PvP 101: Warsong Gulch

We've started to do a little PvPalooza in my guild one night a week.  Its really just meant to be a fun group experience, no one goes out there thinking we're going to roll the Horde.  Most of my guild breaks out in hives when you mention PvP but I was still a bit surprised that some knew nothing about the different battlegrounds.  With Cataclysm bringing us rated Battlegrounds it seems as good a time as any for a little pee vee pee primer. 

I'm going to do them one at a time because there really is some fun to be had with all of this so the information is best transmitted in BG by BG bites.  So without further ado welcome to where it all starts, Warsong Gulch

The Warsong Gulch battleground is physically located between the zones of Ashenvale and The Barrens, although only a few vanilla players leveling a character will venture out to the old entrances.  This battleground is located in the area where Grom Hellscream and his Orcs ravaged the forests in the third war for lumber.

WSG is essentially a game of capture the flag. Two flags, two bases, and your main objective is to bring the opponent's flag to your base three times. The first team to three wins.

You must protect your flag at all times, you will be unable to capture your opponent's flag while yours is out in play.  Because this game had turned into an all night turtle fest a timer has been put in.  The game will end after 25 minutes.  In the event the game is tied, the last faction to cap wins.

WSG is a 10v10 battleground with level ranges 10-19, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70-79, 80.  The game will close down if there are less than 4 players on any side.

Communication is key in battlegrounds.  These are big maps and no one person can see everything at every moment.  Be sure you have your battleground mini map open.  (shift M)  You will be able to track your team mates, your flag carry (fc) team and the enemy flag carry (efc) team.

There are many different sites out there with detailed strategies and tictacs.    Here's my 2c on the matter.  Send 3 people to get the flag, the best choice for a flag carrier is a druid.  They can shapeshift till they puke making them near impossible to cc, and bear form makes them harder to kill.  Leave 2 people in the base to stall the efc.  Classes with slows and dps like mages, hunters, shaman, are best for this.  Everyone else gets into the pool and cleans out the mid field.  Don't let anyone tell you anything else, he who controls midfield wins. 

There are 3 ways in and out of any flag room, up the tunnel, up the ramp up top, up the ramp bottom.

Scope them out a bit and know what is where.  You will need to communicate where you are taking the flag (Ramp side, Graveyard side) or where the efc ran with the flag (Tunnel).  I've carried the flag and I've defended the flag and I can tell you right now, don't use the tunnel.  99.99% of the time its bad idea genes. 

The skinny on those flags. 

• If you right-click on the enemy's flag you will pick it up.
• If you right-click on the enemy flag icon while you're carrying it you will drop it.   Good for passing the flag to sturdier folk.
• Invulnerability buff effects and stealth spells prevent a player from picking up a flag. Using these effects while holding a flag causes it to drop.
• You cannot mount with the flag. 
• If you kill the efc the flag will fall in front of your face, right click it to return it to your base.

Last little thing is the power ups.  There are three types in WSG.

Berserking - Increases all damage caused by 30%, all damage taken by 10% and increases your size by 10%. Lasts 1 min.

  

Speed - Increases movement speed by 100% for 10 seconds.




Restoration - Restores 10% of your health and mana every second for 10 seconds. Attacking or being attacked will cancel the effect. 



You get honor for each cap your team makes as well as random kills in and around the battleground.  There is honor at the end of the game with the winner getting more points than the loser.  As of a few patches ago you can get experience as well as honor in battlegrounds.  The experience and honor scale with level. 

There are some pretty sexy sub 60 honor rewards to be had from wsg.  For the alliance see Illiyana Moonblaze at the battleground entrance in Ashenvale.  For the horde its Kelm Hargunth at the battleground entrance in the Barrens.

At 80 WSG is not for the faint of heart.  The players there are at resilience cap, they've got all kinds of shiny armor, trinkets and weapons.  They do not play games.  If you heal they will bring the pain train.  This is not a safe place for amateurs anymore.  But for an organized team with a plan and some skill it is an amazing amount of fun.