AV Stratagies

[Littleburst]

This weekend i've been defending one of the dun baldar towers, which went pretty well.
With my 3 shadow priests and a friendly healer waiting inside the tower, killing the horde one at a time.
The trick is to stay inside, since the majority of the horde just runs into the base and starts idling at the entrance, if they see someone else already trying to cap a tower.
Assuming the rest of the alliance just rushes south and assuming the horde won't start fighting the endboss before both dun baldar towers are down, we'll win. and 9 out of 10 times that works.

It only works during the times the most kids are playing though.

+1

I love how amazingly strong "the hill" in horde base is. here seen on the left:
http://images.wikia.com/wowwiki/images/2/2a/FWKeep.jpeg

Alliances eventually goes down to FW base and will group up and play conquer the top on that hill. As a stealth in many cases you're able to recap FW GY and/or both towers because they're undefended.

Since the Alliance base has a less clear overall view, Cyr's tactic should waste them a good amount of time.

[Ualaa]

You pass the Frostwolf Graveyard and go through the narrow choke point (an open gate essentially) into the horde base.

Rather than following the path and aggroing all of the NPC's, you move off of the path to the right.
As far right as you can be, but still able to run up the hill, essentially having run straight in from the choke instead of going to the left with the path.
Then you follow the road, without running on top of any of the horde NPC's.
You aggro a single horde NPC, who dies to 1-2 keystrokes of five toons doing DPS.
Then you're through the horde little hut, which is a safe point.

Exiting the hut, you have to sharply go right and then up a steep hill.
There is a narrow choke here, and both towers can shoot down at you.
It takes less than 10 seconds to move up and into either tower, at which point you're safe from both.
Unless you aggro the NPC's on the opposing tower, you're not shot on the way up the tower, and can cap the flag in the small room with all hostile NPC's (in both towers) still alive.

Instead of going into the narrow choke point, between the two towers...
You can run up the steep hill and go to the right.
There is a break in the fence/wall, at the back of the right most (approaching the base) tower.
None of the archers on the tower hit you from there.
You can get into the right tower, send your Wing Commander back to the alliance base and ascend that tower without getting shot, aside from the 5 seconds or so of going up that steep hill.

You can ignore both towers, run up the steep hill, and continue onwards to the horde graveyard.
You can then cap that flag, outside of the range of the archers on the towers.

If I was a solo non-stealth toon, rather than a boxer...
Without opposition from a horde player...
I could enter the horde base, and cap both towers without any danger of dying from the NPC's if they are simply not engaged.



Comparatively, the alliance base has a very long choke point (the bridge), which cannot be circumvented.
The only way into the base is across the bridge.

Any class with a knockback effect (Druid - Typhoon, Shaman - Thunderstorm) can easily defend against a swarming or run past tactic with a keystroke.
Plus they take massive falling damage, which is a percentage of maximum health.
Meaning no matter how geared you are, if you were below 75% life you die, otherwise you're very hurt.

The alliance towers are actually bunkers.
The archers have greater line of sight, as you ascend.
You need to kill one of them at least, and position yourself properly to cap the flag with the archers still up.

The alliance archers have a much larger kill zone, or area where a horde is hit unless they're stealthed.
A solo non-stealth horde character will have a much harder time capping both alliance bunkers.



As a ranged boxer, or for that matter as a 4x DK + Healer boxer, alliance bunkers are generally easier to take or defend, because you can just stand on the ramp/stairs up, and Death Grip or cast freely at anyone at the top of the donut ring.

The horde towers are harder to get up into, but once you're there it is a smaller area.
Which makes them far easier to defend as a melee boxer.
But for casters you're in melee automatically, which can make things a bit harder.

In general, alliance bunkers are easier to defend than horde towers as a boxer.
As alliance bunkers are easier to take than horde towers, as a boxer.



Each AV is a combination of Player vs NPC's (PvE) play.
With a small mix of players pursuing opposing objectives and occasionally actually killing each other.

The PvE aspect of the game seems to favor the alliance, by a large degree.
The only serious edge the horde has, is that Galv is a lot tougher than Belinda.

In the later stages of an expansion, with the gearing relative to the NPC's, the PvE is more and more of a joke.
Galv is dead in 10-15 seconds, with only half the alliance force there.
Every AV I've run in 4.3 (granted not many), has been a PvE race and a short game.
Many of these featured highest total kills (honor kills, not killing blows) on either faction in single digits.

In the earlier stages of the expansions I've boxed (BC, WotLK, Cata), AV is a grindfest.
Most of the NPC's are much harder to kill.
The Generals are next to impossible, unless at least three of the towers/bunkers are burnt and many groups cannot kill them unless all towers/bunkers are burnt.
The vast majority of these (on my battlegroup at least) end with an attrition victory, rather than a slain General (by most, I mean 80-90%); in such an attrition match, 100 resources for a Captain slain virtually guarantees victory if your Captain survives.

Where you are in an expansion, or rather average gearing in relation to NPC strength... influences the play of AV to a very large degree.

[Narij]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I tried a numerous number of strategies with varied results. My first attempt at defending the Horde towers was met with failure. The Alliance liked to put 5+ people in each and by the time I made it to the top, I had lost one or two priests due to pathing. In the end my favorite strategy was to hide my team in one of our towers and prevent them from capping.

My favorite game occurred while doing the AV trinket quest. I collected quest item, and since it was to late to try and help the offence, I ran to Tower Point and tried to defend it. En route I lost all three of my slaves (due to pathing) and only got one to the flag where it was defended by a lone Paladin. I throw him off the tower with a mind control and proceed to cap the tower with >30 seconds to it burning. After which I book it on over to Drek, arriving just in time to fear bomb their entire raid. They kill my team and we win with Drek having 500k life. Which is how much HP my team had.