My First Alterac Valley

I have not done much when it comes to the battlegrounds in World of Warcraft.

I did do some Warsong Gulch back when my characters were in their 30s, but I gave it up pretty quickly. It wasn’t that I was not having fun. The matches reminded me very much of FPS matches and were generally a lot of fun. However, the wait time to get into a battleground back in those days often ran 60 to 90 minutes.

On any given night, the amount of time I can devote to playing is usually about 60 to 90 minutes.

So I simply gave up on the battlegrounds, having reached the exalted rank of Private.

All of this happened back before the changes to battlegrounds, the cross server alignments, and the advent of the “welfare epic” state.

But then Potshot decided to head into the battlegrounds, into Alterac Valley, and seemed to be having a good time. So I thought I would give it a shot as well.

For AV I had a choice between two characters. My main, Vikund, a level 63 paladin, and my #1 alt, Tistann, a level 61 hunter.

I went with Tistann. Being a paladin, and range weapon deprived, in a battleground did not sound like fun.

I went in with the idea of using the same tactics I used way back when I played WSG: Find a warrior, follow him around, and help him out with my firepower… from a safe distance back.

Sticking with somebody became an even bigger goal when I arrived in the pre-match holding tank and figured out that the level range I was now playing in was 61-70. I was 61 and everybody else was level 70.

Ouch.

I was going to be meat, I could tell already.

Still, I was in the match. I did not know what I was doing, but I figured I would be safe sticking with everybody else.

So when the match started and the gate opened, everybody ran forward, so I ran forward too!

I ran and ran… and then noticed I was alone.

Everybody else stopped about 10 feet past the gate.

I stopped to boggle.  There I am, my wolf pet (Name: Puck) beside me, alone in front of the pack.

Then people began to appear on their horses, goats, and such.

Ah, time to mount up!  The last time I played a battleground, I had no mount.

I quickly started to summon my own mount.

I tried to keep up, but not only was I late in summoning my mount, but I also appeared to have the only non-epic mount on the team.

So I was quickly left behind. The vast majority of our side went thundering down the valley towards the horde.

On tracking I could see the horde doing the same, thundering up the valley towards… well… me.

The two groups nicely bypassed each other at mid-map, all obeying the laws of this mid-map traffic circle it seemed.

Following my usual rules for being a pain in the ass, I figured if I was going to die, I was going to be as annoying about it as possible. So I dropped off my mount, laid a frost trap, stepped back some, and then opened up on the first horde player that came around the corner.

Of course, he wasn’t alone. due to my planning it took them an extra second or two to kill me. I died, came back closer to our base, set myself up again, and died again.

After the third death, I found myself far enough back to have run into some other defenders. With some help, I actually assisted in a kill or two.

Then the match was suddenly over.

It turned out that we won. I had to ask Potshot on the guild channel how I could tell if we had won. He said that if I received three AV marks, then my side had won.

I looked in my bag.  I have three AV marks of honor.  We must have won!

I went back for three more battles that night, ending up on the winning side each time, giving me a total of 12 marks.

By the fourth battle, I seemed to be making myself, if not useful, at least somewhat helpful, having adopted a group that seemed to be in battle a lot and adding my firepower to their lot and hitting any rogues with hunter’s mark to keep them honest.

And so went my first night in Alterac Valley.

After the battle I went to WoW Wiki to look up Alterac Valley to try to figure out what was really going on.

It also turns out that my twelve Alterac Valley marks of honor are actually worth something. I mean, I could trade 10 of them in for an actual, useful piece of equipment. Quite a change from the old days, when useful items required weeks of play.

The one item I have my eye on is the Stormpike Battle Charger. And epic mount. Only 50 AV marks of honor.

I am nearly a quarter of the way there.