WarsongGulch
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Healing in PvP
The priest I'm currently playing is the first character I've made any serious attempts to PvP with. And, no, I'm not blazing through Alterac Valley in shadowform - I heal, much to the amazement of people I end up grouped with. At first I was surprised by the shock of other players when I healed them, but after spending some time in all of the battlegrounds, I've come to realize that healing in PvP is quite a headache.In PvE groups and instance runs, players are arranged into parties. In a raid group, where there are multiple parties, there's usually a healer in each and we stick to healing our own parties. We move forward as a group by necessity - because a single player would be highly unlikely to stand on their own against the monsters we're fighting. I watch my party's health bars, and I heal them when they get low. Easy enough, right? But in a PvP situation...
The Waiting Game
It was 8PM, local time for me, when I got home. An hour's drive in traffic. I hop on the computer, intent on working out the stress of the day in some PvP matches, but there seems to be a 400 player queue to log on to my realm - that's another half hour. Well, okay - I can go find something for dinner and it will be done by the time I'm back. All I want is to run a few Warsong Gulch games, and hopefully get my new priest up to friendly with the Warsong Outriders - humble enough goals, right? But, wait - now that I'm logged on, there seems to be an hour's queue to get in to Warsong at all. Hmm, I suppose I do have a good book I've been meaning to read. But, honestly, I have to wonder - when did I start to spend more time waiting than I did playing? Because this new waiting game is not nearly as fun as the game I used to play.Of course there's hope - new servers and hardware improvements, as well as the possibility of cross-realm battlegrounds will both cut into this waiting game - but, until then, all there is to look forward to is more of the same. I know I'm not the only one out in Azeroth who's hit this wall - what do the rest of you do when all you want to do is play, but the game is, for one reason or another, out of your reach?
Easy Mode: Alliance or Horde?
While I don't personally subscribe to the theory that one faction is better than the other, they both have their advantages and disadvantages. My current main character is in an Alliance-side raiding guild, yet I'm considering the prospect of raiding for the other side and starting to think that, perhaps, my days in the Alliance really have been "easy mode." The key to this argument is, of course, the paladin - whose blessings can easily be applied across a whole raid of players (though each paladin may only have one blessing per player). Shaman totems, alternately, only buff those players within their group, and have a limited range (rendering them useless for fights that require movement) - and unless you're running a raid with 8 shamans, this means that some players simply won't have access to these buffs at all. So while Blessing of Salvation is something I've grown accustomed to, Tranquil Air Totem might not be something I should become too attached to. On the other hand, I'm enjoying the relative ease with which more organized Horde groups seem to be seceding in the Battlegrounds - though this is more likely to do with the specific groups I'm playing with than a faction imbalance. And, of course, this may change once I level into the 20-29 bracket for Warsong, as Ghost Wolf comes into play. Who do you think has it easy in Azeroth - Alliance or Horde?
Warsong Gulch Quickstart Guide
"Look before you leap". Wise advice, but it's easy to fall into a trap of complacency in WoW, believing that you can conquer anything and everything. Throwing other players into the mix as opponents can make the game change drastically, however.With the PvP Honor Contest coming to a close this Tuesday, this weekend is an excellent chance to stock up on honor and try to make it to the top. In fact, thanks to the battleground holidays, there's extra honor available this weekend than throughout the rest of the contest. Having seen several players on the Honor Contest Realm who evidently have no idea what Warsong Gulch is all about, here's a quick guide to what's going on:
More Battlegrounds with Blizzard!
It looks like players will have one more chance to tussle with Blizzard in the battlegrounds before the contest realms close down on Monday. Players on US servers can find Blizzard in Warsong Gulch today, playing Alliance, between 5 and 7 PM PST. So get out there and fight the good fight![Fan art by Guillaume Bonnet]
Warsong Gulch with Blizzard
Did you miss out on last week's PvP match against Blizzard? Well, if you were interested, it looks like you have a second chance. Blizzard will be fielding a Horde team in Warsong Gulch on the US Honor Contest realm, so if you'd like to try your hand against the game's creators, roll Alliance and be ready for a fight! The match is scheduled for Friday, March 17th, from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM PST.Update: EU players will also have their chance with Blizzard's Europe staff. Look for them in Warsong from 17:00 to 20:00 CET (game time) on Monday, March 20th![Fan art by Guillaume Bonnet]
Warsong Gulch with Blizzard: Results
Miss Friday's Warsong Gulch with Blizzard? Well, there's plenty of chatting going on about the match on the forums, including accusations of cheating. (Apparently one of the Blizzard characters was flagged to be untargetable during their first match, though Eyonix tells us it was unintentional.) Eyonix thanks everyone for coming here, and opponent Marlyn discusses the match here. Update: Video!
PvP with (or against!) Blizzard
Community manager Caydiem has posted that Blizzard employees will be running Warsong Gulch on the PvP contest realm from 5:00 - 8:00 PM PST Friday. So if you're interested in this sort of thing, best hop on the contest realm and level up to 19, Alliance side, for a chance to try your skills against Blizzard's own.[Fan art by Guillaume Bonnet]
