Patch 5.3 interview with Ghostcrawler
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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsChanges coming to Alterac Valley
by David Bowers 
Sep 1st 2007 at 9:09AM
It looks like Blizzard is finally starting to take this issue of AFKing in Alterac Valley seriously, and not just with the AFK-reporting feature that you've likely already heard about.In response to one poster who begged Blizzard not to implement this reporting feature because he says the map is imbalanced and the Horde always loses anyways, Drysc gave us a relatively long list of changes that Blizzard is making in order to help solve the problem -- not just reporting AFKers, but also finding other ways to encourage them to get in the game as well, such as fixing exploits, changing or removing NPCs, and yes even modifying the map a little bit.
Here's what he said:
There are quite a few changes coming, all of which we hope will culminate into making players want to participate, and ultimately win the battleground.
Obviously as most people know we have the anti-afk reporting measure, by which you can right click on someone in the battleground and mark them as AFK. With enough reports they receive a debuff that keeps them from earning honor in that battleground, and only by entering combat can they remove that debuff. It's going to help, but it's certainly not enough on its own.
Other things we're doing are changing or pulling out NPCs in key locations to help even out the balance of time and effort each side has to take to push through. As well as some minor changes to locations that people find are easily exploited to advance faster.
We're shifting some of the honor from the earlier NPCs, that help make AFKing so lucrative, to the end of the battleground and more for actually winning.
The graveyard spawning is being changed so that players aren't sent back to the cave unless there is nowhere else to spawn, which should help encourage horde to play a bit more defense if they're being beaten back.
And we're also correcting the ... I think Jeff referred to them as "creative pulling mechanics" with the general's.
Everything together, we feel, should help encourage players to participate, while also improving overall balance.
Filed under: PvP
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
Matthew Rossi Sep 1st 2007 2:56PM
I have 2 horde 70's and 2 alliance 70's. Each wins and loses about the same amounts of AV's as far as I can tell.
Moral of the story? A lot of people aren't happy unless they're unhappy.
Quoi Sep 1st 2007 5:08PM
@20
STFU. "Never mind everyone else's opinion! I say AV is unbalanced, and I'm the only one that matters."
And on top of that, you want affirmative action and reparations for honor points? GG.
len Sep 1st 2007 5:56PM
Christ, not only do PvPers want their welfare epics, they have the welfare mentality to go with it.
"Whah, Alliance always wins, its so unfair! Gimp them to make us better!"
I got exalted with Stormpike in the first two months of AV. I never won a single game except for the one time I got in the pre-form. The Horde have tower exploits, they have more room to pull the general, and they have a much easier choke point to defend. This map whining is absurd.
The Horde playing now just suck. It's that simple. Hard core PvPers tend to prefer Horde, and they all got bored with AV two years ago. Your talent is used up.
GamerJunkie Sep 1st 2007 9:46PM
Horde features some of the biggest QQ babies in the WOW population.
Not only they have the best PVP racials that can be used during PVP, they already own WSG and AB.
While Alliance doesn't even win AV regularly.
Fixing the "Creative pulling" issue is fair game.
Making the game balance, try by fixing racials first.
Laukidh Sep 1st 2007 10:17PM
Wait, I'll be able to play AV and not need to kill the drink vendor to get to Van?
Fearless1 Sep 8th 2007 1:53PM
If you are Horde and wish to win an AV, here's what you do:
- defend Galvangar; this will stump Alliance players, who are so used to the "strategy" of zerging Galvangar first, they will mill around aimlessly for long enough to get massacred;
- set up a defensive line between Iceblood GY and tower; in this narrow pass, you can nuke the Alliance from hilltops and tower, and there is absolutely nothing they can do to you;
- leave 2 defenders (undead warlocks/rogues) in bunkers until they cap, in the rare case Alliance tries to recoup them;
- jump through the windows of Dun Baldar bunkers and cap them from the outside; very easy.
- single-pull General Stormpike without ever touching any Marshalls (granted, with all your towers intact and all Alliance bunkers gone, they despawn anyway).
Yes, it takes more than 20 minutes, and a little bit of effort, but there you have it.
RogueJedi86 Sep 2nd 2007 7:10AM
So if Alliance loses AB and WSG every time, it's simply because the Horde are better, but when the Horde loses AV, it's because the map is horribly unbalanced in the Alliance's favor? If that's true, can the Hordies please enlighten us and tell us what is it in WSG and AB that unbalances the maps heavily into the Horde's favor?
The Horde say Alliance are crybabies, but I never hear Alliance complaining about imbalances in WSG and AB. Maybe that shows the Alliance are a bit more mature that we're stereotyped as.
boshibishi Sep 2nd 2007 7:24AM
Can someone tell me what the imbalances are in wsg and ab, to make horde win them so often?
And surely, the easiest way to solve this would just be to swap the horde and alliance bases around. Horde bitching that alliance have it easier would get to see whether that is true or not, and the alliance who feel AV is already balanced or in favour of the horde would get to see whether that was true too.
Dyvina Sep 2nd 2007 7:55AM
With all these changes the battles will lose their desire as it will take much longer to get honor and finish the game. I see much longer queues as the lazy leachers move on to something else. They couldn't just fix the afk problem, they had to put a grind in it...when is warhammer coming out again??
vern Sep 2nd 2007 7:55AM
Exactly !
Why is Alliance affraid to flip the AV map ?
Not too sure anymore of your superior BS PVP tactics?
Boats Nov 8th 2007 8:38AM
We (allies) have usually a hard time. Even with horde having more afk than us.
Sometimes we win easily (last AV I played I think we won in less than 10 mins) and other times we don't win a single AV.
I'm not a big BG player, but I've farmed some quite a few honor points to get PVP gear and, at least in my battle group, AV is balanced.
If ppl play like a team, you can win (whichever side you are). Same applies to all BGs in my experience.
What I'd really like to see is the option to join as a party/raid. It's a pain to try to get 4 guys on the same AV most of the time :(
Sandrago Sep 5th 2007 10:49AM
I play horde on 2 different servers, I've played in both the 51-60 and 61-70 brackets and I'd estimate we win 75% of the AVs I've been in. When my Warlock first started AV we won 36 strait. I really don't think Alliance have an advantage in AV (though that bridge to get into the base is a pain at times). I've never seen Horde camp that room between Frostwolf villiage and the towers but sounds like a good idea.
I have a lvl 60 Alliance on another server that had very good win percentage in AV too, so I'd say that the Horde or Alliance advantage is really very much based on the battle group you are in.
I'd hate to see them make changes, especially changes to make it easier on Horde as this may lead to Alliance not wanting to queue up as often.
nikodimus Sep 5th 2007 8:25PM
I play a lot of AV and am consistently maxed at 75k honor. I have all the stuff I can get from battlegrounds but I have fun in AV. I play a Horde and for me it seems it depends on the time of day when I play that tactics change. Kinda makes it interesting. early its a race while late night its a turtle with alliance hit teams at the bunkers and gy's With the advent of the technique to single pull Van the win loss ratio seems to be fairly even. Alliance always had the edge prior since they could ride by most of the Horde NPC s and they didn't have the sp bridge area bottleneck that could be so easily defended to deal with.Point is for the alliance whiners. The patch said they would even out the geographic advantages but do something regarding the single pull technique that the Horde now employs to even the playing field. Alliance shouldn't worry. There are more of you with better gear on the average. I think you will still hold the edge in AV. As for the other bgs wsg and ab The alliance seems to like to hang together in a big support group. Works for them in WSG and against them in AB or at least thats my experience
Mange Sep 27th 2007 12:22AM
Are you nuts? Alliance better geared? You're an idiot. Horde have so much honor from farming all the WSG, AB, and EOTS that they already have all of the PVP gear available...only thing they have to wait on is what takes AV marks. Give me a break. Ok, tell you what. Make it easier for Alliance to win all the other BG's on a consistent basis, so you can compensate US for all the honor we've lost in those BG's. You whiner.
Tirreal Oct 4th 2007 11:21AM
What did bliz do to AV? did the horde have that many afkers? the rolls are reversed, now horde dominate all the bg's. AV was the alliance's only inventive to go into the battle grounds. I don't see any elites at Stoneharth, but there is one at frost wolf. there seams to be a new elite between FW and the pass to Drek, come on why does everything have to be one sided? Guess it's time alliance Charges straight into the SH rush and force the 2 hour epics of old just so we can win 1 av again, in the last 20 I've been in 3 that won 3-20 yea fare.