Last week I mentioned my dabble with what some might consider ‘hardcore’ play - Battlegrounds PvP in World of Warcraft.

Since then I’ve hit 39, and I basically plan to stay at that level for the next two weeks or so. This weekend is the Warsong holiday, while next weekend is Arathi Basin. Between the two I should have plenty of honor, tokens, and loots to tide me over until I reach the area around 59, when I plan on getting back into PvP. In the meantime, I imagine 2.3 will be hitting the live servers, and my path to near-BC will be made that much more swift. Yay!

It’s been an interesting experience playing so much PvP, because you really get to know people. It’s in passing, of course, but the interactions are a lot more meaningful than a quick discussion in front of the bank or a PuG. PvP brings out the best and worst in people, and it’s quickly apparently who your friends and enemies are … on both sides.

From my own Faction, I look for folks who do their damned job. They’re folks who play to the strengths of their class, or know how to make the most of the battlefield. In Warsong (what I’ve been primarily doing) I generally want to see Druids running the flag for the combination of speed and extra hp possible with travel and bear forms. Rogues are really best on defense, and having priests at all in a Battleground is heavenly. I have never lost a Warsong match where a priest was on the ball healing the flag carrier. It’s a pleasure to work with them, and I wish more priests would give it a shot.

There’s also a lot of Hordie retards. My impression when I started play Horde was that there are a lot of PvP-focused folks in the faction, and as a result BG play would be generally smarter. That … might … be true, but I’m met a ton of short bus candidates as well. The folks I can’t stand are the ones who farm honor in front of the tunnel, and then say “Let them win” when the Alliance manages one flag cap on us. I’m not there for the honor, dude … I want the tokens, and that means actually winning matches. The problem is that you’d think the farming would be helpful … it’s not. Or at least, they’re not, especially when the friendly FC is running past with one guy on their tail and they can’t be bothered to break off their own hunt. Gah. I’m also not a big fan of Mr. “You Guys Suck”. You know, the guy who thinks he’s way better than everyone else on the team and want to make sure you all recognize that?

My recent favorite has been a trend in people yelling at me for playing defense. I pretty much always guard the flag - it’s something almost no one wants to do, and I take pleasure in it. As a Rogue, my class is built for that kind of activity, and I think I do it well. My last heavy back-and-forth game I had about 10 flag returns. These type A folks though see anyone at the back of the line as ’sitting on their ass’. Feh.

On the other side, the Alliance gets a lot of props for me for playing things smart. I don’t mind being beaten if it’s by a clearly superior group of tacticians. In fact, it’s great, because I learn things. “Going Graveyard” with the flag wasn’t a tack anyone on my side told me to do; it’s something I saw the Alliance doing and recognized its potential. I also love some folks on the Alliance side because they’re dumb. The mages who think they’ve got the drop on me with AoE spam and Frost Nova are so cute.

My pet peeves about the competition are pretty standard: I hate the folks who twink to the nines. I spent 9 gold (total) on my Fiery enchant. I thought that was a nice treat for myself having gotten a really kickass PvP weapon. Most of the full-on twink Rogues I see on the other side have Mongoose enchants. On both weapons. Which are purple. I particularly hate twink Warlocks (for obvious reasons). There’s a specific twink Warlock from the Emerald Dawn server that has become a bit of an archnemesis for me, and it’s hilarious watching his reaction when he sees me. His little gnomey jumps indicate that he’s not overly fond of me either. Hilarity (ie: stabbing) ensues.

My biggest peeve: rogues that stunlock you just to be a dick. Some of the Rogue stunlocks are broken when you keep attacking, and thus aren’t terribly useful in the thick of a PvP battle. And yet, some (Night Elf) rogues insist on dancing around emoting at you while you’re stunlocked. Yeah, kidney punch me, fine. Cheap Shot, I get it. But why the other ones? Just lame. Kill me and get it over with, chump. I have better things to do.

Still enjoying myself, obviously, and by this time next week I expect to be pretty much kitted out with everything I need from the Warsong faction. That means a return to my favorite BG: Arathi.