Dueling has a bad reputation, I think. Too many players see it either as a way to brag about their own skill (or, more likely, time investment), while many other players see it as a way for the first group of players to do that at their own expense. I love dueling, whether I win or lose, because it's a great chance for me to see if I can use everything in my arsenal to the fullest, as well as see another player working against me, hopefully at their best. A great duel is a chance for two players to duke it out and have a great time without anybody dying, while a terrible duel (and the perception of most duels, I think) can be a humiliating or confusing experience.And so, in my efforts to bring honor back to dueling, I present the Ten Commandments of Honorable Dueling in World of Warcraft. I've split them up into three sections-- Before the Duel, During the Duel, and Post-Duel-- and each one covers a point that has been corrupted or ignored among the worst players in dueling. No longer should we suffer from duel spamming. And no longer should there be jerks who gloat and taunt after a duel has taken place.
Dueling is a very interesting form of PvP-- it's not the large scale onslaughts of the battlegrounds or the smaller matchups in the Arenas. Dueling can even be held within factions-- it's a one-on-one skirmish between two players in the game. And unlike the Horde vs. Alliance shenanigans held in world PvP or the BGs, I believe dueling should be an honorable and respectful endeavor. Click the link below to read the Ten Commandments of Honorable Dueling.
Before the Duel
I. Thou shalt not attempt to duel anyone more than 5 levels below thine own.
Actually, if you really want to be an expert dueler, you shouldn't try to duel anyone below your level, as you've got everything to lose and nothing to gain-- if they beat you, you're a terrible player, and if you beat them, you're just bullying lowbies. But there are exceptions for friends and guildies around here, so 5 levels is a good limit.
II. Thou shalt not send more than one duel request.
Duel spamming is just plain stupid. If someone cancels the duel request, they don't want to duel you-- leave them alone. Sometimes, they'll ask you to challenge again, and in that case it's fine. Or they may challenge you themselves. But if someone cancels the duel on you, don't be a jerk. /chicken isn't necessary-- save that kind of stuff for real PvP. Just move on.
III. Thou shalt wait until the time is appropriate.
Trying to duel someone while they're busy is a no. Attempting a duel while someone is low on health or mana is also a no. Trying to sneak a duel in while someone is grinding or otherwise fighting is a big no. Both sides should be ready, aware, and set when that countdown starts. Anything less is cheating.
During the Duel
IV. Thou shalt not use uncommon buffs or consumables.
Opinions vary on this quite a bit, but as a standard, any buffs or consumables you wouldn't normally use when grinding a mob one-on-one shouldn't be used in a duel. That means no health or mana pots, no raid buffs, no elixirs, and so on. Otherwise, people differ on the rest of the rules-- if you're a cook, should you get to use your food buffs? These commandments say no. But while long cooldown abilities aren't allowed in arenas, they should be allowed in duels (as long as the cooldown is up). Rogue poisons and Shaman elementals are OK, as are Pally bubbles and Warlock healthstones (for Warlocks). Trinkets are OK. Potion injectors are not. Scroll buffs, in general, are not.
V. Thou shalt not allow mobs to interfere with the fight.
If you're being really professional, you can have a spotter watch the fight, and pull away any mobs that happen to join in. Otherwise, you should set the duel in a low mob traffic area, and either pause or restart the duel if mobs show up and start attacking either dueler.
VI. Thou shalt play to the best of your ability.
You'd think this one would be obvious, but see the next commandment. Play your best duel, every time, and you'll have no excuses.
Post-Duel
VII. Thou shalt win (and lose) honorably.
If you win, offer a simple /bow or a /cheer and leave it at that. Friendly gloating among guildies is fine, "U r the worst rouge evar" is not. If you lose, accept the result just as honorably, with a /bow or a /nod. Make no excuses-- simply be better next time.
VIII. If thou hast a healing spell, thou shall use it to heal the other player, then thyself.
If you have mana and can heal, heal the other player first, especially if you're the winner. There's no reason not to, and healing the other person will make them more likely to agree to a rematch, or think of you honorably. Honorably duelers happily help their enemies up (only to beat them down again).
IX. Rematches are appreciated, but never guaranteed.
See commandment II as well. If you made a simple mistake during a fight or were distracted in real life, it's perfectly fine to ask for a rematch. But whoever you just dueled has no responsibility to agree to another round. If they refuse, move on and find someone else to duel.
X. Thou shalt have fun.
As usual, this is the last word on everything that happens in this game. Dueling should be a good time, whether you win or lose, because it's a fun way to test your own skills, as a player and as a class, one-on-one against someone else. It's the simplest and easiest form of PvP there is (not to mention that it's one of the best ways to start learning to PvP), and even if you're not a PvPer, a good duel against a respectable player is always a good time.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
7-20-2007 @ 11:38AM
Dur13l said...
nice post. I like these rules. I personaly dont like to duel that much but i think if more folks acted like this i would.
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7-20-2007 @ 11:41AM
Krishan said...
You can duel people in the opposite faction?!
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7-20-2007 @ 11:43AM
Kryptonls said...
Not a bad list, certainly.
Being a rogue with a decent set of mainly non-Kara gear, and only the odd trinket blue ruining my epic string.... dueling with other rogues is something that I get asked or whispered for all the time.
If it's a friend or guildie then I usually agree - but 9 times out of 10 I decline. It is because with rogues especially, it's not a matter of gear or ability, but who can CS the other one first!
And experience has told me that if I CS the other rogue first, I nearly always win and vice versa.
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7-20-2007 @ 11:45AM
native said...
i don't bother dueling.
first reason is i tend to suck at it.
second reason is i get sick of people spamming duel requests.
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7-20-2007 @ 11:45AM
Kryptonls said...
@2: Yes... select them and type /duel
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7-20-2007 @ 11:48AM
navalpha said...
I never duel for the simple fact that PVP was never made around 1 versus 1. Every class combination has something to counter the other. And no one PVPs like they duel and vice versa.
Yet most poeple duel and feel like it is PVP.
Why is it not?
Death. Simple as that. That little 1% HP you are left with when a duel finishes can make a big difference, especially if your opponent still has mana. Ive seen a lot of duels simply end because, for a example, a mage was casting one last fireball, but a deep wounds ticked the mage to 1%, else he would of had him (As the warrior was also near death).
Less we forgot shaman with reincarnation, Warlocks with soulstones...
A lot can happen in 1% HP.
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7-20-2007 @ 11:59AM
Jasperwind said...
I have yet to figure out what the point to dueling is. Do you actually get anything besides bragging rights? If not, it seems like such a waste of time. Why duel for 0xp when u can kill a mob for 500xp + loot? Please excuse my ignorance and enlighten me.
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7-20-2007 @ 12:00PM
Arras said...
Duel spamming and lousy winners/sore losers are the #1 and 2 reasons I despise dueling
Plus, whenever people duel on my server they start jumping around like a maniac on springs, it's really irritating
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7-20-2007 @ 12:03PM
Kimkong said...
Once, a friend (on a PVE realm) was asked for a duel by someone of the other faction in Outland. He won, but while they were dueling, the opponent enabled PVP on his character during the fight, so my friend also had the PVP enabled, and he was killed at the end of the duel by the ten other players of the enemy faction... Never duel with someone of the other faction on a pve realm if he is surrounded by friends !
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7-20-2007 @ 12:07PM
Junzim said...
I don't have any special problem with them I just don't bother dueling because my class/specc isn't built for 1v1. I'm a PvP healer.
I can beat warriors and rogues 1v1 but it's an excruciatingly time consuming task that involves slowly whittling them down with SW:P and Shadowguard and which is mostly about simply surviving till some Horde comes to beat down my assailant.
Mages I win against 95% of the time in both duels and normal PvP.
However, put me against a well geared enhancement shaman and I'm just going to keel over and die. Same with a warrior vs a competent frost mage.
The game isn't balanced 1v1, so Duels only serve a purpose as a means of practicing for PvP by anticipating what other classes will do to you rather than as a true indicator of skill.
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7-20-2007 @ 12:09PM
ben1778 said...
If you really hate dueling then download the addon "NoDuel". It's a lot of fun to turn on and hang out in front of org for a few min and see the duelspammers get frustrated.
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7-20-2007 @ 12:15PM
Chris Anthony said...
The first UI add-on I ever wrote, I called DuelDecline, for self-explanatory reasons: it automatically declines duel requests. Originally, it also had an automated response, but I stopped using it after I had people complain about it (one even claimed to have reported me for spamming).
I hate duels. Even with your rules I hate duels. What's the point? If you're 70, it's an e-peen fight; if you're below 70, you're taking time away from leveling or gaining actual honor. You say that this is the "perception of most duels"; I'd argue that it /is/ most duels, if not all of them. I've participated in two duels; I won one (and was told by the other participant afterward that I cheated because I hadn't taken Mark of the Wild off, and that therefore I was a loser and a wimp), and lost one (and was told by the other participant afterward that since I'd lost, I was a loser and a wimp). I stopped dueling after that - and, unfortunately, /not/ dueling gets me as many or more insults from the people whose invitations I'm declining. (My favorite was someone who tried to duel my female Tauren shaman, and called me "fat and ugly" because I declined.) But at least I'm not even wasting the time of having to manually click "Decline" anymore.
That said, as long as everybody's having fun and not in it to be a dick, your rules seem fair - except one: "IV. Thou shalt not use uncommon buffs or consumables." This just seems silly. "any buffs or consumables you wouldn't normally use when grinding a mob one-on-one shouldn't be used in a duel." But what constitutes normal use? If a mob has me down to 5% health, you can be sure I'm going to use a health potion if I have one. (I'm an Alchemist; I can always make more.) If I put a scroll buff on and then three minutes later someone challenges me to a duel, should I remove the scroll buff? Going back to the Alchemy thing, if I'm dueling a Leatherworker, should he have a spare set of gear without armor patches? Should an Enchanter have a spare sword without Crusader or Fiery Weapon? If not, why should I be barred from using my alchemical creations in a duel?
Anyway. Enough of my rants for today.
-Chris A.
http://www.etherjammer.com/blog/
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7-20-2007 @ 12:38PM
SeanKReynolds said...
@9 ... similar to your friend's beating, one guy posted a video during the Lunar Festival ... he'd challenge people to a duel, then he'd click a macro:
/concede
/pvp
He'd lose the duel but his opponent would usually follow-through an instant after the clicking, which would flag them PVP ... and because Moonglade was neutral ground, the Cenarion guards would beat down the "victor" for attacking another player.
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7-20-2007 @ 12:43PM
Zotiko said...
XI. Thou shalt not duel, unless for reasons of honor, and then against one's own class.
Seriously, all dueling requests I have received are from paper when I am rock. You're a frost mage/ fire mage/ lock / hunter / boomkin? No thanks, I won't duel you on my prot warrior. I'm sure you can cc and kite. Well done. You truly are "teh leetist pwnzasaurus" of all.
Blizz has said the classes will never be balanced 1v1 and they want a 'paper, rock, scissors' approach.
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7-20-2007 @ 12:49PM
Meg said...
/agree #12
The hypocrisy demonstrated by duelists ticks me off enough that I never duel. It's ok for them to wear self-crafted gear enchanted to the hilt but not ok for me to chug a pot I brewed? Or use an Engineering trinket that cost me a fortune to build and has been nerfed into the sub-basement?
Forget that.
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7-20-2007 @ 12:49PM
Zotiko said...
/target self
/cast rant
Personal feelings on 1v1 pvp on a warrior aside, imagine (just for a moment) a game that WAS balanced 1v1. Holy Priests could give rogues a run for their money. Prot Warriors could take a frost mage. Warlocks would be average citizens. Hunters wouldn't need to cry about a deadzone. Druids could spec resto. No more retadins.
Am I crazy?
But then.... what would people qq about on the forums?
/norant.
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7-20-2007 @ 12:52PM
RandomSomething said...
@2 Yes you can but beware...if you are on a PVP server as soon as you duel them it flags you and if the duel is in your loss they can easy kill you or vice versa...just make sure you can win. :)
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7-20-2007 @ 1:02PM
YPEELS40 said...
As a rogue... when i was combat... I would hear.
"you used adrenaline rush.. no fair"
"you used vanish.. no fair"
"you're using poisons, cheapo"
as mutilate I dont any crap for using my cooldowns, but i hear a lot of whining since my opponent is stunned the whole time.
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7-20-2007 @ 1:15PM
Prester John said...
I'll duel guildies or friends; Randomgnome can suck it.
On the other hand, every so often it is fun getting out a lowbie and tearing through the idiots in Goldshire or Xroads.
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7-20-2007 @ 1:18PM
Scruffy said...
So since cooking buffs are allow for cooks, mana+health potions and elixirs are fair game for alchemist/herbalists? I think so.
Damn shame about the Limited Vulnerability potion though. THOSE use to be the shit for duels.
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