On The E - Sofa With Dark. An Interview with Vaylen on his latest venture!

Happy Friday ladies and gents!! So, more Alpha changes, which left a lot of people on MMO forums crying about Mistweavers, DeathKnights look set to become the first ranged tanks with the removal of rune strike for death coil, I got my Vicious Gladiator mount, and my guest Vaylen started a whole new guild....WHAT A WEEK!!
    I do not intend to delve into the rantings on MMO, it's far too toxic for my liking and people seem to be belly aching for the sake of it. in my humble opinion, lets just wait for the betas, see what its ACTUALLY like, and then if its bad, the soap boxes can be re-mounted. However I will brag about my mount!! SO pleased, 100 3v3 arena wins with some guildies, which has taken us a good few weeks! I did actually earn the mount on my Hunter but the Monk isn't too far behind!

   Now for this weeks main post, *Flumps down on E- Sofa* This week I have with me, none other than the fabulous Vaylen, who you may recognize as the author of The Legacy of the Brew blog. 

Dark: Welcome Vay! Lovely to see you, and an honor to have you gracing the E- Sofa! Just to remind everyone, can you give me a little of your WoW history and tell us what character you main?

Vaylen: Certainly! I started back in 2007 and played a Dwarf Hunter over on Shattered halls and then moved too Stormreaver once I hit level 65 and when I realised I could use a gun... IM SORRY GUYS! . This was during The Burning Crusade and being my first character I was still learning and yes! I was that hunter stealing every weapon because.. Every weapon was a hunter weapon! /cast Raptor Strike! I then got in to raiding and started in Karazhan with a great guild called Vanguard. Once WOTLK come out I wanted something new so I decided to try horde on the server Hellscream. Here I played a Enhancement Shaman through all of the content heroic included. I continued playing my Shaman but as elemental during cataclysm and as soon as I saw MOP I was playing a Holy paladin but with a new class in the works and the new monk class looking as great as it did, I new I wanted to once again change. The Monk is my main character now and I'm pretty sure it always will be from here on out, Its epic. I have also over the years done my share in high end PvP such as Arenas and RBGS so you could say I have done a bit of everything, a jack of all trades if you will. 

Dark: An excellent choice! What made you choose the Monk?

Vaylen: I love it's feel. The most important thing to me is if I have a connection to it in terms of having the need to play it and it certainly does that, even now. Each Monk spec stands out on its own and can pull its own weight that's for sure. If you follow my blog, you may also know how much I love the lore, though I admit there's not much, its still incredible! 

Dark: So how long have you been playing?

Vaylen: - About 7-8 years in total.

Dark: Now onto the juicy stuff...Are you comfortable? I just had the E-sofa restuffed!

Vaylen: I'm pretty kooshty right now! Though tired from over sleeping this morning and rushing off to work within 5 minutes... I'm gravy! 

 Dark: You recently took a short break from WoW, has this helped rekindle your love for the game? 

Vaylen: I would say so, I wanted to take a break for a number of reasons. It was my actual first real hiatus from the game but it was most definitely needed and hell yeah it has but strangely for a different amount of reasons. 

Dark: So tell us about Forged Legacy, what drove the initial idea? 

Vaylen: If I'm honest it was totally random to an extent. I wanted to create a guild for all my friends I have met over the course of my wow history to come together and just have a laugh and enjoy the rest of this content till WoD. I was also watching alot of the CTR podcasts and I just wished the EU realms had a community like that... then it sparked a little thought in my mind, what if? So full steam ahead! I put up a forum post about my plans, short/long term goals and such and it sparked the interest in a ton of people and I have been overwhelmed ever since! We wanted to create a social community for everyone to enjoy, to feel at home and enable players to feel welcome. Guilds have become celibate, especially Social ones, we all want to enjoy our game time, so I thought this guild could be a great way to do so.  Right now we have people who have only just started the game and want to meet new people. We have veterans who want to stay away from the crazy end game content now and relax and enjoy the game at a much more slower pace.

Dark: How many people are in the guild at the moment and can any class join?

Vaylen: Right now, we're sitting on around 25/30 active players with the same mind set as me. I have refused to use the auto invite macro and have spoke to each and every one about the guilds ideas and everyone of them agrees with it entirely which is so refreshing, its great to meet people with the same passion to build a community Its great. Any class can join, any age can join, friends and family can join! Even if you have a main and want to have an alt in our little home, you're most welcome too! Your game time is valuable and we want to strive to make it just as fun!



Dark: Any future plans for raiding?

Vaylen: I get asked this a lot and to be honest we do! WoD will be our real chance to test out the guild raiding potential. With the current Flex systems being the new normal's in WoD this also enhances that social aspect we want to really capture. This means that even if you only have an hour to come on and fancy a few goes at a boss you can do so, we don't enforce anything upon our members so if you wish to take part, you will be invited, summoned and ready to rock. We also have some high end raid leaders joining shortly, so if they want to make SoO runs, they're welcome too. I want to focus more on the social aspect so I will be working on the guild events we have monthly, thats my main priority right now. If We just end up raiding all of a sudden, we will go against our goals and thats something I want to avoid, like i said though, if people want to set up raids they can, but I would like them to refrain from pushing people in to it and such. 



Dark: Are there any activities the guild will be participating in? (non raiding)

Vaylen: Oh you bet! How does Pet battle tournaments for gold sound? not your thing? Maybe the fastest 5 man pre MOP content clears (heroic ICC) open world arenas 2v2, screenshot competitions, TCG give aways and contracts sound good? We have these in the works, contracts is one I will be focusing on alot. This is the way the guild will use the Guild bank gold to reward those people who help out. Contracts will be set every Wednesday and players can get a specific herb, food, metal the guild bank needs and will be paid to do so. Players will also be able to use their gold to buy items from the GB half the AH price and that gold will go towards rewards for our competitions and events. 



Dark: So...what's the dream? (And no, "to have all the worlds bacon" is not a suitable answer!)

Vaylen:  BUT.... BUT I WANT MOAR BACONS! The dream is simple, to create a unique, special and welcoming home for players. I say home because we really don't want to become just a normal guild, or a guild that have 200 members and no one talks, we want to build a community, to allow players to enjoy their game time that little bit more. We also want to create a Forged Legacy Podcast for our guild members to be interviewed and share their experiences with us. Seems like a crazy Idea right? But We have 100% focus on doing so! and doing it right. We already have website developers working on a site who we met from the guild, Ventrilo, raid call and so much more to come, its amazing and I'm so blessed from the responses from it! 

Dark: Well, I've signed up and have a DK alt sat in already...but I know you, how can people who don't know you get in touch with you if they want to join?

Vaylen: Simply mail me in game if I'm not online, only because I seem to get flooded with whispers when I log on now from new members and people looking to join, due to this I also have a recruitment Officer Syana who you can also contact.  Their also there to cover our guild basics and make sure this is the right move for you! If this is still too slow for you, add my battle tag: Vaylen#2903 and I will have a chat to you in game! We will also have a website with a open shout box for any other questions you want asked! more info on that soon! Thanks Dark for taking the time to interview me and as always much love the the monk community!

Vay, you're always welcome!! So there you have it folks, from Hiatus to Guild creator! If you guys want to catch up with Vaylen and the rest of us on our website you can click here  to shoot on over there. Also, I have set myself up a Twitch stream finally, though I am waiting for our SP to sort our upload speed out. I will more than likely update on that next week. For now, have fun and be good! 

Dark xx

An oldie but goldie, Myself and Vay on one of our lore Adventures when he was still a Troll!


 

Know your Enemy! A guide to dealing with different classes in Arenas

Happy Easter to one and all!! I'm rather enjoying Noble Garden this year, having been rather lucky and won a mount and pet in the first 100 eggs collected I consider myself a very happy bunny ^_^ (see what I did there?) 

This weeks post is a little late as I spent the weekend with family, but here it is none the less! I am going to talk you through the various different DPS classes that you will deal with in Arenas, more specifically I shall dish out some nice ways to deal with them as a Mistweaver*, so sit back, relax...you know the score by now ;)

*Please note this is  a simple guide for around 1500 rating, I'm not rocking 2k+ just yet ;)

Mages.

Damage type - Magic Caster
Cc abilities - Deep freeze, Polymorph, Improved Counterspell.
Defensive abilities - Iceblock, Invisibility, Blink, Spell Steal, Ice/molten Armor.

Mages are one of my least favorite classes to deal with in general. Most of the mages you encounter will be frost spec, you may come across the odd fire mage and on rare occasion (for me once in 200+ 3v3's) you may see an arcane. A Mage will nearly always start the encounter invisible, so rushing jade wind can be nice option for this, however, it is mana intensive, and unlike a Rogue, a Mage does not need to be right next to you to begin his/her attack. With this in mind, I would look at the rest of their team before you take RJW, for me, Xuen is a nicer option to take against casters as he can provide a very nice DPS boost and you can stay out of harms way while he does his thing. Frost mages are riddled with stuns and more annoyingly slows, so tigers lust is pretty much a must here. An important thing to try and do with a Mage as a healer is line of sight him/her as much as possible to stop yourself getting continually polymorphed. Diffuse magic is nice to take here to help you survive an opening burst if you are the target of choice. 


Death Knights. 

Damage Type - Shadow/Physical melee
CC abilities - Deathgrip, Asphyxiate/Strangulate, Remorseless Winter.
Defensive abilities - Desecrated Ground, Anti-Magic Shell, Anti-Magic Zone, Lichborne, Icebound Fortitude, Dark Simulacrum.

Most Dk's in arenas these days are Unholy. If this is the case, be prepared to deal with a high amount of sustained damage, some irritating Cc and a Gargoyle. My preference is to take Dampen harm when I come across any physical damage dealers, however as UH DK's spit out a shed ton of nasty magic dots, I do favor diffuse magic. Depending on which of your team mates are gone on, you will be needing to keep as much top up healing rolling as possible to deal with the dots, so renewing mist and uplift will be your best friends. Ring of peace is also an excellent choice against DK's, disarming them can stop a hell of a lot of damage on an ally at a crucial moment, giving you some healing space, but don't get too comfortable, UH DK's have access to two really annoying "you can't cc me" spells, Lichborne and Desecrated Ground, so keep an eye on what CD's they have left before you use it.

Druids. 

Feral;
Damage type - Physical melee
CC abilities - Cyclone, Disorienting Roar, Maim, pounce.
Defensive abilities - Bear Form, Might of Ursoc, Stealth, Entangling roots, Dash, Displacer Beast, Natures Grasp.

Feral Druids are another stealth class, and will often start the encounter invisible. One of the major things to note about ferals is that they can cause a lot of heavy bleeds on your allies, which you much of course heal through. They also have an annoying amount of Cc, so LoS is again very important. RoP I have also discovered does little to sway a Ferals Damage, so, depending on the remaining enemy team, Leg Sweep may be more appropriate here. Druids are also, like you as a MW, notorious kiters, and thanks to shape shift, slows and roots do little to keep them in place, however, as a nifty MW with your roll and disable, you should be able to do a pretty good job of keeping up with them.

BoomChicken;
Damage Type - Magical Caster
Cc abilities - Same as feral
Defensive abilities - Same as feral.

BoomChickens are ranged with a ridiculous burst if they are allowed to free cast. Setting this as your focus target if its not the kill target must be a priority, and interrupting him/her and silencing him/her as often as possible to stop them from casting is essential.
KILL IT WITH FIRE.

Hunters. 

Damage type - Physical/Magical Ranged
Cc abilities....LOADS. Scatter Shot, Freeze Trap, Wyvern Sting/Binding Shot/Intimidation, Silencing shot. I'm not going to list the pet abilities, but basically through their pets, hunters have access to EVERY CC ability in the game.
Defensive abilities - Deterrence, Disengage, Stealth, Feign Death.

Dealing with hunters is not easy. They have a big burst and a lot of CC. Make as much use of your Transendence as you can to get behind pillars to line of sight them. If you have your set bonuses (and you should have by now) be sure you use your thunder focus tea before doing ANYTHING that requires you to stand and cast or you will get interrupted. Something to note about hunters is that they will use a cc method whereby they scatter shot you, which will cause disorientation, then lay a trap at your feet, which you will walk into. Try not to panic pop your trinket on the disorient, and let them use up the trap CD before you use it. You're going to want your life cocoon handy to save allies from the damage they can put out, and RoP once again will save your melee friends from damage for a short time.

Priests.

Damage Type - Magical Ranged
Cc abilities - Fear, Silence.
Defensive abilities - Dispersion, Fade, Vampiric Embrace (Glyphed).

Priests are pretty easily dealt with, although they can be a little annoying for your dps to kill, they only really have one major ability for you to worry about which is devouring plague. Make sure you dispel that and the priest will not be able to do much damage. Leave that on and the priests next mind flay is going to cause you some serious issues. One thing to note, dispelling Vampiric touch will case you to be feared for 3 seconds. This IS worth it to get rid of the devouring plague, however VT is heal-able on its own. Taking diffuce magid is nice here, as it will negate a devouring plague on you, thus saving you a dispel. 

Warlocks.

Damage Type - Magical Ranged. 
Cc abilities - Shadowfury, Mortal Coil, Howl of Terror, Fear, Blood Horror.
Defensive abilities - Unending Resolve, Sacrificial Pact, Demonic Gateway, Demonic Circle.

Warlocks will either dish out sustained magic damage (Destro) or let you deal with some nasty DoTs (Affliction). On the odd occasion you come across a demo lock, they will deal a farily ample burst and their pets can be highly irritating. 
The most important thing with warlocks is to stop them getting their gateways up, thus disabling their ability to nip around the arena and out kite you. One majorly noteworthy thing about walocks is that most of them will use the succubus pet. This thing is probably THE single most annoying entity to deal with. Ever. It will cast a mezmerize on anyone and anything that attacks or attempts to CC the lock. Of course you can kill the pet, but it will be re summoned instantly and as they have a large amount of HP this becomes a pointless exercise. Line of sight is the best way to deal with the warlock, though in comparison to Hunters and Mages their burst damage is not too bad, as they will need time to build up their embers/soul shards before they can really get going. Dispelling unstable affliction will return damage to you, so make sure you have HoTs on yourself if you need to dispel it.

Shamans.

Damage Type - Ranged magic melee/caster
Cc abilities - Hex, Capacitor Totem.
Defensive abilities - Spirit Walk, Healing stream totem, Air Totem.

Elemental shamans and Enhancement Shamans both have a fairly hefty burst, with the Enh Shammy being the slightly worse of the two. You'll want your life cocoon and RoP ready for whoever they decide to open on. Make it your mission to kill as many totems as you can, as soon as they are deployed, thanks to Crackling jade lightening you can do this from a safe distance, whilst line of sighting them to keep out of  Hex range. Diffuse magic is nice here to quell some of the burst if they go on you, and of course you can use the trusty RoP to disarm the Enh Shammys.

Rogues.

Damage Type - melee Magic/physical
Cc abilities - Sap, Gouge, Blind, Kidney Shot, Garrote.
Defensive abilities - Feint, Evasion, Vanish, Smoke Bomb, Cloak of shadows.

Rogues are another stealth class, one which I really like to take RJW for, this enables you to "find" them easier when they are in stealth. Their poisons are quite hefty and they have the ability to chain CC and kill you pretty instantly unless you are quick enough to disarm them and get out of there. They are not the easiest Class to kite as they can shadowstep to you, and they have a speed boost should they select the talent. Too keep your allies safe the RoP is essential, and glyphing your life cocoon is also pretty life saving.

Paladins.

Damage Type - Physical Melee
Cc abilities - Turn Evil, Blinding light, Hammer of justice.
Defensive Abilities - Divine Protection, Hand of protection, Hand of Freedom.

Paladins can deal a massive physical burst if allowed to. RoP works nicely to combat this, especially if you wait until they pop their wings and the guardian. As long as you and your allies can keep their burst down to a minimum, and you can keep out of LoS, they are really easy to deal with compared to other melee classes. The only hugely annoying thing they have is the infamous bubble, you generally have to dps them down until they pop that then start all over again as by the time its done they will be full HP again.

Warriors.

Damage Type - Physical Melee
Cc abilities -  Intimidating Shout, Charge, Disarm.
Defensive abilities - Spell Reflection, Shield Wall, Second Wind, Beserker Rage, Heroic Leap.

Warriors are, in my humble opinion the worst of the melee classes. They can case insane amounts of damage and CC and take a fair bit of punishment all at the same time. If they go on one of your allies you will want RoP and Cocoon at the ready. Tigers lust is also very nice for dispatching that hamstring. Fortunatley, they are relatively kiteable, even with their movmemnt buffs such as charge, as your roll and TL and Trans will out manouver them, and also cause them to potentially waste their own speed boosts. Note that they also cause some heavy bleeding, so keep HoTs up at all times.

 

Monks.

Sigh, where to start. The short answer to this is that if the monk is anygood at all, you are going to have a hard time. Their CC abilities are the same as yours with the addition of fists of fury. They can also Kite you for days, or keep up with you if you are kiting them. Be prepared to deal with a lot of physical damage and a huge burst. 

Hopefully this can be of some sort of use, as I said in my little disclaimer, this is only stuff I have discovered myself, and not in any way a professional guide, just things that work for me :D


 

The Libester award (and some other..stuff)

Happy Friday guys!!

Well the first thing I saw when I logged on this morning was that I have hit 5000 pageviews, this is a relatively small number in comparison to some other bloggers I am sure but for me that number is pretty huge, considering when I started this blog I actually thought it would only be me reading it! At this point I would like to say thanks to Sunnier for helping me get it off the ground, and for taking the time to advise me on how to blog. 

I FINALLY finished my Ulduar transmog set, so now I look like a rogue that can wield a staff :D However I ditched the helmet because it's not very nice looking, and traded in my Deathblow X goggles, which can also drop from a boss in Ulduar!

The Libester Award. 

A big thank you to Vaylen for nominating me for this award!
Vaylens Blog is here and you can read more about the award here.

Rules to follow!

- Write a blog post about the Liebster Award.

- Thank the person who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.

- Display the Award on your blog.

- Answer the eleven questions that the blogger has given you.

- Nominate up to eleven blogs who you think deserve the award.

- Give eleven random facts about yourself.

- Create eleven questions for them to answer.

- List the rules on your post.

- Inform the bloggers that they have been nominated and link them to your post

The questions I had from Vaylen:

 

- What made you start blogging and why?

I really enjoy writing as a hobby, and was inspired by Sunnier's blog originally. I spend so much time playing WoW I wanted to document some of it. I also wanted to be part of the monk community in general and most of us have blogs or columns of some description. It's a nice way to get information on your class and see other peoples ways of doing things.

 

- What class stands out to you the most and why?

My Monk of course!! I have got a 90 of pretty much every class in the game now except a Shammy and Mage and the monk is still the one I enjoy the most. I love the fact that you can fill any role and have an amazing amount of unique utilities. I also like the ability animations and the fighting style.

 

- If you could choose your top three raids what would they be?

Even though I am an MoP baby, i am a mogaholic so I spend a lot of time in old raids, a lot of which I would have loved to experience when they were current. My top 3 are: Firelands, Ulduar and Karazan.

- Your favourite location within WoW?

This spot. Right here.

 

- If you could re roll to any class, what would it be and why?

 For someone that has as many alts as me this is difficult, because I enjoy playing them all for different reasons. If I had to pick one, probably my Druid, as I love the versatility he offers for roles.

- If you had any tips for new bloggers what would they be?

Be yourself.

 

- Any post your most fond of?

This one!

 

- Most memorable moment in WoW?

Our raid team downing Garrosh on normal for the first time.

 

- Whats your favorite City in WoW?

Undercity! I am a hallowen nut so yeah, I love the creepy places :D

 

- If you could be any Warcraft Hero, who would it be?

 

- Do you like bacon as much as me?

I'm more of a sausage person myself :)

11 random facts about me:

1. I also play Warhammer.

2. I have a little lore story for each of my toons.

3. I suffered with depression.

4. I am obsessed with pirates.

5. I love Disney films.

6. My geographical knowledge is shockingly bad.

7. I am a Pastafarian.

8. I have OCD.

9. I am terrified of cows.

10. I have a low tolerance for unintelligent and/or ignorant people.

11. I like to study micro expressions and body language.

People I am nominating:

Sunnier - http://sunniersartofwar.com/

Arielle - http://theincbear.com/

Tzufit - http://treehealsgowoosh.wordpress.com/

 

My 11 questions:

 

1. How long have you played WoW?

2. Are there any other games you like to play?

3. What was your first character and why did you pick it?

4. If you could have one spell from any other class on your main, what would it be and why?

5. Where do you like to AFK?

6. What's the worst "oops" moment you have had in a raid?

7. What is your favourite raid boss?

8. Do you have any pets? If so, what do you have?

9. Did you enjoy the legendary cloak questline?

10. Who is your favourite character in WoW and why?

11. Do you like Bacon as much as Vaylen?

I think that's it! Thanks again for all the support on my blog, and here's to another 5k views!!

 

 

Step into the Arena

Hey guys!!

So, I know I haven't posted as frequently as normal these last few weeks, I've recently embarked on a journalism course and have been settling into a routine with that where I can balance that writing with my blog writing. I am just about all set up now though so hopefully I will be able to manage my time well enough to post more!

For this weeks blog I am going to be talking PvP, this will include, Battlegrounds, Arena, a short guide on gearing up and how I have found building. I have been doing PvP as a mistweaver and REALLY enjoying it, it's sent me a fresh new challenge and I've really learned more about my monk and her utilities. So, as always, grab a brew, and I shall attempt to impart my PvP learning so far.....


Where Do I Begin? 

The best way I found to get into PvP if you have never dabbled in it before is random battlegrounds. please note, these are A LOT more enjoyable if you have a group of friends with you, even though you can have a max of 5 people per group, it's far less stressful if you're with friends. There are a good few BG's that you can join, whereby you will either be fighting for map control, flag captures, or on some occasions, storming the enemy base and killing NPC's. In these BG's you will mainly be earning Honor points for your faction, you can earn as many of these as you like in any given week but you may only carry 4000 at once. You can also pick up Conquest points but only 150 for your first win of the day and 75 therafter, these are easier to pick up in arenas with a reward of 180 per win. The Honor points will be used as currency for the last seasons gear, so at the moment, that is the Grievous Gladiators set. This item set is 522 ilvl, and a pretty nifty transmog if I do say so, with some very pretty shoulders that have a blue serpent animation.The Conquest points are currency for the Prideful gear which is 550 ilvl, you can only earn 1800 per week unless you do rated BG's in which case the cap is 2200. Your cap will increase the higher your Arena rating/BG rating. There is no maximum amount of conquest points you can carry, unlike the Honor.

Gearing up.

The Mistweaver gear will often offer you a choice of two pairs of stats, either spirit and haste, or crit and mastery, they will offer other options for neck pieces and trinkets. 
Important note: as of the latest season beginning, you can currently obtain the latest Prideful gear from the Celestials, you can get the neck, boots, belt, back, wrist, legs, rings and gloves. It's entirely up to you whether you want to wait out weeks of farming all this or you can go the safer route and purchase the 522 gear with the honor from your BG's. The reason I say safer route is that if you were to start collecting gear now, you must bear in mind that most people already have full sets and you will suffer quite badly in BG's with no gear. 

The best order that I have found to collect gear in is as follows:

Trinkets: The Medallion of Cruelty (Extra Crit) Medallion of Tenacity (Extra Stamina) or Medallion of Meditation (Extra Spirit) first as it will remove any CC abilities once every two minutes, which is invaluable when you're a monk and already have nimble brew to get you out of trouble.Pick up your second trinket after this, again you will have a choice, you can either have a passive which will grant you int procs, or a useable one which will either grant int or stamina whenever you need it. The two trinkets together will grant you 5280 resilience.

Gloves: Gloves are incredibly handy as they have their own little bous when you equip them, for example, "Your roll/Flying serpent kick will now free you from snare effects"

Set pieces: Pick these up in whichever order you can afford. The set bonuses for mistweavers are; 2pc gives you 500 PvP power and when your renewing mist is dispelled you gain a stack of mana tea and 4/5pc grants you 1000 PvP power and when you use your thunder focus tea, you become immune to all silence and interrupt effects for 5 seconds.
  Weapon: You can purchase your weapon(s) when you have earned 7250 honor points for the season, so keep an eye on how much you have earned and make sure you get your weapon as soon as possible, you may find that you get it after 2 set pieces.

Non set pieces: Boots, belt cloak and rings.

As I mentioned earlier you can obtain Honor from BG's. If this is not your cup of tea you can also convert justice points into honor (250H for 500JP). The other thing you can do if farm your relevant factions 3 PvP mobs for 250 Hp each, once a day. For Horde, these are in Krasarang Wilds at Lions Landing, and for Alliance they are in Krasarang again at Domination point.

So, what stats do I need? 

     I have tested a number of different builds, first off I went with my usual PvE build of all the crits and ints, with hardly any spirit. Needless to say in PvP, as soon as someone sees you chugging Mana Tea, you're going to get interrupted, especially in arenas. With the luxury of my tea being on hand whenever I needed it removed, I went for a higher spirit build so that I would not oom so quick. For battle grounds I run Spirit>Haste (to 3145)>crit>mastery. 
    However, upon stepping into arenas I discovered something totally bonkers....Mastery becomes useful. Actually useful is a lie, that stuff is the absolute tits, its FREE healing, that your team can run through at their leisure. Funnily enough when people actually WANT to stay alive, they WILL run through them, unlike in PvE where you can finish a fight with 100 little bubbles left, which I swear dps run around. 
    For my arena build I still like high spirit as mana tea becomes very hard to drink, particularly if you're doing 3's. I then run Haste (still to 3145) Mastery>crit. This seems to serve me enough spririt for minimal Mana Tea consumption, and enough damage to help my team out. 

Arena - being more than just the helpful healer. 

    As a Mistweaver you can bring some really nice utilities to a team. While you don't have any fears like priests and no major stuns unless you talent it, you have one thing a lot of healers don't. Damage. Particularly in 2's, you can help out massively by helping your partner with dps.

Talent choices: 
I go for; 
Tier 1 - Tigers lust, this is really nice for yourself or your team mates, particularly against frost mages.
Tier 2 - Chi wave is pretty much my default choice, a cheap, spammable multi person heal and damaging spell.
Tier 3 - This one I tend to switch between Ascension and Chi Brew depending on what I am against, if it's high damage (warriors) I like Ascension for the extra mana regen.
Tier 4 - Ring of peace is again my default choice, the leg sweep is nice if you're against a full melee team and you get targeted, but the RoP is more valuable as you can put it on your team mates to save them from damage and also silence healers if they are targeting them, as I play with a warrior partner I find this talent to be the best choice for us, although it may not be so useful if you play with a ranged partner. The charging ox wave is nice if you are against a full ranged comp but it does need aiming and sometimes in the heat of the moment it can miss and you've essentially wasted a CD.
Tier 5 - again this is situational, if I'm up against high physical DPS its dampen harm, however, against magic damage dealers like Warlocks and Mages, Diffuse magic is alot more beneficial. I have not actually tried healing elixirs but my personal preference is to have a controllable CD.
Tier 6 - I switch these two between RJW and Xuen, 9.9 times out of 10 I will take Xuen, but on the odd occasion I like to take RJW for rogues.

Glyphs:
Life cocoon, being able to cast this while stunned can mean make or break if you're CC'd and your teamate is in trouble.
Surging mist, the less you have to target heal, the better.
Fortuitous spheres, really useful if you fall below 25% hp yourself, they can heal for enough to keep you alive without having to use a GCD.
All these glyphs are major, as the minor ones are not really helpful in any way.


Macros which have found useful. 

These are the current set of macros that I use:

/cast [target=party1] Detox - Targets your part member in the first frame slot and detoxes them. 
/cast [target=party2] Detox - as above. Note: As I now use decursive I don't find myself using these all that often anymore.

#showtooltip
/cast [target=party1] Tiger's Lust - Frees your first party member from snares and roots.
#showtooltip
/cast [target=party2] Tiger's Lust - As above but for your other party member.

/cast [target=party1] Ring of Peace - Puts RoP on your first part member
/cast [target=party2] Ring of Peace - You see where this is going....

/focus - This is the shortest way to set focus on whatever enemy you like.

#showtooltip
/cast [target=focus] Paralysis - Casts paralysis on your focus target, bear in mind you need to be close enough to do this.

I shall endeavor to make some videos of arenas at some point, I'm trying to enjoy my spells like my healing spheres as much as i can while I still have them ;)

If any EU players fancy coming to Arenas with me then shoot me an invite on my battlenet which can be found in my contact page. If anyone has found themselves no longer on my friendlist I do apologise, my account was hacked a few weeks ago and I seem to be missing a few folk!

Oh, and here's a pretty thing I won on a random Firelands run :D