Alliance World of Warcraft Blog

Playing Warsong Gulch with Hunter

Recently I have been playing a lot of Warsong Gulch with my level 29 hunter. To put it short I now have 49 tokens. The nice part about it is I have found a group of two other people, a warlock and a druid, who know how to play battlegrounds. Every round of Warsong Gulch we played together we won.

Our strategy is actually really simple, basically the Warlock stays at base with one or two other people and guards our flag. While the Druid and I sneak into the Horde's base, at which point, I jump down and set a frost trap and un-reveal the rogues hiding while they attack me the druid snatches the flag and runs with it while I keep the people in the base under-wraps with concussion shot and wing clip.

This strategy, although simple, is amazing. We have won 8 BGs in a row with that exact same strategy. The crappy part about it though, if I am playing without them it is tough to find a flag runner. Generally it should be a druid, but a Rogue who knows what he is doing can run the flag very well too. But most people do not listen and just do their own thing, which makes for a long and boring Battleground.

Thats how I like to play Warsong Gulch and will continue that strategy, as it has yet to fail us once.

Creating a Night Elf Druid

After some long thoughts about my Rogue I decided to create a Druid for now. I still have the Rogue character as I will probably want a Rogue sometime down the road. For now the druid seems to be a lot of fun in the battleground and that is who I am creating.

I have no real tips right now as this is my first druid character and he is only level 8. He is not that strong on melee, but has some strong casting, which means mana is needed, at least for now. I am unsure if I want to equip up with +intellect or wait till after level 20 and I have the cat form. I doubt that I will do the BG's at level 19 with the druid. Mainly because I wanted to create him for running/holding the flag. Which means I need the bear and cat form. I will probably wait until he is level 29 and then buy some good gear for him.

Right now I am really enjoying leveling this druid. Great soloist, given that he does have the healing power. But is only good vs 2-3 mobs his level. At which point I barely survive and do have to use healing. I love the buffs they get because now I can just run around and buff random people to re-pay what people have done for me in the past. That will be fun. Well that is my Druids story thus far, we will see how well he does in between level 10 and 19, which is usually tough for me to get to level 20.

First Aid Skill is a Must in WoW

Some people may disagree, but I am very hooked on the idea that the First Aid skill in the World of Warcraft is a must have skill. Not only is it very useful in Battle Grounds, but useful in everyday questing and grouping. It is especially nice if a party member dies, when they come back you can easily bring them back to full health without them using a potion, have to sit and eat something or waste mana to heal.

The idea to not make them waste a potion is simple. Potions have a cooldown time of 60 seconds. Meaning they are only really helpful in situations that you need emergency health to help escape, to give the healer time to heal or to finish a boss who is a few levels above you. Not wasting a potion to heal yourself when you are revived is crucial especially if you are facing a boss. By bandaging them up, the cooldown is 30 seconds I believe before they can be bandaged again, and they can use their potions at anytime without waiting.

Leveling up First Aid can be tough especially the first bit. Wool Cloth was the hardest for me to locate, so I broke down and bought it from AH for around 30s per 20 pieces. Once your skill gets up to 150 you need to find a book, "Expert First Aid". The book is located in Arathi Highlands, but is guarded by level 39+ elites. So at a low level it is nearly impossible to get the Expert First Aid book. The other option, instead of waiting for either a group or until you are leveled enough you can grind your way through is to buy the Expert First Aid book through AH (Auction House). The cost at the Auction House when I bought the book was around 4 gold. Hopefully you get a better deal than I did. But it was well worth the gold.

Once I learned the Expert First Aid I had all the silk I need to and quickly advanced to the "Manual: First Aid Silk" which teaches you how to make Heavy Silk Bandages. Now that I have maxed out my Heavy Silk Bandages I am basically waiting till I am of the proper level to learn Mageweave bandage, and Artesian First Aid. Since that is all the farther I am, I will end this here.

The basic gist is First Aid is very relevant and can save you time and deaths by having this fast healing ability. Especially as a hunter with a frost trap, that trap gives you enough time to heal your hunter and prepare to kill the whatever you froze.

Strategy for Dungeons and Instances

I love doing instances, especially if you have a great group to do them with. I especially hate it when there is a ninja in the group taking everything being annoying. I consider myself to be a decent Instance/Dungeon player. Having that said I like being a hunter in an Instance. Mainly because you can "tank" with your pet. This makes you more attractive to groups, especially ones that have seen you play before and like your style.

My style for Instances and Dungeons is to always look before you leap. Never wander off into un-known or un-cleared territory unless you are the Tank. Especially if you are a low level with a high aggravation radius. This could easily get you and the whole group killed. Know your limitations and boundaries and do not over step them. Grant it for beginners you will not fully understand how the party works. I know it took me a while to figure out what to do and not do. Here is a list I compiled of some do's and don'ts for group play:

- Do not whine or complain.
- Do not Ninja (Need or say "Oh I need that")
- Do listen to the leader, after all he was chosen for a reason.
- Do be friendly and not rude.
- Do follow the group, venturing off will get you killed.
- If you are going for a certain item, discuss it with the group before you go in. Be willing to make a sacrifice, such as passing on every other item.

By following those guidelines above it will make for a great group inside an instance. Being friendly and courteous is the best way to play because then everyone has fun. Remember all it takes is one person to ruin it, so before inviting someone to the party, try and talk to them first to get a feel for their style. Just remember that everyone can just about use everything, which is why there is the rolling feature in WoW. If you lose, lose graciously and chances are that group will invite you on more instances, which ultimately means more items for you.

Training a Night Elf Rogue

Well against my best judgment I decided to train a Night Elf Rogue. I am not much of a rogue type of player, but will give it a try. He is only level 13, but I have invested a lot of time and money to his enchanting and leather working skill. So if nothing else he can make and enchant stuff for my hunter characters.

I am unsure what spec I am going to make this rogue. I think currently he is a (1/2/0) spec. No particular reasoning for that spec, just seemed the funnest. I think I might make him an Assassin as that sounds cool. The down side to being a rogue, is coming from a hunter, the questing is much harder given that I do not have a pet to tank. You have to choose your mobs more wisely and rely on your stealth a lot. Which is fun, but also not fun. The not fun part is that you avoid a lot of fights, which means less experience. Given that I am trying to grind him up to at least 1-2 levels above what the quest suggests so I can hold my own versus the mods.

Right now I am really concentrating on getting my first aid, enchanting and leather working skills up. I am nearly maxed out for my level so once I am maxed out I will be doing a bit more questing with this rogue. The real intention of this rogue is to play Battlegrounds. As my hunter I saw first handed the DPS they deal and that if they take out my pet from the picture, well I am basically screwed.

I will probably not be reporting much on this character as he is a very low level and I plan on working on my Level 29 hunter much more than this rogue.

Comments/suggestions always welcomed.