More and More World of Warcraft “Casuals” Turn To Twinking

A level 19 Warcraft twink jumps into the battleground at Orgrimmar, his weapons glowing, his armor reinforced. He is just one of many Twinks in this battleground, most of them either rogues or hunters and all of them extremely "overpowered". Across the battlefield, a level 12 mage realizes, after surveying his opponents that deciding to join this battleground was a big mistake.

This Hunter represents one of the most controversial aspects of the World of Warcraft - players who twink.

In the popular MMO game World of Warcraft, the twinking of player character is a process that affords low level toons gear (armor, weapons and enchants) of a much higher level. Usually, the twinking of player characters requires lots of in-game gold and the help of higher level characters. The most popular level twink is level 19, a relatively easy level to acquire.

No reliable figures of Twinking exist, but an increase in the number of Twinks seen in recent years in battlegrounds and on the streets of Orgrimmar, Ironforge and other major Warcraft cities suggests the trend is growing.

Parrot, a hunter twink that plays on the Burning Blade server, said twinking is the only option for people unable to devote 3-10hrs a day to World of Warcraft. "When you level to 50 and above, all PVP (player vs. player) character gear requires dozens of hours of play time to acquire, my RL (real life) responsibilities would never allow that kind of time commitment."

Most of the Warcraft casuals that decide to twink toons are in their late teens and early 20s with jobs or other responsibilities that limit free time. While some decide to twink just to "pawn noobs", about a 2/3 of twinks enjoy the ability to sit down for 30min to 1hr and still have a rewarding experience. Something that is impossible at higher levels.

However, traditional players like Mercedes disagree and believes twinking ruins battleground play. "Normal players who don't spend RL money for gold or who do not have the help of higher levels, can not compete against these twinked characters. Cloth classes especially suffer due to twink melee itemization." This sentiment is shared by other traditional players who believe that due to in-game mechanics, low level characters who could not possibly generate the amount of gold need for enchants and gear, turn to paying real money for in-game gold. Mercedes added, "the problem has gotten so bad, that most traditional players will not even consider entering a BG until at least level 40, when itemization normalizes."

Officially, the Blizzard Entertainment makers of World of Warcraft, have taken a "no opinion" stand. Which does not surprise Parrot who stated, "twinking has organically solved one of WoW's most troubling issues, casual player content."

No matter your position on Twinking, its hard to argue its effect on the game. And with no major changes to in-game mechanics in the near future, the prevailing attitude seems to be "if you can't beat them, join them."

Bryan S.

Bryan spends his time on a large online twink resource http://www.warcraft-twinks.com and playing World of Warcraft. He writes articles for http://www.wowchief.com and http://www.warcraft-gold-farmer.com.