This is in response to Cheddar's Queue complaints in another thread. I don't want to derail it, and I'm sure if there are any responses to this is will be a heated debate about how stupid my observations are, so I'd rather they be self contained.
Schild was correct... WoW is extremely shallow. Why did I like it? 2 reasons, SFK and PvP. Now I am in my 40's the PvP takes up to 3 hours to get into. Yeah, I know, supposedly at level 60 it is not so bad. Fuck grinding to fun.
I'm going to tell you the secret to PvP Queues, how they work, and how you can not be dissapointed in them. Please forgive me if you already know all of these facts, but if you don't it will make your life easier. Take all the information below with a grain of salt, this is how I've seen the system work, and I could be wrong. I PvP every night, and I rarely do anything else in WoW. On my server there are at least 10 or so of us who PvP regularly on Horde side (basically it's all we do) and there are probably twice as many on Alliance side, judging from the names I see and the smack talking in the Realm Forums. In any given night there are several drifters who come through that may pvp only once every few days, or once a week, or once ever.
On my server, and I assume every other server, there are several brackets that are PvP heavy, and several that almost never see PvP. The PvP heavy brackets are 10-19 WSG, 20-29 WSG, 40-49 AB, 60 AB. The PvP "light" brackets are 30-39 and 50-59. If I were a betting man, I'd bet that most servers are close to the same. 20-29 is WSG because Alliance has no chance against shammies in 20-29 AB. 30-39 and 50-59 are no/light PvP because in those brackets people are either racing to a mount (40) or racing to "teh end" (60). 10-19 is the easiest/cheapest to twink for melee (think Fiery Weapon and how much damage an extra 40 point proc 2 or 3 times a battle is), and 20-29 is a little more balanced for twinked out casters (a lot more +int +sta gear in the 20-29 range than in the 10-19 range. If you are a clothie, you need to go for +sta +int, and get +7 sta to boots and bracers, +100 health to chest, and any other chants you can afford).
When you log on every night do a /who basin, /who warsong, and, if you have a 51-60 and care about AV, /who alterac. Do this several times every night. Make macros. Do it and mentally record all the data you collect. Check to see the level ranges of the games that are going on, i.e. if you see a ton of 20-29s, and no 40-49s, then, obviously, 20-29 pvp is going on and there is no one playing 40-49. If you are in queue in 40-49 and there are no 40-49s in the list, that means one side or the other doesn't have enough in queue. Go to Og and tell people to Queue. Check for low levels telling people to queue into higher games, as those are likely Alliance alts advertising for the other side. We often have someone in our group of regulars dual box and advertise for Alliance to join a specific queue, you should consider doing the same.
If you do a /who basin and see a bunch of 40-49s, count them. If the number isn't divisble by 15, you'll likely have a short wait in the queue, unless there is somone who is "in the game" but hasn't clicked Enter Battle yet. If there are exactly 15, you'll likely get in the "next" game, unless there are more than 15 in queue. For every 15 in queue, you have a full game to wait (there is no wait to check the queue depth at this time). So if there are 15 in game, and 8 in queue, the next game will have the 8 that are in queue, and assuming the other people requeue after their game, the first 7 to click join queue from the last group. The next game will (assuming the people from the previous group stayed in queue the whole game) have 7 from this game, and 8 from the next group.
As soon as the game ends, click Join battle as fast as possible. The game goes on "order of queued", so if you have a fast comp and you get through the loading screen faster, you'll be more likely to get into the next game immediately without having to wait a full game cycle, unless there are already 15 in queue, then you are screwed. Do not wait on your group leader to click "Join as Group", because the others in your group don't wait, and thus they'll be in queue ahead of you. The moment enough people click Join, the game starts, if your "Join as Group" doesn't come in before that, you've missed the next game.
Here is the real game though: Make alts. Make a 19th level alt, a 29th level alt and keep your main at 49, or level him to 60. Twink those alts, you can be promised that the other side has done the same (it's not fair, but life isn't fair). Make sure to take into account the level range for the alt, and make a talent build that is optimal for that level, i.e. don't make a really great SL/Nightfall build for your level 29 lock alt and end up with neither SL or Nightfall at 29.
When you log in, check the games, do your /who basin /who warsong, et al. Find the active games. Switch to that alt. Join the queue. If you are lucky and all 4 games are up (10-19, 20-29, 40-49, and 60), then you can choose. If you find the queue depth for any one group is "too long" (if you see the names changing in /who basin or /who warsong for your level range, but you're not getting into a game), switch to one of the other alts. If one of the brackets has multiple games going (i.e. more than 10 players in WSG, or more than 15 in AB), switch to that one, as you are more likely to get into a game. It is EASY to grind a character up to 19 and 29, you should be able to get to 29 within one to two weeks of 2 hours per night grinding.
If you are SERIOUS about pvp, switch to Horde side if you aren't there already. Horde side on most servers have almost no queue times, the depth of the queue is always less than one game, so you're promised to get into the "next" game, for the most part. Also, the queue depth is so shallow on Horde side that you get almost every game beyond your first, this is doubly true if you have a fast comp. If the queue depth is only 3 deep, then odds are you're not going to be one of the 3 slowest to click Join after the battle.