Bears, flags and cross-server queue times
by Jennie Lees 
Aug 30th 2006 at 10:00AM
"This PvP thing is quite fun," thought I, several weeks ago.Time passed. Lured on by cheap combat potions, armour and (of course) glory, I've been spending plenty of time attempting to kill Horde recently. I thoroughly enjoy the niche my druid has found in PvP, and have worked hard to become a better player. By slowly but steadily ranking up, the addictive microreward cycle has worked its magic on me, and what began as an experiment to see how far I could get PvPing when I had the time has become something more permanent.
Of course, such idyllic stories end in tears; the Drums of War have arrived in Azeroth, bringing with them shortened battleground queues. Previously, it was a case of occasional PvP games (usually short losses to elite teams) fitting nicely in amongst work breaks -- a little light relief from a heavy burden. However, now the queues are almost eliminated, and the games are much longer, I can't multitask any more.
All is not lost, however. Despite the joy of being a flag-carrying bear, sometimes it's fun to just get out there and burn faces. My mage alt is old enough to go into AV, and firing pyroblasts with reckless disregard for rank or reputation is a different -- and utterly refreshing -- kind of game.
Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, PvP
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mordiceius Aug 30th 2006 11:50AM
Hahaha the same cannot be said for the Alliance on Bleeding Hollow (thank god I'm horde). Before, they'd have about a 10 minute queue for WSG, a 15 minute queue for AB and about an hour queue for AV. Now they're facing a 15-20 minute queue for WSG, a 20-30 minute queue for AB and about a 1-2 hour queue for AV. The problem is, now they almost always lose (except for AV). The Alliance is used to always rolling the Horde on Bleeding Hollow because they outgeared us so much, now they're constantly getting rolled by the horde in WSG and AB and able to beat back the horde in AV alone.
jennie Aug 30th 2006 10:39AM
Looks like it's changed for the better (or worse) for most servers. For me, a 4.5 hour AB queue has become 15 minutes; a 40-60 minute WSG queue has become 15-90 minutes, and a 4 hour AV queue has become 1.5 hours. As for the shock of being ousted from a comfort zone of always-winning (or always-losing), that's almost a welcome relief to me -- except the increased playtime that comes from 40-minute rather than 10-minute gulches :)
James Aug 30th 2006 11:24AM
Haha, every queue time for my server (Kalecgos) is less than 5 minutes. No joke. The only problem, i had 60,000 honor last week, and moved up 1% from 65% to 66% in Stone Guard. I don't know how I will get to Blood Guard this way...
Swiftlydead Aug 30th 2006 11:24AM
Seeing as how the Alliance has been widely accepted as EZMode raiding compared to Horde, I thoroughly enjoy being the underdog, but still cutting through alliance folk like a hot knife through butter. My guild is the Big Tymers on Azjol-Nerub, and on our guild forums, a frequent alliance-side PvPer claimed that "the Alliance is nothing but trash mobs to the Big Tymers."
That's what keeps me PvPing. A smug sense of satisfaction.
Jackall Aug 30th 2006 12:03PM
Mordiceius, interesting assertion.
Veronica Aug 30th 2006 12:32PM
I've also decided to start working harder in PvP, mostly in WSG. Last weekend I played almost non-stop, and for the second time in my playing history had the most kills for the hour-long match! 129, w00t!
and whoa... over an hour in WSG has an effect on your brain. I think I dreamed about it that night!
Dr. Woo Aug 30th 2006 2:29PM
The WSGs that last an hour plus give me nightmares. I wouldn't call those "dreams."
It's nice to be able to win in BGs now. After three AQ-level (and beyond) Alliance guilds transferred onto my server within the span of a month, PVP on the server was unceremoniously snuffed out. When the highest-progress Horde guild is on Razorgore and you have warriors with Dreadnought transferring over to Alliance, it's a recipe for absolute decimation in any form of PVP.
And they say they transferred over for "server stability."
Yeah, I'm a little bitter.
RiLLs Aug 31st 2006 4:44AM
I have played about 15 BGs and have yet to win once. In WSG I have never seen the Alliance score and I can't figure out why. It really pisses me off and makes me not want to play BGs anymore.