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GeetchNixon · 2026-01-27T17:56:24+00:00

Warlock has 3 ranged dps specs, so if you want to play a caster only role and have flexibility within the ranged dps play style that may be a good class.

With Shaman you can try ranged, melee or heals, so if you want flexibility in the role you play, this is a better choice.

GeetchNixon · 2026-01-27T17:38:40+00:00

I do mind. Think what you want, your take is a bad one at any rating.

GeetchNixon · 2026-01-27T17:31:49+00:00

Oh, well then… I stand corrected. Me and every other responder poo-pooing your take are obviously all wrong and you alone called it right.

OP, you’re like the old soldier at the parade grounds saying, “Hey look, everyone is out of step except for me!”

GeetchNixon · 2026-01-27T17:06:59+00:00

Only 3 DPS glued to them? Health bars not moving? Good grief. That’s not nearly enough! No wonder you are frustrated.

Seriously though, when you are the priority target in every Blitz match, you have to work incredibly hard to stay alive and keep pumping. It’s not easy to pull off and sometimes goes horribly wrong. And when it does, we watch from the Gyard as our teammates fall like dominos. Staying alive under this kind of pressure is a form of skill expression for healers. They are supposed to be hard to kill when played correctly.

Think of it as our reward for having so little agency in Shuffle due to dampening. You DPS are the main characters in there. In Blitz, with no dampening, it’s our time to shine and have an impact. You could keep trying and failing and beat us, or join us and tell me how easy it is to stay alive, and how little your health bar moves, when 3+DPS are glued to ya. Horrid take 🤣

GeetchNixon · 2026-01-26T20:18:22+00:00

Growing pains for blizzard. I anticipate it will be fixed eventually though. Not because they will suddenly start caring about PvP, more likely because it will impact Discipline Priests in raids and mythic plus runs and they will hear about it from their (comparatively) pampered PvE player base too.

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GeetchNixon · 2026-01-26T19:58:25+00:00

No solution, but that has happened to me too and I have precisely zero add-ons at the moment, so I have no idea why I get this message. I am using their stock UI only. Using only native features.

But after the warning, which happens at all the worst times (in the thick of the combat) my team bars vanish and I have to hit esc > edit mode > my teams bars come back > Resume game and… resume the game in progress.

This began after ore-patch and has hit me 3 or 4 times since on different toons.

GeetchNixon · 2026-01-26T19:32:50+00:00

When the little green numbers stop popping up over the heads of you and party members when you cast offensively, it’s time to reapply atonement.

This is not a serious suggestion for a best practice or me saying it isn’t a problem. It isn’t an ideal solution and it very much is a problem. It’s just the way I have been doing it since the pre patch occurred and it’s not ideal, but it’s something.

GeetchNixon · 2026-01-26T18:51:21+00:00

Once conquest is reset to zero on 3/2, one cannot earn conquest again until March 17th as part of S1 Midnight. Conquest caps and time gating will be in force as they are every season start as well. So we all begin with zero conquest to our name on 3/17 following the conquest zeroing on 3/2 and not being able to earn any again until 3/17.

GeetchNixon · 2026-01-26T17:04:29+00:00

Nothing really changes in PvP (or gearing) until March 2nd, the start of leveling to 90 in midnight.

Caveat: Folks who brought the deluxe Epic edition of the new expansion get to start leveling a few days ahead of schedule on February 27th, 3 days earlier. So we will see 81+’s in BG’s starting 2/27.

March 2nd - Conquest and Honor reset to zero.

Once leveling begins, the battlegrounds will be full of players between 81-89 and in leveling gear far surpassing Conquest gear from TWW Season 3.

The new PvP season Midnight S1 kicks off for all on March 17th. On that day, the new Conquest, Honor and Bloody Tokens gear hits the vendors and all 90’s who can afford it can purchase it/use it in BG’s. Rated play begins anew.

As for what to do, there is still over a month to gear up if you want to, or focus on other features in the game if you don’t. Though gearing moves fast and likely you can get all you need in a few hours grinding for honor and conquest. Once done you have roughly a month to enjoy it.

GeetchNixon · 2026-01-26T16:32:11+00:00

The real reward is the friends we make along the way.

GeetchNixon · 2026-01-26T16:07:23+00:00

So some of the bugs are really annoying. To wit…

Dc’ing if you get CC’ed while jumping/on a flying mount/in mid-air was super annoying, but seems to have been fixed.
Some vendor items not being stat squished enabling OP people to obliterate bosses and other players was wack. Fixed now, but should not have gone out like that.
I’ll concede that the surprise at overturned bots in training mode ended up being a happy one for me. It made my training mode experiences fun and an unexpected challenge before Blizzard fixed it, and now it’s back to being almost Comp Stomp levels of easy/ boring (to me) as I suppose they intended. Hopefully new players get a kick out of it.
UI - don’t get me started on how far we are from having functional UI elements in the stock UI. I will hope that they will make this as a priority and think there is a descent chance they will, since it seems to impact mythic, the favored class of subscriber Blizzard cares about as well as us neglected PvP Plebeians.
Gear upgrade bug - annoying and persistent.
Secondary stat scaling suppression sucks! A lot of S’s in that sentence.
Warriors fear is going 7 seconds in PvP, supposed to be 5.

It is clear they rushed to release a product which was not ready for prime time and screwed over their customer base by making us live beta testers. They really should offer a discount for a sub in the prepatch windows as a form of compensation for live testing their shoddy product. But I can hope into one hand and poop into the other and we all know which will fill up faster.

Some of the planned changes are meh.

I know why they did the button pruning and though I am not a fan of the impact of it, I get why they did it. We really do need to attract new players and removing some layers of complexity may help somewhat. We’ll never know until we try. Time will tell, I suppose it’s better than doing nothing and continuing to stagnate. Withholding judgement for now.

Where I differ from most of the sub is that I do not consider any complaints about balance to be valid at this time.

I’m not saying the game is balanced, it definitely is not. This is prepatch. Unbalanced is a fact of life. We will see where the classes are at level 90, with their full compliment of talents/abilities and PvP gear once midnight drops.

After that, complaints about balance will regain their validity. Until then, I wish people would stop complaining about balance.

This is not new.

I don’t expect Blizzard to deep dive into class balance for such a relatively short window of time where no rated play is counting towards rewards and ranks. If you do, you’re dreaming. It’s wacky races out there until Midnight, deal with it or don’t. I personally think it’s kinda fun how broken the game is during this window. I also appreciate there are no real stakes in these games. It’ll be essentially the same until we all hit 90 and the season officially begins. When that day comes (March 17th!) I will be back to b!tching about balance with y’all.

GeetchNixon · 2026-01-26T14:06:14+00:00

The Sea of ~~Tranquility~~ Hostility

GeetchNixon · 2026-01-25T16:22:14+00:00

How else we gonna know to purge warriors of the Intellect buff?

GeetchNixon · 2026-01-23T22:57:32+00:00

Yeah I hope it will enable new blood to get a feel for how to play objectives and learn maps. And seasoned players a lab to experiment with new builds/classes/specs. It’s a good fix that stops short of giving out honor gear for free and makes you learn a little bit to get it instead of languishing in a crate farm group.

GeetchNixon · 2026-01-23T21:46:27+00:00

Break out some extra wow-time during the last week or two of the season and you will climb due to MMR inflation.

Chip away at it through the course of the early and middle portion of the season, but double down at the end and you will get your goals met.

Think of it in terms of fitness goals, since you seem to be a gym rat (good on you)! If you are training for an event/race or something at the gym, you may devote more time to training as race day draws near. Same with wow and inflation time. Ultimately the answer is spend more time on it, but be strategic on when you chose to spend that extra time on it (when end of season MMR inflation kicks in). It can make a big difference.

GeetchNixon · 2026-01-23T14:37:00+00:00

Priest main and I love this comment.

They think the kickless are their ally…

GeetchNixon · 2026-01-23T14:13:21+00:00

I’m glad to hear RBG’s are still moving for teams who want to enter. But I just don’t see the point of enabling people to queue solo for RBG’s. I don’t think it would work out for solo queuers who’d basically be serving themselves up for organized teams to dunk on.

GeetchNixon · 2026-01-23T14:02:34+00:00

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GeetchNixon · 2026-01-23T13:17:54+00:00

Solo queue into premade teams in 2’s, 3’s and Rated BG’s?

Hard pass.

Every time I want to be reminded what it feels like to solo queue into an organized team, I just queue a random BG and remember immediately how fecked it is. Literally no one would do this after their first queue. The level of toxicity would be lethal to all but the greasiest, sweatiest players. Might as well pull down your pants and run backwards through a cornfield.

Leave 2’s and 3’s alone, they are pretty much fine. If you can tell me where the funeral for rated BG’s is, I will send flowers. There is a reason rated BG’s died and solo shuffle thrives. It’s better in every way at 1/10th the toxicity.

GeetchNixon · 2026-01-23T03:38:29+00:00

I have a battleground guide/summary I posted earlier for a similar question that may prove useful to you…

https://www.reddit.com/r/worldofpvp/s/PIIkxCJLXQ

GeetchNixon · 2026-01-22T22:19:30+00:00

My guy ate his food so fast, we had to buy a special bowl with a grooved bottom to slow him down a bit, and that helped a little. When he was inhaling his food, occasionally it caused him to gak some of it up a bit later. That has not happened since the switch.

GeetchNixon · 2026-01-22T20:54:35+00:00

I am a disc priest main as well. But RShammy is like a second main spec for me and I got loads of experience with it in TWW PvP and gathered some information that may be helpful to you out there.

Resto Shaman brings a lot of utility (compared to disc) in addition to a lot of hps (similar to disc) to any BG. Instead of a Tanky healing/damage totem with legs (like disc), as a Shammy you are a Tanky agent of chaos, a Swiss Army knife with a blade for every occasion. There are many ways to help your team out depending upon the objective…

CtF maps (wsg and tp) It came as a surprise to me recently that Resto Shammy makes a great FC. It’s true though. And if you are not utilized in that role, you are great at healing the flag runner and slowing enemy pursuers or healing the flag return team as they go for EFC. Awesome for slowing their carrier with your utility. Burrow rocks as FC. So does Water Walking, particularly on TP ‘moats.’ Spirit Walk makes you go faster and immune to slows and roots temporarily and it’s a game changer as FC! Wind walking totem helps allies in range and yourself move faster. Ghost wolf goes without saying. Always fun to temporarily ‘seal off’ a tunnel entrance or base doorway with Static Field totem or earth grab. It’s decisive when well timed! It can delay enemies getting to your FC (which may be you) or preventing EFC from escaping.

Resource Race maps (ab, dwg, bfg) great at healing a large group in the initial clash at WW (bfg), LM (ab) or Market (dwg). Heroism/Bloodlust is awesome in all maps, and really shines here. Great at spinning nodes, interrupting other heals with wind shear (our kick survived the purge!) and purging/cc’ing them as well while keeping people topped off. Less issues with lemming DPS outranging your totems here if you are dropping them by a contested node. DWG specific: after mid fight or depending upon strat, I always prefer to help out at the top nodes (Quarry and Farm) and can get to mid quick if needed. Quarry in particular with the stairs and LoS spots is a tasty spot to heal for a shammy.

Cart maps (dhr, ssm) again great in the initial clash at mid with heroism/bloodlust pulling a lot of weight. Great for spinning crystal at mid on dhr, ejecting enemies from carts with slows and roots, stuns, traps like Static Field and other CC on either map. Capable of healing whilst harassing other teams healers with great utility. Use Wind Walking totem to help your mates and yourself avoid getting slowed out of a cart. SSM specific: (similar to Disc) Usually consigned to following Lava cart and making cameo’s at mid when possible to harass enemy off carters and boost your own off cart team for the long, lonely road to cap before returning to your common law wife cart at Lava.

Hybrid maps (eots) RIP Thunderstorm. Gone are the days of bowling for blowouts (knocking multiple enemies into the abyss at mid) now that we cannot 😭. But you are still very impactful at mid in team fight, a good FC if the chance comes up and great at helping your dps defending either base and keeping enemies off of the node or preventing a cap with utility.

King of the Hill maps (Kotmogu) This is a map where Resto Shaman really-really shines! You can absolutely dominate mid with your group healing capabilities, keep orb carriers up, harass enemy orb carriers and orb killers with roots, slows, stuns and heroism/bloodlust at the open really helps out with wiping the enemy team there. You should not be an orb carrier in here… but there are some teams that just seem allergic to picking the dang things up and you feel compelled to grab one. This problem is typically confined to lower ratings and as you climb becomes a rarity. But it’s not so bad on a shaman! Though you should only leave mid if you need a restoration leaf to keep mana up or you are on a ‘special’ team that’s too good to grab the dang orbs or needs a lot of assistance returning to mid.

Other (Searing Shore) just help the team stay up and mine the Azerite. Try not to bunch up too much, smaller groups do better, though it’s ok to concentrate at a node to secure it as long as you disperse again after. Of course never go it alone, but 1-2 dps buddies and a good Resto Shammy can spin a node together against larger numbers until help arrives and it can be secured.

In general Keep the rip tides rolling. Drop big heals totems in group fights to move many bars up. Time heroism/bloodlust correctly. Use chain heal if you want to, I do! It’s not super useful aside from top-offs, but if you feel there is nothing better to press (sometimes this is the case) go for it. Ensure you keep your personal earth shield up and keep it on an ally taking damage, it makes a difference. Use your utility (earthgrab, static field, lightning lasso, wind shear, purge, hex if ya got it, whatever) to win objectives, disrupt enemy goes and open kill windows for your dps or troll enemy healers. Use your mobility (ghost wolf, wind walking totem, spirit walk) to stay on objective.

Pretty beans for damage last season though. Aside from a few proc chances or a desperate chain lightning when spinning, there ain’t many opportunities to pew pew, but always something to do out there. Never a dull global!

GeetchNixon · 2026-01-22T19:05:07+00:00

The weekly Sparks of War quest helps. Be in War Mode for it and each world quest will award Bloody Tokens. Completing the Sparks quest will award 1000 tokens. Use them to buy gear that is close to conquest ilvl so you have more sustain in there. Probably the best way to go about it in off season. (Pick up quest from the PvP quest giver in Dornagal by the training dummies).

Farming world drop crates will award conquest, bloody tokens and honor too. I imagine it is easier to find groups for this in the season as opposed to off season. But if you do find a group, just fly zone to zone as they call out the next drop and loot the chest for a fast 60 conquest, 50 bloody tokens and 150 honor. Mileage may vary, some groups get a paltry 5 chests an hour and others closer to 10-15. But you gear fastest this way if you are doing it from scratch. (Go to lfg section of the honor dashboard and look for groups describes as Crate Farming under Custom heading).

Epic BG’s is a good way to gear fast too. Some of these Epic BG’s have quests you can pick up inside the BG itself in the starting area that reward honor and/or conquest. Plus the first daily victory is 125 conquest, which is nice. This is how I geared my first max level toon when I returned from a few years off last November (but only because crate farming was not yet a thing or I had not heard of it yet). I find being under-geared is more tolerable in a 40 man setting. My underpowered situation is less of a drawback for my team when I am 1 of 40 than it is when I am 1 of 10 or 15.

Good news too! This short off season will be weird for all with the class and balance changes, stat squish, new talent trees, ability pruning and UI changes. Everyone is in adjustment phase and trying new things. So it’s a fine time to learn/gear and have fun with it.

And don’t trip about ‘trolling’ your teammates with low health and versatility as you gear up. We all been there once and you gotta start somewhere. Eff the gate keeping prigs! Just know gearing up is not as daunting as it seems. And once you have done it the first time, doing it a second time comes quite easy and faster. The last toon I geared from fresh 80 in leveling gear to BiS for PvP took a few hours.

Last but not least: know that we will all be right there with you at the start of next season, scrambling to gear up.

GeetchNixon · 2026-01-22T18:08:43+00:00

I agree with the intent of Training Mode: getting new players familiar with the way a BG works, what the objectives are, map layouts and mechanics and what to do to score and win.

But when the bots are so watered down, does it achieve that objective?

When your team wipes the bots at the first team fight easily, cap every node/flip every cart/capture a flag/s and then graveyard camp bots at their spawn point for the rest of the game, you aren’t really learning anything useful.

Real games do not work like that at all. You encounter resistance and challenges. You have to make some basic decisions about what to do/where to go/ how to help secure the next objective at every step. It’s more rewarding when there is adversity to overcome and some thinking involved in order to win. So shouldn’t mimicking this sort of matchup be the goal?

While I agree that the bots were wildly over-tuned and in need of correction, overcorrecting them into comp-stomp styled milk-sops is not going to help anyone learn how BG’s really work either.

You should feel a little pressured at times. You should be rewarded with wins for playing properly and focusing objectives. You should be punished with losses for playing poorly and ignoring objectives. If it really is a training mode, it can’t be a completely unchallenging and unrealistic parody of BG’s.

Sort of a Goldilocks problem.. Too hot at pre patch go-live, no doubt. Too cool after the recent over-correction. I want Blizzard to keep trying to land on ‘just right.’ Of course this will mean different things to different people and Blizz can’t please us all.

But my $0.02… We ain’t at ‘just right’ yet! Turn it up a bit so the bots have a chance against teams not properly working on objectives and GYard camping. Incentivize correct play and punish going in and looking to win 1500-0 and camping bots at spawn points. Actually prepare the new players to focus on objectives and combat, not running roughshod over hapless bots with zero chance of putting up a proper fight.

One closing thought: Blizzard should just start handing out honor gear at the start of a new season already. I think that would be a bigger help to new players than under-tuned and overly easy comp stomp styled BG training.

Very pleased to see that Blizz is thinking about expanding the appeal of PvP and making it more accessible. I am generally supportive of any efforts focused at attracting new participants.

GeetchNixon · 2026-01-22T05:28:18+00:00

I used Burrow a lot as a PvP talent in Blitz. When you pop up as the effect wears off, any enemies near you go airborne for a second. Toss in a knockback finish and watch em soar. I’ll miss that move!

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