Dear Alliance Mage (and three friends)
by Krystalle Voecks 
May 22nd 2007 at 9:23AM
![[And once again, I went to see my good friend...]](http://www.blogcdn.com/wow.joystiq.com/media/2007/05/stopmeetingangel.jpg)
Sure enough. As expected, nobody was around. The Alliance had the flags, so I dropped off my kodo and flagged so that I could "recapture" the Stadium. After waiting a few minutes... *whoosh!* Horde had control! Hooray! Still cautious, I jumped back on my kodo and beelined for The Overlook. Waited a few minutes, and *whoosh!* The second objective had come under Horde control as well! Woot!
Still flagged, I hopped back on my kodo and headed for Broken Hill. Almost as soon as I got there, two level 70 Alliance players flew by on their birds. As my Druid is currently level 63, I knew no amount of bear tank weardown would save my noob PvP self from the beatdown they would undoubtedly soon be coming to administer. Nervous, I slid off my kodo and surveyed the area. Good. Nobody else around. Maybe I could finish and get back to Thrallmar! But just as the flag slider on the bar was about to go into the grey area between Alliance and Horde control, the two Alliance players landed and started towards me. They were unflagged, and talking between themselves in that strange Common language. I mentally prepared myself with the certain knowledge that I was about to become a rug...
Needless to say, I was pretty well prepared to meet my end. Then it dawned on me. I was about to have another quest in my log that I'd probably have to get help to complete... As if on a "bad news" cue, two more level 70 Alliance landed and started towards the first two. Figuring I couldn't do anything against 4 any more than I could 2, I shifted into bear form and waited. I figured I'd at least try to put up some kind of a fight. After all, I might luck into staying up long enough for the bar to slide to Horde control before I became a bit of interior decor.
Just then, a truly unexpected thing happened. The Mage said something to the others, and everyone stopped dead in their tracks. After about 20 seconds of no movement, I shifted back and stood there wondering if I was lagging. Nope. The Mage then waved at me, verifying it definintely wasn't a lagspike. I thorned myself up and shifted quickly back to bear, bracing for the strike. Still nothing.
While I was waiting for them to strike, I suddenly realized... They had let the flag roll back to Horde control, thereby completing my quest! How awesome was that!
Of course, they proceeded to dog pile my Druid and give me the beating I was expecting. (I'd like to say I gave as well as I got, but the truth is that I only managed to wear the Priest down a bit) But the interesting thing to me overall was that they waited for me to get control of the tower before pounding my wee little Druid into the mud. Once they had killed me, the Mage /saluted me, and they sat there long enough to take Broken Hill back for the Alliance. I waited for my flag to drop before taking my rez, and the Mage and I traded /salutes and went our seperate ways.
I have to admit, most of my experience (while on my Horde characters) had been poor with the Alliance prior to that moment. The only PvP I've really done prior to that was defensive world PvP. (If you're wondering why, L60s attacking The Valley of Trials does not impress me.) As such, I was really surprised that they waited -- allowing me to finish the quest first.
So wherever the four of you are out there, one little L63 Druid appreciates your thoughtfulness in allowing her to get her quest completion. /salute
Do you have an Open Letter that you'd like to send out to someone who selflessly helped you out? How about to that person who ganked you when you were minding your own business? You never know, they might read WoW Insider too.
Hey, stranger things have happened -- like me PvPing in the first place!
[with thanks to Steve]
P.S. I might have to try that again sometime. That was kind of fun.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, Odds and ends, PvP, Humor
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Ryan May 22nd 2007 9:30AM
They probably just wanted you to take control so they could take it back and complete the quest themselves.
Regyr May 22nd 2007 9:36AM
The Alliance folks were probably just waiting for you to cap the towers so that they could complete their own quests. I've heard of groups of Horde & Alliance forming to do this nonviolently, just to farm PvP tokens.
Dipstick May 22nd 2007 9:35AM
Yeh, that's right. All is fair in love and war.
RSH May 22nd 2007 9:35AM
Not necessarily- they could have captured it and gotten credit when it was in the grey area of the slider. Letting it go to red first was very nice of them.
Serenity May 22nd 2007 9:36AM
@1 probably, though it would already have been neutral so they could have taken it anyway. But, they must have decided the be nice, and took it after you had got it. That never happens on my server (PvP)...especially when I'm in that group of 70s ;)
Tony May 22nd 2007 9:41AM
Something Like this happened to me a few weeks back. I roll on a PVE server since the people who got me into WOW were on it. I had taken Broken Hill and the Stadium and was at the overlook when I saw a big bat fly past me. It then came back with a troll rogue who looked at me for a minute. The troll then landed near the stairs and stealthed. I had him with perception but he still got me right after I captured it. I gave it alright considering I was 63 at the time and he was 70. But Pallys always get their second wind. At least I didn't bubblehearth it.
Hornface May 22nd 2007 9:54AM
I play on a PVE server, so the Horde-Alliance rivalry is fairly low-key (except during the Stranglethorn Fishtravaganza ... hoo boy).
I've done several grind quests that ended up as ad hoc informal group quests with Allies. One night I was farming pirates to get that dude's eye back when an Allie warlock showed up. I saw her get in a little trouble with adds, so I sent in my pet and ran crowd-control for her. She saluted, then hung back and let me tap the net mob before jumping in to help. I saluted back and let her take her turn. We continued to alternate like that for the better part of an hour, using emotes to plan our tactics. It was so much fun.
Pick-up groups are way better when you don't speak the same language.
oomu May 22nd 2007 10:14AM
when I remind pvp quest, I let people finish their business If I think they are here for a quest. after that : no pity.
the same for example in alliance town. Tens horde player attacking Ironforge ? WAR !
just one little level player trying to visit "exotic" town ? have a nice trip
(of course it could be spy/demonist and preparation for a big bad raid, well it's easy to survey the world defense channel)
RogueJedi86 May 22nd 2007 10:05AM
I did that Tower Capturing a few times. Of course I'm on a PvP server, so it's the norm, being open to fighting. I would just try to find a tiny nook in the walls, invisible from above, and sit mounted up, until I got the capture, then quickly run away.
Dave May 22nd 2007 10:18AM
I remember when I did the quest to kill Cho'war the Pillager. Another player and I just could not find a third member to help kill the elite mob. We waited by it for quite some time while continuing to lfm in general chat. Soon 3 fellow horde players showed up to kill him, we asked to merge our groups but they ignored us. After the kill, they quickly left without saying a word. Shortly after, a 3 member alliance group was approaching and we figured we'd be ganked (pvp server). We just stayed tho as we'd have to run through them anyways to get out of the cave. Well they walked up to us, waved, killed the mob, and stood around doing various friendly emotes. After the respawn, they pointed at it and waited. We tagged the mob and sure enough they helped us complete the quest.
Thijz May 22nd 2007 10:18AM
This is actually pretty surprising for alliance-players! I play alliance myself, but solely because all of my reallife friends won't make a horde-alt and I can tell you: this is very rare! Usually alliance-players are a bit selfish, they would grab every chance they get on killing a defenceless target!
FadedReality May 22nd 2007 10:26AM
If I see an alliance in trouble trying to solo an elite or doing a quest that I know can use a little push in the right direction (Gruul, Ring of Blood and Hai'Shulud come to mind) I'll help.
The way I look at it is... yeah they chose the more generic and overall boring side, yeah they may need to bring a full group to PVP against 2 Horde, but when it comes down to it that's another person sitting at their computer enjoying the same game as me.
mrkleen May 22nd 2007 10:32AM
Great Post!
I am alliance on a pve and have done warsong gulch twice with no clue as to what to do, but I do help hordies once in a while in stv or tanaris. I keep thinkin about re-rolling on a pvp server.
Tonyknuckles May 22nd 2007 11:05AM
I read the whole post waiting to hear that some decent World PVP took place. As the end approached I saw the climax was coming, one position captured, then the next... Then...
The carebear nature that caused you to roll on a "Diet WoW" server took over and I could feel the bile rise in my throat.
Playing on a server with a PVE ruleset is a massive waste. Why would you do this to yourself? The people who know there is always a chance for immenent danger around every corner with the possibility of "death" lurking all around them on the PVP and RP-PVP servers experience the game the way it was meant to be played.
Krystalle Voecks May 22nd 2007 11:05AM
@Ryan - I had considered the "taking the towers back" thing on their 70's as to why they didn't attack, but the tower was already in the neutral area, and they still didn't attack. From what I understood of the PvP quests, you only had to take it from neutral, not full control of the other faction. I figured that they might have been more interested in whatever buff you get for your faction having captured all the PvP objectives.
There again, I'm a PvP noob and I own that... So my understanding could be wrong about that.
Scruffy May 22nd 2007 11:10AM
@10
Objection!
Generalizations reflect poorly of the real life variations in everything.
I play alliance and, yes, I'll admit to a few... indiscretions (Sorry hunter-dude in STV! I'm that jerk priest from a couple months ago!) but I was newb and oh so stupid. 'course, playing on a PvE server limits the tempations. I can't always help myself if I spy someone flagged but I'll be nice and MC 'em if I can catch them right away and buff them with fort.
Pingmeister May 22nd 2007 11:16AM
Whether anyone likes to believe it or not there are nice folks everywhere. They are just few and far between.
Thanks for the story. It was refreshing to be reminded that someone can be good at PvP without being a sadistic ass.
Savok May 22nd 2007 11:30AM
Glad someone finally understands the notion of taking turns. It's the best way to go in HFP since you can't actually do anything until they capture the place back.
You want the enemy there to be honest, they're the people letting you do the quest you just turned in 5 minutes ago again and pick up useful gear.
poilbrun May 22nd 2007 11:33AM
On Ner'zhul EU, pvp server, we did the arena of blood in Nagrand (that might be an approximation of the name, when I play it's called "L'arène de Sang") in a group of 5 with the help of a group of 5 Horde characters. We would launch the first fight, kill the mob with their help, then repeat after they launched the fight, this through the whole fight.
We did the same thing in Netherstorm, for the elite you free from his prison in the NE of the map, during the series of quest for the Consortium.
Those types of quest are rarely a problem, but farming can be quite a nightmare, whether it is for quests (collect x items or kill x creatures) or for mats. The spot with elementals in the North of Nagrand or the one with fire elementals at the border between Netherstorm and Blade's Edge Mountains are becoming terrible. I once helped a Horde warlock who pulled too many mobs only to get killed by him 5 minutes later when I was low on mana :-(
RaydenUni May 22nd 2007 11:39AM
I would like the thank the alliance who helped me complete the escort quest in Feralas, you know the robot chicken on. He found me and my friend halfway through the damn quest (escort quests sucked) and he was level ??. I thought for sure I'd have to do it again, but instead of ganking us he helped kill the nasty gorillas. Right after the last mob he killed my friend, waited until I finished the quest and then ganked me. So thank you for being patient and helping.