Surviving a PVP server

We talked last time about the mentality of PVP servers and how your faction may affect your gameplay, but there are other factors that play into this. One big factor is the faction ratio of your server, and this does not play out as simply as it would seem to. I'm not really sure how, but both my Horde and Alliance characters are on servers where their factions outnumber the opposing faction. Yes, there are servers where Horde outnumbers Alliance, but they are the minority, although I'm sure the addition of Blood Elves helped out. Now you may be thinking I got it made in the shade, because obviously if my faction has more than the other side I should have more reinforcements to call on if I get in trouble with PVP, and therefore would get ganked less.

Not quite.

See, I'm not too far in on my Horde server so I can't speak for them, but I do know that when I play on one of my Alliance characters the Horde tend to be more aggressive rather than less, despite being outnumbered. Not only that, but they also tend to travel in groups more often, whereas Alliance will travel around solo, making it easy for Horde groups to pick us off. I know some say Horde are usually better players, they are the ones that don't care about looking nice and pretty, they are more hardcore, whatever. I can't say one way or the other, but I do know that there are many hardcore players on both sides and I don't think you can play off this difference in PVP aggressiveness to skill level. What I think has happened is the Horde on Gorgonnash know they are outnumbered and they have adapted. They travel in groups both for offensive and defensive purposes. There may be more Alliance out there, but when they are all soloing you won't have much trouble as a group, they will most likely leave you alone if you outnumber them, and if you want to PVP you have the advantage almost every time. Either way you have a much better chance in PVP.

As far as survival on PVP realms goes, the most important thing is to always watch your back, and I mean always. This is the reason you can rotate your view with your mouse without turning your character with it. Most gankings come from behind, and they also usually come while you are fighting something else, so be sure to pan around every so often to make sure you don't have anyone sneaking around behind you waiting for you to become occupied. The next important thing to remember is to never trust the opposing faction, no matter what. Think a friendly wave means they're just saying hi? Think again. I can't count how many times I've gotten waved at running along the road, just to have them turn right around and stab me in the back. Sometimes it's more of a "hi, I'm going to kill you now." Once again, this lends itself to watching your back, make sure he's just running by you, and if he turns around and comes back you'll be ready for him.

I know a lot of you out there may have gone with a PVE server to avoid this stuff altogether, and that's fine if that's how you want to play, but there are some pretty simple ways to avoid PVP, even if you're on a PVP server. First, play a female character, most guys won't maliciously go after a female given the chance that it could actually be a female playing it, and if you throw them a /wave you're golden. Second is don't make eye contact. If you are going about your business and you see someone sneaking up on you, don't immediately turn around and face them thinking they will give up after losing the element of surprise. Let them do what they want to do, and if they do attack you, you'll be ready for it. Many players are looking for a challenge, not just someone to backstab, so if you show no interest in them or make them believe you are oblivious to them they might leave you alone, but if you face them it may look like you are challenging them. Third, if they /wave, you /wave back, and make sure you are targeting them so they see that you actually waved at them, it's just common courtesy. And last but not least, use your surroundings to your advantage. If you see them first but don't want to PVP and don't have stealth you can keep yourself out of sight by hiding behind trees rocks, hills, buildings, whatever you can find, just make sure that floating name above your head will be hidden too and you can either sneak away. I've managed to trail people through to quest objectives many times, let them do the work for me and get the quest done easily.

Basically, if you want to avoid PVP on a PVP server, do all that you can to not provoke an attack. Of course these tactics only work on those who are debating whether to attack or not, but you will run into people who have their mind set on killing you and won't be deterred from that, so if you just happen to be questing in the same area or running the same path the main thing you want to do is avoid giving them any reason to attack you and then make sure they are well away from you before you forget about them. I know switching to a PVE server would be easier, but sometimes I actually do want to PVP and I want to leave that option open.