I’m not writing this to start discussion, not to brag or claim any kind of credit for anything, but as a record of things that happened.
If you’re someone who doesn’t PvP then this might seem irrelevant to you, but I assure you, this goes beyond just PvP. If you had heard the rumors across the servers (during P5) of a holy paladin going around and breaking honor brackets then you probably know the amount of drama and commotion he started. If you haven’t, well, I’m him.
I’ve been called many names like ‘Pagle boy’, ‘fish boy’, ‘bagle man’, but most called me the bracket breaker. And if you find anyone else with the name Riskbreaker then he is not me, period.
I became known in the PvP scene for my reputation of 'not complying with the rules’. Whatever the case, I play on a little PvE server called Pagle. But Pagle is not little, it’s actually bordering on overpopulation, with some who think themselves better than the rest. As for myself, all I wanted to do was relax from a past life of PvP and other IRL stuff, but I guess such things were too much to ask for.
So, I chose to play on PvE Pagle because I had no intention of doing PvP. All I wanted was to see what Classic was like since I was never around at the time, but like I said, things changed. So when I finally decided to enter the BGs no one took me seriously because of the ‘Pagle’ tag behind my name. I suppose one day people will learn that skill is not tied to what realm you come from. Anyway, over time the more they saw me and what I can do, the less they brought up those PvE Pagle-no skill excuses. And I can tell you, what made my name known was the fact that I’ve proven so many people wrong.
I had written part of this story already in the PvP discord, so here’s a short summary: up until phase 5, the bug patch, I had not set one single foot into a BG, not 1 killing blow, not even 1 (dis)honorable kill, I was busy doing quests, dungeons and raids. Like I said, I wanted to get a taste of the Classic experience, and it was going okay so far, I was in a guild and everything, but that all changed, so I took a break and came back, and that’s when all the problems started.
Before I continue, let me first state that when I started my BG grind, I had no idea what ranking was. I knew there was a ranking system, I’d heard of it before; the grind to R14, but I had no idea how it worked, or what brackets were or ranking points or any of that, simply because I didn’t care. It’s hard to believe isn’t it, that someone doesn’t care about ranking points, well guess what, now you know that there’s at least 1 person like that. But I’m sure you’d like to know the reason for why I decided to do so many BGs that it caused all this attention. Simply put: I just had the time and wanted to see how far I would get before I ‘quit’.
Some may guess and say I did this for the clout, fame or glory, but I didn’t care for those things. My goal was just to see how far I could get, since I had a large chunk of time available to me, and chose to spend it by grinding BGs like I used to do in a past life. I was hoping to do it without getting noticed, but I didn’t know people could see my numbers without inspecting.
So basically, after taking a break from the game, I decided to start playing again and since I was no longer in a guild I was mostly just pugging raids and doing quests. Eventually I ended up in some AQ20s and kept seeing a holy paladin floating at the title of ‘Commander’ for several weeks and thinking to myself; ‘How bad is this grind that this guy was floating at this rank?’
If someone was floating at R11 for more than a month then it meant that this was one serious grind. So that’s what pushed me to try it.
I had a bunch of free time, so next to pugging raids all I had to do was do BGs as much as possible and see how far I got so I can see for myself how hard this grind really is, and that was it. But let me rephrase; this grind was mainly my way of getting away from my IRL problems, simple as that.
So I ended up starting in the middle of the week, so that my first bunch of points added up from about 3 or so days of grinding which landed me at Master Sergeant (R4) or Bracket 9. That’s when the first whisper came in from a player from a certain high-end guild who think themselves important. While I feel tempted to name them for what they did to me, I won’t. But I didn’t catch the attention of 1 guild, but many, they knew about me and came after me.
Me and this player had exchanged words and I told him my reasoning for grinding and he explained his part and then he said GL and everything was supposed to be fine. Right until the 2nd week, after getting a whisper from him again and a bunch of random others complaining in whispers about what I was doing, I realized what I’d be getting myself into, that they wouldn’t let it go. This particular player had started the grind months before and quit half-way through, then he insisted that it would be too hard for me to finish, that I would also quit, or burn out. For weeks on end he wouldn’t stop and kept complaining and kept trying to persuade me to stop. Then a few others decided to join him.
For the record: if you put someone on ignore then don’t whisper them, because you’re too coward to listen to what they have to say. If they purposefully call you by a different name then deal with it, move on in your little bubble.
So how do I describe what happened to me, hm. What is considered toxic behavior? You know like when people whisper you a bunch of hate messages or childish behavior, passive aggressive remarks, or harass you because they can’t get things to go their way, well something like that. I can’t explain everything in detail, but I have it all in memory. Regardless of the opposition in my way, I stuck with it. I decided to PvP and no one was gonna change that. But the reason I’m writing this is not to brag or to shame anyone, but rather to set the record straight for everything that happened.
They say that I caused a lot of problems, that a lot of people were angry with me, do I look like I care about their anger? How many people are angry for more serious things in their lives and never have it resolved? I was angry about other things in my life, but they couldn’t tell and that’s why I kept going, because of all the whining for something so simple as a title in a video game. But that’s why in the end they can’t face me or speak to me anymore because they know they lost even though during the grind they would not shut up.
I’m writing this now to show those who don’t know better how they’ve been deluded into believing the wrong things rather than the actual truth. And I say this not just to Pagle, but ALL REALMS, because I’ve seen many things in those BGs, and this nonsense must end.
I reached Grand Marshal on my own, by solo-queueing; no premades, no groups, no hand-outs. Even when it was offered to me, I refused, even when they told me to go lower in honor, I refused, simply because I was exercising my right of freedom to do what I want in this video game.
“Join the gentlemen’s club and make things easier on yourself”, they told me, no I said - listen to what I’m saying and stop annoying me with your excuses.
Many will say that I broke the rules, but if I did then I would have gotten banned by Blizzard long ago. But yes, I was still banned for 8 days, suspended, but it was not because Blizzard did so directly, it was because the system was manipulated by these same guys who wanted me to quit, the same ones who I mentioned from the high-end guilds on the realm. Do a top ten guild search if you want and you’ll find most of them. It’s always these elitists who want to stand in your way, and prevent you from achieving what you want even if you are capable.
Yes, I achieved R14 solo, so it’s an accomplishment I can say I earned because each match I worked for, each win I helped to achieve, skirmishes and banters I enjoyed. Again, no carries. And though I wish I could say I had 0 carries, it’s inevitable that I would join a few premades here and there, it’s unavoidable when you random queue, but I was more often part of the ones facing a premade rather than being part of it. (I also admit that I got the points because these guys granted me a spot didn’t go too high with the brackets.)
Many times our pug groups would just stay dead at the GY and let the premade cap their 3 flags or 5 cap in AB so the Horde can get their free win. Yes, FREE wins, by doing 0 PvP. Is that how you earn R14? Is something earned if you get it for free? My grind is not the same as the grind of those who group and stomp randos. All of my wins were hard-fought, and I met legendary players along the way too, I remember their names by their skill, and I can name them and their realms. I could never know this many players if I was just queueing with the same ppl over and over. This is why my name spread as far as it did, because of the sheer number of players I met on both alliance and horde (enemy) and the battles we shared.
This is why many of these guys come standing in front of me with their Grand Marshal titles to brag or think somehow that we’re the same. Our games were not the same, and our titles hold different weight, and obviously so. My hours were not 15+ hours each WEEK, but 15+ hours each DAY. Many told me that I was wasting my time, but how can I be wasting my time if I choose to spend it on something I enjoy? Again, free wins are not the same as actually fighting and earning that flag cap in WSG, or 3 capping in AB, or even that extremely rare Drek’thar kill, emphasis on extremely if it’s not AV weekend.
It’s one thing to achieve GM, it’s a whole other feat to go through the large spectrum of random players in BGs and experience the multiple levels of PvP, hence the word random. I’ve had some legendary games though, that could have been placed in a hall of fame of their own, just for being so memorable. You don’t get games like those by queueing with the same group of people each week for free wins. The title of Grand Marshal was not meant for so many to have.
Many who have achieved GM may dislike me for saying these things, but please let me direct you to the World’s First R14; I would highly recommend you read his post and his journey to R14. He even stated that to this day he has not entered WSG (Warsong Gulch) again because of how badly the whole experience affected him, and I can tell you that though I may not know what exactly he went through, I went through something strange myself during my final weekend of grinding WSG that I see it ‘differently’, let’s say. But I still queue so I’m not as badly affected as he is.
I will explain why I’m saying this and if you’ve read the post of the WFR14 you’ll understand why. Grand Marshal was not meant for everyone. When I told this player who whispered me that they were manipulating the system, he brought up the excuse to get away with it. But human beings will always try to manipulate things in order to get what they want.
So I say again, the ranking system is designed as intended, or it would have been changed long ago, it’s the reason people start it after all - to climb the ranks, and because it’s considered difficult to do, same reason people climb Mt Everest.
But the road to GM was more brutal than it is now. WFR14 posted that there was no bar to show progress each week, and his friends had hit walls at R11 for many weeks until they gave up. The road had become so thin to progress that they just wanted the points to advance, so they started trading wins, until they realized that only 1 person can be at the top at R14. If I remember he said you had to hold standing 1 for like a month or something to advance. I can’t remember the specifics, but the point is, it was very brutal and very discouraging, so much so that it traumatized him, not like today where you have honor spy and where R14 is handed out like legendaries in retail.
Yes, this grind was meant to be brutal, for those who had that large chunk of time, and for those who enjoyed PvP. But the problem is that when players in a game see a bar that can go up they feel the need to max it out (reputations), but most only do so for the rewards, or for the prestige, to brag to others. Because there are other bars that give no rewards and they don’t care to max those. In the case of these ranks, people were grinding so hard that it was causing them damage IRL, so Blizzard decided to be more forgiving, and lower the requirements so that more people can achieve R14 and not kill themselves.
EDIT: Part 2 is lower below if you’re interested, also changed minor things for accuracy. I only made this post because someone said to warn others if you know they are doing wrong.
TAKE WHATS YOURS it’s naxx ranking don’t let some nerd tell you when to stop gaming