Details on the Alterac Valley bracket changes
by Adam Holisky 
Sep 22nd 2009 at 10:45PM
Bornakk has since came out and clarified the changes a bit, and provided a bit more detail. Most interestingly is that this change was intended for Patch 3.3, and was accidently applied to Patch 3.2.2. I'm not really sure how such a significant change could accidently make it in, but there we have it. From Blizzard's mouth to your ears.
It would make sense that the change be applied in Patch 3.3. Cross-server instances are coming in Patch 3.3, and that's going to help leveling a ton. Think of how easy things will be if you just want to chain run dungeons at 1 a.m. for a few hours. That speed and leveling agility would help offset the XP nerf contained in this sudden AV change. But as it stands, we'll have to wait a few months to allow for another quick level mechanism to be put in place.
The other part of the change that was clarified is exactly what happened with the brackets.
In a nutshell, the following occurred:
- 70 was removed from the 61 to 70 bracket
- There is now a bracket for 70 to 79 players
- 80s are now in their own bracket
- XP was cut in half (note this change was not in Bornakk's announcement, but is what everyone is observing)
- Level of bosses (and NPCs) in the 70 to 79 bracket have been reduced
With the launch of patch 3.2.2 today there have been some changes to the Alterac Valley battleground and we wanted to clarify what exactly has been done.
Level 80 characters now have their own bracket and there is a separate bracket for characters that are levels 70 to 79. This change was originally planned for patch 3.3 but it was accidently applied to the current patch 3.2.2. As we had already intended to make this change so that players who are leveling play together and players who are at the level cap play together, we will be keeping the bracket setup this way, but the level of the bosses in the brackets below level 80 will be reduced to compensate.
Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, PvP, Leveling, Battlegrounds
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
DAWG Sep 22nd 2009 10:51PM
WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
Crimson Sep 23rd 2009 1:08AM
Oh please
Grow up. Leveling in northrend is so much easier and more fun then it was in bc and vanilla so why would you spend hours in AV that has been out for god knows how long get no honor and marks because you are sure to get reported AFK for just standing in that tunnel. I think to actually fix this problem blizzard should have blocked not only marks and honor but also exp when you report someone AFK. That would at least encourage people to do something in avs and not all sit in the damn tunnel. Blizzard has said it before that they do not intend for people to level through battlegrounds but they can if they want to, and the amount of exp would be less as well. That is to prevent people from doing exactly what was happening since august aka afk exp farming in AV. They have put a lot of effort into creating the landscape npcs and quests in northrend and they want you to play through that and appreciate it.
Para Sep 23rd 2009 9:54AM
Yes however the FASTEST you could realistically level was 6 hours per level if you went MAX out in northrend.....come on that is WAY to long, especially if its not your main.
The leveling through bgs in my bg group could be random sometimes it could take 3 hours per lvl sometimes 4-6 hours either way it was NEW and FUN to pvp and lvl at a decent rate, not everyone chose to sit there afk so dont even try to look down at people who did lvl in the bgs.
Skonged Sep 23rd 2009 9:54AM
@DAWG
I totally agree. Running AVs from 71 to 80 with the 80s was suppose to help me "learn my class" much like questing. But now not only has Blizzard taken that away but they also reduced the XP gain, instead of rasing the other BGs to AV level of XP, you get. Why does Blizzard want to remove the fun parts of the game?
@ Crimson
Yes Northrend is fun but not your 5th time around. We need a funner way to level and AV was it.
Sorcefire Sep 23rd 2009 10:49AM
Totally agree with the sentiments about the AV changes. I'm not sure just how many players are new to Northrend, but having leveled two characters and one through AV, I have to say the AV experience was better.
I'm a veteran of the old days back when AV was a 2-4 hour long affair and all the events took place. That means I've seen a lot of AV matches and leveling a character doing pseudo-PVP and some PVE content was a good mix of what WoW has to offer. No more quest grinds (really, who reads the text after the 3rd time?), no more camping on named mobs, and definitely no more traveling for 10-20 minutes just to reach a zone.
So...boo on the XP changes, yay on the level brackets, and meh on the whole thing.
Rollo Sep 23rd 2009 6:55PM
@Skonged:
Now you have twice the time to learn your class! :D
Xavs Sep 22nd 2009 10:55PM
And I only had 2 levels to go before being able to use Alterac to level T_T
Nick S Sep 22nd 2009 11:54PM
One. :-/
Qot Sep 23rd 2009 9:49AM
I finished last week. Mwahahahahaha!
revan Sep 22nd 2009 10:55PM
Well sounds like AV is no good for level anymore
TJ Sep 22nd 2009 10:56PM
Seriously, is this not surprising to anyone else? Nothing in these changes really makes me say "wha?".
Separate levelers from 80s? Check. Nerf exp? Check. Nerf bosses? check. Reshuffle the level ranges a bit is the only thing I didn't 100% expect, but that makes sense given that they isolated the 80s into their own bracket.
holysnipr Sep 22nd 2009 11:00PM
Probably for the following reason: people were lvling 2 quickly.
I know on my sever there were some people involved in a cross server Av premade. Basically 40+ people in vent all from different servers queing at the same time. Out of the 25 or so times i went with them they never lost. They had some sort of strategy that they pulled so every game you got about 1.8k honor and the game finished anywere between 10-15 mins. I remember one guys saying how great it was for lvling, he stated something like 4 or 5(don't remember) lvls in one day(7-8ish hours).
Malkavos Sep 23rd 2009 9:58AM
Yeah, a guildy of mine leveled his paladin this way. I remember him hitting 75 one morning and running him through the Amphitheater of Anguish questline for the 2h Axe.
He promptly jumped into AV and, even with taking normal breaks, he dinged 80 that night. He claims that he was actually playing, but who knows. I did see him get a couple of the AV achievements over the course, so maybe.
This change is really only bad for the AV AFK crowd. It is a boon to all the level 80's who were queuing up for AV thinking they'd actually get to play a fun match, and then realizing that 30 of their raid members were just sitting in the tunnel, auto running into a zone wall, or out back killing NPC's in the caves.
Vinna Sep 24th 2009 8:20AM
I agree, I took a negelected lv 70 alt and over an AV weekend leveled her to 78. It was insanely fast, no way I could have done it that fast doing quests in northrend.
While as someone with way too many alts, I loved the super fast speed at xp in AV, but I can see why they nerfed it. I think blizzards intend with adding XP to BGs was to make it just another option for leveling, not the super fast way to power level.
Phaidra Sep 22nd 2009 11:06PM
The only big problem is that they haven't actually nerfed the bosses yet. I was actually able to get into an AV at lvl 77 and it took us forever to kill Bal. Because they messed up and did it early, AV is an absolute nightmare tonight.
Zhiva Sep 22nd 2009 11:04PM
# I'm not really sure how such a significant change could accidently make it in, but there we have it #
Someone commited the data into wrong repository. Again.
Neceseatie Sep 22nd 2009 11:08PM
Was gonna happen anyways , so dont matter.
And its about time , avs ruined by low lvls leaching xp. No instances going on for the people who like to lvl the good old way cos everyones in av pressing space bar while watching tv.
The xp in av was rediculous, even half is probably to much. I got 250k xp from a 15 min win.
soatari Sep 22nd 2009 11:25PM
No you didn't Neceseatie.
It was 19k XP for each tower/bunker and the first boss. So that's 100k. Then 25k for a win.
So it's 125k XP, NOT 250k.
Joyous_Oblivion Sep 22nd 2009 11:49PM
Yeah I call BS on this too. And try using some actual English when you use the internet, or just don't type.
Mr. Tastix Sep 23rd 2009 12:49AM
@Joyous_Oblivion: Try telling that to the majority of the people who use the internet. I have tried, and failed miserably.