Albion Arena Battles
Daily Ramble 49: Albion Arena Battles
Victory in the Arena
My first experience in the new Albion Arena wasn’t so hot. I really didn’t know what to expect and I hadn’t prepared myself for dealing with the fact that healers are a primary target. Instead, I entered into the Arena just like it was a dungeon, expecting the tank to be able to keep aggravating off me while the DPS whittled down the bad guys.
Oops!
I was totally wrong…this was of course PvP. Human beings don’t focus the tank just because he’s there and in thier face. Sure, tanks often can use taunts to grab someone’s focus, but that’s short lived when considering the person on the other side of the damage wants to take down someone who’s squishy and keeping everyone else alive.
So my first experience healing in the Arena was an utter failure. My nature staff just couldn’t keep up with the damage and I didn’t have a Big Bang heal that could save someone from near death situations – which of course occur when in PvP. My big spell instead was Well of Life which pretty much meant people had to stand in my green circle which curtailed them doing damage while making them a target for the enemy.
My second try though, was much better. I went in with my Holy Staff which has some quick heals and a Big Bang heal that can bring someone back from the brink of death. I’ve been practicing using my HoT Blessing and my Flash Heal so I think I’ve got their interaction worked out well enough for this so I tried it.
And it worked.
While I died a few times, I was able to keep people alive long enough that they were able to capture the objective and win us the game. That EGA guy kept focusing me and making me back off, but my team eventually figured out what he was doing a made him back off more often.
It was an interesting experience and I’m sure I’ll run through it more often as time goes on but I think I might work with my guild to join up with a team. It’s definitely a battle mode where I think coordination would really help. If I were able to call out that I was being focused I’m sure I wouldn’t have died as much and could have kept people alive better.
On the whole, the 5v5 Arena battles are fun and a great new addition to the game. It may even encourage more people like myself to venture out into the Black Zones eventually.