Is it possible to not be dead weight as F2P level 20 in BGs?

[magicganja]

Hi.

Yesterday I wanted to try some retail PvP and leveled Arms warr and Unholy DK to level 20 to try some BGs.
Did a few dungeons on my chars and got few blues then got into Battle for Gilneas 10v10.
The first thing I noticed that a holy priest hits me with 2.5k holy fire on my 2.8k hp and druid kills me in 1 seconds after stun from stealth or 3.5k aimed shot. Other classes kills me in 1 global too.
I understand that probably I am vs twinks with OP gear but I wonder if it is possible to get level 20 char to a state where you are not killed in one GCD and can actually support your team?
Or is the meta to go full damage and oneshot or get oneshotted because it is pointless to go tanky with the damage that is being done?
Was thinking to maybe make holypala and try to heal my team while hiding in LoS...

Is a F2P level 20 char always a dead weight in BGs or is it possible to make any impact like playing healer or tanky char with CC?
Also I heard max itemlevel for 29 bracket is like 85 so how does this guy have full 140 ilevel gear ? ßullock on Ravencrest

 

[Calligraphy]

Max ilvl for 20s is somewhere in the 80s. 89 with lucky epic procs, but the stat difference between 89 purples and 84 blues is minimal so the priority is sockets instead.

Max ilvl for 29s is quite a bit higher. For reasons that boil down to twinks bullying levelers in BGs and annoying paying customers, all of us with our XP disabled got shunted into the XP off bracket. Which means that you have the occasional 20 twink, the occasional person actually trying out WoW and poking their head in, and a decent number of 29s looking to pick on the 20s.

There's not much you can do to balance things against someone with those extra talents and ilvls on you. Most twinks nowadays focus on PvE for that reason. Your other options are wargames where everyone has to be vetted, and hoping that you log on when your faction has more 29 twinks active.

 

[Dev]

Only way I can think of contributing is how I did when I got invited recently, be fast enough to run the flag and cap while 29s who can actually fight act as bodyguards.

 

[Breizhglober]

it heavily depends on your class.

Yes, one-shots happen and will happen. But, first, dying is not that much of a big deal in BGs, second, not everyone can one shot you, third, it does not mean you are useless.

If you play arms or unholy, it is probably a little hard to just hardcore frontline, but you still have your CCs, your buffs to others, you can provide a distraction, defend objectives, even if it is just dying to delay the enemy.

As an example, I play Resto Druid (arguably a class with many tools). Sometimes, I am in the backline healing (although, as pointed out many times, healing is kind of hard when everyone gets insta one-shot). Sometimes, I am stealthing around delaying caps, pressuring healers, sneaking a cap here and there, like yesterday (I think I saw you actually in the Gilneas where you got one shot). And sometimes, I get lucky, I just carry the flag 3 times, get great support from 29s and definitely make my team win.

Conclusion is, yes, you are going to get one-shot, yes, you are going to feel useless, no, it is not a fatality. Most of us spend weeks gearing a SINGLE F2P character, with BiS, gems, enchants, sometimes consumables, and if you put in the same time in your paladin for example, you will get tankier (my resto wears leather and is just shy of 4k health) and able to do more. Until then, find a niche (healing, harassing, distracting, capping) that you can do to help.

Finally, the worst one shot mechanics (food buffs and bombs) are getting fixed, so it might get a little better soon. But, just as an example, my F2P resto druid can probably two shot you with that HP, from stealth, after stun, and it is an unfinished stamina heavy build, so it is not only about 29s and mechanics exploits.

 

[Masara]

In my case, certainly not! It was bad enough before. I haven't been in a battleground since joining back in, but I'm not feeling confident...