Raziya's Guide to Alterac Valley

[Fey]

Hi, everyone! Raziya here with another guide. This time, we're going over Alterac Valley.

The purpose of this guide is to explain all of the various parts of AV, go over strategies for both factions in the interest of pursuing a more interesting competitive atmosphere in AV, and I hope to enlighten some of the less-familiar players about various confusing AV-related things. I myself am new to Vanilla AV, but I feel I know enough to pass on my knowledge to those completely new to AV, or those not quite as observant. Keep in mind that there are a lot of bugs with the current version of AV implemented in Nostalrius, but I'm not here to complain about those, just to give you tips on strategizing around them or something in their current state.

I will label the following sections "SECTION #.#" and you can use that in Ctrl + F to quickly skip to a specific section.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 - What is Alterac Valley?
1.1 - Why Alterac Valley is different
1.2 - The goal of Alterac Valley
1.3 - Player motivations
2 - The basics
2.1 - Galv / Bal
2.2 - The outer tower
2.3 - SHGY / IBGY
2.4 - The middle tower
2.5 - SPGY / FWGY
2.6 - The inner towers
2.7 - FWRH / SPAS
2.8 - Drek / Vann
3 - Strategy for finishing the game
3.1 - The difference between defense and a turtle
3.2 - Common Alliance tactics
3.3 - Common Horde tactics
4 - Advanced tactics
4.1 - Winning (or losing) as quickly as possible
4.2 - Kiting
4.3 - The rider push
4.4 - Treesus and the Blood God
5 - Alternative objectives
5.1 - Your "AV Hearthstone"
5.2 - Armor Scraps
5.3 - Korrak and the trolls
5.4 - Irondeep and Coldtooth
5.5 - Plundering enemy players
6 - Team fight tactics
6.1 - The role of your class and why it matters
6.2 - Using the environment to your advantage
6.3 - Being confident and courageous in danger
6.4 - Cooperating with your team
6.5 - Personal responsibility
7 - Closing thoughts

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SECTION 1 - What is Alterac Valley?
Welcome to Alterac Valley! In this section, we'll go over what sort of battleground Alterac Valley is, and why it's both loved and hated so much here on Nostalrius.

SECTION 1.1 - Why Alterac Valley is different
While Warsong Gulch may be your standard Capture the Flag, and Arathi Basin is kind of like King of the Hill, Alterac Valley is a quite large and complex battleground. Some would say it has about as much PvE in it as it does PvP, and I agree. There are a lot of NPCs in Vanilla Alterac Valley, many of which are tough to beat, and if you want to push through to the end, your team will cherish having a tank or two and some healers on hand. Don't be shy to queue for Alterac Valley if you enjoy raiding more than PvP, you might find you really enjoy it!

SECTION 1.2 - The goal of Alterac Valley
In Alterac Valley, a game only ends when Drek dies, Vann dies, or the server crashes and mercifully ends a several-day game. Thus, your goal as a member of the Alliance or the Horde is to fight your way through the enemy forces, raiding and demolishing buildings along the way, and once you make it to the enemy stronghold, kill their leader. As you can imagine, this is no simple feat, and it takes teamwork, skill, and strategy to win the day.

Drek'thar is the leader of the Frostwolf Clan in Alterac Valley, and he's located all the way south, in Frostwolf Keep. Vanndar Stormpike is the leader of the Stormpike Expedition in Alterac Valley, and stands in his bunker all the way north, in Dun Baldar.

SECTION 1.3 - Player motivations
I'm certain that you, reader, must have heard by now of Alterac Valley games spanning several days. It may seem strange, but it's true. I, myself, was in a twenty-hour AV once. Twenty hours! Isn't that just... fascinating, how a match can last that long? I'm willing to bet that AV games can go on even longer. I just haven't seen it yet.

Due to how tough and confusing this battleground can be to newcomers or very oblivious people, there's often friction between those who have clear goals in Alterac Valley, and those who don't know what they're doing. While the goal of the battleground is to kill the opposing faction's leader, a player's goals may differ greatly from that, for many reasons. For example, a win OR a loss will result in rep and honor gain, so it's preferable that a game end as quickly as possible, regardless of who wins or loses. However, there may be other people in the battleground who simply desire to score many HKs and defend the base instead of contributing to a coherent offensive or some sort of alternative objective, despite the fact that doing so would yield much more honor and rep.

This is why games can last so long, and why people are constantly in and out of a long AV; you need your team to push through, but if everyone on your team is doing different things, it's simply not going to happen, especially the longer a game goes on, since both factions can buff their NPCs and... I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's proceed, shall we?

SECTION 2 - The basics
Here, we'll cover everything essential to know about your base and your enemy's base in Alterac Valley, tower by tower.

SECTION 2.1 - Galv / Bal
If you're a member of the Alliance, Captain Galvangar, at Iceblood Garrison, is your enemy's captain. If you're a member of the Horde, Captain Balinda Stonehearth, at Stonehearth Outpost, is your enemy's captain.

You may notice that the steady stream of NPCs going at it constantly in the Field of Strife stops for one side when its respective captain dies. That may seem pointless, but the captains do other important things: If left alive by the end of a game, they award reputation and honor to the faction they're a part of. If killed, the reputation and honor goes to the enemy faction. Most importantly, however, they give their faction a buff every now and then that increases their effectiveness in battle. If they're dead, they of course cannot provide this buff to their allies.

Their respective buildings are guarded by two lieutenants. Unless you have two tanks with you capable of dealing with the lieutenants, I highly suggest pulling only one at a time. They're tough! Once Bal or Galv are dead, they'll remain dead until the end of the BG, whenever that is. Oh, and don't run out of the room if you get aggro and your team's still capable of killing the boss; running out will reset the captain, and you'll have to fight them from full health once again.

SECTION 2.2 - The outer tower
Beside Bal's bunker or Galv's garrison, there's Stonehearth Bunker or Iceblood Tower, respectively. Your team does not need to kill Bal or Galv in order to capture these towers.

Inside the bunker or tower, there's a powerful Alliance or Horde elite guarding the flag, as well as several bowmen sniping people from up top. The bowmen can easily outrange players, but they can be killed from outside the bunker or tower by ranged players. They can hit fairly hard, though, especially when they're focused on one target, so if you don't have a healer or two or a group with you, don't approach the towers.

It's worth mentioning that nearby these towers and their respective graveyards is an NPC that lays mines. Said NPC is called a "Stormpike Mine Layer" or "Frostwolf Mine Layer," and they're particularly dangerous mobs. As implied by their name, they drop mines, even in combat, and these mines do nasty AoE damage. If you happen to have aggro on a Mine Layer, pull it away from your allies, and tank it away from your allies. Have ranged kill it, while melee deal with other NPCs or players. If the mine layer gets kited up into a bunker or tower where your team is all bunched up, they're all getting fiery death smashed right into their face, and no one appreciates that.

Once five minutes have passed without the tower being recaptured by anyone of the opposing faction, it'll be destroyed. Archers will no longer spawn up top, and you can safely move on without having to worry about recaps.

SECTION 2.3 - SHGY / IBGY
Stonehearth Graveyard is the southernmost Stormpike graveyard, guarded by some Alliance NPCs, some of which are elite. Iceblood Graveyard is likewise the northernmost Frostwolf graveyard, and is guarded similarly. Assault it for five minutes, and it shall be your's.

Depending on whichever team captures Snowfall Graveyard, which is at midfield, it may be preferable to avoid recapturing SHGY or IBGY. Keep in mind that when a graveyard is captured by one team, players on that team will spawn at that graveyard, and when contested, no players from either faction will spawn there. Take, for example, a situation in early AV where the Horde is pushing north to SHGY, caps it, and then goes to attack Icewing Bunker, which is just north of SHGY. If an Alliance player were to recapture SHGY in the meantime, and the Horde wiped massively in Icewing Bunker, they would spawn all the way down south at IBGY or perhaps even the Frostwolf Graveyard, resulting in them attempting to go north again, only to meet the Alliance offensive, and with neither team able to get past the other, it begins a turtle. Unless, of course, the Horde has Snowfall, in which case recapping SHGY will only set them back, which can contribute to defense.

In other words, use graveyards to organize enemy spawn points the way your team desires them. Don't just mindlessly cap whatever you see, because you could end up being a serious detriment to your team that way.

SECTION 2.4 - The middle tower
Once you've bypassed or defeated the enemy captain, destroyed the outer tower and captured yourself a graveyard in enemy territory, it's time to push for the middle tower. That's Icewing Bunker or Tower Point, respectively. Like Stonehearth Bunker and Iceblood Tower, they have four archers each, but the roads to them are patrolled by lieutenants and areas nearby are packed with deadly land mines.

Fighting enemy players in the areas around Icewing Bunker or Tower Point can be extremely dangerous due to the presence of archers, patrols, and landmines, so make sure you bring a raid with you when you go to attack these objectives. Stay strictly on the roads if you want to avoid landmines, but you will have to deal with patrols. If you do come up against defense, don't chase them off the roads if it can be helped. If you have a good party of ranged DPS with you, they can focus on enemy players while melee deals with patrols.

Once inside the enemy bunker or tower, you'll have to deal with another enemy elite, but if you manage to hold the line for five minutes, a second structure will be down, and no archers will hinder your troops as you continue south towards the enemy base.

SECTION 2.5 - SPGY / FWGY
Stormpike Graveyard and Frostwolf Graveyard are the graveyards right outside the Alliance and Horde bases, respectively. If your team captures these, they'll have a very nearby spawn point from which they can push into the enemy base without fear of having to go through all those nasty border defenses again. These graveyards seem to be relatively easy to capture, as long as you can get down there with a team capable of fending off enemy players and a few mobs. There's only one elite and a regiment of guards around these graveyards, and there are no landmines or archers aiming at you from a tower or bunker. Even the enemy defense doesn't care to hold these sometimes, since holding the line from inside their own base is more effective. Pretty straightforward here.

SECTION 2.6 - The inner towers
You've made it through everything else the enemy has thrown at you if you're standing at the inner towers, so now it's time to make the final push into the enemy's stronghold.

Dun Baldar North Bunker and Dun Baldar South Bunker cover the bridge leading into Dun Baldar with archers, while West Frostwolf Tower and East Frostwolf Tower guard the way into Frostwolf Keep. The push into the enemy base will be incredibly difficult if they have a good defense going, but if your defense has been doing its job better, then your offense will have more people to push into the base with. When you take the towers, it'll be much easier to operate behind enemy lines with no archers pummeling you from above, and then only two things remain to do.

SECTION 2.7 - SPAS / FWRH
The Stormpike Aid Station and Frostwolf Relief Hut are the final graveyards in Alliance and Horde territory, and they're situated right outside Vann's bunker or Drek's keep... for good reason. These graveyards are practically essential if you want to take down Vann or Drek without much more hassle, and can even be useful for keeping the enemy towers under your control until they're destroyed if you happen to capture them while simultaneously capturing the inner towers, but this is unlikely to happen. Keep in mind that even if the enemy team possesses no graveyards anywhere near their own territory, anyone on defense will spawn inside their faction's starting cave, which cannot be captured, and is fairly close by. Keep some watchers on these graveyards if the enemy defense is especially nosy; you don't want it to be recapped while your team is in there fighting Vann or Drek.

SECTION 2.8 - Drek / Vann
This is it. The moment you've been waiting for. It's time to finish the game, at last.

For every enemy tower you've destroyed, a Marshal or Warmaster accompanying Vann or Drek has vanished. For every allied tower you've defended, a Marshal or Warmaster that would have spawned in your enemy's leader's room isn't there. Should you have any extra elites to deal with, pull them out of the bunker and fight them alone, and only when all of the extra elites are dead can you safely pull Vann or Drek.

You may die in the fight against Vann or Drek, but as long as nobody runs out of the room, the boss won't reset. Since you have presumably captured the relief hut or aid station at this point, simply release and run back in, because the trip isn't far and you need all the people you can get in there. Drek needs to be disarmed at 30%, and I presume there's a similar mechanic for Horde against Vann, but I don't know it. Once the enemy boss is dead, you've won. Good game!

SECTION 3 - Strategy for finishing the game
In this section, I'll go over effective strategies for the Alliance and the Horde. Despite never having played Vanilla Alterac Valley before Nostalrius, I have seen AV from both factions' perspective post-nerf, and come up with quite a few strategies in the process. Once again, this guide is for both factions in the pursuit of more interesting AV games. I thus encourage you to share these strategies with your faction, and come up with efficient counters for them if you can, and hopefully AV will be more fun for everyone!

SECTION 3.1 - The difference between defense and a turtle
Before I get into strategy for AV, I must clarify something for all those who are mistaken about defense in AV: It's not necessarily a bad thing. Defense can be very effective in improving the offense team's efficiency, since each tower defended means the enemy doesn't gain a warmaster or marshal, and as long as the enemy team stays behind your own, you have zero need for defense. For example, if the Alliance is fighting to get into Frostwolf Keep, and the Horde is fighting to get into Dun Baldar, if the Horde were to keep the Alliance at bay until both Dun Baldar bunkers were capped, but the Frostwolf Towers were kept safe, then the Alliance would have to cap two towers and the relief hut, while the Horde just has the aid station to capture... and less marshals to deal with. And, by that point, it means all defense can head north and help offense, because it's too late for the Alliance to catch up.

Basically, the point of defense in AV is to give offense more time. The offense is of course the most important part, but with proper support from defense, your strategy can be very flexible whether your offense is golden and blazing through all the enemy defenses, or if it's making slow progress.

In other words, defense becomes a turtle when it's a detriment to your offense and thus to victory as well. Delaying the enemy is a viable strategy and works very well as long as you do it correctly. Bear your goals in mind when joining in with the defensive in AV, and don't hesitate to leave for offense if necessary.

SECTION 3.2 - Common Alliance tactics
In this section, I'll go over common Alliance tactics in AV, for offense and defense.

SUBSECTION 3.2.1 - OFFENSE
As offense on the Alliance, you'll probably have a harder job than the Horde offense at first, because your first target is likely Captain Galvangar's hut. Iceblood Tower isn't exactly very much exposed, unlike Stonehearth Bunker, so Alliance forces tend to go for him first. Alternatively, and probably preferably, you could strike IBGY first, in order to get to Iceblood Tower and Galvangar faster. Either way, bring every single member of your raid for this part.

On a side note, many Alliance groups tend to go for Snowfall Graveyard at the start. This can be a good idea if the Horde is defending at Galv, so your forces don't respawn at SHGY and inevitably run into the Horde offensive, but then again, refraining from capping it may make the Horde reluctant to recap IBGY when you get there. I don't really recommend capturing Snowfall under most circumstances. Leave it alone if you can.

Going straight to Galv, pull the lieutenants back one at a time, and as soon as they're dead, run up the hill. Don't be afraid of any Horde that might be defending up there; as long as you have healers backing your team up and you all go in at once, they'll be forced to scatter. Keep some forces outside to keep the Horde at bay, and make sure that if you're one of those people watching for enemy players, you alert the people inside if a Horde or two are coming in. If you're DPSing Galv and there are Horde players defending, be wary of them and focus them first if they come inside; your tank should be able to hold Galv for a few while you take care of some Horde.

Once Galv is dead, everyone head out, mount up, and charge right into Iceblood Tower. After the timer has started and your team is comfortably situated inside the tower, about 10 defense at most should break off and head north to plan the defense of Dun Baldar. About 30 offense at least should remain there.

Going straight to Iceblood Graveyard instead, this not only gives you a great spawn point nearby the outer enemy fortifications, but it more importantly denies the Horde their northernmost graveyard. This can benefit your offense tremendously, and if you desire, allow your defense to depart right away. Consider attacking Iceblood Graveyard first.

Remember, offense: Don't get baited. If the Horde is defending, they may try to lure you into landmines or guards, and that's the last thing you want. Stay with the group, fight them off as you get to them. The goal is the towers, not the players, and your team needs to get to the towers in one piece. Your death means the team is weaker as a whole... so don't get baited.

Once Iceblood Tower is capped, offense team should make a push for Iceblood Graveyard, and subsequently Tower Point. Even if there are apparently no Horde on defense, it may be preferable to snag IBGY regardless, unless they have no spawn points up north yet, in which case it might make things difficult to cap IBGY before they cap SHGY, since they'd spawn all the way down south and give your offense a hard time.

After Tower Point is capped, it's highly preferable to cap FWGY as soon as possible. It's a long walk down from IBGY, and with FWGY in your possession, you'll be in a great place to continue the offensive into the keep. Once again, don't be afraid of the Horde defense. Don't just stand there like derps and not attack anything while the enemy gains ground in your base. If you're a warrior, call for heals and charge in, fearbombing a bunch of Horde with Intimidating Shout. It may force a retreat from choke points within the base, and that will allow the rest of your offense to get through.

Get the relief hut as best you can, and then use the choke point between the Frostwolf towers to your advantage in case any Horde try and come up around the rear. Holding FWGY along with the relief hut can also be productive, since the Horde spawns further away, in their cave, which will ultimately help you clear Drek.

SUBSECTION 3.2.2 - DEFENSE
Theoretically, you could start your defense at Stonehearth Bunker or Balinda's building, since the Horde spawn at IBGY, and if your offense is going for Galv, the Horde offensive will spawn reasonably to the east of the Alliance offensive, and it can stall them early. However, I wouldn't recommend it for most games, since it's important that your offense gets kick-started as efficiently as possible, and some of those Horde might want revenge on your offense, which could build up to a turtle at some point. Might be worth a try, though.

If you followed the strategy branching off from 40m Galv and IBT cap, then if you're on the defense team, you'll be heading north as soon as your offense has a garrison inside IBT. My recommendation from here is, harass them at Stonehearth Graveyard, but don't take it back, even if they wipe, unless they have Snowfall. From there, if they haven't already, they may try to take down Balinda, in which case it's perfectly fine to go in there and wipe them because they'll respawn at SHGY, or they may skip her entirely, as I've seen some groups do, and head up to IWB.

In either case, you're going to want to work alongside your fellow NPCs to defend. That's why 10 Alliance can hold off so many Horde on defense, because the Horde is in Alliance territory, and running into Alliance archers, patrols, landmines, etc.

If they're headed to Bal's room, see if you can't accompany the lieutenants into battle. If you can burst down their tank with the lieutenant attacking it, it may cause their offense to panic. Alternatively, if you get a clear shot on their healers, either with CC or a possible kill, that could work too. Once they make it into Bal's room, harassing their healers or tanks with CC, mana drain, or some sort of mass damage (like explosives from engineering, hunter traps, arcane explosion, etc.) could cause them to wipe if they don't have control of the situation.

If they're headed for IWB, position your ranged with the archers and take down any Horde following the road into IWB. Any Horde who try and go around the other way will walk into a field of landmines, which of course will kill or severely injure them. You can try to bait Horde into charging into the landmines. Sit in front of one to eat, have a rogue walk into one when he walks behind you. Stand behind it, a warrior who charges to you will get blown up. A mage who tries to blink into close range will take heavy damage... and so on. IWB is pretty easy to defend, but the Horde will inevitably get a group inside. You can still attempt to defend it from them, but if they have a garrison inside, it's going to be very difficult, and you may be better off falling back to SPGY.

The bridge the Horde have to cross next is also easy to defend, which means your best efforts are needed here to hold the Horde at bay long enough for your offense to get through to Drek. Archers will snipe the Horde as they attempt to cross, so make sure that they don't get to the other side. Hunters and mages are especially good here if you need some serious defense. They can drop frost traps on the bridge, flare it for rogues, mages can blizzard people... a healer couldn't hurt either, if the offense could spare it. And if you're on defense, not in a position to strike the Horde but your allies are getting hurt and you can heal, then heal them! It makes a huge difference.

Be aware, however, that the Horde may attempt to "backdoor" Dun Baldar. This involves jumping up a cliff behind the base in order to get into the base, avoiding all the archers and that big bridge. I totally consider this an exploit and frown upon the Horde that do it, but typically they wipe behind the aid station because elites will pull, and if your defense attacks alongside them, you can corner the Horde and take them down. That said, the backdoor isn't exactly effective unless no one is watching, so check it when you can, and if you see any Horde, you'll have an even thinner area for your mages to blizzard and your hunters to trap.

Keep an eye on graveyards and try not to cap the last one if the Horde has no others north of Alliance offense, or you may trigger a turtle. If the Horde takes down the north or south bunkers, you're going to have a harder time defending because you won't have archer support. Make sure you defend these bunkers well, and if they fall, make your last stand in Vann's room, and hopefully, your offense will finish the job before you perish.

SECTION 3.3 - Common Horde tactics
In this section, I'll go over common Horde tactics in AV, for offense and defense.

SUBSECTION 3.3.1 - OFFENSE
As a member of the Horde, your offense will likely be easy at first, and then become progressively more difficult as you push north. You have plenty of flexibility with your first target. It could be Stonehearth Bunker, or it could be Balinda, or if you really want to be ballsy, grab Stonehearth Graveyard first. Grabbing the graveyard will give you excellent ground with which to assault Stonehearth Bunker, Stonehearth Outpost, and Icewing Bunker, so the sooner you get it, the better.

Stonehearth Bunker is pretty secluded and straightforward, so it's a very easy first target. Should you decide to attack it first, you'll open up an additional route to the graveyard and Bal, without pesky archers sniping you from up high. Once you take down that bunker, if your defense is holding the line at Galv, you can further help them out by taking out Balinda, preventing her from buffing Alliance forces. Galv will continue to buff your own, allowing your offense to continue north at a brisker pace while the Alliance offensive is stopped cold. Just keep an eye on Snowfall. If the Alliance didn't capture it, they're going to respawn at Stonehearth Graveyard, and giving them a harder time down south may actually give you a harder time up north, as more and more respawn ahead of you. Also, Bal is guarded by two lieutenants, much like Galv. You can pull them one at a time, and you have plenty of space to do it.

Icewing Bunker can be a little tricky to assault, but if you trickle in around the left side (so your whole group isn't AoE'd down by mines going off one after another) or cling to the right wall of the bunker, or the road, you'll get in there just fine. After you get a garrison in the building, IWB is very easy to defend, so stay in there until your objective is complete.

Remember, offense: Don't get baited. If the Alliance is defending, they may try to lure you into landmines or guards, and that's the last thing you want. Stay with the group, fight them off as you get to them. The goal is the bunkers, not the players, and your team needs to get to the bunkers in one piece. Your death means the team is weaker as a whole... so don't get baited.

It's highly suggested that your offense clears every southern Alliance objective (SHB, Bal, IWB, SHGY) before proceeding north, due to the bridge. Note that you could backdoor, but that's cheap, annoying, and - most importantly for you Hordies - difficult to pull off if you're spotted before your group can assemble. If you do arrange a group up at the backdoor, you should try not to be seen. If you're there, don't be a derp and stand there and do nothing when some of your teammates start to charge for the aid station. This is a moment where you all must go together, or the elites you'll more than likely pull could overwhelm you. Fortune favors the bold!

Going over the bridge actually isn't so bad if your offense is organized. As long as some armored forces proceed first, like warriors, the rest of your team can push behind them effectively, as long as they're being healed. Don't hesitate to run up and fearbomb Alliance defenders, either; once they scatter and your offense is across the bridge, you can rush straight into the north or south bunker and start to cap it. Again, after you have a reasonably sized garrison in a bunker, it becomes very difficult for the Alliance to get you out. Also note that the north bunker is a much easier first target if Alliance defenders are giving you a hard time, since you'll find several tough NPCs in the south bunker. North is actually not really closer than south, since you need to go around a cliff to get up to the entrance, and the southern bunker's entrance is facing you on your own ground.

If you can capture the Stormpike Aid Station here, especially before or during the destruction of the bunkers, it would help tremendously to consolidate your position in Dun Baldar. Just make sure you hold SPGY across the bridge as well, while the aid station is being capped, or anyone on offense who dies with the two graveyards being contested will end up pretty far away.

After you cap the aid station, start kiting any marshals in Vann's room out and kill them, and when Vann is all alone, head inside and kill him next to end the game. If you die during the encounter, be sure to release right away so you can run back in as soon as possible, and keep an eye on the aid station for any nosy Alliance players looking to make a recap!

SUBSECTION 3.3.2 - DEFENSE
Horde defense also doesn't require many people, for similar reasons to the Alliance defense - the Alliance will be running into Horde patrols, landmines, archers, etc. Use your NPCs to your advantage!

Speaking of which, you'll very likely want to start defending in front of Galv's building, since the Alliance often heads straight for Galv. It's on a nice, big hill, and there are two lieutenants behind you to back you up. Attack in unison with them. Try not to kill them, however, until the Alliance has a graveyard south of your offense, else you might end up hurting your offense by putting more Alliance up north. If the Alliance does make it up the hill, wait until they've engaged Galv before charging in as a group to harass them, but remember that if you decide to wipe them here and they have no graveyard up north, your defense may have just become a turtle.

The Alliance has a lot to go through to get to IBGY, so defend between Galv's building and IBGY for as long as you can. After that, you pretty much have to defend from FWGY, like the Alliance have to defend from SPGY and the nearby bridge. The Alliance will be able to take Tower Point with relative ease from IBGY.

Once the Alliance offensive gets south, they have a gauntlet to get through before they make it up to the Frostwolf towers. Choke them at the gates of the base, range them from the ramp up, choke them inside the building, and up the ramp to between the two Frostwolf towers. If they make it past that point, do everything you can to keep them from taking the towers, but be sure to guard the relief hut. If they take that, your chances of successful defense are severely reduced. Should they capture the relief hut, attempt to assist Drek in any way you can, and hope your offense can win the day before the Alliance claims victory.

SECTION 4 - Advanced tactics
In this section, I'll give you helpful advice about making a big push, or why you should simply let the other side win if things are looking like a stalemate.

SECTION 4.1 - Winning (or losing) as quickly as possible
The goal for many players in AV is not necessarily to win, but just to finish the game as soon as possible. Both sides get honor and rep from a win or a loss, so when inconsiderate people halt the game to pointlessly farm where neither side is going to gain any ground, wasting everyone's time in the process, it can be very irritating to a lot of people. So, if things look like they're not going to change, either attempt to cooperate with your group or stand aside (and call for others to do so) and let the enemy offense past. I know that sounds very pessimistic and lame, but it's far more productive, and in the end, you can go right into a fresh AV and attempt to win without an obnoxiously long turtle holding you back! And if absolutely no one in the group is listening, you can always leave. You might come back later to the same AV, but the option is there if you don't want to deal with it.

Arguably, you could always join the turtlers, but that makes the game last longer and others who come in will suffer for it. Turtlers, if you want to just farm HKs, go to Warsong Gulch or Arathi Basin! Alterac Valley is full of opportunities for HKs, but please don't turtle for it.

SECTION 4.2 - Kiting
As a hunter, I love kites, especially big ones, and you'll never find a bigger kite to fly than in AV. Grab an enemy lieutenant and cheetah, spam distracting shot and rank 1 arcane shot and just run around with it following you. You can even kite it back to your own territory! It'll save your offense some time if you can simply kite things away instead of having to kill them... and the hunters that kite things away can bring them to other elites in your territory, killing them for offense without the offense suffering for it. If your team kills the enemy captain like Galv or Bal and the enemy team doesn't kill your's, a ton of NPCs from your faction will gather up at mid, and you can simply kite the mobs into that huge crowd. Give it a try the next time you're in AV, hunters!

SECTION 4.3 - The rider push
In AV, there are quite a few quests you can do to help your defense or your offense. For offense, ram riders or wolf riders are your go-to solution for a stubborn turtle. Farm wolves and rams and turn in your supplies at your stable master, and when you have, say, twenty or so, the ram riders or wolf riders will be released, and they'll start heading straight through enemy territory. You should definitely take advantage of this and push along with them, taking out any players who attempt to slow or damage them along the way.

SECTION 4.4 - Treesus and the Blood God
If you're really desperate for a huge boss to help you push, turn in special items at the druids or shamans in your respective faction's base. They won't push INTO the enemy base, unless they're tagged and kited by an enemy player, and they'll linger around the Field of Strife for about ten minutes before continuing on into enemy territory, but they can be a huge help. Ivus the Forest Lord is a big tree those purple tree-hugging dagger-ears can summon, and he accepts all buffs, so make sure your team buffs him up and stays with him as you push south. Lokholar the Ice Lord is the Horde counterpart, and he starts out weaker than Ivus, but if he kills Alliance players, he'll become stronger.

Both bosses need the support of their team, and if faced with one of these monstrosities in Alterac Valley, try to bring it out of the reach of their team so that you can kill it without interference, and try to go at it with a prepared group so you don't just end up trickling in and wiping.

SECTION 5 - Alternative objectives
In this section, I'll go over other important things in AV that you may want to know about.

SECTION 5.1 - Your "AV Hearthstone"
Alterac Valley gear can be purchased from quartermasters inside the instance, but a questgiver in Alterac Mountains will provide you with the quest you need to get your very own faction trinket. As you gain favor among the Frostwolf Clan or the Stormpike Expedition, you'll be able to upgrade that trinket into a nifty epic item, and it also allows you to teleport yourself back to the Frostwolf base or Dun Baldar at any rank. It has six ranks total, the final one being awarded some rep into Exalted.

The quest requires you to head into Wildpaw Cavern, if you're with the Horde, or Icewing Cavern, if you're with the Alliance. It's not very difficult, and you should really get it out of the way as soon as possible if you plan on doing AV more in the future.

SECTION 5.2 - Armor Scraps
This section is very useful for defense. If you really want to give the enemy team a hard time, be certain to turn in as many armor scraps as possible at your faction's armor scraps questgiver. You'll find them on enemy players, and they upgrade your NPC guards, eventually to the point of being elite and level 60. Remember, however, that if a turtle is forming, this could simply draw out the game for a long time. Turn them in near the end of a game if you simply want the reputation, or to be more productive, turn them in after your enemy's offense team has some ground in your territory. Just make sure no one recaps all the GYs behind your offense, as always.

SECTION 5.3 - Korrak and the trolls
If you've been to Alterac Valley already, you may have heard some people ask about a guy named Korrak. He's a boss, and he spawns at the two-hour mark into an Alterac Valley. A quest exists for each faction that rewards really nice blue weapons if you defeat him, but don't attempt to make a game last that long, please. Just play until it happens. It will very likely happen at some point where you're in an AV past the two-hour mark.

SECTION 5.4 - Irondeep and Coldtooth
The mines don't seem particularly useful here, but I'll address them anyway. There are two mines in Alterac Valley: Irondeep, up north, and Coldtooth, down south. They begin infested by dangerous critters like troggs or kobolds, but if you clear them out, your faction will position NPCs in there to guard the mine for thirty minutes. During this time, you may ferry loads of supplies back to your faction's base in order to begin a ground assault. I don't know the specifics more than that... but I do know the mines have a lot of ore in them!

SECTION 5.5 - Plundering enemy players
In addition to finding neat things like armor scraps off enemy players, you'll also find specific items related to that player's race, such as orc teeth or gnome hair. You can turn these items in one at a time for some silver, and the first time you do it, you'll receive something like 30,000 experience. It's definitely worth doing AV at a low level just for that!

SECTION 6 - Team fight tactics
This section pertains to team fights in AV. This advice carries over to all battlegrounds, or world PvP in some cases, but it's still very much relevant to AV. Keep these tips in mind if you want to be a contributing member of a team in AV, be you offense or defense.

SECTION 6.1 - The role of your class and why it matters
To be a truly great contributing member to your team, you must understand your own class and where best it fits in.

It should be obvious to anyone that each class plays very differently, but some people, I've noticed, play certain classes like others. A friend of mine who mained a warrior for a long time liked to get up close with her warlock, for example, even when it didn't improve her chances of success. I myself am guilty of this, having played many classes over the years and confused one with another on some days. I would like to draw to your attention this observation in the hopes that, if you find yourself doing such a thing, you learn to move past the habit.

Now, I'm not an expert on every class in Vanilla, or really on any class yet, but I don't believe I need to tell you how to play your class, reader. Whatever playstyle works for you, stick with it, and keep doing well. If you are encountering difficulty, however, I suggest you take some time to read over your class abilities, your talents, etc., and consider ways you could use them to your advantage. Take a look at your professions, see how they can complement your skills. I also suggest looking at other classes and their various talents and abilities, and deciding which ones would make your best allies. Be creative! Hunters, for example, seem to go quite well with rogues. One's a versatile ranged class with strong CC and weakness in melee, and the other's a versatile melee class with strong CC and weakness at range. They cover each-other's bases.

Try filling a niche role with your class, and bear that role in mind. If you're a tank, or a tanky character (like a warrior), charge ahead so people focus on you above your more delicate teammates, who could then back you up. If you're a healer, always be with someone else if possible, and try to be where the action is. If you've got good burst DPS, try and remain out of sight until you can score a practically guaranteed kill on an unsuspecting foe, low on health. If you've got good sustained DPS, try and be behind your warrior friend, or with your healer friend, dropping DoTs on everything not DoTed up to pressure enemy healers while your bursty friends finish 'em off. You get the picture?

SECTION 6.2 - Using the environment to your advantage
Any half-decent PvPer will tell you this one's important. I'm not just talking about LoSing someone, even though that's super important too, but all areas of the environment. Even though an enemy can fire through the huge treestumps in Warsong Gulch, so can you! Wait until an enemy has targeted someone else (so that you're not automatically targeted as you begin casting), charge up a nice, big burst combo, and slam the enemy in the face with it. It's all the more panic-inducing if it comes from seemingly nowhere. Hills in AV? From atop a tower? Behind a huge fallen tree? All good places.

Don't forget to LoS where possible, though. You could outrange an enemy, or an enemy could outrange you, but you can counter range with LoS. You could also flank people that way; there was a big fight in mid in my last AV, and the Horde attacked from their base, but also from behind us, which resulted in their victory, and they used the hill to hide their approach. Do more things like that, reader! It's interesting!

SECTION 6.3 - Being confident and courageous in danger
In any game, panic can mean your character's demise. No matter how geared your character is, if you don't have proper control of it, it won't do you any good. Unfortunately, it's so easy to become panicked for a lot of people! There are many ways to counter panic, but the most tried and true method is surely exposure to the nuisance. If you keep practicing, you'll be in situations often where you need to keep a clear head and perform well, and eventually, you get used to it. That's my biggest suggestion - practice! And maybe some deep breathing and rolling of the shoulders would help relax you, too, but still, practice.

Consult other players who share your class about what they would have done in a given situation. Discuss tactics and skills with them, and value their word. In a seemingly impossible situation, perspective can be your greatest ally; you can see from a friend's point of view the solution you couldn't even conceive on your own.

SECTION 6.4 - Cooperating with your team
Often the hardest part in a chaotic AV, getting your team to cooperate, or cooperating with your team despite reluctance, can be a daunting task. Here are some things you can do to be a better team player:

Educate yourself about your own class, so you can use your skills effectively. If you're a mage, don't polymorph something that has next to no health left, it'll regenerate!

Educate yourself about other classes, and the tricks often used by them, so that you can complement their actions with your own. If a mage is about to polymorph something, don't DoT it up!

Intuition is important during team fights where you're not chatting with your team. Keep an eye on your friends and anticipate their moves like you would anticipate your enemy's.

Try not to become mad. It can be tempting to shout at someone for being incorrigibly stupid, but remember that it's just a game, and remember that you're speaking with other people. Would you shout an alarming number of obscenities at someone in real life in order to get them to do what you'd like them to do? Hopefully not. They're more than likely not a complete idiot; they may speak another language, or they may simply be new or confused.

Look to make the best of a bad situation. If your team's definitely going to lose, and you simply must state that observation, do it maturely and reasonably. Leave if it bothers you so much, and you're not under obligation to remain, and come back later. If not, try to find some way to enjoy it.

Inspire and motivate your teammates. An excited group may try a little harder, or be more inclined to listen!

Discuss your plans before the battleground starts, or organize a group beforehand. Going into a battleground with a plan is definitely better than trying to get 39 other people to listen after ten minutes into the game.

SECTION 6.5 - Personal responsibility
Yes, those two big, scary words that seem to shoo away a lot of people from raiding and organized PvP. Personal responsibility! Everything in Section 6 has touched somehow on personal responsibility, and I'd like to summarize it here:

It's not hard. Really, it's not. All you need to do is pay attention, and react accordingly... and why shouldn't you pay attention to a game you're enjoying? Just like one of the most useful keys to winning an AV is controlling where your team spawns, and where the enemy players spawn, and controlling where people are at a given time, it's your responsibility to be in the right place at the right time. You deny the enemy their control that way. If the Alliance wants you at the backdoor, go right along to the bridge and cap Stormpike Graveyard. If the Horde wants you away from Galv, bring your team up to IBGY and cap it. It's your responsibility to not overextend in a team fight, to cover your bases and your allies, to act in accordance with your team.

On a related note, try to take some personal responsibility for your attitude as well. If you're a derp that doesn't know anything about AV and just mindlessly caps whatever because no reason, someone who has no sense of direction in AV and isn't preoccupied with securing any worthwhile objectives, I thank you wholeheartedly for reading my guide, and I hope it helps. I highly encourage you to take something from it into your next AV and be a better player, because your actions before this point more than likely botched up some games you've been in. Likewise, if you're a rep whore who doesn't care who wins or loses as long as your numbers go up, don't be a dick to people who'd like to have fun. Don't jeopardize a potentially winning strategy with your cynical "oh, we should lose, it'll be faster," because that does harm to the fun other people are having. Remember that battlegrounds are a competitive environment, so by minimizing the competitive aspect of a battleground, like AV, in order to draw more attention to the numbers you generate, you're going to end up boring other people. If you do this, you're no different from the people who have no idea what they're doing, and have no excuse not to know what they're doing.

WoW is and always has been first and foremost a game... at least, to me. I'm sure some people take it much more seriously, but I digress. The majority of players are most interested in having fun, and because WoW is a social environment, it's your responsibility to be mature and knowledgeable so that WoW continues to be as fun a place as possible for all. It's not going to hurt you to learn more about your class and the game, and it's not going to hurt you to spend 10 extra minutes in an AV if it means victory. Bear that in mind as you do your research or take a chill pill.

And, you know, I understand either point of view. I'm not an oblivious person, but when I'm having an off day, I regretfully fail to really comprehend my observations, and if I go into a group feeling like that, which I rarely do if I'm aware of that fact, that's totally my fault and I accept responsibility for it, or issue apologies where warranted for my inability to perform to standard, because, to be honest, apologies ARE warranted when you're letting your group down. You have often-unspoken obligations to your teammates to cooperate and play to some perfectly reasonable standard befitting of your ability, and if you're not doing that for lack of effort or some similar, easily-rectifiable reason, I really think you should be asking yourself, "What can I do to fix that?" I've also been a hardcore player before, so I totally know where someone who REALLY wants to get their rep is coming from... but all I'm asking from you is that you consider the way you're going about it. If you focus so intently on grinding rep, grinding gear, grinding experience, it's pretty likely that you'll find yourself impatient or even rude with other players at some point. Instead of focusing on the numbers, just play the game, and you'll find the rewards come to you before you even know it. This is Vanilla, remember? It's slow, it's about exploration and wonder, so... savor it. I, myself, got into Vanilla AV just a couple of weeks ago, and despite a truly busy schedule and only participating in what seems like just a few games, despite most of my time on WoW being spent doing dungeons or leveling up since I started with AV, I'm already revered with the Stormpike Expedition. Do you understand what I'm saying? Don't focus on the end result, participate in the skirmishes within the AV battleground and just get into the competitive spirit of Alliance versus Horde, and you and those around you will have a better time. That's my recommendation for you rep-grinders.

SECTION 7 - Closing thoughts
I almost forgot to mention: There are vendors in Alterac Valley with battleground-only potions and heavy runecloth bandages. Make sure you pick some up if you're stopping in your faction's base!

Oh, and one last thing:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/conte ... Yroow?dl=1
<ERROR; LINK APPARENTLY DOESN'T WORK. WILL UPDATE WHEN A NEW LINK IS FOUND>

This is a nifty little addon I found that shows timers in Alterac Valley. Left-click a bar to send the timer to /say, right-click the bar to send the timer to /bg.

I think that's enough for now. I also think I'll update this guide later with screenshots when I get the chance. Thank you for browsing my guide, and I hope you found it useful. Please share it with others so that AV can maybe stop taking so long all the time, and if you need me, you know where to find me.

~ Raziya, 60 nelf hunter

[BoxerBriefly]

Alterac Valley is one of my all time favorite battlegrounds. This a solid guide for those that may not be familiar with classic AV, and, will also serve as a good reference for veterans as well. Requesting sticky.

[flowison]

sticky pls!
gj

[Dongabhana]

Sweet mother of guides....
#stickystuff

[toolshed]

We used to do IBGY first on my server as alliance during vanilla. I'm surprised to see alliance care so much about SFGY. SFGY isn't a good target because of the trolls in this version of AV. IBGY -> IBT -> Galv is also a much faster and easier route to go since you get faster respawns, don't have to deal with the trolls, and don't have to deal with going up that ramp to Galv.

Overall, IBGY is the hardest GY for alliance to take, so it make sense to put a lot of effort into it early since it is easy to take by going up the left side (instead of going up the ramp to Galv)

[Fey]

We used to do IBGY first on my server as alliance during vanilla. I'm surprised to see alliance care so much about SFGY. SFGY isn't a good target because of the trolls in this version of AV. IBGY -> IBT -> Galv is also a much faster and easier route to go since you get faster respawns, don't have to deal with the trolls, and don't have to deal with going up that ramp to Galv.

Overall, IBGY is the hardest GY for alliance to take, so it make sense to put a lot of effort into it early since it is easy to take by going up the left side (instead of going up the ramp to Galv)

Yes, Snowfall really isn't a good graveyard to capture, period. People really ought to leave it alone.

Thank you for your contribution! That's an excellent suggestion and I'll gladly add that to the OP.

[Kyraga]

Are you sure that after turning enough armor scraps your NPCs will become elite?

[Fey]

Are you sure that after turning enough armor scraps your NPCs will become elite?

Have you ever been to a really, really, really long AV? Both sides are practically guaranteed by that point (assuming it's some ridiculous turtle that's going on) to have turned in enough scraps to make their NPCs "champions." Champion NPCs are 60 and elite, making it practically impossible for two incompetent groups to make it through the enemy team to their base, which is why even more ridiculously long AVs happen where two groups of derps are just pushing each-other back and forth in the middle for no conceivable purpose, between two lines of scary elites. Thankfully we have the rider push, Treesus, the Blood God, or a convenient server crash for that!

They begin as weak normal mobs, and then they become Seasoned, which are higher level, but still normal. After that, they become Veteran mobs, still normal but even higher level than Seasoned, and after Veteran, you get Champion mobs. While I wouldn't recommend turning in armor scraps during a turtle, since you just cause the game to last longer that way (unless your units are already champion or it's just about the end of the game, in which case there's no harm in getting some rep), I do recommend doing it to contribute to your defense. When players CC enemies around elite allied mobs, or otherwise attack in unison with them, the enemy players drop like flies.

[Valdix]

The addon link doesnt work.

[Fey]

Thank you for your report. I'm sorry, I'm not certain why the link wouldn't be working. The addon is called AVBars. Perhaps you can find it on your own well enough. If you find a working link, please drop it here.