Breakfast topic: Like birds of a feather
by Amanda Dean 
Jul 13th 2008 at 8:00AM
When I queue up with friends, I expect to play by their side. Whether we're conquesting new objectives, defending our assets, running a flag, or retaking lost towers, two or three people dedicated to working together stand a better chance than one person alone. When I wear the battleground crown, I make sure that whoever I came in with is in my group. I also answer other people's requests to be placed with their friends. Those groups are likely to be fighting side-by-side.
When someone else is not the leader of the battleground, it can be exceptionally difficult to be transferred among groups. This is not like saving a spot at the lunch table for a friend, but it's about winning the game. I've been playing Paladin lately, but I usually play Shaman. As it stands now, only people in my group can receive the benefit of my Auras and Totems. This may be changing in the future, when some of these buffs will affect the entire raid. For now it just makes sense to honor these requests. If the players have a working synergy, the entire team does benefit from placing them together.
How do you handle grouping in the battlegrounds?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Tricks, PvP, Breakfast Topics, Battlegrounds
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Nick S Jul 13th 2008 8:22AM
me and my rogue buddy AV together sometimes. we're lucky, i guess, that being in the same group makes basically no difference. ferocious inspiration doesn't really speed up the process of bursting down players that much.
having a hunter and a rogue playing defense at relief hut makes for some surprised paladins and rogues trying to be all ninja-ey. we double-handedly thwart the alliance's key offensive move (ninjaing RH) about 75% of the time.
PeeWee Jul 13th 2008 10:21AM
I don't go to the BG's. Problem solved.
Max Jul 13th 2008 10:24AM
The problem is, everyone intelligent enough to come here and read a blog will probably be nice enough to move groups around. All too often, however, you get an infuriating ten year old, or just plain jerk who will ignore your requests.
Szass Jul 13th 2008 10:30AM
When I am leader and someone asks for a change, I simply make them the leader.
Ofix Jul 13th 2008 4:58PM
When I am leader and someone asks for a change, I simply put a moon above their head.
sephirah Jul 13th 2008 10:46AM
Doesn't moving people around assume you're VERY organized?
You enter a bg and wait for others to enter as well.
In this time, the leader should check every class and move them around, and at the same time telling them to stay together.
People come and go during a bg, so the leader should check this too.
Then you have to take in consideration the afkers, the "l2p noob" and so on.
Organizing a bg in such way will take more time that actually play it, unless you're a premade...
I've never, and repeat NEVER, seen anything even remotely organized in such way in months of WSG/AB/AV/EotS.
Thander Jul 13th 2008 1:03PM
A lot of people create macros with all the instructions a premade would go by but no one ever listens.
I've seen it that organized once when I randomly queued for an AV match and got into a premade horde group from another server. I just sat back and enjoyed the 600+ honor in 15 mins.
Fellhorhn-Uldum Jul 13th 2008 2:48PM
If there's a request then I try to honor it, if there isn't then I put 1 shaman, 1 paladin, 1 lock in my group so me and whoever i'm with will get the maximum party buffs.
That may be a little selfish, but i'm usually the most twinked and thus the most capable of using those buffs.
Eisengel Jul 13th 2008 9:52PM
Whenever anyone asks me to move them I do. I mean, if they know someone and have played with the before it's more likely they'll do better together... and since I'm in the battleground to win, I want everyone to perform as well as they can...
I love running in a group through battlegrounds. I usually go in with a 2 to 4-man group. Usually a 4-man group of players coordinating across the battleground can easily turn the tide. In one Alterac Valley on Horde side 2 of my teammates went to capture the Stonehearth Graveyard, I helped capture and guarded the Stonehearth Bunnker and the other did the same on Icewing Bunker. We then fell back and played defense on the towers and slowed down any reinforcements running through. It was a lot more fun than just mooching around the battleground on my lonesome and watching endless contradictory QQ on the battlegrounds channel.
Hmm.... Jul 14th 2008 12:14AM
Huh, ya learn something new every day....
I didnt even know it was possible to move the people in the groups around once you went into the BG.
How do you even do that? And what other tricks am I missing?
Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me out.
(If it wasnt totally obvious, I'm still new to BG's and having to work together with more than 5 people at a time.)
Cynra Jul 14th 2008 10:01AM
You need to be Battleground leader to do it, as designated by the lovely crown on your portrait. It's the same as being raid leader, which is really appropriate since you use the raid interface to do it.
If you're raid leader, press the "O" key to open up the Social window. Select the Raid tab from the bottom. Once here, you can rearrange groups to your heart's content by selecting a name and dragging it to the appropriate group. You can find more information at Blizzard's official site (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/basics/raidgroups.html).
In general, I'd love to honor these requests but it's sometimes a bit overwhelming -- especially in Alterac Valley. Also, I run with an older version of CTRaidAssist and the damned tab for the mod has long since blocked my access to the Raid tab (since the voice chat tab was introduced, I think). As a result, it leaves me a little limited in what I can do. I usually either promote people to do it or hand leadership over; I'm there to heal and steal the Horde's kills, not manage a raid!
Phantomwolf Jul 14th 2008 6:09AM
If I get a request, then I usually do move them. Honestly though I hate having that dang lead position. It can feel like you are responsible for the outcome and such to me.
I know what positions my characters are suited for, and I have my favorite things to do and places to do it in the BGs. So I go do what its in my nature to do in that match.
I play to relax and have fun, earning marks and points are icing on the cake. I will and do pay attention to the match, but if someone starts barking at me and tossing tells telling me my game /ignore.
If people want to group up and play together they should be able to in the BG. Thats why the cued up together in the first place. The BG cue system should be more respectful of that IMO. And keep groups together more often if possible.
If you cant get moved by the lead, screw it and play together any way, let them sort it out. Probably cause those busy body types to blow a blood vessel, LOL.
Alerexis Jul 14th 2008 2:18PM
One time in AV the 10 year old raid leader decided to fill each group with members of the same class (i.e. Group 1 was Paladins, Group 2 was Warriors...)
Goodbye synergy.
Lisa Poisso Jul 18th 2008 8:47PM
Make it easy on the leader to move you. It's not pleasant at all to try to hunt and peck around for unfamiliar names in the BG list. Look to see who's leader and send that player a /w. Specify your name, the group number of where you are now, and the group number of where you'd like to be moved: "Can you please move Palaheal in Group 3 and Tankius in Group 1 both to Group 7?" If you make it easy to accomplish, most leaders won't hesitate to help you out.