The WoW Landscape

BY Andrew Miesner / January 23, 2009

We have brought on board J.P. McDaniel to keep you informed about all things WoW.  JP will be publishing a weekly article and also produces ArenaCast, one of America’s most popular podcasts.

 

I’ve had a hard time figuring out what to write for my first article for compLexity. Part of me realizes that WoW is probably a little bit of an unknown around these parts (definitely not a criticism, kudos to staying away for this long) so I was thinking maybe a beginners guide. It then came to me that I have probably written the same beginner article over five times now between all the other websites I have written for.

So this article isn’t going to tell you how players gain gear through honor by playing in battleground… wait, I’m already starting to write it. Sorry Jason Bass, you’ll just have to call me to find out more.

So what exactly is this article going to be? Well it is still a newbie guide, but this is a newbie guide to the WoW community to familiarize everyone with just who coL.WoW will be playing against at tournaments, some prominent figures in the community, and some personalities you should stay away from at all costs.

I suppose we’ll start with Gravitas Gaming, also known as Duelists Going for Gladiator. These guys are tough competitors, but they are also in the “always second but never first” party. DJ ‘Celex’ Roggenkamp, Corey ‘Emolol’ Ratliff, and Daniel ‘Ely’ Vulis make up the powerhouse Rogue/Mage/Priest (RMP) that was able to keep up with the composition Warrior/Warlock/Druid (WLD) throughout the 2008 season. Realize that I said keep up – they never beat Fnatic, but more on that later. This team is also known because of the infamous Celex nerd rage that occurred after losing at ESL Montreal. You can find this pretty easy via Google, it so I won’t link it.

Next up, since I mentioned them earlier, is Fnatic. I’m sure that even being a FPS centric group you’ve all heard about “Hafu’s team” – Hafu being the handle of the female player on this team. Rumay “Hafu” Wang, along with Andrew ‘Rhaegyn’ Miller and Alex “Glick” Hloderwski, dominated the 2008 season. Part of this could be contributed to the fact they played the strongest composition in the game at the time (WLD, mentioned previously) but it also can be contributed to the fact that Rhaegyn and Glick are both amazing, if not the best, at their classes (Warrior and Warlock, respectively). It is unsure what will happen in 2009 with this team. Hafu has picked up the Shaman class (having a less-than-stellar performance at ESL Montreal with it), Glickz is still playing the Warlock class with an impressive top five placing on Battlegroup 9, and Rhaegyn is hot-and-cold with WoW. We’ll just have to see when the first open tournament rolls around.

There are a couple of teams still, but after that it gets a little sketchy and more about individual personalities. But you’ll just have to wait till next week to learn more.