- Shadow Priest
- Affliction Warlock
- Restoration Shaman
History
Around the 2007, the Burning Crusade just came out. I had a friend in Middle School who also played WoW casually. We wanted to play together, but my Rogue was a far higher level than his Warrior. Thus, we decided to create new characters so we could start together from the beginning.We needed to select classes that the same race could be so that we would start in the same starting zone. I also thought it would be cool if we selected classes that had matching gameplay, like both were spellcasters or melee.
In lore, both specializations used Shadow magic maliciously:
- Shadow priests worship the Void; the source of Shadow magic and the antithesis of the Holy Light. Unlike conventional Holy priests, who used their faith to save allies and raise morale, Shadow priests used the Void to destroy their enemy’s minds and drive them into insanity
- Affliction warlocks inflict agonizing curses that tear apart bodies to rip out their soul. Rather than worshiping the Void, Warlocks only extract power from it. They bargain with the Void by trading stolen souls to summon demons that bend to their will.
Thus, we created our characters:
- Atramentous the Shadow Priest (me)
- Penumbra the Affliction Warlock (friend)
I envisioned us traversing the lands, spreading shadowy corruption through the land. We’d inflict numerous Shadow ailments on our foe, and they’d run in Fear as we flay their mind and drain their soul.
Lone Shadow
Despite all that effort that went into planning, my friend just wasn’t as dedicated to WoW as I was. I enjoyed playing my Priest, so I quickly surpassed him and got to max level. I did mostly PvE content, such as Karazhan with a casual raiding guild. Shadow Priests weren’t the highest DPS, but had the unique utility of generating mana to their party, which was invaluable for spellcasters and healers (known then as a "mana battery")Brothers in Arena
I forgot to mention that my two older brothers were also dedicated WoW players. Andrew played a Hunter, but had an Elemental Shaman alt. Jeff’s main was a Protection Warrior, but also had a Warlock alt. I wanted to fulfill the class duo I had planned, so I asked Jeff to play 2 vs 2 Arena with me on his Affliction Warlock.
Shadow Priests and Warlocks had excellent class synergy. Both classes had talents would passively increase the amount of Shadow and spell damage that the target takes, which would be mutually beneficial. This made the pairing even cooler, since they fit together so well in both lore and gameplay.
The main crowd-control (CC) both classes had was Fear. This CC disabled the enemy for up to 8 seconds, but could break on damage. But it would break far less often from DoT spells. This meant we could deal spread all the DoT damages without worrying about our Fear breaking. Like an investment, damage-over-time spells have a “set it and forget it” mentality. They’re easy to apply across multiple targets to passively accumulate a significant amount of damage. The strategy was to stack all of our DoTs on all enemies so they’re all weakened, at which point we could easily finish one off.
The main crowd-control (CC) both classes had was Fear. This CC disabled the enemy for up to 8 seconds, but could break on damage. But it would break far less often from DoT spells. This meant we could deal spread all the DoT damages without worrying about our Fear breaking. Like an investment, damage-over-time spells have a “set it and forget it” mentality. They’re easy to apply across multiple targets to passively accumulate a significant amount of damage. The strategy was to stack all of our DoTs on all enemies so they’re all weakened, at which point we could easily finish one off.
After the enemies get softened up, we could coordinate a CC-chain and unload a burst of damage to finish them off. Shadow Priests Silenced to prevent healing for 5 seconds, while the Warlock kept the other enemy Feared.
Jeff obliged me, but the experience came with far more struggles than I thought. Since we were both spellcasters, one of us would get tunneled hard and unable to properly apply their DoTs. We were also both DPS, so we had no healing to sustain us before our DoTs could make any meaningful progress on the enemy. Also like investing, we didn’t get our payoff since our long-term investment horizon was further than we could survive.
Three Against Three
We realized that an attrition-based playstyle would not work if we could not sustain ourselves. We needed another member; a healer to sustain us so that our DoTs could actually be effective. We had Andrew re-spec his Shaman from Elemental to Restoration so he could be our healer.
We formed our 3’s team: the Frasier Crane Fan Club.
We formed our 3’s team: the Frasier Crane Fan Club.
 |
| A Restoration Shaman fit awkwardly with the other immoral spellcasters lore-wise. All healing specs in WoW draw their powers from benevolent sources: the Holy light (Paladins/Priests), Nature (Druids), or Water spirits (Shamans), so it couldn’t really be helped. |
In 3v3, it still involved the 2 enemy DPS tunneling one spellcaster down, but we at least had healing to sustain us. We could spread our DoTs on the whole team and rapidly compound the damage. The enemy healer would be preoccupied healing not just one target, but trying to maintain their whole team’s health.
Shamans helped considerably in the burst phase by providing Bloodlust (Heroism for Alliance) for the whole party. They could also use Nature’s Swiftness for an instant Chain Lightning. And combined with Earthshock, it was a decent burst from a healer.
Since our team composition was fairly unique, we were inspired when we saw the same in a high-level PvP video. The Undead Shadow Priest player “Menismyforte” (an interesting character) made use of several Engineering gimmicks and got to the highest ratings. I believe this video was were the name “Shadowplay” was coined.
Brotherhood of Shadows
We started with mild expectations, but we eventually began investing more and more energy into Arenas. I believe we peaked around 1800 rating, which was above average.
Playing 3v3 Arena was a very strong bonding experience between us brothers. The Arena matches required great teamwork and coordination. We were all had our computers setup in the basement (not unlike the South Park episode). We communicated frantically like operators in a mission control center.
It got incredibly emotional; it could be the best, satisfying game sometimes, or the most frustrating, punch-your-monitor experience. We would get into heated arguments about who should’ve done what. It felt like it was closest experience I’ve had to seriously competing in a sports team. And like sports game, there was nothing on the line but pride. We would celebrate wins and suffer loses as a team. And from the experience, I feel I learned the skills and lessons that most people get on the childhood sport’s teams. I learned:
Playing 3v3 Arena was a very strong bonding experience between us brothers. The Arena matches required great teamwork and coordination. We were all had our computers setup in the basement (not unlike the South Park episode). We communicated frantically like operators in a mission control center.
It got incredibly emotional; it could be the best, satisfying game sometimes, or the most frustrating, punch-your-monitor experience. We would get into heated arguments about who should’ve done what. It felt like it was closest experience I’ve had to seriously competing in a sports team. And like sports game, there was nothing on the line but pride. We would celebrate wins and suffer loses as a team. And from the experience, I feel I learned the skills and lessons that most people get on the childhood sport’s teams. I learned:
- Multitasking and resource management
- Communication under stressful situations
- Self-assessment before judging teammates
- Resilience during defeat
- Learning from losing
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