Mercreus and I ventured into the arena, not quite sure what to expect. And what we found were a bunch of teams who made clever use of the terrain. Priests who stayed out of line of sight. Night elf hunters who stealthed until you got close and then unleashed on a poor squishy mage. Other pairs of hunters teaming up on the same poor squishy mage. Just a bunch of clever mechanics, no one willing to fight one on one (or two on two as it is in 2v2).

I don't claim to be good at PvP. In fact I know I'm not even close to being good. But I do know how a mage can attempt to survive - control your opponent. I don't have an instant pyroblast, so I can't nuke them, and when I can sheep someone once, they can break it with an insignia, and then they're immune, or very unlikely to be sheeped again, what chance do I have? Warriors rush me and there's nothing for me to do. No ice block, no way to survive as a fire mage.

It's just so very frustrating. Thankfully I probably won't have to do this for too long. There's not too many items that will be upgrades and I'm not going to visit the trainer to relearn my talents to survive in an arena.

Fortunately, the Violet Eye has fully accepted me as one of their own and I have acquired the Violet Signet of the Archmage. Being an enchanter, I can put some extra spell damage on it and until I am able to venture into Serpentshrine Cavern or The Eye, I have the two best rings available to me. I think the only two spots I can upgrade are my shoulders and feet. I will probably get the Arena Season 2 shoulders when Season 3 begins and for my boots, I will continue to pray the Maiden drops them in Karazhan. Because there's no way I'm going to earn 40 marks of honor from Eye of the Storm.

And then once I'm set and ready to go, I will be able to venture into the rumored ruins of Zul'Aman and look for upgrades there.