Kinless' Chronicles

Questing myself into a quandry following quarrel resolutions.

Last night Nachmahd, Droonda, and Msaker journeyed up to the frozen valleys of Winterspring. Droonda and Msaker first worked on the Deadwood Furbolgs of Northern Felwood for the Timbermaw guy outside the entrance to the Timbermaw Hold. (We were already Unfriendly with them and had passage, but we have quests requiring that we be Neutral with them first before continuing.) On completing that, we rode through the tunnel and collected the quests to kill the Winterfall Furbolgs of Winterspring. We hooked up with Nachmahd near the warm springs and cleared the camps. Then the Dorf lady, Snowden, sent Msaker and Nachmahd up to kill the Chief of the Winterfall, and Droonda joined us to work on Ursas and Shamans. (She being one quest behind us.) A group comprising of a Warrior and two Shamans, out doing non-instance quests , is a force to be reckoned with. I didn't really realize the Winterfall Chief is a level 59 Elite. Nachmahd and Msaker are 58, Droonda 52. No problem. We actually attacked him and his buddies a second time because he is accompanied by an Ursa and a Shaman as well. Break their bones. Slay them all.

After Nachmahd and Droonda departed, leaving Msaker to his own devices, he journeyed into Alterac Valley. Twice. For two loses. In my days there, and since my add-on has been recording the info, Horde vs. Alliance in Alterac Valley is 13 to 20. Getting to the point where Alliance win twice the number of fights Horde does. Lately it feels like they win all the fights. This isn't just me talking. Check out all the blogs and they'll say the same.

Horde, take note: In a race, and you DO NOT put up a Defence, Alliance will win.

Because the Alliance will actually defend their stuff, with just a handful of gnomes. We need to defend some things. Galv for instance. That's Defend, D-E-F-E-N-D. Look it up, you'll find it in Websters. They hold onto their stuff with a handful of people, and we rush north. And your forces will get throttled at the low road to the SPGY, stymied, because you REFUSE to take the high road, and Alliance wins. Again and again.

Again, in a race, Alliance wins. There are exceptions, but mostly Alliance wins. Mostly.

So I suffered twice in AV, "Oh, the agony," and got 3 AV marks in my bag. Ah, relief. It's getting late but do I have time for a quick WSG? I'm actually nearly friendly with them. (AV rep is earned SOOOOO MUCH FASTER than either of the other reps. Why is that? Something's amiss here.)

So I wind up in a WSG game. PUG vs. PUG. (50-59 bracket, but of course. Who twinks their 50's?) We've got no coordination. We just kind of all ride out, head north to the Elvish side. Well, it's a bit of a long game. I fought a few times in the Alliance flag room. Never grabbing the flag, but keep folks busy while our runners did. I escorted the flag carrier more than once across the field into our base. I stayed back and provided some delay if chasers got close. My favorite moments were, upon hearing our flag getting captured, returning to the tunnel and retaking the flag. I defended towards the end, scything through Alliance bold enough to die gloriously to our defenses. I cut through Alliance forces from their flag room to ours and everywhere inbetween. Ice Barbed Spear, now with a +5 damage enchantment, thanks to my wife's enchanter, in hand, an Orcish battlecry in my heart, I came out top scorer. 37 Killing Blows versus the next highest player who had 27 Killing Blows which happened to be an Alliance Mage. Granted, I had 18 some deaths, almost the highest deaths count, but, booyah, Msaker did good. And I wasn't farming kills. I was actively recovering flags. Actively defending runners. Actively putting up delays. Actively defending. Active. A few elves felt my wrath. (That gnome mage only died once.) I had 14 kills against some Nelf Rogue with Crusader and Fiery enchants. (His swords looked like light sabers.) I had 10 or 12 kills against some Nelf Warrior with some Trident thing, also with Fiery enchant on it. It's not about the Killing Blows now. I know that. It's about winning. We did that. 3 for us, 0 for them.

Now here's my quandry, this is what's bothering me now.

At level 58 I can hold my own, and then some, in low level crafted gear (2 pieces of Imperial Plate, shoulders and helm (I purchased)), some cheap purchases off the auction house (2 pieces of the Valor set, bracers and belt, and some nice greens), and the Ice Barbed Spear, which happens to be freaking awesome. (I want 2 pieces from the PvP set, the boots and gloves.) Gear matters.

I've got to complete my Sunken Temple quests, and then I have the entire slew of quests in Blackrock Mountain and in the Plaguelands. (LBRS/UBRS/Scholo/Strat. I.e. get my Tier 0 set.)

But if I keep questing, and Ding 60, then I'm done, for a long time, in WSG and AB. Because Gear matters. And in the 60 Bracket, if you aren't in BWL gear, or wielding Warlord weaponry, then you're in Molten Core gear, and wielding ZG and MC weaponry. A level 60 in auction house gear is going to be the guy who runs back and gets tea and biscuits for the real guys in the real gear. I don't know, maybe not. At 60 I *will* have my The Unstoppable Force. (And a respec from Polearm specialization to Mace specialization. I am a Mortal Strike Warrior. I can eat Fury Warriors for lunch. Trust me. I've done it. It's close, but I mostly prevail. At least those in my bracket.) At 60 I *will* have an Immovable Object. Maybe at 60 I can then concentrate again on the dungeons, leave WSG and AB behind for a bit, and concentrate on AV for the honor I need to feed the machine.

We keep our ranks when the ranks go away. I want to be an old soldier, with scars, and the honorary title above my head. "Champion" Msaker, perhaps, if I can reach that, and at least First Sergeant as of this week. I'll be a titled veteran of the wars, and what is more appropriate in a world of Warcraft?