Old Dog New Tricks

Learnt a few things over this last weekend in Alterac Valley. It was character building being in so many battlegrounds where it ended with the Horde still on 400+, and sometimes 500+, reinforcements.

The first thing I realised was that the Horde have a shorter run from their start point to SHGY than the Alliance has from their start point to IBGY. It has been so obvious when you look at the map and yet I never saw it before. Apparently the new release of 2.4 is going to fix that. Will this change the game? Possibly. The current tactic for the Alliance is to go first to IBGY, take and hold it, then the two towers (Iceblood Tower and Tower Point). From there it is either Galv or the Frostwolf GY. Rarely do the Horde have an issue with taking Stonehearth Graveyard (SHGY). Alliance forces will generally run straight past it heading for Iceblood Graveyard (IBGY). What happens next most people will be familiar with. Alliance fails to hold IBGY or take either of the towers. Horde take both SHGY and Stonehearth Bunker, then Stonehearth Outpost and Icewing Bunker. From this point it is virtually game over as the Alliance reinforcements are in disarray with the loss of these imortant places. Read the Frostwolf Artichoke and work out why. So, will the change make a difference? None at all if the Alliance doesn't learn to keep SHGY for as long as possible; at least until IBGY is in our hands.

The second thing I learnt was how powerful 3 rogues and 2 druids working together can be. Sadly it was not an Alliance group but a Horde group. They took and held Dun Baldar North Bunker then moved on to take and destroy Dun Baldar South Bunker. Combined with their destruction of the Stonehearth area this was the final straw for the Alliance - game over.

The third was confirmation of something I suspected anyway. The Horde have a small team in the rear whose job it is to reclaim towers and graveyards. I was able to run the gauntlet at Stonehearth and break through. I was chased but eventually they gave up. I ran to the Coldtooth Mine and then back tracked to near Tower Point where I went stealth and watched. It was so empty and vacant up there. I saw 3 separate horde patrolling. When all was clear I went through and claimed Tower Point. I knew I couldn't hold it so I trapped the flag and then bolted over the side to find a safe place to watch what would happen next. Stupidly I landed on top of an NPC patrol - an orc and two dogs. My pet took on the two dogs and I lead the orc away and trapped him in an ice block. My health was low when I saw the expected Horde patrol come along. I feigned death however it did not fool the patrol and they killed me before reclaiming the tower. I did not immediately accept return to the graveyard as I wanted to see what was happening. It was just the one in the patrol and after they reclaimed Tower Point they ran back out and took my insignia, thereby sending me straight off to the First Aid station at Dun Baldar. If I had a second elf with me, someone who could stealth it would have been possible to reek havoc behind their lines. I hope to try this next time.