RP PvP Woes

[MongoJerry]

Personally, I don't, and never did, use of these so called exploits in BGs. The BoP/MC tactic is one of those things that is kind of ironic. You see, Shamans and Paladins are Faction specific classes, the Shaman has his abilities and the Paladin has his. Shamans can Wolf, Earthbind and Frost shock, giving them a great set of offensive utilities to work with in WSG. Paladins have absolutely nothing, really, for offense that helps in WSG, except for the Stun. What can a Paladin do? He can heal and cleanse, both of which are extremely important and useful in WSG. These are clearly defensive skills. The Paladin can also Divine Shield and Blessing of Protection, two more utilities that are defensive. So, from what has been implemented in game with regards to faction specific classes and skills, the Shaman appears to be for offense (jump in, grab the flag, slow everyone down to exit quickly) and the Paladin appears to be for defense (heal and cleanse others, and BoP the casters to help THEM get kills -- make the mages and priests rogue proof).

What's more defensive than stopping a runner with the flag?

When the Paladin finally finds a way to make his defensive skills useful, in a creative way, the forums explode and people label it an exploit. It's funny, the PvP set for the Paladin was nerfed so that it didn't grant the Hammer of Justice cooldown reduction. If a Paladin finds a way to make his play experience seem more involving, Blizzard, at the behest of the Horde, "nerf" it.

You use the term "defensive" in two different ways. The first way, you suggest that a paladin's role is to enable the other members of his or her team to do what they need to do by healing them, cleansing them, and buffing them. This is a reasonable suggestion. Where you go astray, however, is by assuming that since a paladin is a "defensive" player that it means they should be playing base or flag defence. That's not the case at all.

Let me give you an idea of what I mean by using the example of my priestess's role in our group's CTF matches. Our group's standard strategy is to start with eight people rushing the middle and with two people going directly for the Alliance flag. The two-man team usually consists of me and the designated flag carrier, usually a druid or shaman. Imagine this scenario (based on a real event): I and our shaman flag carrier ride along the east side of the zone to the upper part of the Alliance base. The shaman is about 10 steps ahead of me, runs into the base, jumps down into the flag room, grabs the flag, and is immediately caught in a freezing trap. The hunter and mage defenders come out of hiding and begin to power up aimed shots and pyroblasts. Seeing this, I dispell the freezing trap as I enter the room from the lower doorway (I find entering from different entrances disorients defenders greatly) and Psychic Scream both the hunter and mage. The now freed shaman drops an earthbind totem and runs out the door with me trailing behind him, giving him a PW:Shield. It's a good thing I did that, too, because a rogue who had just recently rezed from the Alliance graveyard came over and ambushed the shaman just as he was exiting the base and was about to ghostwolf. I cast a Flash Heal on the shaman to heal him from the damage he's taking from the rogue who's chain stunning and hitting him. I then get poly'd by the no longer feared mage who's coming up behind me and I see the mage and hunter running up to help kill the shaman flag carrier. At the moment when I see that all three Alliance players are foolishly close to one other, I use my PvP trinket to break the polymorph and Psychic Scream all three Alliance players away. The rogue breaks fear with his trinket as soon as he can, but it's too late. The shaman has switched to ghostwolf and I'm Mind Flaying the rogue to slow him down so he can't catch the shaman. I die in a hail of bullets and fireballs, but our flag carrier has broken out into open ground to where the rest of the party is waiting to escort him back to our base.

Now, the question in that scenario is: Is my priest playing offensively or defensively? In the first way that you used the term "defensive," my priestess is playing defensively. That is, she's dedicated to protecting and enabling our team's flag carrier. However, in the second sense, she is very much an offensive weapon in that she plays a crucial role in capturing the opponent's flag and carrying it back to the base.

Regarding Paladins, we've already had a long discussion about their role in CTF matches a while back, so I don't want to reiterate everything here. The summary is that, while you might complain about how shamans can ghostwolf and earthbind and all that, you can't imagine how powerful having plate wearing invincible dispellers and healers is until you have to face a team with a good group of them. Don't try to justifying using exploits by playing the "Shamans are so much better than paladins" card, because that BS sure isn't going to fly with me.