The Histories are a series of articles that recounts past periods of World of Warcraft, experienced from my point of view on Saurfang playing my mage Nastre.
In the latter stages of Wrath of the Lich King I was met with the realisation that I would be forced to change how I played the game I cared so much for. Real life would dictate that I could no longer raid the hours I had for the past 3 years with the guild I loved. I had been the guild master and raid leader of Ajantis through one of its toughest periods. Yet we climbed that almost impossible mountain that was 25-Heroic Lich King.
In terms of going out on a high, there was no greater point to call it a day at the top echelon of the raiding scene. The story itself is an epic one with tragedy, drama and pure elation... but it is not the one I wish to tell here.
With Cataclysm coming soon, I turned my focus to a new area in which I felt I could still make a contribution to Ajantis and to the server of Saurfang. Rated Battlegrounds were to be introduced and my experience and enjoyment of pvp saw me setup the Ajantis Battleground Crew (ABC). As the weeks to release were counted down, I was given permission to setup an entirely new facet of the guild. I was to form a dedicated group of players to expand the reputation and achievements of a guild long known only for its PVE prowess.
After being raid leader and guild master for a lengthy time, I've gained indispensable experience when it comes to running, co-ordinating and motivating groups of people (many of the group present for the Heroic LK kill will let you know that they've never played better or been pushed that hard before or since). However this challenge was a new one and with no prior experience to draw on, I decided to adopt an aggressive strategy to recruit the best pvp players from the Horde side of the server.
I quickly gained recruits of high calibre but I did not do it at the expense of those who wished to do rated battlegrounds who were already in Ajantis, but lacked experience. It was an interesting mix of people and players, some with vast Arena experience and others who had never been involved in any means of competitive pvp before.
The first few weeks of Rated Battlegrounds were relatively successful. We quickly established a grasp of basic strategy and gained a winning percentage in all locations, particularly in Warsong Gulch and Arathi Basin. We were frustrated with a lack of games, queue times and a complete absence of competition from the Alliance side of Saurfang. Many of our members also suffered from massive rating fluctuations and hidden caps due to Blizzard's 'first-time' with the matchmaking and coding system for Rated Battlegrounds.
We were running two teams with different makeups each week, trying to make evenly balanced teams with no 'A' or 'B'. Most players were understanding and supportive of the direction I was taking the ABC and as a result our newer players improved dramatically early on. Steady progress was made with ratings, titles and performance as the initial stages of the season progressed. One weakness we struggled to overcome was our inability to maintain flag spots and we lost some matches to inattentiveness and poor communication with flag caps that should never have happened. To an extent that continued to bother us for the rest of the season, no matter the tactics I tried to instill. A failure on my part I think.
The season was successful if not predictable until one of our teams (which I was leading) took part in "that" game against a Rogue who's worldwide pvp fame was almost unrivalled at the time. He had just released an arena movie that has since gone on to clock up over 2,700,000 views on Youtube, and he was about to fight a group of Ajantis members who paled in experience and acclaim to most of the members on the opposing team.
In terms of Gladiator rankings, we possessed one and they six. We were up against it and we knew it...
To Be Continued
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