PVP stays strong in 2.0.1
by Mike Schramm 
Dec 8th 2006 at 6:37PM
If one thing hasn't suffered because of the patch, it's PVP. Even though the Arena system has been All this activity hopefully will bring with it a little bit of strategy. Relm says he's seen zerging in WSG and little node defense in AB-- I'll agree on that last one (get three flags and hold them, guys), and add that AV needs help as well. In fact, AV needs a lot of help. With all the work Blizzard has done on the off-the-field of battlegrounds, I'd now appreciate seeing a little on-the-field work. It's well known that AV, as it's set up, is unbalanced towards the Alliance side. As much as I'd like to see that fixed before the expansion hits, I doubt it'll happen, and Horde will continue to get trampled on that darned bridge.
Still, strategy problems aside, I have to agree that while raiding has taken a beating under this patch (with new specs and mod changes causing players to learn their roles all over again), PVP is still a pleasure most of the time. In fact, if you'll excuse me, someone just yelled INC BS-- looks like I'm needed on defense.
Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Tips, PvP
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Brudus Dec 8th 2006 6:46PM
lol i like the "B team" guild name.
Matt Dec 9th 2006 2:05AM
More QQing about AV? Old news.
raawr Dec 8th 2006 7:17PM
Im liking some attitudes I see in AV Bg..
One av ..rare but we charged them at the old GY where the troll used to be..forgot its name its been so long since we hit that.
But the clash begun...the normal pass eachother to race to the general was stoped...our AV did last way longer too...but you know what??
Nobody gave crap..we clashed and clashed...it was good stuff.
Tauren mills raids are back..yaay...i love those too
Im so loving my new spec too...beating the snot out of warriors with the new assasination build.
Dave Dec 8th 2006 8:23PM
And 3 weeks later, after everyone gets epicced out, the BGs gradually dwindle...
Jason Dec 8th 2006 8:44PM
AV honestly isn't that unbalanced. Before X-Realm BGs, horde absolutely rolled AV on my server. I've talked with folks from other servers in my battlegroup, and it's the same there. So what happened? X-Realm increased peoples desire to PvP, and the quality of AV groups went down, a lot.
The problem isn't the map layout. It's got nothing to do with the bridge, or the fact that alliance walks unmolested by NPCs through the horde base. The problem is all the people who want to kill Balinda for the bonus and roll over for a loss and a token. I've been in groups where everyone was focused, and wanted the win. End result? Horde win, 20 minutes flat. I've talked with one of the HWLs in my guild, and in his grind to the top, he saw dozens of 10 minute or less horde wins in AV.
So, while lots of people enjoy complaining that AV is weighted towards the alliance, the problem is that there are less morons in AV on the alliance side.
One might ask where they are, since it is very true that there are more alliance toons in general than horde, and the answer is clear. The alliance whiners and noobs are all in AB or WSG, pugging it up.
isocrazy Dec 8th 2006 8:48PM
Two words
WORLD PVP
make city raids possible without a huge server crash
Buer Dec 8th 2006 8:50PM
I think it is going to take longer then 3 weeks for ppl to get epic'd out. You can't earn honor like you used too. No more 300+ honor per kill.
Jeff Dec 8th 2006 9:24PM
I'd have to disagree that Alterac Valley gives the Alliance the advantage. It's the Horde that exploits Van all the time, bypassing all the warmasters. That seems pretty cheap to me, but nothing has been done about it last I checked.
Octagon Dec 8th 2006 9:51PM
It getting your character locked in the loading screen for the battlegrounds really sucks. You can't get out until they inevitably reset and take down the whole system... I've had that happen twice this week.
The battlegrounds themselves are crazy, with everyone respeccing and trying out their high DPS builds (maybe I should have gone destruction...). Unfortunately, on the Horde side, it's been more in the "every man for himself" kind of a way than the "teamwork" one. Before the patch our Horde AB PuGs were destroying the Alliance PuGs. This week... ouch. I wonder why it shifted so dramatically. Last week I'd have 20-35 kills, this week I'm lucky if I kill 5. This felguard seems to have painted a big, red, "Three rogues, the druid, and the warrior, go kill the warlock first" sign on me. Fortunately, there have been some very kind Horde healers in there. Even though there's a lack of anything else resembling coordination in Horde AB this week. Literally watching people cap a flag and leave it, or the defender goes off the flag to go fight at the LM ramp and the stealthed druid or rogue nabs the flag. We're playing like the Alliance were playing last week... I'm not one of those people who starts shouting at everyone about what they should be doing, because I don't like that, but no one seems to listen when you say "inc 5 farm help". Or they all listen... leave their flags and go to the farm... *sigh*
Also, I think I'm going to have to start looking into some sort of anti-stealth-cat-form-to-moonkin-druid-with-tree-guardians strategy. A 60 demonology Warlock shouldn't drop dead in less than 5 seconds... that's supposed to be the sturdy warlock spec.
And the deathcoil nerf is seriously screwing up my battle strategy. Sapped? Deathcoil and fear! Oh wait-- It's immune to deathcoil? !!!! Hit, hit, hit, dead.
Anyone find a strategy against hunters yet? One on one last week, the hunter would kill me 60 percent of the time. Now, I have yet to kill a hunter at all in one on one. If they have beastial wrath then the battle doesn't really last long.
I wonder if this is how it's going to be from now on, or if things will even out? Because I've only been in a winning AV once, so it's always left a bad taste in my mouth and WSG seems to be geared more towards people that can cast and move at the same time, or shank ya. That's all good, I'll just have to find something else, maybe the Arena's will have more to offer?
Belthasar Dec 8th 2006 9:50PM
Free Rank14 weapons to anyone with 3 days to kill. I know I've already got mine.
Everything is much easier to get than before. It's over 1,000 honor per hour in AV, and most people, for a full set plus weapon only need ~90K honor.
Before even if you were top ranked weekly you had to grind 14-18 hours a day for 3-4 months. Now? 3 weeks tops for the whole shabang.
Lao Dec 8th 2006 10:19PM
I'd I agree that the terrain favors the Alliance -- they have more choke points. The bridge is particularly nasty as it is well-covered by their archers. Horde has nothing that compares. We have one good chokepoint at IB that is frequently overlooked... right where the burning catapult is, on the road from IB GY to Galv. Our base is pretty useless and works against us more often than not.
But to be honest the terrain is not THAT much of an advantage, the main difference is in attitude. Most of the time pre-2.0 the Horde was not focused on winning, and would not bother defending. They just wanted a quick turnaround and some rep because that was the most efficient.
Now there are more Horde defending, and more aggressive offense. I have seen a lot more wins in the mast couple of days, and not cause Horde is 'exploiting' Van (which I have never seen in my Battlegroup). My guess is that all those people who got exalted and quit AV are coming back... we need the marks and AV is turning out to be the best BG for grinding honor, IMHO... I got over 7k honor from runnin AVs yesterday, over 800 kills and only lost like 1 in 5, if that.
Shat Dec 8th 2006 10:37PM
The arenas are up. And they're fun.
syu Dec 12th 2006 11:55PM
i hate when everyone says alliance has the advantage
when in truth, any advantage to be had is usually held by the horde. everyone complains about the bridge, but the bridge is nothing because of two reasons;
first, it is wide, unlike many of the choke points at the horde base which are much more narrow
second, the building connecting the lower base to the upper base on the horde side causes you to dismount, making rushing the flag much harder
the layout of their base makes it extremely hard to capture from the front. of course, this says nothing of backdooring, which is by far THE most efficient way to win AV no mater what faction you are.
any advantage or disadvantage (i dont care if you agree with me or not) is miniscule if you work together. teamwork wins bgs, but teamwork is scarce.
Orcsbane Dec 9th 2006 10:57AM
Everyone knows that Dwarves would construct a better settlement for war than Orcs(Stone Bunkers > Wood Towers).
I've within the last 3 weeks gotten in with a group of about 30 Alliance on different servers, but are all in the same PvP cross realm group. We have learned some ways to make sure that almost all of us get in on the same AV, and we are all on vent. Horde have figured this out as well..Last night the AV horde group we were up against had 35 people from the same server. When the game was over, the only thing that was Red on the map was FW graveyard. I don't think any of the horde even saw the bridge in that match.
Lao Dec 9th 2006 12:55PM
@ syu
Do you even play AV? You can ride straight through that building, it does not force a dismount.
Woild Dec 10th 2006 7:24PM
Geez, this is responsible journalism, I can see absolutely no leaning towards horde instead of alliance!
Seriously, saying AV is biased towards alliance is utter crap, if horde actually put a little D on to slow alliance and actually took SF so that alliance can't just pelt IB and then FW they may win (may being the operative word here.)
Alliance used to get rolled in AV on my server before x-realm BGs, mind you we also won AB and WSG occasionally too. Maybe they should move the BS flag so it's not closer to horde, cause that is unbalanced as well isn't it?
multikast Dec 11th 2006 9:33AM
@ #1 (and everyone else i've seen spell it "Tauren Mills")
It's "Tarren Mills" Has nothing to do with Taurens. Just thought I'd point that out. Sorry for being off-topic, so...
I havent' done much pvp yet since I'm mainly waiting for Nurfed Action Bars to get implemented. I feel majorly gimped and the default bars take up way to much of the screen. But i'm looking forward to being able to get awesome gear at my own pace.