🚀 go-pugleaf

hans escher wrote:
> Taipan
> > OK, i have a 60 hunter, 60 priest and various level 20 to 40 alts on
> > Arathor (all alliance), a PVE server and I'm a bit bored.
> >
> > So I started on a PVP server with some friends on the horde side (Al'Akir)
> > as a Shaman (ok, considered by many as the 'easy' option but it's the only
> > class I've yet to really play) and up to level 20, absolutely no problem.
> >
> > However, i did my first few quests in contested areas (running to Tarren
> > Mill for totem quest and then a few quests in Ashenvale) and I was ganked
> > 4 times straight by level 60 chars (2 rogues, a mage and a druid).  Now,
> > don't get me wrong - I'm not crying about it, I knew this was likely to
> > happen even before starting on a pvp server
>

Ok here's the deal. Do the level 19 Warsong Documents quest in
Ashenvale. This is the best example to illustrate the difference
between leveling in PVE and in PVP. On a PVE server, this quest is
ridiculously easy. On a PVP server, this quest is the best. Your duty
is to reach three spots in Ashenvale, from east to west. What will you
learn with this quest? That the enemy is not the environment. If you
want to get safely from Azshara to Zoram Strand, you have to forget
about the road, plain and simple. At level 19, you're the weakest
person in all of Ashenvale. Either you gang up and get an escort, or
you make yourself as tiny as possible.

There are areas where you should be ready to run for your corpse, as a
Horde:
_Ashenvale
_Hillsbrad
_Alterac
_Badlands
_Shimmering Flats
_Tanaris
_Blasted Lands

...and of course, Stranglethorn Vale.

Basically, forget about the fifty quests you get in Booty Bay and
Stranglethorn. Forget about their Experience reward, if leveling is
what you're looking for. On a PVE server it's an incredibly lucrative
area, plenty of quests, fast respawns on mobs, etc. On a PVP server, it
takes simply too long!

Quests there become challenges, and the whole area is like a big
battleground. Urban fighting, jungle fighting, arena fighting,
underwater fighting, and soon RaidVsRaid fighting near Zul'Gurub,
simply put, you go there to enjoy outdoor PVP, not to level.

Fortunately there are other places where you can level in relative
peace, even solo.

20-27: Stonetalon + Southern Barrens + a bit of Ashenvale
26-30: Thousand Needles, thousand needles, thousand needles... in
particular do the whole "test of..." quest chain.
30-32: Shimmering Flats. This one will be rough if you're unlucky.
Choose your grinding time well. You can come back to Ashenvale now.
30-36: Desolace, Desolace, Desolace, Desolace... Desolace!
35-42: Your favourite place ever, Scarlet Monastery.
36-38: Arathi (raptor, troll, ogres grind)
38-45: Dustwallow Marsh
38-45: Swamp of Sorrows
35-45: Badlands
38-45: Stranglethorn Vale
42-48: Tanaris

When you're almost level 40, you can go enjoy Stranglethorn Vale. It's
of very little use to go there at level 30 as a horde, simply because
the way to nezingwary is filled with level 36 mobs along with level ??
players. You WILL aggro mobs while trying to escape from players, and
you WILL lose durability repeatedly.

After that, Feralas is a good bet. But there are too few quests for
level 40 horde there. Or you can try the Hinterlands. I haven't gone
there with a level 40 since the apparition of Revantusk, so I can't
tell about the security there.

You will be forced to move a lot between 40 and 45. A lot. None of the
zones in which you'll be questing will give you enough experience to be
able to tackle the next quest series of the zone.

Be ready to be attacked many times in Alterac Mountains.

> After BGs I haven't seen much level 60s in Hillsbrad (but I admit Alterac
> Valley was generally empty on my server)
> I had a couple of skull level attack me while I was low 20, just after the
> BG
> patch, and skull levels tended to be present and aggresive when I went to
> an area a defense channel warned about. Otherwise skull attacks were
> neglectable.

It has changed since on our server.

People are bored and want their good old PVP server back. The honour
system is nice, the BGs are fun, but now they want it all together.

You will be attacked, grey or not, by people not really after honour,
just people who want to kill your character because they can.

Example: I was in Dustwallow Marsh, going to deliver a quest for the
onyxia key, when I met two greys from <MYRMIDONES>, a guild which
zerged me (gangs of 5 level ??) many times while I was peacefully
grinding in Azshara as a level 50. What could I do?

I killed them. Put that way, it's fair game when it's what they expect
from me (we had a chat on the realms forum about it). Other guilds I
/kiss on sight, or /love on sight. These were kill on sight. You'll
find many reasons to attack.

One of these is to prevent them from attacking first.

>
> >  - but what I want to know is just how hard is levelling on a PVP server
> > in these contested areas compared to levelling on a pve server?  Am I
> > likely to be spend more time walking back from graveyards than actually
> > trying to level
>
> I agree with others, Stranglethorn Vale is rough and often requires
> grouping.
> In contrast to others, however, I warn you, not to overgroup.
> Not only the quests, PvP gets too easy too that way.
>
> I suggest to occasionally quest alone and use grouping for chat only.
> You can still complete a lot alone on a PvP server.
> Dealing with PvP all alone is a thrill that is not comparable to group PvP
> and yes, a lot of that will be running for your life.
>
> Being in a group of 2 is probably optimal most of the time (a feeling of
> being together and still some thrill)

Two people in Stranglethorn is already a shield. Only the
stronger/bolder/unaware players will attack you. Any group in
Stranglethorn Vale is called a Ganksquad. Even if it's only a PVE
group. Because questing grounds are common in STV. And when you go
somewhere (basilisks & raptor, for example), you have to kill the
opposite faction to be able to kill raptors and basilisks.

And inevitably, Ganksquad lead to counterganksquad, which leads to
heavy ganksquad, which leads to Gankraid, which leads to the
eradication of all reds in Booty Bay from a side, then from the other,
until all settles in the Gurubashi Arena to get the chest, and after a
good night of pleasant killing and dieing, you hearthstone to
Orgrimmar, watch your Exp bar, and cry :D

> > or are there periods when you can actually do the quests without fear of
> > being 1-shot by a passing alliance?

Yup.

6am-8am server time. Any day, any place. I love the rising sun :)