04-07-2005, 05:04 PM
I've been ganked roughly 5 times since my Warrior reached 40 (several months ago), and my 35 Shaman was ganked about 3 times up to that point. I don't do "wave negotiations", I just keep my distance and position myself so it's obvious I know they are around but don't feel like fighting (i.e. I stop, face them, face away and continue my grinding). I have also had some reasonably fair fights that I lost due to differential in player skill, but those are both fun and learning experiences.
Granted, I don't go certain places at certain hours that are bad by reputation (never quested in TM).
My point is, if you so dislike the ganking aspect of PvP play, it can be minimized. Also helps to play a female toon with helmet hidden. There are still a lot of sexist folks out there who have an easier time murdering a male character in cold blood with no chance of self defence than a murdering a woman character the same way, despite both just being a bunch of pixels. ;)
I think ultimately what reduces my gank downtime is not caring either way. If 5 skull con Alliance toons descend on me, I just sit down or target myself and /mourn - most of the time I get passed by. At one point in my 30s I was trying to grind in some 60 mage's mining harvesting spot, and got repeatedly killed (graveyard was about 45 seconds away) - I made a macro just for him - targetting him, dancing with him, licking him, and lying down - at least it made the further ganks more entertaining for both of us.
One last thought on PvP servers and ganking. Pople have long memories (and sometimes UI mods to enhance that memory). If you've been getting your "revenge" by ganking the other side, don't be shocked if those level 22 toons were alts and the player's level 60 main kills you on sight later on regardless of your level. As servers mature, the smart gankers start being aware of the "60 main or guild friends retaliating disproportionately" phenomenon and stick to the weak, more clueless looking unguilded toons.
Granted, I don't go certain places at certain hours that are bad by reputation (never quested in TM).
My point is, if you so dislike the ganking aspect of PvP play, it can be minimized. Also helps to play a female toon with helmet hidden. There are still a lot of sexist folks out there who have an easier time murdering a male character in cold blood with no chance of self defence than a murdering a woman character the same way, despite both just being a bunch of pixels. ;)
I think ultimately what reduces my gank downtime is not caring either way. If 5 skull con Alliance toons descend on me, I just sit down or target myself and /mourn - most of the time I get passed by. At one point in my 30s I was trying to grind in some 60 mage's mining harvesting spot, and got repeatedly killed (graveyard was about 45 seconds away) - I made a macro just for him - targetting him, dancing with him, licking him, and lying down - at least it made the further ganks more entertaining for both of us.
One last thought on PvP servers and ganking. Pople have long memories (and sometimes UI mods to enhance that memory). If you've been getting your "revenge" by ganking the other side, don't be shocked if those level 22 toons were alts and the player's level 60 main kills you on sight later on regardless of your level. As servers mature, the smart gankers start being aware of the "60 main or guild friends retaliating disproportionately" phenomenon and stick to the weak, more clueless looking unguilded toons.