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by Eliah Hecht 
Feb 4th 2008 at 2:30PM
It seems like they just can't leave Alterac Valley alone. In this case, that's probably a good thing, because there is a lot of discontentment with the state of that battleground right now. Bornakk just announced (and three different people just dropped us tips to let us know) that AV will get some "very significant improvements" in the upcoming patch 2.4:- Horde starting tunnel moved back "to a more equal distance from the first objectives"
- Each faction's Generals and Warmasters will buff each other for health and damage: the more of them your side has, the stronger they all are. Hopefully this will more strongly motivate killing the Warmasters.
- Balinda Stonehearth will do more damage, but she and Stormpike will have their recent health increases repealed.
Filed under: Patches, Battlegrounds
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 4)
Delta Feb 4th 2008 5:08PM
@16/17
Ruin here also, Durotan-H, yeah, my pvpfu counter i believe is at 5-26 or something over the past four weeks. It would be nice to win one, but between armchair QB's who bark commands and insults and a bunch of others uninterested in winning, well, not much I can do sadly.
Hank Feb 4th 2008 3:06PM
Do away with the starting tunnels, and start out closer to your factions base to encourage more defense, rather than the 7-11 minute zerg rush.
Steve_S Feb 4th 2008 3:09PM
I want a bridge where 10 horde can hold off 30 Alliance and Alliance can’t run past all defenders and capture the relief hut. Also towers where you are not safe from NPC fire if you have to fight by the flag.
twh Feb 4th 2008 7:08PM
Already got that. It's the pass between IB tower and IB Graveyard.
Drifter Feb 4th 2008 3:12PM
What? I swear that the Alliance can get to the Frostwolf Relief Hut faster than Horde can get to the Aid Station. Not too mention that when approaching the Aid Station if you don't go to the left of the wagon (but not too far) you'll aggro the group of npcs on the right as you approach the flag. Too far to the left and you'll aggro the other group. It's so retarded. The Alliance don't have a gauntlet of npcs to run through right before the flag. All of the npcs that the Alliance has to run through drop aggro before the Alliance has to dismount for the flag.
Whatever, bring on the upcoming changes for honor.
JPN Feb 4th 2008 3:10PM
They should put in mailbox-type devices to turn-it materials for the AV quests. No one does that anymore and it's already built in; would add a new dimension to the game.
Chriasas Feb 4th 2008 3:12PM
queue queue Alliance complainers. Maybe this will help get them back in the game. I wait to the day that they either redesign the battlefield, or close it alltogether.
Drifter Feb 4th 2008 3:14PM
BTW, did they change the way the turn-ins worked? For awhile I thought it automatically completed the quest if you had the right amount of turn-ins without having to go through multiple quest / dialogue screens.
biglou Feb 4th 2008 3:15PM
@ Quickshiv
I agree that mass coordinated PVP would be nice in AV but as an option, not as the standard . Even limited group queuing would be nice...like up to 5-10. There are nights when me and my buddies are trying to get into the same AV but inevitably someone gets left out. Its hard having a group chat when 3/5 people are assaulting the RH and the other 2 are talking about not getting a mage table in the tunnel.
Phynix Feb 4th 2008 3:18PM
We've been doing just fine as Alliance in our battlegroup. As for choke points, I don't think the Alli bridge is any more cumbersome than the initial tower/awkward hill ascent into the Horde base. It is nice that we can at least ride through the tower, unlike (very) old days...
Elmo Feb 4th 2008 3:22PM
few weeks ago AV resulted into a stalemate and we actually managed to use the good ol' Ram riders.
Horde must have been so surprised :D
David(Postal) Feb 4th 2008 3:27PM
sounds like good changes glad the horde gets pushed back
Malachi154 Feb 4th 2008 3:39PM
With the exception of the Horde starting tunnel, Blizz did not change the map. Hordes choke point will still be IBGY, and Alli's choke point will still be SPGY. Nothing the Hellscream Alli's have been QQing about has changed. Horde will still burn 2 towers and kill the Alli Captian before Alli breakes thru the bottleneck at IBGY. Blizz rightfully stopped AV from being an honor farmers paradise, and the 'zergers' are still going to be upset. I would not look forward to shorter queue times if I were you...
Rick Feb 4th 2008 3:39PM
Here's what these changes mean:
Horde will adopt an even more intense Scorched Earth strategy, with 20-30 defenders at IB pass. Horde can't allow even one person pass because our base is impossible to defend properly. With no DR on HKs now horde will continue to farm alliance there until reinforcements are up. Alliance will not get any towers and neither will horde. It's going to be the movie 300 at IB pass.
Vort Feb 4th 2008 4:47PM
Add in the 300 graphic killings and I'm all for it. :oP
Zamboni Feb 4th 2008 5:06PM
Agreed. Putting the Horde zerg at even more of a disadvantage against the Alliance zerg will only encourage more Scorched Earth tactics (if not require them). Once people realize that no amount of Horde offense can make up for the Alliance's free pass into FW, the Horde is just going to turtle at IB and SH and just honor grind the Alliance offense.
Frogonius Feb 4th 2008 3:43PM
although i do believe that some changes should be made to AV, i still don't think it changes the fact that the game is about defense and if you don't have it, you're likely to loose the match. In my battlegroup (shadowburn) the alliance are pissed about the lack of honor they get and they QQ about map imbalances all over the forums. But i can honestly say that from my experience their problem isnt so much terrain or balinda being underpowered as they say, their problem is their extreme lack of a proper defense. Contrary to the popular belief on shadowburn, the alliance CAN win, i have witnessed it with my own eyes and it was all because they had a very strong defense that successfully stopped the horde offense. This is the exact strategy that the horde use to win every time...establish a strong defensive team in the very beginning while at the same time sending enough out for offense as well. More proof that these so called "imbalances" aren't as crucial as people think is the other battlegroups where alliance win very consistently. I think that blizzard tries too hard to hold everyones hand to make things easier and leaves little room for teams to make and find their own strategies that work. thats my piece.
Jon Feb 4th 2008 3:48PM
Simple solution (not sure why it isn't being implemented): Introduce 2 maps that are randomly assigned to queue. One map like the current one and one map that swaps the two bases (so alliance starts where horde is at and horde starts where alliance are now). Aside from making it equally easy to get honor on either side, it would be nice to have some variety by playing both sides of the map randomly.
Doug DeJulio Feb 4th 2008 4:22PM
The reason I think they don't do two maps with random assignment is, they know that people would come to believe a given map has advantages for one side or the other, and would /afk out if they believed they were the ones at a disadvantage.
Rob Feb 4th 2008 6:30PM
Good point about the AFK option. But if people decide they are going to 'lose' on a certain map no matter what (yeah right), that will not stop the winning team from actually winning and stopping the game (decreasing queue time). If people believe they will lose and AFK,then their faction will lose but queue times (may) be shorter.