PvP - Melee or Casting specced?

[Fratzz]

I am fairly new to the game, playing on Venekor, having a 44 warden with 54 AA. At the moment I am melee specced and quite satisfied with it. Reaching the new tier I found more and more that power becomes an issue with my melee spec (I chose quite a tad of melee equipment, having around 160 strength unbuffed). So I wondered if a respec to caster, increasing the power pool and the damage to players (spell compared to CA's in pvp) would be the more viable choice? Hope some vets can give me a clue.

[Arielle Nightshade]

<p>My other 70 Warden is on Venekor too.  I spec'd CAs and liked them a lot because when they were first available to spec, it was a new thing to see (or in some cases NOT see) a healer in the middle of things bashing people effectively with a melee weapon.   The advantage of surprise was great - and helpful.</p><p>That said, I prefer casting, and respec'd to that after trying melee.  Some people are perfectly happy with melee, I'm not one of them.  My damage casting is very good, but at 70 I have a lot of plus damage crit items and INT - which kind of tips that balance.  Plus, at 54, you are most likely doing some questing and instances in the Evil Sinking Sands - where PvP can get kind of nasty for your level.   Once you level up, you'll feel a bit stronger, I think.</p><p>If you are STR spec'd at the expense of your WIS stat, without any +power items, you will have a power pool issue - since giving up WIS gives up power.   If you can compensate for that, you should not have any power problems and be able to melee to your heart's content, I'd think.</p><p>All you'd really need to do (not knowing what your spec is for KoS AA's) is drop a few more points in the first choice in the WIS line to beef that up a bit - or get similar WIS items to make up for that.   If you don't have any points in KoS AA's and all in EoF AA's (where the melee combat arts are), you might want to take a look at them and consider it.</p><p>This is kind of nebulous, I know..hope it helps! </p>

[dpsman]

<p>I have 2 Wardens a lvl 70 fully fabled and mastered out Warden non melee specced and a lvl 67 melee specced warden.</p><p>I solo about 50% of the time. I have noticed that my melee warden is far superior to the non-melee warden, at lvl 67 I can solo mobs my 70 warden could only dream of doing. There is absolutelt no reason to sacrifice power when going melee. If you choose your gear wisely, you will find there is a ton of gear with str and wis on it. I solo healed HOF the other night on my 67 melee specced warden and had no problems, so power is not an issue.</p><p>Some will say casting does more dps; but I disagree, casting times are long and then you have to deal with resists and interupts. </p>

[Fratzz]

Hey<img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> First off, thank you for the replies. Maybe it was a bit unclear in my first post, I am perfectly happy in a PvE environment. In PvP, looking at the popuplation of opposing druids, the fights are mostly about whose power pool is out first. As a melee spec, I naturally focussed on str equipment to increase my damage output, of course with sacrificing wisdom, which lowered the power pool.<img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Reading up on damage output I found out that melee damage is significantly reduced in pvp, while casting damage is increased. So I am all torn up between burst damage (high power costs - low power pool) and low damage over some time (low power costs - high power pool), also despite the amount of healing possible with the power pool. I wanted to know about PvP wardens and their experience melee specced / caster specced. (also wanted to add that I solo pvp 90% of my time)

[Arielle Nightshade]

<p>..and I couldn't help you much with solo PvP info.  If you ever see me solo PvPing..something just went horribly wrong and the other 5 people in my group are missing from some horrible accident </p><p><img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Tallo]

My warden is only level 23, and I've been getting the combat abilities from the melee line. One thing I like is the fast cast times, and the access to spells that I'd normally have to be higher level to use. The drawback, or so it seems to me, is when your are parried or whatnot, you lose the power and nothing happens, but the recast timer has full duration, whereas with the long cast regular versions of the spells, it's available shortly after the resist.  Just my 2 cents.  I've been Loving melee warden so far, only 15 AA's, but it's great.

[Veedublya]

<p>dpsman wrote: </p><blockquote><p>I have 2 Wardens a lvl 70 fully fabled and mastered out Warden non melee specced and a lvl 67 melee specced warden.</p><p>I solo about 50% of the time. <b><u>I have noticed that my melee warden is far superior to the non-melee warden, at lvl 67 I can solo mobs my 70 warden could only dream of doing.</u></b> There is absolutelt no reason to sacrifice power when going melee. If you choose your gear wisely, you will find there is a ton of gear with str and wis on it. I solo healed HOF the other night on my 67 melee specced warden and had no problems, so power is not an issue.</p><p>Some will say casting does more dps; but I disagree, casting times are long and then you have to deal with resists and interupts. </p></blockquote><p>Something is horribly wrong with that statement... Just gonna leave it at that <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>Personally im not a big fan of the melee line, I havent played PvP with a warden but from dueling with PvE casting spec'd seemed the best way to go. If you wanna fight something straight up, throw up sandstorm and your interrupt situation has lessend, and nothing is nicer than having the ability to root/nuke on the occasion that sandstorm doesnt cut it. </p>

[Bloodfa]

My big goal for my Warden was to recreate a Beastlord.  Went with the Movement line to completion, then on the Agility line for the Charm Animal line.  And after 4 days of getting splapped around like somebody's wench, I respecced and went melee.  Holy crow, huuuuge difference.  And better for PvP.

[Fratzz]

So I tried around a bit: -KOS:Full STR - EOF: Full Melee was the original spec and had a nice damage output, but a low power pool -KOS:Full Sta - EOF: Full Movement: Doing great in groups, the heal crits are awesome, unstunnable for 30 seconds is nice, but lacking dps (imo) -KOS:Full Int - EOF: Full Movement: I have the feeling the dps is comparable to the melee spec, with the difference that you cant get rooted or knocked back. Killed a 52 ranger destroyer yesterday with that spec (me being 44). So I guess this is the caster spec for the moment for me and I'll go with that. I am just above 100 int and try to improve that to see how I will do. (had to add that I was having a real hard time fighting a wizard with maxxed improved magi shield and mana shield)