AV Grind

With yesterday's daily PvP quest being AV on Shadowsong, Gren ventured in for the grind. Ever since the buff on Bal & Vann, it's put a crimp on the Horde strategy of minimal defense, full on zerg prevalent on Reckoning. Now, the AVs we win are the ones where some effort is put into defending or the allies have more AFKers than we do...

While most can argue that the buff isn't that great, it's enough of a speedbump for the Horde offensive that it takes them just a little bit longer to make it to SP, letting Ally win the foot race...

Is it game-breaking for Horde as many are claiming? Not really. I still maintain that the Horde base is a lot more defensible, as long as there are people who want to defend it. Hunters, and properly talented Mages, and Locks on the towers have a very good defensive field of fire. Even if they get hit by the incoming offense, they can take a couple of steps back into the flag room to bandage, using LOS to make themselves safe. Now, put melee a bit behind the gate, with Frost Traps, about six to eight Horde can hold the gates against just about anything besides a full-on zerg of the entire ally offense.

Is the Bridge of Death in Dun Baldar a pain? Yes. But ten Ally cannot hold the Bridge & both bunkers, mainly because players at the bunkers do not have the range to hit Horde on the bridge. But, most players can't be bothered to think this far... *shrug*

Anyway, Gren opened her account with 8 straight losses. I got bored with many simply not trying so I went off to do some quest grinding on my warrior for cash and Consortium rep. Just before I logged off for the night, I ran one last AV, which I think had more than half Ally AFK. That's because we won without them capping any towers, with our D bogging them down trying to cap and hold the RH graveyard (the epic trinket was fun. Res at FW, trinket back to keep and continue to harass... lol).

Anyway, saw this in the Official Forums today.

In our continued efforts to support fair gameplay in World of Warcraft and to provide a positive experience for players, we are currently taking steps to ensure fair and enjoyable competition in the Battlegrounds. Starting immediately, we will be issuing warnings and penalties, including suspensions and the removal of Honor points and recently acquired Honor rewards, for non-participation in Battleground games. We are taking action against thousands of accounts immediately, and will continue to monitor these situations and regularly take action against violators. If you encounter a player in a Battleground who is intentionally not participating in the battle for an extended period of time, please help us track the situation and report the player as AFK. For information on how to complete an in-game AFK report, please go here: (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/pvp/battlegrounds/info.html). All reports will be thoroughly investigated, and corrective action will only be taken if the violation is confirmed. Thank you for your support and best of luck to you in all of your games in the Battlegrounds!

- Bornakk 11/1/08

This sounds like they will be keeping track of the number of AFK flags you accumulate. Too many and they will clamp down on you. If that's the case, hopefully it'll lead to less AFKing. At the moment, it doesn't seem to have helped. But when a few of the serial AFKavers get hit, maybe things will improve...