Spark post… not ‘linkage’ for a change, see I’m learning the blog jargon – it’s only taken me most of a year bwahahahah… yep this post is going to be a spark post where the ideas caught light from a post by Slig over at For The Horde. (Side thought, as I can’t seem to exist without them, multiple bloggers seem to be a most cleaver idea for keeping a site live and healthy eh.)
Anyhows they all be messing with alliance characters on a PVP server over there, and the things they say are right in line with my own experiences of starting up on a PVP server – particularly things like the whole hunter adrenaline rush from keeping an eye on your humanoid-radar-pimped mini-map as you race though contested zones to points of safely… only to experience a quiet trip… then get walloped when you are least expecting it.
But Slig raises an interesting point, what are the etiquettes, the protocols, and the customs of behaviour on the PVP server? When does a person cross the line and kill the guy on the other side of the fence? What the hell are the rules?
I’d like to say “there are no rules” all there is to guide you are the patterns of behaviour. And even knowing the patterns it’s really not a clear cut scenario because you have to factor in the individual.
For example: Let’s say you are a little alliance gnome (hee hee yes lets use a gnome) catching a ride from booty bay to ratchet and suddenly standing next to a great hairy Tauren, who so out-levels you that all you can see where his numberplate should be is the little skull of doom. Now Mr. Level-Death Tauren could come over there and thunderstomp your alliance arse into the deck any time he wants to just to look at the pretty colours and /spit on your corpse… oh yeah, and he may just go there if you give him a reason, particularly if he has had a bad hair day.
Mind you I find Taurens as a race to be a weirdly fluffy bunch of guys and girls, probably because they are mostly druids where I come from – I swear they would all buff the alliance as well if they could. The ones you really gotta watch are those undead rogues, you just know they rolled forsaken because that class makes the smallest PVP target horde side before the BElfs rocked up.
Back to my super example (which has mostly been ‘borrowed’ from Slig’s post :p), so what are the factors in this PVP behavioural equation?
Numbers
Look around; how many of the enemy can you see? (Keep in mind, for the sake of fostering a healthly sense of paranoia, that you may be surrounded by unseen types like rogues, druids and people on flying contraptions.)
You are both alone (”As far as you can tell” cackle.)
Honestly this is a biggy; a group of enemies is a bigger threat because they feel safer as a group and because some dick will inevitable decide to show off by popping off the nearby lowbie with something showy… that has fireworks attached. Being outnumbered is bad, being near an instance group of the opposing faction will result in skirmishes, being near a raid group of enemies… certain doom! (It’s all about mob mentality. Kinda like sharks really, the more of them there are, the more in the shit you can consider yourself; one wrong move and the feeding frenzy will start.)
So numbers, in this case they are nothing to write home about = One point for the gnome to live.
Location
Still looking? Well case the joint carefully for any possible exits or other sources of trouble. Do you see the bones of your people lying about the deck? Are alarms flashing up over the local defense channel about recent carnage? Do you see any kinda of NPC guard support, are they in a frenzy of movement? Where the hell are you anyway? what’s that area like as a trouble hotspot?
You are on a booty bay boat.
Ganking in the goblin cities is something people traditionally avoided because as a general rule they didn’t want a negative rep with the cartel or to have to deal with a bazillion incoming gobbling, netting and dazing goblin guards. Okay so some rare sorts would go out of their way to see this as a challenge to outsmart the guards, and these days there’s that whole rep achievement silliness messing up the equation. On top of that there is the fact that an end game pally could probably whale on hordes of goblin guards all day without taking a break, well… the guards are no longer really much of deterrence. But tradition would say that unless there has been a bit of a faction war in the area recently or theres a raid coming through you should be reasonably safe on the boat.
You on the booty bay boat eh. Not quite as safe as your own alliance ships, but it looks like a quiet day in booty bay – the Horde and Alliance are used to rubbing shoulders in this area. Hmmm let’s say = half a point for the gnome to live.
Competition for resources
Or rather it’s like dealing with muggers or ..hmmm pirates. Do you have anything he wants? Are you going to try and take something he wants, like a node or a herb or a mob?
You got nothing that tauren wants… cept maybe fear and a dead toon body.
This is another interesting one – an enemy player is more likely to gank you if it is obvious that you are running around acquiring mobs, rep items, or raw materials that he wants, “farmer toons” are even more likely to put you in the dirt because frankly killing you saves them time. On the other let’s say you are doing a daily like the argent tournament quest “At the Enemy’s Gates” where it really helps to have someone throw a few spears at the dude on the horse for you, anyway in cases like this an enemy player may help you out in the hopes that you will lend a hand when they engage the same mobs. Kinda a case of ‘I’ll scratch your back in the hopes that you’ll scratch mine’.
So that’s another point into the gnome lives column.
Class
What Class is the enemy you are standing next to? A Paladin? Run Away! A rogue? Sweat a bit… watch him… did he just stealth? Run Away! A Death Knight? Are you standing far enough away that they might be tempted to hit death grip? Maybe you should go stand in their toon bodies, or out range, or head back to the dock.
You are standing next to a doofy tauren warrior.
Class can play a big in the gank factor. Classes that are good at ganking have often been rolled for exactly that purpose on a PVP server. Keep your eye on patch changes, I think all of us on PVP servers can remember the reaction of the pally population to the changes they made to the retribution tree (no really the paladins all went mad.) The Pally reckons people still run away from him when he is out and about on his Paladin character because they think he might specced as a RET-Pally.
Our gnome is probably pretty safe. I can’t say I know of warriors having any particular reputation as a class full of gankage. That’s another point in the gnome gets to live column.
The movement factor
Is he moving? Are you moving?
You just made a friendly /wave emote.
Honestly the movement factor can go either way. If he’s moving he is not AFK and thus could hit the thunderstomp button, even by accident… yeah you might want to shuffle out of range in case he does that. If you’re moving then you are drawing attention to yourself – this could be good, I mean was that movement you taking off your shirt? Can he see your toon bra now O_O Yup I’m pretty sure those are more interesting moving then dead on the deck (of course Mr LvlDeath may be a lady’s toon and she may get pissed at you giving gnome girls an easy reputation – hmmm you can’t really win on the movement angle can you?) Or it could be bad … I mean – bouncy rogue? Some people just gotta stop it from bouching. Also moving targets can be more tantalizing then AFK targets.
Your chances of living have gone up – one point for the clever gnome who knows how to work that charisma.
Level
Oh God it’s a level death!
Yeah this one would probably work in your favour actually – if the other guy is so much higher a level than killing you probably wouldn’t offer much sport. I mean maybe if he was really really bored or maybe if they were trying to stir up some world PVP in that area – but really man if it’s a level death you are just going to be a blip on the radar.. yup it’ll be ‘blip’ and you’ll be looking down at your see-though hands wondering if it’s worth the effort to click the release button or if you should just go make a cheese sandwich.
Maybe if he subscribes to the “If its red its dead” philosophy you might have a problem… but then you would probably be dead already if that was the case. To be honest anyone within 5 levels of you (either way) is much more of a threat… cause they may decide they want to test their skills and the only reason they haven’t laid into you already is because they are girding their loins and trying to compare gear stats.
Thats another point to gnome longevity. Pretty dull affair eh?
By now you’ve probably arrived in Ratchet and the Tauren has wandered off to take a flight path… bet he was mounted and got there faster too – its rough being under 30 isn’t it?

Congratulations on surviving little fictional gnome!
Now lets roll over to that Tauren guy and shove a mike in his face before he lands in Un’Goro:
“Hey man, why didn’t you kill that gnome?”
“Eh… well normally I kill any Alliance I see. Except gnomes… my girlfriend plays a gnome. AndIguesstheyarekindacute. Look don’t tell my guild mates or I’ll break your face!”
“Yeah okay… that’s…pretty random”
Lastly let’s look at the “when is it okay for you to gank” question:
Whenever you want to really.
Whenever you feel like you can get away with it.
A lot of the factors above will probably influence your decision on when you might gank someone. The safest thing on a PVP server is to get the first shot, but I’m a bit of a cream puff about that.
Yeah I find I’m most likely to gank a lowbie if I see them camping or causing trouble and I always pitch in if I see a fight going down… even if I’m not sure who started.