… a well geared AFK/Bot.

Yeah, this is kind of another post where I link back to an old post like I don’t care about the color of your clothes, shake my head lolwut heirlooms in your Battleground? and wonder when people will ever learn.

I had a few experiences over the weekend that have brought my philosophy of gear being less relevant than attitude to the fore.

Like Raiding in Blues

There was a time, BG – Before Gevlon, where the concept of raiding, seriously, in less than the top of the line purples was scoffed at. “We all knew”, despite protestations to the contrary that you had to have the best of the best to even be eligible to apply for a bench seat on a raiding guild, let alone raid.

You WILL leave your fun on hold until you have suffered on the sidelines for an appropriate amount of time. No you may not play with your friends until you match their ever escalating gear score!

40% down

Yet in BGs, people just shrug at AFKs and Bots in BGs… Yeah the report them AFK, but we have gotten to the point were we expect 10-20% of a PuG BG team to be AFK.

We were in a Twin Peaks recently where 4/10 “players” on our side were AFK or bots.

Yes we reported them.

Yes they were booted.

Yes they were replaced

But by then the game was lost.

Those Rogues

Don’t get me started again on those stealthy sneaky rogues from that recent Arathi Basin.

Prime ninja capping class, healer lockdown class, ninja AFK class.

Did they hurt us… I told you not to get me started.

That 80k Hunter

Over the weekend while playing with those Americans, we had one AB with an inappropriately geared Hunter.

Now admittedly 80k is pretty damn low compared to my 140k-ish cloth gear, but there was one fundamental and vitally important difference.

He was conscious and playing better than many in the BG. A living, breathing, observant undergeared player is a help in ways that a Bot or AFK can never be.

We were losing, there is no question about that, and losing brings on the rage.

Way too late in the game one player started calling for the Hunter’s head, or at the very least that we AFK the hunter out of the BG.

What was interesting was the vocal response from several players in the BG, including myself of course.

I started with

Better a 80k Hunter that is playing than an AFK or Bot!

The reager wasn’t satisfied with this, he would have preferred an AFK or Bot to the hunter… Not sure wtf the rager was on.

Another player then managed to beat me to my next point.

We had a lot more to worry about than an 80k hunter. We were being beaten miserably and we didn’t have any AFKs or Bots – we were 100% active players, but we were playing like bots.

We could have replaced that hunter with the most geared player in the whole game, and assuming they didn’t just AFK out in disgust, we wouldn’t have turned that game around.

My Melodicdream and Pugnacious Priest.

Pugnacious Priest joined my guildies for a few randoms last week. One of my guildies was on her Warlock, finally raised to 85 after years languishing at level 70. She only had her old level 70 pvp gear and the bits and pieces she had picked up over those last 15 levels.

1st words out of PP’s mouth were

Carried!

She was right, but also so wrong. Our fresh lock was played by our Raid & RBG Pally heals. Playing a toon she used to PvP with. Playing with people she had PvP’d with tons of times before.

She knows how to play, she knows the BGs and while the her gear would have some impact on her damage output and damage mitigation, she was well aware of this and making adjustments to her playstyle to ensure she was of value.

Carried

Gnomeadeaden, Getafixsnow (both mine), Rawwrbear, Naysa, Dariaste, 80% of the guild…

We have all been carried, we have taken the fastest, most efficient route to BG entry… we walked in.

When you have less gear, you have to play smarter, play to the objectives rather than the killing blows, you learn your classes strengths and weaknesses, your get out of jail free abilities.

You need to – its all you’ve got!

BigPvPButt

Bear joined us on the weekend with little more than his smarts.

His smarts amounted to wise non-pvp gear selection, non-pvp spec choice, asking questions, picking the right targets, knowing when to engage and when to run away.

He played beyond gear and spec, he played smart.

Theoretically anyone with an ounce of H.I. can do this.

Knowledge

You don’t have to ever enter a BG to be equipped with this weapon. I’ve always found it strange that people will spend a lot of time getting to know instances and raids, yet never think of researching BG prior to entry.

There may not be the quanity of guides about, but I know a few people that will give you pointers.

Knowledge & Attitude

Attitude, interesting that it follows up on knowledge, but there is more to it. If you know you aren’t up for soloing a node, how will you play?

Getafixsnow spent a lot of time stealthing and ninjaing, while running from fights that couldn’t be won. Yet he could and would off-heal or blow the odd horde off the LM.

Knowledge, Attitude & Spec

Having an appropriate PvP spec and keyboard layout will make the world of difference.

The unthinkable PvE talents, the skills that never made it of of the spell book. The CCs, the escapes.

It’s not about the gear as much as how you play the game.

Knowledge, Attitude, Spec & Gear

Then of course, add gear to the mix and you can now stand toe to toe, fight on the road… or remember all those other things that got you the gear, the things that were much more valuable…

The knowledge, attitude and spec that make you much more valuable to a BG team.

Of course there are ways of getting some gear before you enter the BGs, and it never hurts to have something…

Crafted

You can make or buy the crafted gear. Some people will tell you not to even enter a BG until you have at least done this, but really, they can go screw themselves.  They have no idea of your personal circumstance.  Maybe this is your 1st toon, maybe you don’t know any of the required crafters (or they don’t have the patterns or mats if you do know some), maybe you have just scraped the last 15 copper together to buy your mount… I don’t know, and quick frankly it’s none of my business.

You could just be like me, some may call me a lazy arse, I prefer to think of myself as overwhelmingly ready to get into BGs… I’m not going to spend an hour trying to get the gear together that will be completely replace in a weeks time doing what I enjoy.

Crafted and JP trade for Honor

Of course, you may have piles of Justice Points just sitting about, well up to a max of 4k (unless the season has just turned and you have a few more).  That will get you a piece or two if you convert it and you could augment it with some crafted gear.

Or you could just play smart and earn your honor, nicking out every 3 odd BGs to pick up a new piece of gear (cause you are going to win OK!).

Have PvE gear, will Battle

You may well have a nice set of PvE gear, you may just want to fill 30 minute gaps in your day… don’t ask permission, just get in the BGs.. yes, yes you will die faster than the guy with resilience, but just quietly, he will probably die faster at your hands with your DPS-optimised gear focused on him

Just do it!

Just do it.. it really doesn’t matter what gear you have, there is always going to be someone telling you you have the wrong gear, the wrong enchant, the wrong spec, the wrong transmog… fuck’em!

Just don’t do it in Rated Battlegrounds!

Ohhh.. just don’t go into Rated Battlegrounds in your frilly dragonslayers… you make have thought those bosses hurt, wait until you have a psychopathic Rated BGer bearing down on your… you will run screaming like a Blood Elf.

Mr Squiggle

Finally, don’t ask me why I am finishing on this one… I guess it is the trap of YouTube… and childhood… Mr. Squiggle and essential part of my childhood.

Maybe it’s just about perspective, not taking things at 1st glance… go on, turn the dynamic around, play your own game, have fun… because that’s what you pay for subs for, you aren’t spoiling the ragers fun… they are, they don’t appreciate you are 500% better than an AFK or Bot!

PS: bear you better have at least watched the 1st video… it was for you!

Gnomer and Out!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

http://gnomeaggedon.net/2012/03/30/better-an-intelligent-undergeared-player-than/

I’ve rolled a couple, I know a couple, but they just aren’t my thing.

But I’ve learned a few things from them.. some of them friendly, some of them not so friendly, all of them teachers in some way.

I think one of the most underused spells in a Priest’s arsenal is Mind Control, and I don’t mean the Beware Mind Control in the wrong hands kind of mind control, but it will still make you do silly things.

Here are some examples…

Alterac Valley & Isle of Conquest

Wipe inducing

I enjoy frustrating the Horde when they are preparing to engage Van, but funnily enough it’s not easy as a Mage to get Van to come to my rescue. I have only one or two options.. taunt a Hordie far enough in the room for Van to stop cleaning his nails, or pop Mirror Images… For some reason, while the Images inherit my aggro, Van inherits theirs and he will charge to attack their enemies. I guess if I had a DK, I could pull them one by one to have a chat with Van, but it’s priests that have the real power to absolve the sins (through death) of the Horde.

Simply, a Priest mind controls the enemy into the bosses room, until they are close enough to clean Van’s nails for him. At which point the Priest releases the mind control (maybe even picking up a new target), leaving Van to wonder where this Hordie came from… Not for long though, I know where Van is sending that Hordie, straight to the graveyard! Van rarely settles for one, so there is a good chance that the enemy are going to scatter fast… if the Priest can keep that cycle up, it is hard for the average pug AV group to recover.

Room Clearing

This can be used in reverse of course.

Do you have a painful Mage in protecting their boss? Do they feel safe and secure in the arms of their orverlords?

Maybe it’s time for your Priest to spread rumors about their loyalty… or maybe, just turn them for a second using Mind Control. From past experience (cough), they will get one-shot by their guardians.

One warning on this… your leaders will then turn their attention to those waiting in the foyer, so run fast, wait for them to reset, then continue to clear the room of the potential wipe inducers.

See, no need to sit on noob hill wondering how to clear the room of defenders… let Van or Drek do it for you!

Eye of the Storm

I’m sure by now we have all experienced that sinking feeling when we see a Elemental Shaman or Boomkin on our node in EotS. Worse, we have probably experienced that falling feeling.

Well, they don’t have a monopoly of Troll tossing, the difference is Priest will make them want to go over the edge… at least initially.

Remember, every opponent over the edge is:

1. One less to count for turning the base in your favor
2. One less person you have to heal or DPS through
3. If thrown off the edge, one less person that wants to rez and rejoin combat.

Everyone expects to be thrown off a node by a Shaman or Boomkin… no one expects the Priestly walk of shame!

Twin Peaks

I was racing to intercept the Horde Flag Carrier in TP the other day, when I saw a marvelous thing.

The Flag carrier ran and jumped off the edge of the map at the waterfall.

EFC down, no way his team mates can pick up the flag without suffering the same fate.

As the EFC was at full health when he leaped to his death, his team mates hadn’t considered the need to have someone else in our flag room.

It was magic, and the Priest and his companions knew it… I know it now!

Arathi Basin – Achievement Hunter

Of course, Arathi Basin Lumber Mill.. who hasn’t been walked over the edge there? Why not?

I must admit I am always listening out for “Mind Control”, so I know to counterspell the priest and save my guildy, or ready with a trinket, Ice Block and as a last resort Slow Fall when I am targeted.

Still, I bet you never thought of it as a route to Achievements.

There was this one night in AB where a Priest was achievement hunting.

…They were guarding LM solo…

…They would cap the flag…

…Then run to the back of LM to hide…

…I rode up, could see no enemy, capped the flag back…

…Mind controlled off the cliff…

…The Priest came to the flag rescue…

…Run to the back and hide…

…I rode up, could see no enemy, capped the flag back…

…Mind controlled off the cliff…

…The Priest came to the flag rescue…

…Run to the back and hide…

…I rode up, could see no enemy, capped the flag back…

…Mind controlled off the cliff…

…The Priest came to the flag rescue…

…Run to the back and hide…

A mate, Daror, came to join me in taking down the Priest…

…Mind controlled off the cliff…

…The Priest came to the flag rescue…

…Run to the back and hide…

Last thing I heard over skype was…

Fucking priest got me too!

We got the priest next time, but by then we were finally onto their plan, we knew we needed two of us, a couple of interrupts from different sources, and the firepower to take them down before they got a grip on our minds.

Remember your Hit!

So my dear Priestly readers, remember your 4% hit to get spells off on level 85′s…. Yes, even you healer types, you need the hit, it’s not hard to come by and with it you will have lots of less interrupted fun.

Remember also that this is not for the use of the Horde… no, no, no.. Alliance only kk?

I Fear this is slightly off topic…

A Priest trick in the Arena is as good in the BGs.

Sometimes you need to CC a healer to get a kill on a DPS (or another heals for that matter).

Usually at the time this is occurring, your DPS are in full burst and can’t (or wont) take the time to lay down a bit of CC on the healer.

Hopefully at this point in time your enemy DPS are a little tied up trying to survive, so you as the Priest (and probably healer) will have a little idle time on your hands… so put it to good use.

Fear the enemy Heals… if they can’t heal at the important moments in the fight, then the DPS will die… miserably… and you can take the credit for their demise.

Who ever said Priests had to be nice all the time…?

Speaking of fear…

Forever your Gnomish altar boy…

Gnomer and Out!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

http://gnomeaggedon.net/2012/03/29/mind-controlled-ftw/

But maybe I need to be more clear…

Eye of the Storm is NOT Warsong Gulch.

EotS is NOT a game that revolves around flags.

Yes the flag can be a circuit breaker when you can only get and maintain 2 nodes, but it’s the nodes that count, it’s bodies on node that count.

Yes you can win a game with only two bases and a flag, the issue is…

Who owns the flag?

I can’t count how many EotS I have been in where both sides inch up by flag caps, the last team to cap being the winner.

The bigger the investment, the bigger the crash

The problem is, the more vital the flag is, the more troops you have to commit from your nodes, which in turn means your nodes are now too lightly defended.

The people fighting in the middle are too focused on the fight, and would need to disengage, wait until they were out of combat and then respond to the frantic and usually too late incoming call.

People intending to fight in the middle also have a longer run after a Rez as well as face the danger of a seeing two Spirit Rezzers if the node they are rezzing at get taken – then they may be in the starting point, then control of mid may be lost for a flag cap or two.

With the mid-control balance lost you need to commit more troops, troops you didn’t have before, troops you don’t have now.

With a node lost, your mid controllers HAVE to abandon mid to take at least a 2nd node a well as protect the remaining node from the inevitable Zerg.

You are now on the back foot and recovery will be more difficult than controlling 3-4 nodes from the start.

The other thing to consider is that the flag is worth zero points by itself. The flag gains value based on the number of nodes you hold and this increase is not linear. A flag cap with 2 nodes is more than 2×1 node, a flag cap with 3 nodes is worth more than 3×1 node, etc.

Likewise the point gain from holding nodes is nonlinear. similar to AB and BfG, the game is over in the blink of an eye if you control all the bases.

So holding only two bases just extends the time on the clock, well that and diminishing the value of flags.

More time on the clock = more time to cock up, or at the very least give your opponents time to recovery, Zerg your nodes and steal victory.

Take it, Don’t cap it!

How do you encourage your flag-blind team mates to cap nodes rather than flags?

Ironically this is by grabbing the flag… the difference is you don’t cap it. If there is no flag respawning in mid, there is no reason to be there, so now you can encourage them to take another node, or two.

Encourage them, vocally…

No cap until we have 3 bases!

Meanwhile your flag-blind opponents will want the flag and they will come to get it, at your node, next to your graveyard, far from their graveyard.

With your opponents now tied up crossing the map to get to your node where the flag taunt them, your hit team can start taking their nodes, pushing them back to the start point, further from all bases.

They are kind of bottle necked as you can snipe them as they try to get past your nodes “on their side of the map”.  A roving team can keep them away from crossing the flag bridge. The game is already over and they know it. A quick farm and you leave with max Conquest and Honor.

Better Yet, start right!

Yes, the map is all screwed up - who cares, just reverse your mental map!

So imagine this flow from the Alliance perspective, just switch it about for Horde.

• Groups 1&2 go via DR to BeT, depositing 1 defender/caller at DR.
• Group 3 goes via MT to FRR, depositing 1 defender/caller at MT.

Remember the fish!

Yes, group 3 are probably sacrificial, but if the Horde leave to protect BeT (or are flag-blind) it could be an easy cap. Whatever the case you are breaking their momentum to MT.

Best case you get all 4 bases, or at least neutralise them, forcing them to rez on their big starting rock.

Now I know what you are thinking, the enemy will just run straight through.. but usually they don’t, they run back to their base to cap, but hopefully, by the time they get there the base is gone, all the bases are gone, and the flag-blind in the middle don’t know which way to run, but they run, in ones and twos, ultimately to their death.

Even if they do run through to your bases, they have to neutralise you and turn the node, which may take them a while, probably long enough for you to come back and engage them.

Remember you don’t have to kill them to capture the node, you just need more bodies there.  if they have 1, you need 2, if they have 5, you need 6… even 5 will stop the base turning.

THAT IS WHY YOU MUST FIGHT ON THE NODE, not the road in front of it, not on the bridges, not in midfield.

FIGHT ON THE NODES!

(I have seen too many occasions where we outnumbered our opponents, but the opponents fought ON the node, so it remained in their hands).

Meanwhile group 1&2 take BeT, wait until it turns (which will be quick with that many bodies) and push to clean up FRR if required or support the other nodes.

Roving the Bottleneck

Yeah this one is screwed too... make your own!

Group 1, 2 & 3 now position themselves Horde side of the flag bridge. They can rove to protect BeT and FRR and block the Horde from the flag.

You must keep at least 1 on each node, so that the enemy always has to send at least 2 people to win the node!

So long as MT and DR are early with calls and your roving band is quick to respond you should have and keep 4 bases & control the flag.

A couple of flag caps later and the game is yours.

Just because the fights at the nodes are hard, doesn’t mean they aren’t worthwhile. It’s just a matter of body count – living vs. dead, ON the node, to control a node.

Remember, if you have a nasty Elemental Shaman or Boomkin, they can reduce the enemy load on a node by blowing them off… into the void is nice, but off the node will do to begin with.

Once it’s neutralized your job gets easier, once it’s owned you respawn your own reinforcements.

Fall back position

Yes, yes… it can all unravel and next thing you know you only have two bases… seems like a better fall back position than starting position.

All being will you have knocked up a handy lead too, a bit more breathing space in case they get a few flag caps in a row.

That’s OK, because you know what, Plan B isn’t just about the Flag. It’s about continuing the assault on at least one of their bases. Drag the flag-blind opponents away from the flag to defend, drag them all over the place.  You may not keep a node, but if you can at least temporarily neutralize it, they lose a source of consistent points, they have to change plans, they are on the back foot and scrambling to turn the defeat about.

Diversify your options

It’s about having options and starting with 2 bases limits those options. If you can start with a position of strength, depriving them of points and close  graveyards early, you are in a stronger position than hoping to survive what is essentially a turtle… and turtles rarely work, offense is your best defense.

Go kill your opponents, just do it on their nodes so that you can capture them – two birds, one stone… HK’s and a winning game.

Gnomer and Out!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

http://gnomeaggedon.net/2012/03/28/eye-of-the-storm-is-not-warsong-gulch/

The mass CC from the Horde was insane.

It wasn’t CC you would find on a toolbar, it was mental CC.

Although, maybe the majority of my teammates had the A.I. of a trash mob.

The primary Horde CC consisted of 1 Pally healer, and 1 Prot warrior.

Wherever they were you would find a collection of 5 alliance players, or trash mobs as I like to think of them.

• Warrior ~100% health
• Pally ~ 100% health
• Trash mobs – 100% focused on the Warrior while he mowed them down.

I came across this duo a few times as I ran pointlessly around the BG wondering where 1/2 the team was.

Each time I found 1/2 the team engaged with this duo, I killed the Pally within 30 seconds, at which point they would make progress on the Warrior, until the Pally returned that is.

That duo was some of the best CC I have seen.

The 5 living, breathing, supposedly Humanly Intelligent (H.I.) trash mobs were worse than the worst bots I have seen.

What a waste of oxygen!

Just for the record, Warrior taunts aren’t meant to work on player characters, so use a little H.I. And switch to the healer, or hell, just ignore them both.

I’d rather an undergeared Bear futilely bashing a geared Resto Shaman (at least there are interrupts), than an underH.I. anybody hitting a tank while ignoring the heals.

Gnomer and Out!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

http://gnomeaggedon.net/2012/03/27/as-smart-as-the-average-trash-mob/

While as a general rule I treat rogues like mosquitoes, slap randomly at the air and they pop their Cloak of Noob, there are times when I find myself reduced to inarticulate Rogue Rage myself.

I had two of those moments over the weekend in quick succession. In fact it was the proximity of the battles and the juxtaposition of their performance that has me still raging days later.

Act I

We enter Arathi Basin to find our team stacked with rogues… Seven of them, 7!

I’m not above using an unfair advantage and 7 rogues in AB is an unfair advantage.

The gates open, the rogues disappear, as they do, they are stealth after all.

The problem, it turns out, is that while masters of stealth, they were masters of not very much else.

Two of them stealthed at Gold Mine the whole time. They were active in BG chat so obviously not AFK, yet for the purposes of AB objectives, might as well have been. The others.. well I saw a couple defending the roads…

Rogues are born ninja cappers, I’m pretty sure that is the definition of a rogue somewhere on Blizzards website.

Sure they can be handy at guarding a node, but that just isn’t the best use for this BG resource.

If they were there to AFK bleed honor, then they might as well have stepped away from their keyboards. If they were there to get real honor, they could have joined in.

We lost that BG miserably and I admit I was mildly annoyed, but then we had the next BG.

Act II

Ahhh relief, we aren’t a team of AFKing rogues… thank god for…

Ohhh shit, the Horde has nine, 9 rogues!

Damn it, they had read Blizzard’s website, they were a nightmare.

Roving Rogues, in hunting packs of 2-3, they just dominated.

They didn’t need to ninja cap, they just sliced and diced us to minced meat.

• One rogue tapping ineffectually at your back is one thing.
• Two rogues slicing appropriately sized fillets is a pain.
• Three Rogues butchering you post haste is a insane.

Sap, Blind, Destroy

Sap, Blind, Destroy

Sap, Blind, Destroy

Sap, Blind, Destroy

That was the flow of the battle. I felt like Dr. Who hearing the 4 knocks.

I knew the outcome, there was little I could do but call out in BG chat

ST… rogues… ST gone… Stay away from the rogues.

But there was no escape from the Horde rogues.

They were playing their class, playing to win, playing to demoralize and humiliate.

I would have traded all of the Alliance rogues for one of the Horde rogues.

So after these BGs Warlocks have lost their top KoS position replaced by rogues. My list now goes like this.

1. Rogues – Alliance
2. Rogues – Horde
3. Warlocks (because it’s right to hate on Warlocks when you are a Mage)
4. Paladins (actually their death isn’t necessarily, but I want their buffs… I want their wings!)

Speaking of Warlocks.

I was speaking (well playing BGs) with Keredria over the weekend and she mentioned the resurgence of Warlock rerolls. I know we have gone from one inactive Warlock to 3 active ones recently (in a guild of about 10 active players). How about you guys?

edit: Cynwise tells us Warlocks are on the decline… mmm…

Luckily Bear is holding up the Mage end of the rerolls.

I had the honor of doing BGs with Keredria, Bear, Pugnacious Priest and a few of their guildies over the weekend.

Bear was concerned about his lack of resilience gear, I was just concerned that he was getting more killing blows than most of us.

Although there was that one Resto Shaman, even with both of us going all out we couldn’t get him below 50%.

It was fun.
It was an honor
It will be repeated.

Thanks to all of you that participated. I had a blast, it felt more like a single group of guildies than a muddled up conglomeration of 4 guilds.

Gnomer and Out!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

http://gnomeaggedon.net/2012/03/26/rogues-a-study-in-frustration/

There I was just mucking about when Zwingli sends me a tweet.

A tweet that became this post with the assistance of Cynwise & Snack_Road.

I once saw Twitter referred to as a river. If you get to the river bank at the right time, you get to see the swans floating by. Get there at the wrong time and it’s nothing but debris floating by.

So, I have captured that moment in time, pasted it here for you to enjoy...

Zwing has recently been inspired by Cyn and I to dig deep in PvP, starting with a baby hunter.

So where do we stand on heirlooms?

Is their effect detrimental to learning the skills required for PvP?

What other options are available apart from Heirlooms?

What are the right levels to lock XP, or cease wearing heirlooms?

Is all fair in love and war (of the WoW variety)?

Should you enter BGs with the biggest stick you can get your hands on, twink your way through the levels, or just accept you will be as squishy or strong as you are at that point in time?

If heirlooms are allowed, should Rogues be allowed… should Rogues be allowed at all?

@zwinglisblog: @wowcynwise @Gnomeaggedon what is your view on heirlooms in pvp?

@wowcynwise: How do you mean?

@zwinglisblog: started my pvp toon on a server w/out my mains. So, he’s poor and squishy. (cc)

@zwinglisblog: (c) So, I’m tempted to have him on my main server, and use heirlooms to beef him up.

@Gnomeaggedon: use them! It’s hard to have level relevant PvP gear when leveling in BGs.

@zwinglisblog: kinda feels like an unfair advantage. But, maybe nothing in pvp is fair

@Gnomeaggedon: depends on your intention, if you are leveling, the time taken to get twink gear at each level is prob mispent

@Gnomeaggedon: so if you are leveling through having a few pieces that grow with you makes sense

@zwinglisblog: I’m not “just” leveling. I’m doing it to learn how to pvp on a hunter w/out being thrown in at lvl 85.

@wowcynwise: You *can* level via PvP without heirlooms. The early levels can be tough but it will even out if you gear up.

@wowcynwise: Nothing in PvP is fair. Use them. They last through the 60s. At 70 evaluate resil gear for your spec.

@wowcynwise: Periodically lock your XP and go run dungeons to get better gear.

@zwinglisblog: so, consensus is that heirlooms are a good thing – at least in beginning. Yes? At what lvls do you lock xp?

@wowcynwise: … heirlooms are good, but the best enchants are better.

@wowcynwise: Lock when you feel your gear is slipping behind. Don’t do it to PvP, try bottoms of brackets x0, x5.

@wowcynwise: Related: Disposable Heroes: How To Make Reusable Level 10 PvP Toons
Sabotaging the Enemy: the Ethics of Gear
 On the Heirloom Conundrum

@wowcynwise: Re: locking – The PvP Pause

@zwinglisblog: on a different character, I locked at 15…then ran a BG. Was scarred for 5 mos from the new hole I was ripped.

@wowcynwise: Don’t lock for PvP <; 20 unless you’re ready to play with the hardcore twinks. 1k health minimum.

@Gnomeaggedon: what Cyn says. He has more experience leveling through, certainly recently. Basically use what works – they will.

@wowcynwise: PvP *is* war. If gear helps you kill your opponent faster, get it.

@snack_road: “They send one of yours to the hospital, you send two of theirs to the morgue.”

@Gnomeaggedon: if BGs were honorable… Rogues would not be allowed to queue! Find a big stick, use a big stick.

@zwinglisblog: I’m working on a kickbutt lvl 10 toon tonight!

What do you think?

Gnomer and Out!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

http://gnomeaggedon.net/2012/03/21/is-all-fair-in-love-and-war/

As much as Twin Peaks is similar in nature to Warsong Gulch, I’m not a huge fan… but that doesn’t mean I don’t love it.

Yeah I have degrees of BG love… they are all well loved, it’s just a case of whether that love goes beyond the 100% mark.

I previously gave you a run down of my WSG strategy, that surprisingly works more often than not, so maybe it’s time to shine my light on Twin Peaks.

Once again, this is from the perspective of a Mage flag carrier, specifically an Alliance Mage… this doesn’t preclude any Alliance from using the strategy, well maybe the Blinks, but otherwise it’s a pretty much one-size-fits-all strategy. In fact Squidly, my Resto Shaman, runs the same course, but isn’t reliant on the expensive overhead of Water Walking Potions.

Preparation

This strategy is augmented if you have done a little preparation before entering TP and before the gates open. Note you can’t use the pots in RBGs, but you can chew on them in normals.

Pre-Twin Peaks

• Source some Elixir of Water Walking, unless you are Shaman or DK… you B.Y.O. skills suited for this. These are a pain to fish up (60 fish from limited pools for a stack and change to pots), but they are well worth it for those of us without the natural ability to walk on water – more important than the other potions if you can’t.
• Source some Swiftness Potions – Requires level 15 (You may use 6 per battle if you do the 3 caps… I keep 40 on me all the time, last thing you want is to run out when you need a burst of speed)
• Source some Elixir of Camouflage Requires level 50 (This is optional, but I’d rather not have Hunters and Druids tracking my approach to the EFR)
• Buy 1-2 healer friends, an annoying DPS never hurts either (These are optional… who needs friends when you are about to fly like the wind)
• Re-roll Mage (Also optional, but well and truly advised by me)

Pre-Battle

• Mage food (If you are a Mage… you are a Mage aren’t you… otherwise get some)
• Lock Rocks/Candy (You may be on your own at times, this may save your bacon… mmmm bacon)
• Proudly announce you will be flag carrying.
• Tell Healers to stay mounted and wait for you out the front of the pipe – Ohh yeah, this is an Alliance strategy.
• Tell everyone you are coming via Pipe, that you are fast, but you need the EFC down ASAP.
• Pop your Elixir of Camouflage
• With 15 seconds before the gates open, Slow Fall everyone (just common courtesy as a Mage). This is important. It allows everyone to just jump from the top rather than skirting around the roads. It’s especially important if you have a conscious Shaman that water walks everyone – any damage will remove that.

The Downstroke

So usual rituals prior to the gates opening, food, rocks and all the other normal buffs. If you have a Shaman request water walking, a DK path of Frost.

15 seconds before start Slowfall everyone. Once again a macro’d (or MageNuggets) Slowfall is best. Doesn’t hurt to throw your Mage armors on as you run out the gate.

The gate opens and…

Go!

Run out a few steps, mount up and ride along the balcony and launch yourself into thin air. You are aiming for the river, imagine you are going to run right up the river (and you may do this).  Avoid the bridge but feel free to run up the land on the right if need be.

You are racing for the pipe, but if at any point it is obstructed by Horde a quick veer to the left will take you over their bridge and to the flag.

If at any point you lose your water walking (and damage will break it), assuming you don’t have a dot on you (no reoccurring damage), you can pop a water walking pot (you will remain mounted if mounted).

If you have a friendly shaman, DK (or even Priest with levitate if you are already on foot) about get them to keep an eye on whether your head is above water and if not buff you for the win.

If you have a pocket heal, get them to remain mounted outside on the shore. A priest in this position is priceless for a life grip if you exit under fire (chasers are stuck bobbing in the water while you are already racing on dry land).

As you run into the pipe, pan your camera angle for a quick enemy tag check. If there are none obvious, run right in. If you see some, pop invisibility.

Support Positions

Meanwhile your EFC killing/support crew will race to intercept the Horde. 90% o the time they are heading for the ramp on the right, “waterfall” side. Occasionally they will go up the middle ramp. Either way, intercept them on the right hand side and hold those that stay.

By this I mean some will slip through for the flag, that’s OK, sort out the midfield while they make go grab the flag. Hopefully by the time the EFC returns you own midfield and can take the EFC down before they hit the river.

Once again, 90% of the time the EFC will return via the “waterfall ramp”, 9% of the time they will come down the central ramp, 1% of the time they will come your graveyard side.

The preference is they kill the EFC before they reach the river, before they reach their GY respawn support. Chase the EFC, CC’ing their support away so they get out in front by themselves for an easier kill.

If the EFC makes it to their base with support, then you are probably better waiting until the debuff stacks up, or their support leaves to get your FC.

Grab!

Don’t waste your blink as you enter their room, just run and grab the flag. If you are invisible there is a good chance they won’t know you are there until you have left the room, the question is which exit to take of the 3 available options.

I rarely if ever exit via the front entrance, more likely to meet horde racing from mid field, or those racing around from the upper level.

So that leaves the two side entrances.

I favor exiting the same way I entered, via the pipe, but that depends on the state of the enemies flag room.

Pipe exit (Plan A)

If you can get out without being touched (a blink to remove line of sight can do this if pressured) or if there are defenders upstairs so you remove their line of sight then this is a good option.

Remember one love tap and you have lost your water walking, so blink to the pipe then hug the right wall to reduce LoS. If you have been dotted you can’t refresh water walking, so just swim or pray for a life grip to get you onto solid ground and give you a head start.

If you’ve lost water walking and aren’t dotted, you can water walk again.

If you have water walking, pop a speed pot now to race away behind the horde farm and reduce LoS and visual clues to your location.

Speed boots exit (Plan B)

The opposite exit is my next preferred exit. If the horde are “blocking” the pipe, go the other way.

Grab the speed boost and run, run, run. As tempting as the log is, even the water if you still have water walking, I have found I am normally better off rounding the corner and taking the horde bridge.

For one thing you drop the LoS of pursuers, you are also making those that entered their base chase around, or double back and finally, being centered on the map you can make a quick call on heading through the center or crossing the river.

The log on the other hand leads to the Horde GY, Horde midfield or EFC support.

Get Home

Your objective is to get back to your base as soon a you can, getting there is often enough to dissuade chasers who will be torn between protecting the EFC, or catching you.

When I’m running the flag I’m hoping every spare body will be focused on the EFC. Best case they go down midfield as I race into our flag room, often solo, with my couple of support crew delaying any chasers. That’s best case of course.

There are a few intercept spots that the Horde will most likely hit you. You are on your own to begin with (well maybe a healer), but as you travel down the map, you will come close enough to your Blockers and Chasers that they can impede the Horde.

BLINK!

Being a Mage your greatest tool is blink. As with WSG, you should be blinking as soon as its off cooldown, timed right you will find that it pretty much gets you from one hidden ditch to the next, so there is very little time spent clearly visible.

These ditches give a Mage another advantage. They naturally funnel your chasers, they will unintentionally group up in the ditch in an attempt to get you, but here’s the rub…

1. They are all in Frost Nova, Pet Freeze and Cone of Cold range, so they can all get… ummm… stucked.
2. A Ring of Frost dropped at the end of the ditch will force them to pop trinkets, wait, or back up – either into the waiting arms of your support team, or at the very least being delayed. Meanwhile your support crew can just run on through.
3. Did I mention that your blinks will be conveniently off cooldown as you are about to exit the ditch… Frost Nova, Ring of Frost, Blink, later suckers!

If you use you speed pot at the 1st opportunity after leaving the EFR (as you leave pipe, or once the speed boots have worn off), your speed pot cooldown will be up as you approach your flagroom ramp.

CAP!

Hiding Spots

This section isn’t really necessary is it?

You ran into your flagroom and the EFC was already down and your flag returned… right?

Hmmm… Listen, it’s real important that your Flag Blockers and Chasers get the EFC down quick.  By quick I mean preferably before they reach the river. Once they reach the river, they are on the home stretch with lots of LoS in their favor, and more importantly, they are passing by they forward GY.  Which means that heals you just killed is about to rejoin the EFC.

If you can keep them Alliance side of the river, then the EFC support has to cross… but by then you will have returned the flag right?

Keeping an Eye on the EFC.

Who needs mind vision when you have Focus.  Make sure you have focused the EFC, you want to know what their health looks like all the time.  If you aren’t standing on the podium when their health is less than 30%, I can only think of 2 possibilities.

1. Your Blockers and Chasers are damn good and you haven’t even reached the flagroom yet… right?
2. Your Flag is about to get taken for the 2nd time, which is just a pain.

So…

Corner of podium (Option A)

I like to squeeze into the corner, so I obstruct LoS from the balcony.  Hunters love to go there, so do Locks and Mages, you don’t want them having a free shot, make them drop down to your level.

You can also keep an eye on the other entrances, throw down a Ring of Frost which will protect you and the flag if you get stuck.

Most importantly, you are a step away from a cap.

If you find that you need to move about, try to keep your blink up your sleeve, so you can blink back to the podium when you see (in your focus portrait remember), the EFC about to drop.

If you have a smart, friendly priest, you can dance with them, switching over on the podium… The Horde will have to search for you both, and they can pull you to the podium if your blink is down, you are CC’d, or you forget to watch the focus target… you are watching the focus EFC target right?

If you priest is on the balcony, they can heal relatively uninterrupted and pull you out of trouble if need be.

(Conversely, if the EFC is on ground floor, make sure your DK buddy pulls them up to the balcony to have some free hits while the EFC’s heals try to obtain LoS.)

Out the side entrance (Option B)

I don’t know why, but this position stumps the Horde that are chasing me down.  I’m not in the flag room and I can duck out of sight if need be. Horde normally just race into the flagroom, turn a few circles, but by then I have the element of surprise.

I’m neither here nor there, it’s a spot that works and I have no idea why.

Lip of the balcony (Option C)

This isn’t a hiding place, it’s an escape route.

If need be, bolt out that door, but hang a really hard right, jumping up on the broken ledge.

Most likely any Horde that follow you will over shoot the mark heading downstairs before the do a quick U-turn.

If they do follow you on the ledge, just head down to the corner, there is a good chance they will fall off the edge while trying to take you down, but worst case you can bolt around the front.

The one problem with this escape route, is it puts you a long way from the podium, which makes it risky if the EFC is going down, but sometimes, you just got to live to make a cap.

Thanks due to Tickk for letting me in on this escape route, which he has used to awesome effect in the past.

Keeping the flag in play

If you are a loose player in the game and the EFC is going strong while your flag carrier is going down, head straight to the Horde flagroom to grab the flag. While you have the flag, you are depriving the Horde of a cap.  You don’t have to carry it the whole way back if you are terrified (but make sure someone knows you are going to hand it off), but just get it away from the Horde.

Porting Graveyards

Finally, if there is one thing Mages know about it’s Ports.

Do you ever get frustrated when you die at the Horde base and want to get right back into the action, but your darling Spirit Healer has you back at the Alliance base?

Yeah, it’s a long run down field… unless of course you, yes you, hell anyone, could port to a forward graveyard.

Which you can, just doubleclick on the Return to Graveyard button and you are there. it might not be Stormwind, but you are a damn side closer now than you were!

Thanks  to our RogueRaging Phlanks for this tip (yeah he’s a Mage in his spare time.. he knows about ports)

Gnomer and Out!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

http://gnomeaggedon.net/2012/03/19/twin-peaks-its-just-the-way-i-roll/

So rogues… Where to begin…

I have one, it does PvE, and generally fails miserably, and/or dies within 20% of a boss…

In Eye of the Storm today, I had the pleasure of meeting a rogue, face to face (or ass to face as it were). I did the usual hunter thing.. trap, scatter shot, disengage and then hold him at range with concussive shot, and shot the crap outta him till he dies…

One happy hunter.

I happen to meet upon said rogue once more, as he was beating on a poor hapless priest. scatter shot, aimed shot… you know the drill. My priest friend (Dariaste) ran away, only to be harassed by another rogue. The rogue I was working, vanished, and I dropped the expected flare awaiting my backside to feel his daggers once more. Instead, I find the rogue has sprinted off to join his friend in taking out the priest. I was bemused by the fact that the rogue needed to leave me, to help his friend...

I mean, I’m only a hunter after all.

This, is the good, and embarrassing thing for rogues. One on one with a mediocre rogue, it’s hard to screw up. Now… when facing a decent rogue, or facing a mediocre rogue (or better) on a toon not really designed to deal with rogues… like say a Warlock that my wife plays by the name of Naysa, you have quite a bit of a different fight.

The fight goes something like this…

*pop stealth behind lock*
*cheap shot*
*Mutilate x3*
*kidney shot*
*mutilate x 3*
*eviscerate*
_Warlock Dead_

(Warlock has not moved from original place she was cheap shotted, nor gotten off any spells or defence… she’s just dead.)

Also, the warlock seems to scream every word in the English language (and some that aren’t) that are generally derogatory in nature at and about said rogue.

Now after that one fight, and apparently for the rest of the battle ground, that rogue, decided to pick on the Lock. so for the next 20 minutes, I heard screaming from the computer next to me, expletives and other obscenity. When I asked my wife if everything was ok and what was wrong, she looked at me deadpan,and muttered

I’m just suffering Rogue Rage, right!

After that god awful WoW session, and lock spanking, the wife and I retired to bed, my last words to her that night being “I love you, sweetheart”, and her response “stupid fu##ing rogues”.

One-Size-Fits-All BG Strat

I leave you all with a strat I have developed for PvPing across any BG’s

All go Green, get waterworks and docks, AOE on flags, protect the FC, Cleanse demos, get LM, fight on the nodes, jump over barrels, zerg Drek, save the princess, and for god’s sake, someone please find waldo… Also, Kill the stupid FU##ING ROGUE!

~ Phlanker ~

So there you have it, the 1st guest post from Phlanker (with I’m sure some constructive input from Naysa).

For the record, that strategy that Phlanker describes… that is not just the strategy he plays by, but is often the strategy he pops into BG chat as the game begins.

We know it’s a good thing for a strong leader to take control before the gates even open, and Phlanks is not just strong, but he is wise.  For he is the owner of this macro:

Gnomer and Out!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

http://gnomeaggedon.net/2012/03/16/rogue-raging/

fuckityfuckityfuckityfuckity…. Arrrrgghhhhh

fuckityfuckityfuckityfuckityRogues!

fuckityfuckityfuckityfuckity…. Arrrrgghhhhh

fuckityfuckityfuckityfuckityRogues!

fuckityfuckityfuckityfuckity…. Arrrrgghhhhh

fuckityfuckityfuckityfuckityRogues!

fuckityfuckityfuckityfuckity…. Arrrrgghhhhh

fuckityfuckityfuckityfuckityRogues!

fuckityfuckityfuckityfuckity…. Arrrrgghhhhh

fuckityfuckityfuckityfuckityRogues!

fuckityfuckityfuckityfuckity…. Arrrrgghhhhh

fuckityfuckityfuckityfuckityRogues!

Ahhh BGs can be fun with a bunch of Rogues about

fuckityfuckityfuckityfuckity…. Arrrrgghhhhh

fuckityfuckityfuckityfuckityRogues!

All credit for this post goes to Naysa…

She’s only new to WoW, and to BGs.. but she learns fast.

Gnomer and Out!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

http://gnomeaggedon.net/2012/03/15/rogue-rage/

Seriously, they have to die… FIRST!

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again…

Magma Totems Must Die!

That is assuming they are at a flag in a capture the node game such as Arathi Basin or Battle for Gilneas.

They are close to the best node defense item in the game.

They cost nothing.

They have no cooldown.

They flush out stealthies and interrupt a cap every two seconds.

They frustrate the living crap out of this Ninja Mage!

Of course, if you are a Shaman that is defending MAKE SURE YOU ALWAYS HAVE ONE DOWN!

Spirit Link Totems Must Die!

Second on the list of totems that must die is the Spirit Link Totem.

When a Shaman drops this, you know the crap has hit the fan in their eyes.  More often than not, it’s their last dying grasp, they are dropping this because they can’t get a heal off, they are about to hit the dust and they will vampire drain their buddies to enable them to keep on healing.

Damn good chance they are going to follow this up with some big heals to top everyone back up too… get ready to interrupt them!

Shaman are terrifying healers at the best of times, you really don’t want to be giving them second chances.

From memory they can drop this pretty much any time and will often drop it when they are getting stun-locked down – if they can’t heal, they will let their totem quickly even out health pools, giving them and their buddies a second chance.

Of course, if you are a Shaman, don’t forget this get out of death free card!

Mana Tide Totems Must Die!

When this gets dropped someone is in serious need of mana, most likely the Resto Shaman himself.  It means it’s bee a drawn out battle and they are trying to draw it out a little longer.

Possibly they care about other casters… but more likely than not, the one that has been frustrating you by keeping everyone alive, want to keep people alive a little longer…

… deprive them of their oxygen… errr mana

Actually, now that you have deprived them of their mana, go ahead and deprive them of their oxygen!

Of course if you are a shaman, remember that you aren’t the only one getting drained of mana, in fact there could well be priests or hunters doing just that, if not to you, then to your buddies… so help them out and give them a mana boost… AoE mana boost!

Whatever you do, kill that bloody Magma Totem first!

Gnomer and Out!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

http://gnomeaggedon.net/2012/03/13/magma-totems-must-die/