Patch 5.3 interview with Ghostcrawler
Mystery of the Unborn Val'kyr
The latest patch 5.3 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBlizzard releases new Cataclysm preview: Tol Barad
by Anne Stickney 
Nov 16th 2010 at 5:00PM
Blizzard has released another zone preview -- this time, it's the world PvP zone of Tol Barad, otherwise known as Cataclysm's Wintergrasp. Located off the coast of the Eastern Kingdoms, Tol Barad is a strategic point for both Alliance and Horde, making it a highly sought-after piece of property. Some highlights from the preview:
- Tol Barad is not only an open PvP zone; it's also a daily quest hub.
- Unlike Wintergrasp, Tol Barad won't have a Tenacity mechanic. Instead, players will be matched up at a 1:1 ratio, with a maximum of 80 players allowed in the zone.
- Much like Eye of the Storm, players will have to claim three keeps around the zone. Unlike Eye, if a player dies while defending a tower, that will directly affect the slider bar, moving it in favor of the opposing faction. So stay alive!
- Winning Tol Barad opens a raid, just like Wintergrasp. The Tol Barad raid takes place in Baradin Hold.
- And of course there are reputation rewards, including two brand new mounts with a ghostly look.
Check out the full post by Zarhym for more details, screenshots and information -- and check out our gallery of Tol Barad, below, for a closer look at the new zone.
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it; nothing will be the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion (available Dec. 7, 2010), from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.Filed under: News items, PvP, Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 3)
Vodkamartini Nov 16th 2010 7:25PM
Only a matter of time before some side finds an exploit and runs amok. Or the glut of PVPers on one side of the server from transfers keeps that faction in power.
Also, is it possible to fly at high altitudes over the zone? I did that in Wintergrasp, acting as a UAV for my side when I wasn't in the mood for getting my ass kicked. If you flew at a very high altitude, you would NOT be knocked off your mount.
Oakraven Nov 16th 2010 7:35PM
ok lets review, Since WG launched its been almost imposible to get into it on the aliance side on a routeen basis at level 80 (by my tracking Ive been able to get into it around 57% of the time)
and from what I have seen its bascialy routeen that hordside the AVERAGE level is around 77-78 and even then they are usualy short handed.
so bascialy they come out with what is literaly THE LAMEST system posible to try to fix what on most servers is an increasingly broken ass World game mechanic so folks can farm honor points......
I guess they just dont realise that if your loosing to mutch in one area you just keep shifting around untill you get to where you win enough that you are haveing fun, and with World PvP being what it is, with all of the other PvP formats that exist sooner or later you will find one where you win offten enough to have fun.
the problem with World PvP is that unfortunatly you dont HAVE groups shifting in and out of the brackets as mutch because once one side or the other starts wining routeenly. . . well you have people who poke there noses in, get it smaked off REALY hard so they wonder off to do something else and before long the side you walked away from is defacto playing 5 man highschool toutch football Vs the Pats.
ozreece77 Nov 16th 2010 8:24PM
hmm, when you say impossible to get into, do you mean you are queuing and getting the wg is full message? Cause that is a bug. If you join straight after the game is "in progress" you will get in everytime. I know i do. Prior to not having this tidbit of info, i was queuing and never getting a game.
Doma Nov 16th 2010 9:53PM
No one asked for my take, but here it comes!
They're on the right track, but some things still disappoint me when comparing Tol Barad to the Isle. I'm still worried that Tol Barad on live servers will be too much "Wintergrasp", not enough "Isle of Quel'Danas".
I wish they just scaled up the Isle, even if mass use of the zone would burden the servers. The Isle had it right. World PvP happened on its own, for no other reason than bragging rights and the joy or making your enemies miserable. Raising the stakes by sanctioning world PvP and making it all about daily quests and raid access seems like a good idea, but in practice it sucks, because we just wont show up if we lose.
It's not just because we're lazy, either. I theorize that incentivizing zone control is a double-edged sword. Based this on the laziness and defeatism I've seen over the years playing this game, people wont "waste their time" in Tol Barard if they've "lost" it. We naturally want get the most reward with the least amount of difficulty, so we can prioritize and wait for the timer to reset. That fine for a quest hub, but for world PvP? That's bad! It takes TWO factions for world PvP!
If your faction doesn't have the extra 6 quests or the raid, why would anyone go there instead of just waiting till their faction wins? Would your friends or guidies go? And if they don't go, why would you? Even if you didn't have anything else to do, why would you do your dailies alone or against overwhelming opposition? Even though there are still 6 quests for the losing faction, it will still FEEL like a punishment (like other classes getting buffed but not yours), and most people would prioritize something else to do.
The incentives to go there should be fun, compelling quests in a small, accessible, neutral zone. That is everything IoQD was and everything WG is not. World pvp is most fun when it is even and the "spoils of war" are either persistent (EVE online) or none (Isle of Quel'Danis).
Darky Nov 16th 2010 11:15PM
Wouldn't some sort of tol barad mark(emblem/badge/point system etc) that is used to purchase the ghostly mounts be incentive enough?
Darky Nov 16th 2010 11:16PM
Wouldn't some sort of tol barad mark(emblem/badge/point system etc) that is used to purchase the ghostly mounts be incentive enough?
shandypest Nov 17th 2010 3:33AM
This is going to be pointless on Al'Akir EU. The most Alliance I've seen in WG this year was 3, which is about half the Alliance population on the server. Thanks for the preview Blizz, but unless you stop hoping to squeeze some more cash out of Horde who are fed up with the lack of PVP on this PVP realm and fix the imbalance, the preview is a waste of our time.
No Quarter Nov 17th 2010 7:42PM
I wish they weren't trying to balance this stuff, I like always winning.
Oakraven Nov 20th 2010 12:45AM
no literaly wintergrasp is full aliance side almost every time. (and increasingly its a blowout every time)