Teach me how to enjoy WSG?

[MammaMu]

As a non-Arena rogue I am overjoyed of the S1-gear-for-honor patch. I will hit honor cap tonight and are maxed out on AV, EOTS and AB marks. I really enjoy those three battegrounds and have a great time playing right now.

However, WSG puts a dark cloud on the fun horizon. I need a buttload of WSG marks for a full S1/Vindi kit, but the bg makes my eyes bleed out of boredom and frustration. I am well aware of basic WSG tactics, but the games often tend to be endless hide-the-flag, hk-farming borefests, and I usually cant stand more than 15-20 minutes without a flag capture before I take my 15 mins of Deserter.

Now, I could probably get all the marks I need in a week or less of constant wsg:ing, but I hurt inside just thinking about it.

So, how do YOU cope with WSG? Any tips on how to deal with the frigging bg?

Getting a premade together is often not an option on my server, but I have toyed with the thought of trying to make a premade for chain-losing wsg. Very boring, yes, but at least we get the marks faster than the usual 2-hour pugs...

[Kugan]

Some tips. None of them are guaranteed to work, but they have worked for me.

Enter with a friend. You will generally enter a higher geared battleground where the novelty of winning and losing is gone, and people just want a quick clean match.

Go for the flag. Ignore everything else, and make sure you are the one to pick up the flag. Then, once you have it, go for the other sides’ flag carrier. Your group will generally follow you wherever you go (because you have the flag) and if you are lucky, you will kill their flag carrier before they kill you. If you are unlucky, you will get killed, called a noob by your team, but the other side will have one more flag returned.

Before you enter WSG, enter the queues for the other battlegrounds so that you can make an emergency exit without getting the debuff.

[Pin]

I have no tips, but I'd just like to say that WSG is exactly the same as the OP describes in my battlegroup. Even when one side dominates the other, it still takes >30 mins for them to win.

I also do Kugan's trick if I ever do go into one, the queing for a different bg just before you accept WSG.

I only ever enjoy WSG pre 40 and that's because of the novelty of learning to play my new character in BGs. Also at this level people seem to respond to such useful hints as "help me with the flag", whereas at 70 people just yell at each other.

I also agree with Kugan's go in with a friend idea. Two people trying to do something in WSG can often be much more useful than just one. (And goodluck getting someone you meet for the 1st time in there to help you :) )

[MammaMu]

Kugan, thanks for the reply. Going for agressive kamikaze style flagcatchning might work, I will try it, and people may call me whatever they like as long as I get my marks fast ;-)

I usually play in duo with my wife, and at least in my battlegroup entering as a pair doesn't seem to impact opposision gear level.

[Kugan]

Yep. If you have the flag, then you are in control.

If one of you are playing a class that can stealth (Druid/Rogue or any Night Elf), it might work for one to take the flag, and the other to wait at the opposition’s base for it to reappear. Nobody ever defends an empty base.

We tried this once, but it was while I was still playing on my Paladin… and unfortunately I never survived for long enough.

[moopy]

I have no tips, but I'd just like to say that WSG is exactly the same as the OP describes in my battlegroup. Even when one side dominates the other, it still takes >30 mins for them to win.

Hmm, usually takes us about 10 mins to win WSG. Not as quick as AB, but quick enough. I think WSG is rarely much fun to PUG any more- at low levels it's wrecked by twinks, at high levels, PUGged games last forever.

[odinsnephew]

Hmm, usually takes us about 10 mins to win WSG. Not as quick as AB, but quick enough.

Is that a premade Moopy? Although a pug can do it sometimes if your lucky. I think the longest ive played was 1 hour 45 (ish). I needed therapy after that one ;)

MammaMu,

It can be a hassle as well as undivided joy to play wsg as im sure you are aware. I would just do as the others have said and you are aware of the tactics, so go and grit those teeth and smash 'em up.

Good luck :)

[mender of bad soles]

first, dont enter wsg with a "oh crap i hate this......" mentality. Try to enjoy those long fights. Chasing the enemy flag carrier can be great fun, get other good players to hunt with you.

One of the best ways to make pvp fun again is to try things you havent done in a while or ever. Ex:the other two pvp specced/geared mages and I had loads of fun yesterday with syncing our blizzes over a zerg :smiley: No movement at all+heavy aoe dmg=the fun we were looking for and effiective to boot

In other words, find ways to MAKE it fun. Play with friends, do things you wouldnt normally do(even if you think they are a VERY bad idea) chat on vent with the funny people in your guild.

and by my long hairy gnome's beard why do you not have an arena team? Win or lose you still get the good gear, and it teaches you so much about good team pvp.

[swaldman]

WSG by yourself is soul-destroying. At least as Alliance on my server. Especially for a healer.

Games go one of two ways:
1. Horde steamroll over everybody, by working together, while Alliance res and run at the enemy team one at a time. This can at least be fast, which I guess would please the OP.
2. Both sides play "hide the flag" and it takes 40 minutes.

Whichever way it happens, as a healer you find that the rest of the team ignores you, the enemy target you, and when you die the team shout at you for not healing. Or, if you are with a flag-runner, they use speed pots, sprint, etc., rapidly outdistance you as you stop to cast, and then shout at you for not healing.

WSG with friends is rather better. If you can get 5-6 together you can make a good stab at actually running a team - although usually you'll end up against better, regular premades; but even if you only go in with one friend, then you can at least derive some enjoyment out of working together. I sometimes play with a shadow priest, and together we're quite hard to kill. Even if the game is a "hide-the-flag" style one, it's actually interesting.

[NamelessoneX]

Some of my tips,

1) Run with a premade...faster grinding.
2) If no one caps at least one flag in 10 mins, and it doesn't look like they will, leave.
3) if your down 0-2 dont bother playing aggressive, try to keep your game times to a minimum.
4) You might end up being the person who needs to cap because no one else is focused. So make sure you stay focused on the goal.

5) This is a big one.......

Start farming WSG points from 10 to 69 ^_______^

[MammaMu]

Hehe, nameless, yeah, if I had been wise I should have stocked up on a full stack of wsg marks at 39/49.

As to why I don't do Arena: well, me and my wife pvp with this rogue/feral druid couple. We also pve with our mage/hunter duo, and have spent a lot of time lately on leveling a warrior/balance druid alt team.

We actually HAVE a 2vs2 arena team, and we originally planned to lose our way to enough arena points to buy some gear. As I wrote we are in crappy blues/GM gear, and during the first weeks we somehow seemed to face s2-geared warrior/pala or warrior/priest opponents exclusively, with easy predictable results.

Even though I was prepared do defend our proud position in the 1200:eds with at least some points in sight my wife simply refuse to play Arena. The gear difference makes it a very boring experience, and she actually play this game for fun *gasp*.

I have no problems making compromises if it keeps my wife happy playing wow, hence no Arena at the moment.

S1/Vindi might make the gear equation a bit more even though, I will try to smoothtalk her into trying Arena again in a couple of weeks ;-)

[moopy]

Kek! Karma police caught me...

Went to WSG with most of my usual premade (never lost a match, usually over in 10 mins). The other side was similar, semi-PM. We started with our usual "tactic" of "zerg the flag and grab ours on the way back". No dice, the horde turtled up hard. A very defensive team, lots of pallies and a prot warrior with the flag.

Flash forward an hour, still turtled up. In the end, the tactic which worked was to withdraw to our flagroom, light a camp fire and have a singsong around it, followed by a full-team conga line around our flag room and then out into the midfield. Horde too bewildered to know what to do. Then they started splitting up and attacking, and we were able to send our zerg out again while I stuck to the FC druid with a warlock as additional DPS. We did eventually win 3-0, after the initial cap, their will crumbled. The whole game took 72 minutes.

I should avoid tempting fate like that :-)

[Tomar]

WSG for me, on the Emberstorm battlegroup alliance side, is a killer. When i was getting my PvP tiger mount it took 29 WSG's to get my 30 tokens (we won the last one).

It's basically a 10v10 arena, and most horde who enjoy it there are full S2 (my gear is mostly honor gear, with one piece of S2) and old hands at PvP.

It can be horrible. And I'm shy plenty of WSG tokens for S1 honor gear (think I only have 23ish atm).

I will say the daily PvP quest has made WSG palatable (when its WSG daily) because then you have the better ally PvP'ers in there too. We actually had back to back sweeps in there my last two times in.

[YuanTi]

Kek! Karma police caught me...

Went to WSG with most of my usual premade (never lost a match, usually over in 10 mins). The other side was similar, semi-PM. We started with our usual "tactic" of "zerg the flag and grab ours on the way back". No dice, the horde turtled up hard. A very defensive team, lots of pallies and a prot warrior with the flag.

Flash forward an hour, still turtled up. In the end, the tactic which worked was to withdraw to our flagroom, light a camp fire and have a singsong around it, followed by a full-team conga line around our flag room and then out into the midfield. Horde too bewildered to know what to do. Then they started splitting up and attacking, and we were able to send our zerg out again while I stuck to the FC druid with a warlock as additional DPS. We did eventually win 3-0, after the initial cap, their will crumbled. The whole game took 72 minutes.

I should avoid tempting fate like that :-)

Haiz Moopy! You're alive!!
So,you playing moopy again now then seeing as you say the horde turtled up?:P
Wich server are you on? i might come and visit

[xDarkDrifterx]

Go for the flag. Ignore everything else, and make sure you are the one to pick up the flag. Then, once you have it, go for the other sides’ flag carrier. Your group will generally follow you wherever you go (because you have the flag) and if you are lucky, you will kill their flag carrier before they kill you. If you are unlucky, you will get killed, called a noob by your team, but the other side will have one more flag returned

IMO this is a good strat when you have a bunch of yahoo's that don't know wtf they are doing in the BG. They are scattered here and there and just not meshing. Doing the above basically forces these tunnel vision button mashers to have the flag stare right at them (b/c they won't look around to see where the EFC is headed).

I find the late night BG groups to be better, as many kids have a bed time, and the adults seem to work better together.

[MammaMu]

Update: my mage alt got enough honor and marks for 4 pieces of S1 armour, and my rogue is honorcapped, so...I took the rogue out on the dreadful task of collecting WSG marks. 2 hours netted 3 marks, and I had to /afk out of 2 games when no flags had been captured after 20 minutes, the pain....

Still, 20 marks in the bag, only 30 more to go 8-/

Tomar: yeah, it looks the same in my battlegroup, lots of horde in full S2 and alliance in AH blues. I can sympathise with the horde S2:s enjoyment in twoshotting gnomes, I would do it myself (and both my 70ies are male gnomes o.0), but it still makes it a bugger when you actually need the marks.

[Wintrow]

I found WSG most enjoyable on my Gnome Mage (L39). I'd always go for the flag (except if there was a kick-ass shaman/druid already on it. Mana Shield kept me alive, Escape Artist kept me moving, Frost Nova kept melee off of me, Remove Lesser Curse annoyed the Warlocks :tongue:. A quick "/bg coming from west side with flag" made sure the team members knew what to do.

[Aswer]

If you are not in a PvP guild on your realm, do not sweat. Try to get in touch with an GM or an officer from one, and tell them you are available and would like to join their premades from time to time. Nowadays with arenas lots of PvP guilds accept randoms in their premades, and will reinvite if you show you're a decent player. You will be invited to join their Vent/TS server, and you'll discover a whole new dimension to WSG.

GL!

[MammaMu]

Aswer, I'm playing on a med-pop rp-pvp server, and there aren't any pure pvp guilds as far as I know...well, there are, but on horde side ;-)

These days I only pvp and farm with the rogue anyway, so perhaps I should be proactive and start up my own pvp guild then 8-)

[RioteR]

i think that in the 39/49 brackets, WSG games are much shorter. I've never played one that was longer than 30 minutes, and I've played at least 50 WSG's on all my characters in these two brackets.

[NamelessoneX]

Aswer, I'm playing on a med-pop rp-pvp server, and there aren't any pure pvp guilds as far as I know...well, there are, but on horde side ;-)

These days I only pvp and farm with the rogue anyway, so perhaps I should be proactive and start up my own pvp guild then 8-)


Im on a LOW pop RP server, normal. To be quite honest, i've meet people from my server in the battle grounds by constantly being in the top 5 most games i play. The best way is to look for others from your server that are pvping and message them after the match. feel them out, you might actually have to be the one to get things going, but add them to your friends list, instance with them, meet more people like that etc...as time goes on, you'll have more then enough friends online to start a group.

[Pongle]

There is only one solution..

BEER.

[MammaMu]

Another update: After some research I've discovered that we have unofficial lfg channels for wsg/ab/eots on the server, d'oh! It's still no guarantee for good and fast wsg games, but premades with focused people might even get us a win or two, good stuff.

Pongle, yeah, being pissed is the solution to many problems and makes even wsg bearable. Sadly I can't be in that state every evening or my boss will have opinions, but I will try it this friday and saturday - hopefully 4 cases of danish lager will net me the 30 marks I miss ;-)

[Mythric]

Heh, I keep forgetting the brittish mean drunk when they say 'pissed'. Here in America it means 'very angry'. :)

[luxmeansbux]

Last time I was in Kobenhavn there were some very drunk Swedish "beer tourists" in my hotel that kept my family up most of the night by wandering the halls calling out for their lost friend Ole.

I slept through it and still chuckle at the thought of my brother's face the next morning.

[RioteR]

Heh, I keep forgetting the brittish mean drunk when they say 'pissed'. Here in America it means 'very angry'. :)

Hah thanks for explaining, because that statement made no sense to me when I read it.

[MammaMu]

Hah thanks for explaining, because that statement made no sense to me when I read it.

Sorry about my linguistic sloppiness, hehe. Being pissed the american way is what you become when playing pug WSG, and being pissed the english way is the solution to it :rolleyes:

[moopy]

Sorry about my linguistic sloppiness, hehe. Being pissed the american way is what you become when playing pug WSG, and being pissed the english way is the solution to it :rolleyes:

It really isn't. Drunk people are loud and tedious on vent, and their reflexes are shot to hell, yet they tend to be wildly over-confident. Bob help you if a drunkard gets the flag.. :)

"Ok, go, score!"
"What? I like ponies!"
"SCORE!"
"What?"
The Alliance flag was dropped by Drunkenidiot.
The Alliance flag was returned by GenericPUGrogue.

[Pin]

It really isn't. Drunk people are loud and tedious on vent, and their reflexes are shot to hell, yet they tend to be wildly over-confident. Bob help you if a drunkard gets the flag.. :)

"Ok, go, score!"
"What? I like ponies!"
"SCORE!"
"What?"
The Alliance flag was dropped by Drunkenidiot.
The Alliance flag was returned by GenericPUGrogue.

Hmm, this looks familiar. Maybe about 50% of my team seems to be drunk everytime I play WSG :P

I remember a good few wipes caused in my old raiding guild that were explained with "sorry, i am drunk lol".

To be fair though, I caused a wipe in heroic bot yesterday by concentrating too hard on my dot/trinket rotation and ignoring by threat for a similar (but non alcohol related) reason :)

[MammaMu]

moopy, I'm 40 years old and lost my Nintendo reflexes a long time ago, so being drunk doesn't have that much of an impact on my pvp skills, hehe. Perhaps I sometimes take on a bit more than I can chew while intoxicated and get a bit more talkative, but other than that I still keep a pretty good strategic and tactic head, and aren't rude in chat - which means I'm still a better person while drunk to have in your group than the average pug participant ;-)

With that said, I never do serious instancing or "important" group pve with more than a few beers in my belly. I still remember an abyssmal UBRS run back in the days where I really messed things up with my mage while being impossibly intoxicated *blush*

But to the topic: If a few cold lagers can help me cope with the hellhole of boredom that is WSG just so I can get my marks and then get the hell out of Dodge (or as it where WSG) then thats fine by me, and I won't have a second thought about what my pug compadres think about that. If you actually think WSG is fun you run it in a premade anyway, so everybodys happy either way.

(Playing WoW drunk is a nasty habit that may need to be adressed on an IRL level, but that is perhaps food ...or drink... for another thread ;-) )

[Amiral]

...
If you actually think WSG is fun you run it in a premade anyway, so everybodys happy either way.


I actually think WSG is quite fun to do PUG vs PUG; There's always some looser waiting to get owned (especially in the beginning, enterering horde berserker hut, drawing 2 alliance with you, trinket+deathwish=>GG).
The only thing is that it takes so damn long for so little honor, yes I am a loot-whore.

[YuanTi]

Still have'nt answered me moopy!
Wich server are you on? name? class? race?
Pm if you don't want to write it here:)
Can't pm you because you've exeeded your amount of pm's you can have at one time:P
clear out some!

[Corawynn]

I have read most of this and I have a little something to offer especially if you are running with a partner.

My brother is a mage and I am a priest. Granted we have good gear and can survive 3v2 4v2(if their bad) onslaughts. Anyway...back on point. We always keep free action pots for those games that turtle or only fight mid. It makes all the difference in the world and is not expensive.

Rule of thumb for us: 15 minutes and it's operation get the flag across. We can almost always do it tandem with pots and we just beg the other players to do nothing but go after our flag.

To sum it up; if you have never played with free action pots it's a hoot in WSG.

-Cor

[GameyHarp]

I hate wsg with myself, hate it with friends, hate it with friends and a full premade. I have more fun pugging AB than a full wsg premade with friends.

[MammaMu]

Update: I will get my S1 pants today, and needed 6 more WSG marks last evening for the purpose. So...

The first game: A fast loss, good stuff, 5 marks to go.

The second game: Hmm, I noticed a very high gear level on my teammates. Check homeservers, not a premade. Full buffs pre-start, and after 25 mins of intense communication, on-the-fly-tactics and excellent teamwork we win! And it was fun! Gosh...well, 2 marks to go.

The third game: Not the same players, but once again high gearlevels...and once again it's functioning teamwork and a win! Marks done!

Can it actually be that Warsong Gulch can be fun in a pug these days, or was it just two superflukes?

[YuanTi]

Update: I will get my S1 pants today, and needed 6 more WSG marks last evening for the purpose. So...

The first game: A fast loss, good stuff, 5 marks to go.

The second game: Hmm, I noticed a very high gear level on my teammates. Check homeservers, not a premade. Full buffs pre-start, and after 25 mins of intense communication, on-the-fly-tactics and excellent teamwork we win! And it was fun! Gosh...well, 2 marks to go.

The third game: Not the same players, but once again high gearlevels...and once again it's functioning teamwork and a win! Marks done!

Can it actually be that Warsong Gulch can be fun in a pug these days, or was it just two superflukes?

No,i've noticed the same,the win rate in pugs for allies sem to have gone up after 2.3

[moopy]

Still have'nt answered me moopy!
Wich server are you on? name? class? race?
Pm if you don't want to write it here:)
Can't pm you because you've exeeded your amount of pm's you can have at one time:P
clear out some!

YUANTI!

*cuddle*

How the hell are you, man?

I'm mostly playing this:

http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Alonsus&n=Ezmode

Back on the raid healing tip, though I gotta sort out some times to do arenas too, my dear team mates are way too slack (as am I).

WRT the PMs, I am only allowed to have two PMs for some reason. I tried asking why a few times on forum support and was ignored, ah well- no PMs FTW :)

[xDarkDrifterx]

"Ok, go, score!"
"What? I like ponies!"
"SCORE!"
"What?"
The Alliance flag was dropped by Drunkenidiot.
The Alliance flag was returned by GenericPUGrogue.

This is the funniest thing I've seen you write in some time. :laugh:

[moopy]

Would be funnier if it weren't borderline true :)

[YuanTi]

YUANTI!

*cuddle*

How the hell are you, man?

Good,good,still playing Yuan as my main
(wich is a pain these days since i refuse to give up shadow for pvp)

Got a mage at 70 also and alternates between the two toons depending on my mood:)
Still on shadowsong
(but the server is..painfully full of drama!!)
So i still melt..errr..tickle faces in pvp!!
Sanctuary has folded(twice) and is now left for dead.
All the old sanct pvp people rerolled horde and is now dominating the horde side as the guild "wrath".
Yup,that about sums up the last 2 years!:thumbsup:

[moopy]

Sooo, ever felt like a new server? :)

(No idea how we are for facemelters, or if your gear is up to Black Temple, but it's worth a try)

..and yeah, SS was a dramafest before I bailed back in the days when MCO was in Naxx... *shudder*

[YuanTi]

If i were i would rather just start a new toon:)
My gear..hmm,mostly a combination of tailoring and pvp when i do Pve :P
i guess since i just got the s3 robe i can regem my frozen set finally and make it a pure pve equip!