Breakfast Topic: How has Battleground experience been working out for you?
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Aug 31st 2009 at 8:00AM
Since we didn't have a WRUP this weekend, I'll go ahead and tell you what I did: leveled alts using Alterac Valley. Just a few hours of play, and the levels were flying past without a care, even with only about a 50% win rate. And those times we won fast? Hoo Boy. 100-150k experience for about 10 minutes of work is nothing to sneeze at.
It might be possible that I could have leveled up quicker by loading up a few questing addons and buckling down, but I found PvPing a lot more fun and relaxing for some reason, and I don't think questing would have been all that much quicker.
Anyhow, there are downsides to this method of leveling. You get no gold and you get no gear upgrades. But then again, I have a main who can grab a few hundred gold per day on dailies alone, and with all the honor I'm grabbing, I can just half outfit myself in PvP gear once I hit 80 anyway. So I may just use PvP to gain levels more often.
What about you? Have you been leveling alts via Battlegrounds? What do you think this whole leveling via PvP thing?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, PvP, Breakfast Topics, Leveling, Alts, Battlegrounds
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
tommy Aug 31st 2009 8:05AM
I'd like to see a level 80-only option for the battlegrounds. I'm not opposed to leveling up toons in the BGs but now when I go into AV and 80% of the players are below level 75, it's slightly frustrating.
However, I guess I can pick up that Wrecking Ball achievement a little easier now...
Camo Aug 31st 2009 8:25AM
Yep but at least av is now full.. sometimes. :\
For the low BGs: it's annoying. The xp reward is a lot less than questing and you end up without gear.. and of course there are not many choices where to go. It's ab and wsg over and over.
jessica.a.rosa Aug 31st 2009 8:51AM
nice
Xiol Aug 31st 2009 9:14AM
@Narshe
Your comments never contribute anything to the discussion, and they're always replying to the first comment on the page.
Anyone would think you're just trying to spam links to your doodles.
Kaphik Aug 31st 2009 9:18AM
Uh, there always was a lot of people below 80 in AV. They were there grinding up honor so they could get or have available pvp gear right at 80.
I always love when people cry about "low levels" in battlegrounds. It's usually the people who are getting outperformed by someone a few levels lower than them that cry the most.
SarahTheGnome Aug 31st 2009 10:53AM
Possibly AV has always been like that for you, but in my battlegroup, AV was level 80 only, and sometimes you would find a stray lvl76 in there, but that was it.
I don't mind lower levels being in there, I don't get outskilled by them. What I do find sad, is that I one shot them. I try not to touch them but when they attack, well... I have to defend myself. And there they go, easiest kill ever.
So I don't QQ about being outclassed, I QQ about being handicapped when on my side there are many low levels, or when they are on the other side and I know it is super frustrating for them to get one shotted constantly.
Don't always assume you know people's motives for complaining, it just doesn't feel nice one shotting people, it really doesn't.
Nick S Aug 31st 2009 12:10PM
At first, I was very much annoyed by the lower-level characters in AV. It was hardly fun to roll into a tower 5v3 and lose because it was one 80 and 4 72s against three 80s in PvP gear. As a healer, it was particularly frustrating - you can't heal players who are dying in a global as soon as they're attacked. But I've re-evaluated a bit.
AV is a lot more accessible now - you get in almost instantly during peak hours, and hardly have to wait long even at off-peak times. When you do get in, people are more motivated to win than ever, thanks to the way the XP works. In fact, it might be the first thing Blizzard has *ever* done to truly encourage effective tactical play in AV.
Charlie Aug 31st 2009 3:52PM
@Nick S
Never thought of it that way. Good points.
Im still going to stick to IoC though. It's more fun, and since we always win, and its faster, its the same amount of honor .
Plus i think i have somewhere around 60-70 AV marks, and very few of the others. Lol.
Ryan Sep 1st 2009 4:50AM
I level'd 78-80 in AV as a resto druid and the xp was amazing. I timed 79-80 exactly and i turned up at 5 hours 11 minutes and 36 seconds. I dont know how much exp per hour that is but i can tell you i mad a little over 2 bars per game if i won and about 1.9 bars if i lost. and 1 bar if the team never capped any towers or did anything.
zaababy Aug 31st 2009 8:06AM
I made a warlock specifically for leveling in the bgs and I'm having fun so far. She just hit 17 last night. Leveling is a little slower than questing. It's nice to take a break from all the endgame monotonous nauseous raiding for better gear I have on my 80s. It's nice to see people of all levels playing now, instead of all *9s. We still have the occasional twink drop in, but they are obviously going to level so I just dot fear and run. It's still fun!
Itanius Aug 31st 2009 8:09AM
I leveled my Shaman through AV this weekend and the money & gear issue is a concern. Although, once you reach 80 you should be able to buy at least 2 pieces of PvP gear and some crafted epics off the AH. Then, head to Icecrown and Storm Peaks to do a few choice quest chains to get some decent gold, rep and a few crappy blues before you head into the instance game.
Or, just keep PvPing your heart out and gear up that way. It'll be hard to mix the two.
Hu Aug 31st 2009 8:12AM
The idea is good, but I wish we had a level 80 bracket for all the BGs. Previously AV was crowded with clueless people, now it's crowded with clueless low level people. On the other hand, the opposite faction also gets their share.
Maus Aug 31st 2009 8:16AM
BG XP is a farce. Double / Triple please, it doesn't justify the time investment.
Pantyraider Aug 31st 2009 1:13PM
I'd have to agree. Battleground experience isn't remotely close to questing experience. It's easy to quest and hit 700k-800k experience/hour. PVP I'd be lucky to be at 100k experience after an hours worth of play. And that's winning a vast majority.
Cynwise Aug 31st 2009 4:24PM
I've found that grinding ogres in Nagrand gives much better XP ROI than Alterac Valley for the 61-70 bracket. The XP in battlegrounds feels like a tip more than an actual reward.
Chase Aug 31st 2009 8:20AM
Seems like everyone talks about lvling in AV. is that were all the EXP is at? whats the average EXP you get in AB, or WG? Since my mage is only 32 i get more exp lvling the old fashioned way. but once AV pops up for me is it faster going through AV? what are some of the average exp you get in places other than AV? Love to here feedback on this.
Cetha Aug 31st 2009 8:28AM
When try first announced bg exp I made a rogue to lvl up during bgs. However she's just in her 20s and WSG and AB just don't seem to give enough to make it worth it. However my DK went all the way from 76-77 in 2 hours last night with rested exp and only winning about half the games we played. She also has the heirloom shoulders and so is getting 18880 exp per bg objective. I fear the nerf bat soon.
Darky Aug 31st 2009 9:12AM
its only really good for 71+ i got form 74->80 in 3 days doing nothing but AV, then u go back and quest through everything and you end up with more gold than if you did it the normal way
extramedium Aug 31st 2009 9:31AM
Exactly, if you level in AV you get a ton of honor, then you can go back and do the quests you missed for double the gold or whatever. It's a win win.. as long as you can stand doing yet more AV in yet another bracket.
Darky Sep 1st 2009 10:20AM
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