Siegeman's Battleground FAQ

Old Rant:

 

So to the main WoW page this morning, and see the option to transfer to the testrealm. I think "Sure, why not? It'll be more fun than running scholo for the 16th time!" I'd like to say I was pleasantly surprized.

 

I went to the old, Alterac valley instance, not the new one, but it was stull quite enjoyable. When you get to the BG entrance, expect to see the same lag as the Auctionhouse, as at least 20 people will be waiting in the gate. When you go to the red, swirling vortex, you are given an option of which battleground to enter, or simply whichever is open first. Then you wait, make cracks about the process, and how you're extremley bored. An icon pops up near your map, showing an estimated time, which in my case was about six times longer than actual. When a spot opens, you are prompted to enter the instance, you hit accept and port in.

 

The first thing you notice, even before the instance, is the presence of quests. At the moment, I have found ten of them, some interlinked, some not. There are also retrieval quests that do NOT go in your log. I'll list some things here, and their effects.

 

Actual Info:

 

Main Base Map:

http://x4.putfile.com/6/16117561014.jpg

 

The Fang and the Heart:

 

- Kill PCs gather hooves, hearts, mojo, teeth

 

- Bring back to base

 

- Heart dude wanters between Instance gate, and lumber camp

 

 

Various persons ask you to bring back enemy PC drops, that you can obtain after making a killing hit. The Gnomes want Tauren hooves, since Tauren have been reported to scalp fallen Gnomes. Nightelves, angered by the Trolls' claims of birthing their race request you to obtain their Mojo. The Humans pity the undead and want to end their misery by burning their shriveled hearts in a ceremonial flame. Lastly, there is a general bounty on Orc teeth. Each of these nets you 1g 80s, a fine reward.

 

I'd like to clarify the points of looting an enemy player. I think, To loot someone, you, or a partymember must make the killing shot. This may not be true, but I have only obtained these items in such a situation. What you get: there is a chance to get the bounty items (mojo, hooves, hearts, teeth) as well as some quest items: Armor Scraps, Storm Spheres (?) and insignia. You also get a portion of the enemy player's money, which in my experience amounts to 50-60s, though I don't know wether this depends on how much you actually have.

 

As you can see, the killingshot is most important in this scenario. It allows you to make up the difference that you would have earned in an instance, and pay for the armor deterioration you aquire through damage and death. In other words, if you're not a mage or a rogue, you better be in a party to reap the rewards!

 

Cavalry!

 

- Bring back 25 rams, after taming them

 

- Bring back 25 frostwolf skins from the horde lands, they drop off of frostwolves

 

 

Each side is given a quest to tame friendly mounts near their home base, and bring them back to a PC. Similarly, you also need to go to the opposing side and kill their mount animals for supplies. Alliance need to capture riding rams, and kill Frostwolves to make bridles out of their skin. When you finish, you the quests stop, and the cavalry captain gives an option to charge the enemy. Just got the final count: You need 25 hides and 25 rams.

 

In my case, various people had brought in rams, and were grumbling about why the cavalry didn't spawn. So, I went behind enemy lines, as they broke through our defences and were 1/2 to our base. I brought back 25 skins, and only needed 12 of them to launch the cavalry asault.

 

This is no joke, a 61 elite commander and tweleve lvl 60 elite riders spawn and advance to the forward base. The horde were decimated. BUT they stop at the forward base, and patroll the area, keeping it safe. To get an NPC assault you need to do more than that.

 

Armor

 

- Bring back armor scraps (stracks of 20) for NPC upgrade

 

 

Whenever you kill an NPCand sometimes a PC, you can loot a number of armor scraps. If a sufficent number are returned, all of the friendly NPCs that spawn become veterans, increacing their level and capability. A higher level is also available, Champion, which gives an even better buff to the NPCs, this is the highest I've seen.BIG defensive advantage here.

 

The mine, is MINE!

 

- Capture mies by killing NPC leader

 

- Bring back supplies to dude in main base for NPC assault

 

 

Both sides have mines, which are periodically captured by neutral NPCs. The trogg inhabit the Alliance mine, and the kobolds the Horde mine. They periodically spawn, and are usually beaten back by the NPC defenders. However, this combat takes it's toll and eventually they take over the mine by killing the alliance commander. At this point a yell informs the Alliance that the mine has been captured. These mines contain vital supplies, that must be returned to the quartermaster. To capture the mine, you need to kill the elite boss inside. It is vital that a PC lands the killing blow when doing this, if one of the defenders kills him, the trogg will continue to respawn, and will own a section of the mine making supply runs more difficultI'm not sure what difference it makes wether you take friendly, or enemy supplies. I should note that these are filled with 51-54 elites, and you shouldn't try this by yourself. When a certain amount of supplies is reached, a wave of NPCs launch a huge ground assault on the enemy. I have not seen this occur as of yet.

 

I've noticed that it is best to send a five-man detatchement to the mine, to both capture it, prevent its recapture and collect supplies. If dedicated people keep this up long enough, the ground assault will occur quickly.

 

The Lord:

 

-Bring storm crystals (stacks of 5) to druids behind base

 

 

Both factions can summon a giant boss to aid in their combat, these are about six stories in hieght, and kick alot of ass. The Horde have a giant ice elemental, who is completley offensive. From what I've seen, whenever he kills a PC he gains HP. The Alliance gets a huge keeper of the grove. He can't kill as well as his horde counterpart, but he has a periodic root AOE, as well as about 10 lvl 60 Ents that follow him around, in conjunction with a few druids who keep him healed.

 

How do we get him on our field? Whenever you kill an enemy, they have a chance to drop a Storm Sphere. (I'm not sure of the name...it could be circle or node or orb or whatever) You return these to the Alliance druid NPCs, and eventually they decide to summon our Lord, as the two dudes are called. They go to the central field, and begin to summon. Thy need to be both protected, and have people aid them (ala the Warlock summon) by clicking on a large earthen disc. When this is complete, a can of whoopass is opened on the horde. At first, he remains in the center, but after a time (or possibly when aggro draws him far enough?) he attacks the enemy bases. I should underline that he needs to be supported, by providing both combat support and healing! Don't waste this guy to a zerg!

 

How do you kill one? Simple, aggro him behind the forward base, have mele attackers do their thing and ranged stand on the hill next to him. It goes slowly, but after some effort the monster dies. He tends to drop some nice PvP specific rare items. These are on a first-come first-serve basis, from what I understand. When doing this move it is helpful to time it with a cavalry patroll (unless you haven't supplied them yet!) to block off the path the hordies will take, to keep them from interfering.

 

Wingcommander

As you may have read, if you free the wing commanders from the enemy bases a wave of gryphon riders spawn. Most likley, the best way to do this is a good team of rogues. Haven't seen this occur.

 

The All-Seeing Eye

There is a cave on the eastern side of the central ground, containing a group of syndicate, and thier boss. Off the bat, he gives you a short-range detector of enemy, and friendly NPCs, simmilar to detect undead or hunter detection skills. Then, you are given a quest to put a beacon in the enemy base, and defend it for a short time. He says it lets you see the area. I have not seen this as of yet.

 

That's all I can remember for now, and I'd like to go into the class roles I have seen:

 

Buddy, I may not make it, get me a Pally!

 

- Pallies in 5-man=healbots

 

- don't wory about buffs too much

 

- solo or raid for actual killing

 

 

I found that Paladins are highly regarded in this scenario, almost as much as rogues. The combat healing, and low-mana rezing are vital to any assault. However, a sufficent amount of quests (not to mention ranking!) are based on deathblows. Since we have no instant nuke, or anything similar, we're at a disadvantage here.

 

The Rogue's Rogue

 

- Stealth squads rock

 

 

I find that in this scenario, rogues seldom go into the zerg pvp that other classes participate in. This is because unlike the PvP we are accustomed to in TM, there is no "no man's land" between two sides. The action is very dynamic. There is no opportunity to get someone off-guard in the zerg, and without freezing and fear abilites, rogues tend to get "OMG PWNED!" the second an advance is made. However, most objectives can be done by a dedicated team of rogues, turning the tide of battle. Thy can stealth past the NPCs to vital objectives, and defend them for a short time. If a PC comes up during the process, sap 'em and kill 'em in a few shots.

Capturing buildings and graveyards can be acomplished in this fashion as well. About five rogues once pounceed on an alliance graveyard, killed the NPCs and were damn close to capping it, had not five alliance warriors respawned at the spot and killed them, it would have been lost, and we would have been at a great disadvantage.[/img]

sounds like it rocks, minus the new news about warriors. Looks like ill need to get the god dam pvp armor set. thats the only one worth getting now. but can you shoot tells across servers?

he means if you're on the test realm

 

I've been hearing increasingly good things about battlegrounds, lag complaints aside.

Just pray to god they fix the current Druid bug before they let it go live. Historically speaking, they won't. But then again, people are FREAKING OUT about this one.

whats the bug??

All buffs (MotW, HoTs, etc) disappear when shifting. No more Rejuv + Bear form FTW.

/cry

<logs Kasis>

I'm sort of interested in seeing how frost mages perform...

Edited with what I've seen today.

 

Oh and Kopi, frost mages perform damn well. The slowing/freezing effects allow you to get in that extra shot for the kill, changing it from an escape while almost dead to an honor kill.

Shameless bump

 

 

 

Now that BG came out I feel this info is vital for those who have not played extensivley on Test. I'll also add general strategies, tactics and situational strategies that I picked up, in a few days.

Amazing post you made there. I had played this map a bit on the test server and it's like I'm only understanding now what it was all about.

 

Keep 'em coming

We tried CTF today, and it rocked. Unfortunately I cant make long posts, but essentially druids are great for stealing the flag, and pallys and priests are essential on the return for BoF, cleanse, and dispel spammed on the flag runner. Shield owns too. Hunters own hardcore running around the middle of the field wasting people. Rogues great defense or offense. The only class we didn't have was warlock.. I'm not sure exactly how useful they'd be, but I'm sure there's a surprising new use for them somehow. We got pretty darn good at it as we played and it was a lot of fun.. if I could make a long post I would. But since I can't, we'll just do the talking in game

I agree whole-heartedly, Shoop. Being a hunter and basically being the ranged support for the tanks/dps definatly made the experience worthwhile, but I must add...if anyone comes within just a few yards of a hunter...well...ya know >_< Overall I loved it and I'd love to see FP get a couple teams together and own BG! I'm game for anytime u wanna rumble.

We tried CTF today, and it rocked.  Unfortunately I cant make long posts, but essentially druids are great for stealing the flag, and pallys and priests are essential on the return for BoF, cleanse, and dispel spammed on the flag runner.  Shield owns too.  Hunters own hardcore running around the middle of the field wasting people.  Rogues great defense or offense.  The only class we didn't have was warlock.. I'm not sure exactly how useful they'd be, but I'm sure there's a surprising new use for them somehow.  We got pretty darn good at it as we played and it was a lot of fun.. if I could make a long post I would.  But since I can't, we'll just do the talking in game

 

When I was doing BG in the test servers, I was mainly used for defensive purposes. Curse of Exaustion (CoEx) the enemy flag runner or sniff out Rogues, Druids with the Fel Hunter on aggressive mode. I wasn't really on the offensive much but when I was supporting the flag carrier, I CoEx, every enemy that came after me and the flag runner.

 

So to sum it all up, CoEx was pretty much my main curse in BG. Wish I could do some BG right now but there's a huge Warlock bug concerning the soul shards. I'm expecting a minor patch next tues to correct this damn thing.

ahh cool stuff.. what is the bug? when we owned we usually had people removing every debuff on the flag carrier and healing him...

ahh cool stuff.. what is the bug?  when we owned we usually had people removing every debuff on the flag carrier and healing him...

 

The bug is that, when Warlocks gain soulshards in battlegrounds, it sometimes replaces an item in your bag instead of going to an empty slot. I had it replace my mooncloth one time.

 

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.a...mp=1#post348569

oh wow tahts brutal.. sorry to hear that

I had maybe 8 games yesterday and Alliance lost 7 with the usual reasons. (I don't think we ever had a healer in the team also. Doesn't help)

In almost every game it seems we had one of those schoolboys nazis whose main contribution to the team is to insult everybody.

 

Just to give you an idea, at one point I stole the flag and since I had no support I managed to hide in one of those little huts outside the Horde camp.

Then I started to message the raid members...no answer...then I started to use CAPS...no answer...

After 2 minutes I yelled LEEEERRRROYYYY hoping to get some attention but I didn't.

I made it back to our flag room, still alone, and was welcomed by the horde team. I died on our flag spawn.

 

I typed "damn, this is so stupid" and it seems that the raid leader had finally decided to contribute since I got a "if you're not happy, just leave"

 

No need to say that I'm looking forward to playing with you guys.

 

Aside from this it's a great PvP experience. So different from the usual 1v1 or zerg parties I was used to.

 

I like to play defense and, when my timers are up (Sprint/Preparation/Sprint) I usually do a run at the flag.

 

Only strategy I've been thinking of so far is to stealth to their flag from the roof, warn the team that support will be needed around the middle of the map, have another rogue sap a defender and make a diversion, drink Free Action pot, steal the flag, sprint/prep/sprint, meet the support team outside and make it back home.

When rogues timers are out we can sap/stun while a duid make the run (druids are the best at flag carrying imho)

 

Aside from that I had great fun with my engineering toys :

 

-Mind control helmet : I MC'd the horde guy carrying our flag twice and he followed me back to our room. lol

 

-Rocket Helmet. Managed to stop flag carriers from very far as they were about to make it back to their base.

Can also be used as you carry the flag if you have an ennemy on your way. Not only it will stun him but this helmet is like the Warrior's Intercept : you're basically jumping 25 yards away (I suspect it's even more) from the guys chasing you.

 

-Haven't used my Grenades yet. 40 yards range and stun effect should be pretty useful to catch runner but I won't use them unless I am in a team I like. I don't waste my toys for BG nazis

So here's the deal with mages on CTF:

 

Frost mages are made for this game. Specifically improved blizzard. Shamans may get their earthbind totem, but mages can counter with improved blizzard (read 25% movement speed for all people caught in the area, reapplied every second and lasting 1.5-4.5 seconds depending on talents).

 

In defense stay on the high ground and just spam blizzard in the area of the flag bearer. It works beautifully, and you can usually slow the whole offensive group down enough to allow reinforcements to arrive. If they get out of LoS, jump down and frost nova + CoC for a 8-11 seconds snare (depending on talents, again).

 

In offense, trail the druid carrying the flag and throw down blizzards to basically prevent pursuit. Most people are concentrating on the flag bearer, so you'll usually have a few seconds to get in your damage worth and apply that snare real good. Once they notice you, nova + CoC before you drop, and if you're not dead by then, nothing grabs peoples' attention more than IAE. Remember, your job in this case is, if the druid carrying teh flag has the attention of all the horde, then you need to be making them pay attention to you with imp. blizzard. If they do see you, then that means you need to be as distracting as possible by going full AE DPS throttle. Apply chills as often as possible, and also bear in mind that frostbite is deadly.

 

Personal rant: the speed boost from that item right in front of the flag is waaaay too overpowered. A person running faster than a regular mount for 10 seconds? you can cross half the map in the time it takes for someone to pull out their mount.

 

As far as warlocks are concerned...we had one summon an infernal on us (horde side)...note that these things don't despawn when the lock dies. That means we *had* to take out this demon. Also, the succubus' charm is a bitch and a half. You can effectively take someone out of the game for a long time. Felhunters are iffy...paranoia helps a little, but if your defense is on top of things, it's not a problem. One lock had a habit of running in with a voidwalker and then sacrificing it. It was a bitch and a half to punch through that shield. Be sure to fear people often.

 

Oh, and everyone who plans on doing CTF needs a Nifty Stopwatch. It's a 30 minute cooldown trinket that gives you a 15 second 40% movement speed bonus. Grab the flag, put that on, you should make it to the buff item in the tunnel and you're pretty much home free, espcially if you also have a sprint stored up. It's ridiculous.

 

To get this gem of an item, go to the badlands and complete that whole earth elemental chain (4-5 steps). It's entirely worth it. I have 3 trinkets I use on rotation and they're all infinitely useful. I have perma eye of the beast equipped, and I swap out stopwatch, insignia, and biarwood reed (for that extra punch when the insignia and stopwatch are both on cooldown).

 

Hell, imagine a sprint + stopwatch + buff item = 310% run speed...which is 150%+ an epic mount...all this lasting for 10 seconds and you might as well be teleported to the flag return.

-Mind control helmet : I MC'd the horde guy carrying our flag twice and he followed me back to our room. lol

 

lol! that's hillarious!

 

Free action pot is a great idea if they're using traps especially, if they don't have shaman on purge duty then its golden.

 

We also found out that its probably best to start off with a zerg for the enemy flag then go from there.

That is one strategy I'd like to investigate more...have a strike group of rogues, essentially, stealth into their base and sap all the defenders, then make a break for it. The rogues not carrying the flag can be using crippling poison to break off pursuers, and the usual stun lock techniques. Maybe have a druid accompany them for healing and possibly throw them the flag once sprint wears off or you guys get back to base.

Another strategy (or as the horde call it, exploit) is to cast BoP on the enemy flag carrier, which causes them to immediatly drop the flag, and be unable to pick it up for the duration. Couple it with an MC and you can have them turn around and bring the thing back to you.

 

Oh and nerf ghostwolf.

 

 

PS I'm working on taking screenies for the next update to the faq.

LOL BoP on enemy flag carrier, that's hillarious! lol

Added a dun Baldur map, with location for turning in items, and what that goes towards.