We are currently planning to end Arena Season 7 as early as January 19. At that point we will go through our normal process to determine who is eligible for the end-of-season rewards. This process should take approximately one week. It’s very important for players who feel that they may be eligible for the arena-specific titles and/or Relentless Gladiator’s Frostwyrm to refrain from transferring their character to another realm until after Arena Season 7 ends.

The following Arena Season will not begin for at least one week after the current season ends. During this time between seasons, all rated matches will be turned off and only skirmishes will be available. When Arena Season 8 begins, all team ratings, personal rating, and arena points will be wiped, but matchmaking rating and honor points will remain.

It will be interesting to see if the daily battleground quest still gives arena points during the week after the end of Season 7. Theoretically there’ll be at least 175 extra points available during the hiatus so if you’re still saving for gear and are a few points short on the 20th Jan, don’t waste them all on honor tokens

Bmx:
Hey There Keatstwo, thank you for allowing us to interview you. First of all could you introduce yourself to our readers?

Keatstwo:
Hi there Bmx, my current main is Keatstwo, a rogue which i started playing last season,
before that i mainly played paladin (Keats, duh) but got sick of it and quit partway though s5.
Like most people who quit I ended up coming back and decided to roll rogue because, well,
I guess it just looked like fun! Been playing pretty much since launch and I’ve enjoyed PvP ever since BGs were introduced.

Bmx:
Sounds like quite a WoW history. Why did you pick the rogue class to roll after your comeback?

Keatstwo:
Well, I enjoyed paladin, but it always seemed a bit dull. I used to watch quite a lot of PvP vids
and most of my all time favorites were rogue movies by Buddhist, Mahiko, Akrios, Happyminti etc. etc.
So thought I’d give it a shot!

Bmx:
Haha. So after rolling your rogue and trying to be like the people you looked up to. How did you do in arena?

Keatstwo:
Well I was a bit shaky to start off with, but whilst playing my paladin I made some pretty good friends who’ve been doing consistently well in arena since the early days, they were kind enough to play with me despite my lacking gear and inexperience
as a rogue. I feel I’ve learnt alot by playing with really good players and getting the chance to play against
some of the better players on our BG.

Bmx:
You sure sound like a lucky one to me. After playing with these players what setups do you prefer for 2v2 and 3v3 and why these setups?

Keatstwo:
Well I can’t say i’ve played an overly wide variety. Focused mainly on priest / rogue in 2v2 last season, which was a pretty fun and versatile setup. Played a bit of rogue / rogue and rogue / mage, which were fun too, but I’d have to go with priest / rogue as it’s a much more forgiving comp. Don’t really play 2s very often nowadays though

as for 3v3…
I’ve played some pretty wierd stuff, the wierdest would have to be rogue / rogue / resto druid, or maybe rogue / priest / moonkin, which were fun but never overly competative. I’ve only played a little RMP but as everyone knows that’s a solid comp and i’d like to play more of that someday. Currently im playing priest / ret / rogue, which is a bit zergy, but it’s quick, fun games, and my partners really know what they’re doing, so for now that’s my fave 3s comp.
(sorry for the wall of text).

Bmx:
No problem. On to the next question which is an easy one. What do you think the easiest and hardest encounters are for rogue in arena?

Keatstwo:
Well in 3v3 right now there aren’t that many hard counters. RMP is countered pretty hard by beast cleave, but most rogue comps are pretty versatile and can deal with a wide range of comps. Double healer teams are always a pain though, and no matter how well you play there’s always the chance a wizard cleave will global you or a TSG will kill your healer in a strangulate / bladestorm ^_^

Bmx:
Have you got any hints or secrets you want to let our readers know regarding rogue pvp?

Keatstwo:
Umm, lets see. If you aren’t using them, focus macros help alot (focus kick, blind, dismantle etc.) If you play with a priest try calling for a PWS before you vanish to reduce the chance of getting knocked out. You can start out of stealth then immediately stealth on most arenas, this brings you up on your enemy’s gladius so they won’t know immediately when you open. If you’ve got kidney up and an enemy rogue is in evasion it’s always worth gouging him, if it lands you can kidney him without fear of wasting it. That’s all i can think of off the top of my head really!

Bmx:
Allright your really being helpfull here! Are there any shoutouts you’d like to make?

Keatstwo:
Um, big shoutout to my guild <Daycare> Chromaggus EU. Also big XOXO to Pettan, Roth, Aletank and Lilim and co.
Also, Cornedbeef is terrible ^_^

Bmx:
Well thanks a lot for allowing us to interview you! We wish you the best of luck in arena and are hoping to hear from u again soon!
In the meanwhile, keep checking http://www.lastrogue.com for our weekly interviews!

Features include;
PVP Trinket status
CC timers
Target-of-target display

Also announces the following events to party/RW (not turned on by default);
Trinket announcement – announces when the trinket is used/is ready again.
Drinking announecment – announces when an enemy has started to drink.
Enemies on low health – announces enemies that are about to die, you can set the percentage yourself. *

Gladius can be downloaded from http://curse.com

* Bold text because, embarrasingly, I didn’t realise Gladius did this until I started watching live feeds from AJ. Maybe others aren’t aware either? Hmm…

Damage wise, a warlock’s most devistating combo (the one you really need to keep on top of) is Immolate/Chaos Bolt/Conflagrate. Expect to see this combo hit for very high damage (16k+ from crits vs decent resilience is not unheard of, not bad for two cast spells and an instant).

Immolate

2.5second cast time, this deals initial damage, then puts a 15second dot on you.

Chaos Bolt

2.5second cast time, this will bypass CloS and Pw:S. Does 20% extra damage if you have an Immolate dot on you.

Conflagrate

Instant cast spell on a 10second CD. This will convert an Immolate or Shadowflame dot into instant damage equal to 15seconds/8seconds of the initial dot.

Unstable Affliction

A 1.5second DoT that will silence/damage anyone who attempts to dispel it. Can be CloS’d off safely, but don’t expect your healer to want to dispel you when this on ticking.

Metamorphosis

A 30second self buff with a 3minute CD. Transforms the warlock into a demon, giving +600% armour, +20% damage and a 50% stun/snare reduction.

Crowd Control

Howl of Terror

0/1.5second cast (depending on spec). An AoE fear similar to a priest’s Psychic Scream. 40second CD

Fear

1.5second cast, a 10 second fear with no cooldown.

Death Coil

Instant cast, 2minute CD. This spell is classed as a ‘horror’ rather than a fear and does not share diminishing returns with fear/psychic scream. Do not waste a trinket on this, it will only last for 3seconds and is often used by Warlocks to allow them to cast a 10second fear on you without having you interupt it.

Shadowfury

Instant cast, a AoE stun. Has a 20second CD and will naturally take you out of stealth.

Banish

A 1.5second cast that will lockdown elementals, other warlock minions and treeform druids.

Key Pet Abilities

Voidwalker – Consume Shadows

Gives a buff to all friendly targets, increasing stealth detection by 40 (highest ‘+stealth detection’ buff in the game apart from the Shadow-sight crystals). Lasts for 6 seconds.

Succubus – Seduction

1.5second cast, this is a channeled CC that can be interupted with damage to break the affect.

Felhunter – Spell Lock

24second cooldown, this will attempt to silence a target for 3seconds.

Misc

Demonic circle: Teleport

An instant cast teleport that will move the warlock to their summoning circle as long as it is in 40yards range. 30second cooldown, expect the warlock to kite away from the circle (careful in the Circle of Blood arena, you may find them trying to bait you into jumping off the bridge before they teleport back up again).

#showtooltip Sinister Strike (or /#showtooltip Mutilate etc)
/run SetCVar(“Sound_EnableSFX”,”0″)
/use 10
/cast Sinister Strike ( or /cast Mutilate)
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear()
/run SetCVar(“Sound_EnableSFX”,”1″)
/startattack

This example will try to proc whichever gloves you are wearing at the time (/use 10), then cast a sinister strike.

#showtooltip Fan of Knives
/cast Fan of Knives
/startattack

For trash pulls/AoE spam, ensures you start attacking the next nearest target if your current target dies.

#show throw
/cast deadly throw
/cast throw (or /cast shoot for PVE purposes)

Save up a slot/keybinding on your actionbar by combining throw and deadly throw into one icon – this will Deadly Throw if you have the combo points, or perform a normal throw otherwise.

#showtooltip
/cast [nomodifier] blind
/cast [modifier:alt, target=mouseover] blind
/cast [modifier:ctrl, target=focus] blind

Hold alt to blind your mouseover target or control to blind your focus.

#showtooltip Gouge
/cast Gouge
/stopcasting
/use [target=player] Heavy Frostweave Bandage

Possible lifesaver in 1v1/CC situations.

#showtooltip Tricks of the Trade
/cast [target=XXX] Tricks of the Trade

Set XXX to who you want to TotT onto, any of the following works; party1, party2, focus, Playername.