Best WoW player FAQs are below this video. Trouble viewing WMV video? Install Chrome browser, then install WMPlayer Inline.

FAQs…

 

Why is Xis level 74?

I relentlessly ponder how to gain an advantage over my opponents. Blizzard’s adoption of the 70-74 bracket made for a truly complicated decision on what was best. The average WoW player quickly accepted that gains in gear, and base stats, outweighed the hefty gear scaling loss (about 25%) in the secondary stats of haste, crit, and the most important resilience.

After much thought I decided that level 74 would be my personal best level for my class and WoW player style. Firstly, I reasoned that although I would lose about 18% in secondary stats (ouch), this would matter less to me than almost all other WoW players because unlike them, I gear minimal resilience.

It is obvious to the average player that the higher levels grant the best WoW headpiece, increased base stats, and 2 talent points, but here is what I have not heard any player discussing on any forums:

As you level above your opponents…
1. Your “hit” percentage increases
2. Your WoW opponent’s “hit” percentage decreases
3. Your “perception” (ability to detect stealth) increases +5 per level

These three points pushed me to conclude that for me, level 74 was best. While a typical WoW player recognizes “hit” as more valuable than haste or crit in PvE, he follows the misconception that it is less valuable in PVP. I submit that hit is even more valuable in PvP than it is in PvE, as each miss has more drastic consequences in the extremely shorter PvP combat interval. Furthermore and most importantly, for my no-defense, cloth clad character, the ability to see rogues sneaking to attack me is crucial, more so than ever since WoW ratcheted up the DPS for the Cataclysm expansion player. The +20 perception allows me to play the offensive style I do; thus, it became clear to me, if not anyone else, that level 74 was the best marriage of benefits/drawbacks that the algorithm allowed for my WoW player style.

And as a smallest note, leveling past 70 gives me access to the Dalaran portal recipes!

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Are level 70-74 battlegrounds easier than lvl 85 battlegrounds?

You dont need to be the best WoW player to realize that any XP off battleground will be a lot harder than an XP on battleground. It is true that many of the best WoW players can be found at level 85 battlegrounds, but compare this % to the % of average WoW players with average gear. The simplest math proves the average lvl 85 battleground player is, well, average. In an XP off WoW BG your player are only playing players who have made the active choice to play with others who have turned off their XP specifically because they have maxed out their gear possibilities and skills in that bracket– The result remains The best WoW players of the bracket’s candidate pool. Clearly the best competition, and the achievements within an XP off battleground are much more difficult. If you don’t have the best gear and skills, then as a WoW player you’d better keep leveling!

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Why is Xis’ arena rating 2007/2088?

If I knew frost mages would become so overpowered, maybe the best class in the WoW bracket, a player like me definitely would have hung around level 70 a bit longer, as now that I’m 74 I can no longer participate in arena action. I can only imagine how high I could have now pushed my rating with another frost mage in 2v2. When I was active a couple years ago, there was no possible way even the best 2v2 mage could reach any WoW rating of note– if the lack of defense didn’t kill the mage player, the OOM (out of mana) definitely would. As a WoW player, it was clear to me that melee/druid teams were so overpowered that any arena aspirations I had were non-starters, so when I achieved the 2000 plateau I thought it best to pursue different WoW player vs. player goals.

When I returned to WoW last Christmas, I remained my favorite BG player spec of Arcane, and soon leveled before realizing that frost was now overpowered and best in a dueling / arena setting. The huge buff to mage player’s ice-barrier (higher damage shielding with a 2nd auto-proc), combined with the new best burst spell “deep freeze”, has given mage players their long deserved OP day in the sun. Missing this best arena opportunity will now always be a WoW player regret.

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Have mage players always been overpowered?

Definitely not. When WoW first began, mages were quite strong, but they soon fell to the bottom– just above hunters on the European WoW player tournament arena graph. Mages were just sad classes– the best WoW players absolutely were forced to go frost, as the iceblock spell was a 16 point talent (and had some very long cooldown), and this also meant that you could never reach “silence” in the arcane talent tree. The ice barrier was much weaker and did not auto proc, nor did it freeze opponents on breaking. There existed no such thing as fingers of frost or deep freeze, and the frost bolt cast time was fatally slow. Honestly I remember protesting to Blizzard on the forums to improve the situation, and honestly felt sorry for my team during battlegrounds for being of such little help.

Interestingly enough, back in those days, warlocks reigned supreme as the best WoW players– they had some soul-link / siphon life fear spam specialization that always put them #1 on both the damage and healing totals, with their pet silencing you for what seemed like forever. I almost ended my WoW player tenure because of them.

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What is it like to play in the Cataclysm expansion?

WoW playing is fun as always. Everybody does so much DPS now that my vids need to now be seen in context. In the days of old, 6K PvP crits were pretty huge, let alone my 13K bombs! In Cata I very regularly crit for 12K to 15K, with 21,262 being my personal PvP best so far (screenshot at “Weekly Picts” tab), and 25.1K best on Galv in Alterac Valley.

Lol, though my own fame as a WoW player has been a bit of a downfall! Continually strangers accost me with whispers of the best praise and hate, and requests to duel me. People often tell me that Horde players react, “Wow it’s the real Xis!” and let the flag carrier run by to hunt me down, and 85 Hordes divebomb Stormwind to gain a killing blow on me, like “Kill Xis” will then flash as a completed Achievement, lol. It’s definitely a drawback. I often think it would be best if I changed my name, removed my titles, and transmogrified into noob armor, so that I could just “play the game” like every other WoW player. But then I think, “Naa, Xis owes it to her legend and fans to let her gold robes fly atop her spectral tiger, and blast into whatever fate may hold.”

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