Free Candy For Everyone

I’ve been running a lot of WoW Battlegrounds recently. It’s sort of become my favorite part of the game. I have several characters at various levels who I use with interesting results. But the main thing I’ve realized is that my long ago post claiming there was no battlegrounds problem is very very wrong.

I used to only run BGs on the weekends, and that was part of my blindness. It’s during the week that the twinks come out. (Sidebar: Just looked up that term on Urban Dictionary and was surprised to see the original meaning of the word is “An attractive, boyish-looking, young gay man.” And keep reading to find out why. *sigh* Why is everything homophobic in the MMOs?) A twink (in the MMORPG context) is a character who has totally maxed out gear, the best of the best, probably afforded by sending money from a higher level character owned by the same player. In WoW specifically, there are a couple of obvious ways to twink. If you can afford it, by the best gear - blues all the way. But a much worse problem is enchanting.

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I made some strides with Aynaka, the undead mage I started last month (in World of Warcraft, of course). I got her to level 23. I posted some screenshots of her early on, when she wasn’t looking very mage-like. Here she is now, properly garbed in a robe.

As I’d mentioned in some earlier posts, I usually don’t like to go into the Battlegrounds when I’m at the low end of the level range. But I made an exception with Aynaka, because I figured she just rocks so much, she’d do ok. I played two matches of Warsong Gulch today with her at level 23. It was great. I love Mana Shield and Blink. For those who don’t play mages, Mana Shield absorbs physical damage and drains mana instead, and Blink pops you 20 yards straight ahead of where you are, also removing any ensnaring spells in the process. I had a couple of situations where four or five high levels were pounding me and I still managed to escape. Sheep one, Frost Nova the rest, Shield and Blink away. It was awesome.

I took on a druid one-on-one who was two or three levels above me and managed to take her down. She just kept healing herself. Haha. That’s not getting get me to stop!

Both matches were with a lot of the same people, and it was rather clear that the Alliance didn’t know what they were doing. We won the second match in about 10 minutes. They were not well organized. But in that second match, despite most of the players being higher level than me, I had the most honor kills. Yippee!

Still really loving playing the mage. Though I’m getting to that middle level where the first bloom comes off the rose and all. Here’s hoping this one sticks. (Not that I don’t like my other characters, but I’m having a lack of interest in playing on a PvP server, so Raelle is not getting as much attention as she might. But I did get some more PvP in with her this week. She’s at level 29, so I don’t quite want to level her yet, because I don’t think a level 30 priest will last long in the BGs).

Last week I had a managed to log a lot of time playing the Battlegrounds (BG) in World of Warcraft, specifically in Warsong Gulch. I played various battles with three of my characters, my 29 Paladin, my 29 Priest, and my Mage, in various levels from 16-19. They were all rather different experiences and I thought I’d share some of what I learned. Herein lies Tara’s Strategy Guide.

Warsong Gulch is a 10 vs. 10 game of capture the flag. It’s played on a pretty small map, with each team’s flag housed in a base building with several entrances and exits. There’s a sprawling field between the two bases with minimal cover and rolling hills. To capture the flag, you have to run into the enemy base, click it, and run it back to your base WHILE YOUR FLAG IS THERE. So if both flags are held by flag runners, no one can capture one. The game ends when a team makes three flag captures.

First, the utmost basic strategy: stay together (unless you can stealth). The worst thing to happen is to run across the battlefield alone looking for your teammates and encounter a big clump of the enemy. They will kill you and there’s nothing you can do about it. Next to your minimap is an icon for the BG. Right-click it to bring up a small battleground map. This will show you where your teammates are. Use it!

No matter which class you are playing, if you die, look for your teammates before running off wildly, and try to join them in whatever they are doing. If you see a teammate under assault, HELP THEM. I can’t count the number of times I was fighting 2 players and saw my teammates run right by to attack someone else. Of course we all ended up dying because we weren’t working together.

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