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.
The final part of the first season of Rated Battlegrounds was an amazing time to be part of the Ajantis Battleground Crew (ABC). Many of the players in the squad had never participated in organised PVP of any kind before and had developed into decent players in the final months. They were rewarded with titles and rankings which had seemed like a pipe-dream when the project was conceived.
There were a few other games in the season that stood out for being particularly exciting. One such match was to take place in Warsong Gulch. The Alliance team we were matched up against was one that traded blow for blow with us as we struggled to control mid. The two sides were practically equal and it was clear the game was to go the full twenty five minutes. We went down an early cap and were fighting to keep their lead from blowing out to 2 - 0. Momentum is a key factor in almost all competitive arenas and the pendulum swung back our way. In a short 5 minute period we capped twice to their one. Importantly, we had the final cap to bring it to 2 - 2 and if the scored stayed level, we would end up the victors.
The final few minutes saw strategies out the windows as regular flag runners were hunted by packs of players who refused to let the walls of health points reach the room of the opposing team. Instead, desperation gave rise to opportunity and all manner of dps attempted to carry. With a stacking debuff and cooldowns blown on sight, flag carriers were dropping in a gcd. With less than 30 seconds on the clock, the Alliance team had managed to get our flag to the spot in their base, reading to cap as soon as they returned. As things had somehow conspired to have the focus on myself, I was carrying the flag in a vein attempt to make it to our tunnel and to safety, trying desparately to hold onto the draw and claim the win by having made the last cap. I gave it everything I had and our healers threw everything they had at me. I don't think I or they could have done anything differently.
I went down. With 3 seconds to go in the game I had died and they had returned the flag. Game over.
And yet... they didn't cap. The scoreboard flashed up with the victors... HORDE! Ventrilo was immediately drowned with screams of disbelief mixed with elation. We had benefited from a common issue in RBG's in WSG; even when standing on the return spot with the flag, sometimes the server fails to recognise you are there and you need to run away from the spot and return to it with annoying irregularity. Even when standing in the perfect position, the game took at least 3 seconds to register a cap. Many times we had been denied a return or a cap by this latency issue, but today we benefited from it. I felt sorry for the other team, they rightly deserved the win. Yet for us it was a major coup; their MMR was much higher than ours and everyone gained significant points. That was the last game we played that day, the nerves of everyone were gone and the adrenalin rush had left us emotionally exhausted.
The very final weeks of the season saw a successful push for titles. While many reached the 2200 mark, some players could progress no further than early 2000's due to Blizzard's horrible personal ranking systems that saw a few players have massively inflated MMR's while others lost points on a regular basis. Those unlucky members were selfless enough to help the fortunate push for their maximum ranks and the camaraderie in the team was evident. It was a proud moment of co-operation.
Personally the season ended on a massive highlight for me. With the birth of Saurfang in Wrath of the Lich King I was the first player (along with my partner Deadlychaos - miss you bro) to gain the Gladiator title. Season 9 and Cataclsym saw the introduction of a new form of rated PVP and I was once again lucky enough to lead Saurfang with the Rated Battleground title equivalent of Gladiator in earning "Hero of the Horde". I could not have done this without the assistance of all the members of the ABC and I still dedicate the achievement to them. It was an honour to lead the ABC.
The end of Season 9 marked the conclusion of the first round of Rated Battlegrounds. The ABC was a completely new aspect to Ajantis and we had managed to secure a ranking of Realm 1, Oceanic 8th (2nd of the PVE Servers), US 214th and World 516. Nothing spectacular to be sure but considering the fact that most of the players were new and our status as a small PVE server, it was a notable return.
Hopes were high for Season 10, but things were not to eventuate as planned. I'll cover the decline of the ABC in my last article on The Histories: Cataclysm (Rated Battlegrounds). However, I will say you may not have seen the last of the ABC just yet...
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For those looking forward to the next round of The Interviews with the major PVE players on Saurfang, I will have them up shortly when the candidates are online to be interviewed!
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