About ganking and leveling

[NikeTheSword]

Not a whine-post, shoo you whiners!

So after hitting 51 I've noticed that it's now taking around 12h/lvl due to ganking (started back around lvl 46~). So I started wondering what can be done to prevent this if you're playing alone. Is grinding viable at all in places that are NOT the usual grind-spots (obviously since the best ones are taken/ganked)? Questing is totally out of the picture as they can't be completed in a sensible amount of time.

Share tips and tricks of how you made it through to the glorious lvl 60 with that gank-squad on your heels!
P.S. whining is forbidden! PvP happens (and it should).

[Rhinzual30]

Not a whine-post, shoo you whiners!

So after hitting 51 I've noticed that it's now taking around 12h/lvl due to ganking (started back around lvl 46~). So I started wondering what can be done to prevent this if you're playing alone. Is grinding viable at all in places that are NOT the usual grind-spots (obviously since the best ones are taken/ganked)? Questing is totally out of the picture as they can't be completed in a sensible amount of time.

Share tips and tricks of how you made it through to the glorious lvl 60 with that gank-squad on your heels!
P.S. whining is forbidden! PvP happens (and it should).

It is viable, it just takes longer since you won't be questing. It sounds like for you, the ideal place to grind would be an area with such horrible quest structures and layouts that it's avoided like the plague by both sides because it's too mind-numbingly tedious.

If you're going to be heavily grinding mobs instead of questing, then you'll have to drop the mindset of a Vanilla WoW player (heavily reliant on quests to advance, mob grinding is more for occasional gear and maybe cash) and adopt the mentality of a Classic Everquest player. What that means is this: grind mobs for exp, quests are only for half-decent rep gains, some cash, maybe decent gear compared to dungeon runs, try to avoid dying to cut down on corpse runs as you'll be too far away to vendor the trash you'll be looting to handle repair bills without interrupting the flow of grinding, and make sure the class is great at soloing even without consumables that aren't reliably looted (like Necromancers, high-level Shamans, and Monks). If you do die, make sure to die in a spot that's not too close to hostile mob spawns, death-loops are no fun. Also, stick with killing green-conned mobs if you're struggling too much with ones just under, just at, or just above your level. They'll die faster and you won't have as much downtime, allowing you to move to the next spot and continue grinding.

Oh, and if you're a melee class, keep enough ranged weapons (either thrown or a bag of ammo and a gun/bow/crossbow) on hand to pull single mobs at a time if they would otherwise have adds attacking you at the same time.

I know it's not exactly what you asked for, but it's the best advice I can give considering what you're asking.

[NikeTheSword]

I know it's not exactly what you asked for, but it's the best advice I can give considering what you're asking.

I think it's a great set of advice, thank you! I hope we can gather here different tips for different types of players trying to level.

[Rhinzual30]

I know it's not exactly what you asked for, but it's the best advice I can give considering what you're asking.

I think it's a great set of advice, thank you! I hope we can gather here different tips for different types of players trying to level.

This is going to soundly oddly selfish, but if you find a good grinding area that gank squads avoid, you will want to avoid mentioning it, especially on the forums. If you do, then the more driven/focused/obsessed gank squads will go to that zone to keep you from grinding. Those who really get into grinding mobs for leveling to avoid ganking will be the type to find these types of areas on their own eventually, and you'll also cut down on competition for mobs. Again, it sounds selfish, but you'll be cutting down on the amount of time spent going between packs of mobs for exp.

Think of the gank squads as having a kind of tunnel vision, focusing almost entirely on the very well known questing hubs, knowing that's where the majority of players on the opposing faction will be. As a result, they won't be paying any attention the the unpopular questing/grinding areas because while they might come across a few people grinding, the waiting time between kills will just motivate them to go to a more populated area, giving you relative peace and quiet to grind. The more populated and well-known such spots become, the more likely the gank squads will notice and start ganking there because they know there'll be a lot of players to gank. If they do find out about the area and go there regularly, then just pick up shop and start searching elsewhere, that way if they want to gank you again, they have to go to an entirely different zone and hunt you down again, all the while they might get ganked instead.

It's all one big game of cat and mouse, and you're the mouse. Thing is, the cat has to find you first and catch you off-guard. I would at least keep some consumables on hand, namely stuff that turns you invisible or such, anti-gank consumables namely. Don't use them for anything except countering/escaping a gank. Don't hang around or go back to where you were ambushed either, chances are they'll be expecting that and just waiting for you to pop up again so they can have a second go at you.

[Lighthammer]

Try and get a guild to protect you. Although if you're alliance that's easier said than done. I've tried putting together a group to defend zones many times but with little luck. I've heard of some guilds specializing in world pvp, try and become friends with them.

[Lindow]

A lot of people confuse world PvP with bullying someone who doesn't stand a chance because of the level difference and, very often, the fact that they're outnumbered. People can do as they please in a PvP server, we all agree on that, but ganking the defenseless is lame and disrespectful as hell.

[Skyy]

Is the ganking really that bad on alliance? Just joining this game today and levelled a human before I was told to check this thread out. I'd sooner just roll horde if I'm gonig to be farmed at higher levels.

[Aremdor]

Is the ganking really that bad on alliance? Just joining this game today and levelled a human before I was told to check this thread out. I'd sooner just roll horde if I'm gonig to be farmed at higher levels.

I made it to 51 yeah some zones are bad but you just pick and choose your place last thing we need are more threads such as these we need more players to roll alliance to balance i think the 50 50 ratio is BS personally.

[Skyy]

Is the ganking really that bad on alliance? Just joining this game today and levelled a human before I was told to check this thread out. I'd sooner just roll horde if I'm gonig to be farmed at higher levels.

I made it to 51 yeah some zones are bad but you just pick and choose your place last thing we need are more threads such as these we need more players to roll alliance to balance i think the 50 50 ratio is BS personally.

Makes sense, man. I'm happy to play alliance and help contribute to balancing. May i ask, when you say "pick and choose your place" do you mean that certain zones are flat out no-go because of horde presence? Like if you go to X you'll have to farm mobs because the quest zones are horde controlled. Or do you just mean to pick Silithus over EPL because it's safer, or just scout teh scene before starting a quest and do the ones that nobody are near?

Sorry if that's a bit of a mouthful. Like I say, more than happy to join the alliance, just would rather avoid hiding away all day licking XP off of rocks to survive the levelling process.

[Aremdor]

Is the ganking really that bad on alliance? Just joining this game today and levelled a human before I was told to check this thread out. I'd sooner just roll horde if I'm gonig to be farmed at higher levels.

I made it to 51 yeah some zones are bad but you just pick and choose your place last thing we need are more threads such as these we need more players to roll alliance to balance i think the 50 50 ratio is BS personally.

Makes sense, man. I'm happy to play alliance and help contribute to balancing. May i ask, when you say "pick and choose your place" do you mean that certain zones are flat out no-go because of horde presence? Like if you go to X you'll have to farm mobs because the quest zones are horde controlled. Or do you just mean to pick Silithus over EPL because it's safer, or just scout teh scene before starting a quest and do the ones that nobody are near?

Sorry if that's a bit of a mouthful. Like I say, more than happy to join the alliance, just would rather avoid hiding away all day licking XP off of rocks to survive the levelling process.

What I mean is certain times of day are better for questing I live in Canada so I usually get a lot of questing done when its late in the Eu during the day when the population is 6-7k i usually just farm mobs or run dungeons. Sometimes I queue for low level bgs. Thats the great thing about vanilla if you cant quest there is never a shortage of things to do. I didnt get in a big rush to level because personally vanilla leveling is 75% of the fun for me the raid content is 10 years old and is not much of challenge I have done it on other private servers. Anyway man hope that answers your question feel free to add me in game Aremdor.

Just wanted add that making some friends your level to quest with is a good idea also. Most horde I have encountered are too gutless to fight you 1 v1 they usally 5v1 etc so if you are in a group they are less likey to attack.