Addicted to low level PvPFollow

Maybe I'm a scrub. Or a n00b. I definitely lack PvP skill; the only way I kill enemies usually is by out-gearing or getting the drop on them (if they have any idea how to play).

But man, am I loving low level PvP. For the past two weekends, my friend and I have been running WSG on lowbie characters. It started with just some small pieces of heirloom gear, but now we're getting crafty.

The first time, we ran with a warrior (me) and a disc priest (him). While my warrior had a goodly amount of hp (600 or so at level 14), I was next to worthless compared to his level 11 disc priest. Bubbles were like another life bar, and with some heirlooms, even his attacks were hurting. My warrior could two-shot enemies if I got lucky with crits, but I had no way to close the distance with anyone with a snare (hunters, mages).

We then tried a new composition: he took a hunter and I had a mage (frost). Liked this a LOT more; we led in kills for our team (him by twice of mine, haha). His hunter was even better than my mage, but both were still fun.

This weekend we decided to try Paladins, after seeing a tough-as-nails pally the weekend before. Both went Holy, hit level 10, got some enchants, and queued up. It was... different. Healing was fun, but my heals would only restore 1/4 - 1/3 of my health. In addition, heirloomed attackers could down me even spamming heals on myself. Granted, we were only level 10, but still... Paladins also suffered the same issue my warrior did, with no way to close the gaps. Although I had holy shock and judgment, that's like 140 damage total... and heirloomed players have 500+. Blah.

After every match we usually said "Damn, hunters!" So we're now making hunters, and I'm going all out. Have the heirloom cloak (with 50 armor), chest (with 100 health), daggers (with agility), trinkets for haste, bow (with +2 damage). I'm filling in the rest of the gear with greens if I can find them and enchants no matter what. Trying to decide between 7 stamina on boots of run speed; we'll see (stamina is MUCH cheaper). Don't have the guild rep for helmets yet, unfortunately. I'm also leveling through mining, so I'll get the +3 stamina boost at 75 skill. And I just took a trip to Old Hillsbrad to get Rumsey Rum Black Label for +15 stamina boosts. They wear off with death, but as they're only like 2 silver each... w00t

Anyway, all this planning actually has me excited to play again. Yes, twinking is "cheap" and "takes away the skill"; but it's also a blast. Wading into a fight and being able to hold your own is an amazing feeling that I never really got at 85. And even better? Being with a friend on Skype the entire time! Cheers!

Played WSG three times last night, and all three times we won. I had under 3 deaths each game (in two I only died once; actually had my Rum wear off!), and I was always within the top 5 for kills. One game we just farmed kills at their graveyard... that felt dirty. But after two matches I had almost 200 HKs, so... whatever In every match I was either second or third for highest HP on our team (780ish or so, buffed). My friend had about 10 more than me, but oh well...

Anyway, such a blast. We've got some gear already made up for the next couple of levels. Only thing I'm really missing is a +9 bracer enchant, whose recipe is a rare world drop. Boo... but anyway, having an awesome time. We're both Survival, but I'm debating Marksman. Amazing Aimed Shot crits that cost 2.5 seconds... hmmm... not sure if that beats an instant-cast Explosive Shot on a 6 second cooldown.

We're doing that right now, actually. We haven't turned off experience (although we might for dungeon runs at level 15), so everything from after level 10 is through PvP. Right now we're using two hunters, as said. Later on we might try our Paladins again, or perhaps his disc priest.

The only class dangerous to us in the last match was a disc priest. Their shields, combined with dots and regular attacks, meant they could whittle us down while we hardly touch their mana. Everything else was no contest (although warlocks, mages, and hunters managed some pain if we didn't catch them quickly).

Lowbie PvP is definitely owned by the heirloom crowd - when my shadow priest in full heirloom was doing i, it was obscene, even when facing off against those @#$% hunter heirloom bows.

On the other hand, my heirloomless healadin in nothing but quest and self crafted gear, well, gang rape is just too mild a word to describe the average BG experience at under 40 for it.

That said though, while heirloom gear has pretty much undone all of the anti-twink gains made for lower level BGs there is a plus side and that's that the baby BGs are now flooded with players, reducing what had been 30m queues for my pre-heirloom geared BG toon to near instant queues now adays.

Is it worth it to go for that over Explosive Shot? I guess I just love instant shots...

It can 1 shot people until level 20. Arcane Shot is still there for an instant.

My hunter is level 30, maybe 31, I seriously debating deleting him to start over as the 10-29 BG grind is awesome with a hunter in full heirlooms.

Is this what you're talking about?

So, a bit of an update. Hunter hit 15 with minimal problems... and then it started to hurt. I was the level 10 in the 10-14 bracket again; I was the kid without the nigh-invulnerability once more. Sure, my 1.1k hp wasn't bad. But neither was 600 hp in the 10-14 bracket*. The only edge I had over my enemies was my RL friend on Vent. Together we were a whirlwind of damage. Alone, we were like my 10-14 rogue... go in, kill one "easy target" and get completely decimated by the Horde. Surgical strikes became our specialty. "Hey look!" I might say, "A 500 hp warrior. Isn't that cute?... BAM! DEAD!" And then two rogues would Ambush me, while my friend tried to ward them off. My ratios went from 32 kills and 0 deaths to 24 kills, 12 deaths. It... hurt. A lot. I'm still recovering from the trauma... I ran DM 5 times trying to get the old and amazing level 15 defias gear (no luck; 3% drop rate on two enemies in the entire instance doesn't help). Next step is to halt my exp and run three things - shadowfang, deadmines, and some Duskwood quests (particularly the Embalmer quests). While my amazing level 14 gear may not lend itself to PvP, it suits PvE just fine. 6 level difference? Just a bit more kiting. Need additional help? Call in guild reinforcements.

My rogue is another story. Stuck at 11, his PvP record stands at around 8 losses, 1 win. And not for lack of trying! Every game I end up just barely second to the hunters (or mages. Damn mages). One target, one kill. My rogue can Shadowstep in (30% extra damage), ambush (10% more, due to my tree and Master of Subtlety), and then run like hell. I've been called on it. One battle I was called a "f*cking bullsh*t n00b," and not just by the person I abandoned as 4 Hordies ran in. I didn't care... too much. I reported the guy for swearing (the conversation was in whispers, but I transcribed it to general so everyone knew), but having the best ratios AND being called a n00b? Ok, granted, I'm not amazing at PvP. On my hunter I forget Disengage from time to time. On my rogue I pick targets poorly and die for it. Gear is the deciding factor at low levels. It's how, in my first and only AB, I defended a flag against 3 attackers at once. I could have all the skill in the world, but those 850 hp served me better. Still, I question my Rogue choices. Right now I'm subtlety. At level 11 this gives me 10% increased movement speed in stealth... often the only way besides shadowstep to close the gap with enemies. Still, part of me wonders if I wouldn't do better with Imp Ambush (at this level, 40% increased chance to crit and 10% more damage). But perhaps assinsation or combat would be better. At 12 I get recuperate, and 2 points in combat would boost the healing by 1% per tick and reduce damage by 6%. Assassination would give Mutilate - an amazing upshot to SS (for twice the energy cost). And in the next tier, I would get Quickening, increasing not only stealth speed but all speed. That might be great in 15-19!

But for now, 10-14 remains a battle. A tough battle. Any healing class with heirlooms is my bane. I have two heirloom daggers; +15 agility on each. Every time I fight I wonder if I might not be better wiht my heirloom swords (outside of assassination, which I do not have currently as my spec). Higher damage means higher SS and Amubushes. But the daggers... so specifically rogue! Ah well. Any advice on lowbie rogue specs? Subtlety is great... for picking combat. And then you unstealth and get into it. And you die. A lot.

*Edit: My friend and I divided opponents into groupings in 10-14. 400 and under was "bad," around 600 was "average" and 800+ was exceptional.

Edited, Jun 13th 2011 9:34am by LockeColeMA

Go frost and spec shatter, keybind your pets freeze spell to your middle mouse button so you can hover, as you are casting frost-bolt freeze the target. I read this and tried it from pwniversity's guide on mages. and they were totally right on the money. I usually one shot everything.

Edited, Aug 3rd 2011 4:21pm by pwntastica

Someone should start up a lvl 14 thread. I am still pretty new at this.

Edited, Aug 3rd 2011 4:30pm by pwntastica