As part of the lead up to the next World of Warcraft expansion, a brand new battleground will be added, the first since Mists of Pandaria. The Seething Shore helps set the stage for Battle for Azeroth that plays on the themes of the expansion itself, mainly the fight for control of Azerite, a substance that could change the face of war on the planet forever. Let's take a look.
The Seething Shore
Azeroth has been dealt a terrible blow; her wound is grave, and a powerful new substance known as Azerite has been seen seeping up to the surface. As hostilities between the Horde and Alliance reignite, both factions recognize Azerite’s potential to turn the coming battle in their favor.
Seething Shore is a new 10v10 control type battleground with three Azerite nodes spawning at any given time. Horde and Alliance players work to control the nodes and to mine the resource on the journey to collect 1,500 / control of 15 nodes. The first team to do so, wins.
The battle begins aboard each faction's sky ship that is floating above an island off the coast of Silithus and Feralas. Players are briefed by their respective faction's champion: Nathanos Blightcaller for the Horde and Matthias Shaw for the Alliance. The message essentially comes down to "get the stuff and kill the other guys". Interestingly, there are other NPCs aboard the ship including a mage who can conjure food for players as well as a PvP Honor Vendor who sells battleground-specific potions and food for Marks of Honor.
In a unique twist, Blizzard has players don a parachute with an interesting "escape" mechanic. Players start floating serenely downward until they spy either an enemy or one of the Azerite nodes. Using the rocket jump mechanic, players are propelled forward at a high rate of speed before landing at their chosen location. This is a unique mechanic to Seething Shore and one that adds a new dimension of gameplay. It is literally possible to be killed without ever seeing the enemy coming and it's worth noting that there is an achievement for killing an enemy player within 30-seconds of landing.
The nodes spawn fairly close together and it will take effort and coordination to control them in order to mine Azerite. Once the node is exhausted, another will spawn nearby. Since the spawn locations are somewhat randomized (with a set number of spawn points with only three "up" at a time), this also adds a new twist that brings unpredictability to battlegrounds. Most notably, this brings a bit of nuance to this particular battleground as there is no "one right way" to do things. Compared to, for instance, Arathi Basin where there is a "usual" strategy for trying to win, Seething Shore forces players out of a comfort zone of sorts.
The island itself has a varied landscape with waterfalls, pits, beaches, hills and more. Nodes can spawn in any of these spots that can create interesting terrain-based confrontations and, again, unpredictability knowing where the enemy may come from.
Another change from usual battleground mechanics in WoW is that resurrection in Seething Shore is 15-seconds as opposed to the normal 30-seconds on other battlegrounds.
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The best part of the Seething Shore Battleground is that it is fast-paced. There is little time to be standing around waiting to resurrect or to stand on "defense" at one of the nodes. Once a node has been mined, it disappears and it's on to the next one.
From now through reset, Seething Shore is classified as a Brawl and is a handy way to earn some extra Honor and Artifact Power. After March 6th, the new battleground will join the normal rotation.
Have you tried out Seething Shore? What do you think? Leave us your thoughts in the comments.
