09-23-2005, 07:48 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-23-2005, 07:55 PM by Bob the Beholder.)
I started playing this game the month after it came out. And have spent 95 percent of that time on a PvP server. I went alt-insane for months before finally capping a character, bringing one character after another after another through the level 20-35 gankfest, on the horde side of a server with an alliance faction twice the size of the horde. And I agree with Tal. Because... enemy players aren't MY enemies. Maybe for some sort of odd RP purposes which I would not follow anyway, I should attack each and every alliance player I see whether they'd be able to put up an entertaining fight or not FOR THE HOOOOOORDE! BLAAAAARGH! But then, I'm also one to agree with Tal's assessment that in the Warcraft storyline, any current 'war' between the two factions is not open, undeclared, and entirely based in the members of each faction who have especially good reason to hate the other going, "NOOOOO I WILL KILL THEM ALLL OR SOME SUCH" and slaughtering at random. (See: Thrall's alliance with Jaina, which Garithos threw away the moment he decided the horde scum needed to die. Also, the gossip text of several horde NPCs in WoW that state that they fought beside alliance troops like real allies, at one point--which is hard to find, but I've seen it on occasion.)
Anyway, I play on a pvp server because I like a good fight. Lowbies? Not so much of a good fight. Which is not to say that I simply ignore them, and let them do whatever they like. But I don't insta-kill them simply on the principle of OMGREDNAMEOMG. They're not a threat to me, and they probably haven't done anything to me in specific. So unless somebody in general chat goes, "Hey, this alliance guy who just happens to be standing in front of the 60 mage who is not making with the insta-death ganked me like seven times in the space of thirty seconds," then why should I bother? All it would do is waste a bit of mana and make the rare relatively peaceful enemy player into an angry ganker. (Unless they're dumb enough to attack another horde player while I'm around. Or me. Or doing anything to me, really. A mage 20 levels under me once sheeped me when I was on my way through STV, and then ran away. So I chased him half way across the map, into an alliance camp, sheeped him, and walked away. What? I thought it was funny.)
So if I'm looking for a decent fight, then blasting away an enemy's last ten percent of health after he's finished off three mobs at once does not count. Neither does starting up a pyroblast on a guy with two mobs on him. All that'll get me is somebody wanting especially much to do the same to me. And believe me, they can. I'm a cloth wearer here; a decent ambush can take about 45 percent of my life instantly.
That said, it's all about remembering the names of the people who ganked you while you're levelling up. Particularly if they're also still levelling, and you happen to level faster. For example, there was a dwarf priest who ganked the living hell out of me, my friends and my alts in STV back in the day. He was maybe level 40 back then, and had the annoying habit of finding and latching onto the highest level player in the area, so that even two or three lower level enemies couldn't take him down. Buuuuuut... I hit about level 57.... and ended up seeing him EVERYWHERE. And he was level 46. That guy ate the dirt constantly. Because he had proven to be an annoying dick, through my experience and that of the people I party with.
In summary: I like to extend some modicum of courtesy to my enemies, whether by not one-shotting lowbies, or by not attacking at a time that they can't at least try to fight back. Many of them do the same for me. Especially at 60, on the low population server I'm playing on. There are few enough 60s that having some idea of who pretty much everybody is is easy, and knowing that one guy is a dick and deserves to die and that another guy is cool and should be given a fighting chance isn't much harder.
But then, there are always exceptions. I really like doing odd things to confuse enemy players, for example. Like, a while ago a priest, a druid and I were in Tanaris farming Volatile Rum off of some pirates. And for some reason alliance players tend to come there in groups of at least two. So every time two alliance players appeared, we'd kill one, mind control the other, finish off whatever mob he was on, heal him, buff him, release him, and go about our business, leaving the poor bastards to wonder what the hell just happened. And may whatever god watches over night elves show mercy on any night elf that is capable of giving my warlock friend honor. He is of the opinion that shards farmed off of night elves work better than other shards. But only night elves. The simple thought of that is funny enough that if I'm around I'll generally at least make sure he doesn't die horribly while channeling his his happy little Drain Soul.
Anyway, I play on a pvp server because I like a good fight. Lowbies? Not so much of a good fight. Which is not to say that I simply ignore them, and let them do whatever they like. But I don't insta-kill them simply on the principle of OMGREDNAMEOMG. They're not a threat to me, and they probably haven't done anything to me in specific. So unless somebody in general chat goes, "Hey, this alliance guy who just happens to be standing in front of the 60 mage who is not making with the insta-death ganked me like seven times in the space of thirty seconds," then why should I bother? All it would do is waste a bit of mana and make the rare relatively peaceful enemy player into an angry ganker. (Unless they're dumb enough to attack another horde player while I'm around. Or me. Or doing anything to me, really. A mage 20 levels under me once sheeped me when I was on my way through STV, and then ran away. So I chased him half way across the map, into an alliance camp, sheeped him, and walked away. What? I thought it was funny.)
So if I'm looking for a decent fight, then blasting away an enemy's last ten percent of health after he's finished off three mobs at once does not count. Neither does starting up a pyroblast on a guy with two mobs on him. All that'll get me is somebody wanting especially much to do the same to me. And believe me, they can. I'm a cloth wearer here; a decent ambush can take about 45 percent of my life instantly.
That said, it's all about remembering the names of the people who ganked you while you're levelling up. Particularly if they're also still levelling, and you happen to level faster. For example, there was a dwarf priest who ganked the living hell out of me, my friends and my alts in STV back in the day. He was maybe level 40 back then, and had the annoying habit of finding and latching onto the highest level player in the area, so that even two or three lower level enemies couldn't take him down. Buuuuuut... I hit about level 57.... and ended up seeing him EVERYWHERE. And he was level 46. That guy ate the dirt constantly. Because he had proven to be an annoying dick, through my experience and that of the people I party with.
In summary: I like to extend some modicum of courtesy to my enemies, whether by not one-shotting lowbies, or by not attacking at a time that they can't at least try to fight back. Many of them do the same for me. Especially at 60, on the low population server I'm playing on. There are few enough 60s that having some idea of who pretty much everybody is is easy, and knowing that one guy is a dick and deserves to die and that another guy is cool and should be given a fighting chance isn't much harder.
But then, there are always exceptions. I really like doing odd things to confuse enemy players, for example. Like, a while ago a priest, a druid and I were in Tanaris farming Volatile Rum off of some pirates. And for some reason alliance players tend to come there in groups of at least two. So every time two alliance players appeared, we'd kill one, mind control the other, finish off whatever mob he was on, heal him, buff him, release him, and go about our business, leaving the poor bastards to wonder what the hell just happened. And may whatever god watches over night elves show mercy on any night elf that is capable of giving my warlock friend honor. He is of the opinion that shards farmed off of night elves work better than other shards. But only night elves. The simple thought of that is funny enough that if I'm around I'll generally at least make sure he doesn't die horribly while channeling his his happy little Drain Soul.