I seriously think there needs to be some kind of vote to kick system implemented for War Mode. I am constantly seeing players on my own faction refusing to engage in WPVP occurring right next to or around them, and those of us actually trying to engage in that WPVP are forced to deal with their uselessness. Within just 30 minutes of playing tonight I encountered multiple different examples of this, and it’s something I’m seeing more and more regularly.
So, I notice there’s an assault going on in Vol’dun- I fly over on my restro druid to have some fun pvping and questing. SIlly me. I land, ask in chat if there’s anyone grouped up for PVP and offer to heal for them - dead silence. I figure, okay, maybe there’s no alliance around - and I head to the closest assault quest. I get there just in time to see FOUR Horde players getting attacked by THREE alliance players. They don’t seem to be fighting together or focusing their attacks, but I start healing them anyway figuring they’ll push back when they notice they have support - instead of turning around or fighting back each one of them SCATTER away in opposite directions while the three alliance players kill us all off one by one. Not a single one of these people attempted to fight back or run towards any of the other horde players around even though we outnumbered them AND had heals, which the alliance did not. We should have been easily able to take them, but my “fellow” War Mode enabled faction members did not even try.
Few minutes later I’m at the next quest killing mobs, and a rogue pops out and tries to kill me. Three other horde players all around me, all of them completely ignore the fight and continue running around killing quest mobs - I fight the rogue down to 30% health while trying to keep myself healed up - the rogue realizes they’re going to lose, stuns me and sprints away DIRECTLY THROUGH the three horde players, who continue to ignore the situation entirely. Rogue gets away alive. Again - should have easily been able to take the rogue down if even a single one of those players made even a cursory attempt to engage or respond, or stop the fleeing rogue once they ran.
Same quest a few seconds later, I see a horde rogue fighting the elite caravan leader mob alone, and I start healing them through it and attacking the elite. A SINGLE alliance hunter comes up behind us and starts attacking us both. The rogue instantly vanishes, dumping the elite I saved them from onto me. I figure, okay they’re just dumping the agro from the elite mob and they’ll pop back up to help me fight off this hunter any second now. Nope. They just vanished and left me there to get killed by a hunter and the elite mob they dumped onto me after I saved their life from it. Cool.
Moments later on my way to the next quest, I encounter a pally about to die who’s fighting off four alliance players. I pop into tree form and start dumping heals into the pally and manage to get him back up to around 85% HP. As I get closer and the alliance begin to attack me for healing their target, I notice there are FIVE other horde players just ahead of where this fight is taking place - once again running around killing quest mobs and completely ignoring the pally dying, and now the resto druid trying to help. Once again, we could have easily turned the tide of that fight and taken the alliance down if even HALF of those players made any attempt to engage in PVP. The pally and I both die, and I watch as the group of alliance run off and start killing those horde very same horde players… Weird. It’s almost like we all could have survived and won if they bothered to try.
As I’m finishing up the chain and heading to the bird so I can fly up to the air ship, someone in chat complains that they’re being camped. I respond to ask them where they are and how many are camping him. Not a single other person responds. He says it’s 2 people and gives me the location, and I start running there. Right as I’m arriving I notice two other horde players running along in the same direction with me, and think - awesome! more people are coming to help. I see the two alliance standing over a body, and I throw out a battle rez on it and start attacking them. The two other horde I thought were coming to help just keep on running right past the fight - I figure, fine it’s still 2v2 we can take’m. NOPE. The dude I battle rezzed runs away in the opposite direction and leaves me there to get killed by the two alliance who were camping him. For the Horde!
This behavior really shouldn’t be allowed to continue, let alone continue being rewarded. People are enabling war mode, reaping the buffs and benefits of having it enabled, and refusing to engage in pvp, communication, groups, etc. Not only does it make the whole war mode experience utterly terrible for those of us actually trying to enjoy it, but their mere existence in war mode is screwing up sharding AND now giving alliance additional bonus rewards for having lower population with war mode enabled - even though apparently 80% of the players on our side who have it turned on have no real intention or interest in actually doing any PVP. One of them literally said to me “I turned it on for buffs, SMD” when I called them out for bailing on me.
If people are going to be this willfully and intentionally useless, we should be able to kick them out of war mode. If they’re turning it on just to gain buffs without engaging, they don’t deserve the buffs and we don’t deserve to get stuck in shards with a ton of them. We should have some way to report them as inactive in war mode, and have them forcefully switched out of it if they get enough reports. It’s simply not reasonable or fair to allow people to conduct themselves like this in a game mode that exists for the purpose of fostering the very world pvp they ignore and refuse to take part in. It makes me not want to even try, because I know 9 times out of 10 I’m not going to get any support from my faction and I’m just going to die while I watch a bunch of my own people running around questing and ignoring their dying faction members right in front of them.
Their are clear benefits granted for enabling war mode. There should be clear disadvantages, or dare I say even punishments, for turning it on only to refuse to take part in any actual world pvp when it occurs right in front of their faces. It’s not fun, fair, or logical to allow that to continue.