Hey guys, Tiraffe here with another guide. This guide was originally written back in September/October during patch 8.2, but school got in the way and was eventually posted near the start of 8.3. For credentials, I hit 2400+ once in BFA season 2 and got the gladiator mount/title for that season, for those that care about that sort of thing.

In BFA, the goal of this guide was to help folks get Combatant or get the rank 2/3 of the Conflict and Strife Essence, with this being a ‘short’ guide to go over some basics. In Shadowlands, the goal of this guide is largely the same, introduce and familiarize those new to PVP to make their way to Combatant and beyond. Rated PVP in Shadowlands is less mandatory for those focused on PvE, as essences don’t work in the Shadowlands, but can still provide an alternative method to gearing and acquiring certain conduits and legendary recipes.

Arenas can be hard to get into, since pugs are usually looking for specific team comps, even if they’re looking to just get the conquest cap; pugs are are usually looking for someone that has similar or greater experience, similar to Raider.io scores for mythic+ dungeons. In addition, arenas have much smaller team comps consisting of either 2 or 3 players per team, so individual performance is just as important as knowing class matchups. This guide can help give some names to things you may have already seen in rated PVP.

Disclaimer: Reading a single guide won’t instantly guarantee success. Once you think you’ve got a handle on the concepts, go out and give them a try in a match.

If you’re new to rated pvp, make sure to get familiar with some of the pvp terms beforehand: https://www.wowhead.com/glossary-to-wow-pvp-terms

The requirements for the goals above are listed as follows:

  • Combatant: Requires reaching 1400 in a rated bracket (2’s, 3’s or RBGs)
    • This is also the minimum rating needed to start progress towards the season’s PVP mount, which shows as a progress bar on the rated PVP tab in group finder
    • Hitting 1400 also means you start getting the option to pick rated PVP pieces from the Great Vault that around the same ilvl as gear from normal raid, in addition to any other parts of the Great Vault you’ve unlocked for the week. Increasing your rating beyond that will increase the ilvl when you hit the next bracket of rated pvp.
    • There is no separate Weekly PVP chest to worry about. Each Rated PVP section of the Great Vault requires earning an increasing amount of honor from rated PVP, which doubles as currency to purchase gear from the new PVP vendors.
  • In addition, those seeking the Elite PVP tmogs can get specific parts of the tmog at different rating brackets.

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Lately, I have noticed a couple of things about the guild.

  1. There are almost no feral mains, if any at all.
  2. A lot of people have said that they plan on maining a Zandalari feral.

I’m not here to discourage anyone, burst any bubbles, or ruin the fun of being your very own dinosaur cat. I’m also not here to make it seem like the best class ever. I will also be the first one to tell you this: despite it being the most fun and unique class, in my opinion, it can and will suck.

This article is strictly based on my own individual experience, and it’s mostly just for fun and to have a chuckle!

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Arianrhod ran a number of people through a fun, casual night of PvP on Sunday. She writes:

Thank you all for joining PvP for Fun today! We all had so much fun and did amazing! Many people got achievements (like The Grim Reaper, Damage Control, Know Thy Enemy, Honorable Kill counts, That Takes Class, and various map Victory ones) and everyone got a brawl win!

I’m so happy you all joined and I’m hoping to see you all soon again, maybe on Wednesday latest on Sunday!

She’s looking to organize something for this week – Tuesday or Wednesday – so pop into Discord and join the discussion in the PvP channel!

We had a super awesome week this week! It was nice seeing so many new guildies take interest in running rateds with us. Shout out to all of you!

We are still having issues with getting a full group together for these, so I want to remind everyone that if you have an interest, don’t be afraid to message me with any questions that you may have! I promise I’m not going to turn you down, and we will work with you and get you where you need to be. Practice makes perfect, so practice with us!

Play wise, everyone did amazing and even surpassed expectations tonight. I had to step out for a bit, but I heard nothing but good things when I came back. Teamwork makes the dream work, and we have the teamwork aspect near on point!

If you want to start playing with us, but you aren’t sure if your main character is viable or not, I have so many guides and resources pinned in the pvp announcements discord channel. Read up on your class, make your own decisions, and know that with practice, every class can be amazing. If you have a character that you would like to play, but it isnt quite geared enough, just let me know! I will help you and work with you.

Thanks again to everyone that participated tonight, and I hope to see you all again in future events!

Next Tuesday, I will not be seeing any of you, due to work reasons. But I hope to hear continued improvement!

This week, I have seen so many new people running battlegrounds and have had several new people message me looking for how to get in on the rateds action. This is so awesome! I love seeing this grow and flourish.

From Miatreeleafa:

“Ministry of Defense’s rated battleground’s team has had a strong week. We continue to see week over week improvement with some team members hitting major achievement milestones! Congratulations to them!

We are beginning to see an influx of new PvP players. This being said, we would like to remind everyone that they need to confirm that they have read the PvP rules here with a warbringer prior to asking for an invite to the group.

Along with running normal strategies this week, we also had fun putting together a six rogue DPS team, which turned out better that expected, winning a vast majority of the games we played.

The team is discussing putting together a second RBG night on Wednesdays. What are your thoughts? Send a message to one of the warbringers, or tell us your thoughts in the #pvp channel in Discord.

Recruiting: Does this sound like fun? Well, you’re in luck. We are still looking for players that meet all requirements and have a reliable attendance history. The Ministry of Defense warbringers would love to see a full 10 man guild group running RBGs each week. We are specifically recruiting 2 ranged DPS and a Havoc/Vengeance Demon Hunter for Flag Carrier. Have questions? Message Miatreeleafa, Bizatch, Lunzzul or Bighoss on discord so we can assist you.”

I would like to add is a quick shout out to the non-guildies that have been playing with us through the new Ministry of Defense community! This community was created so that we can run and have fun with a large variety of different players, inside and outside of the guild, as well as making communication between the PvPers easier. If you would like to join the community, you can get the link here.

Be on the look out for PvP related news on Discord!

There are a couple of new guild ranks. Warlord will remain for our Raid Leaders, but a new rank, Warbringer, will be for the PVP Leaders. The Guild Praetor position was condensed with the current officer rank, Legati. All the other guild ranks are unaffected.

If you raid, or want to raid, speak to a Warlord.

If you PVP, or want to PVP, consult a Warbringer.

Do not forget about the guild’s Hallow’s End Transmog Contest currently underway at: http://ministryofdefense.net/halloween

First, I want to start off by apologizing for being four days late posting this up. We’ve been pretty ill around these parts this week.

Secondly, I want to tell everyone how awesome you all are and how amazing we are all progressing in our weekly RBGs. 

Third, here is our overview, from the lovely Miatreeleafa.

Ministry of Defense’s Rated Battleground’s Team began the week 3 – 3. We continued to see week over week improvement with some team members hitting 1500+ and 1600+ CR this week! Congratulations to them!

The Breakdown:

Wins: Battle for Gilneas, Temple of Kotmogu, Twin Peaks

Losses: Battle for Gilneas, Arathi Basin, Seething Shore

Quick shout out to Bizatch and Psychoshift who stepped up to assist as flag carriers this week sealing the victory on Twin Peaks!

The teams overall communication continued to improve this week, especially in critical situations. Although, this is something we are going to continuing working on week over week the team continues to improve by leaps and bounds. Target focusing and crowd control usage were something that all the losses had in common this week. That being said, target focusing and CC usage will be a priority going into next week. Additionally, communication as a whole will continue to be a focus of the PvP Leads.

On Friday, at 8pm server we have arenas scheduled and will be working on some areas that we struggled in this week during RBG’s. Reminder: If you don’t already have the Reporter addon, you need to.

Thanks to everyone that came out to RBG’s and the PvP meeting today, and we will see you next week at the same time.

Recruiting: Does this sound like fun? Well, you’re in luck. We are still looking for players that meet all requirements and have a reliable attendance history. The PvP Leads would love to see a full 10 man guild group running RBG’s each week. We are specifically recruiting one healer, 2 ranged DPS and a Havoc/Vengeance Demon Hunter for Flag Carrier.

Have questions? Message any of the following officers: Miatreeleafa, Bizatch, Lunzzul or Bighoss on discord so we can assist you.