Perri sat there, watching the Blood Elf and his summoned Voidwalker. The litter of corpses around the Elf's feet had little effect upon the Gnome, Perri had been watching the Horde Warlock for the better part of ten minutes, analysing, waiting.... knowing...

Why the Blood Elf didn't heed the stationary Gnome, no body knows. An initial pause was all that greeted Perri when he first stumbled on the Horde Warlock, and a continuing of whatever he was doing, as if the Gnome did not exist. In hindsight, that was the Elf's first mistake....

Right, Perri now has his first honourable kill in World PvP - in fact in PvP in general. It has taken a long time and lots of graveyard runs, but the fact that it has happened feels great. Finally, Perri can be blooded!

Now that that is out of the way, in light of the analysis of the *very* one sided fight, if Perri had lost this then it would be time for him to hang up his staff and find work sitting aside someone's garden pond. And that is no lie either...

Simple sequence of events, the Blood Elf had sent his voidwalker against a mob and was sitting back. The mob was almost dead, and if the past analysis was correct, the Horde Warlock would sit down and have a drink to regain mana (he was on about half) once the fight was over. Although two levels below, Perri was still being too cautious, so when Voidwalker was busy, he sent in his puppy against the Blood Elf. And to my surprise, the Horde Warlock ran away from Bruushon (Perri's puppy). Mistake 2 perhaps? All this time, the Blood Elf's Voidwalker was still fighting the other mob... he didn't recall him at all! So the "fight" for want of a better word, was Perri chasing , Bruushon nipping at the heels and the other Warlock running away.

An honourable kill according to the achievement unlocked, so why do I feel guilty?

Well that's simple, and it gives an insight into why it has taken Perri so long to score that first blood. When questing, if I see a Horde player - even one that could be taken on - the first thing I do is check at whether they are bothered about me. If not, I avoid them a bit then get back to questing. If they do show an interest, I head back towards the nearest town or outpost hoping they don't follow. On a PvP server this is *NOT* how it goes. Even when the Horde player is busy with mobs, I would leave them alone and get on with whatever was on the plate before hand.

But saying all this, a lot has changed over the past few weeks. Last nights first blood was an important step forward, but it was the mindset behind it that was the major leap. An example, a few nights ago Perri was constantly being killed by a level 80 DeathKnight every time he stepped outside. Even when a fellow guildie came to help, the graveyard was a well tread area that night. That did not stop Perri was watching some of the comparable level Horde hanging around. He had encountered (and lost to) four different classes on his travels, all similar in level but far better in ability. Even when he had the drop on a warrior, the fight was over quite quick - perhaps it is still the PvE'r in me, and the focus on rotations rather than winging it. Last night though, the whole emphasis was on instant and quick cast spells, although the fight didn't call for any. The mindset even when questing is one of movement and quick cast, it might take longer to bring the mob down, but it is keeping in character of PvP.

As I have said the fight was one sided, so in fact I would not count this as an Honourable Kill, but it is a highlight of an ongoing process in the shaping of Perri (and all the other alts on the same server). So here is to you, my Gnomish one, first of many?