Who am I to tell you how to have fun? I'm quite outspoken on the subject, I've come to really despise being told what to do and how to have fun myself, it would take some nerve to be a hypocrite now.
So I won't, I'll just make a veiled judgement and pose it in the form of a question. Is it fun or childish to visit one of the dead opposing faction capital cities (Silvermoon or Exodar) and begin slaying all the low level mobs within?
I'll take an example from last night, where a pair of stinking Blood Elves pranced their dainty booties around the Exodar taking on level 30-75 NPC's. Never attacking anyone of strength or importance, just being annoying by killing off auctioneers and salespeople and random Draenei walking around enjoying their daily exercise.
I stood there...wait, maybe I need to explain what I was doing there. It's funny, but when I'm in Dalaran there are two portals that you can enter mounted and still be mounted on the other side, the portal to the Exodar and the one to Shattrath. As there currently are no auction houses in Shat, I choose the Exodar because I can run to the AH faster. Yep, that's my logic, weird as it is.
Anyhoo, I stood there and watched as these two "Kingslayers" (btw) showed off their awesomeness by ransacking a city and NPC's that clearly have no chance against them. And they were at it for over an hour. They tried to taunt me, but I'm not stupid, I'm not about to PvP against a Pali and a personal healing Priest. Not only do I suck at PvP, I wouldn't have won anyway. They called me chicken and used other choice phrases, I am sure, but I just stood there and wondered if their behavior was simply two friends having a good time or two people being childish, picking on NPC of little or no consequence for the sake of wanting to behave like a coupld of jerks.
My initial belief is that their behavior was childish. They had no mission, no purpose other than take out NPC's that I and others use regularly who visit the Exodar. They did not engage in a PvP that I would call "honorable", rather only fighting those NPC's who they vastly out leveled. Now they probably were laughing and telling each other on their vent channel about how much fun they were having, and about how that stupid Warlock was a big coward not to fight, but the only thing they accomplished was to disrupt my ability to play and have fun the way I wanted to.
I don't know all the rules, written or unwritten, of world PvP, but I've heard a lot of stories. I know of high level toons camping low level places in PvP servers, making it nearly impossible to level sometimes. I don't think that that behavior is honorable, and therefore should not be engaged in. Now I do know that some say that "if the rule doesn't prohibit then anything goes", an attitude that many lawyers take in many a court system, and we all know what the world thinks of lawyers.
Social "norms" exist for a reason, cultural traditions or acceptable yet unwritten patterns of behavior are present in every country. Nobody has absolute rights, not even the right to have fun. In America, rights are granted to a point, where your rights infringe on the rights of others your rights end. That's how I believe what world PvP should be. When you begin to do things that restrict the rights of others, then it is behavior that should be avoided.
Unfortunately, I believe I must conceed a few exceptions. But those exceptions assume that players are mature and thougtful. Two players of opposite factions, of approximate equal level in the same zone on a PvP realm - GO FOR IT! If some Gnome is mining go ahead and hit 'em in the back of his head with your foot, or an axe, either one. But if your are 80 and that gnome is lvl10, what exactly do you (the level 80) get from that transaction? How honorable is it to kill someone 70 levels lower than you? How is that in any way reflect positively on you?
I don't claim to have all the answers, and I guess it's too much to ask people to act in a reasonable, mature manner. Why would it ever be cool to wipe out NPC's that other, much lower level toons need to enjoy their side of the game? Is it a step to prove your metal? An initiation of sorts to prove what a great warrior you are? Bah! It's childish, cowardly, and yes even on PvP realms a trouncing of the rights of others.
To those two stinking Blood Elves that were having SOOOOO much fun last night, YOU SUCK! Hope you had fun deluding yoursleves into thinking your cooler than you actually are...meaning your not, your just childish.
5 comments:
I'm not sure I agree with you on that one. I have chosen to play on a PVE server in WoW, exactly because I didn't want to deal with griefing and camping you can expect to find on PVP servers. not because I dislike the idea of open world PVP as such, but because I don't feel WoW is the sort of MMO that properly allows such a playmode.
the point of PVP servers is exactly that: chaos. it adds depth and authenticity to games that are created around such a concept. at any point you have to expect to be waylaid, camped or ambushed. your NPCs get killed if you don't organize to protect them. your corpse gets camped if you don't organize for your guildmates to come along and escort you.
you are forced to create social bonds and cooperatives in PVP games. I love this idea and I think that's how it should be. if you hate your NPCs being killed, do something about it.
however, in WoW this is rather poorly implemented and that's why getting ganked on PVP servers is more annoying than anything else. even on these servers the community isn't really playing the game like a pvp game, there's no incentives to do so and no proper system installed, the way you had it in ultima online for example.
it's a shame really. so the best you can do is to simply roll PVE in my opinion.
Another factor to be considered is the fact that since the battlegroup merges, all Horde pvp queue times have gone through the roof. We were waiting for a good forty five minutes last night for example before a battleground popped. Going to Alliance/Horde cities and killing NPCs so world/local defence pings and you get a fight has been around since the game was implemented. It's not ideal but when wintergrasp isn't up and your PvP queues take forever, there aren't many options available.
Obviously the more populated cities would be an option but 2 versus SW or IF really wouldn't work out.
Would I do it? No, I prefer to respond to world defence rather than be the one killing low level NPCs but I feel it's part and parcel of a PvP server.
Childish to the point of idiocy, to answer the question. It's juvenile bullying, writ on the WoW canvas instead of the local schoolyard.
It's possible to have decent open world PvP if everyone is at the same level and power variance is minimal, so nearly anyone has a fighting chance and even victors are bloodied to the point of being easy prey themselves for a counterattack.
Only, that's not the WoW way.
Attacking an enemy city with two players should stop at the city gates when two well equipped city guards beat the crap out out of the intruders. *Maybe* require three to really stop some well-geared characters. Worst case scenario, citizens take up arms and enforce mob rule like good little white blood cells.
The wide power band in WoW makes open world PvP a joke, an exercise of ganking and counterganking, bullying and victims. It fosters the worst sort of behavior like that of these two delinquents.
Er... others seems to have taken from this that you're on a PVP server, but that's not how I read it. Which is correct?
FWIW, I had my banking alt parked in Exodar (with HS set to Dal) right up to the night before the Shattering and the portals going bye-bye (moved her to IF now). I have lost count of the number of times I have stood and watch one or two complete morons "enjoying" themselves by taking out all of the guards, the vendors and the auctioneers. They then park themselves in the AH until respawns happen and do it all over again. There's NEVER any equivalent level/geared alliance around to take them on - the reason I used Exodar was _because_ it's a dead city. My server, at least, is NOT PVP. There's no need for it, no point to it, it is just juvenile. I imagine a couple of nine to 12 year olds egging each other on to show how "tough" they are.
@ Kayla: All my toons are on PvE servers. I should have clarified that in my post. I believe the behavior unacceptable on PvE servers.
I have no experience on PvP servers and therefore my opinions on any rules or behavior there should be taken lightly or ignored completely.
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