Rhii is well geared. She’s not a fashion plate. She’s not at the absolute peak of what a character at her current level could be, but she’s well geared. I thought nothing of it. Of course I’ll wear the best gear I have access to. Badly geared mages have the life expectancy of a porcelain doll in the hands of a two year old boy. I solo a lot, so I usually have nothing to rely on for survivability outside of my gear, Gift of the Naaru, and my own (somewhat unpredictable) crowd control skills. So yeah, when I find gear that’s better than what I’m wearing I’m all over it.
I play in a guild that’s fairly polarized. The founder left his raiding guild to play the content he wanted with the people he wanted. The result was a group that enjoys each other’s company immensely and helps each other out whenever possible, but we can’t really play together as much as we’d like to, because roughly half of us are in the end game (whatever that means, these days), and the other half are still leveling. There aren’t enough players in the guild that are at similar levels for us to group together or run appropriate instances so my choices are to group with the random potential ninjas I meet in the streets or to solo… or to be run through inappropriately leveled instances by my friends. Also, I want to play with my friends all the time sooner or later — I am a walking bakery and Poland Spring bottler, and my friends need me! So I’m leveling as quickly as I can to make that happen. Add it all up, and you get a level 42 mage who’s geared slightly above the average.
So the other day when circumstances forced me to group with a random potential ninja I met on the streets — to do him justice, he wasn’t a ninja, and I desperately needed him because I was trying to kill King Bangalash for the Green Hills of Stranglethorn achievement — as we were running merrily along the green hills in question, he paused to admire my Illusionary Rod, and ask where I’d gotten it. After a short pause to remember, I answered that I’d gotten my staff in Scarlet Monastery.
“Oh,” replied my companion, after a short silence, “… Ur a twink.”
I said, meekly, “I don’t think I’m a twink…” I didn’t know my avatar had body language, but she must have because her body language clearly gave away my dismay.
My groupmate replied, “well you are one.” And that was that. No matter that I’d run SM with one of the 70s from my guild earlier that week because I had a bunch of mage quests there, and nobody else to quest with. No matter that my mage quests were yellow, and I’d probably have made out alright with a well put together group of similarly leveled players. Nope, judgement has been passed: Rhii is a twink.
Twinkie?
I wasn’t sure whether I was more amused or more annoyed. Although according to Wikipedia, a twink is “somebody who, within the confines and restrictions that a game provides, attempts to maximize the effectiveness of his character in one or more categories,” that’s a definition that could fit just about any character. Who doesn’t want to be as effective as possible? That’s not what a twink is in day-to-day conversation, for sure. In my mind, a twink is somebody’s low level alt that’s been kept at a strategic level (probably ending in 9) to fit into a specific bracket for battlegrounds, and maximized with intense expenditure of gold to be an efficient slayer of other characters.
Twinking is an activity that holds absolutely zero interest for me, and seems to fill some competitive urge that I simply don’t have. I suppose it’s got some legitimacy in that the goal seems to be to fight other people who are similarly fanatical and thereby prove yourself king of that particular slice of twinkdom, but I just don’t get it. I put ”maintaining a twink” slightly above “malicious ganking” on the list of things I hope to do when I’m a level 80. So I wasn’t pleased to be given the name, let alone the tone of accusation with which it was delivered…
I am not a twink.
Am I?
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Well, OK, by strictest definition (as found in Wikipedia) then all my lowbies are twinks too, since my mains send gear down the chain all the time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twinking
Or maybe he meant http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twink_(gay_slang) - but that would be pretty crass.
I think what your anonymous ninja was really trying to say was that you "cheated" because you took advantage of something outside the design intention of the dungeon by bringing a 70. The question is whether it really is "cheating" if you take advantage of certain aspects of the game. In this case, Blizz could theoretically lock players out of dungeons when they are higher level than the designed range, but they have not chosen to do that. Is it "cheating" to take advantage of that? It depends on how you play the game. If you play to reach your goals (whatever they may be) using every avenue available, that's one choice. "Twinking" is a subset of this playstyle. If you play to reach your goals while staying within the implied framework for your character's current developent, that's another possiblity. In a lot of ways Blizz has left both options open, and players are free to make their own decisions… (continued next post)
(continued) Personally, I enjoy immersing myself in the stories that Blizz has created, and to do that most effectively, I think they need to be experienced at the appropriate level, and with appropriate assistance when possible. I prefer to play with just one solo character on a server, no mules, no crafting alts, no over-level help. If I can find level-appropriate people to group for quests or instances, great. If not, I try to figure out how to succeed with the resources available to me. I really enjoy it.
And that's the great thing about this game; Blizz has made a platform that offers lots of options for different types of players. If you are happy with your playstyle, don't let someone else harsh on you.
Considering the rod is lvl 34 required on a level 42 mage – not a twink.
Generally I think of twinks as keeping near-level gear (with enchants) – a common drop pice of gear from an instance groupable 10 levels before does not equate to twink.
Otherwise all instance gear would have to be considered twink gear by that definition.
No, your not a twink.
What you probably got was the jealous reaction of someone who can’t find groups at the appropriate level to do instances. And with that kind of snap judgement its no wonder.
Probably also a either a new player, or someone who doesn’t have the skill/commitment to play that much if he doesn’t know where that staff came from.
!?!?!! Seriously SM gear means your a twink? Shyeah right!
I can kind of understand why the random ninja turned not ninja thought you were a twink, if you haven't had to roll against others for the phat loots then you'll have more nice things and thus look more like a twink than others of your level. But I wouldn't cry "Twink!" In this day and age having to be run though dungeouns is common so I don't think twice about someone thats well geared for their level.
At the low levels it's incredibly stupid to state anyone being twink, when they are levelling. There is simply no use to twink the toons with hard earned (?) gold to be the top geared one in the level, because you will be changing your gear a lot while levelling. Twinking -for me at least- is like you described: using capped main to fund the superior gear for a toon at low level, usually in the form of money to purchase the gear from AH.
I have one mule, who deals all the loot I don't use with my two other toons. This leads to the fact that the ones I'm really focusing on run from instance to another and gain lovely blues from the PUGs. Their gear is mainly blue, but I still cannot think of my toons as twinks simply because I have earned the gear from my PvE adventuring and not from AH. Nor do I have any inclination to become the killer queen/king in the battlegrounds. Ever.
Rhii isn't a twink.
Rhii is just clever.
Rhii,
the crucial difference between a normal player and a twink is that twinks try to stay at key levels (19, 29, 39 etc) where their gear/enchants etc. make them uber.
you are trying to level.
you're not a twink – you just have a good guild.
I dont think your a twink… I had that staff as soon as i could get it, and i rarely do quests that are green to me, i prefer the challenge of yellow and orange quests meaning i too am always looking out for the best gear i can… I mean, i had +40 spell damage on my zum'rahs vexing cane ( http://www.wowarmory.com/item-info.xml?i=18082 ) pretty much the moment i could put it on…. does that make me a twink?
I think the definition of a twink has to include a level ending in a 9, and player who pvps…. i was neither… i was 42 and avoiding horde like the plague.
Simply having the best gear you can get does not make you a twink. It just makes you a good player.
To be quite honest here ….you are a twink…almost every player in the game is a twink in the original definition of the term. Its only been since patch 1.5 when battlegrounds were added to the game that the common definition of the word "twink" means a person who's level ends in a nine and had uber enchants on their gear. Today's twink commonly refers to battlegrounds.
In the MMO sense, a twink is anyone who receives help to accomplish things beyond what they could normally do at that level. Your Illusionary Rod wouldn't flag you as twink if you simply ran that instance with other characters your level. If you had help from a 70 then yeah you fall into the twink category.
If you want to drive it down to even a more pure form of the word, anyone who sends gold to another one of their characters is even a twink.
"When everyone's super, then no one is!"
- Syndrome, the Incredibles
+5 Sheep points for quoting an awesome movie
Honestly, I wouldn’t say your a twink when using the definition that 95% of those inside the game use it. Having a 70 run you through an instance is not surprising. I don’t think I ever set foot in an appropriate geared instance after SM before Ramparts on my pally. I had something similar happen to me. Back before 3.0 when my then 38 priest was still spec’d shadow, I had someone send me a duel invite. I declined saying I don’t pvp. They come back with “but you’re a twink.” I asked why they thought so and it turned out because I was in almost entirely blue gear with really nice enchants on them. I explained to them that I had leveled that character almost entirely on instance runs in WC/SFK/SM and that explains all the really nice gear and the enchants was because I was an enchanter so I gave myself whatever I thought was best. We dueled anyway and he truly realized I wasn’t a twink when he soundly kicked my rear with still over half his health left (while being a few levels lower than me to boot).
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