Ever surprise yourself?
Today, in This isn't me bragging: I fully expected to die. Usually when I do this kind of thing... in fact, in 99% of the times I've charged into a pack of Alliance or Horde when PvPing, I do die. It's usually a last ditch attempt to prevent a flag capture. I don't expect to live through it. But today, through some weird combination of skill, luck, and some poor choices and gear on the part of the alliance, I came out of it alive and they all died. (That rogue who showed up at the end helped, I admit it.)
I know it won't ever happen again, but for just that moment (long enough for a mage to ride up and fireball me down, since I had like 200 health left) I honestly felt like I'd learned something new, made a shift in how I PvP in World of Warcraft, and even surprised myself with how good I could actually be at a part of the game I've never really felt that I excelled at. Now, I still expect that the next time I try this I will die, but I won't go in thinking death is certain, and that changes the way the whole thing feels.
Almost certain death, slim chance of success, what are we waiting for? That dwarf knew what he was talking about.
Now, I have had this experience before... taking my Resto shammy into Black Morass for the first time I was surprised to learn that yes, I could main heal an instance run, for instance... and so I find myself wondering how common it is. Are there new hunters out there saying "Oh, that's how I keep a mob chain trapped" after a hard Shadow Labs run? Paladins used to tanking trying out Ret for the first time and saying "My gods, the damage, I had no idea I could do this!" or mages used to PvPing who are stepping into raiding and figuring out for themselves a whole new way to play? Well, yes, of course there are. It was silly of me to have posed the question. But it's not silly of me to want to hear about it from you guys.
Have you been coasting along, secure in your knowledge of the game and how you play it, and then suddenly had the whole thing change? Discovered a new trick, figured out how to use an ability you didn't see much call for (and man, if you have a good use for Sentry Totem, now's the time to share!) or did something you never thought you'd be able to? Whether it's tanking your first real instance after having been resto, winning an arena match that came down to the wire, or even just managing to drop an elite mob you were sure was about to make paste out of your innards, let's hear it.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
4-30-2008 @ 4:38PM
szimm said...
dude - that IS bragging. :)
those six guys must have been green-geared, afk, eating sandwiches with one hand, surfing porn with the other and below 25% health and mana when you jumped them.
Reply
4-30-2008 @ 4:45PM
Boom said...
Szimm, I'm willing to bet, has just posted the first of about 4 billion identical responses to this "article".
Grats on the fun kill man. It always feels great when the planets align in pvp, because it most often doesn't.
Want this to happen again? Play the BGs at 4am. :) Lots of "fun" targets in there.
Boom
5-01-2008 @ 4:00AM
Jessierockeron said...
Don't be such a sour puss, good job Matt
5-01-2008 @ 6:24AM
szimm said...
lol - i know these things can sometimes happen. i play a lot of pvp myself... but there is always some kind of explanation. :)
just saying that there is NO WAY you can defeat six other players at the same time, if they are all equally-geared and determined to kill you. well, unless u are chuck norris ofc. :D ...and youre not.
so why get mad because i make a little fun of him? manage ur QQ issues. :)
5-01-2008 @ 12:14PM
be-bum too too said...
Look mom! i can be an a$$-hole and type a little smiley at the end :)
You suck at life, screw you, fail at wow, L2P nub, everyone hates you :)
I'm really not a bad guy :)
5-01-2008 @ 2:33PM
amasen said...
As a warrior doing this is not entirely impossible if you are geared and they are newly 70 or retards.
A warrior benefits from getting the killing blow and doing lots of damage. It also helps if said players all stand near or on top of each other during a SS/WW combo.
That being said, killing someone in an charge/MS/WW combo is entirely possible especially if you are sword spec and get lucky crits.
Nice work matt... Enjoy the one out of a gazillion times a warrior charges in during BG's and actually lives (unless he has a heal bot)
5-02-2008 @ 7:38AM
szimm said...
@be bum too too
how was that relevant? calling me names is hardly constructive... well anyway, guess voicing your opinion in a civilized manner isnt acceptable here. only comments that are welcome must be in the format: OMG WTF awesome dude!!11!!!!1 ?
so i'm an "asshole" and a "nub" because i disagree with a statement obviously made to encourage discussion? maybe you should learn the concepts of sarcasm and basic conversation. and here is the smiley you love so much: :) (because, even when answering posts like the one you just made, i like to keep a positive mind)
4-30-2008 @ 4:44PM
Jeenome said...
I was always having issues using sap http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=11297 with my rouge. I would get close and the mobs would see me. I got so frustrated that I rarely used it. Then when some guildies and I were running an instance (don't remember which one) they asked me to sap something 4 or so levels above me. I was sure I was going to get detected. And then a friend who's main is a rogue told me about distract http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=1725
OMG! Why had I never been able to figure out what that was for? Yeah I felt totally stupid for not knowing how to use it but I also was able to sap the mobs and make it back to my party and make the whole run better. Not as cool as taking on 6 opposing PvPers but still . :)
Reply
4-30-2008 @ 4:51PM
huangism said...
you didn't know what distract was for? c'mon doesn't the title give it away?? I never had a rogue and i know to tell a rogue to distract a pat. you sux0rs
4-30-2008 @ 4:52PM
Brandon Tilley said...
Jeez, man, was that really necessary? They admitted to feeling stupid, you don't need to come along and rub it in like an asshat.
4-30-2008 @ 4:57PM
Jeenome said...
@ huangism
I never could figure it out. The word "monsters" threw me off, I took it to mean beasts and you can't sap beats, thus my confusion. And no I never did claim to be super rouge. I am willing to bet you know to tell someone to use distract because you've seen it used, well I hadn't. Mainly because instances were never fun to me until about level 55 and my rouge is only 60 now.
4-30-2008 @ 5:03PM
MechChef said...
"rouge" A gnome rogue who has trouble spelling the the word rogue..... /pity
4-30-2008 @ 5:11PM
Maureen Carter said...
Yeah this is so not my day. :) I blame it on the lack of glasses that I really should be wearing. :) Not exactly trouble spelling so much as typing. /cry
4-30-2008 @ 5:12PM
Maureen Carter said...
Dang it that should say Jeenome. I guess putting in the password made it pick up my name.
4-30-2008 @ 8:10PM
Shofixti said...
My guildies got a pug healer for an Heroic ManaTombs run, this shammy had not even bought Fire Elemental or Heroism - let alone aquired the knowledge of when and how to use them. When you're on the last boss, it's one of those jaw dropping moments wtf.
4-30-2008 @ 4:45PM
No Amon said...
I surprised myself this weekend--my 63 enhancement shaman and my girlfriend's 61 druid were jumped in Cenarion Post (the one in Hellfire) by five horde. Three paladins, one druid... not sure what the other one was...
Anyhow they take out my girlfriend's druid, I kill one paladin, I kill the other paladin (thank god for windfury + stormstrike crits), so I go after the druid. He kills me, but right as that happens, what timer counts down?
Fire nova totem.
So yeah, I died, but I had the pleasure of watching his corpse fall right on top of mine.
Reply
4-30-2008 @ 4:46PM
Rainnajax said...
One of my dearest friends has maintained since the day I met him (myself believing that I royally suck at PVP) that PVP really helps you become a better player. I cannot agree with him more now although I still don't feel I am great at it..it has made a difference in my gameplay!
Reply
4-30-2008 @ 4:47PM
Unagieater said...
Meh, yesterday I escaped a ton of enemies while leveling an alt, with 20 health left.
That happens alot actually..
Reply
4-30-2008 @ 4:51PM
Brandon Tilley said...
I was in Underbog as an at-level feral druid. I was taken along as DPS; I'd done some tanking, but not much, and wasn't very confident at the time.
Twice in our run, we had some adds and the healer started to run out of mana. I, of course, popped out, used my Innervate, and started to help the healer heal. The second time I was actually able to save us from a wipe with Barkskin + Tranquility.
Later, at the last boss, the healer finds himself out of range to heal the tank and the tank goes down. I was able to shift into bear form and tank him long enough for him to go down.
I think this was the first time I really understood my ability to perform multiple roles in the same class, and in this case even spec!
Reply
4-30-2008 @ 5:24PM
Charlie said...
Thats what hybrids are for man. I would love if blizzard really emphasized the importance of hybrids in the expansion. Being able to tank half an encounter, then heal the second half. Like maybe have an encounter where, as the tank, get a debuff that reduces the damage done to you, but increases your healing. While at the same time having the raid take alot of damage. This way you would have to 'shift' from tanking to healing, then when you lose the debuff, the damage on the raid ends, and you go back to tanking.
Also, tranquillity is awsome. Back in the day (aka early BC), when Aran was hard, our MT, a druid, would save the day many times by popping tranquillity after the pyro. That kind of stuff makes me love hybrids and want to play one.
It just sucks that I love spellcasters, and cant stand playing druids =(. One of the reason's im so excited for the Death Knight! I'm hoping he's going to be like a tanking battle mage type. That would be awsome.