Name: DruidiaJane. Level: 19. Standing: 1,777th

So, as I write, DruidiaJane is 1,777^th on the Khaz Modan PVP rankings, is a Sergeant, and is the top rated lvl 19 player on the Alliance side. It’s a small celebrity, I know, but it’s satisfying, too. (and it’ll fade soon – I wasn’t able to play this weekend, so my honor was way down.)

I went into the battlegrounds hesitantly. I’m tempermentally suited to the priest – buff, heal, a smite or two, and then I let the others in my party mop up around me. It’s a supportive role, but I understand it. So pvp wasn’t high on my list – every time I was challenged to a duel, I found myself spinning more than attacking, and with no instant cast offensive spells, I was pretty much useless.

So I stayed out of the BG, even though I was curious. During our time in San Francisco, Sarah described to me the basic concepts of Warsong Gulch, and it sounded chaotic, but fun. It was Linda’s posting, though, that pushed me over the edge, so one afternoon I queued up.

I’d rolled DruidiaJane because I wanted to see what another class looked like. I’d taken Twinkleheal to 50, but was finding that it was harder to grind with a priest at 50 than it was at 30, and the instances require more time and planning than I often have, so I’d been slowed a bit there. I’d rolled a rogue, Slipperypeet, and taken him to 20, but I just don’t enjoy the rogue – I’m a lousy sneaker, and rogues are all about the stealthy attack.

So I settled on Druid, to see what a more offensive healer looked like, and pretty quickly ran through the first 18 levels, which was about the time I went into WSG for the first time.

There’s the term “ill-structured domain” that Margaret Riel introduced me to, and while I’m sure I don’t understand it real well, it seems to me that WSG is a perfect example of one smaller ill-structured domain inside of a larger one. Perhaps if Khaz Modan had been a PvP server, it might not have presented so much of a dichotomy in contrast with the outside PvE world, but as it was, it seemed like all or most of the previous patterns that had led to success with Twinkleheal were liabilities within the BG – deliberation, long-timed spell casts for huge damage, healing to a maximum – they all went out the window. After two matches in the bg, I knew I needed to respect DruidiaJane, and I also knew that I’d never be able to take Twinkleheal into a BG at any level – he’s specced for healing in instances.

But BGs are still a realm where analysis has some payoff, and I began seeing some of the patterns of the game. I also found myself on the winning side more often than I expected from reading the WoW forums and talking with my WoW mentor, Ken. It’s pretty clear that the IRL players who choose Horde avatars are willing to take on the personae of underdogs – part of the WoW mythology, I suppose – but it also seems that Hordies believe that PvP is where they pwn, their rightful domain. I’m not sure Blizzard could have expected this sort of racial affinity to develop, but it’s surely there nonetheless.

In any case, very quickly I learned that the role for a druid in the BG, their true calling, is the midfield. We’re fair healers, but you can’t do it quickly enough to be much use unless you set it up ahead of time – that is, if you position yourself ahead of the flag carrier, then heal them as they pass, then harass their pursuers. This is almost always a suicidal position to take – the pursuers turn on you in frustration, or to prevent your heals, but done properly, you’re the midfield boost to the flag carrier that gets them into a position to cap.

On defense, the role is reversed – the druid’s purpose is to Root, Root, Root. Even though it would unbalance the game terribly, I wish that Entangling Roots were instant cast. OMG, I would pwn! There’s nothing more satisfying than to see the flag coming, with several of my teammates trailing behind, and know that in a minute, the carrier’s going to come to a screeching halt and then get the stuffing whacked out of him. I think the animation of the roots folding around them is particularly satisfying – it’s like grasping claws just reach up and around.

My grasp on the WSG marks of honor, and the XP they generate when they’re turned in, didn’t really make a lot of sense to me at first. 750 XP for winning a match? Sweet. Over the next several weekends, I played Druidia pretty consistently and earned enough marks to level to 19, and then to 19.5. It was only when I reached 19.9 that I realized I had a problem – turning in any more marks was going to put me over into 20, and I really didn’t want to leave the bracket I was playing in.

I also had begun to see that in WSG, at least, there are really two classes of toons – those that are there in transit, and those that are there only for bg pvp. That is, there are those toons that are playing BGs while at the same time continuing to level up in a normal progression in the larger context of the game, and then those that have been constructed (think Frankenstein’s monster) to be the best PVP toon available – in other words, the twink.

The twink is fairly easy to identify on the battleground – their weapons glow. The rest of us are normal looking - drab, even - but they’re running around with flames in one hand and ice in the other. Oh yeah, and when they whack you – you die. Instantaneously. Poof. Dirtnap. But… but… and it’s kind of like admiring Barry Bonds’ physique… They’re so dang cool….

My experience is that within the Alliance ranks at the 10-19 level, there aren’t that many twinks. A few, but mostly the Alliance seems to tend toward regular folks deciding to run in WSG for a little while. The horde, on the other hand, has a dedicated and powerful core of twinks, and I’ve come to know them pretty well – Ohhx, Meesiah, Nancycalahan. I’ve been killed plenty by them, but I’ve killed them too. I always know when the Horde twinks are in the BGs, because the queues are so short – they roll the Alliance in 10 minutes or less, and then there’s a new set of suckers for them to kill…

In any case, after about three weekends of pretty regular BG, several things became clear. First, you can be a regular toon in BG, and the strength of the group has a dramatic impact on you, or you can be a twink, and you can shift the balance of power by your presence. Second, defense is a generally losing tactic, unless you’re very, very good – offense beats defense 90% of the time. Third, three or four players who work well together can beat 10 who don’t – it’s just that simple. And finally, fourth, it’s time for the Alliance to win in the 10-19 BG.

To that end, I and my IRL friends here at the college have set a goal of rolling and outfitting a set of twinks with the express purpose of pwning WSG. I believe we’ll know we’ve accomplished our goal when all six of us are ranked in the PVP rankings, and when some sort of post shows up in the realm forum with the title of “who the hell is SMASH?” SMASH is our guild.

The preparation for this isn’t a small undertaking. Toward the end of getting everyone with the appropriate buffs, I’m having to take another toon to 35, so that we can do the stamina and fiery weapon enchants we’ll need. We’re also stockpiling blues that we’ll need to outfit the SMASH strike force, and I’m spending a lot of the money I earn at the AH to build an inventory. I’ve also taken to doing periodic farming runs of Shadowfang Keep with Twinkleheal in the hope that a rare blue dagger drops (only 3% of the time). All in all, I’d guess that we’ll need 1000g or more in materials and blues to really reach some of the higher thresholds.

We’ll also have to choose our toons carefully. All that I’ve read suggests that Stamina is prized above all in the BG – that hit points are the coin of the realm. To that end, we’re rolling dwarves because they’re the race with the greatest STA starting point. We’re also planning our roles fairly carefully – right now, we’re planning to go in with 3 hunters, a warlock, a priest and a rogue. The plan is for us to move down the midfield with pets in front of us, while the rest of us work from the rear in shields; the ‘lock and priest also bring fear to the table, to get folks off of us. We'll farm some HK, to be sure, but the plan is to roll straight into the flag room, then rampage out of there, trailing chaos and death in our wake.

I don’t doubt that it’s going to be more than just gear that we’ll have to learn – even the best group can’t function without some sort of leadership – but I believe that the BGs, like many other things, can be conquered. Money, persistence, a plan and a goal are going to carry us through.

And, btw, you’re welcome to join, if you want… just let me know – we’ve still got 4 slots in SMASH!

Druidiajane - 19 and holding
Twinkleheal - 52 and climbing slowly
Slipperypeet - 22 and climbing as fast as I can get him to 35
Shadowpeeg - 8, and prepping for a debut....