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World of Warcraft: Battle for Wintergrasp
MMORPG.com World of Warcraft Correspondent Deborah Dietrich writes this informative overview of the Wintergrasp battleground in Blizzard's hit game.
You’ve heard the cry put out in Dalaran to summon players to Wintergrasp. You’ve seen the nice Essence of Wintergrasp XP buff appear on your buff bar and picked up Stone Keeper’s shards when your faction controls this PvP zone. But what is this new battleground all about?
An hour before the battle is to ensue, criers in Dalaran will announce the imminent start of the battle. Portals to Wintergrasp will appear in the Silver Enclave (A) and the Sunreaver’s Sanctuary (H) when the battle begins. If the portal is not available, players can also fly into the zone or wait until portals reappear as each faction’s Battle-Mages open portals and call out for reinforcements. You’ll also see calls in the Trade channel to group up. Being part of a raid group is integral to success in this new battleground. You will flag for PvP and be attackable by the opposing faction once you enter the Wintergrasp zone.
Objective
The objective of the game is control of a Titan Relic, which lodges in Wintergrasp Keep, within the Wintergrasp Fortress. Each game has a set time limit, though reports of its length vary. Friends who PvP regularly tell me 30 minutes, but the official World of Warcraft site says 45 minutes. Defenders must protect Wintergrasp Fortress to prevent the enemy from entering the Keep to right-click and channel the Titan Relic to transfer its attunement to their faction. In order to enter the Keep, the attacking forces must destroy the walls and towers of the Fortress and then destroy the door of the Keep. This is accomplished through the use of siege vehicles.
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Factories
Siege vehicles are manufactured in factories. There are a total of six factories in Wintergrasp. Two are within the Fortress. They cannot be captured, but they can be destroyed. Two factories are in the ring zones right outside the fortress. These can be captured or destroyed. The two other factories, found to the southeast and southwest are like the factories within the fortress and cannot be captured, only destroyed. Cutting off the opposing faction’s supply of siege vehicles can be a game changing strategy. A factory is captured just like taking a tower in Eye of the Storm, by destroying all members of the opposing faction and occupying the workshop.
Siege vehicles are a new addition to World of Warcraft PvP. They are an absolute necessity for the offense and a vital part of the defense’s arsenal. When ready they can be brought into the field. Each factory entitles a faction to four vehicles. Since each faction has two factories, which cannot be destroyed, each side will always have a minimum of eight vehicle slots. This can shift up to sixteen available slots if both the East and West factories are controlled as well.
Siege Vehicles
There are three types of siege engines which can be deployed. The Wintergrasp Catapult is a fast vehicle, but low on hit points (30k). Its abilities are Plague Barrels, which deal 500 siege damage to a structure and lay down a mist of disease that damages players who stand in it. This vehicle also has a channeled Flame Breath, which damages opposing players to the approximate tune of 1k per tick. One must have a rank of Corporal to build and use this siege engine.
The next two vehicles require a rank of First Lieutenant to build. The Wintergrasp Demolisher can carry up to 2 players. One player is the driver. The other slot is for ranged DPS. The passenger can cast and attack as though he or she is standing still. The vehicle itself has two attacks. There is a boulder that can be thrown from a distance. It does about 1k damage to structures. There is also a battering ram effect, which deals about 1500 damage. These are sturdier than the catapults, with around 50k hit points, but they move more slowly.
The Wintergrasp Siege Engines also requires a rank of First Lieutenant to build. This is the largest vehicle players can build. It deals 2,000 siege damage and can also knock back players and other vehicles. It can carry two passengers, but they cannot cast while in the vehicle. It is a good place for a player who is low on health to take a breather to recover health and mana. They are the slowest of all the vehicles.
Strategy
Wintergrasp Fortress is the focus of these siege engines. They must work together to take down the walls and towers of the fortress to gain access to the Keep. There is no way for an attacker to gain access to the Keep without first taking down the outer defenses of the Fortress. Once inside the fortress, they must take down the door to the Keep to gain access to the Titan Relic.
Defenders can also use siege engines. There is a giant portal they can use to exit the Keep and smaller portals that defenders can utilize to move in and out of the fortress. Additionally, defenders have the use of cannons. The cannons line the walls and towers of the fortress and have a long range. They can deal damage to the attackers before their siege machines can reach the Keep. They are a vital factor in the defense of Wintergrasp Keep. Bridges can be destroyed to limit the opposing faction’s access to the fortress.
Factories are another focus. Destroying a factory limits the number of siege vehicles a faction can bring into the fray. Additionally, the attacking faction has towers, which can be assaulted. Each tower that is destroyed gives bonus honor.
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Rewards
The currency of PvP battlegrounds is honor points, which can be used to purchase PvP oriented items in the game. Honor points are earned by killing members of the opposing faction, or destroying structures like the walls of the fortress, bridges or siege vehicles. Achieving certain goals, like getting the walls of the fortress to 50% gives the successful faction an honor bonus. Honor is also granted for completing certain PvP quests available within the zone.
Honor points can be used to purchase rare and epic armor and weapons. There are now level 80 Hateful Gladiator items that can be purchased solely with honor points, obviating the necessity of participating in Arenas to obtain good quality PvP equipment. While the equipment purchased with honor points is designed for PvP, their stats are good enough to be useful in PvE quests and instances. There are also Jewelcrafting patterns that can be purchased with honor points. Additionally, Stone Keeper shards can be turned in at Wintergrasp, when your faction has control of the fortress. These shards can be used to buy armor and weapons, a helm enhancement, jewelcrafting patterns and even a mount.
So now that you have a basic understanding of what this new zone is all about, why not give it a try? Remember, being part of a raid group is a huge advantage. So, the next time you hear the crier announce Wintergrasp will be starting soon, check out the Trade channel and you’ll almost certainly find someone spamming to from a raid group. Join the group, take the portal and experience one of the most enjoyable PvP encounters currently available in World of Warcraft.
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Wintergrasp is indeed a great PvP zone, and is very fun regardless of being attacker or defender. One small correction to this article though:
"There are also Jewelcrafting patterns that can be purchased with honor points."
No, there are 15 recipes sold by vendors inside the fortress. Unless it's changed, price of one is 12 or 24 Stone Keeper's Shards, not honor.
Deb, your friends are correct. The battle lasts for 30 mins, not 45. It should also be mentioned that the faction controlling the fortress, also have access to a raid instance.
Doesnt seem to mention it usually lags alot near the end of the battle. But otherwise, it is good fun.
i ve found the lag in wintersgrasp makes it virtually unplayable at the moment . in fact the pvp side of wow is in pretty poor shape at present . theres very little interest in the battle grounds and the class imbalances are the worst i ve ever seen them . the pve side of wow is still a lot of fun but its not what i want to do all the time . i ve decided to have a break from wow for a few months due to this and try some other mmos . i m currently playing warhammer while it does have its faults the pvp there is infinatly superior to warcraft at this time . i think two months after the lich king was released people are starting to notice the poor implimentation of player vs player . my guild have certainly been very vocal about it . theres something very wrong in a game where a rogue can bring down someone of the same level as them within mere seconds and where its can take 4 players of the same level to bring down a paladin or where the lag sometimes mean it takes you 5-10 seconds ( maybe more ) to perform an action in battle . were this not the most popular mmo around i m sure a lot of people would be calling it a broken game .
I have to agree with googa. WoW is just no fun to play right now. I find myself logging in and checking the AH and talking with people for a couple minutes and then logging off. I'm not into dungeons and raids and the pvp right now is PATHETIC. Wintergrasp can be fun but it's not as well done as the keeps in Warhammer Online. I also agree that I dont see myself playing much until they make pvp WORTH playing (ala gear NOT obtained by arena).
Guess it's all moot anyways as WoW is just a time waster until TOR comes out!!!
Could you please tell me why you're always downright LYING about wow? Please? It's ok to hate wow, but this is simply pathetic. Just like your thread about the imaginary server population problems in Europe, where you wouldn't even tell which servers you talked about.
Little interest in BGs, that's another of your "facts"? Is that why the queue times on Nightfall battlegroup (I'm on Anachronos, EU) are shorter than pre-WotLK, even though we have more brackets, and one more BG now?
Ppl starting to notice the poor PvP? Is that why we this very afternoon had a great Wintergrasp battle, with 2 full raid groups on ally side, and at least as many hordes?
Wintergrasp is a popular zone/feature, and the popularity is increasing. At least on my server. And I really doubt Anachronos is unique in any way compared to other servers, at least in Europe.
I understand you're lonely in Warhammer and want WoW players to join you. Bashing WoW isn't convincing anyone to do that, WoW players already know what kind of game they're playing, and doesn't need anyone to "teach" them anything about it. WoW players will most likely see you as a troll, since you post a lot about WoW, and always about how bad or broken something is.
Wintergrasp was supposed to be a world PVP zone its nothing but a shitty little battleground for scrub pve noobs to leech honor
PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO BLIZZARD
YOU F****NG SUCK
For the people who dont experience lag its because your on a unpopular server or on at a off peak time at times there is over 200 people at Wintergrasp keep the lag is pathetic.
Watch this video to see what i mean: uk.youtube.com/watch
It's 100% true PVP sucks in Warcraft it's never going to be balanced even a developer Ghostcrawler said it isnt balanced for 1v1 combat.
That says to me if it isnt balanced for 1v1 why would it be balanced for anything else? what is the point in playing a game where you have either a huge advantage or disadvantage ie (Wolf vs Sheep) its nice to be a wolf but sucks for those sheep!
Well, I think Wintergrasp is a failed attempt to include more or different PVP in WoW. Wintergrasp is OK as Battleground, and it's very close to Strand of the Ancients, btw. What was supposed to be different with Wintergrasp was the fact that it was not instanced, and OK, it's not, but battles take place at fixed schedules, you hop into a portal to join, the place is extremely isolated (high mountains all around), if you happen to inadvertently fly over the zone, you're dismounted, etc... All in all it really looks and feels like a Battleground... I would have enjoyed a full-featured world area, with roads leading in and out, quests all aroud, plus, the great World-PVP thing.
Moreover, there's something extremely annoying with Wintergrasp : if the opposite side is outnumbered they will receive a buff to make things more balanced. Well it might be balanced for Alliance VS Horde, but it makes one-on-one combat a complete joke. How about players with 3 times the normal amount of health ? The only PVP skill you can display in such situation is your zerging ability. How fun :(
Well on Frostmane EU (FULL) the lag is so intense it usally takes 10-20seconds for abilities to register ingame. And it's already from start. It's totally unplayable. Wow have never been good at big pvp battles outside the instanced bg's. Remember when raids to ogrimmar made the server go down ;) Long time ago though. But been seeing same things again, this time when the WG battle is ongoing.
Could you please tell me why you're always downright LYING about wow? Please? It's ok to hate wow, but this is simply pathetic. Just like your thread about the imaginary server population problems in Europe, where you wouldn't even tell which servers you talked about.
Little interest in BGs, that's another of your "facts"? Is that why the queue times on Nightfall battlegroup (I'm on Anachronos, EU) are shorter than pre-WotLK, even though we have more brackets, and one more BG now?
Ppl starting to notice the poor PvP? Is that why we this very afternoon had a great Wintergrasp battle, with 2 full raid groups on ally side, and at least as many hordes?
Wintergrasp is a popular zone/feature, and the popularity is increasing. At least on my server. And I really doubt Anachronos is unique in any way compared to other servers, at least in Europe.
I understand you're lonely in Warhammer and want WoW players to join you. Bashing WoW isn't convincing anyone to do that, WoW players already know what kind of game they're playing, and doesn't need anyone to "teach" them anything about it. WoW players will most likely see you as a troll, since you post a lot about WoW, and always about how bad or broken something is.
I am not entirely sure if this person lies about other things, but what he says is complete truth on my server and many other servers in america.
Yes BG has very little interest. My server went from 10-20 instances up for any given BG, to now only 1-3 for any bg. Yes even my queue times are less, but fewer instances shows that fewer are actually playing in BGs. Queue times are based on how many are pvping on both sides, it sounds more like your server got more balanced in how many on each side play.
2 full raid groups in wintergrasp? my server takes 5-10 seconds to use a skill when we hit around 80 people total (counting both sides). For the past month, i have yet to get into a wintergrasp where the final attack wasn't anything but pure luck of trying to get through. So maybe your server is a top end server, but i know many people complain. Everyone in my guild has stopped going due to the massive lag issues.
Also, not sure if his wow basing is just to get people to play WAR or spellborn (both are good games anyway), but there are some people who read these articles wondering if they should pick up wow. Me and him are merely informing the public that haven't bought wow yet that although this Wintergrasp sounds very cool, blizzard pulled another blizzard and released it before it was fully tested.
Also, your highlighted section of hte person you quoted points out two very strong truths. Go look up like
sk-gaming and look at the top arena teams. You will notice that like the top 10 teams for 2v2 all have a dk on them, and the top like 100 are completely dominated by DK and Paladin. The pvp in this game is very unbalanced and to say that after 2 months is when people noticed is a fairly good observation if you patrol the boards at all. That is about the time that people hit 80 and learned their class enough to fight with them.
I'm really starting to wonder blizzard and their rep of never releasing someone until it is done. I have been with MMO's that can release patches more frequently and with fewer bugs than wow has ever accomplished. That said, i still play wow as i think it is the best game out there until spellborn hits the US.
I personally have mixed feelings about wintergrasp. when I first heard about it, I invisioned an area with an on-going battle like a PvP server, and was disapointed when I first entered the area. having said that, once I got in, I found it amazingly thrilling getting into a cannon turret and blowing up anything I saw with a horde flag. I think the buff you get is more designed to give you a better chance against the seige weapons than against other players. most of the time, if you are running around a wintergrasp battle on your own with no siege engines of your faction about, you are asking to get ganked and killed, buff or not.