WoW Rookie: 20 tips for PvP realm leveling
by Lisa Poisso 
Jun 17th 2009 at 4:00PM
New around here? WoW Rookie points WoW's newest players to the resources they need to get acclimated. Send us a note to suggest a WoW Rookie topic.There's no doubt about it: it's trickier and twitchier to level a character on a PvP (player versus player) realm than it is on a "Care Bear," PvE (player versus environment) realm. Some players thrive on the electric anticipation of the unexpected ambush; others wilt under the unrelenting stress. Being an experienced gamer and having the proverbial "friends in high places" can make the experience a lot more enjoyable – so is leveling on a PvP realm beyond the reach of a WoW rookie? Absolutely not!
But make no mistake, it's war out there ... and only the savvy will survive unscathed. Sounds ominous, eh? Let's knock off some of the mystery. First, we direct you to Zach Yonzon's insightful introduction to the PvP attitude. Zach explains exactly what is different about playing on a PvP realm, as well as the basics of concepts such as "flagging" and "honor." Soak up the basics, then join us after the break for 20 tips to help you survive your time as a WoW rookie, PvP style.
Our PvP survival tactics include pointers from WoW.com's Robin Torres, who shared some fabulous tips for leveling on a PvP realm in this week's WoW, Casually. Check it out; it's an informative read. We've included some of her most useful tactics in our own rookie-centric list here.
- Prepare to die. Yes, you're going to die. Suck it up. It's almost always nothing personal -- this is, after all, the point of PvP. Run back to your corpse and get back to business.
- Stay healthy. Enemies pick on vulnerable targets. Running your health and mana bars into the ground invites attention from opportunists.
- Use the buddy system. The enemy is looking for easy pickings; reinforcements take you out of that category.
- Monitor the defense channels. Local and World Defense chat are your distant early warning system, telling you where not to go. Before you head out to your quest area or dash back into town, make sure the defense channels aren't scrolling kill messages faster than Twitter in a slaughterhouse.
- Announce ganking and camping to the zone. If you're being "ganked" (most classically defined as being killed when you're at a significant disadvantage, such as being killed by a group of players or being killed by a much higher level player) or "camped" (being killed repeatedly), announce it to the local chat channels. Friendly players of all levels are often happy to come lend a hand.
- Being in a town does not make you automatically safe. Guards in lowbie and mid-range towns are nothing but troublesome gnats to high-level players. If enemies know you're there, they can and will get you.
- Stay off the roads. You'll attract the least attention if you stay off heavily traveled paths.
- Don't go AFK during flights. Gankers love to strike players as they land.
- When in doubt, hide. Yes, your nameplate may stick out -- but it may not. Bushes, trees, buildings, vines, rocks ... Use the environment to conceal your presence.
- Keep your back to the wall. Don't expose your back to Backstabbing Rogues, and keep an eye out for approaching enemies.
- Don't give up or run at the mere sight of a high-level player. Many high-level players are simply passing through. They'll ignore you as long as you ignore them. Even if they attack, many will move on after a single kill.
Make nice. If you're questing near players from the opposite faction, you can try to elicit peace. Cooperate with enemies by helping them finish off the occasional kill; make a friendly emote (/smile, /wave, greet/, etc.; enemies can't read your speech or custom emotes, but they can read the text of your set emotes); or simply ignore enemy players altogether. Just remember: no matter how long an enemy seems to be cooperating with you, he may turn on you at any moment.- Creature corpses on the ground mean player activity. Approach with caution.
- If a high-level player attacks, crowd control and flee. Your spells and skills will be resisted by players who are higher level than you. Put your efforts into crowd controlling or slowing them, then escape.
- Don't waste consumables. Most of the time, that health or mana pot won't turn the tide -- and the expense can add up quickly.
- Cover your resurrection. When you return to your corpse after a death, resurrect as far from your corpse as possible, preferably behind a tree, bush or other cover. The moment you pop back to life, run for safety.
- Be aware of the danger zones. Stranglethorn Vale and Hillsbrad Foothills are notorious for their world PvP. If you are going to quest there, expect to get killed despite any and every precaution. Find out what areas are questionable on your own realm.
- Save quests in trouble zones until you're higher level. It's easier to fend off enemy players if you aren't generating level-based aggro from every monster in the immediate vicinity. Increase your control by saving quest lines in hotspots until the quests and monsters are green to you.
- Learn from each death. How did that enemy manage to take you out? Consider what you might do next time to make yourself less vulnerable to attack.
- Learn about the other classes. What can your enemies do to you? Read up about the abilities of other classes. (Try the class columns and guides here at WoW.com.)
WoW Rookie feeds you the basics to get you off to a good start in the World of Warcraft, from game lingo to joining your first guild and even what to do when you finally hit level 80.Filed under: Tips, Tricks, PvP, Features, Leveling, WoW Rookie
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
jfofla Jun 17th 2009 4:04PM
Tip 21:
Don't level on a PVP server. Spend the $25.00 to xfer if you must play on a PVP server after you hit 80.
Dreadskull Jun 17th 2009 4:12PM
That or don't bother at all with transferring to a PvP server if you're too lazy to level on one.
Quidamtyra Jun 17th 2009 4:24PM
my first character was leveled on a pvp server 4 years ago, I wouldn't have traded it for the world. I hated it while I was leveling, but I'm glad it was on a pvp server.
These are basic tips for everyone, not opinion-based "tips."
Worcester Jun 17th 2009 4:26PM
I agree with Dread. If you can't level on a PvP server, then you probably can't handle PvP at 80. Leveling on a PvP server, in my opinion, takes more skill and creates a more well-rounded player.
And I flag every character, even bank alts, at level 1!
oldwisemonk Jun 17th 2009 4:58PM
"If you can't level on a PvP server, then you probably can't handle PvP at 80"
I think I've leveled enough toons (pre-Wrath) on a PVP server to completely disagree with that statement. The only thing leveling on a PVP server has taught me is that it's a bit slower to level on a PVP server than a PVE server.
The main skill you learn on a PVP server is how to deal with gankings and camping. Out of probably 15 toons, from lvl 1-65 I'd say 99% of my world PVP deaths involved me being at a large disadvantage (Firetree Realm). And all of that changed comPLETEly towards end game. From 66-70, PVP was enjoyable. So I think the transfer mentatlity makes at least a little sense.
Worcester Jun 17th 2009 5:13PM
@oldwisemonk
If you've leveled a lot of characters, then perhaps your way might work. However, this article is aimed at WoW Rookies. For a first time player, I still would not recommend leveling on a PvE realm with the intent to transfer to a PvP realm. Aside from the probable lack of experience dealing with other players, it's just a different mentality on a PvP server. Can you imagine your first time doing dailies on a PvP server? Best to test the waters before jumping in.
oldwisemonk Jun 17th 2009 6:36PM
@Wor
I agree with you that there is a different mentality. I guess I'm saying you don't really learn any skills in the first 90% of the game that you wouldn't learn very quickly in the last 10%. I wouldn't say to transfer at 80, I'd say to transfer around 74 or so. That's plenty of time to learn the mentality, and then if there IS world PVP, you might actually have a chance to develop some skills as your opponents are less likely to be griefers.
And there are always battlegrounds along the way while leveling. Those helped prepare me for the switch to PVP realms just fine.
Aaron A. Jun 17th 2009 8:26PM
oldwisemonk said:
"The main skill you learn on a PVP server is how to deal with gankings and camping. Out of probably 15 toons, from lvl 1-65 I'd say 99% of my world PVP deaths involved me being at a large disadvantage"
That's exactly how it's been for me. Having leveled a handful of Alliance characters on PvE realms, I decided to try both a Horde character and a PvP realm. That character's bumping up on level 30, and he's never been Honor Killed out in the wild; every single world PvP death has been some bozo 1-2 shotting me because they have nothing better to do. I wouldn't exactly call that "electric anticipation," more like pointless aggravation.
McRaider Jun 18th 2009 7:00AM
I leveled my main on RPPvP realm... and didn't have fun. Leveling was terrible, because the notorious Zylos Hand guild (gankers, campers, etc.) and even tho I'm 80 I don't like it. Well that's my POV, affected by the fact that I'm a prot pally getting beaten by all sorts of casters. Prot pala is still pretttty bad against casters tho the recent patches have made mage-crushing easier. Fortunately I'm now leveling a warlock on the same realm and hopefully It'll be a nicer experience.
RG Jun 17th 2009 4:09PM
One thing I used to do when I was leveling on a PVP server was to detach the Combat log window, and set it next to the General window. I would watch the combat log for other people fighting (now I guess you would have to set it to show everything.) Sometimes that would alert me to another player in the vicinity.
Magma Jun 17th 2009 4:40PM
Theres an addon for that valled VanasKos.
Dere Jun 17th 2009 5:59PM
Also Carbonite has a punk alert that will mark where other Carbonite user have seen the "enemy." That can come in handy from time to time letting you know where the bad guy is and that you should go with care, or just not go at all. I don't really know how much skill there is in leveling on a pvp server per say, but i know that if you do happen to turn the tables and kill your would be ganker to get ready to move quick because they will be logging onto their 80 soon and coming after you. :)
Ianthe Jun 17th 2009 6:48PM
Recently I've found that the Peggle addon significantly reduced my ganking deaths.
Seriously though, having gone 1 - 80 on a PvP server this year i've found the best addons to be Carbonite for "punks" and FriendsWithBenefits so that your alts can automatically call for help from all your high-level friends.
But nothing frustrates a camper more than sitting there without getting to kill you - and knowing that you are online (there's a mod for that too, which tells you if the player has logged or if still floating around) - and a good round or two of peggle is usually enough.
jbodar Jun 17th 2009 7:54PM
When playing on a PVP server, Carbonite punks list and another addon, WatchTower are awesome.
It hasn't been updated in ages, but it's great for quick alerts to LocalDefense (or BG channel). I think it still works... it's been a while. Just watch your settings and don't spam.
http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info5393-WatchTower.html
Wowie Jun 17th 2009 4:12PM
Another piece of advice I was given was, "Choose a very short name." This way, your name tag will be a little tougher to see if you need to hide somewhere.
Hee!
impurezero Jun 17th 2009 4:40PM
The other day I saw a player who didn't appear to have a name at all. After trying to figure out how they turned their nameplate off...I finally realized that their name was indeed there. The problem was that their name was "Ii"
oddrez Jun 17th 2009 4:11PM
i don't really know about you guys, having played vanilla back in the day, I can see a point to this article then... now, I took a druid from 1 - 70+, world pvp is dead. Everyone just wants to get to lvl 80 as quickly as possible. Aside from minor spats here and there, world pvp on a pvp server is probably more of an oddity than the norm imho...
Reuben Jun 17th 2009 4:38PM
I leveled a gnome warlock to 80 and was ganked mercilessly the entire time. Whether or not you're going to have a smooth ride to 80, in my opinion, depends on the sort of people that inhabit your server.
In my case, world PVP is alive and well.
Docp Jun 17th 2009 4:53PM
That could just be a gnome thing, when I'm playing my Horde I'll ignore most people but gnomes are worth a gank, equally when playing alliance I'll target Blood Elfs just for fun. This could just be me though.
Bob Jun 17th 2009 6:11PM
I've leveled about 15 toons on PvP servers (Dunemaul and AM), and I have to disagree. World PvP is definitely not dead. Unfortunately, World PvP between players of similar level probably is. If you're out questing on a non-80 and come across another non-80 they will probably leave you alone, in my experience, unless you are in the way. On the other hand, the 80's who have nothing to do before their raid but camp lowbie zones will not. They will kill you and camp you. And if you manage to pull a higher level character into it, then they will cry like a baby to their friends and you wind up with 10 of them camping you instead of the one. My advice, again YMMV, if you're being ganked (which is pretty much the only World PvP running these days), just wait them out or go do something else. No amount of skill or luck will help you win and fighting back just makes it more enjoyable for them.