AV Change

New AV Change below. A lot of alliance are crying about it, but I dont see how this is a balance issue for factions.

 

I could imagine this turning into a "turtle" fest by having people just hold up in their respective keeps, but then again it could turn out to be an awesome-sauce fest on the field of strife.

 

(post can be found in the WOW-PVP forums)

 

As a continuing part of our improvements, we will be implementing the following changes in the next patch.

 

Strategy can be an important element of any battleground. We want to emphasize this in Alterac Valley more and give players additional meaning to both defending and attacking. To push the strategic element of the battleground to the next level we have changed how players maintain their reinforcements or deprive the other team of theirs.

 

Each team will have a starting reinforcement count. Reinforcements can be lost in significant amounts if a tower is destroyed or if Captain Galvangar or Belinda Stonehearth is killed. For each team member death, an additional reinforcement will be lost. On the death of General Drek’Thar or Vanndar Stormpike, all reinforcements are lost and the team is defeated. At any point in time, if a team is reduced to zero reinforcements, the opposing team will win the battle. Defending your own teammates, towers, and key NPCs will be an important aspect of maintaining team resources and achieving victory in Alterac Valley.

 

Warmasters can be the boon or the bane of any team. They are an important element for the defense of your general or the defeat of the opposing general. Warlords and their general will be more closely linked in the next patch. Pulling one is a guarantee the other will come as well. Each team begins with four Warmasters. Destroying a tower will eliminate the associated Warmaster. Unlike the current game play, however, destroying the enemy tower will not add a Warmaster to your own side.

 

We will be changing the pace of the battle slightly with a reduction in the time needed to control a tower or graveyard. Where it currently takes five minutes to gain control, the time will be reduced to four minutes. The honor for capturing a tower will also be increased.

 

Graveyards can be an important resource for getting your teammates back into the battle more quickly. Currently, players can sometimes be sent to their starting tunnels far from the battlefront. This can often be an inconvenient location to respawn and more out of the way from the action than we would like, to correct this, players will instead respawn at a team-controlled graveyard. Should the team not have a graveyard under their control, they will respawn in the starting tunnel.

 

Players will only be awarded bonus honor during the battle for destroying enemy towers and slaying the enemy Captain. Once the battle is concluded, bonus honor will be awarded for intact towers, a surviving Captain, and for victory in battle. The bonus honor awarded should be similar to previous totals, but will reward players for taking more active roles in Alterac Valley toward defending or attacking key locations and NPCs.

 

Lastly, we are changing NPC interactions within Alterac Valley. We have reduced the number of elite NPCs in Stormpike and Frostwolf holds as well as sent all Commanders and Lieutenants out of Alterac Valley. They are currently in search of other battle opportunities. This should reduce the amount of NPCs that players will have to fight and place more focus on PvP combat over key locations on the map.

 

Strategy is the name of the game in Alterac Valley, and these changes will bring out the need for more teamwork and coordination from both the Horde and the Alliance as they vie for domination of this battleground.

hmmm interesting

too long didn't read.

 

So they make NPC's count for more, but reduce the number of NPC's? It could be intresting. I still miss oldschool AV , collecting body parts of different factions , the long epic battles , instead of the quick bum rush we have now.

I just want it fair.

 

For the first year Horde won them all.

 

For the next year we won them all. (Even if it is the only one we can pug and win)

 

Let's just make it fair... oh wait Blizzard... nm just keep tweaking it till people stop doing it.

Maybe this will be a cure for the base-racing bullshit that AV has become...

I just want it fair.

 

For the first year Horde won them all.

 

For the next year we won them all. (Even if it is the only one we can pug and win)

 

Let's just make it fair... oh wait Blizzard... nm just keep tweaking it till people stop doing it.

 

I don't think the winning and losing of AV really had anything to do with AV itself. AV itself hasn't changed that much (IE: No more dismounting when riding through the FW base. And theres still the bottleneck Ally bridge.)

 

Why does alliance lose now and why did our queues goto mins instead of hours? Maybe because the horde was AFKing way more than the alliance. Not because of some AV mechanic.

For the first year Horde won them all.

 

For the next year we won them all. (Even if it is the only one we can pug and win)

 

You are forgetting about one huge change that is what really caused that shift in balance. Cross-server BGs. Literally overnight the alliance went from winning 1/10 AVs to winning 9/10 AVs.

 

So they make NPC's count for more, but reduce the number of NPC's? It could be intresting. I still miss oldschool AV , collecting body parts of different factions , the long epic battles , instead of the quick bum rush we have now.

I think this is nostalgia in it's truest form, or you just didn't spend the amount of time in AV back in the day that I did. Long epic struggles sound good in theory but after playing a few AV games for 12+hours I can definitely say that I enjoy the current base race much more then the old setup. AV has changed a good bit since it's release, like there's no more elite guarding Snow Fall Grave Yard, and the GY guards are just normal NPCs, not the pseudo-gods they used to be all on-top of the dismounting change to FW keep. As I recall they reduced the power of the NPCs to try and speedup the games that were happening. Those changes, combined with the cross-realm BG system are what have brought us to where we are today.

 

Is base-racing kind of lame? Yes, but do I want to go back to sitting in AV arguing with people about whether or not we should let the horde win so we could get honor (which still drives me crazy, YOU'VE ALREADY GOT THE HONOR, IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT LEAVE!) or trying to beat basic strategy into 39 other people? I'll pass thank you.

That's true, on many fronts. I didnt do a ton of AV's at that time. But to me it went from epic long games ( far to long at times) to 20 minute games. Im sure there's some form of happy medium , maybe to like, 1 hour games or something. They honestly may as well remove the druids from AV too , they never summon anything any more , they never get the chance ( and the hordes version) . They may as well get rid of any kind of turn in stuff in AV, since it's a rarity that anyone goes back to the bases and ever makes use of it.

 

I thought some of the NPC's were great , they were bonus's to help you win, you could get Elemental help, or calvary , and so on.

 

And about arguing with 39 other people in a AV , I think this will be reduced significantly once they allow group ques. That to me was such a hit to AV.