Patch 3.2 Will Change the Way We Twink
Posted by 
pixiestixy on Wednesday, June 24, 2009 - 24 Comments Tags: 3:2, Behsten, PvE, PvP, Slahtz, battlegrounds, classic raiding, experience gains, level 19, level cap, nethaera, patch 3.2, ptr, public test realm, role playing, turn off xp, twink, twinkage, twinking, twinks v twinks, xp
pixiestixy on Wednesday, June 24, 2009 - 24 Comments Tags: 3:2, Behsten, PvE, PvP, Slahtz, battlegrounds, classic raiding, experience gains, level 19, level cap, nethaera, patch 3.2, ptr, public test realm, role playing, turn off xp, twink, twinkage, twinking, twinks v twinks, xp 
Last week, iTZKooPA touched on the information overload we're seeing with patch 3.2, which now is live on the Public Test Realm. One area that I thought it'd be fun to expand a bit on is the new experience changes related to battlegrounds.Patch notes for the PTR informed us that players now will gain experience for actions that yield honor in Battlegrounds. Pretty neat idea. But here's the kicker: players who don't want to gain XP now will be able to turn it off - both for within battlegrounds and for any other means available in the game.
This is a huge change for anyone who enjoys the practice of twinking. In some ways, the practice will become much easier to do. You won't have to rely on your higher level character to provide you with all the best gear available at level 19 (or your preferred twink level) - you also will be able to seek out rare drops and quest rewards without worrying about the XP gains.
You'll essentially be able to get all the best gear possible and never level up and out of your battleground bracket. Blizzard comically makes light of this - the NPCs who you pay 10 gold to in order to turn on or off XP gains are named Behsten and Slahtz (Best-in-slots).
But it's a give-and-take situation. Players who choose to turn off their XP gains and compete in battlegrounds will only face off against other players who also have turned off their XP. Now, some people will be happy for this change - twinks facing off against other twinks would probably make for a more interesting fight. And non-twinks will no longer be battling against twinked out toons with double the stats. I'm certain there also are those twinks out there who are ticked off that they'll never get to beat down on the other unsuspecting battleground fighters. Perhaps those players will move on to world-wide PvP gankage.
A lot of people would argue this change effectively nerfs twinks. And it also might drive up the prices for twink gear. I wonder how many players will exploit the changes by turning off XP just barely into their preferred twink level, then getting all the best gear and turning on the XP again for a limited number of glorious battles against weaklings.
Meanwhile, a lot of non-twinks out there are rejoicing. The prospect of entering a battleground may be a lot less intimidating if you are more confident that you'll face off against others in similar gear. Then again, I cringe to think of what this change might do to already-long battleground queues.
Another unrelated way in which turning off XP may change the game: Classic raiding and role-playing. Blizzard blue poster Nethaera pointed out that many players may have a purpose for turning off XP entirely separate from twinking. If you cap at level 60 or 70, you can raid to your heart's content in that Vanilla WoW or BC content you love. Or, you could turn off XP until a friend you'd like to play with reaches your level. Or, you may just wish to role-play a character at a particular level. Oh, the possibilities.
What does everyone else think that these changes will mean for the twink population? Will you keep your twinks after 3.2? Anyone think you're more likely to create a twink? If I had to guess, I'd predict that the twink population may decrease a bit after these changes. But like many things in life, I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
Reader Comments (24)
Everything about this patch makes me want to get back into WoW... (I am taking a summer long break, MMO burnout.) But i will keep an eye on things before i get back into it come august. If those Queues get any longer then I might hang out else where for a bit.
A little back story... WAR has tainted me so I only like PVP these days, but the lack of XP gain killed me in WoW. and WAR it GREAT PVP, but everything else is bleh.... a few more PVP upgrades in WoW and life will be perfect.
this is great because i always wanted to play vanilla WoW, so now i can create a character to just raid MC, BWL and AQ on lvl 60 :D
I hope to God that there's going to be some classic/BC raiding guilds starting up on my server in the next patch. I missed all of the classic raids and half of the BC ones so this would be a great way for me to experience them (at the appropriate level caps to boot!)
It would be nice being able to have regular raids to the old world content. it is sad going to Shatt these days and seeing just how empty it is.
Omg so freakin awesome i can finally make a level 60 character and raid the instance at that level! <3! Probably the best change i've ever ever had
this is great im playing with four friends trying to keep the same level mean no quest at all or doing instance without them, but no i no longer need to worry about that.
this patch is gointo be one of the bigest if not the biggest should be fun with the new raid the new BG and all teh other changes ut i dont uderstand how turning of your EXP will help you with AQ/BWL/MC/GB nor any of the BC raids like kara/ZA ror any other BC raid instance not like its gointo make am easier to find a group for any groups for any of htose are usualy 70+ they dont wnat lowbies to hold them back
They don't want level 80s aoerolling their way through the fights in my experience. They want to do the fights the way they were meant to be done at the challenge level they were originally designed for.
I think this'll be a pretty cool idea, especially on the pve side of things. I always hear people talk about wanting to relive the old days of WoW, and now they'll have their chance.
i still dont understand how thsi is supostu help that
those instance are more tehn twice as easy then they were before hard as you try the days slaving over the computer for 9 hours trying to beat a raid are gone you have to settle for just seeing the content and experincing the bosses and you might as well do i quick and painless
This is a fantastic change. I twink. REAL twink players do it to face off against other twinks. Only insecure boobs twink so that they have a crushing stats advantage over your average levelling 'toon.
I have a 69 Pally and a 51 Mage in mothballs b/c my wife is on a WoW break, and those are the 'toons I play with her Rogue and Pally respectively.
Being able to park a 'toon at 19, 29, 39, 50, 60, and 70 so that I can help out guildies at any level with a level-appropriate 'toon for dungeon runs and the like... well, this is a game-changer for me, big time, in a good way. Bring it.
this is good
I think this is one of the best ideas that blizzard have come up with, tho with a guess blizzard came up with it since Warhammer online uses the same concept... Leveling up in PVP that is.
I can't wait untill this goes live, I will be making a couple of twinks. :)
I was pissed off untill he said they would be separated by Non-XP gain and XP gain because i really really really hate twinks
Umm.. I think if ppl are making guilds for pre-tbc raiding, raids are full of DKs ^^
@Cocopuff
I've stopped even reading your comments. I look at the name of the poster now and just skip it when I see your name. I'm tired of reading something 5 times and still not understanding what you're trying to say. What is so difficult about reading your comment first and using a little punctuation and a spell check?
@Noric
I applaud you! It hurts my eyes attempting to read his comments. As for 3.2 i think its going to be great change to wow and some of the newer players will finaly get to taste some of the vanilla content, at the apropriate lvl that is. I forsee allot of QQ and ...how the hell did they do this back then =)
If they wanted to split twinks from general players this fix won't work. Now anyone can create a top notch 19 or 29 twink. It was once a contest of getting the best gear before you got too much experience. All they need now is a list of instances or quest to get the gear, level to say 18, turn off experience, and run instances over and over until they get the top gear and enchants.Its just a matter of spending the time.
Then they still go in the experienced battleground with the regular players and terrorize them. As long as they don't do objectives they may be able to do this for months. Then go to next twink level or create a new twink.
So the problem will be worst. If they want to solve the mixing of regular players and twinks then award experience in three ways, killing players, doing objectives, and winning/losing experience.
Seems the real natural level for twinks is level 80 anyway? Most battlegrounds, no leveling, but I guess they prefer an unfair advantage and too many good players at level 80 to compete with.
@Steve Courton
Yes, there are still people who are going to put the effort into creating 1337 lv18s with awesome gear and then pwn at 19 in the XP BG brackets, but thinking the problem will be at its WORST now is just plain silly.
Just because some twinks will temporarily get into the XP BGs, they're still the same twinks, they're no better then they ever were. Plus there'll be less. There's no way in hell I'm making another twink. I'll just solo Deadmines with my lv19 :P
If this is really true then I will make a TBC Raiding because i miss these old days.
I quit WoW but still vist Projectlore.com every so often now I wanna play cuz this seems prety cool. We'll see
I think the new patch is ridiculous in regards to level 10-19 WSG bracket. anyone knows that hunters are faceroll as it is, but now they get a speed increase? freaking stupid. will probably delete all my twinks now. and never made a huntard because they are for people who have no idea how to play. i think that all the movement increasing affects should stay out of the 10-19 although, not just hunters. but i hate huntards with a passion. no XP is sexy though, 20min battles are stupid.
this patch sucks a major fail by Blizz......turn the xp gain back on and get rid of the 20 minute timer for wsg. We sometimes like epic battles