08-08-2007, 11:51 AM
Fun in AV, hmm...
Here I go:
First I'd like to give a short overview of my server, Twilight's Hammer EU. Following the general trend, Horde usually wins the BGs that aren't AV in the 70 bracket. For some odd reason 51-60 AV is a total cakewalk for Horde, I have yet to lose a single game, I have a PvP mount on my 60 huntress and am already up to 24 marks again, so we really win most of the time. As you know my main is a warrior, and a hardcore tank at that. Not the most fun class to play in PUG AV, but it has its moments when you can 2-man all the lieutenants with some solid dps backing you up. Also Rogues accidently attacking you always makes for a few fun minutes:P
A large factor of "fun" in AV comes from the class you play and the type of play you enjoy, in my opinion. When I was more hybrid specced I had a blast suicide-rushing into the alliance zerg and either Recklessness Whirlwinding or simply keep going and watch 15 people being dragged back by one silly warrior with Shield Wall and Last Stand up, often for dozens of yards. Eventually, that got old, unless you communicated with a healer or joined with some friends. As stated earlier, it has its moments.
Now, my second lvl60 char was a Rogue, and I didn't enjoy AV at all with him (still dragged him to Exalted in something like 15 hours total). Combat sword spec isn't the one-shot wonder you need to stack up kills, or maybe I just don't know how to play my Rogue well in PvP. In short, I did it for the ring and got little fun out of it, apart from ninjaing the odd flag now and then with a druid buddy.
Enter the huntress. Apart from being a sexy Orc with lots of earrings, she got the AV Crossbow at lvl51 and is now, at 60, decked out in mostly TBC blues and greens that easily pwn standard lvl60 equipment. I am a killing machine, with a couple of cooldowns activated I push 350dps for 15 seconds. Cloth dies in a hearbeat, Leather is still fun and plate just dies a bit slower. I don't have a real PvP spec, choosing insted a few talents that make levelling even easier (like the reduced Mana cost on shots and stings) but I can still manage to hold my own with traps, Beast Within and my trusty boar named Cat. It feels like a totally different game than with my melee classes.
About balance and fixing AV:
I am Horde-biased. Shoot me, but for the love of Thrall I can't figure out why anybody would roll Alliance. So my view on things is probably less than neutral. The terrain favours Alliance, as has been stated, especially the layout of the alliance village. And maybe I missed it, but there isn't a Horde elite patrolling to one of the base towers in Frostwolf Keep, is there? Despite the NPCs being whimps when faced with the zerg, they can quickly spell doom for an ambitous attempt at the bunkers by a small group. Ditto for the other NPCs, every second you lose fighting them off is one second closer to your being found out and annihilated.
But that's cool. Nothing more annoying than people starting the "let's lose fast we can't win it's the map" yodelling before the gate even opens. I for one despise those players. The fact that I'm not one of the honor grinders (and never was, apart from that blissful time shortly before TBC) puts my objective firmly in front of me: Win the game or keep them from winning. I've been in 14 hour games of old, and I can't remember ever thinking of giving up. Sure, you may have to leave at some time, but let me leave after one last attempt to nuke SP away from them or making it across the bridge. From an honor-farming point of view this is stupid and I myself not less despiccable to them then they are to me. I keep them from losing fast and winning honor fast. So be it, the battlegrounds are there to dole it out with the enemy in a somewhat controlled environment, not to abuse the system to get loot. In my opinon at least.
The most fun I ever had in AV was in the time after the honor revamp and before TBC. For some odd reason crossrealm-battlegrounds stopped working and we found ourselves in an instance with 40vs40 of Twilight's Hammer. Among them some of the PvP bigshots (one shaman did the grind to HWL twice on one character after Blizz introduced new HWL caster items, he went for the offhand I think). The usual shout of "leave Snowfall" was drowned out by an uproar of people refusing to let even one square-millimeter of ground fall to the Alliance uncontested. Horde won in a bit over one hour, with all towers and lieutenants up, all Alliance objectives destroyed. Yep, they didn't manage to kill ONE lieutenant or destroy ONE tower. In short, it was glorious. So, apart from your class, spec and preference, I guess it also depends a lot on the crowd you play with. What an amazing insight:)
Well, one of my long ramblings, hope it wasn't too boring.
take care
Tarabulus
Here I go:
First I'd like to give a short overview of my server, Twilight's Hammer EU. Following the general trend, Horde usually wins the BGs that aren't AV in the 70 bracket. For some odd reason 51-60 AV is a total cakewalk for Horde, I have yet to lose a single game, I have a PvP mount on my 60 huntress and am already up to 24 marks again, so we really win most of the time. As you know my main is a warrior, and a hardcore tank at that. Not the most fun class to play in PUG AV, but it has its moments when you can 2-man all the lieutenants with some solid dps backing you up. Also Rogues accidently attacking you always makes for a few fun minutes:P
A large factor of "fun" in AV comes from the class you play and the type of play you enjoy, in my opinion. When I was more hybrid specced I had a blast suicide-rushing into the alliance zerg and either Recklessness Whirlwinding or simply keep going and watch 15 people being dragged back by one silly warrior with Shield Wall and Last Stand up, often for dozens of yards. Eventually, that got old, unless you communicated with a healer or joined with some friends. As stated earlier, it has its moments.
Now, my second lvl60 char was a Rogue, and I didn't enjoy AV at all with him (still dragged him to Exalted in something like 15 hours total). Combat sword spec isn't the one-shot wonder you need to stack up kills, or maybe I just don't know how to play my Rogue well in PvP. In short, I did it for the ring and got little fun out of it, apart from ninjaing the odd flag now and then with a druid buddy.
Enter the huntress. Apart from being a sexy Orc with lots of earrings, she got the AV Crossbow at lvl51 and is now, at 60, decked out in mostly TBC blues and greens that easily pwn standard lvl60 equipment. I am a killing machine, with a couple of cooldowns activated I push 350dps for 15 seconds. Cloth dies in a hearbeat, Leather is still fun and plate just dies a bit slower. I don't have a real PvP spec, choosing insted a few talents that make levelling even easier (like the reduced Mana cost on shots and stings) but I can still manage to hold my own with traps, Beast Within and my trusty boar named Cat. It feels like a totally different game than with my melee classes.
About balance and fixing AV:
I am Horde-biased. Shoot me, but for the love of Thrall I can't figure out why anybody would roll Alliance. So my view on things is probably less than neutral. The terrain favours Alliance, as has been stated, especially the layout of the alliance village. And maybe I missed it, but there isn't a Horde elite patrolling to one of the base towers in Frostwolf Keep, is there? Despite the NPCs being whimps when faced with the zerg, they can quickly spell doom for an ambitous attempt at the bunkers by a small group. Ditto for the other NPCs, every second you lose fighting them off is one second closer to your being found out and annihilated.
But that's cool. Nothing more annoying than people starting the "let's lose fast we can't win it's the map" yodelling before the gate even opens. I for one despise those players. The fact that I'm not one of the honor grinders (and never was, apart from that blissful time shortly before TBC) puts my objective firmly in front of me: Win the game or keep them from winning. I've been in 14 hour games of old, and I can't remember ever thinking of giving up. Sure, you may have to leave at some time, but let me leave after one last attempt to nuke SP away from them or making it across the bridge. From an honor-farming point of view this is stupid and I myself not less despiccable to them then they are to me. I keep them from losing fast and winning honor fast. So be it, the battlegrounds are there to dole it out with the enemy in a somewhat controlled environment, not to abuse the system to get loot. In my opinon at least.
The most fun I ever had in AV was in the time after the honor revamp and before TBC. For some odd reason crossrealm-battlegrounds stopped working and we found ourselves in an instance with 40vs40 of Twilight's Hammer. Among them some of the PvP bigshots (one shaman did the grind to HWL twice on one character after Blizz introduced new HWL caster items, he went for the offhand I think). The usual shout of "leave Snowfall" was drowned out by an uproar of people refusing to let even one square-millimeter of ground fall to the Alliance uncontested. Horde won in a bit over one hour, with all towers and lieutenants up, all Alliance objectives destroyed. Yep, they didn't manage to kill ONE lieutenant or destroy ONE tower. In short, it was glorious. So, apart from your class, spec and preference, I guess it also depends a lot on the crowd you play with. What an amazing insight:)
Well, one of my long ramblings, hope it wasn't too boring.
take care
Tarabulus
"I'm a cynical optimistic realist. I have hopes. I suspect they are all in vain. I find a lot of humor in that." -Pete
I'll remember you.
I'll remember you.