to do now that our XP bar refuses to increase. After a couple seconds of thinking over the options here is what I came up with to do at 70. (Note: Some these options are not available to fresh 70s.)

70 Activities
• Normal Instance
• Heroic Instance
• Raid Instance
• Grind Reputation
• Grind Gold
• Grind Profession
• Grind Mats for Gear
• Grind for Cosmetic Items (pets and tabards)
• Arena
• Battle Grounds
• Party Quests
• Solo Quests
• Attunement Quests
• Reputation Daily Quests
• Battle Ground Daily Quest
• Heroic Instance Daily Quest
• Instance Daily Quest
• Start over on an Alt


Now the real limit to what you can and can’t do in a MMORPG is the amount of time you can commit in one sitting. Several times this last week I started a heroic instance with 3 hours available to me, and then found the heroic running longer then 3 hours for one reason or another. I had to leave one of these runs before the last boss, missing out on the heroic daily quest and the epic plate item that dropped after I left. Other times I stuck it out and ended up finishing much later, losing sleep and wife rep. So I have found that I really cannot do a heroic instance on a weeknight, because I just don’t have time if everything doesn’t go smoothly.

If we divide up the possible activities by the amount of time they take it makes it easier to see what you can undertake if you have a set amount of time. Of course, if you have 3 hours it means you can do anything in the 3 hour list as well as anything in the smaller time blocks.

3+ hours
• Heroic Instance
• Raid Instance
• Heroic Instance Daily Quest

2-3 hours
• Normal Instance
• Instance Daily Quests

Less then 2 hours Committed
• Arena
• Party Quests

Less then 2 hours Uncommitted
• Grind Reputation
• Grind Gold
• Grind Profession
• Grind Mats for Gear
• Grind for Cosmetic Items (pets and tabards)
• Battle Grounds
• Solo Quests
• Attunement Quests
• Reputation Daily Quests
• Battle Ground Daily Quest
• Start over on an Alt

The committed and uncommitted label has nothing to do with your mental health, instead it means that you have committed to a specific block of time, or not. If I agree to a 5 man party quest then I am committed to the group until it is done, a committed time block. If I instead work on solo quests, then I am uncommitted time wise, and can log off any point. Might be a better label but this one makes sense to me.

I have an average of 3 hours to play on a weeknight, so if I look at my list, that puts me on the borderline of heroics, and able to do most everything else. On the weekend I tend to play for much longer blocks, so I have the entire list of activities available.

Now if you look at this list and compare it your average time blocks to the list you can pick out what your endgame options are. If you do not have more then 3 hours available to you at least a couple nights a week, then it is unlikely you will be able to find a raid that will fit your available time. If you only have 1 hour blocks of time available to you then that limits your play to pvp and questing, and pretty much completely excludes any type of instancing or raiding. So time blocks, not total time, is what limits your end game options. And I think it is also these time blocks that divide the perceived casual and hardcore players.

There has been an ongoing battle mentioned on Tobold’s site between casual players arguing for an easier entry level raid and raiders arguing that casuals wouldn’t play one even if it was created. As I have shown, it is the time blocks a player has available that limit their ability to raid, not their skill or their total weekly playtime. So, as much as I hate to say it, the raiders/hardcore are right, if the new raid was just easier, but not designed with the casual’s smaller time block casuals would no more be able to play it then they can currently play Kara. If casuals truly want a raid available to them it wouldn’t need to be easier, it would need less outside of raid work and require a smaller time block.

How to create a raid with a smaller required time block is up to Blizzard, but would probably be similar to what Tobold envisioned in his comments.

“If I had to build a casual raid dungeon, it would start with about 20 minutes worth of trash mobs, a first boss, and then doors in three directions, leading to more bosses. Thus the raid group can always decide how many wings of the dungeon they want to do in what evening.” -Tobold

I know my guild and I would step up and do a 10 man raid that was designed like that. Make the rewards equivalent to heroics and allow badges to drop, and it would allow a stepping stone into Kara for people who want to raid heavily, and a fun option for play for casuals.

What time blocks do you have available to you? Would you enjoy a raid designed like this? What dangers would it offer to the game balance?