People in the Battlegrounds

These people are in your battlegrounds with whom you assault and beat the snot out of the opposing faction in hopes for reward. Most often they are complete strangers in which you attempt teamwork to achieve your victories. Be scared, they're out there.

The Leader
This guy is probably just like you. He just joined the battleground and was slapped with the title. It may go to his head, and he'll try and direct the group. It hardly ever works.

The Group-Queue Leader
This leader was just the person chosen by her friends to queue them for the Battleground. She's probably not going to direct the group, and may not even notice her status.

The Pre-Made Leader
He knows what he's doing. Heck, he even made an entire team to do it. Likely he's fully equipped in the latest arena gear. When he says to do something, everyone drops everything and actually follows the order. If you're not in the premade, you're likely jumping for joy: Free marks! You probably Battleground in hopes of coming across this player and his Merry Men of Win.

The Not Today Leader
It's all over. They're five capped, or have the flag and are up 2-zilch, are approaching your general, breaking through the last wall, whatever. Everyone's giving up. There's no point in resisting. The leader, who has been quiet and unassuming the entire match, suddenly bursts out and fills everyone with hope. "WE WILL NOT LOSE. NOT TODAY.", she says. The entire battle suddenly turns in the face of the most amazing comeback ever. The Not Today leader inspires loyalty in a way The Pre-Made leader cannot.

The Anti-Leader
A rare type of griefer, this person verbally abuses other members of the team when goals are not met and when the battle is not won. Sometimes this person is very good and cannot understand that not everyone is at his level. Sometimes, he sits in a corner chanting about how the other side is better. Avoid the Anti-Leader at all costs.

The Cheerleader
This girl joins the battleground in hopes of winning every match. She's often disappointed. That doesn't keep her down, she keeps on cheering. When you lose the Farm? She says its okay, you can grab another node. When your general is being killed? She's shouting that you'll win if you can down the towers.

The Positive Wintergrasper
Never mind that your faction is outnumbered 7-1 on your server, this guy shows up to wintergrasp battles every time he's online. Often the leader, since he's become accustomed to clicking the "accept" button quickly, this player will try to command your tiny force of maximum 30 players against the opposing team's army of 4 raid groups. "Stack sieges, don't go alone!!!!11!" is a common phrase, as is "omg dont make catapults ffs!!" When people listen to him/her, and the team is only at 1-2 tenacity, you may win a match.

Score Jockey
Plays a rogue, fury warrior, retribution paladin, or anything that does large amounts of damage. Announces often her current damage output on the scores, her killing blows. Sometimes a healer. Always requires the ego boost from the scoreboard. Often a twink.

The Veteran
He's got the Arathi Basin tabard on. He has every mount from the vendor on a randomized macro. If he isn't in full PvP gear, he's pretty damn close. He came with the premade, or somehow is alone. You think he's immortal. You never see him die. You spend more time inspecting him and copying down his talent build than you do capping the node.

The Old-Timer Veteran
All her statements start with "I remember when. . " and end with "it was great." Ignored usually.

The Guy Who Plays Defense
He came up with some way to lie to himself that defense is not boring, demeaning, and near useless in some matches. Spends most of the time outside the flag room in the graveyard than actually guarding the flag. He's often the only one who tries stopping the flag theft at the start. This is also a very smart way to be semi afk throughout a whole game without needing to worry about GM's, "FU im defending".

The Guys Who Play Alterac Defense
If you're Horde, they're immediately rushing to the Relief Hut. If you're Alliance, they're dashing to the Stonehearth bunker. Both are effective, but don't last long.

Twinks
Yeah, they're great when you're low level. Except the opposing twinks. You want to rip out your eyeballs when you can't seem to kill anyone.

Twink Healer
He's convinced healing is fun, especially at low levels. Is in denial that he wasted money.

The Sleeper
This is usually a player in the mid-to-upper-mid level of a bracket (45-47, for example.) This person doesn't necessarily have the best gear and is usually mocked and/or underestimated. To many of the other players surprises, this person will then own every player of the opposing faction. Most commonly, this person is a hunter but it is not uncommon to see rogues, shamans, mages, or warlocks pull such feats of amazement.

The Marathon Man
Similar to the Not Today Leader, this guy is usually a ret pally but occasionally a druid and rarely a shaman or rogue. The enemy has captured your flag and while everyone is held down by the flag bearer's guard, he has somehow slipped through. He flat out refuses to abandon hope. He follows the enemy, never catching him, but because he's so far behind, the enemy doesn't see him. He chases his quarry across the battlefield and into the tunnels of the enemy base where he grabs a speed boost, stuns the flag carrier, kills him and returns the flag mere seconds before it would have been captured. He often dies quickly afterward from the remaining defense, but he just saved the game. May cause a shift in morale and ultimate victory.

The Tactical Genius
You love to see this one in your battleground. No matter what the tide of the battle, she thinks of a genius strategy to make you win. Turns a close game into a cake walk, and turns a losing game into a close game into a very close victory. It's all because of her... IF the rest of the team listens to her. Regular BGers may recognise her and follow her plans, but new players often won't. Unlikely to affect HK farmers most of the time. Likely the veteran. Enemy of the "lol, there ain't no way" guy, and often perseveres in spite of him.

The Spy
This guy KNOWS he is going to die pretty badly multiple times. Maybe he is a priest who cannot do much else then keep his allies alive and HOPE they manage to return the favor. Maybe he's a Mage or Lock in a BG full of phys dealers, maybe he's just realized that without a Tank to keep aggro he cannot take a lot of hits, maybe that jackass Death Knight twink is just going to keep offing him for funsies. But at SOME point, this guy realized he was not going to be very useful if he goes out into the field and tries killing the enemies or gets close to the tank to heal (may or may not be true depending on self esteem levels). So, what else is there to do? Spy. Track down the enemy, stay out of range, and report everything you see back to the rest of the battleground so they can decide where to strike next. Night Elves are common for this, since they can go stealth regardless of class. Spies CAN be useful, but at the same time, they might just clog up chat with useless data (toon is HATLESS, repeat, HATLESS). Best used if you can get a veteran player to tell them what to do and what to look for ("Just stay out of sight, tell me what classes and levels the toons are, and for the love of GOD do not use an Eye of Kilrogg (warlock ability)).

One Button Wonder
Plays a class that takes only one button to kill with. Often a mage, armed with Arcane Explosion. Sometimes a warlock with Seed of Corruption. See Score Jockey.

The Suicide Bomber
With all those players crammed into one choke point, Alterac Valley is the perfect place for some PBAoE. Yep, just blink into the crowd and set off Arcane Explosion, Blast Wave, and Frost Nova til you drop. Good times, good times.

Honor Farmers
Core of your Battleground raid. They all likely want to win, and will fight tooth and nail for three marks of honor, or a lump sum of honor points.

AFK Farmers
They join. You think they'll help. But five minutes in, and they haven't moved. Probably won't receive anything. The "Report AFK" function is very effective.

Pre-made Farmers
You should adore these people. They came with the Pre-Made Leader. They get the job done. Often in very-high-end raid or PvP gear. Watching them move is like watching a battalion of tanks mow across a battlefield. A battlefield against soft fluffy rabbits.

HK Farmers
They are there at every pug. These people think that Honor Kills are worth more honor than winning the battleground. Usually can be found fighting in mid, on the roads or in every place except on the node/flag. Never ever passes up a chance to fight and get more HKs, even if the node is 15 steps away and they see another opposition force capping it with no defense to stop him. For some reason, they are usually one of the highest damage dealers. See Score Jockey.

The Kill Stealer
Often unaware of the theft, these players have the uncanny ability to finish off other players before your 1.0 speed melee swing connects. Usually a priest. Despite whatever they may be doing, or however many people are currently targeting him - he will kill your prey 35 yards away while blind and/or stunned.

The Useless Guy
This guy is the biggest waste of space. But you can't get rid of him. He isn't AFK. He rides around on some mount for the duration of the Battle, entering and leaving combat without dismounting. He doesn't speak. Or if he does, he's crying about how his team sucks. He often runs face-first into the opposing faction by himself, wasting your reinforcements. If he counts as one, in the first place.

The I Don't BG Often
She's not sure what to do, what to expect. Probably in dungeon drops, or uncommon loot from questing. Not very useful. However, unlike The Useless Guy, she's enthusiastic and eager to learn, but her morale can be severely wounded by The Howler Monkey or The Pessimist.

The Foreigner
They are the people who never speak and don't seem to understand instructions. In fact, you wonder if they're actually Chinese bots. But unlike The Useless Guy, they actually do something. Usually in the wrong place at the wrong time. Spends much of their time in a GY. Quietly.

The One You Want To Kill Instead
This guy is the one. The person you wish was in the other faction so you could farm him until he isn't worth any honor to you anymore. Then you'll farm him some more. He never ever targets healers, has no idea why the opposition standing beside the flag has a red aura around him, never makes attempts to stop or support flag runners and usually thinks Galv/Balinda is the boss of Alterac Valley. Almost always noisy and believe in their own tactics with a passion. See HK Farmer. Often The Foreigner.

The Timid Sidekick
Always there to back you up, but unsure of her ability, the Timid Sidekick will only engage after you have done substantial damage to the target. Unable to work alone, the Timid Sidekick will often wait at the graveyard for scores of minutes until a Veteran (See Below) respawns or crosses her presence. Spends 65% of her time inspecting.

Hit and Runner
Despite the odds, the Hit and Runner will engage for approximately 8 seconds, burning all possible cooldowns before he retreats to safety. This player is both friend and foe, as he keeps your Guy Who Plays Defense (See Below) at the keyboard and awake. Typically ends with an even score of 0 Kill and 0 Deaths. Usually Rogue or Druid. (May be a former Timid Sidekick, see Above.)

The Eager Shaman
Oftentimes thought of as a only a novelty item, the Eager Shaman is motivated to make something of herself. Typically unable to realize her dreams, few will find success if they remain untargeted. Frequent use of Earth Bind and Frost Shock should be expected. (Usually found chasing the Hit and Runner.) Occasionally will defy the reality of their class and go absolutely ape topping both healing and damage charts.

Mr. lol, there ain't no way I'm gonna win this
The perfect fusion of The Useless Guy and The Pessimist. An Alliance/Horde player who, one day, out of the blue, decided he wanted one of those nifty black war mounts. However, he is well aware of the Alliance's/Horde's uber losing skills on his server, so to lessen the frustration he goes into every battle with a relaxed attitude. A very relaxed attitude. His game plan is to wander around the battlefield and throw some DoT's and snares so nobody reports him AFK, and to hope for a speedy defeat every match. Often becomes useful if it looks like you may win. You can do this, bro, only 18 more marks.

The Just Here For the Achievement
Typically a subset of The I don't BG Often, who joined the battleground for achievements (often related to world events) despite not knowing how to PvP or having any PvP gear. In addition to not knowing how to play, she will often put getting her achievement(s) ahead of winning the battle, as she will likely hide to ensure she keeps her Helper outfit in With a Little Helper from My Friends or allow the enemy to capture the flag so she can retake it for School of Hard Knocks. The bad news is that unlike The I don't BG Often, she is not likely to get any better. The good news is that once she has what she wants, you won't likely see her again, unless you're on the same server and she's showing off her Violet Proto-Drake in town.

The Tol Barad Miner
Sibling type to Mr. lol, there ain't no way I'm gonna win this, this person joins Tol Barad attacks, but aware that his faction is unlikely to capture Tol Barad, spends the battle mining instead of fighting, seeing battles as the only chance to do so. He is most often unaware or unwilling to admit that he is part of the reason why his faction never takes Tol Barad. Since Patch 4.0.6, the ability to mine during battle has since been removed, but beware those who think they can still do so.

Flag Runner Savant
The bane of any WSG game, this person knows every tip, trick, and exploit to keep the flag in her hands alone. Able to wall-climb on flat surfaces and heal herself to full regardless of his mana or class abilities. Usually a Druid. Able to evade death and escape pursuers uncannily, while also suspiciously unable to capture the flag. Often causes Deserter debuff.

The Howler Monkey
He continually shouts at you and your teammates. He annoys everyone. If he isn't insulting your ability to play, he's doing it to someone else. Often exclaims "This is why Horde/Alliance never win!" If he's the Leader, he'll keep shouting orders, usually nonsensical, and shout more when nobody follows them. He'll also change your groups for reasons known only to him, and his annoyance is increased. See The Useless Guy.

The Pessimist
Joined a Battleground for 1 honor point. If you see her, you're likely in Arathi Basin or Warsong Gulch. She seems like a normal person, but when even the hint of losing a node or one flag shows, she reveals herself. Often heard shouting "let them five cap" or "just give up, its quicker." She lies often.

Drama Queen
He claims to have lost every match so far. If you even start to take a dive for a loss, he whines and moans about it. Will fight hard, but die out to becoming useless in the long run.

The Wintergrasp Spawn Camper
Your side just lost the last graveyard while on the offensive. The moment you're out of your backup yard is the moment this guy is on you. Most one-sided battles devolve into this.

Hunters
Biggest portion of your Battleground raid group. Claim to have skill. Nearly all of them increase in size and change color once in combat. As much as you may dislike them outside of this place, you simply adore their prowess in saving your buttocks. See Honor Farmers & Token Grabbers for more.

The Vengeful Hunter
Unable to understand why he died, The Vengeful Hunter makes it a personal mission to find you, even in other battlegrounds. Will not stop until revenge has been met. Has a character on your server to stalk you.

The Huntard
The most common hunter. Wears Searing Blade (weapon), Darkmoon Card: Greatness, and things alike... containing NO agility. Pet is most often a pet that "looks cool." Uses melee weapon often... which is Staff of Jordan. Uses feign death to try to fool the opposing faction. Often an elf or draenei. See also: The Useless Guy.

The Perfect Hunter
Unlike Huntards, this person knows how hunters work. If they're Alliance they'll be a dwarf, if they're Horde they'll be a troll. Impossible to be too near or too far from this person. It's huntin' season on the rival faction, and this guy's got a warrant.

The Ninja
She tries to steal every node, every flag, every tower by sneaking in. She saps the one NPC that may get in her way and then hits the flag, or she mauls the lone person guarding the node. She rarely succeeds, always fleeing the scene immediately afterwards. Or, more likely, dying on the scene. Plays a rogue. You're lucky if she's The Useless Guy.

The Watcher
Like the ninja, with less guts and much more patience. Can and has waited through an entire BG for his chance to ninja. Usually doesn't say a single word throughout the whole battle, highly likely has his chat window hidden away.

Healer
He's here to help. If only because he can't do much else while specced for Arenas. He hates you, but his new spec requires you to stay alive for him to stay alive too. Unless you're a ret/prot pally, feral/boomkin druid, enhancement/elemental shaman or shadow priest. Then don't expect any heals from him, ever. He hates you, with a passion.

The Spiteful Priest
Despite her bonus to healing, the only thing you see out of this player is Mind Blast, Shadow Word Death and Smite. Seemingly incapable of much else, she makes a surprisingly good defender and is oftentimes high on Killing Blows. See Kill Stealer.

Shadow Wanker
This guy is specced to the nines for Shadow. Shadowform, all of his Glyphs are Shadow, etc. But he is STILL a priest and STILL can heal if he just turns off Shadowform for five bloody minutes. Will often flat out refuse to slip out of Shadowform to throw a quick heal your way, sure, most of the time he does just fine has a damage dealer, but whenever your main healer dies, your group is bunkered down and needing buffs/heals, he won't do any of it to save his soul. This can happen with a priest WITHOUT Shadowform for one reason or another, and is even more annoying due to their lack of any sort of excuse other than "I want to kill the enemies!!!"

The PvE Massacre Squad
This premade group is decked out in the highest raid tier armor and/or equivalents. They don't have a stitch of Arena or other PvP gear on them, and not a single point of resilience amongst them. You suspect that the raid servers are down for the evening, but you're not quite sure. Regardless, they just trashed the other team hands down, including the people decked out in the latest Arena Season gear. You're not sure if it was dumb luck, good coordination between them (after all, they've brought down Arthas blind-folded, and had Halion for dessert) or something else, but they still won the battleground. They rarely strike out on their own. You either face none of them or all of them. If you are somehow on the same team as them, you love them. If they are the opposing team, you can feel the defeat creeping up on you. They are all from the same guild. Expect them to have a full array of buffs, and well-organized Paladin blessings.

The Tank Healer
Rarely a Shaman, probably a Priest or Paladin, but maybe a Druid. This guy is always assigned to heal one of the tanks, and it shows as he's only ever healing the prot specced warrior, who is never getting targeted unless he's currently carrying the flag in WSG or EotS. If he's a priest, he's going to hit Fade as soon as you attack him.

The Raid Healer
Could be any healer, but probably a Druid or Shaman. She's healing the people that need it and is probably the best friend of The DPS Master. Like The Tank Healer, if she's a priest, she's going to hit Fade when you attack him. He might stop to rez a fallen comrade.

The DPS Master
Could be any DPS. It's painfully obvious that this guy is always topping guild's DPS charts as he dealt out the most damage during the battleground. He drew the ire of the entire enemy team when he facerolled them at one point all by himself due to overwhelming damage output. He is never far from The Raid Healer.

The Main Tank
She has an outrageous amount of health and only takes a couple dozen damage each time she's attacked and she never dies, probably because she can survive long enough until reinforcements arrive. Usually ignored by the enemy team as she deals out about as much damage as she takes. Too bad she's also the designated flag carrier in Warsong Gulch and Eye of the Storm. She might Taunt you. Whether this is intentional or accidental is not known. She is the bane of rogues as she will constantly block, parry or dodge every attack thrown at her. She is always in front of the group.

The CCer
Probably a mage, but don't rule out Rogues, Priests, Warlocks or Shaman. These guys will CC you and you will remain CCed despite the chaotic fight that's raging around you. That Blizzard that was cast on you? Sorry, that's your teammate's, it's not going to break your predicament. You will only be Un-CCed when the Main Tank decides it's time to kill you. You probably had some raid icon on your head the entire time.

The Raid Tactician
This is the one who is always explaining the fights to her fellow raidmates. She has every strategy of every boss mastered and can recite it from memory. You won't know who she is unless you're in the premade, however, you will be aware of her existence if you're not, as the entire premade single targets people down one-by-one in the same order every time. If the tree(s) died first, it's because she's done Faction Champions, and is used to killing the tree first. Raid icons are used liberally, and probably remain on the other team throughout the entire duration of the battleground.

The Bloodlust/Heroism Masher
Probably Enhancement, but could be either Resto or Elemental, but regardless, he was the reason your entire team was slaughtered when everybody in the battleground met in the middle because he popped Heroism/Bloodlust. Whether this was on orders, habit, or instinct, is unknown, nevertheless, you will find him and make him pay. Also probably used Thunderstorm on the flag in Eye of the Storm

The Loot Master
You will always have to spirit healer rez because of this one, as she is always looting your emblems. It's simply habit on her part, the only thing missing are the purples.

That (Insert Class Here)
These players are the master of their craft, and they always seem to be killing you, despite your best efforts. You relish at seeing them dead, although it is rarely by your hand. They are never on your team, and if they are, you can never seem to find them so as to bask in their awesomeness.

That Death Knight
Spec and Race are irrelevant, although Unholy is particularly annoying. They will start off with a death grip, and proceed to stack every single Disease they have on you, before leaving you in a Death and Decay with a ghoul on you and Chains of Ice. Oh yeah, they've also put up Anti-Magic Shell on their way out.

That Druid
Race and spec are irrelevant. This guy seems to have every spec and is the master of the druid forms. Are you alone and by yourself? He just jumped you in Kitty form. Are you jumping him with a small posse? He's holding the line in Bear form. Is there a big brawl going on? He's knocking you back and AoEing your group down in Moonkin. Is someone nearby him beaten up? He's healing him in Tree form. Is he carrying the flag in EotS or WSG? He's already long gone in Travel form.

That Hunter
See "The Perfect Hunter" above. He hunts players like a hunter hunts game. And you're in the cross-hairs.

That Mage
A gnome or belf. Usually frost spec, though at lower levels is typically fire. Scoots by with a shield up, and you only see him for about two seconds before you're dead. What happened? How did he do that? What is his secret? Why didn't your spell interrupts work? No one knows, and he's long since captured all the resource nodes.

That Paladin
Probably Holy, but retribution is not uncommon, almost always a Blood Elf or Human. His health bar will be plummeting at insane rates, but he will always get his bubble off. Usually takes several people to finally kill him.

That Priest
Race is irrelevant, spec is Shadow. All you saw was a purple and black beam connected to you from somewhere off screen. You're not entirely sure what happened, but that IS your melted face back there. You try to get back at him but he's been melting faces since 2005 and you're just his latest victim. He might even have Grand Marshall or High Warlord, but he has long since switched his title to something different.

That Rogue
Spec is irrelevant, probably a Forsaken, belf, or Gnome. He always seems to be right behind you and is an undisputed master at Stunlocking. Unless at least half your raid is near by, he WILL kill you hands down, and even then, it might not be enough. You once managed to see him not stealthed and proceeded to unload on him. Sadly, it wasn't enough, and before long you're stunlocked and dead, despite having hit him with everything in your arsenal.

That Shaman
Spec is probably Elemental, race is irrelevant. You blinked and you were dead. A look at the combat log reveals several attacks hitting you at the same time. He's a master of healing himself and killing you, both at the same time. In EotS, he's going to Thunderstorm you off the bridges or away from the flag into the abyss below. In the rare instances where he's Enhancement, his elementals will pound anyone who gets in his choke point and his wolves will follow you to the ends of the map. Horde Shaman might be somewhat bitter and/or nostalgic and longs for the days of the two-handed Flurry crits with a triple proc on Windfury which could one-shot a Protection specced warrior in full Grand Marshal gear. Supposedly, this is no longer possible, but a look back at your combat log might suggest otherwise.

That Warlock
A demonology/affliction specced warlock. He stuck his Felguard on you along with Curse of Exhaustion and every single DoT he has, and then ran away. By the time you knew what happened, you're already dead. You vow to take vengeance on him but you never see him, only his Felguard and DoTs. Probably a Gnome or Forsaken.

That Warrior
Probably arms or fury, race is irrelevant, but Tauren only seem to exacerbate the problem. He has few stuns, but is constantly jumping around making it impossible to target him. Knockbacks are worthless because he'll just intercept you. Hamstring is up 24/7, and he will ALWAYS Execute you for some sick amount of damage.

That Healer
No matter what you do, no matter what DoTs, debuffs, damage, or stuns you throw on them, they do not die. All they do is flail their arms in the air and heal themselves. They never once did a single point of damage to you, but you might as well have died by their hand as you were so focused on killing them, you failed to notice the other players moving in to kill you. Alternatively, someone on your team comes to help, and he's the one with the killing blow.

That 
This guy is identical in almost every way to you: his spec, his gear, his rotation, everything, yet you're the one on the ground after every one on one fight. You are highly bitter of this, and have no idea what happened. Unfortunately, the combat log didn't go back far enough so you have no idea what to do, and you never caught his name or server so you have no idea how to get in touch with him to find out what you need to do.

The Feared
This guy's the ultimate Veteran... on the other side. You don't know how he does it, but he just facerolled your entire team... single handedly. He just blew in and people started dropping like flies. Regardless of the initial massacre, he just crippled your team for the duration of the battleground. Wherever he appears, people run screaming away. If he rides up to the Lumber Mill, everyone starts jumping off. He can run the flag alone because nobody wants to take it from him. Even if they do, he simply cuts them down immediately. Ends with zero deaths and an exponential number of kills. If he sees you, you're dead. If he's a hunter or a warlock, your team will be prone to inexplicably... dying. Randomly. Wait, no! It's The Feared! He shot out of nowhere and... OH NO HE SAW ME! RUN AWAY!