Communication

The number of times a battleground has been won because each individual is providing meaningful and timely feedback to rest of the team is without number. The number of times a battleground has been won where the team argues about tactics, the skill of other players or there is just plain abuse and YELLING, can be counted on the fingers of one hand.

I remember being in Warsong Gulch an age ago when my character was not x9 (substitute a number, 1 - 4, for x). I can't remember what exact level it was but I was x3, way down the food chain. This player who was x9 began harassing me from before the gates opened. What was I doing there? Get out!! You are crap noob. The torrent of abuse was substantial. I must also admit that his abuse of my character and through it me, raised my hackles and I began to bite back. I don't recommend it and now-a-days I just ignore abusers. They can't physically do anything to you so there is no need to fear pain. This particular player decided to report my character, which I suspect was after my son told him to go "piss up a flag pole", so I reported him too (the player, not my son). I actually got to chat to a Blizzard employee who assured me that "level intolerance" in a battleground was unacceptable.

Funnily enough we didn't win that BG; with two players fighting each other they are not fighting the farm animals and "scarey" creatures that make up the Horde and so reduce the effectiveness of the team.

If someone is spending most of their time yelling and abusing they are not attending to the game as well as they should. Some of the quickest and best wins were either virtually silent or filled only with status reports, requests for assistance, and praise for jobs well done.