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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsSurvey 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 2 of 4)
emptyrepublic Jan 19th 2009 5:26PM
This is one demographic of WoW that I wish would go away forever. I'm not a fan of PvP and this group epitomizes my problems with it. Blizzard should not be catering to them at all, and everyone would be better off if they were just ignored. I'm not sure what the desire is to be so dominant in WSG at level 19 is aside from demonstrating one's superior ability at being an asshole.
Joyous_Oblivion Jan 19th 2009 5:59PM
You said it. Ignore them.
They aren't doing anything wrong, they just like a different kind of competition. Why is lvl 80 PvP more acceptable? Bigger Epeen for lvl 80 or something?
I briefly made a twink mage back in vanilla WoW days and it was a blast now and then to jump on him and kill stuff in BGs.
And finally with levelling being so fast now (Recruit a friend? Yes please) who even bother to PvP at 19-39? You can get to 40 on two characters in a day...
Mj Jan 19th 2009 5:26PM
As the wife to a new lvl 19 twink - they aren't all that way. My hubs is 38 and is enjoying twinking.
The game has been improved further with the BoA gear that can be purchased with emblems and wintergrasp shards.
The point of twinking is that some people enjoy the challenge of taking the lower level of the players, and working around the lack of spells/talents etc. that they have at the later levels.
It is unfortunate for those who join the BG at mid level or lower, because there is no way they can honestly compete. However when I hit lvl 19 for the first time I made a friend with some twinks (who assumed I was a twink at first, until they looked at my gear) and ran hundreds of WSG battles. It was a blast.
The lvl 80 BGs are not nearly as fun as I had back when I was a n00b.
Mj Jan 19th 2009 5:28PM
So you don't enjoy it. Don't pvp then. They hurt nothing by being there - and you will deal with the asshats later in the game when you start raiding too. Just put them on ignore and have your own fun.
draeth Jan 19th 2009 6:32PM
exactly, GET TO END GAME OR TWINK YOUR OWN CHARACTER!
sharkeater75 Jan 19th 2009 5:28PM
as someone who has an army of high lvls including naxx/heroic naxx geared 80's but still likes leveling an alt,
xp in battlegrounds would rock, and put an end to this nonesense once and for all.
HK = XP.
or.. make top pvp gear purchasable for very little COPPER. they really nerfed the vanilla and tbc content anyway, and now you have people feeding twinks things like that lvl 1 sword with 200ap that drops from dragonblight and is chantable lol.
new players are screwed, and god help you if you want to do some bgs or pvp on an alt, unless you farm ZF or sumt for ages and pray you don't ding.
blizz wouldn't loose a dime.
megalomaniac Jan 19th 2009 5:38PM
Do you really think 1000 (ish) comment-replies on a wow blog is a large enough sample size to say anything about the wow-Twink community? It's not. I don't twink, but lets not kid ourselves here that this data can be generalized in any meaningful way.
Dez Jan 19th 2009 5:37PM
Can't believe all the QQ about twinks. It's a play style that some players happen to enjoy, it's a choice so why don't you back off. I've played in twink guilds with great people, very mature, they couldn't really care less about people who label twinks, they laugh at you because you're just being silly, and as long as they enjoy twinking they don't need to answer "LOL TWINK POINTLESS WHY LOL QQ".
I'm so tired of this, not because I actually care, but because it's something you hear ON AND ON AND ON AND ON, and that gets annoying for anyone, it's like having to listen to a baby that cries and cries to no end, no one wants that.
It's a GAME, try spending less energy on crying about it, try out real life and you'll feel less need to QQ about every single thing that happens in a virtual world. If you're life outside the game is good, then what happens in WoW isn't as big, cause it doesn't affect your life to any major extent, even if you do care obviously cause you play the game.
Brent Jan 19th 2009 5:39PM
Nah sorry dont buy it.
Twinks are, and always will be, people who just like steamrolling people without any challenge.
Say whatever you like about 'fighting other twinks for challenge'. thats just crap. If you want a challenge head out to a real battleground to test your skill.
I could easily make a twink but id much rather PVP seriously at 80 then one shot people just trying to have a bit of fun.
I remember when I first discovered twinks. My friend and I thought we'd try out Bgs for the first time. We didnt understand why we kept dieing so quickly. It really wrecked a big part of the game for us once we found out they were just douchebags with an inferiority complex.
To finish.. Twinks suck and should /quit /wrists
/article
outforprophets Jan 19th 2009 6:21PM
It doesn't cost that much gold to twink, just do it yourself and you'll see. The novelty of 1 shotting lowbies dissipates quickly - which is a big reason I'm getting a little tired of level 80 BGs. Arenas are kinda fun but I enjoy BGs a whole lot more so what am I to do?
Ilnara Jan 19th 2009 10:57PM
Another person ignoring that disparity exists even at cap.
It's cute the things people tell themselves to justify the fact that they suck at doing something thats so easy.
Walking into a BG under geared and unprepared isn't a "skill", it's a lack of it.
Shrike Jan 19th 2009 11:00PM
"Twinks are, and always will be, people who just like steamrolling people without any challenge."
Nice broad brush there.
"Say whatever you like about 'fighting other twinks for challenge'. thats just crap. If you want a challenge head out to a real battleground to test your skill."
What makes a battleground "real"? That a death knight or ret paladin can burst you to death before you can react?
There IS NO BALANCED PVP. Anywhere. Honestly, fully-twinked 19s come closer than any other I've seen (I observe a lot of PvP, but I don't myself enjoy participating in it), since 10 talent points is too low to display the wild discrepancies between PvP ability inherent to the classes.
Also, the survey? I don't buy it at all. On my server, the primary twink guild is full of mature, intelligent and articulate people who enjoy the competition at the 19s bracket, as opposed to the dominance of team-composition inherent in the 80s ("they who field more DKs and retpallies win").
My wife (mature female, multiple accounts and multiple alts, roleplayer) plays a 19 twink, and goes out of her way to attack other twinks, not lesser-geared or lower-level characters (obviously, unless they attack her).
thebvp Jan 19th 2009 5:40PM
I think it should be pointed out that this survey shows the demographics of people who took a survey on a particular website that doesn’t even focus on all twink levels, and not the demographics of the average twink.
I have a twink Paladin at level 59, for example, and absolutely love him. What good is it for me to go looking for information on how to twink out on a website that doesn’t even have a forum for that bracket? Of course I’m going to be left out.
My reasons for twinking are a bit different, however. The 50-59 bracket is the bracket that is closest to Vanilla wow in terms of gameplay and I like to relive the old days.
Similarly, I think that a website like is not necessarily representative of the community at large, because older players have less use for a website such as twinkinfo.com. If I want to twink, I’ll figure out how to do it myself without an instruction book and I don’t care about having a place to brag about my successes. I also simply don't have the time to respond to crap like that with this thing called real life getting in the way. Younger players don't have that problem.
From my experience, the higher the bracket is, the older the twinks tends to be. I’ll be 30 years old this summer. Unlike 19, you don’t twink at 59 (or 49, for that matter) to instagib. My Battlegroup is quite populated, with less than 1 minute queue times.
Slayblaze Jan 19th 2009 5:49PM
Two things to say here -
Twinks are cool twinks are fun, it's just a different way to enjoy the game than most people do. In a way it's a very "pure" way of playing without a lot of the baggage that comes with endgame.
Secondly, about this line:
"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."
You could pretty much say that about *everyone* not just twinks. The players actually paying for and playing on more than a single account are in the vast vast minority. The statement quoted makes it almost sound like having a second account is the 'norm' or that twinks are the 'odd man out' for not being likely to have more than one account, when in reality most everyone who plays the game is likely paying and playing on a single account.
Irshalthra Jan 19th 2009 5:57PM
I am a 43 year old who has played twinks. I am a casual WOW player and do not find time for raiding. So end game in the past has been quite lame. I put my time into creating a few twinks.
I thoroughly enjoy the challenge of building them. A buddy and I will help each other out and get what we need through farming.
I also enjoy playing them. I do understand that it is quite frustrating to enter a BG only to find you can barely rez, I have been there.
Blizzard allows the twinks to be there to keep people like me playing. Without twinks they would have lost my income and quite a few others. Blizzard is here to keep all of us spending money and everyone has different tastes.
I do believe Blizzard should fix it so that the average Joe can play a few PVP battlegrounds and have a chance to move. The answer to this is to grant XP in battlegrounds (very low amounts) so that twinks will level eventually. This would allow people to play for 6 months or so and then have to level it.
A better way (may be challenging) is to put twinks in their own battleground. I have met many a twink that would love twink against twink. When I meet other twinks on the battlefield I will search them out to be more competitive. All of us do not want to pawn weaker players, we're just having fun building toons and techniques.
Nabikula Jan 19th 2009 9:58PM
This is what piques my curiosity about twinking. The process, rather than the end result, holds my imagination more than anything else. I've yet to dive into it, but if I do, it'll be more to see what playing the game in this manner is like.
Of course, I'd have to see how I perform in a bg at some point to test my process, but it would be only that. Hey, I may actually enjoy it.
(Having BGs solely for twinks is an interesting idea, though I'm uncertain Blizzard would actually go for it.)
Irshalthra Jan 20th 2009 9:04AM
You are correct the "process" of building the twink is what I like. Lots of Gold, but lots of fun.
I too don't think Bliz will create the BG just for twinks unfortunately:
1. Analyzing gear etc to determine who is eligible. How will this work? What programming involved? Would twinks que up with scrubs and change when inside?
2. I do believe they would lose some of their twink audience (maybe too many). Not all twinks think like me and are in it for "the sport". Some (how many?) are in it to pawn lesser built toons.
Rohannor Jan 19th 2009 6:05PM
I don't twink myself, and am not totally sure I understand the mentality of it anyway. To the extent that they truly want to fight and challenge each other, fine, but even some of the comments here recognize how tough it is for a new player in quest reward greens to compete in most bg's without wearing themselves out running back from the graveyard.
I would welcome something like a two-level system for each lvl range of bg's, so the inexperienced/casual players can enjoy pvp in one bg, and the experienced players and twinks can do their thing in another. Obviously this presents problems for Blizz in how to categorize people, though, and I'm not sure I have the answer for that. Maybe categorize based on item lvl totals?
Imugly Jan 19th 2009 6:08PM
Stay with me here... the point for most people in WOW is what? Trying to get the absolute best gear in the game, right? For most of Warcraft's players this requires a huge investment in time. Not only must one level their character to 80, but you also have to find a guild who's raiding schedule fits yours. If you happen to work odd hours or just can't commit to the guild's raiding style, you're sol. Okay, so this is not news to anyone. My point is, at level 19, 29, 39, etc. you can actually work to find the best gear in the game for that level generally without outside help. You don't need to find a raid, at most you have to find a group or have someone run you through an instance.
I started a twink because I was tired of fighting against overly geared players in the lower levels. It is also somewhat of a challenge to get the "best" gear for your level. How many people have worked to get a +100hp head enchant. I also hate the all-too-common rogue / hunters, so I tried something different. As for age, well I'm 33 and I'd rather beat up another twink than 1 shot a poor guy in greys.
Just my 2cents!
Kelfarr Jan 19th 2009 6:05PM
Twinking is fine, all the comments about twinks being people who want to kill people with no skill are retarded because the same happens at 80, and happened at 70. People with S4 dominated anyone without good pvp gear, how is this any different than twinks with good gear destroying people without good gear? Don't give me that "not everyone can twink" bullshit because making gold in this game is incredibly easily, you can make 1000g to twink out an alt in a day if you are smart about it.
And before you say something, no I don't have a twink, I don't care about dominating lowbies in this game. I prefer the endgame, but the hypocrisy in these comments astounds me, anyone can roll a new character and dominate in 80 BGs, just level up a DK, or use recruit a friend and get yourself a ret pally/arcane mage in 2 weeks.