Patch 4.0.6 PTR: Latest Tol Barad changes
by Mathew McCurley 
Jan 29th 2011 at 12:30AM
So far, it's a good start for Tol Barad changes, and I hope that as these new bonuses are tested on the PTR we see a sharp rise in the balance in Tol Barad. Now we're just waiting on the changes that make the towers and siege engines compelling at all.
Also included in the Tol Barad notes was a change to the way the dailies, herbs, and minerals work during the battle. Now, resources will only spawn during the "quest phase" of Tol Barad -- the time when you can do the winner's dailies. There will now be warnings 5 and 1 minutes before the quest phase ends to alert players to turn in quests and get out of the micro-dungeons.
You can view the latest Tol Barad patch notes either past the break below or in our patch notes update post.
Patch 4.0.6 Updated patch notesTol Barad
- Attacking forces will receive a 200% capture speed bonus when they control 2 keeps.
- Defending forces will receive a 200% capture speed bonus when they control all 3 keeps.
- Daily quest creatures, herbs, minerals, etc. will only spawn when Tol Barad is in the quest phase between battles. There will be 5-minute and 1-minute warnings before the quest phase ends. The quest phase ends 15 minutes before the battle for Tol Barad begins and queuing is made available. At that time any players in the daily micro dungeons will be ported just outside. This does not apply to Tol Barad Peninsula or the daily quests there.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Calieb- Jan 29th 2011 12:36AM
Defending forces will receive a 200% capture speed bonus when they control all 3 keeps.??? so you capture the 4th faster??
flawless Jan 29th 2011 12:44AM
Does seem a little silly at face value, but it means that the attackers basically have to try very hard to take one away since the defenders will get a bonus to defending it. Once they've got one out of the defenders hands, it's even steven again.
Then, if the attackers hold two, they have a bonus towards taking the third. Defenders will want to try and prevent the attackers from taking two keeps at once.
Mr. Tastix Jan 29th 2011 12:48AM
Apparently it applies to bases that are currently being taken over. If you have more people in a base (and control all 3 at the time), you'll apparently keep it faster.
I'm not really sure how this is going to balance anything. I don't actually think it is. Blizzard don't seem to realise that half the time, the attackers don't actually manage to get one base, let alone two, and giving this is NOT going to help ANYTHING.
Xsinthis Jan 29th 2011 12:57AM
so you need half the people to stop the cap
Jeremy Jan 29th 2011 1:01AM
The attackers don't get even one base? That makes no sense ... you must be playing on a server where one faction is completely terrible. The main complaint for this battle is that getting a three-cap is inordinately hard ... keeping one for any amount of time is just as hard. They have to defend 3 bases, splitting their forces, while the attackers can just zerg one with everyone. Getting the first base is not and has never been the problem for attackers.
Ishammel Jan 29th 2011 6:05AM
Depends how quickly you can get to third base really. That's the kicker.
kikitin Feb 9th 2011 1:36PM
Gotta remember, the defenders start with all three bases capped. The increased rate of cap speed really amounts telling the defenders to spread out and defend ALL your bases in order to keep the buff up. The old strategy was to keep ev1 in a group and just run to the base with least opposition. If the defenders use that strat now...it starts to weigh very heavily that the attackers will gain the buff.
In the end it's what already has been stated...who is going to be victorious at the third base. IMHO, if done with a little coordination, it should favor the attackers, once they have two bases but it's really a guess and I think it's that level of uncertainty that the developers are striving for.
flawless Jan 29th 2011 12:45AM
Should be interesting to see how the balance plays out. I can imagine it being a bit too hard to take a keep at the beginning of a fight.
The warnings are somewhat necessary - I was in the middle of killing crocs, and they all just vanished on me. Was a bit annoyed, since it was the last thing before logging off.
Noyou Jan 29th 2011 7:30AM
@Ettin
Good. They should have done the same with WG. Nothing like getting your @ss handed to you and you see [herb/ore] being farmed from [douche] on your gather report. farm on your own time. When wg or TB is on it's your factions time. You don't like it? GTFO. I applaud this change. Good play Blizzard. Good play.
Nipah Jan 29th 2011 9:37PM
I was killing prisoners in one of the underground areas while waiting for the queue to start...
Only to find myself locked inside once the timer hit around 6 minutes.
... so yeah. Kind of lame... I hearthed out and went back to the regular area, and then proceeded to fight in the battle, but it was still annoying.
Ettin Jan 29th 2011 12:46AM
Well, looks like I won't be queueing for battle to farm Whiptail while the crocs are gone any more.
Gorkarp Jan 30th 2011 2:07AM
Uhh, good- Because it's a multi-player battleground and not your personal garden.
Avan Jan 29th 2011 3:17AM
@Gorkarp:
It's just a shame that the only time WoW is multiplayer is for battlegrounds and dungeons. Grouping to do anything else just punishes the party.
Literaltruth Jan 29th 2011 4:49AM
@Ettin
I'm with Gorkarp - the fact that you can't do that is a very good thing indeed.
As far as I understand it, Tol Barad has a mechanic in place to keep the sides roughly even within the zone during a battle (in pretty much a 1:1 ratio with some provisos if one faction has extremely low numbers). People queuing for the battle and then using it as time to farm leather, herbs or ore are actually detrimental to their own faction's attempt at winning. By having a farmer in the raid, the other side is allowed another player on their side who may well be an active participant - thus giving them a distinct advantage. This is why I never kill any farmers I see roaming about from the other faction - they are actually helping my side win by not pariticpating in the battle and I don't want to discourage them.
Tim Jan 29th 2011 10:16AM
I'm with you man. Considering the realm I'm on where the opposition had WG ALL the time (back in the day), yes ALL the time. At the end we would have whatever the MAX tenacity buff was and it would be a farm fest for them. TB we at least started with first, then the win trading came, now we haven't had TB in at least a week (unless it was for 1 win at 4AM and I don't think even then).
While NOT farming herbs, and playing hard, I've barely even seen two bases captured. With the opposition sporting 9 times out of 10, victorious glad gear, and when I check my team, sporting not even 400 resil. I've used this time more effectively and farmed herbs.
I'd like to go back to 1.8K honor wins. At least I got some gear then. Grinding out BGs for 40-50honor? Not fun blizz.
The strat. already has def. zerging to the weakest attackers point. Not sure this change really helps TB overall.
Adam Fasoldt Feb 1st 2011 7:46AM
Aw, man! There's nothing like replying to incensed type-a personalities berating others in raid chat by announcing that you'd been gathering the whole time whether it was true or not! No they'll know I am lying.
sprout_daddy Jan 29th 2011 12:52AM
I wonder if they'll fix the dailies in Tol Barad achievement so it finally shows up. I've been doing them for days, and I'm no closer to 100 dailies than I was when I started.
Tri Jan 29th 2011 5:02AM
Are you questing on the peninsula or the southern island (where the pvp battle takes place) ? Only the southern island dailies count for the achivement.
GrandOldDuke Jan 29th 2011 9:57AM
'Only the southern island dailies count for the achivement.'
That is not at all true. I got the achievement today, while my faction wasn't in control of the south island, and only having been able to do those quests perhaps 4 or 5 times at all.
And didn't see the progress bar count a single quest until the achievement popped up. Annoying, but not my problem anymore. =P
richardjarrell Jan 29th 2011 11:19AM
The ones on the peninsula count for the achievement but don't raise the counter. I hit the achievement while only doing the lower quests once.