Ganking, is it for you?

[ClannerDelta]

I started this thread because of the discussion started in the "What Realm?" thread. I didn't feel the need to further derail that thread.

Ganking, do you do it? If so, why? If not, why not?

To make my views more clear, I do gank. In EvE, DAoC, WoW, AoC, and in WAR. I however consider griefing and ganking to be different. I do not consider myself a Griefer.

[iHap]

I only gank/grief if a person is being a dick to me.

[Wilkz07]

i've done it but not all the time.

3 down rule, if a player is flagged for rvr/pvp and is equal or 3 below then sure open season. anything lower than that, just keep moving.

tonight in war i stopped to help out an order player who was almost killed by creature. when it died he jumped up and down... guess that was a thanks.

[Gwinny]

I don't harass others.

[Camel]

Originally Posted by JRR006

I don't harass others.

Me neither.

I am a super care bear when it comes to games.

EDIT: AND JUST SAY NO TO PRIVATE POLLS!

[Johan]

Is this thread in English?

Oh...Engrish. Got it!

[Lint of Death]

Originally Posted by Wilkz07

tonight in war i stopped to help out an order player who was almost killed by creature. when it died he jumped up and down... guess that was a thanks.

You just reminded me that, far more fun than simply killing vastly outmatched peons, I used to love messing with their heads when I played WoW. Basically, hang around them and do weird gestures, occasionally act as if I'm going to attack him. Maybe punch him now and then

[KingGorilla]

My philosophy is some people need dying, people different from me especially.

[Alkanos]

I have no issue with people roughly my level deciding to attack out of the blue while I'm fighting. That's fun since there's a chance (albeit sometimes small) that I'll manage to survive. So that kind of ganking is fine. It's actually one of the reasons I like to play on PvP servers. It's fun to find yourself suddenly in a tough fight when you least expect it. And it feels even better if you pull of juggling 2 mobs and a would-be assassin!

However, if you're a level invincible character picking on players that are level diminutive, that's not fun. That's annoying and aggravating. There's absolutely no chance to survive when your attacker is 20+ levels higher than you, and is bored. If you die, they sit on your corpse and wait for you to come back. If you run, you end up having to trek back to wherever you were, assuming you manage to get away from them. So it goes from an extra hint of challenge to damn annoying. If you get your jollies from picking on someone who can't fight back, that says something pretty bad about what kind of person you are.

[Inspector Fowler]

I have been killed 5 times (minimum) tonight by Horde who were ?? to me.

I have no interest in end-game in WoW. If I hit 70 (starting to get up there with my main), honestly, I'll probably just either quit or grief. The end-game in WoW is the most pointlessly circular shit I've ever seen, so I can see why people just start making up their own stuff to do.

[ClannerDelta]

Originally Posted by Alkanos

However, if you're a level invincible character picking on players that are level diminutive, that's not fun. That's annoying and aggravating. There's absolutely no chance to survive when your attacker is 20+ levels higher than you, and is bored. If you die, they sit on your corpse and wait for you to come back. If you run, you end up having to trek back to wherever you were, assuming you manage to get away from them. So it goes from an extra hint of challenge to damn annoying. If you get your jollies from picking on someone who can't fight back, that says something pretty bad about what kind of person you are.

That's fair, but that sounds more like WoW mace-rogue douchery. It's also what I would consider griefing.

Originally Posted by Johan

Is this thread in English?

Oh...Engrish. Got it!

Reading many of your posts from... some strange place I can't remember. I consider you a forum ganker.

[sparkfizt]

I play on a PvP server in warcraft because it was a high pop server when I joined, and this was back long before cross server queues. I have a fairly simple set of rules when it comes to ganking.

I will not initiate a gank war.
If you gank me and win I'll do my damndest to find you and kill the hell out of you.
If you gank me and lose I may feel pity and not camp you.
In both cases I will generally corpse camp you for atleast 2 more kills, gotta teach em not to mess with me.
If I see someone on my side engage in a fair gank i'll let the fight run it's course and not help other than a rez.
If I see a fight but cant determine who started it, i'll give my bretheren the benefit of the doubt and help.
If you gank a lowbie I will camp the hell out of you ( I recently camped a guy all the way back to southshore, and when I got there I killed the flight master so he could'nt fly out, and since I was vigilant neither could he hearth) I tend to view camping lowbies as the lowest form of scum.

I dont really like ganking because it's not a fair fight. I believe in sort of a samurai code of honor. There is no honor killing someone who is unprepared, but to face someone and utterly defeat them is very rewarding.

[Satertek]

If I'm running along somewhere and I see a Destruction player, I'm gonna take him out regardless of level. (Well, unless he's higher ) I don't, however, actively seek out players to gank by going to Destruction PQs but I don't hold it against people who do so as it's just part of the game.

I wouldn't consider this griefing, you run around by yourself at your own risk on Open RvR and I find it annoying that I can't kill the evil Destruction bad guy when I see them running along the road in a core ruleset server.

[ClannerDelta]

Originally Posted by Satertek

I wouldn't consider this griefing, you run around by yourself at your own risk on Open RvR and I find it annoying that I can't kill the evil Destruction bad guy when I see them running along the road in a core ruleset server.

This was the thing that made me re-roll my alts onto Dark Crag. The fact that I could encounter the random Order player on Red Eye Mountain and not be able to fight them. It was just jarring and really took from the initial immersion.

[Inspector Fowler]

I will always stop to help an Alliance player. Call it roll playing, I guess.

My definition of "ganking", though, was always waiting for somebody to be getting into a fight with a mob, and then attacking. I try to avoid that unless the guy has caused me to hate him by ganking or camping me previously.

While I will often ignore same/lower level Horde players, if I see an Alliance player in a fight, I'll help. I don't care if he's a griefer or a camper or a ganker. We're on the same side, and it's not like I'll stick around to do it later.

[darkbase]

Inspector, you should like the kind of guy I'd want to play WoW with. I have a love/hate relationship with that game. The players I often meet and it's time consuming nature pushed me away.

[Sandman]

I'll gank your wife in Fable 2.

[KingGorilla]

Originally Posted by Sandman

I'll gank your wife in Fable 2.

Not if I marry a dude.

[Kryopsis]

Originally Posted by sparkfizt

I dont really like ganking because it's not a fair fight. I believe in sort of a samurai code of honor. There is no honor killing someone who is unprepared, but to face someone and utterly defeat them is very rewarding.

This pretty much sums up my attitude towards ganking. However it is not ganking when it's a fair fight, say there's 2-3 level difference between you and neither of you are wounded to begin with. If you see an enemy running past you, attacking him (if you choose so) is a part of the game.

What is not part of the game is going to the newbie zones as a high level character with the explicit goal to murder everybody. I find that unacceptable.

Clanner, how do you manage to gank... in WAR?

[ClannerDelta]

Originally Posted by Kryopsis

Clanner, how do you manage to gank... in WAR?

The biggest and most common one? Numbers. Two players, in this game, against a single opponent that's within the 5 level range is pretty much an unwinnable fight. This game doesn't have the kind of controllable single target CC that allowed classes in DAoC to win against superior numbers.

As for the more fun one, picking a mid-range PQ. Something a chapter or two below you with friendly NPC's and fighting the player groups there. Using the PQ NPC's like you would use Keep NPC's(and treating it as a much smaller keep fight). This is the most productive one because people cluster at the PQ and they WILL overwhelm you. This is my favorite one. Coming here at 9-13 ensures a good fight. It's a PQ where the forces of Order are holding out against a Chaos onslaught. With Wagons and such set up as a makeshift perimeter. With Chaos guards and a spawn point right next to it. It's not as though you're particularly bothering those that don't want to fight.

We had a 20 Sorcerer attack us at our chap 3? maybe 4 PQ. Because of the level difference and lack of bolster, our regular attacks could do very little. However, our healer kept out of LoS while we snared/rooted/died until the sorc was at around 75% hp. Which is when we started to get our Morale abilities to pop. After the first 3 the sorc finally died. For those that don't know. Morale Abilities ignore level, apparently. You can even form a newb group to take out level 40 mobs that way.

Level 21 is essentially the top of the T1 level bracket. So you're not entirely at the mercy of a ganker. They will always be outnumbered. On top of that, there's a certain radius around the newby spawn in (rather large radius) which will insta-chicken anyone. You can also rest assured that it's probably a long run back from their spawn if they are even remotely inside your territory.

I would also like to point out that it's fairly hard to grief in WAR. There are so many camps and towns with instant kill guards. 3 separate PQ's per chapter per zone (9 places to quest your level). And with the new addition of /1 and /2 being region wide chat/RvR, lynch mobs gather in record time.

Which is ultimately why I gank in WAR. Going from the hunter to being the hunted is one of the best experiences in any PvP game.

When you're attacking that miner in EvE, it looks like you're about to get some expensive loot, and suddenly having his 2 Assault Frig/2 Battleship security force warp in. Epic

In DAoC running a Skald train, encountering a few raid straglers. Fighting them, then suddenly getting broadsided by another group.

In WAR, it's hitting a couple players here and there while running around, then encountering the pack of level 6-11's who bum rush you with all the fury of a Star Wars nerd defending the integrity of George Lucas. You will also run into many players around 18-21 in T1, either helping friends or hunting gankers.

That's why you roll on an Open RvR server. You can only scenario grind so long before you have to mess someone up.