Survey reveals what twinks are all about
by Mike Schramm 
Jan 19th 2009 at 5:00PM
This is interesting -- our friend Drayner over at Twinkinfo.com recently took a survey of his site's readers, and after picking up almost 1,000 replies, he's posted the results. They show a little bit of insight into the kind of person that plays a twink (a character maxed out at a certain level before 80, usually to run around in PvP battlegrounds). Specifically, they're male, under 21, play for 21-30 hours a week, think their gear rates a 5 out of 5, and are probably level 19 and in Warsong Gulch capturing flags. I'm not sure if that's suprising or not, but those are pretty safe majority votes, even given the smaller sample size of the poll.Twink players are also more likely to not have more than one account, which kind of makes sense -- they only need one account and just have lots of characters on them. 66% of twinks are actually in twink guilds, and most have at least more than one twink to play around with. Hunters and Rogues top the class choices (though not with a clear majority at all). And perhaps most interesting, over 50% of twinks say Blizzard is serving them just fine -- they're not ignoring them, and they're not giving them any more love than other players. Still, as Drayner pointed out to us, about 36% of twinks said they'd leave the game if Blizzard shut them down with an additional 30% saying Maybe, so Blizzard does have a little incentive there to keep twinking happening.
Quite interesting -- twinks might be one of the only groups of players who are completely fine with how they're being handled in game. 2.3 obviously gave them lots of new items to play with, and while there is some frustration from other players, Blizzard has made it so easy to level that if you don't want to play with the twinks at 19, you can move on pretty quickly.
Filed under: Hunter, Rogue, Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, Virtual selves, Odds and ends, Blizzard, PvP, Alts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
xb Jan 19th 2009 5:08PM
why on earth would you get rid of twinks?? makes no sense. Please tell me why it would be a good reason??? thanks
Magma Jan 19th 2009 5:12PM
Please tell me why not?
darthginger Jan 19th 2009 5:16PM
because for the poor guy who just bought the game 2 weeks ago. reached lvl 15 and came across a battlemaster.. hmm whats this lets have a go. oh PvP! ive heard this is good. 3 minutes later..
"press to release"
"press to release"
"press to release"
yeah.. pvp. it sucks.
above a certain combined gear lvl the characters should be moved into a seperate battleground and that goes for every bracket. to stop people being facerolled and actually have a fair balanced game. say what you like, twinks prey on the weaker players who dont know any better than to avoid lvl 19 wsg.
(althought personally i like wsg 19, even as non twink. i find it funny as #### killing a twink because i can imagine the nerd rage behind the keyboard.. "but my hunter is a 1337 twinkzor!"
/spit
Paprikka Jan 19th 2009 5:22PM
Because of how unfun they make the battlegrounds for non-twinks. I refuse to enter a BG when leveling a new alt until at least the 40's.
That said, I do not think Blizzard should get rid of twinks. I just wish there was a better system for BG's that would separate them from the people simply leveling.
Many twinks say they twink to fight other twinks, not one shot everyone else. This survey supports it, but when a non-twink tries to defend his flag or flag carrier, or even carry the flag themselves it's not something one can realistically follow.
roguedubb Jan 19th 2009 5:37PM
Why not?
Because it's a valid way to play the game.
Zarfay Jan 19th 2009 6:22PM
When I first started playing wow I thought I would give it ago.
It made me never do pvp until around level 50+ because of all the griefing. I hate twinks more than gold sellers who hack accounts for gold.
rosencratz Jan 20th 2009 3:07AM
Twinks just make people realise that PvP is competitive(which it is) at an early level.
Surely people only know about twinks after they've been told "Everything you hate about pvp is because of twinks" by non twinks? It's reasonable to assume that your casual player who just enters a BG to "have a go" would simply leave the BG thinking they're not good and/or need more practice, why would they immediately assume it was gear that made the difference?
It sucks to get owned by other people so easily... but they prepared themselves better than you and maximised everything they could to be the best they can in a level range that they find more fun.... so... what's so wrong with that?
Without a doubt i believe the people that hate twinks would've gotten owned in BG's with or without twinks.
So yeah i agree. Why remove twinks? Anyone who dislikes them is probably the sort of person who doesn't enjoy that sort of BG and would level past it relatively swiftly either way.
Additionally how could twinks be unhappy with the attention Blizz gives them. Barely any patches effect skills pre-19's.
Gareth Jan 20th 2009 5:50AM
People twink for the same reason as people go to low level areas on pvp servers and gank, there is no skill in one shotting people and all they end up doing is killing off the BGs at an early level which can put people off the game.
I personally think they should just give XP out for winning BGs, that would keep things moving. I doubt these people would actually leave, my guess is that they would be sitting around the summoning stone at SM hoping for a low level to arrive.
Evilious Jan 20th 2009 3:21PM
Whoa, Whoa, Whao!
Some of you are rediculous!
I found this on a forum for my battlegroup. I personally hate endgame. It becomes a sort of second job. I also hate 19 twinks, I have my reasons.
Years ago when I was/am a newb I had my butt handed to me by a twink guild. What did I do? I created a twink guild to defeat them. Did I, yes. What did that do? It showed me the love I have for pvp.
Personally I prefer the 49 bracket. Twinking is like having a weight class for boxing. I enjoy casually getting on and doing a few bg's and enjoying my life outside of this game. If you don't like it, I say go back to pve and down a couple of scripted bosses and feel good about yourself. I love the Johnny on the spot thinking; the panic when you're mid field and out pop two twinked out rogues with thier pocket healer, the competition amongest other top players in our "weight class" (bracket).
Sure I could do this at lvl 80, but twinking is a smaller community and we get to know eachother on a personal level. This in turn also makes the game much more enjoyable for me.
Sure, character advancement is fun. That is a big part of the addiction to this game. I would love for twinking to become ranked. Speaking of advancement, have you noticed what the Bind on account gear has done for the twinking world? Shoulder enchants from Zul'Gurub? Just to name one.
As for patches not affecting twinks, yeah that is exactly why I dislike the 19 bracket, there is very little skill involved. I began to enjoy the 49 bracket prebc, so it was very close to endgame during that era. I would like to go to 59, but with all the DK's running around, I'll pass thanks, which is a whole other topic. As for 69, well there is just too many spells you get at lvl 70, so again I pass.
Oh for the record, I have multiple twinks, I am 25, I am male, and as was stated I do belong to a twink guild.
sharkeater75 Jan 19th 2009 5:14PM
for a game thats a timewaster... twinking is a total waste of time.
mmm epeens. lmfao figures under age 20 males
T Jan 19th 2009 5:16PM
Males under 21. I knew there was a reason I avoided BG's until the level cap. Talk about a wretched hive of scum and villainy, with an added bonus of pride, pettiness and asshattery.
Psy Jan 19th 2009 7:33PM
That's pretty stereotypical of you to say that all under-21 males are ego-driven madmen.
As for twinks, I hate them (and I'm under 21, just FYI) but I don't think Blizzard should outright ban them. There has to be some way to make them more fair for non-twinks...
Clint Jan 20th 2009 9:41AM
I'd also like Blizz to ban anyone 2200+ arena rating from BGs. I mean, their gear is vastly better than my fresh lvl 80 blue pvp set giving me absolutely no chance to compete...
Twinking is a way to play the game. Go do some dailies.
Ikarus Jan 20th 2009 1:54PM
cause stereotypes are always right amirite?! I'm 30 with meaningful relationships and a career and just finished a 29 twink Lock. I have and 80, and 6 70's. I made a twink for a few reasons. Wanted to do something different in the game. It's fun hunting down the best gear you can get. Also, I got rolled by gnome/NE rogues in the BG's on most toons while i was leveling up. I try to only be an equalizing force by targeting other twinks when I'm in the BG's, I'm not big on burn down some poor lvl 23 with 400 HP. I know other twinks who play the same way.
Putts Jan 19th 2009 5:25PM
Seriously...twinks need to go. They're no better than people who spend all their time going around ganking lowbies, or stealthing near a quest area and OMGWTFPWNing anybody who comes near with 50% health. They know that they could never win in a fair fight, and so they go to the one place where they know that they can get an advantage over some poor unsuspecting lowbies. Seriously, Blizz just needs to award XP for PvP (even if it's only in BGs), and the problem of twinks would disappear forever. I don't care if 36% say they'd leave, most actually wouldn't, and we're better off without them anyway.
Ilnara Jan 19th 2009 10:42PM
Hey, whats a fair fight in a game rife with disparity?
Face it, some classes have inherent advantages over other classes and always will, no matter what level they are both at, or even if they had identical gear.
The more you anti-twinks talk, the more you show how uninformed you truly are about this game, so it's no wonder you're so angry at people like twinks who choose to understand it, and achieve something by it, or have fun with it.
bugger off... the lot of ya.
Amaxe Jan 19th 2009 5:26PM
males under 21 would explain the "OMFG Worst group evar" comments you hear in most BGs and immature behavior over losses.
I never understood the twinking logic. To permanently gimp your character at a certain point... for what? If you ever decide to level the toon, you'll need to upgrade eventually. If not, what is the point? Trying to be the best in the BG?
If so, let me just state I really don't care about some level 19 with dual wield Crusaders or Mongoose (or whatever it is now) and maxed enchants on blue level 19 gear. That just says you have a rich main, not that you are "uber 1337"
Ikarus Jan 20th 2009 2:05PM
I think your perspective is kind of "glass half empty" in terms of thinking a twink has "gimped" there toon. I think the opposite, I've maximized my toon. It's no different than people at lvl 80 wearing the best PvP gear with the best Enchants/gems that other people may not be able to get, or are not interested in getting because their focused on another aspect of the game. The people with out will get rolled in a BG same as a non-twink in one of the x9 brackets. I fail to see the difference. It's not like a twink has access to 'special' gear/enchants that others can't get if they wanted to with some work
Ikarus Jan 20th 2009 2:10PM
also, I think the x9 brackets can actually be more fair. With end game PvP people do get locked out of certain gear options due to arena rating requirements, (I loathe arena btw)
Amaxe Jan 20th 2009 2:29PM
Half empty sounds about right. I don't doubt some people actually like doing the PvP and want to be the best in the bracket. I just don't see it. I'd rather work closer to 80 then to stop for a pure pvp character. Of course I tend to dislike PvP in general so I could have a tainted view of it all.
It's the people who want to be the best so they can steamroll everyone that makes it annoying.