Alterac Valley Strategy

After reaching level 70, I thought that it was going to be easy to get all the PVP gear for Hiwa, my blood elf paladin. After all, I played in the level 51-60 battlegrounds and most of the time, the Horde dominated the field. I pitied the alliance players because why would anyone choose a team that constantly loses time after time after time?

It was a rude awakening when I finally began my quest to obtain the paladin epic gear. To earn the paladin epic chest and legplates pieces, I had to withstand a barrage of Alterac Valley losses of staggering proportions.

To put it in perspective, let me put it this way. In the level 60 bracket, I probably lost 10-20 out of hundreds of games. At one time, I had 60 straight wins. Granted, most of those were grind it out festivals that lasted 45 minutes. But, the key for me was for 90% of the time, the Horde won in the end.

At the level 70 bracket, as of patch 2.4, the Alliance can win so quickly, it amazed my brain. One night, I began to keep track how fast the Alliance can kill Drekthar. For three straight games, they beat him in 12 minutes.

Well, after much frustration, I began asking other battleground players during the battles what was the philosophy for the Horde. [Sidebar: For anyone who is new to playing the battlegrounds, just remember that just like in life, there will be some who will not help and there will be some who will help. If you don’t know something, go ahead ask the group. Don’t be afraid. After all, they don’t know who you are.]

What I finally gathered was the following plan. Please be aware that this was not my idea. This was floating around as a fully formed idea by August of 2008. The following is a macro that you can use to spread the word on the strategy.

/bg Greetings. The plan is no defense.
/bg Grp 1 & 2 take Aid Station; the gy northwest.
/bg Grp 3 & 4 Balinda and recap IB and TP towers. Need to recap bec no defense.
/bg Grp 5 SHB
/bg Grp 6 IWB
/bg Grp 7 North Bunker
/bg Grp 8 South Bunker

The Aid Station is the graveyard next to the bunker that houses Vandar, the Alliance general. IB stands for Iceblood Tower, while TP stands for Towerpoint Tower. Iceblood and Towerpoint are Horde towers. Towers are equivalent to bunkers. Think of towers and bunkers as mini-headquarters.

SHB stands for Stonehearth Bunker, IWB stands for Icewing Bunker. SHB and IB are Alliance mini-headquarters. If the two bunkers are destroyed, it gives the Horde 63 honor. The towers will be in flames if they are destroyed.

North Bunker is the Dun Baldar North Bunker, while the South Bunker is the Dun Baldar South Bunker. These are located in the northern area of the map, next to the Aid Station.

Turtling
Now, before the plan above, the only way I knew that the Horde can win was a grindout festival that was called TURTLE. This means that for 30 - 40 minutes, players are killing and healing each other. Turtling required a strong defense at Frostwolf village, the Horde headquarters in Alterac Valley. This meant that 10-20 players are needed to play defense. Unfortunately, 20 players on defense made the offensive group weak. The offense were unable to destroy the bunkers.

The other disadvantage of the turtle game is that once the Horde loses control of the graveyards in the south, all is lost. The Alliance can easily win by killing Drekthar.

The Plan
A little bit of background. The first time I saw the plan above was when I played the battlegrounds as an alliance player. I thought it funny that someone was trying to give directions to a pick-up group (PUG).

The advantage of the plan above is speed. By dividing the responsibilities, a raid group can achieve 8 objectives.

Aid Station: The easiest time to take the Aid Station is during the earliest minutes of the game. At that time, there will be no Alliance players resurrecting at the Aid Station. This means that all a player has to contend with are the non-player combatants (NPC). Groups 1 and 2 are assigned so that 10 players can battle the NPCs that sit right before the the graveyard flag. In practice, five players with a healer can take the Aid Station in the earliest minutes. It takes about 1-2 minutes to travel north. The second target for Groups 1 and 2 is the stormpike graveyard.

Balinda group: In the middle of the map is a large bunker that houses Captain Balinda of the Alliance. In practice, I have seen Balinda go down with my paladin tanking and 4 healers that were also dps characters. It took about 1 minute because I did not have any sort of damage with my 1-handed mace. In the plan above, 10 players are assigned, which should be more than sufficient.

It is critical that after Balinda has been downed that Groups 3 and 4 try to retake Iceblood Tower or Towerpoint. By “recapping” a tower, the Alliance is delayed in their offensive push. A Horde tower that is under Horde control is equivalent to 1 marshall or NPC next to the Horde general Drek. When a tower is destroyed, the NPC disappears.

In Aug 2008, the Alliance practice has been to station 4-5 players inside the towers until they burn. To counter this, a warlock or a priest is necessary. The warlock or priest uses their psychic scream or Fear skills to force the players to move outside. Then, one can click on the flag to change it.

How long should the Horde hold TP and IB towers? The NPCs next to Drek will disappear after 4 minutes. If you can recap a tower at least once, it is usually sufficient for the Horde to win.

Stonehearth and Icewing Bunkers are two targets that give 63 honor when destroyed. In some cases, Alliance players have tried to take or delay bunker destruction. Usually, rogues, warriors and shamans are wonderful players to take bunkers. My paladin has not been as successful. My recommendation is that all five players assigned to the bunkers remain in the bunker until the bunkers has been burned. The Horde have lost numerous encounters because of a lone Alliance player taking on and defeating three Horde players.

Note that there is no defense in the plan above. The reason for this is to give maximum support to each group. If a group can take it’s objective, there is no need for a defense because the game will be over in 10 minutes.

Weakness of the Plan
No plan is fool-proof. How can the plan above fail? If the alliance players manage to take and use the Stormpike graveyard, the alliance players will be able to disrupt the attack on Vandar. The Horde must control the Stormpike graveyard after the Dun Baldar North and South Bunkers have been taken.

I have also seen an instance in which alliance players disrupted the Balinda objective or the Iceblood and SHB bunkers. This can be remedied if everyone stays in the bunker.

Note that the above plan does not require everyone to follow it. It’s so funny when players complain in chat that they were alone. So long as the Horde can spread out evenly and capture the objectives, the game is competitive. The idea of the plan above is speed.

Under the Bridge path or Icewing Pass
How do you get to the northern bunkers quickly? Right after the Icewing bunker, there is a path to the left of the main road that will lead to the bottom of the bridge. It is called Icewing Pass. Take this pass and get to the northern area quickly. Horde players should assemble at the bottom of the bridge and go up as a group. The reason for this is that there are NPCs that can beat up a single clothie player.

Another tactic is that a Horde player rides next to the NPCs guarding the graveyard flag. The player pulls them away from the graveyard. Another player caps the flag.

Graveyards
How about the graveyards in the middle of the field? Horde should not take Snowfall graveyard. If the Horde takes the snowfall graveyard, the alliance will begin resurrecting at the relief hut or the stormpike graveyard. The result is a turtle game.

Vandar
An additional note is that players should not run outside when vandar is about to kill you. If you must die, die with honor. Vandar will reset and get a full life bar if he goes outside and follows you.

Some players believe that turtling is the only way to win. That is okay. With time, they can see the light. All they have to see is that we can take on Vandar even with one marshall present. I have been enlightened. I hope you are too. Spread the word. Create a macro in your character. Beat the alliance!

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