Ganks...

I have started this topic for two reasons. One, out of mild boredom. Two, out of guilt for my actions.

 

I am a level 34 hunter. This, of course, puts me in the middle of the pack...good...but not able to hold my own against all odds yet. I have found myself in contested territory since I was probably level 18...perhaps less. In between, I have gained 16 levels...and been "ganked" by level 60 horde players (and one really annoying 43 mage) more times than I can probably count. Most of these have occured several times in a row by the same individual. Some of the culprits are famous on the server, and to the FP, for their ludicrous actions of going around and killing off characters 30 or more levels below them for some unknown reason other than they seem to get some strange satisfaction from it.

 

I am a person of fairness. I believe that, at the very least, a battle between Horde players and Alliance players should be balanced by levels. 20's versus 20's, 40's versus 40's, and so on. This is why I love the battlegrounds system of PvP. It is balanced and just. However, outside of the battlegrounds are massacres. One level 60 character alone can devastate a small army of characters who are in my level range..and that's not factoring in if they have Epic armor on. What is worse is having to go to Horde territory, where a player such as myself can only hope to defend himself, and cannot launch a first offensive. Something I have learned from role-playing games throughout the years...the first hit makes all the difference in most battles. The PvP system in World of Warcraft is definitely not perfect. At least we get some consolation that we cannot be looted or lose experience, like in Everquest and Final Fantasy 11, respectively.

 

Recently, I found myself helping a friend and fellow FP member with a quest. I will not name this person. I am not here to point fingers and call names, simply to voice my opinions and ideas. We were in contested territory, along with a few Horde members who were lower level than we were. This person had asked me once to "gank" a level 18 undead character who managed to get in a final blow when they were attacked by 4 level 40 Horde guards, then taunted them afterwards. I naturally refused, and they seemed quite annoyed by it. Well, I was hunting down one certain mob that seemed to be quite rare that this person needed to kill to complete their quest. Along the way and alone, I came across a chest. My backpack was full, so I tried emptying some things out to grab the loot. In the same area as me was what I had originally believed to be a level 31 mage. This, in fact, turned out to be a level 25 priest. The priest grabbed the loot before I could, which did not bother me. Then it made the mistake of trying to attack me...with my pet out and set on defensive. The priest ran like a bat out of Hades as soon as my wolf came charging forward. I told my party member about the incident, to which they replied, "Did you lay the beatdown?" I said that I did not, for I called my pet off of the priest as soon as it aggrod two mobs running away.

 

This seemed to, as best as I can describe it, nearly infuriate my party member. We went into a heated discussion about why they thought I should have finished what they started, and why I felt it was necessary to call the fight off. I saw no sense in killing a character 9 levels lower than me who was also being attacked by two other things. The attack they did hardly did any damage to speak of to begin with. This conversation continued to go into how I was soft and submissive and did not understand that in a PvP server, if someone attacks you, you destroy them. This went on for quite some time, until I decided to make a choice I would later regret.

 

I found that exact same level 25 priest, who this time was in the middle of being attacked by 3 mobs and at about 50% health and little mana...and did the following, while I was telling my party member that if they wanted me to get mean and nasty, I could show them mean and nasty. Sick pet, concussion shot, auto shot a few times, serpent sting, intimidation(after their shield ran dry and they had healed slightly), and ran in with two axes blazing. Swing, swing, raptor strike, swing...and dead. All this time, I was being attacked simultaneously by a level 25 rogue. In my fury, he or she would have felt my wrath as well, if they had not stealthed out before my pet could hit them. In all, from 2 characters, I suffered an asstonishing...400 hit points of damage. No potions used. That was all they could do. Most of my armor is comprised of blues, and I am sure they are severely lacking in that department. It was a completely one-sided fight...and it was exactly the same thing that nearly every Horde player I have run accross has done to me. Complete and utter annihilation. I mockingly gloated to my teammate about my accomplishment of killing a player 9 levels below me, and how I should probably be crowned a champion among champions. I got absolutely no satisfaction out of my actions. During my ordeal, the priest spoke something. If I could translate Horde language, it would have probably been something along the lines of "Why are you attacking me?" or "What did I do?". This was an endeavor I hope never to encounter again in my time playing World of Warcraft. It was calous and vile and cruel.

 

We should all remember that behind every dwarf and night elf, orc and tauren, is a person. A person playing a game to have fun. Though some of those people have a very warped sense of the word, it should never encourage us to pass the torch on and demonstrate the same actions that we dreaded so much when we were lower levels. I am a level 34 hunter. And from this day onward, I vow never aggain to kill a PC who is any less than 4 levels below me, unless I deem it justified. I will keep this promise to myself and my fellow World of Warcraft players far after I have attained the maximum levels provided to me, no matter what they are. We are not pixels in a game...we are flesh and bone human beings all who have feelings and desires, wants and goals. My only regret is that it took one level 25 Horde priest for me to finally realize this. If I couold ever approach that person and appologize, I would gladly do so.

 

I do not expect any replies to this post. I will probably never even check to see if there are. I am sure that most feedback I may recieve will be negative. I am unconcerned. I merely felt the need to voice my opinion, mostly to help place my own conscience at ease. That is all I have to say.

Intense.

In all fairness we're on a PVP server :\ But I can respect what you're talking about its pretty stacked to gank someone that much lower than you, but just remember some day that 40 will grow into a 60 that might not return the kinda jesture

I usually follow that code, I don't gank people unless I have a good reason to.

It doesn't provide any sort of entertainment for me to kill someone 30 levels lower then me.

 

Especially since I can to go BGs and gank people same level but way lower geared than me! THAT'S entertainment!

I can't say it's not fun one shotting a lvl 20 with an arcane laser... I mean... really... who HASN'T? But, I don't really gank lower levels unless they get cocky or they're corpse camping one of my alts. Then it's try to kill them until Vanin shows up and does it for me.

If you had started to level your character in Hillsbrad when the Honor Patch came out you might have a VERY different view on PvP. I still have nightmares about those days. Damn yeti cave.

Valdez speaks the truth. If you were lvling before BG's and the like, you have a certain bitterness about any horde you see running around. I'm not saying a run around doing wholesale ganking / camping, but I do have some fun at lowbies expense. Usually I'll root em, shoot a few lasers at em and see what they do... if they dance or do something that makes em smile, they get a get-out-of-jail-free card. However, if some n00b taunts me, or thinks it cool to take a whack at my purply armor, they are gonna get destroyed with no mercy.

If it doesnt hit me It gets mercy.

 

If it tries go kill me while I am afk/already fighting. It is getting camped

Yea... I uh... I gank horde of all levels, and I do it like if I keep doing it I am gonna win something

 

 

Leveling on this PVP server, both prior to the honor patch, and with alts afterwards, I have been dessimated beyond belief. I return the favor, and I enjoy it. However, I do not camp. 1 or 2 times at most is what goes down.

 

My favorite game: Protect the Peasants. I go to the Hillsbrad Fields, and I simply wait by our NPCs. The horde have quests to slay farmers, farmhands, etc. It is my duty as a member of the Alliance, and as a Paladin, to prevent that. If this duty involves killing level 22's, and it does, so be it.

 

 

Edit: This also goes for alliance lowbies. In particularly contested areas (Hillsbrad), the alliance ganks horde, so they bring out higher levels to fight 'em off. The alliance then gets pounded, and I have to help.

 

 

Case in point: I see horde, I attack it, regardless of level, regardless of number. I am that crazy guy who will run into a mob of horde while the others run away Unless I have a VERY good reason to do otherwise, all horde are Kill On Sight.

I generally leave them alone just because it's too much effort to make someone's life a pain...

If your red your dead.

 

Now if you take your death like a champ... often times I will buff the horde when they come back and rez. If you spit on me or emoted something rude you can count on dieing a few more times. (It's a PvP server. It is like a time honored hazing and expected that you are gonna die on a PvP server as you level up. ESPECIALLY ON SKULLCRUSHER)

 

But let's face it. They are nice right now because they can not kill you. You can disagree but I am 99% sure that if they were same level or higher and had an advantage you would be going back to your corpse.

 

I gank any and all for a few reasons. One is they plan on being 60 and that is someone who will be fighting me. After millions of deaths in STV before BG's were even a thought!!!! They got some pay back coming from me

 

Then let's face it. Each horde I kill is delayed just that much longer from making 60 and adding to the ranks of horde to fight the alliance

 

And last but not least.... for some reason one of my most favorite activities lately is to piss off the horde to the point the log off their alt (Once again delaying their progress) and them logging on their main to come fight me... and thus they die... and now they are delayed and dead. That is priceless.

 

Often times you would be very surprised where I find horde. What was the last quest you saw in Raven Hill for a Horde? They are their to kill alliance and that is all. I frequent Raven Hill.

 

Hillsbrad? Many innocents are killed nightly and I assure you Bramas and I and sometimes others from FP take that zone and return it to the Alliance so they are safe to level again (At least until we log off)

 

But my home away from home. My town.... in which I do call town meetings. Freewind Post.... currently being petitioned to be renamed Bentleyville. Yes every now and then I get that frustration from having to defend alliance areas so I go take over thousand needles and run east to west... north to south for hours on end killing any and all.... Freewind post is not safe as I can run into the town and kill 4 or 5 horde and levitate off the bridge safely before coming back up to finish off anything I might have missed. (If you make me spend countless hours defending alliance you can bet your bottom dollar I will make someone do the same for the horde or I will delay the hell out of your leveling as a horde)

 

Sorry but if you think ganking is out of control now.... imagine all those pissed off horde complaining about ques raiding Southshore nightly.... STV being the BG of the server because everyone died in STV. No I feel no remorse. I kill horde everychance I get. But if you die with honor I will leave you in peace and often buff you for your time in which you brightened my day.

 

P.S. I am "Just a Priest" What harm is some lil healing wanna be? *Shrug*