August News/Discussion

[NiteFox]

If anything, you're more likely to be ganked and camped on an RP-PvP server than a regular one.

That's... A pretty good point actually. I've only ever played on RPPvP servers (Horde on Ravenholdt, Alliance on Scarshield Legion before it got impossibly laggy and Sporeggar afterwards) and though my main character is typically played very passively and non-aggressively (My other character, however, will take on pretty much anyone just for kicks), there's always the very real chance that the red name I see on the horizon will attack me without provocation. And <strike>probably</strike> likely have a rogue or druid hidden nearby to "help out" if it looks like I'm getting the upper hand.

Now, I've talked to people on regular PvP servers and they're always the ones who say that world PvP is dead, that they've levelled a whole bunch of characters from 1-70 without getting ganked once, and how levelling on a PvP server isn't any harder than on a PvE server and can I have that PvE->PvP transfer please?

Poppycock*.

My mage alt did some time in Hillsbrad Foothills, and there always seemed to be a few bored level 70s running around willing to one-shot anyone. Heck, during one fairly intensive play session I decided to keep count of times I was ganked by a skull-levelled player while trying to collect my requisite thirty skulls and work my way up the Battle of Hillsbrad questline. I was killed thirteen times by players, a further six times by mobs through the interference of players, and managed to escape death through some lucky Blinking another three times. And I don't know if you Alliance types know this, but the corpse run from Tarren Mill to Hillsbrad is long. I could have easily made an extra level on top of my session had I managed to stay alive and not waste so much time corpse running.

And you can't say that Honor had anything to do with this. Warlocks in full Merciless Gladiator's aren't getting anything from Skillcoiling a level 27 Mage save for cheap thrills. Same for the Hunter running around Grom'gol attacking anyone who stepped out in the short time my Druid was there (I tend to avoid STV, but the Mirage Raceway quests require a fairly extended stay there.). Seriously, if this balderdash** about PvP servers being as easy to level on as PvE, then it certainly doesn't seem to apply for RPPvP.

On the other hand, I have noticed a pretty disturbing trend. Nobody wants to PvP in a situation that nobody (I could generalise and just say "the Alliance", but that's only because I haven't witnessed the Horde do this, but I'm also one to admit that a tree falling in the forest does make a sound even when I'm not there) is willing to do any world PvP if there's the possibility of risk. I've seen "world PvP" guilds on my server crow about glorious victories when all they did was steamroll The Crossroads for an hour straight without any real opposition and splitting the very moment any organised resistance turns up. The Crossroads isn't a hard target, Tarren Mill isn't particularly well-defended, same for Southshore and Astranaar (Though in the last case, sometimes it is better to just slaughter your way through the guards, since at level 70 it's a quicker route than walking around it).

Nobody is going for the outposts guarded with level 65 elites, even though they can be killed fairly easily if you're in a party. It's always the soft targets, nothing glorious or even worth discussing on your realm's forum.

I saw a twenty-strong group from an Alliance guild massing at Ratchet one night while passing through on my Druid. A few minutes later Barrens defence was filled with a steady stream of "The Crossroads is under attack!". Well done, guys. Build up a huge force to corpse-camp questgivers in an outpost that most folks can wipe off the map in a group of three. Why not use that numerical advantage to, say, try and at least kill a sizable portion of Orgrimmar or Thunder Bluff? And why claim you're doing world PvP when, as it turned out, you run within half an hour of the first assault because a rival Horde guild decided to intervene?

Isle of Quel'danas is another interesting example. In the first phase it was an absolutely glorious example of world PvP done right. We had the major guilds of both sides racing for mutually-agreed destruction, the vast majority of other players joining in, and the Shattered Sun Peacekeepers basically doing all they could to keep the armor repairers in business. There were a few of us not getting involved, just delighting in the carnage, and walking through the outpost was almost exactly like walking through a bar brawl. Pity nobody could swing from the chandeliers. Nowadays, it's almost deathly quiet now the phases have progressed, and about the only PvP that goes on is the usual camping of the Greengill Coast chokepoint or on the boats up north. Oh, and the usual mages firing from beyond the range of the guards hoping that you've kept your pet on defensive. They're always fun.

Generally, on my server, levelling up is hard. It's because nobody actually wants the challenge of doing anything "risky" and would rather sate their pretences of "roleplaying" a hero of their faction by killing low-levelled players and outposts. Unfortunately, while there's plenty of incentive to go after players of your own level in the form of Honor, this state of affairs is likely to continue until Blizzard (re)introduces a system to dissuade players from just repeatedly slaughtering weaker players and preventing their progress.

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* Blame my word of the day calender.
** Next Friday's word.