I'm a PvP noob, not gonna lie...

[fictionwelive]

Hey guys,
I'm on a PvE server, so I haven't spent as much of my time doing BG's as I would like. Right now I am a Scout, and I am hopin to climb the ranks soon, I'm a level 39 Tauren Warrior and I would like to climb up the ranks as much as I can now before I hit 40. Anyways, I've done as much research as I could on the Wow.com site, but I'm a little confused. I see that every BG has a vendor you can get items from as your rep. grows...how do you get rep? Just by doing BG's or is there another way to get rep? There are various Rings and Trinkets available as you gain rep, I think but is this different from gaining Rank?

When I gained my Scout rank I was able to purchase a tabard from the BG Vendor/Master Person in Orgrimmar. The higher you go in rank the more items are available, correct? And once you get higher you can get some pretty good gear, is this gear better than the gear you get in Raid Instances? My buddy said I'll be better off getting PvP gear than getting gear from Raids, specifically because it will be "easier" to get and my PC can't really handle a 40-man raid...well I don't think it can. (AMD 1200, 764 RAM, 128 VGA)

Is PvP gear only for PvP combat, or is it good in PvE as well?

Also, what's the deal with PvP mounts? I know you can get a normal mount when you hit 40, and an epic mount when you hit 60 for like 900 gold. (normal mount is 60% increase, epic is 100%, right?) but what is a PvP mount?

Last question, I promise...."epic" gear is purple items, right? What is with tier .5, 1, etc. Sorry for the overload of questions guys, I'm just about to hit 40ish and this stuff is starting to come into play soon.

[Hateblade]

Originally Posted by fictionwelive

...how do you get rep? Just by doing BG's or is there another way to get rep? There are various Rings and Trinkets available as you gain rep, I think but is this different from gaining Rank?

You do the Battleground that is associated with that vendor. You gain rep by fighting in the BGs, and winning/losing. You will gain more rep for winning, and turning in the Marks of Honor you recieve. You recieve less for losing, but you will still get them over time.

Originally Posted by fictionwelive

When I gained my Scout rank I was able to purchase a tabard from the BG Vendor/Master Person in Orgrimmar. The higher you go in rank the more items are available, correct?

Yep

Originally Posted by fictionwelive

And once you get higher you can get some pretty good gear, is this gear better than the gear you get in Raid Instances? My buddy said I'll be better off getting PvP gear than getting gear from Raids, specifically because it will be "easier" to get

The BEST PvP gear you can possibly get is comparable to most of the items you get in MC. However, you will spend MONTHS and MONTHS PvPing to even have a hope of making the top PvP ranks. If not, you will get gear that is semi-good, but can be easily replaced in the 5-15 man instances. (BRD/LBRS/UBRS/STRAT/SCHOLO/DM)

Originally Posted by fictionwelive

Is PvP gear only for PvP combat, or is it good in PvE as well?

It works fairly well for both. Just depends on how far up the PvP ladder you climb.

Originally Posted by fictionwelive

Also, what's the deal with PvP mounts? I know you can get a normal mount when you hit 40, and an epic mount when you hit 60 for like 900 gold. (normal mount is 60% increase, epic is 100%, right?) but what is a PvP mount?

Correct. The PvP mount is purchased by those who have achieved Rank 11 on the PvP ladder. It is a 90g epic mount. Most people PvP to acheive that point only, as it saves a lot of money, and gets you one full set of the PvP gear.

Originally Posted by fictionwelive

Last question, I promise...."epic" gear is purple items, right? What is with tier .5, 1, etc. Sorry for the overload of questions guys, I'm just about to hit 40ish and this stuff is starting to come into play soon.

Epic gear is indeed Purple colored items. There are Epic items that start as low as level 35. All this states is that the item is WAY above par for anything at that level. The "Tiers" are describing Armor and Item sets that combine together to give you stat and armor bonuses. The .5 is the new set coming out with the 1.10 patch. The Tier 1 is your first full set of Epic Armor, which is found in Molten Core. The Tier 2 armor is the best armor "Set" that blizzard has placed in the game. While you can create certain armor combos that will actually out-perform these sets, they are widely regarded as the "best of the best". These items are found in Blackwing Lair, as well as off the end boss of Molten Core, and the dragon Onyxia.

Hope this helped. Keep the questions comin, if you have em.

[DarksideKarma]

You gain rep from doing the Battlegrounds.

For Alterac Valley you can complete quests which yield reputation rewards, on top of that when you win a game you get 3 ribbons and if you lose you only receive one. You can turn those in as well to increase your reputation.

For Warsong Gulch you gain rep each time you cap the flag. If you win a game you receive 3 marks and if you lose you receive one mark.

Arathi Basin you gain rep over time either at a certain amount of resources or just a time period for being in, I'm not 100% sure. If you win you get 3 etc. etc.

Outside each of the home area's there are vendors that will sell you items based on the level of your reputation. They aren't available in the main cities, only outside Arathi Highlands, Alterac Mountains, and the Barrens for Horde.

The higher overal PvP Rank you get the better gear you can obtain. Scout Rank 1 gives you the tabard, Grunt rank 2 gives you Insignia of the Horde which is a trinket that breaks certain effects (differs for each class) Rank 3 I believe gives you an armband and rank 4 gives you a cloak. At either rank 5 or rank 6 you can get into the officer barracks which will start to yield the set armor. Each rank you're able to purchase 2 pieces of the armor. At Rank 11 I think you get the Epic Mount (whatever Leuitenant General is). After this your last 3 ranks yield you Epic Armor and Epic weapons. 12 and 13 give you 3 armor pieces each and rank 14 gives you every weapon possible.

The PvP gear you can get easier the raid gear is the earlier rank sets which are only blue items and are not as good as the epic drops from MC/BWL/AQ40. The PvP rewards are made for PvPing and give bonuses to stats that are needed for PvP. It can be used in PvE because of the high stamina but you'll eventually replace them for your tier 1/2 and AQ sets.

Timewise, hitting rank 14 is a huge timesink and you'll be better off in an already established raiding guild. If you're starting you own raiding group and have never been to Molten Core before it's going to be similar. The only difference is that for PvP you have to be the highest ranking player for that last rank for a couple weeks. You have to play more then anybody else and get more honor then them. Where as in PvE you can go two weeks and see 16 set pieces drop and have a good chance of getting geared up in half the time. PVE = luck based for drops while PvP = time based.

[fictionwelive]

Ok, so Rep gets you the stuff from the Vendors located outside the BG's, and Honor gets you special items. I get the trinket when I hit grunt, and I see that trinket on almost everyone I inspect.

So what can you get from the vendors for getting rep? I saw a ring or two, but does that take a lot of rep or what? I figured getting really high up in rank would take forever, so I'll probably just end up getting epic gear from the instances and such, but is it worth it to get some of the BG rewards?

Also, my Titan Panel gives me some pretty detailed info. about honor, and it says I'm 18%. Is that 18% towards the next level (Grunt) or 18% to the top rank? I'm assuming the former, but I have no idea.

Any other important BG info I should know in regards to rewards and etc, please let me know. I'm debating whether or not it's worth the time to try to improve my rank, or if I should just hit 40 ASAP.

[DarksideKarma]

I'd concentrate on hitting 60th first since the higher level you are the more honor you gain. Atleast get rank 2 though since it's going to help especially if you're ever in a PvP situation outside of the Battlegrounds. Blizzard's main page has the rewards for each battleground and what reputation you need in order to get it. It's at www.worldofwarcraft.com

[McCready]

If you reach Rank 11 and get your "PvP" epic mount, and then slack off from PvP for awhile will you lose that epic mount?

McCready

[DarksideKarma]

No, once you've reached a certain rank you can use the items even if you drop to Rank 1.