This is a subject that has been asked about several times recently, and we want to clarify some of the details surrounding it. Like many aspects of the game, Alterac Valley was tuned and adjusted in different ways from patch to patch in 2005-2006.
First and foremost, we’re planning to use the 1.12 version of Alterac Valley. For many parts of the game like this, we’re picking an original WoW patch that gives us the most clarity for WoW: Classic, and 1.12 is that patch.
In Alterac Valley, that puts us before the introduction of reinforcements. It puts us before the removal of all of the Commanders and Lieutenants. The only win conditions are the killing of Drek’thar in Frostwolf Keep or Vanndar Stormpike in Dun Baldar.
It gives us several early improvements to the BG that we’re glad to have in place. Early on in AV, there were too many NPCs and they were too hard to kill. By 1.12, many had been removed and NPC health was brought down to a reasonable level. Turning in armor scraps is an encouraged, supportive activity by this point. Many capture points (mostly graveyards) had been moved away from their initial placements to gain better balance across the map. Korak the Bloodrager was removed, and killing opposing players no longer drops items like Dwarf Spines, Orc Teeth, or Human Bone Chips. Gross.
In our content plan update, we mentioned that we’re still working out exactly how and when PvP elements of Classic will roll out. We’ll update you on that here very soon.
OP on official forums: https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/alterac-valley-in-classic/128908
Keep those blues rolling in Blizzard! :mrgreen:
Aw, would've liked to see Korak. At least they're communicating.
Aw, would've liked to see Korak. At least they're communicating.
Yeah a lot of people will be disappointed by this one but I'm glad we're seeing frequent updates. I was never a big fan of AV so I would've accepted either decision.
I'm a little disappointed, but still hyped AF for some old school AV. Glad to see blues talking about Classic lately.
Would someone mind summarizing the differences between the following versions of AV?
Patch 1.5
Patch 1.12
Live/Retail
I remember AV always being a rush with any combat with players being an inconvenience, but I also remember reinforcements, NPC pickups, and summons.
From Blizz forum
1.8
-A great avalanche has closed off both the eastern and western segments of Alterac Valley. This has displaced the Syndicate Wildpaw Gnolls, and many of the Winterax Trolls.
-Due to the avalanche, Korrak the Bloodrager and a small band of surviving Trolls have made the Snowfall Graveyard their new home. Players will find that Snowfall is now under Korrak’s control and they must defeat Korrak and his Troll guards if they wish to take Snowfall.
-NPC difficulty has been scaled down. All NPCs have had their power reduced by 15-30%.
1.10
-Korrak the Bloodrager and his band of trolls have packed up their bags and left Alterac Valley for greener pastures.
1.11
-Most of the NPC guard units have been removed.
-Creatures that remain in Alterac Valley have had their hit points reduced.
1.12
-Cross Realm BGs
Wait wat? Cross realm BGs? #pitchforks
I imagine that would really short-circuit the #nochanges crowd :mrgreen:
Good info is welcomed info!
Wait wat? Cross realm BGs? #pitchforks
I imagine that would really short-circuit the #nochanges crowd :mrgreen:
Pretty sure 1.12 is the patch that released cross realm bg's. So having cross-realm bg's would be no changes.
They already confirmed no cross-realm grouping a while back guys at the Classic panel Blizzcon 2018.
Pretty sure 1.12 is the patch that released cross realm bg's. So having cross-realm bg's would be no changes.
Oh most definitely. My point is that a large part of the classic demographic is opposed to sharding and phasing and thus by extent, cross realm BG's. So I imagined that the implementation of the old patch 1.12 change would cause some conflicted feelings with this group.
They already confirmed no cross-realm grouping a while back guys at the Classic panel Blizzcon 2018.
That's settled then. :wink:
On an incredibly optimistic note, maybe this is the start of frequent updates as we get closer to release.
I'm kinda okay with this.
At the end of the day, AV as it first came out was a bit of a shit show where dudes would be off farming NPC's solo instead of doing the BG.
They already confirmed no cross-realm grouping a while back guys at the Classic panel Blizzcon 2018.
True. No x-realm grouping. However, x-realm bg's are different than x-realm grouping. X-realm bg's were a way to drastically lower queue times by essentially getting rid of battlegroups and opening the flood gates so that battle groups with significant Horde/Alliance population imbalances would even each other out. This does not mean that players from different realms were able to form groups and then queue for such events (x-realm grouping).
I enjoyed PVP way more back in the day when it was server centric. I was a part of a group of guys that did a ton of nornal BG PVP back during ththe vanilla days. In addition to just HK farming with Cletus during our hour long ques. (Mal'Ganis was Horde heavy)
I personally dont want X-realm or a Battlegroup. I want a server community of PVP, I want to know my enemy, and I want to have them lose morale when they see Dolamite on the other side!!!