Of all the Crazy Half witted, Hair Brained Ideas.....

OR....Where Mhorgrim gets to find out what pvp is like as a tank......

 Over the last week I've been working on my tank, Mhorgrim. I hit 78 yesterday and donned my Savage Saronite set, only to realize it was meant for PvP. But wait, a crazy hair brained, idiot idea hit me like a ton of griffon droppings; lets try to go onto the BG's as a tank spec! I had never done this before and I figured the armor set is perfect for it even if I have crap for weapons. Besides, I reasoned, I need honor points for BOA Gear and stuff. So, I went into a couple of randoms before bed. Arathi called me to service like a sweet siren to a sailor. There I went thinking I had some decent things to offer....BWAHAHAHAAHAHAHAH!!!!!! Not so much. Even at 78 I was struggling. But the good thing was, I noticed on our Battle Group makeup, the priests really did keep me alive. The fighting was intense. the first battle was a non stop fight up around the Lumber Mill. My Horde opponents as noble as they were and as hard hitting with their uber pvp earned gear could only stalemate us up on that lonely ridge. In the meantime our other units were speeding around taking ground then loosing it. I am learning there are uses for a tank in BGs but so far I am still figuring out how to get more killing blows. I am seeing that Horde wanted me dead first every round. Good thing my Healers were on point. One final fight at the Lumbermill lasted close to 1 minute of trading blows between an arms spec warrior and myself, both sides had a healer. It was an epic duel though and I had a blast as we went back and forth on each other. I never popped so many cool downs in any instance I had ever been in so fast. It was a mad minute of jumping, stunning, throwing weapons, sundering armor, maneuvering around etc. Finally the mighty Tauren warrior fell. I am guessing it had to do with either mana on the other healer or a mistimed heal. I can't be sure which at this point, as I was as exhausted mentally as a real warrior would be physically. By that time reinforcements had arrived and the Horde healer decided best to retreat back to his farm. We won that battle with hard fighting, controlling at least 4 nodes at once during the fight. The Horde came back swinging hard though and they were no slouches. In the end I believe it was 1600 to 1400 in resources held.

The second battle, also epic in nature was lost to us. Soundly beaten by 1600 - 1200. Not a happy ending. I noticed how critical it is to have more than one healer in your crew. Many times I think we would have done allot better had we just a few extra heals. The Alliance at this level in our Battle Group have figured out road fights are stupid so avoid them. This is a good thing.

In all, Mhorgrim didn't do well killing people but he did a helluva job making sure his crew was protected as long as possible. This often made the difference in holding or keeping an area secure. So, there is my epic fun.

But why write about it? I mean, I did what I did and though it wasn't exactly a faceroll to the other side, it was still fun. Oh Yeah! IT WAS FUN! See I change the pace up. I switch between things so nothing gets stale. If you find yourself feeling that the game is stale, try something new. Get outside your comfort zone of what you do well and work on the things you don't do well. You may not ever get perfect at everything but it will without a doubt be an interesting journey. So tonight I might do more pvp till I hit 80 before I roll out to level again. I get the best of all worlds. Have a great day in Azeroth everyone!

From the War Front

First and foremost, to those who dropped a line wishing my wife well, thank you very much. I'm glad there are community members who are so thoughtful. She is doing much better. Fever is gone, just still got some cold symptoms. She ought to be out and in fighting shape in a day or two. Again, my thanks out there for the support, specially from Saz and Cynwise!

Ok, so that being said, I usually start my evenings during the week out with some low level pvp battlegrounds. Our server that we are on (Tanaris) is PvE so I don't really get to enjoy open world pvp as much as I sometimes like. Nevertheless, I make a valiant effort at least 3 to 4 times a week on my low level pvp character Damios. Damios, for the record, is an up and coming feral druid...kitty yup you figured that one out. Bears don't do much for me and I ain't into Boomkin or Tree. Nope, crazy katz all da way. Now, I raised hims trictly on what I could make for him, what he could buy within reason and obtain through honor points. Needless to say, pretty outclassed in the initial phases when other lowbies walk in with BOA gear. It's ok, I don't mind because when they do go down...heh it was da lowly kitty in greens and a couple of pvp blues. Nothing too spectacular by the way but fun none the less. from 12-14..it was both exciting and many times painful. I have learned, Mondays are NOT the day to do BG's on Tanaris. It hurts...bad. BUT, one particular shining moment during that phase was to get the achievement for returning the flag in less than 70 seconds. That was awesome, had a great PuG team that evening. Very rare, but I had 2 of the three flag carries that fight so it was pretty awesome.

Then, off to the pain. Look at least in our battle groups, the Horde have a standing policy of not fighting mid unless provoked in the initial push. It's a rush to the other side, zerg at its best. But be damned if 2-3 of our team members don't peel after and give chase. They die...because they are alone. Everyone else is either waiting in the base or trying to get to the Enemy Base. This of course weakens our Offense in a nasty way. So...I try to ask them please stay out of the mid unless they are escorting flag back from a stealth run. Never works, they rez, charge right to the middle...and die again. Frustrating is an understatement. Understand, I have figured out there are times when this is a smart thing to do. But the majority of the time when I have been dealing with the lower levels, it seems as though people have very little situational awareness in pUGs. I know, join a PvP guild. Not gonna happen on this server. I have a loyalty to the Beerfest Clan and until they disband, I'm around. So I have to settle for PUGs. Cynwise in her archives explained pretty clearly that the fight must always be at the flag. Kinda makes sense. Oh well. I take what I can.

Now, sometimes, Tuesday nights are wicked awesome for the Battle Grounds for Tanaris. Guess we will see tonight eh? At any rate, I still have a lot of fun. When I hit LV 20 with Damios, I will fast level him to lv 23 then park him into the battle grounds till he hits 25. Honor is slowly rising. I'm also interested in getting the Justicar Title. So I've  along ways to go, but that's ok. I don't mind. Anyways, this isn't a how to manual guys. It's just the observations from the field as the fight goes on. Best of luck to you all out there!