As Drysc explains, "the rules of war are based around attacking when the odds are in your favor". This could mean when opponents outnumber you, outlevel you, when you're low in health and/or if you're engaged with multiple mobs... the question isn't whether it's honorable or fair. It's war. In a PvP server, everything is fair game. There are no rules, and players certainly shouldn't bother sending tickets to GMs asking for any help (or sympathy). This should probably be common sense, but Drysc's somewhat provocative response is something of a surprise -- to many players a welcome one. While I'm all for etiquette (ganking a fisherman is just plain rude) and a personal sense of honor, players who roll on a PvP server know what they signed up for. Shape up or ship out -- character transfers, after all, are just a click away.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
4-17-2008 @ 2:35PM
Badger said...
I hereby award this post: 'Best and/or Most Relevant Artwork Evar.'
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4-18-2008 @ 1:19AM
Roxton said...
/signed
The picture pwns.
4-17-2008 @ 2:36PM
Treima said...
As someone in the thread said, I don't think the guy was QQing as much as he was asking why people are motivated to gank. Regardless, Drysc's response was very snarky but perhaps needed.
I've been frustrated by ganking throughout my entire leveling experience, but I know what I was signing up for when I clicked the red PvP button.
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4-17-2008 @ 2:38PM
Lab Monkey said...
To be fair, in most cases character transfers are a click AND a transfer fee away.
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4-17-2008 @ 2:40PM
Verses said...
I'm a masochist so I enjoy being ganked and trying to learn more about the ganker and his fake self of pride... Maybe his parents beat him up so he lets the steam out by ganking lowbies.. I'm just doing society a favor by doing so :)
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4-17-2008 @ 2:40PM
Blackhorn said...
Beautiful.
I leveled to 70, and 64, and 45, etc, on a PvP realm. Ganking was part of the routine.
I wasn't into Arena, or even BGs. And now that arena is so well-received, getting ganked is even quicker. Now that there's so much gear out there designed with the sole intention of killing people as efficiently as possible, it's just tiresome.
I transfered off.
No QQ. I have options, and I chose one.
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4-17-2008 @ 3:17PM
Matthew said...
I'm leaning in the same direction, myself. I didn't mind levelling up on the server, and I certainly had a good time repeatedly sapping people and running away, but I can't do any Sunwell dailies without getting repeatedly rolled by gank squads. Maybe time to transfer some of my Alliance guys over to Proudmoore where my hordies are.
4-18-2008 @ 1:13AM
Nick S said...
the squads of gankers on the isle are irksome, no doubt. yesterday was the first time i genuinely considered packing up and transferring to a different server...
squads of 3-6 allies were everywhere, just to gank. i say "gank" because they'd leave groups of even 2 alone, then jump on the solo player approaching just a few seconds later. doing dailies without a kill squad of one's own was out of the question.
so we horde rounded up a group of 5, and suddenly the alliance presence on the island diminished precipitously...
4-17-2008 @ 2:45PM
Blondie said...
You gotta love Drysc -- "Aw, I'm sorry. Show me on your mini-map where the mean old ganker hurt you." That was the best line ever!
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4-17-2008 @ 2:48PM
brittwilson said...
I don't think it really matters, people will always complain. I was defending Halaa one night on my ret paly (before the daily, and its a PvE server) and there were 3 of us, and one hunter.
We were guarding the south Wyvern post, and we killed him. He got up and got put down real quick, over and over again. After.... maybe the 8th time, he didn't get up. A minute later, I get a whisper from a lvl 1 toon named Ihateyouass telling me that I was a jerk and that he already had a ticket open with a complaint against me. I informed him, that as an opposing faction, trying to take over a contested area that I was defending, I have done nothing wrong by killing him. He called me a griefer, and I told him, that he could have ended it all by waiting 5 minutes after he last died to wait for his PvP flag to drop and stop attacking our city, and we could have done nothing to him at that point, and it was his actions that got him killed, not us. He swore some more then ignored me. I never got contacted by a GM.
TL;DR
No matter how many times you say it, or how obvious it is, there will always be the people who just don't get it.
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4-18-2008 @ 1:19AM
Angelus said...
You could have reported him for that, I mean, if you wanted to waste the time to do so. Cross faction communication is against TOS. He would have got warned is all. But the proof would all be right there for a GM to look thru.
I've had GMs post whole chat logs to me, lol.
4-18-2008 @ 2:18AM
brittwilson said...
Cross Faction communication is against the TOS, but I'm pretty sure that consists of addons or other such means to communicate when with the opposite faction. I don't think they meant that making a character to harass you with falls under that too.
Now it does fall under harassment, and in his case, Inappropriate character name, but I don't think he was breaking any rules doing something blizzard lets you do; make a opposite faction character and talk to people.
4-17-2008 @ 2:49PM
Tlacael said...
Try playing on a server that has a significantly skewed population! Drak'Thul has significantly more level 70 horde players on it. The Drak'Thul message boards are constantly filled with Alliance QQ about this. But the bottom line is Drysc is absolutely right, if you picked a PvP server expect to PvP. As for the severe population imbalance that prevents some of his suggestions from being viable, Blizz needs to address ratio imbalance otherwise Alliance will keep transferring off and the problem will continue to get worse.
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4-17-2008 @ 2:57PM
faradhim said...
I wonder if he will take the same stance against none-RPer on a RP server. Hmmm... After thinking about it my guess would be no..
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4-17-2008 @ 3:02PM
Nasgoul said...
Well i couldnt agree more with the blizzard guy in this instance... To my Alliance brothers... fight on my friends.... fight the good fight...
the Horde will fall.. I promise you they will
For the Alliance
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4-17-2008 @ 3:29PM
Vakzar said...
I agree Blizzard should take a similair stance to non-RP'ers on an RP server. I play on a pvp server, but I don't believe in this all out war philosophy. Azeroth has a lot more to worry about than this petty conflict between the Horde and Alliance. Griefing lowbies and attacking people while they're engaged with multiple mobs is just the act of a coward, there can be no glory without the possibility of defeat. Most people don't share that sentiment on PVP servers, i wish there was another option where the cowardly were singled out for there actions.
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4-17-2008 @ 3:30PM
Ravenswing said...
Wile I think Drysc's basic point, that rolling on a PvP server means getting ganked, is true, the argument about "get your friends and fight back" is baloney due to the mechanics of the game.
In real life, if 50 people attack one, there's a fair chance that the one will go down because there's really a fair high chance that they will all be hitting quite often.
In a game like WoW, 50 level 10s attacking a level 70 have about 1% chance each of hitting the guy. So, on average, one of them will hit every other try doing no effective damage. Meanwhile, the level 70 is one-shotting a target with each and every attack.
What Drysc really means is "QQ on the LD channel and pray a few level 70s will take pity on you, but don't QQ here. We don't actually care about you."
Now, be interesting to hear his views on the guy who has spent his evening in Southshore on an RP/PvE server, constantly slaughtering the NPCs. He isn't getting honour or XP, so he's doing it to annoy PvEers, or provoke someone into going flagged. Essentially, the PvP system is causing griefing, and not on a PvP server.
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4-17-2008 @ 3:38PM
ILikePvPbuthatePvPers said...
Bullshit! There's no such thing as PvP on "PvP" servers. I first rolled on a PvP server hoping I'd be fighting other players that are about my level instead of being butt raped by players 20 to 30 to even 40 levels higher. It's so mismatched that it doesn't require them any skills to kill me and no matter how much skill I have, there's no way I'm winning....
So Bullshit, if I want to get my PvP fix I'd stick to Battlegrounds and when WoTLK comes out, I'll be at Lake Wintergrasp baby!
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4-18-2008 @ 1:24AM
Calybos said...
Ganking and griefing occur simply because they're POSSIBLE on PvP servers. These cater to the lowest, cruelest, and least immature impulses of gamers (not that it takes much).
So the griefing epidemic seems inherent to the very concept of having PvP servers in the first place. You can't change human nature; you can only limit the opportunities to express it.
4-18-2008 @ 1:12AM
RogueJedi86 said...
To be fair, many people joined PvP Servers when they first joined WoW to play on the same server as their real-life friends, without knowing anything about PvP servers.
I'm one of those people, but luckily I'm very relaxed, and understand pvp, so I wasn't too screwed by the choice. PvE seems a little too easy.
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