Idiots, Slander, and Patch Notes
Idiots are everywhere. Politics (both sides), grocery stores, toll-booths, police cars (sometimes in the front, sometimes in the back), movie theaters, and at the Rockettes Christmas Special in the seat right next to me whistling with the music (whistling? REALLY?!?). The last place I want to see idiots is in a group with me when I am in a Warzone.
Unfortunately, I like to play for the Republic.
You see, on the Imperial side, I think there are people that really love PvP. They spend a good amount of time there, they focus, and they use strategy. They learn the playing field. I think I’ve seen more Imps go straight for a health pickup than I have Lightsiders. They use teamwork and determination to excel at whatever Warzone they are in.
More on point, last night Chipchops and I were playing with our smugglers in an Alderaan Civil War. We haven’t played together before, but we are both pretty experienced in PvP. When we started off, we had a fairly decent plan: take left and right turrets and hold them. Simple, easy to remember. The middle turret is too difficult to take and hold, due to its proximity to the respawn areas. Chipchops and I go secure the left turret, and where is everyone else? In the middle, getting their butts handed to them by the sorcerers. When asked why they weren’t going for the right side, they responded with some interesting quotes.
- Me: “If we get our act together, we can still win, but we only need two at the left turret. Everyone should be taking right side at this moment.”
- Some guy in response, let’s call him LazyGuy: “I’m just here for the XP, I don’t really care if we win or lost. [sic]”
- Me: “I would like to win, and we can, if everyone heads right. Mid is too hard to hold.”
- Another person, lets call them Stereotyper: “We should just have fun. That is a Wowist attitude. This is just a game, no need to be mean.”
So let me get this straight. I played WoW for about 3 months about 8 years ago. And because I want to win…at PvP…I’m a WoW player…
I think they MIGHT just have been trying to insult me.
So LazyGuy starts emoting at people at the left turret, and I get fed up with holding it, like a good sniper should. I decide to go get my piece of the action because the Imps are comfy just killing the one or two stragglers that aren’t at the left turret. I died several times, but I still got up to the turret and was in the process of using it when I got mobbed. A little backup and we probably could’ve taken it. But it was too late anyway.
Some more choice quotes:
- LazyGuy: “Party at left!”
- LazyGuy: “Bring the cards, we’ll play Texas Hold ‘Em.”
- LazyGuy: “7k xp for a loss is enough for me.”
One, I would clean their clocks at Texas Hold ‘Em.
Two, I feel that by queuing up for a Warzone, you are signing a contract saying “I will fight for the Republic.” By doing nothing, you are making it impossible to win for those that want to win. Yeah, it is just a game, but a Warzone has an inherent competitive factor to it. You want XP? Go level. Don’t PvP.
I don’t think it is unreasonable to expect my teammates to try to win in a competitive game. I come from LOTRO; we play nice there, but we still expect people to pull their weight in a group. If you don’t want to play by the rules, why are you playing?
The solution: today’s patch
There was a patch released today that had the following in it:
- Rewards for winning Warzones have been increased.
- Warzone completion rewards have been decreased.
Maybe this will solve the “I don’t have to try to get good rewards” syndrome with which we on the Republic side seem to be plagued. One can only hope.
The Fanatical Swordsman 
Mighty fine, Geldarion.
Funny to believe that this strata has survived, the whole “I’m not here to PvP, I’m here to be lazy and get rewards for it.” In this instance, rewards are (in purest form) for those who fight hard and lose because they are outmatched. Yet, lazy players have utilized this for years in order to use the least amount of effort as possible, and still reap some kind of reward for it. For those of us who actually care, we’re are left to put up with these lazy players who contribute to our losses.
Now, of course, there was I time I consigned to a bit of such a mentality during my stint with WoW, but that’s because I was on a dead-end server with a fool of a battlegroup who didn’t give a rat’s tail about anything but PvE, and wanted easy rewards. It was not what we experienced, though. My reasoning, however, was to go out and get kills and help the team. Whether I won or lost didn’t matter, because I had fun either way. That didn’t mean I didn’t try, though. Can you get away with that without capturing flags in Warsong Gulch? Not if you want the reputation and such.
It’s sad, and I’ve dealt with this mentality on both the Horde and Alliance. While I don’t see it disappearing anytime soon in ANY game, I am happy for Bioware’s decision.
Even though I’m one who will fight to the bitter end and ACTUALLY try to win, I’ll take the decrease of rewards for the defeated team over giving into lazyness. Truer than I wish to admit, Horde was good on some servers and not on others. Same for Alliance. I hope this symptom of our Republic PvP on our server isn’t true in every case, but it does always seem to be prominent in one particular faction over another on any given server.
Also, time can change this. Let’s hope its for the better.
Chipchops