Twink changes in 2.1.0
by Elizabeth Wachowski 
Apr 20th 2007 at 10:54AM
I never really understood the popularity of the twinking phenomenon. A lowbie character, horribly expensive, never growing or changing but only there to own unsuspecting level 22s venturing to WSG for the first time ... meh. But a lot of people seem to like them, and those people might be upset about some of the undocumented changes in 2.1.0.
According to Xarim on Battleground Forums, several items have been changed to make very low-level twinking more difficult. The Lucky Fishing Hat was a cheap way for level 19 twinks to get 15 stamina, but it now requires level 30 to equip. The herbalism-gathered Nightmare Seeds, which give you a temporary boost of 2000 health, have been changed to be 60+ only. The biggest change for twinks, though, is the fact that the blue leg armor and spellthread leg enhancements can only be placed on items of level 35 or greater, as can shoulder and helm enchants. For some reason, the epic spellthread and leg armor can still be placed on anything. Go figure.
Do you have a 19 or 29 twink? How will these changes affect you? (Thanks to firefly for the tip!)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Elaus Apr 20th 2007 11:05AM
Get your twink gear now? You could possibly get twinking gear with the spellthread and leg armor now and sell it for big bucks after the patch. Economics FTW.
Barod Apr 22nd 2007 6:25PM
On one hand I think it's hilarious that they're changing it because they enter bgs and just roll pugs and think they're really good. On the other it sucks because the first few who actually thought of this had a good idea and changed the way low level bgs are played.
Flit Apr 20th 2007 11:14AM
HA! Those forums in the link are full of a bunch of 19 rogues QQ'ing about the nerfs. What a bunch of rubes.
Twinks are the same people who use god mode in fps.
Toolio Apr 20th 2007 11:25AM
I started a 19 twink rogue (Doolie - Jaedenar) but will probably just go ahead and level her up now. It wasn't really that much fun and I rarely play her any longer. I'll be sad when I outlevel my gear (I ran VC 5 times to get that chest) but I'd much rather have 70 rogue > 19 twink.
I recall several late weekday evenings where all but 4 players on both sides in WSG were twink rogues. It was funny at the time, but still pretty lame. I think these nerfs are a good thing.
Seper Apr 20th 2007 1:10PM
I had a 19 twink. But its not very fun after a long time. Its fun for awhile. Going in and killing 3-5 people before you die. Its even more fun when those 3-5 people you just killed come back and target only you :p
I made my twink because my main sucks at pvp and is far from pvp specced. So its nice having somewhere to go to pwn people. This wont affect me at all.
Now that my main is 70 i'm moving my rogue to 70 :)
Rich Apr 20th 2007 11:41AM
"I never really understood the popularity of the twinking phenomenon."
You get god mode without having to be in Death and Taxes...what's so hard to understand?
Baluki Apr 20th 2007 11:42AM
Don't forget that the matchmaking service is being implemented too. So twinks are much more likely to be put in the same BG as other twinks. Which kinda defeats the purpose of twinking.
My mantra has always been "death to twinking". It's just unfair. Unfortunately, I won't be able to sell lowbie blues at astronomical prices anymore, but you take the good with the bad.
ajpally Apr 20th 2007 11:45AM
Waste of money and time. Goodbye twinks! I hate twinks.
Firefly Apr 20th 2007 11:45AM
even if you have the fishing hat equipped before the patch it will go red on your hcaracter (similar to having 0 durability) and you will gain no bonuses from the hat (just the looks)
Dave Apr 20th 2007 11:45AM
Unless they're making the changes retroactive, this doesn't affect CURRENT twinks at all in any way.
They didn't do it with the enchant changes, they just made all new enchants 35+. Same applies here I assume, so my current twink will be good to go still.
The ONLY way they can stop the twink game, is to give mandatory XP per BG that's assigned while you're in the BG with your honor points. They've said they're not interested in this. They can make it more fun by switching it to gear-matched battles, but I've heard that's not necessarily going to apply to lower level BG's.
Contrary to popular misbelief, twinks just want a fun experience in the low level BG's. They're unbelievably boring when you've got a bunch of low-damage, low-HP people running around doing nothing. If you have a really great twink vs twink battle where most people are coming in with 1k+ HP and can deal respectable damage, it's TONS of fun. Of course, it's also fun to sprint to an untwinked caster and two hit them while crusader or lifestealing procs and walk away with no damage. But I'd rather do it to a twinked out mage who can probably whoop me back if I screw up.
The other major misconception is that it's all stupid rich people... which is absurd and comes from the mind of someone who doesn't understand the game at all or doesn't want to.
Anyone can make a twink, as long as they have time. You don't need money, you don't need guild resources, you just need time. All of the gear drops in low level instances, so you can farm it up yourself. (I did). Enchants are one thing, but you can farm up the mats for enchants with your main. (I'm sure it's even easier to farm for Righteous Orbs and shards now) You can also farm up the BOE things with your main, and it's the recommended way really. I ran SFK 5 times a day for a month to get my dual assassins's blades. (takes about 30 mins to chain shred it with my warrior @60, probably even easier @70). I got a few guildy 60's to run me through Deadmines and Wailing Caverns a few times to get the other top-level blue gear to drop as well.
Honestly, the only people who really can complain about twinks, are the people who are so uncreative that they can't even imagine taking the time when they're not doing anything else, to create one. These are probably the same people who sit on the mailbox in Ironforge and /dance in bear form, but whatever.
John Apr 20th 2007 11:51AM
i always viewed twinking as a sorta side-game - i dont have a problem with it inherently - if they could separate them out of the BGs so they can compete to see who's the best, fine with me. maybe most of the fun of twinking comes from tearing up the non-twinks, i dunno.
Savok Apr 20th 2007 12:00PM
Twinks have less of a life then I do. Consider the fact I'm a virgin into that thought process.
Frightening.
cluffer Apr 20th 2007 12:05PM
Why do people struggle with the most simple concept, a concept that WOW currently lacks.
I just want to fight other people with the same gear; skill wins not some unemployed basement dwelling perma-raider with better gear. Why not introduce arena battles where we all wear the same gear?
Twinking allows you to get the best possible gear with a reasonable time commitment. Now with BG matching, we can see some battles where skill wins, no better gear. Yes, I know that a twink has a gear advantage over non-twinks, but the point is when you do lose, you know it was not because of gear.
Juo Apr 20th 2007 12:13PM
I used to give twinks a very hard time...made fun, laughed at, all that. I never understood the point...
But after a bit I finally made one of my own, and I don't know...its REALLY fun. Having a low level character, finding out the BEST possible gear for it, mapping out quest items you need, then finally "finishing" your twink. There is a lot of time and planning involved in making that perfect character.
Since I made my healing druid for lvl 29 twink BG's (365 +healing is pretty nice in lvl 29s for your rejuv's XD ) I made a pally twink as well...it's pretty addicting, and a GREAT break from slaving away on your main farming consumables and raiding day in and day out.
Just thank god I got that golden spellthread on my druid before the patch!
Flit Apr 20th 2007 12:19PM
"Why not introduce arena battles where we all wear the same gear?"
Holy sh*t. What a great idea! I love it, a special bg where everyone comes in with the same armor, same trinkets.
Arena needs to be the same way. Have a "gear independant" arena competition where everyone has the same gear, so skills and group makeup become more vital.
Sweet.
@Dave:
" Of course, it's also fun to sprint to an untwinked caster and two hit them while crusader or lifestealing procs and walk away with no damage. "
I hate you. ganking lowbies make you feel better? If you want to battle against other twinks, get to the endgame, where it can't be so lopsided, and actually have a challenge. Stop making excuses. You've spent hours running dungeons looking for specific drops just so you can two shot lowbies. You poor deluded young man.
Shiro Apr 20th 2007 12:25PM
@11
That's exactly what twinking is. You know what the "optimal" gear is, it's easy to get ahold of, and the enchants are standard as well. As long as you've got a character at level 60-70 it's a piece of cake. You don't need to raid, all you need is some gold, some time, and maybe 1 friend at level 70 that can help you get some of the BoP bits.
Then you get into a BG at one of the "twink" zones and enjoy playing against people who can't possibly get a gear advantage over you.
The only difference between twinking and what you're proposing is the fact that people under your system wouldn't have to do anything to have gear matched BGs, whereas in the current system you have to put a small amount of effort in so that you get your gear matched with everyone else.
Note: I currently don't have a twink. I played in the 19 and 29 BGs as a warlock and mage without any issues and was 2-3 on the damage charts without any problems against mostly twink teams. I recognize that I could easily have gotten myself some twink gear and made more of an impact, but I'm not planning on spending a lot of time at any of the BG levels for it, so I didn't. Thus the fact that people had better gear than me was *my* fault, not theirs.
chaz Apr 20th 2007 12:45PM
This is a business decision by Blizzard.
Some people will enjoy PvP, some will enjoy PvE. If you're new to Wow and go get destroyed in pvp your first several times out because of twinks, you might walk away from the BGs. If that same person was the kind of person that would have stayed in Wow because of Pvp (thus paying their monthly fee) rather than PvE, then Blizz just lost a customer.
It might be futile to try and retain a very finicky client base, but I'm guessing this is why the change exists.
Gman Apr 20th 2007 12:47PM
Twinking out another character was a great way to take a break from my main while waiting for Burning Crusade. It DID take a lot of planning to get the best weapons/gear without going over the level cap. I found the itemization process to be a great deal of fun. You can still "twink" at 70, remember, you just have to raid and it takes much more time.
Savok Apr 20th 2007 12:47PM
Static gear would be a disaster for Blizzard, they'd actually have to balance things then. Right now they can get away with the tech support "it's your fault, change "such and such"" line, but make things purely based on skill, it's a lot harder to blame the player when they're doing everything right and still can't get that Pally under 60%.
helance Apr 20th 2007 12:48PM
Yeah what is up with all the twink HATE around.
I never really understood the whole twink either at first. But, when i hit 70... I wanted something fun to do on the side. I decided to twink out my low level alt via mapping out which gear early on that i wanted him to get. It's been as much fun , possibly more, than playing my 70. Between farming SFK,BFD,RFK,VC... to actually playing him. I totally love it.
There is something so rewarding and fun about creating a 'best in class' character. I don't see it as unfair either. If you don't like it now wait until you hit endgame, you will be looking for other ways to have fun in warcraft at that point, aside from raiding, and you'll change your mind.