Does the Horde really win every battleground?
by Elizabeth Harper 
Oct 1st 2007 at 7:48PM
By this point, my eyes will have glazed over and I'll be trying to remember which of my alts are unguilded and unknown so I can play in blessed peace and quiet. But sometimes it makes me wonder... why do both sides feel that the other is dominating in battlegrounds? Does either side dominate in battlegrounds? And this afternoon, Kalgan has hopped on the forums to provide an answer to my question:
...generally speaking the win/loss percentages for WSG, AB, EotS generally fall somewhere around 55% to 45% on any given day (with Alliance also represented on the higher side).... AV has gone through greater swings, with alliance winning as much as 75 to 80% of battles (NA servers again as an example) before patch 2.2 and horde winning about 60% so far after 2.2.
When asked about trends over the past month or year, Kalgan replied that they were about the same. Much as I suspected -- a lot of winning and losing is a perception issue.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Paul Oct 1st 2007 7:56PM
I don't know, the 28 games i played to get 30 AB tokens doesn't seem like a perception issue. I was a team player too, i wasn't farming HK's.
omg omg its me Dec 10th 2007 7:07PM
i think blizz may have may horde attribute much more starting at level 1 for horde its really not just bg's that horde win they win in halla, raids,duels, and other pvp interaction
Kryptonls Oct 1st 2007 8:04PM
Being an Alliance player... yes, Horde do win pretty much each BG I enter, regardless if it's a fresh start or not. Well, except AV of course - we win the vast majority easily.
Gogey Oct 1st 2007 8:05PM
It happens, sometimes you get a lot of good players that night and a few leaders, or you get people who don't know how to defend and wipe alliance attempts on drek.
Hate the player, not the game.
VegasHorde Oct 1st 2007 8:12PM
Of the last 10 AV's I played over this weekend, horde won about 6 out of 10.
Wussah Oct 1st 2007 8:13PM
I think a lot of it has to do with the number of pre-made groups for the different battlegrounds. If you join WSG alone, and go up against 10 premades in a row, sure, you'll lose all 10 unless you get really lucky. So of course it'll seem like the other side is winning more. And that's pretty likely to happen if you join alone. As far as AV goes, I have lost almost every single one since the honor system shifted over and people started farming in there, so I stopped playing. We (horde) used to win quite often before that, and all (I) was happy. After the new AFK reporting just came out, it's been about 50/50. It's not about terrain, or racial abilities or anything. It's about how many idiots on your team. Period.
klink-o Oct 1st 2007 8:23PM
I think what makes it seem worse than it is is that the people complaining about repeatedly losing are in PUGs. Take the 50/50 nature of a PUG then throw it up against the occasional premade and it'll definately seem like your always losing. As for AV, I've noticed the win percentage is indeed about 50/50 after 2.2.
Madjap Oct 1st 2007 8:41PM
The only reasoning I can think of about Horde starting to win AVs is that we have people actually playing now instead of afking in caves.
Hellbena Oct 1st 2007 8:43PM
These statistics that Blizzard has are most like based on every level ladder there is. So in the earlier levels, pre 50s lets say, there's a lot more factors to put in: How many twinks are there? Is one side or both sides premade? How much coordination is there?
Dave Oct 1st 2007 8:46PM
Horde has finally turned the tide in my group as far as AV goes.
I played for 3hrs today, got around 5k honor and didn't lose a single match. I think Alliance hasn't figured out how to get their AFK'ers out of the game, but Horde has. Or at least there's more people actually playing and such and most people don't feel demoralized before the game even starts or whatever.
sample size is still key though, regardless of your own personal short-term single perspective... over the course of thousands or hundreds of thousands of BG's the real numbers start to come out. Your 0-30 streak is matched by someone else's 30-0 streak and someone else's 15-15 streak and so on.
i'd like to see overall stats on premade groups and how dominant they are compared to random teams, or at least have those stats separated. I'd bet that without premade teams in any non-AV BG, you're going to see a near 50/50 split, and on either side probably 90/10 in favor of the premade... which just leaves it up to how many of each side show up to which kind of battle to skew it in whichever favor.
Maybe more Horde players prefer PVP in general? (another set of stats I'd like to see...)
scoobydoobydoo Oct 1st 2007 8:57PM
20k honor this weekend from AV alone, lost maybe 8 games.
draeth Oct 1st 2007 8:57PM
I put this theory to the test after countless bgs lost on the alliance side by making a horde toon. Leveled my horde pally up and entered the battlegrounds and to my dismay, alliance was rocking our shit left in right in every bgs every night. We would steam roll some ourselves and win multiple bgs in a row but if anything I would say that alliance and horde are totally equal. This whole dispute over which side is better is just a good ol' case of the grass being greener on the other side.
Merus Oct 1st 2007 9:39PM
My experiences are that it's 50-50 for everything except AB, playing as Horde. On my battlegroup we'd regularly win AV, but since 2.2 it's been a lot closer.
The exception, as I've mentioned, is AB - we do tend to win more often than not, despite the Alliance being slightly closer to the stables than we are to the farm. I don't think it's a terrain issue - the Horde seem to have learned how to play AB (hold blacksmith and either the mine or lumber mill, move in groups if possible because you're far more likely to break defense that way), and that knowledge gets passed on to new players. On the few times I've played AB as Alliance, it's felt like herding cats.
I have noticed that there seems to be terrain issues with AV, but it goes both ways: the bridge is hard to take as Horde, but at the same time if there's big defense of the bridge the Alliance is easier to contain.
Trahlys45 Oct 1st 2007 9:39PM
FLAME BAIT!!! BOO!!!
Soap Oct 1st 2007 9:43PM
I think it depends on the server, but IF you have ever made a guy on Blackwing lair, horde win around 75% of each bg and alliance win about 60% ish of AV. The main reason for this is most likely, because of horde on our server being about 50% through BT, while the farthest alliance guild is somewhere in ssc. Also antoher reason may be that alliance is much more apealing to the 5 year old that like to dps as a holy preist in bgs instead of toss a heal every once in a while.
Lev Oct 2nd 2007 1:23AM
Ha. Generally I find if I join a BG were people complain that Alliance always lose, we do - amusingly these people are often in the bottom half of the level bracket so I've been forced to point out that perhaps their experience is that "when I play we always lose".
In most brackets I've played in it has been fairly evenly balanced when I have reached the top of the bracket and have geared myself well - not twinked but a mix of blues, greens and enchants that I could afford and quest for.
My main grief with BGs has been playing in unevenly matched (in numbers) ones in the 59 bracket. Perhaps a limited player base, but game after game of being outnumbered by closed to 2-1 in AB really sucks, and knowing that most of your wins have been from the reverse happening is unsatisfying.
Lucious Oct 1st 2007 10:31PM
You can post as much statistics as you want, but thing is i LOVE PvP Tiger and got it for every alt i got to 60+. I have 3, all 3 have Tiger, last 2 i had to play like 20+ BGs to get the 30 tokens, on my Mage i won only ONE out of 30 WSG Bgs, and 3-4 ABs :/
Nails Oct 1st 2007 10:48PM
im horde
of the last, maybe, 30 bg's ive been in, my team has won every time but 1
maybe im just awesome? i don't know
headshotted Oct 1st 2007 10:58PM
I play horde just recently started doing AV after patch 2.2. We won probably 50% of our games, if Alliance played any susbstantial D at all we got crushed, but if it was a race to down the bosses first we always wiped the floor.
Genixx Oct 1st 2007 11:04PM
well, i have to agree that its not about the racial setup, maps or what have ya... its about the players. of all the BGs i prefer.. before the last patch..AV. we saw alot more wins. i spend alot of time on BG weekends playing. I rarely ..rarely... see a win in any other BG. i just think the Cyclone battlegroup is filled with more unskilled ppl on the alliance side. either that..or im just a magnet for them.