S4 Launch, when to start playing arena?

[Boylston]

My question is somewhat of the opposite of Ellay's poll about ending S3...

Should I begin playing arenas immediately after the S4 launch or wait a few days and let the dust settle?

Since everyone will be reset to 1500, does it make more sense to let the truly amazing teams pump their rating up (and avoid a lot of losses to people I can't beat) before trying to gain rating? Conversely, will there be a lot of terribly bad players who are throwing themselves into the queues in order to try to get the 1550-1600 rating-required items... people that **I** can be farming?

Thoughts? Anyone have any experience with the S2-S3 launch timeframe?

[Boylston]

I think I will. My hope is that the number of totally incompetent people hoping to get 1550-1600 rating far outnumbers the "wolves in sheep's clothing" (i.e. the 2200 point Ellays out there who just got reset to 1500).

[cepheus]

I think that in the first few weeks of season 4 it will be very hard just to maintain 1500 rating.

Think about it for a second. Every 2k+ rated team will have their rating back to 1500. Some may think this just means that they boost right up to 2k again? I think not. A lot of good team will also meet each other, resulting in very good team actually will go below 1500

Arena will be very hard until some teams way below 1500 have been dispanded and restarted at 1500, and then pushing the average rating higher.

[Lyonheart]

Based on how the start of S3 went, its really the luck of the draw. I met as many suck ass teams on my hunter as full S3 teams. We got to 1600 the first week and my hunters max rating was 1800. I was average 1700. So its just random who you get matched up with. Also there is a "gear" check I thought ? So you should be able to keep 1500+ if you were 1600+ before.

I only did two weeks of 10 games with my noob shaman. I have no healer.. i was losing every game until i repsec my paly holy and made 4 hotkeys that have him heal a dif shamy, and when he hits that hotkey the shaman have the casting macro there as well( using G15 keys for this ).. so no matter which shaman hes healing they are all DPSing. Its a short term fix, until I find a healer who will grind it out with me and learn with me. Anyways i was 0-8 before i did that and won the last two with the new heal macros hehe. I would have played more..but i was grinding EotS tokens and it was late 8P

[Evol]

Theoretically, if you're better than average, it should be to your benefit to queue early since there should be more people worse than you as opposed to better. But then again, the people that are really good are more motivated to play early and often, since they'll be trying to get 2050 for weapons asap.

I started queuing day 1 of Season 3, and on my battlegroup, I don't think anyone was over 1700 after the first day. It could be that the hardcore people just kept playing through the night and their armory didn't update though. I think our 5v5 (which was rated 1950 at the end of season 2) went something like 10-10 on the first day and we ended up like 1510. Luck of the draw.

I'll probably wait until Thursday to queue, but that's more due to the fact that I'll have so much new gear to gem and enchant that I'll probably be busy all Tuesday with that, and all my teammates raid on Wednesdays.

[JoeWunsch]

Personally I am going to make a push the initial night, and if I get 2 or 3 wins in a row, go buy the legs at 1550 required real fast.

I am wearing S1 though, and I just started getting arena points 4 weeks ago, so I can still farm the lower brackets for S3 for a while and be getting amazing upgrades from that.

[Kayley]

The battlegroup I'm on it has taken at least 2 weeks for the 1500s+ to sort itself out, roughly 2 months for the 2k+ rating to sort out. (previous seasons)

[Majo]

Many people have said that in 5v5's it's the strange, unconventional setups that mess you up, and those are usually lower rated teams. So with that in mind, I'd say queueing up early has the advantage of giving you a better chance of fighting the setups you're more ideal against.

[Havelcek]

Regardless of your rating I'm not sure it makes sense to sit out and forgo the point accumulation.

[yarr]

Regardless of your rating I'm not sure it makes sense to sit out and forgo the point accumulation.

i think he means wondering whether to start doing games immediately or wait till this weekend (since the points accumulate on a weekly basis, there is no points lost)


IMO the worst that could happen is you lose a bunch, tank your rating, and have to chartar a new team. No big deal. Jump in if you want to, if you arent happy with the results, wait till this weekend and start a new one.

If anything your efforts will contribute to the "equalization" of the new season.