… but not being very successful…
To be inspired:
The 1st round of Cataclysm class changes have been announced. I say 1st, because experience has taught me that what is announced at this stage of pre-expansion hysteria is not what we will see.
- I’m humored that this gnome with big balls of fire will have a bigger ball of fire.
- I’m surprised that “people” find fire & frost ward irrelevant. I know I use them a lot in PvP, but doesn’t everyone use them in VoA?
- I’m slightly interested that rated BGs are coming, but to be completely and brutally honest I think this is already one patch too late.
- I’m disappointed that there is no mention of a Gnomeaggedon statue appearing anywhere.
- As for reclaiming Gnomeregan, well… I know this is blasphemy, but… Whatever!
I’d like to thank folks for the emails and tweets informing me of this, but without trying to sound like an April fools joke, I am actually more excited by the concept of the Trolls retaking their homeland.
To take pleasure in a conversion:
A while back I got a taunting email from a Warlock reader (yeah, I don’t get it either… Locks reading a Mage blog?).
Just the other day the same Lock, Nymesis, emailed me to tell me this:
From……: Nymesis
Alright Gnome,
I gotta admit it to you, I have been playing my ‘lock forever and had forgotten about my poor, poor alt mage. However, yesterday I just saw that mage sitting there, looking dejected and I thought I’d give ‘em a spin. Damn I forgot how much fun they were, and with all the defensive cooldowns to boot. Pull aggro? No problem Iceblock, Invis, Mana shield. Much fun was had by all. Troll Mage?….hmmm.
Now I have to be excited about a potential conversion don’t I? The mages of Dalaran even pay 10g per Warlock scalp we Mages bring in – converts are worth 20g.
Yet for some reason I feel sorry for Nymesis… There’s no good reason. I think the fire starting spark has gone and while I should be collecting my bounty, I’m just muttering in the corner…
Sucker!
To be optimistic:
Larisa has often spoken of my positive attitude, something I have always raised an eyebrow to, I prefer to think of myself as an eternal optimist, one who stares down stark reality with a bucketload of illusion until the bad times go away.
Battlegrounds have become a place were my unrealistic ever present optimism has been ripped to shreds.
Battlegrounds have become my last stand, my fall back position where I knew I could get a run and do, on the balance of probability, over enough games, quite nicely.
In fact battlegrounds can be held partially to blame for my lack of posts lately. Until a few weeks back (mmm let’s call that 3.3.3) I have happily spent 3+ hours a day in the battlegrounds. Some days the win ratio was 9:1, other days 4:6.
Whatever losses I suffered, there were always enough wins to keep the spirits high. The losses only served to strengthen my resolve to do it better and harder the next game.
Since 3.3.3 I have ranted a little (A lot actually, but if I was to post them all it would be 3 posts per day of Gnomish anguish – if you want to hear my squeals of frustration you will need to follow me on Twitter instead) but I have also in my own small way tried to help those new to the battlegrounds.
The scales have tipped now though, the optimism has not just been leached slowly, but has been ripped forcibly from my guts.
I have started doing things I have never done before – quitting a BG and happily accepting a deserters buff. Pre-3.3.3 I think I quit 2 battlegrounds, purely because some RL event occurred which meant I was going to be AFK for more than 30 seconds, so I made way for someone else to win the battle.
But lately, I have been making that decision in the 1st 3 minutes of a battle. When I see strats like this for EotS, I cry and I reach for my Portal: Dalaran.
Take two bases, carry the flag.
However when I see these comments in BG chat, I immediately wish them luck and go…
some more people go to get the flag please…
Do I need to tell you how many bases we had at the time…
a clue.. < 1
This wasn’t the start of the game, this was after we had 2 bases, which we then lost because we all know that if you don’t have 13 people on the flag, you just aren’t trying hard enough!
Who the hell doesn’t know at this point in the game that bases win EotS and the flag is Noob bait? It’s been here since the beginning of BC!
To listen:
Euripedes had some sensible advice. Forget about winning, it’s not going to happen. Just work on personal best. I’m trying to do that, I don’t enter a BG unless I want to do my best, but you know, once in a while I like a win to vindicate that I am doing it all right.
But those wins are few and far between right now.
How few?
How far between?
I won a BG the other night…the 1st one in 4 days… A time unit that is probably irrelevant unless I put that in hours… About 12 hours for one 20 minute win.
I haven’t won one since.
Prelimar has talked me back from the edge a few times now via Twitter, even appealing to my overinflated ego by asking spec questions. You can probably thank him that I am even posting today.
Cynwise likewise has been trying to control my nerdrage with very sensible suggestions like:
Just step away for a few days
This has been happening in a way. When I hit my 3rd defeat for a night I shut WoW down and walk away. At least I am getting early nights right?
Understand why:
Why didn’t blizzard introduce the rated BGs when the introduced the random BG?
As much as we all bitched about the groups we ended up with from LFD, at least Blizzard had some sort of (if misguided) filtering system in place to ensure that people could successfully complete an instance.
Over the years many people (Cynwise most recently) have hypothesized that the reason one faction excels in AV, yet loses miserably in AB and WSG is that all the good players leave the AV queues when they are destroyed there, going to AB and WSG.
On Bloodlust it was Alliance dominating AV and Horde dominating AB & WSG.
Was…
Now I think I am lucky to encounter a team in any BG with more than 40% of players that know what to do, and rarely 20% of people who can PvP.
I don’t think the good players have gone to another BG, I think they have just gone.
Occasionally, rarely, I get a good game. I had one last night, a WSG. We lost 0-2, but that score doesn’t describe the epic battles we had, and probably would have continues to have if there wasn’t a timer.
To maintain the love:
As the Violent Femmes say…
It’s gone Daddy gone
My love has gone away…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gjsd7a02Zw
I’m hoping I will find it again.
When I do I’ll let you know.
For now it’s…
Gnomer and Out!
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I am still doing ok, I was healing you in a random eots on thursday or friday night. Disappointed that you faded back at FRR, i was totally sure we could have taken them 5vs2. Still that was a pretty hopeless bg and the loss was no suprise. I was going to give you a wave when I had a break but that break never came. But another random Eots a few minutes later and win.
Random AB on Saturday took 3 tries, random AV last night was a 1 shot.
Running just after reset which is now 9pm Sydney? tends to give more motivated players, unfortunately,sometimes they are on horde.
Damn… Wish I got that wave. If I know there is someone on the same wavelength I’ll stick to then like glue.
I find myself, through frustration, either base sitting or base jumping. I’ll happily sit if I know there is a reason to stay (ie. Someone that knows it’s important and will hang with it) or jump if I know I am not alone.
Give me a pst next time… Even one of Megan’s
“L2Pnoob”
At least you will have my attention
“I’m disappointed that there is no mention of a Gnomeaggedon statue appearing anywhere.”
I, for one, am gobsmacked as well.
“Just step away for a few days.”
Ayup, been there done that. It was weird rezzing up my toons for the first time in over a week.
“Why didn’t blizzard introduce the rated BGs when the introduced the random BG?”
OK, this hits a sore point with me. Why is it that people think that writing software is easy? If it was easy, wouldn’t everyone else be doing it, too? How many people can even master Visual Basic or Hypercard? Help me out here … is it because you can’t hit it with a hammer that people seem to think there’s nothing to it?
To answer your question, BECAUSE IT ISN’T BLOODY EASY, THAT’S WHY
I realize I’m stomping on the emo here, but man, that’s just behind WHY DIDN’T QA CATCH THIS OMG on my list of things that piss me off about software develoment vs everybody else.
Well, I hope your groove returns and you find a way to cope. God knows I always fail … usually it amounts to a prolonged pout, heavy drinking, and begrudging capitulation.
Think we need to march in the streets until that statue appears…
Totally agree with you re: dev realities.
It’s more of a frustrated QQ than anything… Just hurts when something you love breaks.
As a tester I know it isn’t as easy as it appears… But hammers do help
You need to walk away from battlegrounds for at least a week, my friend. At least a week. I am serious.
I haven’t talked a lot about how I play BGs, but like many I play them in spurts. There are times that you literally cannot get me out of a BG. “Hey Cyn, come hit the loot pinata with us.” “Sorry, defending ST, go on without me.” Other times I’m all, meh, bgs, whatever, I’m going fishing.
The Ruin battlegroup went through a totally crazy two weeks after 3.3.3 hit. The first 2 days we were gung-ho, winning like crazy, because people were trying. The battles were epic.
Then Thursday night hit, and my guildies whispered me saying “this is the worst day in the BGs we have ever seen.” And they were right. Played for 5 hours without a win.
It would go like that for the next two weeks. Terrible days followed by awesome ones. The battlegroup had gone bipolar.
Then two weeks later, it all settled down. I was back to winning some, not others. It was the weirdest thing.
So much of this depends upon factors way, way, WAY beyond your control. Keep that in mind. This isn’t about you, this is about people queueing who have never queued before.
Give yourself a week’s vacation from the BGs. They’ll be there when you want to come back.
Ahhh so much wisdom!
Once more brought back from the edge…
(I promise I already popped slowfall anyway, so the drop wouldn’t have hurt)
Cynwise, I’m in Ruin too, Horde. Maybe you’ve killed me! I have to agree. Bipolar it is. Although we have a running joke in battlegroup ruin about how crappy we are (horde).
Cynwise… the perfect opportunity to teach Eversor to stay away from the Gnomes.
I think he needs some aversion therapy, so every time you see him reach for a Gnome.. smack him on the back of the head.. hard!
Hard to smack an orc when you’re dangling from his mouth…all limp and deadlike.
I just hope you enjoy your fire induced indigestion…
I’m so sorry to hear that battlegrounds have turned into this.
I haven’t played once since 3.3 and the Dungeon Finder was released. I really thought that the ease of matching folks PVE style would simply stop casual PVPers like myself from bothering with PVP.
Perhaps it will follow the same trend as the PVE Dungeon Finder – give it about a month and the curious will walk away leaving the people who actually enjoy PVP still standing.
Ok, the Dungeon Finder still produces a lot of lazy shitty players, but mostly people are just keen to get on with it.
Hey Gnomey I’ve also got a new real inspiration for a post but my WG attendance is just too abysmal to write a post about it.
This is the history of Barthilas (perhaps it’s the same on your server?):
Horde tend to beat Alliance at PVP
Alliance players reroll as Horde to be part of the winning side
Wintergrasp is released, about a 50-50 win between the factions
Faction change is released
Alliance PVP guilds mysteriously dissappear
Wintergrasp becomes a 95% Horde controlled zone
Dungeon finder is released
Battleground finder is released
A group of about 5 PVPers arrive on the server and start a PVP guild alliance side
Said group/guild raid lead WG
At least two new PVP guilds start up and actively recruit
Alliance claws back something closer to a 50/50 win lose of WG
What’s the moral to the story? It only takes a few die hard players to revitalize PVP on a server/faction.
I thought you needed like 80 players to win WG. Turns out you only need 1 or 2 and a bunch of people who can listen.
There’s still hope!
Absolutely. I have seen many games turned around or won by a couple of individuals. If not by deeds, by words.
I actually saw a great “documentary” the other day (Catalyst on ABC (that’s Australian Broadcasting Corp btw) which explains so well our behavior in battlegrounds.
The doco was about fish… but if you see it (or I get a link or a clip) it will all make sense.
Ohhh until I do, the short version is one person can’t lead a charge… It takes 2
Ok found a link.
You can view it on the page or download in a couple of formats.
Catalyst: Follow the Leader (08/04/2010)
http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/2867497.htm
A very odd thing happens on my server/battlegroup in terms of WG and BGs. I play on cenarian circle, and alliance controls WG almost constantly. However, in battlegrounds, horde almost always pwn us. There are some times when we do good, and also some times when both sides are evenly matched, but I end up losing a lot. My solution: pvping in different brackets! It’s usually better matched at lower levels (at least in my battlegroup), and it offers a change of pace from my main.
Also, I felt I should add this: fire pvp gnome mages FTW!
Yeah. Funnily enough it’s about the same on Aman’Thul/Bloodlust.
Alliance dominate Horde in WG unless tere are 5 Horde that know what they are doing.
Battlegrounds… Yeah well, I think I have said it all…
I agree Fire Mages are insane… We can also do some damage.
A mate at work greeted me this morning with.
“I rolled fire and went to the BGs last night… INSANE!”
The thing that bothers me in bgs is when the veteran players tell the new players “OMG you suck” but don’t tell them why. It’s entirely possible that the new players could learn, but they’re not going to learn anything from “OMG you suck”.
I KNOW you don’t do this, because I’ve seen you post so often about how you give the strats in differeng bgs, but it’s so prevalent, it’s disheartening.
Even when someone tells you what you should be doing, they often do it in a way that makes you want to cry, not learn. I took my brand new minted DK into WSG the other day, and in a moment of panic, I forgot to move my feet, because I was so busy staring at my buttons and trying to remember out what ability did what (you don’t use the same ones in PvE!). I KNOW that moving is absolutely crucial in pvp, and I know my standing still contributed to my horrible horrible death. But even if I didn’t, I don’t need to be told I suck. A helpful reminder to move is one thing. “You are the worst DK I’ve ever seen” followed by /afk is another.
The veterans treat the veterans the same way if they happen to make a mistake. And the new players sometimes tell the veterans they suck! I’ve seen the guy farming kills in the middle tell the obviously competent flag runner that he sucks because he died, when the kill farmer didn’t even bother to help him.
I just think that the overall outcome of battlegrounds would improve if people spent more time teaching and less time condemning. I know it’s a MONUMENTAL job, but you’ve been doing more than I ever could to try and accomplish it. /salute
Enjoy your well earned time off, but I hope you’re back in the fight soon. The fight for WSG, AB, AV… whatever… and also the fight for decency to your fellow WoW-er.
Ohh I know what you mean…
I capped GoldMine when there was 30 seconds on the clock the other day and copped some abuse about…
“See how the nubs cap just before the end”
Unfortunately I hadn’t seen that expert capping before the end and I only capped because I ran around the fight on the road and went to the undefended flag.
My attitude is never give up.. sure it was a pointless cap – but it keeps me focused.
Maybe you should try a different battlegroup? I’m in misery eu and although allies loose sometimes, I’m generally satisfied with groups I get. I know transfering would be a pain, so maybe an alt to give it a try?
You know, fresh look/start
(I play below 80s bracket).
It’s very tempting but there are three things that stand in the way.
1) All my real life friends (like 30 years of friendship each) are on AT, and
2) As Megan said once about the faction transfers, the grass isn’t any greener…
3) as others have said, it is a cycle.. today it’s a unicycle.. tomorrow it will be a bmx and I will be doing tricks on the horde’s heads.
good sir: some thoughts:
1) as you know, i’m an eternal optimist as well. things will get better, i’m sure. right now, i think the battlegrounds are seeing an influx of new people because of the new random battleground finder. people are trying some BGs out for the first time (me included), so yeah, we’re total idiots. we’re learning. just like when i started wintergrasp, it took many times for me to wrap my head around what was going on, and what needed to be done to win. multiply me by a kajillion, and that’s the BG situation right now. it will get better! [/cue the optimism] — imagine how it will be once all these new players learn how to run the battles! there will be epic fights coming, you’ll see…
2) has it occurred to you that maybe you SHOULD be excited about the retaking of gnomeregan, not only from a gnome pride thing, but also because WHERE ELSE ARE THEY GOING TO PUT YOUR STATUE? hmmm?
3) i know you’re down on raiding these days, but lemme tell ya, i’m really enjoying ICC. the fights are challenging, and some are just plain crazy fun.
1) You are right… today’s noobs are tomorrows BG destroyers.
2) Maybe the trolls will build one to honor a mighty foe?
3) Not so much down on it, but little opportunity.. I need to make them, but of course at this late stage I am battling the “Must have 4/12, 8/12 etc…)
EoE & Malygos has been the weekly for the last two weeks… luckily I went with a bunch of mates 1st time, because nearly every call after that was “must have achi”
If I could do a little more, I would have those achi’s to make the entrance easier… I do enough of everything else, so maybe I will hunt down some fail pugs just to get the runs on the board.
Well, well, not fully a convert, but, yes, I must say that I am indeed enjoying my mage again. Leveled it to 80, the forgot about it. Now to grind for my epic flying…..I hate having a drake, IN MY BAG, and not being able to use it.
Go on admit it… you want to play the Mage… you are just scared your mates will laugh at you!
Ahh the drake in the bag.. that happened with Squidly… I was so happy I bought him cold weather flying, but it wasn’t until I won the drake that I realized I still had to find the money for epic flying.
Yep I was content with cold weather until I saw everyone pass on the drake from the CoS. Damn them and that epic flying grind.
Ummm hate to state the obvious, but your main’s a Lock…
Just sell your soul… Wouldn’t be the 1st time right?
Hell (yer intentional), just sell someone else’s soul!
Total BG non-player here — when I’ve wandered in on two occasions, the chaos was overwhelming and the goals, ummm…unclear. However, maybe the frozen XP grounds would be more professional? That was the speculation early on, anyway… has it worked out that way? Twinkaggedon!!
Professional?
I dare say cut throat and less tolerant of errors. People fixing thier xp to fight as twinks will most likely be the best (gear/skill) and the worst (tolerance) you will find in BGs.
Cynwise and Psynster might have some experience in those BGs… Anyone else got thoughts on that?
Professional…
Well it is that in some ways, and in others it’s quite the opposite.
It’s professional in that people are, generally speaking, more focused on getting the job done.
The same can’t necessarily be said for team work though. You’re all on the same team, but a lot of the twinks are there to show you just how much better they are than you. If you screw something up, you better believe you’re going to hear about it.
If you’re a follower and don’t mind working with the other people then it’s probably the best opportunity for you to learn outside of finding yourself a mentor, just don’t expect most of them to be nice about it.
The difference between twink BGs and normal BGs is sort of like Professional Football (US) versus High School Football. If you screw something up in high school you’ll get ribbed for it, but nobody really cares as long as you had a good time and your goof wasn’t the cause for total failure. In professional ball though, your screw up is a mark against the whole team and all of our salaries. If you fail then you’re screwing us all over.
If you’ve every been on the receiving end of a Gear Score check on your high level toons then you’ll know what that’s like for twinks as well. You don’t have a BiS item? You’ll have at least 5 people point it out and laugh at you. And most of them know on sight whether or not you’re in BiS gear because in almost every case there’s only one item that fits there, occasionally two.
Right now there’s a bit of mix in twinks, you have the old school twinks that actually know what the crap’s going on, and you have the new generation twinks that think they’re the best of the best but actually reach levels of suckitude that we didn’t know existed before.
Overall I’d say it’s a good move to twink if you’re looking for professional, but not in the 19 bracket. 19 is too easy for noobs to get in and claim they’re great. Go 29 or 39 for the best overall playing fields where people are willing to reach out and help one another.
Another option would be to see if something like QueueQueue (Bloodlust/Alliance) operates on your Battlegroup.
They are noob friendly (both in their practices and execution in BGs), a long as you can listen and follow instructions – and speak up when required over vent.
And for the record, I’ll be more than happy to roll a new toon or a DK on your server to help teach you anything you might need to learn. Granted, that will have little to no impact on the team itself, but if there’s something in particular that you’re needing help with I’m always happy to teach.
Meh, enjoy BG’s win or lose, as long as you’ve done your best you can blame the loss on the M&S, right?
http://www.crispygamer.com/comics/ding/page0011.aspx
Ohhhhh THANK YOU!
I haven’t read Crispy Gamer in a while (both the comics and the laughter were a give away at work).
I think I have my new BG macro!
I’m on Bloodlust too, and yeah… It was pretty bad post 3.3.3. It’s gotten decidedly better though over the past week, especially Strand of the Ancients. Arathi Basin’s been decent. Eye of the Storm and Warsong Gulch are still brutal-bad. I haven’t touched Alterac Valley since that BG weekend we had a few weeks back x.x
I’ll keep an eye out for you if I see someone else tossing Living Bombs around
Awesome… Give me a whisper so I know that there will be a firefest incoming.
I née to increase the size of my raid frames, or wear my glasses…
Bah… If it’s red it deserves to be dead… Who need to know what you are killing…
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