Guest Post: Guild wars pit friend against friend
by Emily Valentine 
Aug 7th 2010 at 12:00PM
World of Warcraft is a social game. Blizzard made this clear with the recent addition of the Real ID system. I myself have made use of this. Being an officer in several small roleplaying guilds on both Alliance and Horde sides of Cenarion Circle (US), I have found that there is a great bit of planning and organization required in running official guild wars. Currently, the Alliance guild I am an officer in is in a heated battle with a Horde-side guild. Both are roleplaying guilds. Both guilds (in the roleplaying sense) have similar ideas -- both are pro-Horde/pro-Alliance, respectively. One may hate the other side more than the other, but the hate is there.
These guild wars bring a certain fun dynamic to the game. Having a sworn nemesis, whether it is for a character of your creation or a friend from an opposing faction, is just a great way to enjoy the game. Plotting someone's demise, thinking of strategies to take him down? It adds another layer to an already multifaceted world. However, there are a few tips I have noticed that really help with these particular battles. Some things come in handy in a roleplaying context; others focus on fair play, so that people will want to continue to the "war" and not just want to ignore/report your taunts!
Remember the other players
This is something that my Alliance-side guild drills into the minds of our new recruits. This is a game everyone wants to play. We want other people to keep playing with us. Corpse camping and blue-flagging are bannable offenses. Why is this? Mainly because it takes away from the enjoyment of other players. Flight masters are generally off limits, as well, as are starting areas (level 1-6 areas; Goldshire and Crossroads are fair game!). If someone is 10 or more levels below you? Don't attack first.
Of course, all of these are commonsense ideas. Remember, there are human beings on the other side of the computer, controlling their characters. You can hate the character as much as you want, but don't hate the player! Others want to have fun, just like you.
Communication is key
If you want to arrange a planned battle, you need to communicate with your other players. If you are comfortable with it, I suggest sharing your email for Real ID; if not, use various other ways to keep in touch. Use your realm's forums; make a thread to chat about times, locations and rules of engagement. If you're a roleplayer, make a thread to keep a log, and update (in character) all of your engagements with the opposing faction. Roll a toon on the opposing faction so you can hop over and chat with the other leaders and players in game. Exchange AIM/YIM/MSN screen names. Use Vent or Mumble to chat with people from the other side while you are fighting. There are even some people who use Skype to keep in touch with their guildmates; you can also do this to keep in touch with folks from the other side.
Roleplayers: Don't rush to combat
Sometimes you may want to go right into the fight. You want to see the bad guys dead, right? But remember, there is a story to be told! It's always fun to see an exchange of words before you go for each other's throats. I know my realm has a roleplaying guild that can help with this sort of thing -- they provide neutral translators. This is a great way to not only integrate more roleplayers into your ongoing storyline, but to also clear up communication and add that extra touch, rather than simply going for one another's throats.
Consider locations, as well. If your guilds are respectively based out of Stormwind and Undercity, setting a battle for Hillsbrad Foothills makes sense, whereas Ashenvale may not make quite as much sense. Remember, roleplaying is about a community making a story together. If you're doing RP-PvP, whether it is on a RP or RP-PvP realm, you still are a part of this story.Rushing into combat could affect not only your reputation as a player, but your character's reputation in the world.
To sum it all up: In order to create an active war that will be fun for everyone, you really want to keep your "enemies" close. Some of these people may turn out to be wonderful people and become a big part of your gaming experience. You know the old adage, Keep your friends close and your enemies closer? To be successful in game and keep guild wars fun, you probably want your enemies to be your friends!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
shadowhowl1900 Aug 7th 2010 12:06PM
for a second, i thought you were talking about the game Guild Wars
BritishBulldog Aug 7th 2010 2:25PM
Damnit... that's not what it was about?
I better go read again, will make more sense this time!
Mummrah Aug 10th 2010 5:07PM
Love the name. Here's to hoping we can get a Brandon Walsh or an Andrea Zuckerman to come out of the woodworks to write another guest post.
ofb2632 Aug 7th 2010 12:18PM
As a guild, we should be able to declare war on another guild. If that guild accepts the challenge, then both guilds are automatically pvp for the other guild at any time for the duration of the challenge.. in dungeons.. in battlegrounds, in org.. anywhere, anytime!!
After the select amount of time, then the winning guild is declared.
elliott.432 Aug 7th 2010 4:53PM
i Love this idea. Makes pvp more interesting
Iirdan Aug 7th 2010 12:45PM
I wish these nasty dark spots would get deleted. I like to see lots of blue at the top, not darkness.
chrisaw Aug 7th 2010 1:08PM
On topic, however, I think guild vs guild battles would be a very interesting feature. I certainly prefer that to the more girly "tag team wrestling" style of arena! A battle being... y'know... a battle!
Jonisjalopy Aug 7th 2010 1:25PM
Are you still here?
vinniedcleaner Aug 7th 2010 1:22PM
Wish this could be nearer to the top...
The paragraph titled 'Remember the other players' should be burned into the forehead of every ganker/griefer in the game. The one thing I might add is not to take advantage of someone that you outgear in addition to outlevel. Just because someone doesn't have the time to play that others have, doesn't preclude their right to have fun.
Krz Aug 7th 2010 11:10PM
That's about as likely as total world peace.
MikeMachine Aug 7th 2010 1:58PM
The comment about the guild that provides a go between translation really brings up my thought that blizz should offer a "Dip?omacy" proffession. It could be a secondary or primary proffession, sayh making money through allowing players access on a limited basis to opposing factions AH and allowing them to cross sell, or even just equip faction specific items, like horde using mechano striders.
Ronin Aug 7th 2010 2:25PM
That would seem to go against their desire to keep the two sides separate and unable to communicate. Why would they create a profession that allowed select individuals to bypass that?
MikeMachine Aug 7th 2010 2:44PM
I realize that is their goal. But its my opinion and a thought I have that it should be present in the game. From a pure role playing perspective there are many this profession from a role-play perspective would be an awesome tool for many players who wish to play their character along these lines. Looking outside of role-play, the access to cross faction items, even if they were just vanity pets, would be seen as instantly desirable to some players. Making it a primary profession would also limit the players taking the profession to just those that wanted it, cutting down on everyone running around talking to the other faction.
DeathPaladin Aug 7th 2010 2:40PM
Being someone who does not engage in PvP (last time I did any PvP activity was Winter Veil, and I never finished the PvP achievement because I got bored with it), I had to look up blue-flagging.
Having looked it up, I will admit that there was one time where I did technically blue-flag someone. I was in a group getting ready to run Culling of Stratholme, and the group was still gathering (this was pre-Dungeon Finder). On the way to the portal, I noticed that one of the group members was flagged and that they got killed. When I arrived, I found a Horde group that I assume was also gathering. A Protection Warrior and a clothie (I think it was a mage). They were corpse camping the member of my group. So I ran over to the clothie, popped all my trinkets and cooldowns, blue-flagged, and burst him down. Then I occupied the attention of the Warrior in an epic Protection vs. Blood DK duel (also known as two immovable objects colliding) until the camped party member respawned and the rest of my party arrived, at which point the Warrior was beaten into the ground and my party took the Caverns of Time taxi before the rest of the Horde group could arrive.
What I did was blue-flagging, but in my personal opinion it's in a little more of a gray area than what people traditionally think when they think blue-flagging. I guess it's a question of whether blue-flagging to stop someone from corpse-camping is acceptable. Basically whether two wrongs make a right.
MikeMachine Aug 7th 2010 2:42PM
I realize that is their goal. But its my opinion and a thought I have that it should be present in the game. From a pure role playing perspective there are many characters that want peace, and this profession from a role-play perspective would be an awesome tool for many players who wish to play their character along these lines. Looking outside of role-play, the access to cross faction items, even if they were just vanity pets, would be seen as instantly desirable to some players. Making it a primary profession would also limit the players taking the profession to just those that wanted it, cutting down on everyone running around talking to the other faction.
MikeMachine Aug 7th 2010 2:46PM
My appologies, please down vote this comment I meant to reply above on my original comment.
WTB delete option.
DeathPaladin Aug 7th 2010 2:46PM
I've personally wished that there was a way to become basically neutral, where you can be friendly with both Horde and Alliance. My own personal idea would be that, however becoming neutral is activated, it permanently locks the character out of PvP. No battlegrounds, no arenas, no Wintergrasp, not allowed to attack any flagged PC or NPC, cannot participate in world PvP like Halaa or Eastern Plaguelands. Character would also be unable to be in or transfer to a PvP server.
Unfortunately, the game cannot support that mechanically, and with the changes in Cataclysm, it would not be able to support it lore-wise, either.
DeathPaladin Aug 7th 2010 2:47PM
This was originally a comment at MikeMachine's "Diplomacy Profession" comment.
Am I allowed to blue-flag this comment system?
Jamz Aug 7th 2010 3:22PM
Actually it is possible in game, just think of the Steamwheedle Cartle and Bloodsails, or Scryer and Aldor, so the mechanic does exist, i also think there should be freedom to join w/e faction you want. Downgrade/troll me if u want, but in almost every war there are ppl that join their people's enemy. Yeh the horde will be full of worgen....maybe...but i think that would be fun to have an alliance orc fighting a horde orc and all the brutal comments they would say to each other.....DO THIS BLIZZARD!
MrJackSauce Aug 7th 2010 7:52PM
"...in almost every war there are ppl that join their people's enemy..."
In WoW I believe that's called "Rolling a Toon on the Opposite Faction" or "Paid Faction Change"