So feeling nostalgic after my last post, I decided to give Arathi Basin a whirl on my level 46 hunter. AB is arguably my favorite battleground; WSG is a sentimental favorite but it’s in a masochistic sort of way and I’m sort of afraid to go in there now that it’s changed, AV used to have that epic feel but has turned into a zergfest, and EotS… well, we won’t go there.
Turns out the Intimidation + Bestial Wrath combo on a clothie is just as fun as it was years ago, and turns out pouncing on an unsuspecting hunter and Wing Clip + melee’ing him to death while he stands there stunned is still absolutely hilarious.
Gosh I love PvPing as a hunter. Nothing else compares, really. Healing is funnish and a nice change of pace but it’s nothing compared to huntering. I always wonder what people are on about when they say hunters need a buff in PvP– to be fair, I know they’re talking about arenas, and I’m talking about lowbie bracket battlegrounds, and there is a huge difference– but gosh I feel OP, and I luuuurve it. I basically never die, even when taking on groups of people alone. Really the only downfall is that you run out of mana far too quickly, and then regenning mana takes pretty much twice as long. >.>
So yeah, this AB. I went in and we were getting the whole “Not enough players… this BG will end in five minutes” dealy. I looked at the scorechart; Alliance had a full 15 players and us Hordies had five or six or something. I contemplated leaving, anticipating a five-cap stomp, but then said “ya know what, screw it,” and ran off to Lumber Mill.
We took Farm and took Lumber Mill, and for several minutes I was the lone person defending Lumber Mill as everyone else ran off to Blacksmith. This is where I single-handedly took on groups of two or three Alliance who kept trying to come attack me and who all failed miserably. Did I mention I love being a hunter in battlegrounds?
Anyways, we were getting more and more Hordies by the minute and finally fulled out to a full 15 vs. 15 AB. We were on a roll at this point, Alliance had no chance. Like there were a good six of them defending Mines, so we did a two-pronged attack on them, two or three of us attacking from each side, and just nabbed it out from under their nose. By the time we won we had about double the resources that they had. It was hilarious.
Almost as fun as an instance, a nice break from questing, and you get XP. Yay! I love you Arathi Basin.
I’m going to have to try the BGs on my alts now. Especially since there’s XP to be had. I imagine that minus all the twinks who have turned off XP (since they’re grouped into their own BGs now), being a lower than x7, x8, or x9 level player won’t be as ‘intimidating’. lol
And for the record, AB has always been my favorite. I think Torgall still has something like 75 marks from AB just sitting around (that’s after spending 60 total on the black kodo mount and the black raptor mount).
AB is my favourite BG too. I love it! And I have >50% win rate in it. Who says Aliiance sucks on Bloodlust? I found WSG, AB and EoS to be evenly balanced. AV is a totally different story though 🙁
I have always preferred AB because even if all thing went wrong it was still short and if everything went together I could get into another one quickly- I have always loved the simplistic yet strategic feel of it as well. I just tried it last night on my 34 druid and a warsong right after- I loved it-biggest problem was I kept running oom after switching forms too much.
For the Horde! And yeah, AB rocks.
You have to wonder how Ally managed to lose that AB. With a 15 to 6 headstart winning should have been a no-brainer.
Only one person should have hit the Stables, and the BG Leader should have nominated that person. Don’t leave it to chance or 3 or 4 players will all decide they’re the one to take the Stables, and they’ll all rush the Flag, click it, then sit there waiting, because they all care more about getting that one single Cap than they do about winning the match itself.
With just one Ally at the Stables that leaves you three 4-5 player squads to take BS, GM & LM. If Horde divide their forces (which they probably wouldn’t do because Horde players, IMO, are better tacticians) they’ll have two 2-3 player squads, which should be defeated by your squads, allowing Ally to make a 4-Cap and get an early jump. If you’re feeling bold then as soon as each Node is capped leave 1-2 player guarding BS, GM & LM (Stables can be left undefended), then rush Farm for the 5-cap and the win.
But…that didn’t happen, did it? Somehow, a team of a 6 held out against a team of 15 long enough to get reinforcements, turn the tables, and win the match. I’ve played both Ally and Horde and those situations are not uncommon. Ally have very people who know what they’re doing, care more about the Cap than supporting each other, or just throw in the towel almost as soon as the gates have opened. By contrast Horde almost never give up, encourage each other, support each other, and that’s why when Horde are outnumbered 2-1 they can still hold out long enough to do the unthinkable.
BGs on Ally were a chore unless I got into a Premade. I never did Premades on Horde bit I still always had a blast. Even when we lost Horde never rolled over and gave up, which made losing a lot easier to accept.
Just want to drop a quick note to let you know that I smile with glee each time I come to your website and see something new. And that’s ALL THE TIME, now. Thank you for entertaining me 🙂 You rock.
Yay! Welcome back to PvP ms. Pike. I’m Alliance on Bloodlust, so if you’re ever chain feared, seduced and dotted by one Warlock, you know it was done with love.
I love melee’ing other Hunters too, it’s just too funny! =D
I’m going to have to do more BGs on my lowbie Hunters now that they’ve added xp… I heard it was a little low for the time spent, though?
I’m glad you’re a bit more positive about PvP now than yesterdays post!
It’s all very server/battlegroup dependant of course. I haven’t seen much of the abusive idiocy that some people complain about, though I’m sure it’s there, PvP does unfortunately attract some of the more undesirable players.
However, a good nail-biting, edge of the seat, victory from-the-jaws-of-defeat style win is one of the best things in this game – tonight we just won an SoTA with 3 seconds left on the clock for example, crazy stuff!
Word of warning though, if you want to PvP with a hunter at lvl 80 you’ll probably be needing a third hand for all the different buttons you’ll have to press! Also, and it pains me to do it, abandoning BM is pretty much essential for proper PvP – survival & MM just have too much good stuff to pass on there, and the big red ‘i pwn’ button just isn’t available often enough sadly.
You have however reminded me just how much fun it was at lower levels, and so I might actually end up making my first hunter alt just for that, especially as we can level in BGs twink-free now, so I guess your cunning plan to get everyone rolling multiple hunters is succeeding;)
I PvP’d extensively while leveling OC pre-xrealms, but much less so since the Nov 06 honor patch. A lot of the appeal was playing with (and against) folks I knew (in-game, on server), which was almost completely lost once xrealm BGs began. I really don’t PvP much anymore unless I have a few friends with me.
Although there were nights I’d be in Q for AB for hours on end without it popping, or a WSG would be doomed from the start with only 6 ally and little hope of more arriving, I would trade almost every current aspect of WoW PvP today to return to those days.
Hey hey.
Like you website!
The image from AB you postede here, shows a priest as the one that got the most xp. Strange, he’s done no killing blows, least damage and healing. What happened there?
BTW, I’ve played my hunter for a few years now. http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Ravencrest&n=Luckybandit
I find it hard to pvp, even as Survival. I want to switch back to my old Beastmaster, so I can get the soullink to my pet 😉
I play my Destro lock a bit more, it’s 10 times more efficient at kills, the crits are massive. Often no need to fear, just cast one more and target is dead 🙂
I do think I’ll try my LuckyBandit out with Beastmaster again tonight. I saw a 80 hunter doing extremely nice in the new BG, he was BM and I outgeared him.
Cheers
@ Jakob Boyer
the priest probably just followed people around and leeched kills or something. It’s a viable strategy really…at least I think it is… never tried it, too busy smashing faces with my pally, or blowing them up with my hunter.
Hunter vs Hunter melee attacks are by far the most hilarious part of PvP. Most hunters I do this to seem to be very confused the first few times I do it. Then they get the game and a 1 vs 1 brawl ensues in the middle of a BG (WSG is the likely candidate for repeat 1 vs 1 fights, AB being the second most common). More hunters should try this!
Hmm… maybe I should finally go train higher than rank two of Raptor Strike and Mongoose Bite. I am more than ready should a fellow hunter try to melee me. After all, why treat them any different than that rogue or pally? But the thought has never crossed my mind to go after a fellow hunter with a stat stick. I guess it’s not only my alts but Torgall as well with something new to try in BGs. 😛