Kinless' Chronicles

On War.

It's not easy going to enough battlegrounds with two characters to level up their ranks. (And I also need to take my wife's character, Droonda, since we both think Grunt is the least desireable of rank titles. Sergeant will be fine. And she's not a PvPer.)

Most of the time last night was spent with Msaker. Making Rank 6 last week, he's got his sights on 7. That should be doable. Rank 8 would be nice, but so would sleep.

Three battles in Alterac Valley, three losses.

Okay, I'll be the first to admit. I am not the best at PvP. I swing a big polearm, and that's about it. I personally can't ninja a tower, nor could I personally, and alone, capture a graveyard. It just won't happen. For that, my fellow Hordemates, I apologize. See, I figure this string of losses must be my fault. Because I know I suck. And I know since I can't accomplish any of the things required on my own, it must all be my fault.

Or, if it's intended to be a group thing, then, frankly, you all suck too. (Surely 39 of you aren't given a hall pass to go fishing while I try my best?)

In these three battles I never saw anyone swing off to defend Galv. (My fault, because when I play Alliance I do see that occasionally.) We race, like hells bells were hounding us, to Stonehearth. Woot! Then we take the low road and get bogged down trying to take Stormpike Graveyard.

Any of you read your battlegrounds chat? Does "TAKE THE HIGH ROAD" not make sense? High is not the low road.

You know that meat grinder we run into every time? That's the low road.

You know how you can sneak around the hill and assault the flag direct? That's where you can get to via the high road. You can also drop onto their cemetery from the high road.

Two battles we don't even take Stormpike Graveyard. We couldn't manage it. Now that second battle I recalled and was part of a really good defense of Frostwolf. It last like an hour. But defense can only buy you time. It can't win a battle for you. That's the job of offense. I know you all aren't fishing. What's up?

The third battle started the same. Except there was no defense. We raced north, got Stonehearth and then assaulted Stormpike Graveyard, and actually took it. Self-congratulatory back slapping "See, that's how it's done." turns into offense fighting the rest of the battle on the bridge. "RIDE PAST THEIR FLAG AND FIGHT IN THEIR GRAVEYARD!" Okay. Sounds good. Except there's a sea of red names between me and that. So I do it anyway. I ride. And about where the flag is I've been rooted, stunned, ice trapped, frost novaed, poisoned, soul drained, pyroblasted, and just plain hosed. Thank you, Sir, may I have another?

See, good advice, but perhaps it's my lack of skill, I can't do it alone, and, frankly, I didn't see any of you with me. When 10 Alliance concentrate on me, a few of you could get through.

I do that five times. Not being a ranged fighter the bridge battle kind of sucks. I charged one hunter over and over, but since he's got a healer I wound up rooted, stunned, ice trapped, frost novaed, poisoned, soul drained, pyro... you get the picture.

This isn't a battle for me. I recall to turn in all the armor scraps. I've collected loads. Frostwolf remains defended. The keep that is. The graveyard has been long in the hands of the Alliance. We defend there for almost an hour. It was absolutely a blast. Holding that passage up between the two towers... None shall pass. Okay, the Paladins always can. Their freaking bubbles. (Aka How to keep four idiots busy: Send a Pally through. But, then again, it's not like we shouldn't try to stop him. Freaking bubbles. There'll be tears in Stormwind Cathedral the day the Blood Knights show up!)

Our offense remains on the bridge for an hour. Eventually the Alliance mount up, and to a man, ride into the keep. All of them. We can't stop that.

Shoot. Look at that. All of them, in unison, storm the keep. And we can't stop a one. That would be like mounting up, riding past the flag at the aid station, and fighting in their graveyard in Stormpike. Alliance can do it, Horde can't.

Defense doesn't win battles. Offense does. We ran out of time and lost.

That's three battles, three losses, most of the night.

Arcarius needs a little more honor this week too. So Msaker goes to bed a broken Orc, and I sign Arcarius up for AV, and then head out to the burning steps for some grinding while I wait for the invite.

When AV pops I'm dreading a long drawn out battle like Msaker faced. Somebody says in bg chat "Last fight was 2 1/2 hours." My friend Nachmahd was in that battle I think. I, thankfully, missed that one. "Let's not turtle," somebody else says. "No, let's not," says another. Hear, hear.

So, we ride out and head south. Past Snowfall (captured) to Galv. He's undefended and we take his lieutenants, and then him. (Stonehearth is taken by the Horde.) Some defenders show up late and we kill them. We then move to Iceblood Graveyard and take that. Tower Point is next. We're killing Horde stragglers riding north. Tower Point taken, we ride to Frostwolf which is wrapping up in our favor. Taken we ride up into Frostwolf Keep and take the towers. There's no defense. (Stormpike Graveyard is taken by the Horde.) Across the little bridge we assault the Relief Hut, and take it. (Four minutes later the Horde take the Aid Station.) We pull Warlord's one by one, and kill the odd defender that shows up via recall. Quickly the Warlords are down and the leader says "ALL IN." Drek doesn't stand a chance. 23 minutes and Alliance wins.

Again, in AV, in a race, Alliance wins.

Again, in AV, defense can't win your battles.

(And an earlier AB with Msaker was no better. Absolute silence as people ride out. I figure, "Whatever, I only need 1 token for the turn-in." Towards the end of the battle I'm wearing my tuxedo and fighting with my fishing pole. Look, if I were on a team that were actually trying, I'd try too. If not, I'm going to have my fun. No coordination, no planning, no holding what you got. No call outs. BS BS BS. That's right, "Bullshit." The Alliance steamrolled us. I wore a tuxedo. I even remarked in bg chat that the only reason I wasn't wearing my birthday suit, instead of my tux, is because I didn't have the bag space. I personally can't be expected to take 3 resources, and flippin' hold them. You wanna do what you wanna do? So will I. "Whatevah, I do what I want!" as Cartman once remarked. And, don't forget, in AB, defense will win your battles.)