Twinking New Style

Introduction
Since WOTLK, a lot of changes have been made to the battleground system regarding XP. The old style of Twinking no longer exists - since, the twink will get XP in battlegrounds and therefore cannot stay twink in his/her bracket forever.

But is twinking dead? No, far from even. In this short article a few basic concepts about 'twinking new style' will be discussed.

First. Let's redefine twinking. Twinking is no longer in creating totally overpowered characters which are no match for 'normal' players. High level enchants will no longer work. Instead, it's about getting the best gear that is normally available for your character.

Our tools
Players can choose to stop gaining XP. That's right. An NPC (located in the Stormwind or Orgrimmar battlerooms, for horde: Slahtz, for alliance: Behsten ) will on request stop your XP. This will cost 10 gold to disable, and 10 gold to enable again. A bargain. So, why not stop gaining XP and go twink in battlegrounds?. Because Blizzard seperated the battlegrounds for players with and without XP. As a result, battlegrounds without xp are more or less dead. One will have to accept to get XP in battlegrounds. Most players consider this is a fair change. Run instances - with XP stop - to grind your gears. If you have access to a level 80 character, you can get (depending on your class) about 3 usefull pieces of gear (as of patch 3.3.3: Shoulders, a chest, a weapon (1H or 2H), and 2 trinkets ('PvP' trinket, and a SP, AP or Haste trinket). Heirlooms are by some considered as overpowered, however, they are comparable to the best rare items available for your level. But yes, 5 pieces of heirloom certainly will be an advantage. Since inscription gave enchanters a way to sell enchants on the auction hall, you will find a lot of enchanters so nice to sell 'skilling' enchants for reasonable prices, often as low as 1-2 or 5 gold. Ofc this depends on your realm, new realms most likely being in an advantage, but generally expect some offerings in the 1-20G range. At level 18 (several WSG items), 20 (1 trinket), 28 (WSG + AB), 38, 40, 48 etc. you will be able to purchase several items for honor. These items both are valuable as items of their level, and they save you repeatedly doing dungeons for them few off-pieces. Spend honor at will, and, save up for the PvP trinket (about 2600 honor). Items of rare quality, available for any class and armor. Notice the level brackets on satchels: 15-25 (obtainable at level 15!), 26-35, etc.
 * XP Stop
 * Instances
 * (Optional) Heirlooms
 * (Cheap) enchants
 * PvP gear rewards
 * Satchel of Helpful Goods

Non-issues

 * Q. Help - im' new player (or, new on my twinking realm). How on earth do i get 10 gold as low level.
 * A. Gold is easy enough. If you pick up 2 gathering skills, and sell any green item that drops and is of no use for yourself on the auction house, as well as your herbs/ore/leather, without doubt you will have >>20 gold at the time you are level 15. It is really no problem. Running instances with XP stop also makes it easy to earn gold. Just make sure to have bagspace. Get the auctioneer addon so you will have an idea of prices. Low-level items often worth more than a new player would expect.


 * Q. My opponents / team mates / have all heirlooms and i have not, making them over powered.
 * A. Unless they actively twink as well, the twinking player will outgear them eventually. Most players equipping heirlooms just want to level fast, and likely do not have their non-heirloom gear maxed. Also, remember that rare ('blue') items are of comparable quality as heirlooms. Last not least, players equiping both heirloom shoulder and chest slots will earn 20% more XP, resulting in about 20% less battles played.

Twinking Path
So, what will the twinking path look like. Actually, pretty straightforward. -Stop your XP. Spend an afternoon running Ragefire chasm over and over again. After your usefull items all or most have dropped, and you green or blue items for the other slots, it is BATTLEGROUND TIME! That's right. Enable your XP. Gogo have fun in BG until you are
 * 1) Level 1-15: Level as normal. Have 2 gathering skills.
 * 2) Level 15: At level 15 you can run instances. Ragefire Chasm in particular. Deadmines and Wailing Caverns are possible but it is very recommended to be level 16+ to enter.
 * 1) Level 16: stop XP again. Run DM and WC. Most likely after a few runs you will have the items that will take you all the way to level 19. Enable XP again, go run battlegrounds until you reach level 20.
 * 2) Level 20: Time to level, up to about level 25. Enable XP, run instances, Stop XP at 25, run more instances until you got all your gears. Enable XP. Go do battlegrounds until level 30.
 * 3) Repeat above the four steps for every battleground slot, and you will find having good times and your effort for gear being rewarded in being just 10% more solid than your opponent, claiming victories! Not easy ones, not overpowered or imbalanced ones, but fun and nice PvP ones.

Above scheme is not 'strict', you can stop and start your XP at will, but i hope you get the idea. Stop XP as soon you want to get extra gears, and enable XP once you go into battleground.

Tips
Tips for new players.
 * Do not beg. Ever. Show others you are motivated and hardworking, then they may show you to be more generous than gold can buy.
 * Find a nice guild for leveling players. Most likely your realm will have a few. If for any, just for some fun chat.
 * Bags are welcome. Accept bag offerings from friends, they often have unused 10 or 12 slots lying around
 * Stick to a PvP talent tree and avoid respeccing as the costs are high. Being well geared and skilled will make up for that and people will welcome you in instances.
 * Don't be in a hurry. If you want to level fast, an XP stop is not for you. Twinking requires some patience. You can still go to battlegrounds though, or consider a path where you run instances from level x0 to x5 and battlegrounds from x5 to x9, and or mix at will. Having heirlooms is an advantage, but expect your a. being kicked by some better-geared-than-you opponents.
 * Be polite in battlegrounds. Don't blame your team mates when things fail. Nothing as effective for failure as bad motivation. Also, accept that everyone makes mistakes, small ones and big ones. Learn from that, and of course you may say something, but always keep a good and friendly atmosphere.

Happy twinking all!