World of Warcraft

March 20, 2006

Beware the Ides of March

Well, fun's over, and I'm getting back into the grove of work. I'm facing a few hundred unread emails, just imagine if I didn't try to keep up with it.

Today's post is about setting up a Warsong Gulch team on the Alliance Side. I imagine that many non-pvp servers have a very similar population imbalance issue (more Alliance than Horde). When it comes to PvP, that creates challenges for the up-and-coming team. These are the following things that our team is having to over come.

1) One hour+ wait times make it difficult for us to get a feel of the tactics of players on our team. To further make this difficult, our "team" officially only runs on Fridays. During the week I play my alt rogue (getting to 60!), and my BG Twink Mage (lvl 29). Many other team members have other commitments, some are hard-core, 100% of the time, PvP'rs. Our time together as a team is limited. Our time together in smaller groups, joining PuGs is more plentiful, but that doesn't help us as much as it could.

2) Horde Teams are really good. Why? Because they get a heck of a lot more time in the Battlegrounds together. So they get better, faster, and roll Alliance PUGS faster and faster. However, when there's 80+ Alliance waiting, and only two matches of warsong going (one Horde PUG, one Horde Team). The chances of drawing the horde PuG are very slim. The Horde PuG's matches last an hour or more (stalemate against an Alliance PuG). The Horde Team rolls a PUG in 10 min or less. This means, we face the phat, well practiced, well strategized, well planned horde team after our one and a half hour queue time. I don't mind playing them. In fact, it's good for us, as we can pick up some cues from their play style. However, we'll never get a handle on our own play style if we get rolled by them in 20 minutes once every two hours (queue time plus game time).

3) Finally, this one isn't based on population... Lack of a Voicecom server. If we ran ever single night, this might be easier to co-ordinate with the team. I would argue, it's one of the critical things to have, as a team, in 60's BG's. I almost wish Blizzard had it built into the game, for use in Raid Groups only. But then I'd think of the extra lag... :D

So, if you're setting up a team, three things to remember.

1) Try to figure out as many times as possible that the bulk of the team can meet.

2) Try to schedule play time during more prime time hours, to increase the likely hood of facing a Horde PuG.

3) Get yourself Teamspeak, Ventrillo, or any voice communication software.

Posted by mrh176 at 08:22 AM

March 03, 2006

Building Character

Kind of a vague Calvin and Hobbes reference for a title today. I should've googled something better. That'll learn me. (Nevermind the grammar)

Today I want to talk about two things in Warsong Gulch. Tactics for Dwarf Priests, and Mages.

• Dwarf Priests: Fear Ward is for winning games. I like winning games, everyone likes winning games, fear ward makes you win games. Cast Fear Ward on everyone. When there's a Dwarf priest in a match, you can deny the enemy horde a powerful CC (crowd control) mechanism. Use it, and use it lots. Get CTRaid and track who has it. For those of you playing against fear warded targets, disenchant and purge are your friends!
• Mages: Some Mages (myself included) don't know how to properly time the following spells; Polymorph, Rank 1 Frost Bolt, Frost Nova, Cone of Cold, and Blink. These are the most important spells in a mages repertoire during a Warsong Gulch match. Some tips
  • Don't Polymorph DoT'd targets
  • Don't Polymorph Druids
  • Don't Blink near building exits. It doesn't work.
  • Don't blink right after grabbing the flag, unless you're rooted. Save it for when you're rooted
  • Cone of Cold is an instant that does good damage, use it.
  • If Frost Nova doesn't root someone, Cone of Cold is out of range, use frost bolt rank 1
  • Polymorph the healer

That's all on the Warsong Gulch front today. I might get in some Arathi Basin this weekend too, that'll be different. I might shake things up with some old school PvE action too!

Also, special thanks to all you readers, again, for making this, by far, the most popular blog offered on blogs.usask.ca! If you keep reading, I'll keep writing!

Posted by mrh176 at 08:42 AM

February 24, 2006

I hope to show my "O" face...

Ahhhh office space quotes. The title today is a bit more risque than my standard fair, but applicable non-the-less. Today's post is about Warsong Gulch. Tonight, hopefully, we'll be bringing a new sense of challenge to the 60's bracket of Warsong Gulch.

On that note, I'd like to take some time to talk about the 10-man offense strategy. The 10-man team in WSG operates quite differently than min-maxing. The 10-man team requires quite a bit of luck, as well as knowing how your teammates do battle, as well as knowing how your opponent moves and operates.

The key to winning as a 10-man team lies in your ability to win a 10 on 8 skirmish. Moving as a full group means you'll never be outnumbered, but it also means that the opponent will grab your flag, probably before you get to theirs. If you lose the 10 on 8 skirmish, your opponent will capture the flag. If you win, you'll get their flag, and have a fairly decent shot at returning your flag as well (depending on the skill and class of the enemy runner).

The 10-man team is something to try once a match, again if it works. However, you'll want to try it when you've got room to be gutsy. Try it at 0-0, tied 1-1, or up by 1 at 1-0.

Posted by mrh176 at 08:39 AM

February 22, 2006

A New Hope

Vivd and I (Airazel) are putting together a brand spanking new Warsong Gulch team for the 60's bracket Alliance on Silver Hand. You can sign up on the Alliance Guard forum site. You are *not* required to be a guild member.

Vivd, I understand, is tapping his friends in the Crimson Raiders. My role in this team is more of a coordinator as well as compiling a strategy and tactics reference for Warsong Gulch (which I'll share with you, my dedicated readers!).

If you're interested, please sign up.

Posted by mrh176 at 10:44 AM

February 20, 2006

Rawhide

It was either rawhide, or some Divo "whip it" reference. Anyway, we've managed to put together a team for the 20-29 Warsong Gulch bracket. ( This entry should be considered only in a Tactical sense, not Strategic) Here's what we've done!

• Lightstryke: lvl 29 Dwarf Hunter
• Shadowstryke: lvl 29 Dwarf Hunter
• Silverstryke: lvl 29 Dwarf Hunter
• Flamestryke: lvl 29 Dwarf Hunter
• Kinus: lvl 29 Night Elf Hunter
• Aishalst: lvl 26 Dwarf Priest
• Aramon: lvl 29 Night Elf Rogue
• Nibby: lvl 29 Gnome Rogue
• Deliad: lvl 26 Human Paladin
• Firaxii (Me!): lvl 28 Human Mage

We did a couple of things that helped setup the winning conditions. We used CTRaid, and assigned Flamestryke as Main Tank. This gave us all a window we could click to target his target (useful for assisting, other than /assist). This was mainly for the five hunters, but useful for me as well, if I was in the thick of battle.

Five Hunters are ridiculous, especially five really good hunters. They can burn down any enemy, regardless of healing being done by priests. (Helps if I poly a Shaman or Priest though).

We were playing last night, and we steamrolled over top horde players that, if it were Aishalst and I alone, we'd be stalemated against for a time. One battle we only had 3 deaths.

That's all I have to say for today. 20-29 Horde, fear us, for we are now well oiled killing machines.

Posted by mrh176 at 09:22 AM

February 17, 2006

The Art of Warsong Gulch Defense

I've been doing a lot of Warsong Gulch lately. My plan is to hit Revered before I level out of 20-29, due to the frequency of games, and the amazing skill of a fair number of players, this should be possible.

After a couple matches yesterday, I had a disagreement with another player about the art of defense. I've played a tonne of Warsong Gulch with three of my characters. I'm hitting Friendly with this character (Firaxii) after one or two more matches (depends if I win or lose ;) ). I'm honoured with my lvl 60 warrior (Airazel), and friendly with my lvl 60 Priest (Prixy).

I did a fair amount of leading Warsong Gulch teams with Airazel, comprised of several friends, Towel, Zzigg, Vahayek, Treader, Vivd, and others.

Back on the second Warsong Gulch Holiday (the Second ever), we dominated the top horde teams, Wartorn (now Rival), and Stormfist. So I have a fair understanding of what leads to success in Warsong Gulch, with respect to strategy and tactics.

I often find myself leading PUGS in the 20-29 bracket, as I only have a few friends in this bracket (currently, that list is growing though). I had some strong success early last night playing Warsong, but I wasn't leading. When you aren't leading Warsong Gulch, listen, don't lead.

Anyway, this leads me into what you'll hear in every single Warsong Gulch pickup group ever, "We need more D(efense)".

Defense is an important aspect of a Warsong Gulch match, but it isn't a winning strategy, nor does it setup a win. Defense doesn't capture a flag. Defense is a part of a winning strategy, but not the winning strategy.

You can't have an evenly sized Defense and Offense team either. All you're doing is guaranteeing that one of your teams will get steamrolled by the opponent. However, you disadvantage yourself because you will not know which. This is why I strongly promote min-maxing. If you have a 3-7 or 2-8 split between defense and offense, you'll know which group will be outnumbered, and you can change your tactics accordingly.

A two man defense team doesn't keep the flag in the base, so much as it slows down the runner, or reports where the flag is going so the offense team can return it.

A seven or eight man defense team keeps the flag at home.

Any other situation just opens up the door to uncertainty. If you have four people on Defense, you can't say whether you'll keep the flag, or report where the runner is coming out, and you won't know if your defense, or offense team will be able to return it.

The art of Defense is knowing what your goal is, and coordination with the Offense team. As Sun Tzu often says, "The best Defense is a good Offense".

Posted by mrh176 at 10:20 AM

February 15, 2006

Horde WSG Power!

I saw this on the Silver Hand forum, and decided it deserved some face time on this illustrious publication.

Posted by mrh176 at 11:42 AM

February 10, 2006

Warsong Gulch Fantasy Land

First of all, I recommend re-reading some of my Warsong Gulch Strategy and Tactics.

I absolutely love how some people think an even split between defense and offense is a good idea. I mean, that way, both your groups can get steamrolled! It'd almost be like not being there at all. We'll, at least the prospect of winning would be equivalent.

Anyway, today I'd like to talk about playing Warsong Gulch with a numbers disadvantage. Which happens fairly often in the lower level brackets, or even while the battleground action is ramping up during peak time.

So if you find yourself in Warsong Gulch with 7 other friends, and an enemy numbering 10, it would be wise to remember the theory of min-maxing.

If an 8 man defense team is effective, then they still will be. The trick is how to sacrifice some effectiveness, and to be sneaky, and to play off the other team's overconfidence.

• Try having 7 people on defense, and a sneaky rogue or mage on offense. When you grab the flag, run up the east side, which is away from the graveyard spawn of the other team. The 7 people on defense work solely to keep the flag at the base. Rinse and repeat until it actually works. The trick to this is the 7 people on defense getting an accurate count on how many of the enemy are attacking them. Also, they need to fight smart, focusing on healers first.
• Did that twinked out warrior or rogue grab the flag solo? Have your flag runner run past them, so they can see. Stare in disbelief as they chase, thinking that they are some sort of god. Roll on the floor laughing when they pay the ultimate price for their overconfidence.
• All 8 on offense. Let them take your flag. As long as you can outnumber them in the small skirmishes, you'll win anyway. Again, the trick is to take out their healers, and get back to the midfield before the flag crosses it (so you have a shot at returning it).

Playing Warsong Gulch outnumbered is tough, but not impossible. Having a winning attitude helps. Remember to min-max, and fight smart (kill healers, don't disturb crowd controlled enemies). And most of all, good luck!

Posted by mrh176 at 08:44 AM

February 08, 2006

Excitement!

Looks like I generated some excitement. I'd like to qualify that the below post was tounge in cheek, and applies only to the 10-19 Warsong Gulch bracket.

Posted by mrh176 at 04:12 PM

Twinkies are filled with....

Bad Alliance WSG players.

Here is my theory in full. Horde twinks in Warsong are largely bad Alliance WSG players (with tonnes of cash) that used to complain how Horde won Warsong Gulch all the time.

Here is the evidence that leads me to this conclusion.

1) Piwi; Having a +15 AGI enchant on your two handed weapon is cool and all for a lvl 19 Hunter. I think people should spend more money on enchants for their lvl 19 character than they do on their mount at lvl 40.

2) Most Rogues (10-19); Fajico is one name that comes to mind, but he gets his own entry next. As rogues can dual wield, it's nice to see them with two of the following enchants; Flaming, Lifestealing, Unholy, Crusader, or Agility.

3) Fajico; Players who are uber geared, and play horribly. Grabs flag, runs out tunnel really fast, like a good player (maybe he's seen a few play?), then turns around to kill our flag carrier, and runs into three of our players, thinking he can kill us all with his uber gear. Here's the trophy!

4) +7 Stamina Enchants; +7 on your bracers, 7 on your boots, +4 all stats chest, because you're that cool.

5) Still losing against Alliance more often than not (at least, while I was playing).

A lot of this behavior looks familiar to me, perhaps it was all my experience in WSG with Airazel (before they changed the brackets even). I've also noticed a distinct lack of Alliance players complaining when they lose.

Thus, the theory goes, they finally rolled horde, shipped over 500G to spend on their 10-19 character, so they could feel good about winning half their games.

Congratulations Twinks, you win the trophy.

Posted by mrh176 at 03:48 PM

February 06, 2006

Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio;

Whether it is nobler to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous Horde Twinks, or to level up into the 20-29 bracket from the 10-19 bracket.

Well, I took the plunge with my Mage, Firaxii. Partly fueled by the sexy gear locked away in my bank account, and the lure of skills like Blink and Fire Ward.

On my server, Silver Hand, there seems to be a lot less PvP action in the 20-29 bracket, we'll see if I can spice it up a bit!

Posted by mrh176 at 10:00 AM

November 21, 2005

How to Beat Teamspeak

I played my fair share of Arathi Basin matches this weekend against Stormfist and Wartorn (now known as "Rival"). Out of this experience, I've learned a few things.

• Set Goals for yourself: You want to play to win, don't let the big names scare you. Also, set a reasonable goal. If you're in with a bunch of un-co-ordinated PUGS then you'll want to set a goal of getting 1310 resources (the level at which you get 600 bonus honour). If your in a group with friends, your goal is to win, and you must believe you can do it.
• Beat the Teamspeak Team: The teamspeak team, if playing conservatively, will take three nodes that have a central defense point. To beat them, you must attack the two furthest points with equal sized forces, and split their defense. And you must do this without compromising either of your two nodes. Sound really hard? Well, it is really hard! That's what happens when you play against the best.

In short, do a multi-pronged attack against a teamspeak team. Whether you do equal sized assault teams, or one of 3 and one of 8, that's up to you. (there should always be 11 people attacking when you're down 2 nodes to 3, that leaves two defending each node, ready to yell if they are under siege)

That's all for today! I'll post some more as the week goes on, and one of these days, I'll add some fancy graphics!

Posted by mrh176 at 03:59 PM

November 15, 2005

The Importance of Teamspeak

First things first, take a look at the list of the top Horde PvPr's. That's who I had the pleasure of facing in Arathi Basin during the holiday. There weren't a lot of Horde PUGs to enjoy demolishing, instead, every game was hard as hard could be hard. What makes these teams so good at what they do?

They are dedicated, they are all in the same guild, they know each other very well, and they communicate using Teamspeak. While our guild does have a teamspeak server, I have yet to install the software, or dig out my noise canceling microphone from the depths of the pile of electronics.

However, it is what I must do to remain competitive. I may, simply, go and purchase a new microphone.

Between Basin matches, I was able to go with five of my friends to destroy Baron Rivendare. This dungeon is very fun ten man. It brings the challenge back to the game, kinda like running Zul'Gurub. I also managed to get a sexy ring from Ramstein.

Next weekend should bring us back to Alterac Valley, and, I'm told, I'll be able to play with "Team Pally-Pot" during the week. As I learn more about the name "Pally-Pot", I'll be sure to post about it! Stay Tuned...

Posted by mrh176 at 08:53 AM

November 07, 2005

Warsong Gulch

A few regular readers of this fine publication demanded a shout out, so I'll kick off this post with a few hello's! Hiya [ Airazel waves at; ] Ryzer, Zzigg, Vahayek, Towel, Nisk, and Vivd. Vivd, don't feel bad that you can't beat me in a Duel. My heart goes out to you buddy.

Alright, now to the meat and potatoes! This weekend was a Warsong Gulch holiday weekend. The last Warsong Weekend had everybody ignoring the double rewards and still playing Arathi Basin. Well, not this weekend. Everyone piled into Warsong, there were often eight matches going on at once. I unfortunately lost six matches. However, that number is significantly less than the number of matches we won. We also toppled the guild Wartorn three matches in a row (well, in a row for us). In the endless tradition of this BLOG, I will now discuss some Warsong Strategy (Warsong Gulch is a Capture the Flag game, for you non-player-readers out there).

Min-Maxing

This is basically how to win at warsong gulch. There are some tactics involved to ensuring victory, but here's the basic strategy. You have ten players in Warsong, you need to split them into two teams, one of two or three people, the other of the rest. If the small team is on offense, they should have a Runner (Druid, Rogue, Warrior) a Healer (Priest, Druid, Paladin), a DPS or Backup Runner, (Mage, Druid, Hunter). If the small team is on defense, they require a Hunter, Healer (Priest, Druid), and a Warrior.

• Small Team Offense: The big team stays back and defends the flag. They don't necessarily need to do this in the flag room, midfield is good defense too. The small team runs into the base, fears any defense that could be there, and the runner grabs the flag and polymorphs or shield walls their way to freedom. This gets tough when there's a lot of defense at the enemy base.


• Small Team Defense: This is what you switch too if the enemy has a lot of defense. The small teams' defense job, isn't so much to slay the enemy runner (if they have a large incoming force), but to slow them down. This is why you require a hunter (frost trap), a Druid or Priest (roots or psi-scream), and a warrior (intercept, intimidating shout, hamstring, piercing howl). This amount of time should allow your big offense team to grab the enemy flag, and return the friendly flag on their way back home.

That's all I've got for Warsong Gulch tips for today. The key is to know when to switch it up. The small offense team is never going to make it through eight to ten defenders. The small defense team relies on the offense team to have and keep the flag, and to return the friendly flag.

In conclusion, have fun playing Warsong Gulch, before people switch back to the Arathi Basin grind!

Posted by mrh176 at 08:20 AM