Shut Up and Fight

I have never understood people who clutter /bg with chatter about anything but the battle at hand. I have to make a conscious choice to bark out orders in /bg — usually from the graveyard or while on defense — because the rest of the time I’m going all out. I don’t have time to talk.

And it really irriates me when you start talking about what DK spec is best, or how to level a hunter, while I’m trying to win a freakin’ match.

I’ve been in a few bad Wintergrasp raids lately — sorry, Durotan, I got nothing but love, but it’s the truth — where I had people chattering about levelling their alts. Afterwards the raid recount was embarassing — three people did 400k or more of damage, and the rest did less than 25k each.

Yeah. We lost that battle.

My guildmates know when I’m in a bg because I shift from proper case and punctiation to very, VERY terse shorthand. Time spent talking in a battleground is time not spent fighting.

So knock that shit off. We have work to do.

Don’t Hate Me Because I PvP

I was a young warlock in her 30s when I ran across a dwarven Death Knight massacaring the goblins of Booty Bay. I was a little irritated when he killed my quest turn-in, but didn’t say anything — the dude would respawn, after all. But another bystander ripped into the DK for killing all these goblins and “ruining his game.” Another bystander chimed in with something that really stuck with me:

He’s playing the game too. It’s a different part of the game than what you’re playing, but no less valid. Deal with it.

I bring this little scene up because Midsummer Festival is here, and with it Durotan is seeing a lot of players venture into enemy territory, usually wearing raid epics. And somehow, I CAN’T IMAGINE HOW THIS HAPPENS, they wind up under my Shadowfury targeting recticule.

Shocking!

So, needless to say, I’m making good progress on my [City Defender] achievement.

But last night, as I was defending The Exodar’s flame, I got called a jerk for killing Horde. This was a first for me.

“Don’t be a jerk, they’re just here for the achievement.”

Listen. There are plenty of reasons why I’ll leave you alone in a hostile city — well, one, really: you’re there to fish — but working towards the holiday achievements? No way. This is part of the game, too, and it’s not even nearly as hard as [School of Hard Knocks], just wait until off hours to sneak in and desecrate a fire, or get a big group together to do it. In a great display of efficiency last night, the Horde roared through Stormwind and killed the king before moving off to descrate the fire. I got steamrolled by them. It was great!

So, facing a heckler in the Exodar, I thought back to that dwarf DK in Booty Bay, and replied:

“And I’m working on [City Defender]. Do the achievements cancel out?”

I didn’t get an answer.

On Titles in Battlegrounds

What’s up with everyone leaving their titles on in battlegrounds?

Maybe it’s just me, but every time I see a huge splash of red over an opponent trying to hide, I can’t help but wonder if the other player knows how little I care that they’re a Champion of The Frozen Wastes, but how happy I am that they provided a giant neon sign over their head.

(Also, thanks for the clue that you’re probably in PvE gear and I can expect some nice juicy crits off of you.)

Even displaying PvP titles make me a little nervous, since the only people who you’ll impress are on your own side. Your opponents either won’t look, or will single you out for elimination.

I’m not against titles – far from it, I think they’re a great part of the game, and worth striving for. But they’re a tactical liability outside of your home cities.

An addon like Outfitter makes automating title changes easy. Either set a PvP outfit to hide your title, or only display it with an Around Town outfit. Here, like so:

Either option will keep you from running around battlegrounds with a big red billboard over your head. You’re enough of a target as it is. Don’t go making it any worse for yourself.