Yas Suprise Effect: Khuna (Rogue), Xandyn (Mage), Zunniyaki (Priest)

Second:

Survival Tactics: Shawir (Warrior), Braindeadly (Hunter), Flubbah (Shaman)

Third:

Tag Team Stomp: Talbadar (Priest), Snutz (Warlock), Cdew (Shaman)

Congratulations to the winners and thanks to Yaspresents and everyone involved for putting on a fantastic tournament.

Tournament Hosted by Yaspresents. Check them out and show them some support. For full details on the event, check out our Yaspresents Tournament information post. Today we enter the final stage of the tournament which will be double elimination. For the results of Group A, check out our coverage here and for Group B, here.

Teams Qualified:

Survival Tactics: Shawir (Warrior), Braindeadly (Hunter), Flubbah (Shaman)

IntroDucing: Taku (Rogue), Dakkroth (Warlock), Glyptic (Shaman)

Tag Team Stomp: Talbadar (Priest), Snutz (Warlock), Cdew (Shaman)

Yas Suprise Effect: Khuna (Rogue), Xandyn (Mage), Zunniyaki (Priest)

Matches for the Semi Finals:

Shawir, Braindeadly, Flubbah

VS

Khuna, Xandyn, Zunniyaki

Talbadar, Snutz, Cdew

VS

Taku, Dakkroth, Glyptic

Winner (Top) and Losers (Bottom) Bracket:

Talbadar, Snutz, Cdew

VS

Khuna, Xandyn, Zunniyaki

Shawir, Braindeadly, Flubbah

VS

Taku, Dakkroth, Glyptic

Losers Bracket for place in the Final:

Shawir, Braindeadly, Flubbah

VS

Talbadar, Snutz, Cdew

Final:

Khuna, Xandyn, Zunniyaki

VS

Shawir, Braindeadly, Flubbah

MMO Champion has unearthed a number of new interesting client strings in the latest Mist of Pandaria Beta build:

ERR_PVP_BLACKLIST_CAP - You have already blacklisted the maximum number of maps.

ERR_PVP_MAP_NOT_FOUND - Blacklisted map not set.

This suggests players will be able to blacklist a certain number of PvP maps in Mists of Pandaria. This will most certainly apply to Random Battlegrounds. Whether it’ll apply to Arena is questionable.

In terms of Battlegrounds, both Alterac Valley and Isle of Conquest will be heading straight to my list. These pseudo Battlegrounds are merely PvE features posing as PvP Battlegrounds. The PvV or Player vs. Vehicle Battleground known as Strand of the Ancients would also be an additional member of my blacklist should the cap stretch to three.

This feature applying to Arena is a fantastic idea on paper. In reality, however, it would be ruined by the continued existence of Ring of Valor. A map so despised by the PvP community, its appearance on 95% of all blacklists at a minimum would not be surprising.

While it’d be fantastic to eliminate this map from proceedings, the blacklist feature should not be about players correcting Blizzards own mistakes. Indeed, it’s easier to remove RoV in its entirety, not least to prevent the map deciding the victor in PvP tournaments rather than the players.  Blizzard should leave the map in War Games for those who want to experience the abomination, but it should have no place on ladder or in tournaments whether the blacklist applies to arena or not.

How about you? Which Battlegrounds would have the honour of been included on your blacklist? What about for Arena?

Tag Team Stomp: Talbadar (Priest), Snutz (Warlock), Cdew (Shaman)

Runner up of Group B:

Yas Suprise Effect: Khuna (Rogue), Xandyn (Mage), Zunniyaki (Priest)

Teams qualified for tomorrows final stage:

Survival Tactics: Shawir (Warrior), Braindeadly (Hunter), Flubbah (Shaman)

IntroDucing: Taku (Rogue), Dakkroth (Warlock), Glyptic (Shaman)

Tag Team Stomp: Talbadar (Priest), Snutz (Warlock), Cdew (Shaman)

Yas Suprise Effect: Khuna (Rogue), Xandyn (Mage), Zunniyaki (Priest)

Tune in tomorrow at 19:00 CET for the finals.

Tournament Hosted by Yaspresents. Check them out and show them some support. For full details on the event, check out our Yaspresents Tournament information post.

Today Group B will duke it out in a round robin format. The top two teams from Group B will then advance to Sundays double elimination phase. For the results of Group A, check out our coverage here.

GROUP B:

Bleached Bones: Mir (Rogue), Skenz (Warlock), Geru (Shaman)

Yas Suprise Effect: Khuna (Rogue), Xandyn (Mage), Zunniyaki (Priest)

Tag Team Stomp: Talbadar (Priest), Snutz (Warlock), Cdew (Shaman)

Multivites: Abni (Mage), Maldiva (Warlock), Karvinen (Paladin)

Matches for Group B

Mir, Skenz, Geru

VS

Abni, Maldiva, Karvinen

Khuna, Xandyn, Zunniyaki

VS

Talbadar, Snutz, Cdew

Talbadar, Snutz, Cdew

VS

Mir, Skenz, Geru

Khuna, Xandyn, Zunniyaki

VS

Abni, Maldiva, Karvinen

Mir, Skenz, Geru

VS

Khuna, Xandyn, Zunniyaki

Talbadar, Snutz, Cdew

VS

Abni, Maldiva, Karvinen

Winners of Group A:

Survival Tactics: Shawir (Warrior), Braindeadly (Hunter), Flubbah (Shaman)

Runner up of Group A:

IntroDucing: Taku (Rogue), Dakkroth (Warlock), Glyptic (Shaman)

Both teams will move on to stage two of the tournament this Sunday. Group B is tomorrow at 19:00 CET.

Yaspresents Group A Tournament

Tournament Hosted by Yaspresents. Check them out and show them some support. For full details on the event, check out our Yaspresents Tournament information post. Today Group A will duke it out in a round robin format. The top two teams from Group A will then advance to Sundays double elimination phase. Group B will enter the fray tomorrow, with action kicking off at 19:00 CET once again.

GROUP A:

Survival Tactics: Shawir (Warrior), Braindeadly (Hunter), Flubbah (Shaman)

Vanguards Cleave: Vanguards (Paladin), Mes (Death Knight), Sodah (Priest)

IntroDucing: Taku (Rogue), Dakkroth (Warlock), Glyptic (Shaman)

Baylyfe: Salv (Druid), Dicegg (Hunter), Hydra (Priest)

Matches for Group A

Taku, Dakkroth, Glyptic

VS

Vanguards, Mes, Sodah

Shawir, Braindeadly, Flubbah

VS

Salv, Dicegg, Hydra

Salv, Dicegg, Hydra

VS

Taku, Dakkroth, Glyptic

Shawir, Braindeadly, Flubbah

VS

Vanguards, Mes, Sodah

Taku, Dakkroth, Glyptic

VS

Shawir, Braindeadly, Flubbah

Salv, Dicegg, Hydra

VS

Vanguards, Mes, Sodah

Stormscale PvP Guild Yaspresents are hosting an online World of Warcraft Tournament over the next three days. Featuring names such as Snutz, Dakkroth, Glyptic, Talbadar, Khuna and, the main man himself, Hydra—the line-up features some of the best WoW players from both the EU and US. With these players and a much more—highly welcomed in my opinion—mixture of comps, this tournament is shaking up to be a brilliant showdown between these great teams.

The tournament will feature eight teams who will be split into two groups of four for the initial stage. While splitting the teams into two groups will prevent us from seeing certain matchups, this stage of the tournament is still round robin so we’ll see a good variety of matchups. This structure also benefits the second, double elimination, stage of the tournament where the top two teams from each group will advance to juke it out for the $4200 prize for first, $2100 for second and $600 for third place.

It will be played on the EU Arena Pass allowing players to min max their characters for each match up. The absence of 4.3 PvE gear is certainly a plus to boot. They’ve also paid close attention to previous tournaments, banning class stacking and saving us the insomnia curing feat of another monstrosity of double Shaman Warlock as seen at the recent Prestige Gaming and GameSense tournamenta while back. The necessity for a healer on each team is also a great step in the right direction. Finally, with Another been a tournament organiser and learning all too well of the perils of a certain map at BlizzCon last year—we should all be cheering at the fact Ring of Valor is banned from the map pool.

The action will kick off tomorrow at 19:00 CET and at the same time Saturday and Sunday. For those worried about missing the action, Hydramist will be posting the stream on our homepage and telling you when the action kick offs via Facebook and Twitter.

The full list of teams and tournament details with pretty formatting follows:

Tournament structure:

Eight invited teams will play in two groups of four teams each. Group phase will be played in round robin format. Top two teams from each group advance to the double elimination phase.

The group phase and semi finals will be a best-of-five. The Grand Finals will be played best-of-seven.

GROUP A (May 11th, 7:00-11:30pm CET):

Survival Tactics: Shawir (Warrior), Braindeadly (Hunter), Flubbah (Shaman)

Vanguards Cleave: Vanguards (Paladin), Mes (Death Knight), Sodah (Priest)

IntroDucing: Taku (Rogue), Dakkroth (Warlock), Glyptic (Shaman)

Baylyfe: Salv (Druid), Dicegg (Hunter), Hydra (Priest)

GROUP B (May 12th, 7:00-11:30pm CET):

Bleached Bones: Mir (Rogue), Skenz (Warlock), Geru (Shaman)

Yas Suprise Effect: Khuna (Rogue), Xandyn (Mage), Zunniyaki (Priest)

Tag Team Stomp: Talbadar (Priest), Snutz (Warlock), Cdew (Shaman)

Multivites: Abni (Mage), Maldiva (Warlock), Karvinen (Paladin)

Prizes

• First place – 4200$
• Second place – 2100$
• Third place – 600$

Tournament Rules:

• Any setup with one healer is allowed.
• No class stacking.
• The Tournament is played on TR. Any gear that is available on TR is allowed.
• Teams can change their setup and spec in between each game.
• The losing team of each match will be able to choose a map that has not already been played. Nagrand Arena will always be played first. In a best of 7 series a map cannot be played twice until all others have been chosen. Ring of Valor is banned.
• 45 second disconnect rule: If a player disconnects after 45 second mark the game will not be replayed.

How to Circumvent the 10 Auction House Limit

The method is pretty straight forward, and I’ll keep it simple as you could get into quite a bit of debate about the most optimal way to implement this strategy. Basically, you as the player need to take advantage of the cancelling rules for commodity auctions. If you don’t know what they are, here’s how it works:

Cancelling a commodity will send any gold earned thus far by the auction to your completed auction tab as well as any left over commodities from that stack of items. If you had 60 subtle essences and canceled them an hour later, you might see the gold for 30 sold ones come back as well as the remaining 30 subtle essences.

Taking advantage of this fact, a player could buy when the market dropped and sell when ever the market recovered. Rest assured, the prices of all commodities in this game will fluctuate violently; which will in turn leave opportunities for those monitoring these markets.

At any time, a player can cancel his commodities and repost them for a new price, thus circumventing the 10 auctions per auction house limit. If I cancel and repost my stack of subtle essences 30 times, it’s as if I had that many additional auction slots. Not at once, but it’s a hell of a lot better than getting stuck with a 48 hour weapon or piece of armor that was priced too high to sell!

For more strategies about making gold and even real money in Diablo 3, please check out my Diablo 3 Gold Guide Blog.

Thanks for reading,

Markco

Today let’s have quick run through the features spectator mode is equipped with.

I don’t wanna miss a thing

Spectator mode allows you to track what skills players are maxing first, what items they have, how much gold they possess and how much they’ve farmed since the beginning of the game. Camera controls can be set to:

• Watch one, specific player

• Free mode, so you will control what part of map you want to observe

• Directed mode: With an AI controlled camera set to automatically follow the action. From what I have seen it catches about 80-90% of interesting moments. I’m not complaining here as non AI is perfect (except GLaDOS or in LoLs case Orianna) and if you think the AI is not doing its job properly, you can switch between the modes at any time.

With timeshift controls you can jump to any moment of the game, see the most exciting moments in slow motion and even watch them twice and then fast forward to the point you left watching the game live.

3 minute delay

In any game you happen to observe, there will be a 3 minute delay preventing you from literately map hacking or any other abusive behaviour. Imagine you are watching your friends’ game in real time and telling him about every move and position of the enemy team. That would be insanely stupid. Since we are on topic of spying on your mates though:

Watching your friends

Playing Big Brother just got pushed to another level. More seriously though you can watch any normal or ranked game your friend happens to be playing. The feature provides you with something to do while you waiting for them to finish a game and play next one with you or to actually you’re your friend by pointing out their mistakes which they may have missed in the fray. Finally it could even be used by professional players or coaches to train less skilled adepts of LoL.

Featured Games

The LoL client now has a list of live Featured Games that you can watch. These games cycle at regular intervals so if you don’t think there is anything worth watching at the moment, stay awhile and maybe some more interesting games will pop up. Featured Games tend to showcase high-level play, so if you want to improve yourself perhaps this is good way to start, as you can see skill and item choices at any time.

Opportunities

Spectator mode opens a lot of possibilities for commentators of LoL games. Now with every feature I have mentioned above, commentating games and streaming via twitch, own3d or uploading them on youtube has never been easier. Can we have a LoL version of Day[9] or Husky? I certainly hope so. Anyone can try it; perhaps even you have what it takes to turn your hobby into more profitable activity. And the more people will focus on producing good quality commentaries the more popular League of Legends will get.

Spectator mode allows also less skilled players to improve themselves by watching the best player in their region compete with each other. I hope even more featured games will be implemented in the future, as currently we only have access to 5 games at one time. The ability to add some favourite players without adding them to your friend’s list would be a nice implementation so we could cheer for teams we are supporting.

What about our dear Blizzard? Missed chances?

Now it’s the time for some Blizzard bashing = my favourite part. WoW players have been asking for Observer mode as well for a long time. I’m not talking about PvP only, especially with the popularity of the recent PvE competition between Vodka and Method hosted by Athene. This showed that a lot of people are willing to watch speed runs. It’s not like observer mode couldn’t be implemented into WoW, as the guys over at Arena Tournament have managed to do it. But are we going to see that kind of feature in the official version? I honestly doubt it.

Spectator mode gets even more publicity for games with the amount of videos covering the title blooming after it gets released. Let’s just hope more game developers will realize that and put some kind of observation feature into their games.

Discuss

It’s been a while since i posted any updates so i thought I’d write something to let you all know what’s going on with me, with hydramist and in general! I guess I’ll also include some cool vids music and whatnot, who knows; i only just started writing! The possibilities are endless.

So first up I guess you better get some music on while you read this.

Watch this video on YouTube.

Done that? Okay great!

Current events

So unless you’ve been living under a rock or all of your sensory inputs have been rendered completely null and void by cataclysm, you’ll know Diablo 3 is coming out on 15th May. I was contact by my old arena buddy and personal trainer Athene (we especially worked on my shoulders!) who asked me if I’d like to be flown out to Belgium on 12th May to play Diablo 3 with him and Redhot aka carekoala aka bigbadmike. We’d be going for world first level 60, of course due to my competitive nature in general I couldn’t really decline, plus I wouldn’t really pass up the chance to travel or go hang out with mike again so I glady accepted!

So yeah thats the plan, we’ll see whether we can make it or not, after all; we’re sick cunts right?

We’ll probably be goofing around at the airport and stuff so i guess I’ll be taking some videos of the trip and whatnot for you guys and stick em on youtube when i get the chance.

Anyway the day before that is the Yas Presents tourny which I’ll be playing in with Dice and Salv playing priest hunter feral druid most likely for a laugh. We’ll see how that goes, who knows!

Boosting/Coaching

I’ve recently been receiving a lot of queries regarding boosting/coaching. I am infact still available for both and if you’d like more info on either then email me at hydra@hydramist.tv

Hydramist T Shirts/Store

We’ll be starting up the T-Shirts again shortly so keep your eyes posted for that and be sure to let me know in comments if you’d be interested in any kind of Hydramist merchandise and what you’d like to see!

Thanks

Finally a big thanks to everyone whos been supporting me/hydramist by subscribing, donating etc. Everything is much appreciated and goes back into the site which we’ll be revamping entirely in the next few weeks to create a vastly better visiting/community experience for all you guys!

Much love <3

(As a thinks heres some lolage stuff)

ps still trying to find johnnyblaze clip, if anyone has the link for it post it in the comments!!

Watch this video on YouTube.

Watch this video on YouTube.

full night’s action here:

http://www.twitch.tv/hydramist/b/317392150

While we’re talking about PvP it’s probably worth reminding everyone that what we’re targeting is a very loose and ‘for fun’ system. Imagine clicking a button, being matched up against another team of equal skill and gear, and win or lose you move forward (although faster if you win) on a personal progression system that gives you some cosmetic recognition as you go. There won’t be ladders or leagues, we have no intent to expose team ratings, and very likely nothing besides a win/loss record to track performance etc. etc. etc. Anyone who has tried it at BlizzCon knows the PvP in Diablo III is a blast, but I’ve seen some people start to get ideas that it’s going to be an eSport, and that’s just not something we’re targeting – for the sake of our goals in the single player/co-op experience.

WoW arena has had its issues, there is no doubt about it (but that’s a topic for another blog). But even despite those problems it was considered by some E-sport fans as a legitimate, competitive title. The statement of Bashiok quells any doubts: there won’t be any support for PvP players, at least not from Blizzard. Hardly any sponsors will care about the Diablo PvP scene because of this. However the most important thing in this topic is the PvP player. What is going to be his or her motivation and goals for the upcoming game?

The main motivation for people to grind or buy better gear in previous Diablo games was PvP; there is no single doubt about it. Sure everyone had PvE character for farming, but their main focus was on duelling versus others. But many years have passed since those summer days and we are now delving into a winter hell of not even single care given about PvP. What is going to be the reason to obtain better items?

• PvE? I doubt that it will present any difficulty for veteran players, besides PvE will probably require perfect positioning and coordination and not actual DPS. Even if PvE is challenging, the example of Cataclysm has taught us: if content is too hard, after countless pages of whining on forums, Blizzard will pander over to the low-skilled player base and nerf the encounters.
• Selling gear on the AH? Maybe, for some people it will be main reason to play the game actually (Ni Hao, Let’s farm some gold…). But what if you just want to play a game? Not spending your leisure time working on a second shift at farming hell?
• PvP? Oh yes, but there won’t be much PvP as most of players will not care much about it. Why would they? No rewards (only cosmetic), no ladders, no leagues, no team ratings. On top of that PvP won’t be balanced properly.

It’s one reason custom matches can make some people nervous, because it means players can start setting up their own games in attempts to create a more competitive system. Or just complaining their 1v1 duels aren’t balanced. When that happens people start demanding the sacrifice of PvE, “I need more mobility/stuns/dps”, separate systems with different abilities, and on and on. I think if there were one good argument against duels and custom games, it would be the players themselves. :)

 

uhh I still don’t get it. If you balance PvP and PvE separately, this issue of one’s balance affecting the other would never occur.

 

Aside from some very basic user experience issues it would cause, and which we vehemently oppose, asking us to design, balance, and maintain two separate games just isn’t reasonable.

If you design, balance and maintain two separate games you would get more publicity, more players and more auction house transactions. So in a general more long term perspective: more money in your pocket Blizzard. Besides it’s hardly “two separate games” as main the nerf/buffs will go to stun/mobility duration and cooldowns in terms of PvP and, of course, damage output is important as well, but that’s just number crouching.

So there is a quick fix for you Blizzard: Stop being lazy. With Diablo III you have a chance to redeem your sins of making WoW arena a failure. Take your time and balance the game properly. Introduce us to a better matchmaking system, ladders, observer mode and other features that another arena/dota based competitive games can only dream of.

Also for people reading my ramblings, share your thoughts in the comments: What could Blizzard do to make Diablo III PvP better?

I’m anxiously waiting to read your ideas.

Anhellius

For example, let’s take a look at the Witch Doctor’s Fierce Loyalty.

Fierce Loyalty

“All your pets get 100% of the benefit of your Thorns and Life regeneration items.”

So, if you were to take this passive skill as a Witch Doctor, it means that your dogs and other pets instantly become damage dealing and healing machines, right? Wrong, because you can’t just turn on a passive skill or active ability and be successful in Diablo 3. You need gear with thorns and life regeneration to be effective with Fierce Loyalty.

I’ve seen an awful lot of complaints on the official forums about the lack of “customization” and “options” in Diablo 3, but I couldn’t disagree more. No one in their right mind can say that it’s going to be easy to switch your skills/passives at level 60 without changing gear. That process of acquiring new gear to try new builds is what will add so much replay value to the game.

Sure, there are other things like random events, character/sex specific dialogue, and other fun tidbits to add replay value, but that’s not enough to keep you playing for years and years.

The hunt for new gear, a process involving the never ending quest to build the most badass character ever, will be the source of tremendous replay value in Diablo 3. Just look at Diablo 2′s success, players STILL run around killing monsters and cracking open jars hoping for the right items to make their characters perfect. The only difference is that Diablo 3 has hundreds of builds available to each class, whereas Diablo 2 had only a handful each.

Markco also writes for the Diablo 3 Gold Blog, in case you’d like to learn about making gold in Diablo 3.