[Guide] Wargames. A Roleplaying tool. By Tsathoggua
With the advent of Arena Season 9, we roleplayers have had an interesting and potentially useful tool added to our “toolbox” of game mechanics that can be used to enhance and support roleplay.
I refer, here, to /wargames.
The Wargames option seems intended for PvP players first and foremost, with little consideration as such to roleplay, however , like many other game mechanics, it can be a powerful utility for our story-crafting.
The /wargame command takes two groups, be they parties, raids, or one of each, and pits them against each other in an unrated, un-ranked, no-honor-gained match set in one of the Battleground [or arena, but more on that later] maps.
This holds many possibilities for RPPvP.
This thread will look at:
What are /wargames for in RP?
How do I start a /wargame?
What battleground map should I use?What could I use /wargames for?
Any time when two groups of players would be in large-scale physical conflict. These groups could be as small as 2 characters on a side, though typically will need to be 5 or higher , or as large as 40 on a side.
The groups do not need to be in opposing factions.
Two Alliance-faction groups [such as a city guard group and a criminals group] could elect to have a /wargame to represent the scene in their ongoing storyline where the guards have finally tracked the criminals down to their hideout. Two Horde-faction goblin guilds could have a “rumble” to settle which group gets to shake down the tourists in town.
The event cannot be joined by outsiders.
For more organized RPPvP events of the sort often favoured by military-themed RP guilds, outsiders stumbling upon a long-planned battle with a nemesis might not be something desired. Instead, a planned /wargame challenge, meeting their “opposing” number on the battlefield of choice, can be a highly immersive experience. No non-roleplayers involved in your battleground gives a chance to roleplay the lead-up to an engagement, the shouting of commands, the broad-scale tactics, and the time involved in such a conflict, without annoying the non-RP-server characters in your normal battleground play. It allows for rivalries to grow between familiar faces, akin to the first server-specific battlegrounds.
Outsiders and observers can be invited.
As long as you don’t exceed the per-side capacity of your chosen location and you meet the minimum per-side required for your chosen location, you can invite other characters to attend, even if they do not plan to engage directly in combat. Running and hiding can work quite well, even in such an environment. Whilst none can stay un-flagged and neutral, a small amount of player etiquette and communication can let both sides know that some characters are non-combatants - 'though non-combatants on a battlefield take some risks.
Sadly, level DOES matter. All participants must be within the same 5-level-battleground-bracket. Whilst this limits the use of /wargames to some degree, it has proven thus far to be less of an impediment than one might initially think.
It can represent almost [but not quite] anywhere.
There are a limited number of battleground and arena environments, true. That said, each battleground map can potentially represent a good number of locations elsewhere in the game world. If you choose a map which matches [to some degree] your two groups’ current location, and you have an appropriate number of participants for your chosen map, the story can continue seamlessly.
You can take time to set the stage.
Sections of the maps might be what you are looking for. Tracked the cultists to their cave? There is an excellent cave in Alterac Valley. Once arriving in the instance, being “out of character” for a few minutes whilst both sides run to take their places in the cave in question will not disrupt the roleplay of other players, because you are in an instance, and not in the larger game world.
All well and good, but how do we actually get this to happen? It’s a simple process.
Step one: Form up into groups. Each side of two-or-more characters needs to form either a Party or a Raid. They need not both be parties, they need not both be raids - there could be one of each. All participants on both sides need to be within one normal “battleground level” - that is, say, levels 10-14, or levels 75-79.
Step two: Choose a location. The various Battlegrounds are the simplest option. Each of the battlegrounds has a maximum number of player characters per side. you can have fewer [with a minimum set by each map], but you cannot have more. The list below [part 4] includes the minimum numbers per side for each map, and the maximum sizes of each battleground, as well as a listing of some of the places that battleground is best suited to represent. You need each side separately to have between the minimum and maximum participants of the map. Arenas allow for the smallest matches, with only two per side needed, but in turn need equal sides, where the battleground maps require only each side to be within a given range.
Arenas are a special case. You can choose an arena, BUT if you do so the sides must be of an equal number [and of course, must fit within the maximum number of characters for that map]. Arenas might be appropriate for small-group roleplay for training soldiers, gladiators, or mercenaries.
Step three: Challenge. The Party or Raid Leader of one group needs to type the following into their chat interface:
/wg groupleadername mapname
Obviously, rather than typing groupleadername , you should type the name of the character this is the Party or Raid Leader of the other group. Instead of mapname , you should type the full name [including spaces] of the battleground you have chosen. Type Arathi Basin , not ArathiBasin . As of patch 4.2 in late June or early July 2011, there is additionally a tab in the PvP panel which makes initiating a /wargame [and remembering battleground maximums and minimums] easier:
After you’ve formed your group (a minimum number of party members is needed depending on the Battleground or Arena chosen), open the Player vs. Player window (H), and select the War Games tab. To start a War Game you must be the party leader, select a Battleground or Arena, target an opposing party leader, and click the Start War Game button.
The other party leader will receive a pop-up notice.
The challenged party leader then has a little over a minute to accept the challenge. Once he or she accepts, each group will be placed in the queue and will receive a pop-up window prompting them to enter the skirmish once it’s ready.
Step four: Accept the challenge. The leader of the receiving group will get a small window, open for about a minute, asking him to accept the challenge. Accept the challenge.
Step five: Wait just a moment. Blizzard have said queue times for /wargames should be around a minute or less, since no time will need to be spent finding team members for either side in the battleground.
Step six: When you enter the battleground, take up appropriate positions [if desired, and as appropriate], and start to roleplay your fight, your training, your encounter, your whatever.
It is that simple. Yes, you could set arbitrary rules to enhance the scene, or to limit the conflict [“level 60 PvP uniforms” or “once killed, don’t leave the graveyard area”].
When the scene is finished, you should have the option on each character to leave the battleground, just as if you were in a normal battleground. You need not wait until the battleground match would end normally.
In addition to formal roleplay, these instanced servers also allow many possibilities for getting combat screenshots of your guild in action, or filming recruitment videos, or, yes, actually training or testing the PvP skills of potential recruits.
But their roleplaying potential is quite large.
So what map should I choose?
Each battelground and arena map is restricted by number of participants, so that limit is listed immediately after the map name in the list below. If either side has more than this number, you cannot successfully choose that map . Even if some of that number are non-combatants or observers. Everyone going, counts. Each map also has a minimum number of participants , also listed below. Each side separately needs at least this number to successfully launch that wargame.
Each battleground and arena map can be used to represent a number of game-world environments and locations, whether entirely or in part. I’ll be including suggestions and descriptions in this list, and ask for people to post further notes and ideas in this regard in the thread.
List of battlegrounds
Warsong Gulch - minimum 5 and maximum 10 per side - A mix of Ashenvale and Barrens terrain, with both night elf and orc architecture. Can represent: Warsong Gulch battleground, the Barrens, Ashenvale, Silverwing outpost.
Arathi Basin - minimum 8 and maximum 15 per side - Generic human architecture with typical deciduous forest and field. Can represent: Arathi Basin battleground, Lordaeron, Hillsbrad Foothills, Arathi Highlands, Elywnn Forest, edge of Lakeshire.
Eye of the Storm - minimum 8 and maximum 15 per side - Blood Elf and Draenei architecture amongst the shattered ruin of Netherstorm. Can represent: Netherstorm.
Alterac Valley - minimum 10 maximum 40 per side - Orc and Dwarf architecture, mountains, hills, snow, caves, sprawling battleground with many active NPCs. Huge. Can represent: Alterac valley battleground, Dun Morogh, caves, mines, parts of Borean Tundra, Alterac Mountains, Winterspring.
Strand of the Ancients - minimum 8 maximum 15 per side - Titan Architecture resembling that of Wintergrasp, goblin workshops. Can represent: Strand of the Ancients battleground, Wintergrasp, Uldum.
Island of Conquest - minimum 10 maximum 40 per side - Northrend geography and orc, human, and mostly goblin architecture. Can represent: Island of Conquest battleground, Borean Tundra, Howling Fjord, Kezan.
Battle for Gilneas - minimum 5 maximum 10 per side - Gilneas zone representation. Can represent: Gilneas, silverpine.
Twin Peaks - minimum 5 maximum 10 per side - Twilight Highlands with Wildhammer dwarf and orc architecture. Can represent: Twin Peaks battleground, Twilight Highlands, Arathi Highlands.
Silvershard Mines - underground tunnel fight [an environment similar to the Deadmines] over Venture Company mining resources. Can represent: any mine or caves or underground dig-site.
Temple of Kotmogu - Pandiarian temple complex in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. Can represent: Pandaria; training area [akin to some of the arena locations] for monks, gladiators, duellists etc.
As mentioned, the Arenas are a special case. Not only must each side be no higher than the maximum per side, they must also be equal sides in number - two and two, three and three.
Ring of Valor Arena - 2, 3, 5 per side - This represents the interior of the Ring of Valor in Orgrimmar. Gladiatorial combat, but perhaps even more military training and duels of honour.
Ruins of Lordaeron Arena - 2, 3, 5 per side - This represents the outer courtyard of the ruins of Lordaeron City above the Undercity, filled with the ghosts of the dead. Shady dealings, warlock covens, strikes by and against Scarlets and the Forsaken, and assassinations seem more appropriate here than gladiatorial fights.
Ring of Trials Arena - 2, 3, 5 per side - Located in Nagrand, this may be the least useful of the /wargames maps, since traveling to that location in Nagrand will also flag members for all-comers PvP, just as in the Gurubashi Arena. In a pinch, perhaps it could also represent a goblin-run arena in Dire Maul or Tanaris.
Circle of Blood Arena - 2, 3, 5 per side - Located very visibly in Blade’s Edge Mountains, this arena cannot easily stand in for anywhere else.
Dalaran Arena - 2, 3, 5 per side - Set in the sewers of Dalaran, the environment could also stand in for sewers in the Undercity area, and at a stretch sewers in Undermine.
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