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After running about 40 matches in the 2009 World of Warcraft Arena Tournament I've started to see a few basic opening moves from the teams we got matched up against. I am a pretty casual player, typically playing a Druid, who is far more comfortable in the Battlegrounds than in the Arena environment but it's a heck of a lot of fun. So, here are a few basic opening moves I've noticed thus far.

Hide and Seek - Line-of-Sight games drive me nuts but it is an effective way to force a team to play your game. At the start of a match the team members will jump behind a stack of boxes, a column, or behind whatever they can find in the Arena. This gives the other guys a second to setup and see who they are playing against. My first reaction to this move is to charge over, with my trusty Arena buddy in toe, and try to flush them out. This is often a bad choice. The skilled players out there are ready for this (in fact it is what they want you to do) and use it to their advantage. Hunters often drop a trap, Beastmasters will sick their pet on you and scurry around the other side, Frost Mages freeze you, Warlocks and Priests Fear you, Shamans slow you, and so on. It's a great way to run into a trap. As a Balance Druid/Priest team we've found far more success when we let them come out into the general area first.

Double Invisible - the clock ticks down, your pulse rises, the Arena gates swing open and you are looking at...nothing. Rogues, Druids, and Mages love to come out Invisible as it lets them pop up out of no where and proceed to kick the crap out of you. If you start out in Moonkin form have your Barkskin spell ready to go. When a Rogue or Druid pops up behind you with a melee shot or a pounce pop Barkskin to reduce the damage you take and possibly get a stun from your Brambles talent. Try to get a Faerie Fire on these classes as quickly as you can and keep refreshing it during the fight. It's must easier to wack stuff you can see.

The Chargers - melee types seem to love the charge move. The gates open and they burst out, mounted, charging right at you. The intent here is to get up in your face before you know what is going on. I tend to be able to deal with this one pretty well. You can buy time with a Typhoon to knock them back a bit, have an Instant Grasp ready to go and get your Trees on the ground. Pop off a Starfall as well. Once they get to you they run right into a damage swarm.