Breakfast Club: The art of ganking
by David Nelson 
Dec 21st 2006 at 9:30AM
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This week we are reviewing some of the more interesting Breakfast Topics of 2006. And what roundup of Breakfast Topics would be complete without discussing everyone's favorite WoW activity: ganking! Last October I posed the question...carebear or ruthless ganker? I learned several things from the comments:- First off, just because you frown on ganking and corpse camping doesn't mean you are a carebear. However, if you really enjoy ganking and corpse camping, it is probably safe to say that you are ruthless.
- Quite a few folks really, really enjoy the ganking aspect of a PvP server. Both on the giving and receiving end. I can see this point completely. I enjoy ganking the occasional Night Elf, and I enjoy leveling in contested areas knowing something very bad could happen at any point.
- Vlad put it best when he said "hey, it happened to me so I'm going to make sure it happens to everyone." That might be the truest statement ever made in regards to PvP servers. I got relentlessly ganked by 60s during my 30s. So when I hit 60? I killed everything I could. Heck, one of those 34s I am ganking might be the alt of one of the 60s who caused me so much grief in the Hinterlands way back when. I never camped, but every gnome on my server was killed on sight.
- And lastly, some wise words from Roseroyce04: "Do not EVER gank (cross faction duels don't count) someone unless you're confident you're going to win. Because if you fail, you will suffer." How true is that? If you attempt to gank someone while they are at half health and engaged with a mob, and you fail? Um...prepare to be camped my friend.
Have any new insight or thoughts on any of these topics? If so, please share!
Filed under: PvP, Breakfast Topics, Features
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Toeroe Dec 21st 2006 10:25AM
I usually just quest and hope to avoid PvP while questing. Sometimes you run across other Horde/Ally who also just want to be left alone. But its unfortunate when things get misinterpreted.
Yesterday I was on my shaman and farming for leather in a cave. I was trying to get to the back of the cave and work forward. I moved to walk past a shadow priest and they took that as an attack and tried to gank me. Well they potted and i still wound up winning. I didnt camp, but he came after me 3 times in a row before finally ganking me while I was farming.
Sep Dec 21st 2006 11:01AM
Last night actually.. I was in the charred area near stone talon mountain. Everything was going good until I saw a horde warlock. Being 5 lvls lower then me at the time (i was a 31 druid he was 26) I thought i could take him. He kept cursing me and i never got within attack distance. The only reason he killed me was because i was cursed into a pack of harpies. I was quite embarrased..
Later on in the same area. Me and my lvl 31 friend who joined me saw that warlock. He was fighting another alliance druid using the same tactics. So me and my friend went after him. After many curses we finally took him down. It regained some of my self esteem but I was still upset.
30mins later a horde hunter lvl 27 and another lvl 29 were running quests in there. We killed them ONLY after they attacked us. So we ran around the area trying to find items. And we kept ending up being right over them when they respawned. We had no intention to keep killing them... just coincidence.
The last one i got happened last week...
Over vent i told my friend "theirs a horde fishing on the bridge (redridge contested area). Every other alliance was not bugging him.. they were either his lvl or lower. My friend and I were 2-4 lvls above the horde. So my friend runs over and starts attacking him. He starts mass spamming plead and beg emotes but my friend doesn't start. Then like mice coming out of the woodworks all the low lvl alliance come over and "help" my friend. It definitely wasn't needed but I always laugh when i remember that scene :p
AcidCat Dec 21st 2006 11:17AM
I do understand the excitement that open PvP adds - my first two 60's were on PvP servers. But I've found that the excitement too easily turns to frustration, and the bottom line is that on a PvP server, you allow other players to randomly waste your time.
Now if you're a player with unlimited time, well, no big deal. When you're playtime is limited, the little annoyances and wasted time when another player interferes with your questing begins to add up.
My latest characters have been on PvE servers and I find it a much more relaxing experience. And I think that's what a lot of this preference comes down to: do you look to WoW as a relaxing pasttime, or an exciting one? A person who looks more for thrills and excitement in their game would be more at home on a PvP server. Those looking to relax after a long day of work, dealing with a wife and kids ... a PvP server for them can be just another frustration instead of the relaxation they're after.
Bunkai Dec 21st 2006 11:40AM
I'm far from a corpse camper, but my general philosophy is:
"If it's red, it's dead."
Merry Christmas.
Apocolipto Dec 21st 2006 11:37AM
Well, While leveling in the barrens around lvl 23 Me a Warrior and my Hunter friend "same level" came across a lvl 30 NE hunter, we let him be untill he sent his pet in and then the fun started. I used charge and hamstring to slow his roll then threw out the normal Rend, heroic strike and so on. My friend killed his pet and hit him with a Aimed shot to finish the deal. We happend across him 3 more times in that area, he died again and again.
Later on we went to Zoram strand to do some BFD with a added Shaman friend of ours and Once again There was the hunter... So just for shits n giggles I attacked first And Leveled him I just thought it was funny that we ran all the way across the world and there he was again and he still got killed.
Profit Dec 21st 2006 11:46AM
A couple of nights ago, I being a 57 Hunter, was working on completing the 'Are we there, Yeti?' quest when while I was fighting a mob I see giant red letters appear right behind me (thank god for those HUGE names that sometime appears)...
I spun my camera around while continueing the fight and see a 60 Shaman start a windup of a spell... I hurried up and set my pet on him, intimidated, Beastial Wrath and feigned death before the spell got off...
I managed to kill him and then finished of the Yeti I was fighting as well. Sat down and received a PM from another alliance who asked if the Shaman was still around. Come to find out this Shaman was corpse camping the other alliance guy for nearly an hour.
We teamed up and killed the Shaman three more times before he finially rezzed at the Graveyard...
I used to be the type of player who would /wave to a horde and let them go on their way but have experienced way to many times where they 'go away' and sneak back to nail you while you are fighting a mob or sitting down to drink/eat.
Now if they are Green or higher (Honor for the win) I attack them on site. If not, depends on whether I'm in a hurry. I now have no problem charging into a group of four or more horde as long as I get at least one kill before they get me.
roseroyce04 Dec 21st 2006 12:26PM
yay, i got mentioned
w00t
Daghol Dec 21st 2006 12:33PM
Good ganking story...
Some friends of mine were questing in UnGoro Crater, about 4 of us. We were hunting down a Ravasaur when we see an ally hunter go by. We were more interested in the Ravasaur so we ignored her and we agreed to it in voice chat.
Suddenly, our healer starts attacking her pet boar. He honestly thought she was being chased by a boar and he was helping her... didn't notice the "X's pet" sign. But it was her own fault. She named her pet Boar. She deserved to be ganked.
Oh, ganking is especially fun when you find a bot. I love killing bots.
Krianna Dec 21st 2006 10:28PM
Best ganking story is very short: a red rogue tried to gank my mage in the middle of a fight.
I killed him. (Do not run away from a frost mage.)'
Still gloating.
He ended up calling two 60s down on me because he tried to attack me right after rezing. (Not camping, just in the area-- fishing, actually.)
Slant Dec 22nd 2006 3:31AM
I had this sweet little nightelf hunter leveleing in stranglethorn, when a Level 60 came to Gank and corpsecamp me. I had the patiences to endure this for some time, but when it did not stop I decided to bring my PvP specced Main and corpsecamped him, so he knows what it feels like.
Generally I do not like corpsecamping, but I enjoy revenge a lot. If someone is unfair I forget all about ethics and am 10 times more unfair back ;-)
in the above example it meant that I followed the guy everywhere. I killed him in STV, in Grom'Gol (when he started not daring to exit there), also the spirit healer did not save him, neither did other regions, since I killed him in Eastern Plaguelands, in Silithus, in Winterspring, even in Orgrimmar. Even with help of other 60's I always managed to kill him.
I followed this guy 5 hours and killed him at least 50 times ;-) Always when I wanted to stop he kept ganking greys so I figured he did not really "the lessons" and camped him some more.
Generally I am not like that, but if someone is particular annyoing then I need revenge.
Manu Dec 22nd 2006 5:11AM
I'm the /hi-to-enemy-faction kind of guy if there's too much difference between our levels. Sometimes I get mercy from ??'s(I'm in my early 40's with my main), and usually the lowbies /thank it if they're alone.
I was even rescued by a Tauren shaman in Badlands last week. I saw him, got scared, ran away pulling aggro on every piece of mob around. He was kind enough to kill the mobs, and sit with me. We emoted for a while, then we went on our merry ways. Very cool from him.
andy Dec 22nd 2006 7:55AM
well, tbh when i was questing in stv way back when i was absolutely enraged by corpse campers.
these days as a lvl 59 warlock, even 60's are given a good fight if they attempt to sneak up behind me.
roseroyce04 Dec 22nd 2006 10:29AM
I've got lots of nice little anti ganking stories. All long, convoluted, entertaining. But they're too long to just type out so I'll abbreviate my favorite highlights. I won (or was on the winning team) in all of the following fights.
3 vs 7 - 53Priest(me), 57Paladin, 58Mage defeated 59Mage, 56 Priest, 58 Warrior, 59 Rogue, 57 Rogue, 60 Mage, 60 Shaman in between Tirisfal and Western Plaguelands. We engaged.
1 vs 4 - 39 Warrior(me) vs 36 hunter, 37 druid, 33 gnome, 40 hunter in Stranglethorn Vale. The 36 and 37 engaged while I was grinding raptors. I killed them 3 times each, the gnome twice, and the 40 hunter last. Each time they rezzed a new opponent showed up to help.
1 vs 3 - 40 warlock(me) vs 38 rogue, 39 warrior, 37 Priest in Stromgarde Keep. I engaged. I fought all three simultaneously. This was back when soullink cost 400 mana to block 50% damage for 30 seconds. I just turned 40 and got soullink 15 minutes prior to the fight.
1 v 1 - 19 Hunter(me) vs ~40 warrior across Elwynn forest and Redridge Mountains. He was a human. He engaged.
1 v 2 - 33 Paladin(me) vs 32 Warrior and 32 Shaman in Arathi Highlands. They engaged. I used Lay on Hands while kiting them to stop the shaman's killing blow, this turned the battle in my favor (he was short on mana).
Those are just some of my favorite highlights. The friends that play with me have different favorite highlights of ganking with me.
Orcsbane Dec 22nd 2006 5:25PM
If its red, its dead is my way of life on a pvp server. I would only camp someone if they really pissed me off or, if im queued for AV in the South Shore/Tarren Mill area, and i'm just killing time while i wait for it to pop.
I am truly ruthless with my kills and ideas. I am a shadow priest, so if your grey to me and i can't get any honor, I mindcontrol u and make you attack as many mobs/beasts that are around as possible. This is so you will recieve a durability loss as well as die. I have a 60 Dwarf(fear ward) Shadow priest, and a 60 Nelf warrior.
I have 10 of the STV arena trinkets, and hope to get the last 2 when BC comes out and everyone runs to Outland. I bring this up to mention that I am ruthless to my own faction, if an Alliance gives me any hassle for the arena chest, I will camp them at the area and kill them as well(especially rogues/pallidans/nomes)
One of my favorite activities to do while waiting for AV to pop when queueing in SS/Tarren Mill area is when it does pop, I ride into Tarren Mill, dismount right in the middle of town, Shadow word: Pain everyone in sight(if your not 40th lvl or higher and/or can't remove it, you die), and just before the gaurds/50-60 lvl horde can kill me, I click the "enter battle" button to join AV. My gosh that just tickles me silly.
I have found that I am not completely ruthless when it comes to Druids, whether Tauren or Nightelf(STV arena). For some reason I don't kill them any more than nessesary.
I wish that one day down the road Blizz would create a new Faction(Burning Legion) that a certain quest line would allow horde and alliance to become a part of. Then I would be able to lay waste to more nomes, and would be able to team up with some of my horde friends.