While Wrath of the Lich King brought us the shiny new battleground of Strand of the Ancients, firing cannons and driving siege engines shouldn’t take up all your battleground time. The original battlegrounds offer a quick way to gain some honor, especially if you play them during their holiday weekend. If it’s been awhile since your last Arathi Basin game, take a look at these tips before entering the battleground.
Guard! One player minimum per flag, preferably more. Really, there should never be a reason to break this rule, even at the starting flags of Farm or Stables. Not only does having a guard at every flag help to keep you informed of incoming enemy attacks, having a lookout often deters wandering flag ninjas from taking over your base. All it takes to lose a flag is one enemy – don’t give your opponents the chance.
Call It Out! Don’t let an enemy steal your flag in silence – if someone’s attacking, tell your team! The more information your team has, including the number of players attacking and their levels and classes, the more likely they are to be able to mount a quick defense. But at the very least, a quick “inc LM” can at least let your team know you need help.
Relief! Let’s face it: no one really likes guard duty. Guarding the flag is usually boring compared to the high combat that offensive players get to enjoy. Guards also get very little in the way of honor for protecting rarely-attacked flags. But they have a very important job. Sometimes numbers alone will deter an enemy from attacking a flag. Guards can therefore help your team not so much by seeking out enemy players to kill in the field, but by being pro-active in their flag defense. Nevertheless, guarding is often a thankless occupation, and even the most committed guard has days when they’d rather be out bonking heads than doing stealth detection at the Gold Mine. It’s often a very nice present for a player on offense to relieve a player stuck guarding a flag.
Take a Look. Often defenders are in a unique position to see the battleground at large. Blacksmith and Lumber Mill guards especially should use their vantage points to keep tabs on the battle and to call out incoming enemy parties not only at their own flag, but at other key strategic points. Reports on enemy numbers, on poorly-defended flag-points, and on changes in enemy strategy can give your team the information they need to win. Don’t be afraid to use abilities and items which give you a better perspective on the battle. Hunters have Eyes of the Beast, Tracking, and Eagle Eye. Druids and Rogues have Stealth. Engineers can make an Ornate Spyglass – a remarkable telescopic device which players of any profession can use.
Knockback in the Basin. It seems like everyone’s got a knockback ability these days. From Typhooning druids to mages with Blast Wave to shaman summoning Thunderstorm to hunters and their pets, battleground players should expect to be on the receiving end of knockback abilities on a regular basis from here on out. Anyone who has ever been Mind Controlled by a priest knows that in PvP one of the primary functions of knockback or any ability that allows one player to take control of another is to send one’s opponents careening over the edge of a very tall cliff, thus removing them from combat. In Arathi Basin, the Lumber Mill cliff is a prime spot for just this sort of maneuver. Just be careful not to get too close to the edge, or you might wind up getting knocked off yourself.
Have a happy, safe, and successful Arathi Basin weekend!
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