World of Warcraft PvP

Why PvP? Because it's far more challenging than anything you'll encounter in your leveling grind. Raiding requires a group discipline and hot gear at the higher levels, but the opposition is as stupid as any other AI monster. In PvP the opposition is human and is smarter, faster, more mobile, and makes much better use of spells and abilities and any AI opponent.

The rewards are in facing that challenge and in earning the points to get some really sweet gear.

Which class do you want to play? Everyone complains that Druids are overpowered, but Mages and Warlocks frequently top the "most kills" list. If you hate playing a mage though … Rogues are sneaky backstabbers who do lots of damage, Paladins are truly hard to kill, and so on. They all have strengths and they all have weaknesses so play what you like.

It's not personal…

While leveling, on a PvP server, you'll occasionally get ganked by some noob who then spits on you and dances on your corpse. This is pretty rare in the battlegrounds or arenas. Usually people there have more important things to do than show how idiotic they are.

Still, until you get gear and experience you will go down a lot, and you'll go down hard. It's not personal, you're just a target for honor or an obstacle between your attacker and her goal (such as the tower that you're guarding.)

Get up, brush yourself off, and get back into things.

Got the Gear? Want to know the World Of Warcraft Secrets?

While the most important thing in PvP is knowing how to play your character well, good gear does count. Before you start in the BGs or Arenas get yourself into the best gear that you can. Accept the fact that many of the other players will have much better gear than you will, until you earn your own.

But you have to start somewhere, right? Get in there, get killed, get over it, get honor (or arena points) and get your own gear.

Enchants to Enhance Your Gear

Enchants can add agility, attack power, other stats, spell power, healing, and any number of other things to the various pieces of gear you're wearing. The problem is that they're expensive. If you have lots of cash then get as many as you can, they'll be a big help.

Rogues will tend to want enchants that add agility, attack power, some stamina, and a couple of other things. Healers will want enchants to increase their healing capabilities, as well as intelligence and a few points of stamina.

Ask someone who knows the PvP game for suggestions on the right enchants to use for your class.

Battlegrounds, the meat grinder

Got the best gear you can find? Got you thick skin on? Then hop into one of the battlegrounds and start earning honor points and marks. This is a group PvP environment, ranging from 10 people per side in Warsong Gulch to 40 per side in Alterac Valley.

Players have to accomplish certain goals, such as the taking and holding of bases, and there's lots of combat. Learn the ropes, shrug it off when you get killed, ask questions of your more experienced pals, and you'll start getting somewhere.

Arenas

The arenas require a little more teamwork and a little more awareness. The battlefields are far more open and the arena fights are much faster. Better gear is available through the arena system than through the battleground system and you will see some very well geared opponents.

As you participate you will accumulate points based on your team rating. Better ratings equal more points and you can buy your gear faster.

As before, just get started, try to get the best gear you can, keep a thick skin, and go for it. Try to find someone who will teach you the ropes.

Hotkeys

One of the things all the good PvPers do is bind their abilities to hotkeys. They use the mouse for movement and looking around and the keyboard to control their attacks. They never use the mouse to click their attacks or abilities, that's way too slow.

Google your class type and "hotkeys" like this: Rogue Hotkeys. You'll get some good ideas of what to do.

Talents

Certain talent builds are best for PvP, others for leveling, others for raids and teams. Google (your class) pvp talent build and you'll find plenty of help. You may have to talk to a trainer to unlearn your old talents, which costs a few gold, but is certainly worth it for better PvP survivability.

So to sum it all up – before you start you're going to get the best gear you can and if you can afford it you're going to get some enchants put on that gear.

Then you're going to put on your thick skin, resign yourself to getting killed a few times, and jump in.

Go for it, it's a blast.