WEEK 3: Over and Over Again!

Welcome back! The third week of the experiment is a little more eventful then last week. As usual I will start with a summary of the week and here it is.

• Ding! Finally 14!

• Reached 100 Warsong Gulch Marks of Honor.

• Bought some gear for level 18 so that I could make room for more marks. The items I picked up were:

o Advisor's Ring
o Battle Healer's Cloak
o Scout's Medallion
o Legionnaire's Band

• I also picked up my Insignia of the Horde! I got the achievement Freedom of the Horde when it was equipped

• I also got the achievement Capture the Flag for running a flag straight up the middle of the field while everyone was fighting it out.

• Ding! 15 happened on Sunday this week since I sat watching Blizzcon on the internet stream Friday and Saturday. I love having a computer hooked up to the T.V. in the living room!

That's about it for the happenings this week, but as usual there are a few things that I wanted to write about.

Leveling in PVP at such a low level doesn't offer much of a variety of battlegrounds to choose from. Warsong Gulch is all there is until level 20. Though it does get repetitive, there are a couple of things that can be very rewarding and fun about competing in the same BG many times. You are able obtain a better understanding of the BG itself. You learn what works and what doesn't. If you can find a way to get people to work together, then winning becomes a lot easier. One thing I have learned from all the time I have spent in WSG and other BGs on different toons is, calling people names, typing in ALL CAPS, cursing people out and being all around jerk, won't get you anywhere. I know this because when someone acts that way the last thing I want to do is listen to what they think is the right way to win. I came up with a couple of things that I like to do during each battleground that seems to help get most people to work together.

The first thing that I do in each battleground is to introduce myself in a way that is fun. I made a macro to help with this and it simply sends a message in to BG chat that says: Thank you for joining the Horde Battlegrounds! I am Allyoucaneat and I will be your healer today! Please remember to keep your FCs alive and just as important, kill all Ally FCs as they try to get away. Work as a team and we will win! Have Fun All! :D. It seems to lighten the mood a little and it is generally well received. I also make a suggestion on strategy. I do so in a way that allows people to agree or not agree with it and I don't push the issue. As the BG progresses I sometimes make suggestions and I always compliment others on a job well done. The one thing that all of this does is make for an enjoyable game no matter if we win or lose.

The other thing about playing the same BG repeatedly is that you start seeing the same people playing with you. You get to know their play styles and what they are good at. This helps to know what you can do to make for a more productive and fun game. Stewie, Bekko, and Thorval are just a some of the players I have had great fun playing alongside of. Just remember you may not always win, but you can still enjoy the game.

Thanks for reading and as always Have Fun!

WEEK 2: Slow Week.

Due to time constraints and a few other personal happenings, this wasn't a very eventful PVP Experiment week. Here is a brief summary.

· Leveled 3/4 of the way to 14.
· About 500 more honor to go and I can get my Insignia of the Horde.

I did play a few BGs this week. I even spent most of the night on Tuesday trying to get to 14, but as I said last week, the XP you gain in BGs relies heavily on the performance of your team. When your team immediately heads for mid field and starts an all out war, you lose a major chunk of your XP even if you win.

Now that XP gains are available in BGs and the Twinks are actually pushing 20 and turning off their XP, the number of low level toons in WSG has grown substantially. After spending a lot of time with them, it has become apparent that either people don't know the rules and objectives of WSG, or they don't know about the changes that have come recently.

Since I didn't have much play time this week I decided to take a little time to put together a guide to help people in learning what the rules and objectives of WSG are and to offer some strategies that some might find useful. Look for it soon! Thank you for reading and until next time Have Fun!

WoW Patch 3.2 items

Now that the 3.2 patch has become live, man oh man the changes! I know everyone has their favorites, but mine has got to be the mounts at level 20. I mean come on, who wouldn't want that change, woot! With it, the new prices for mounts make it a bit easier on the pocket book and even that much faster to your albino drake.

Another one I like is... hitting the "shift" button while mousing over a piece of gear in your bags. This will show you stats of what your wearing vs. what your mousing over side by side. Very nice, no more opening your character sheet and going back and forth.

And then there is getting XP in battlegrounds, or choosing to turn off your XP all together. Now I feel like I am not totally wasting my time in BG's. Even though the XP does not equal to the amount you receive from doing quests, it sure is better than nothing! No XP also means, twinks will be only going against twinks in battlegrounds. And I know some of you are heartbroken over this... NOT!

Other new items are the new Northrend BG, the newly revised Argent Tourney area, the new Northrend Instance all things I plan on checking out on my lvl 80 DK later. For now, I am taking it one relaxing step at a time!

Enjoy!

Darkndreamy
Alliance lvl 80 DK
Malygos

PVP Experiment: The First Week!

THE FIRST WEEK!

Ok so here is the wrap up for the week. I will try to post this every Monday and make some twitter updates throughout the week for achievements and leveling etc...

· Tuesday 8/4 - Experiment begins - Leveled from 5 to 8

· Wednesdays 8/5 - Made it almost to 10 and bought some gear from the AH in preparation for tomorrow.

· Thursday 8/6 - DING! Level 10! Equipped the gear I bought and picked up a couple more pieces and headed into Warsong Gulch. Picked up the Grim Reaper Achievement. Ended the day halfway to 11.

· Friday 8/7 - DING! Level 11! Also picked up the Warsong Gulch Victory, Warsong Gulch Perfection, Not In My House, and Know Thy Enemy. Ended the day over halfway to 12

· Saturday 8/8 - Ding! Level 12! Hit 500 Honorable Kills and a quick /hug got me Make Love Not Warcraft.

· Sunday 8/9 - Ding! Level 13! Wrapped up the week with Supreme Defender and 1000 Honorable Kills!

As a healer I follow the pack and try to keep them alive. As I level up I have been known to toss around some Moonfire spam and often times when the action dies down a sec I am feeding my drink addiction. On the bright side the vendor I buy my drinks from just got a brand new kodo from my business alone. I can honestly say I have had a blast so far! Experience in battlegrounds adds a whole new way to enjoy the game.

It is nowhere near as fast as leveling through quests, and the speed at which you level is entirely based on the performance of your team. The XP you earn is from the objectives in the battlegrounds, not the honorable kills and with the addition of the 20 minute timer, the old HK farming style of WSG won't get you very far if you're trying to level. If your team is willing to run flags and play the BG like it was made to be played then you will certainly see your XP bar climb. Here is a chart I have been working on as I level. It shows the XP gained from WSG at different levels.

10- 19 WSG XP Gains Per Objective

The goal of this experiment is ultimately to level without PVE questing and to see if it is viable to do so. I think it is a great way to level, but I would suggest picking up some gathering profession for something to do when the queue is long or you just need a break. If you chose the right ones the abilities and bonuses you receive will help you when you're in the BGs. The money isn't bad either. Another option would be to prepare for higher levels with a crafting profession that will allow you to make yourself some gear.

I will be trying out some professions myself in this new week and I will keep you all posted. I will receive some XP from the necessary killing while out and about, but it still won't be from PVE quests. I hope that you enjoy following me in this experiment and until next time, HAVE FUN!!

PVP EXPERIMENT: Getting Started

GETTING STARTED

Since the very first 3.2 PTR patch notes revealed to us that Blizzard was going to start giving XP in the battlegrounds, I said to myself, "Self this could be fun!" So I thought about over the last couple of months and I decided I would level a toon strictly doing PVP.

The first flaw in my plan to ONLY use PVP to level, was that I would have to get to level 10 to compete in BGs. So I thought about it some more and decided to go with a druid alt that was already level 5. Meet Allyoucaneat!



Here is his armory link.

Here is how this little experiment is going to work:

· Levels 10 through 80 in only PVP content. (This will include PVP quests)

· Since I am a Druid I will do the class quests to get my forms (They are for my class and are needed)

· I will get all the gear I can from PVP only rewards and supplement from the AH. (No quest rewards unless from PVP Quests)

· Due to the lack of gold gained from early PVP content I will be giving gold to my PVP toon. (This is a common thing for twinks and alts alike. I don't think this experiment is much different.)

It is a pretty simple experiment but I think it will be a lot of fun! I will post as often as possible, small updates as I make my way through this process. I will also post information about the amount of XP and what you get XP for in each battlegrounds in case anyone would like to know. Feel free to comment on things as I move along. Until next time have fun!