The Art of War: Alliance in Alterac Valley?

2007-12-04T23:04:00.001-05:00

Just to preface this, this is about 51-60 AV on Stormstrike. I'm far from an expert on BGs, but I am something of a student of battle tactics, it's a hobby of mine. I spend my free time in Alterac Valley, and on Stormstrike we seem to run into a massive amount of fail game after game.

After taking a little while to look at the map itself, and go over some of the games I've seen play out, I've begun to stress the importance of defense on my team mates. I'm sure most of them hate me by now, but atleast I'm getting my point across.

To start off, let me say this; the Horde is not stupid. Horde offensive parties are always beyond relentless, and backed up by semi-decent support, from Priests to Druids to Paladins. They take the same path every game, and win exactly the same way, it's predictable due to the nature of the map but somehow we've been unable to really put a stop to it so far. The Horde understands the importance of defense, and they know exactly where to defend to achieve maximum results.

There is one thing I would like to say before I get into what I want to talk about. I see alot of complaining about lowbies in Battlegrounds, specifically Alterac. Everybody can contribute, as a level 51 Hunter you won't be topping charts but your Viper Sting will still burn mana, your Serpent's Sting will still kill a Rogue's stealth and your Scorpid's Sting will still drop to-hit by 5%(lol) and your traps/tracking will still work. Your DPS ontop of that is just a bonus. Hunters, Viper Sting anything with Mana, Serpent Sting (Rank 1 to conserve MP) Rogues when you see them and Scorpid's Sting Warriors/Druids/etc. I often Serpent's Sting cat Druids just to nullify their Stealthing abilities.

Also, Hunters, BM is not really a good PvP spec. Go Marksman if you want the most bang for your buck, Feign Death + Scatter Shot + Silencing Shot + Pet = one really pissed off caster who has to rely on instants only.

51 Rogues can still ninja objectivs, 51 Druids can do the same aswell as heal, 51 Priests can still heal regardless of their level, 51 Shamans can do so aswell and 51 Mages can still frontload alot of damage. Lowbies are also very well suited to Mine detail.

Also, I want to say that Hunters are very effective in Alterac Valley, and infact all Battlegrounds. Hunters are most suited to the defense of an objective (not towers though) in this instance, tracking coupled with our pets' ability to bug through a Rogue's stealth is immensly helpful.

Now, to move on to the actual content and subject.

This is Alterac Valley:

As you are all aware of, the conditions for victory are fairly simple, you have to reduce the enemy's reinforcement count to 0, from 600. Galvanger is -100 Reinforcements for the Horde, Belinda is -100 for the Alliance. Each tower is worth -70 reinforcements, if I recall correctly and each player death is worth -1.

The only real problem with this is that, Belinda and Galvanger are not equal in terms of power. Belinda is weaker all around, she wears cloth, has reletively low spell damage and a very weak CC spell (Polymorph). Galvanger is a bitch of a Warrior, with an aoe Fear, Whirlwind and about 1300 damage to Mail in normal Melee hits. Now that we've cleared that up, let's move on.

This is the general attack strategy (it's not exact for every Battlegroup in every game) for the Horde and the Alliance:

The reason the Alliance attack ends at Galv is because that's where we generally wipe. By this time, Horde has Stonehearth Graveyard and is killing Belinda, so we get spawned at Stormpike. Once in Stormpike, we really can't get out of the Alliance territory as Horde pour in up the road. We inevitably turtle in Dun Baldar and the valley leading up to the Stormpike graveyard.

Tactically, this is a bad spot to be in, once it reaches this stage it's game over for the Alliance. This means that Icewing is a top priority for defense, you NEED to control SHGY and Icewing in order to maintain a stable foothold. I'll get further into that in a moment, first I would like to highlight a few things that the Alliance could do in this situation.

Situation 1: Horde is pushing us up the road toward Dun Baldar, pushing us back as we line up like lambs to the slaughter. Most games tend to end here, Horde knows how to advance, and the terrain gives them a distance for range (Hunters/Mages/Warlocks) so long as they can keep the Alliance line from getting to the fork leading into the mountains.

This terrain advantage makes the Horde unreachable to any Melee classes, pets and ranged attacks are the only things that could reach them once they've taken the mountain path. Terrain in Alterac Valley (and infact, most of WoW) does not get subjected to the LoS rule. In this instance, it can be both a curse and a blessing. While people can shoot you through the cliff, you can return fire. Unfortunately this allows the Horde to pincer the Alliance, and force us back to the bridge where they can simply zerg across in great numbers and overwhelm us.

In this situation, 90% of the games end up in a loss for the Alliance. This is sad, but true for us, it also means we likely get 0-50 honor at the end of the match. If the Alliance hasn't given up by this point, there are things available to us to try to break this advance.

First off, we could use the second exit in the Alliance base to our advantage. Bringing the Horde north into the Valley, but keeping them from capping Stormpike would clear the road of the advancing party. What this would allow you to do, is this:

If this succeeds, the Horde would have to choose to either pull a few people away from their offense (thus weakening it) to help their defense at Icewing and Stonehearth, or push harder to capture Stormpike. Another option open to them, would be for them to move their defenders from Iceblood up to Stonehearth, but if they haven't done this before you make your attack then it will take time, maybe time enough for the capping cast to complete. At this point, I would like to mention that Hunters make excellent flag guards. Explosive trap, as far as I have seen, will interrupt the flag cast and the DoT will prevent further capping through it's duration. Set this in the flag, and it will prevent it from being capped until your team mates can arrive.

Situation 2:
Alliance has pushed the Horde back to Icewing, but now must climb the hill and make their way passed the Bunker. This hardly ever works, simply because that hill again presents a terrain advantage.

There is a way around this that I'm sure most people know of, but hardly ever use. Send half of the Alliance offensive party down the road as normal, and then bring the remainder that are not defending this way:

This will bypass the hill entirely, and likely bring you down on the Horde's flank, or maybe right in the middle of them. Mages, this is where you shine, denting the entire group's HP with Arcane Explosion or something similar will be an immense help to the efforts of your team mates moving up the hill.

Unfortunately, there's no way to bypass the bottleneck presented by the mountain range heading toward Stonehearth Graveyard. This will just have to be fought out of. Following that, DEFEND SHGY UNTIL IT IS CAPPED. This is Alliance's biggest problem, we do not defend, or we do not leave enough defenders. Out of a 40 person game, 15 people will not hurt your O that much. Leave 15 defenders in a rolling defensive position between Icewing and Stonehearth. This applies to 'all' situations, not just this one. Hunters are excellent for this role, due to Track Humanoid, Flares, Track Hidden and Frost Trap.

After this, the battle could go either way, it's possible to push the Horde back to IBGY and take that, though it would be extremely difficult to do so. Keep in mind that the Horde offensive is relentless, Alliance needs to be equally as relentless if we hope to come out ahead.

Dun Baldar
While technically not a 'defensive' position, it is the Alliance's last leg once things pass Icewing. The bridge leading to Dun Baldar is a godsend for defense, a Hunter's frost trap on the bridge will allow the NPC Archers to do their thing while your team mates fire on the Horde who have no cover from the damage. Most Hunters/Warlocks will send their pets in on your casters, they're easy kills and are rarely followed by their masters. The bridge also eliminates the pincer, but turtling in Dun Baldar hands the Horde Stormpike and the Irondeep Mine. Don't forget about the second exit from Dun Baldar, which allows you to flank the main road. Layering defenses at Dun Baldar would help to clean up the stragglers that get passed your forward defense, and prevent them from capping the DB towers and Stormpike Graveyard. Only about 3-4 people would be required for this.

Irondeep Mine
Not really a defensive position, again, but it's worth noting that every game you will have 2-3 players who attempt to zerg your mine endlessly. Lowbies who will get stomped by the 60's in the area actually excel at Mine duty, simply because in order to cap it all you need to do is kill the main NPC inside. Night Elves are especially the best for this, specifically Hunters with Cat pets. The following applies to every Mine, but I only intend to list it once: Shadowmeld and Prowl inside of a mine basically guarentees that mine is yours. Horde will rarely leave defensive players in the mine once it's capped, it's low priority. This means you can kill the NPC, and simply Prowl/Shadowmeld and wait for them to return and then do it again.

Icewing Bunker
On to Icewing. This is the central position for a defensive effort on the Alliance side, it is our bottleneck similar to Iceblood for the Horde. This is a more effective bottleneck though, as whoever controls it tends to control the battle. If Horde takes Icewing, then the offensive and defensive teams are seperated and from there it's just a matter of time until everybody respawns back in Stormpike and you see situation 1 as listed above.

Placing a rolling defense at Icewing (consisting of roughly 15 players) will lock out most of the efforts of the Horde. SHGY will not be able to be capped if everyone stays alert, and if it is it's a simple matter to retake it. From this position it's also possible to help Belinda if they attempt to zerg her. Due to the area of this chokepoint, Flares is a very useful spell here. 2 Hunters can essentially guarentee that no Rogue or Druid will get by without being revealed. If you lose Icewing, it becomes a turtle listed above and you will likely lose.

Stonehearth Bunker
Stonehearth Bunker is always the first cap for the Horde, they roll right through it every time they advance, and personally I wouldn't send my defense to reclaim it unless the Horde offensive was nowhere in sight. Defending Stonehearth Bunker draws you away from Stonehearth Graveyard and Belinda, both of which are far more important to your defense than Stonehearth Bunker. This is ultimately free honor for the Horde, and a default -70 points for the Alliance. It's simply not worth defending.

Snowfall Graveyard
This is, aside from Stonehearth, the only real foothold the Horde can get beyond Iceblood with any kind of realibility. That makes this strategically important, some will argue that doing this will make it harder on the offense, which to a degree is true. However, remember that whoever has this, it's going to make it harder on somebody on your side. If Horde claim this, they will respawn closer to Belinda and to SHGY, and if Alliance have it then Horde will spawn right ontop of the offense. Snowfall is important in the overall picture to bottle the Horde up, but it's importance also depends heavily on the tide of the fight. If the offense is plowing through the Horde, then take Snowfall and lock them out. If they are struggling, leave Snowfall to the Horde and defend Stonehearth with everything you can that isn't on offense.

Iceblood Graveyard
Easily the most fought over Graveyard in the game I think. Horde will defend this as much as possible, capping this for the Alliance gives us a foothold into the Horde territories and access to their larger chokepoint. The main problem with Iceblood is that it has a very wide mouth, and a mountain on the left side that will allow the Horde to climb up and then jump down somewhere near the flag. Unless you make preperations early, like Frost Traps and the like you will not stop them all. You will not stop them all from running passed you period, but with preperation you will lighten the load your defense will have to carry. Leave defenders at IBGY even after it's capped, until you can get the Frostwolf Graveyard, and even then maybe a Night Elf Hunter to defend it (Shadowmeld ftw).

Tower Point
This is where I see the most intense fighting in the entire map, Horde will defend Tower point as hard as they possibly can. They have two avenues to approach the Alliance forces from, one being a road which circles around Tower Point, and the other that leads straight onto the road to Iceblood. Keep in mind that Hunters make terrible defenders here, or any tower to be honest. Once things become close, Hunters have a difficult time protecting their objective. Warriors are best suited to the defense here. Keep in mind Melee classes, that if you know somebody is camping inside the tent, you CAN melee them through the wall. I do it all the time.

Frostwolf Graveyard
Honestly, this is simply hard to keep for either side, it has nothing that allows it to be defended easily as far as terrain, and it's sitting right there out in the open directly infront of the Horde base. If you cap this, Alliance, don't expect to keep it for long. It's simply difficult to defend and by this stage, your offensive (if some switched to defense to guard IBGY)is going to be stretched thin. The Frostwolf Relief Hut is a better target, as it places you a stone's throw away from both Frostwolf towers and Drek'Thar if you feel so inclined as to kill him.

As a general rule, keep tabs on the map and where your allies are currently placed. Watch the communications in the /bg chat to see if there's any place that needs you if you aren't currently committed to an objective. If somebody asks for a few people to do something with them, then help them out (again, if you're free). It may mean the difference between a win and a loss.

I'm bored.

The Art of War: Alliance in Alterac Valley?