As exciting as the player-versus-environment play offered in World of Warcraft is, there really is nothing quite like staring your enemies down across a battleground. With your allies at your side, you draw your sword, join your fellows in a rousing battle cry, and charge forth in the name of honor and victory. If the truly electric atmosphere of a player-versus-player competition wasn’t enough for you, there’s experience and honor points to be had. Battlegrounds have a lot to offer, and you don’t have to be a PvP virtuoso to enjoy them.
Including the battlegrounds that shipped with the new expansion, Cataclysm, there are eight battlegrounds available for your player-versus-player amusement, and you can get started as early as level 10. However, before you go crying havoc and letting slip the dogs of war, there are a couple truths you have to accept.
1. Battlegrounds are a team effort. Especially as a battleground neophyte, you’ve got to realize you’re just a cog in the machine, and you need to play your part if your side is going to claim victory. Some parts might be less glamorous than others – defending the flag may seem dull compared to leading the assault on the enemy stronghold, but it’s absolutely critical to achieving victory. You can turn the tide of battle simply by keeping your eyes open and warning your team when enemy forces are incoming. Listen to the Battleground channel, find out what strategy (if any) your side plans to employ, and stick with it.
2. You will die. Allowing yourself to get discouraged because of a death is counterproductive. In fact, there are times where tying up an enemy character in combat, even if it means making the ultimate sacrifice, can provide a teammate with valuable time or the opportunity to surprise your attacker with a few big hits. There will always be a bigger fish, and viewing PvP losses as a learning experience will ultimately make you a better player. Winston Churchill said, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal. It’s the courage to continue that counts.” I’ll bet his faction would’ve dominated in Arathi Basin.
3. Even when you lose you win. While the honor gained from a loss is not as great as the honor points gained from a win, you always come away from a battleground with something. Even those defeated in battlegrounds emerge with some honor points, a handful of experience, and a little knowledge. Those honor points can be redeemed for gear, mounts, and reputation – even the handful of honor points you take home in a loss are valuable.
Your first PvP battleground experience is available in Warsong Gulch. Often referred to as WSG, Warsong Gulch is a battleground hidden away in the southern region of Ashenvale. The Silverwing Sentinels of the Alliance square off against the Warsong Outriders of the Horde for control of the area. To accomplish this goal, the two 10-man sides engage in a brutal capture-the-flag battle. (I’m not quite sure how epic battles are decided by capture-the-flag either.)
Factions score points in WSG by invading the enemy stronghold, stealing their flag and running it back to their own flag, which must be safely secured in their own stronghold at the time. If a flag carrier is killed, the flag is dropped and can be either picked up by an ally to continue its journey or returned to its home stronghold. A successful flag capture (also referred to as a cap) nets one point.
A WSG engagement ends when one side scores its third point or 25 minutes have passed. If, after 25 minutes, the sides are tied, the win is awarded to the faction that scored the first cap. If the battleground is tied at zero after 25 minutes, the match is considered a draw.
While there are dozens of different WSG strategies, most of them boil down into one of four basic schools of thought:
Offense and Defense: The faction splits up into a dedicated offense and defense. Offense usually consists of stealth-capable characters (Rogues and Druids) that can sneak into the enemy stronghold, grab the flag and beat feet back to their own stronghold. Everyone else plays defense, protecting their own flag.
Control the Middle: The faction rushes the middle of the battleground between the two strongholds and attempts to attack (and hopefully kill) as many of the enemy as possible to prevent them from reaching their home stronghold. Once control over the middle is gained and held, stealth-capable carriers make capture attempts.
Mass Escort: The team stays in one large group, charges across the field en masse and takes the enemy flag. Everyone escorts the flag carrier to a safe spot, and a few members of the team remain with him while the rest go hunt down the enemy flag carrier, who has most likely waltzed into your base and grabbed your flag while your entire team was out.
Zerging: The term zerg is derived from Blizzard’s Real-Time Strategy game Starcraft. In Starcraft, a popular strategy for the Zerg faction is to quickly produce a huge amount of low-end armies and throw all of them at their opponent hard and fast, hoping to overwhelm them with numbers and surprise. With a zerg strategy, the team attacks immediately in multiple small groups, hoping to confuse and conquer an unprepared enemy faction. This strategy rarely works against any semi-organized defense, but it’s easy and requires little thought or communication on the part of the attacker.
Communication, playing as a team and avoiding getting hung up on winning are the keys to not only enjoying battlegrounds, but winning them. While PvP play is certainly just one dish in the World of Warcraft buffet, it’s one that should be tasted by everyone who ever rolls a toon. Warsong Gulch is just the first of a number of different battlegrounds, each with its own set of rules and victory conditions, and the spark provided by some occasional PvP can really add to your PvE experience.
“Watch yer back!” – Dwarven Proverb
I’ll also add: Control those vehicles wisely or don’t ride them at all!
Matches are lost when pilots are clueless as to what their vehicles are for, especially in Strands of the Ancients and Isle of Conquest battlegrounds.