Zerghammer?

Warhammer Online was created with the intent of having massive battles between Order and Destruction. They've accomplished that goal as far as I'm concerned given that I've seen 4-5 warbands (a warband consists of 24 people) fight 4-5 warbands several times, not counting fortress battles. There are much larger battles than that, ones exceeding 200v200 at times and I'm sure each server could tell you stories about large battles they've had. However all along there have been players who have spoken out against "zerging" and have promoted small group play (usually 10 or less people vs 10 or less etc). Now when I talk about zerging I use the term loosely. I consider a zerg to be a mass of players that run around together accomplishing things that can be done with many less. For example if there are 28 Destruction in a zone and Order responds and attacks them with 55 people then I consider that zerging. Is zerging bad? That depends.

WAR awards zerg behavior. Keeps, Battlefield Objectives, Fortresses and beyond all award zerg play. This is funny, because the ultimate goals of those particular things require PvE. WAR is supposedly a PvP game. I think it shines as a PvP game really, but only as long as I refrain from getting caught up in the renown farming PvE cycle. Given that WAR is based around zerg play, small groups will find they do in fact have a role to play. Say Destruction is attacking a keep. Take a 2-6 man force and find a good ambush spot between the Destro warcamp and the most likely approach to the keep. You'll find all sorts of small battles. Another thing you can do is to bait away portions of a zerg. Inevitably the zerg leader will do one of two things. They will either tell everyone to charge you (thus "zerging" you) or they will tell everyone to ignore you in which case at least 5-10% of the zerg will still likely come after you. Here's an example of how zerg minded people are in WAR. Several times I've been running in a small group and we'll come across a zerg waiting in a BO for it to cap (yay 500 Renown!!!). We'll try to bait them out to fight and usually a few will come out. We then usually kill those players (in plain sight of their allies) and run off before those sitting in the BO even consider moving. That doesn't always happen (sometimes they steam roll us), but it happens often enough to give me a sick feeling in my stomach.

So far I know that I sound opposed to zerging. That's because I am. However in a game that rewards that style of play I cannot find fault in those who like to run around in massive clumps. It's what the game is based around and they have every right to do so. That said, I have more respect for those who run in smaller groups to accomplish the same goals the zergs are working at. Do they care? It's likely they don't, but that's the point of having an opinion. Some will agree while others disagree. I can say for sure though that the most fun I have in WAR is when running with 4-6 people and wiping a group of say 8-20 people. For me there's a sense of accomplishment and good play when I'm on the outnumbered side and still win. If I am in a group that doubles the size of the group we're fighting then I almost feel useless. What enjoyment is there if you don't even really need to dismount? I guess it depends on why you play as well. I play to PvP and have fun. From what I've written you can tell what I consider fun when it comes to PvP in WAR.

What do you folks think? Is zerging good? Bad? Necessary? I've expressed my opinion, now express yours.