Daniel “Ely” Vulis from Gravitas Gaming recently took some time to answer a few questions for us here at GotFrag and for all of the interested fans out there. Gravitas Gaming, otherwise known as the famous “Duelists Going for Glad” team has been an extremely dominant American powerhouse Rogue-Mage-Priest arena team for the past year. GG has placed well at many recent events, includinge MLG Orlando where they placed second (winning $6,000), MLG San Diego event (under the tag of Frag Dominant Duelists) placing fourth, and the CGS Arena Finals where they placed second.

With MLG Dallas being only one week away, how has your team been preparing for this event? Have you been testing out any new team comps or has anything changed in the previous RMP/RPD comps that you think will give you an edge over the teams you will be competing against at Dallas?

We've been preparing extensively with several comps that I cannot reveal to the public, but hopefully we will reveal them at MLG Dallas. RMP has been significantly weakened in the previous patch, and it is unfortunate but we must adapt and play through. The next patch will boost RMP's strength, which will benefit us quite nicely.

What is an average day of practice for your team like? How beneficial was the tournament realm in terms of preparation for the previous MLG events you attended, and what has practice been like ever since it was brought down recently?

An average day of practice is us playing on the CGL or ESL realms, and discussing what we did right/wrong after a match, and what we can do for the next match. The tournament realm is extremely helpful, as MLG is played in the same ruleset (season 2 gear). Currently there are two tournament realms, the ESL and CGL ladders, and we play on those extensively.

Many teams have succeeded (and failed) solely based upon the teamwork of the players, rather than their individual skill levels. Do you believe this is one of DGFG strong points, and if so, how do you make sure that you're always at the top of your game? Any advice to the players out there who feel like they're skill is at the required level, but their teamwork isn't?

The honest truth is that teamwork is a key factor to most compositions and teams, but extensive teamwork is not really required for the best team comp. at the moment (warrior/lock/druid). There is a lot of information that you must communicate, and synergy built from experience with your team. If teams feel they are struggling with teamwork, I would suggest they simply play as much as possible, to build on their synergy.



What teams (or compositions) do you foresee giving you the most trouble in Dallas? How do you deal with teams that you know are very strong against your composition?

I believe Warrior/Druid/Warlock will probably be our toughest match up. We have several lineups we have been practicing on the ladders that we will be running against compositions that we feel are strong against ours.

Seeing as a majority of the tournaments you compete in are played as a "best of" series, what does your team do after a loss to strategize? How do you deal with the short amount of time between matches to reorganize and attempt a better strategy, or better execution?

We talk about what we did wrong, and work to win the next fight. The short amount of time is never really an issue, as we generally know what we did wrong and what the strategy is against the compositions we will fight.

Duelists Going For Glad is known for being one of the last RMP teams to participate in these events. Why have you not switched to a more popular "flavor of the month" comp? What do you feel is the future of the infamous Rogue/Mage/Priest setup?

We've been playing PMR for a while, and will probably stick to it for the time being. A lot of top players have currently swapped to the FOTM comp, warrior/druid/lock, but I feel this will ultimately be detrimental to them in the future, as a strong team is built around it's players, and not it's classes. I feel PMR will have a strong life in the expansion and the future 3.0 patch, as neither of the three classes are being nerfed or changed signicantly, as compared to classes and comps that are currently very powerful.

You faced team fnatic (Hafu/Rhaegyn/Glick) for the finals at the MLG Orlando event, held out as RMP against WLD and only won one out of four maps. How do you feel playing against them again at this event? How have you looked back at those finals in an attempt to better prepare yourself, knowing that you will be competing against them again?

We look forward to fighting Fnatic at MLG if it comes down to it. We will pray very hard that the many, many things that can go wrong will not go wrong (though math is against us), and try our hardest to exploit any mistakes they may make.

Taking a look back at all of the previous events you've attended, what would you say some of your positive and negative views of these events has been? If you could change one thing to make sure the event is run to your ideals, more entertaining or something similar, what would that be?

I believe MLG has been a pretty solid tournament so far; the only complaints so far would be the long period between matches taking place (5minutes MLG vs 2-3minutes Blizzard or CGS). I believe a round-robin tournament (every team plays each other, winner is determined by most wins) is a stronger matching system than elimination brackets, as the randomness of elimination brackets can be very favorable to some teams (i.e. EG/Frag Dominant in San Diego), and very unfavorable to others (Orz in Orlando).

Taking a look towards the future, Wrath of the Lich King finally has a release date (November 13!). What do you feel about your specific classes and their upcoming changes? Anything that worries or excites you? If you could speak to a PvP or your class developer candidly rightnow, what is one thing you would have them change?

My team is not really interested in speculating about WOTLK, as classes and balance is changed daily on the beta. So far our outlook has been generally positive on the changes we will probably be receiving. If I could speak to a PVP or class developer, I would ask them to hire a a balance team that actually participates in high-end arenas, so balance is not such a complete joke at times (like it is now).

Many of the changes to PvP-oriented skills and talents in WotLK are being changed to reflect a much less "RNG oriented" game (such as Toughness reducing the duration of snares by 10% per point). Do you feel this is going to solve many of the problems people had with arenas, or do you feel it's going to take out some of the excitement that the RNG brought?

Yes, I feel this is a very important step to further promoting the game in a more balanced fashion. RNG currently plays a very important role in the success of the current FOTM, Warrior/Druid/Warlock. I am sure the players of these teams are quite upset that their matches will not be as exciting or random anymore, but I think most players are quite happy with these changes.

Any of you showing favoritism towards a new class, perhaps rerolling for WotLK? Any death knights in your futures?

We will play around occasionally with Death Knights I'm sure, and other class comps that seem fun for us to play. Only the future will tell.

Thanks for talking to us, any parting words?

I want to thank all our fans and the sponsors BetMost Poker, XlBet and SteelSeries for supporting us so well!


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