PvP Disease
It’s an embarrassing fact of life. And most have had it or have given it to someone else, PvP Disease. It starts when a player, and you know who you are, joins your party or raid who is flagged PvP. And it quickly spreads like the plague when others start buffing and healing. Of course if you play on a PvP server you are immune, or more accurately you always have it.
Why is this a problem? There is of course the annoyance of getting ganked outside an instance or whereever you are grouping up. This particularly bothers healers and tanks who can’t always fight back. But more importantly when some players are flagged and some are not, it interferes with group buffs. This can cripple your groups effectiveness. And players typically will eventually have to buff two or three times to work things out which costs reagents and generates real life aggro.
What can you do? It is incredibly easy to stop this disease. Take a ride from any flight point. As soon as you do, the PvP flag is immediately removed.
Note that in patch 2.4.3 any time you zone into an instance on a PvE server you are automatically unflagged. The problem only occurs now for groups outside of instances.
When you get a summon, wait. You have two minutes until it expires. If you are in a battleground leave by right clicking the mini-map icon and flag off PvP. Then make your way to a flight point. If you are not close to a flight point it may be best to let the summon expire and ask to be resummoned in five minutes especially when joining a raid. This is how long it takes for the PvP flag to expire. Accepting a summon while you still have the flag almost always spreads the disease. In the default UI it can be difficult to see if anyone is flagged and players will buff or heal you without knowing you have it.
If you happen to be in a group with PvP Disease there are two options. Either everyone can flag up, and go PvP. Or everyone can simultaneously flag up and down. In the first case, you are guaranteed group buffs will work correctly but you may forget to flag off later or you may get ganked entering and leaving the instance. You will be safe inside the instance. In the second case, you are counting on everyone’s five minute timer to expire at the same time. This doesn’t always work. Someone might forget to flag down, or someone might cast a heal right at the end of five minutes restarting the disease. In any case, don’t forget to check your flag when you are done.
Remember, practice safe buffing.
Updated for the 2.4.3 auto unflag.