Azzie
New Member
Also posted in the thread by Young.
This one is when Miri and I talked about BG's after fellowship one Friday night; when he gets back he can probably fix the mess-ups I made in this post.
WARSONG GULCH STRATEGY GUIDE -- Special thanks to Miriallia and Shaylara (aka Grand Marshal Kaylara)
This strategy is one learned by Miri and passed to me by the experience of Shaylara, who already has a Grand Marshal on the server who's going for a second Grand Marshal toon.
Personally, I have reached rank 10 a while ago and ran Battlegrounds with Grand Marshal Firesong, and have some experience and exposure to how this strategy works.
Ventrillo and a full, balanced raid group is essential.
SET UP
Defense:
A hunter, Warlock, and healer.
Offense:
Druid, 2 paladins
Center; yes, put people in the CENTER:
Everyone else.
First, I'll start off with the center. While every PuG who tries to actually win the game flames people in the center, in coordination with the other two parts of the set up the center group is essential. The center is used for thinning out the offense of the enemy; when the Horde attack and steal our flag, they usually send 4-6 people while the others stay on defense. What the center group does, then, is reduce the number to 2-3, so the entire group that enters our base will be only the flag carrier and perhaps 1 or two support.
Then, the defense. With a warlock and hunter and their fears/snares, the flag carrier should not be even able to leave the flag room. Concussion shot, fear, fear, fear, and dps should take down the already-thinned offense of the horde. The healer in the defense is just to keep the hunter and warlock running.
Finally, The offense. This is where the Alliance shines far brighter than any horde shaman. 2 Paladins and a druid will easily outlast and escape the grasp of almost any defense. Blessing of freedom, blessing of sacrifice and aura shuffling (the paladins MUST know to constantly switch auras to meet the situation; concentration for healing, shadow and fire and frost against casters, devotion against rogues and warriors), hammer of justice and repentance will keep enemies at bay while the druid grabs the flag in bear form. When the offense reaches the outside, the druid will go travel form while the paladins continue to support until out of range.
Then, the role goes back to the center. With the druid just outside of the enemy base, the druid will then be supported by the center people and escorted back into base. If by chance the horde steal our flag, the main job goes back to the center to intercept. As our flag-carrying group returns to our base, they can help intercept the enemy flag ninja with the center.
This is not a guaranteed win, but this is a very solid set up.
Some tips:
1) YOU DO NOT NEED TO CHASE DOWN AND KILL EVERY HORDE YOU SEE. It is more important to maintain the proper positioning and range to support the flag carrier and intercept the enemy flag carrier.
2) HEALING THE FLAG CARRIER AND KEEPING HIM ALIVE IS FIRST PRIORITY. Again, this is where the paladin shines if done correctly. We have the most mana-efficient heals in the game, and we also are the kings of support. Additionally, a single rank of seal of command can help with some (and I mean SOME; dps is NOT where we shine!) damage to thin out attackers for the other classes to finish off.
3) THE BEST PLACE TO HIDE THE FLAG IS WHERE THE CARRIER CAN REACH SUPPORT EASILY. This sometimes means the center or the graveyard, and not the roof or a corner.
4) COMMUNICATE. This happened to me once, but somebody was really angry that our flag was stolen and was flaming everyone. I asked "Which way is he coming out?" and he answered "OUT OF OUR BASE!! KILL HIM YOU NOOBS!!"
Out of our base...no really, you think?
Ramp, Graveyard, or tunnel are the 3 locations by which the flag carrier can escape. They are pretty easy to match with the terrain; use your eyes and see. The graphics should be decent enough to be able to tell. As flag carrier, be sure to indicate which way you're going to escape so support is there when you need it.
5) KNOW WHERE EVERYONE IS. Shift-click the queue circle on your mini map to turn on the map of the battleground so you can see where everyone is at all times of the fight.
6) KNOW WHEN THE FIGHT IS LOST. In calculating honor, sometimes it is better just to farm honor kills for the remainder of the battle and let the horde win. If the score is 0-2 with the horde winning, you may as well lose in 2 minutes and get a free mark of honor than push for another hour just to lose in the end. In that hour you could have gotten into and maybe even won another warsong gulch game...or two.
7) GEAR UP. Unless you're on defense, an epic mount is almost essential. It is horrible if the flag carrier has an epic while his support has regular mounts as he will have to slow down for everyone else to catch up. Additionally, when the druid is running in travel form a well-geared druid will run at the equivalent speed of a regular mount. If you're behind without an epic mount, you may as well kill yourself (not in a mean way) and resurrect at the graveyard to reach the druid faster. Needless to say, that's not very efficient.
As flag carrier, it is important to stock up on +resist gear. Some of the less experienced wsg players always blame their groups for being "noobs" when the real issue is gear. No matter how skilled a person is, there is nothing he can do if he is 1-shotted by a ZHC trinket mage, shaman, or warlock with beserker buff on.
8) HAVE FUN. Don't be like me and make battlegrounds a pain and a chore. If you are apathetic towards the PuGs, unless the rank means as much to you as it did to me, you may as well stop doing battlegrounds.
This one is when Miri and I talked about BG's after fellowship one Friday night; when he gets back he can probably fix the mess-ups I made in this post.
WARSONG GULCH STRATEGY GUIDE -- Special thanks to Miriallia and Shaylara (aka Grand Marshal Kaylara)
This strategy is one learned by Miri and passed to me by the experience of Shaylara, who already has a Grand Marshal on the server who's going for a second Grand Marshal toon.
Personally, I have reached rank 10 a while ago and ran Battlegrounds with Grand Marshal Firesong, and have some experience and exposure to how this strategy works.
Ventrillo and a full, balanced raid group is essential.
SET UP
Defense:
A hunter, Warlock, and healer.
Offense:
Druid, 2 paladins
Center; yes, put people in the CENTER:
Everyone else.
First, I'll start off with the center. While every PuG who tries to actually win the game flames people in the center, in coordination with the other two parts of the set up the center group is essential. The center is used for thinning out the offense of the enemy; when the Horde attack and steal our flag, they usually send 4-6 people while the others stay on defense. What the center group does, then, is reduce the number to 2-3, so the entire group that enters our base will be only the flag carrier and perhaps 1 or two support.
Then, the defense. With a warlock and hunter and their fears/snares, the flag carrier should not be even able to leave the flag room. Concussion shot, fear, fear, fear, and dps should take down the already-thinned offense of the horde. The healer in the defense is just to keep the hunter and warlock running.
Finally, The offense. This is where the Alliance shines far brighter than any horde shaman. 2 Paladins and a druid will easily outlast and escape the grasp of almost any defense. Blessing of freedom, blessing of sacrifice and aura shuffling (the paladins MUST know to constantly switch auras to meet the situation; concentration for healing, shadow and fire and frost against casters, devotion against rogues and warriors), hammer of justice and repentance will keep enemies at bay while the druid grabs the flag in bear form. When the offense reaches the outside, the druid will go travel form while the paladins continue to support until out of range.
Then, the role goes back to the center. With the druid just outside of the enemy base, the druid will then be supported by the center people and escorted back into base. If by chance the horde steal our flag, the main job goes back to the center to intercept. As our flag-carrying group returns to our base, they can help intercept the enemy flag ninja with the center.
This is not a guaranteed win, but this is a very solid set up.
Some tips:
1) YOU DO NOT NEED TO CHASE DOWN AND KILL EVERY HORDE YOU SEE. It is more important to maintain the proper positioning and range to support the flag carrier and intercept the enemy flag carrier.
2) HEALING THE FLAG CARRIER AND KEEPING HIM ALIVE IS FIRST PRIORITY. Again, this is where the paladin shines if done correctly. We have the most mana-efficient heals in the game, and we also are the kings of support. Additionally, a single rank of seal of command can help with some (and I mean SOME; dps is NOT where we shine!) damage to thin out attackers for the other classes to finish off.
3) THE BEST PLACE TO HIDE THE FLAG IS WHERE THE CARRIER CAN REACH SUPPORT EASILY. This sometimes means the center or the graveyard, and not the roof or a corner.
4) COMMUNICATE. This happened to me once, but somebody was really angry that our flag was stolen and was flaming everyone. I asked "Which way is he coming out?" and he answered "OUT OF OUR BASE!! KILL HIM YOU NOOBS!!"
Out of our base...no really, you think?
Ramp, Graveyard, or tunnel are the 3 locations by which the flag carrier can escape. They are pretty easy to match with the terrain; use your eyes and see. The graphics should be decent enough to be able to tell. As flag carrier, be sure to indicate which way you're going to escape so support is there when you need it.
5) KNOW WHERE EVERYONE IS. Shift-click the queue circle on your mini map to turn on the map of the battleground so you can see where everyone is at all times of the fight.
6) KNOW WHEN THE FIGHT IS LOST. In calculating honor, sometimes it is better just to farm honor kills for the remainder of the battle and let the horde win. If the score is 0-2 with the horde winning, you may as well lose in 2 minutes and get a free mark of honor than push for another hour just to lose in the end. In that hour you could have gotten into and maybe even won another warsong gulch game...or two.
7) GEAR UP. Unless you're on defense, an epic mount is almost essential. It is horrible if the flag carrier has an epic while his support has regular mounts as he will have to slow down for everyone else to catch up. Additionally, when the druid is running in travel form a well-geared druid will run at the equivalent speed of a regular mount. If you're behind without an epic mount, you may as well kill yourself (not in a mean way) and resurrect at the graveyard to reach the druid faster. Needless to say, that's not very efficient.
As flag carrier, it is important to stock up on +resist gear. Some of the less experienced wsg players always blame their groups for being "noobs" when the real issue is gear. No matter how skilled a person is, there is nothing he can do if he is 1-shotted by a ZHC trinket mage, shaman, or warlock with beserker buff on.
8) HAVE FUN. Don't be like me and make battlegrounds a pain and a chore. If you are apathetic towards the PuGs, unless the rank means as much to you as it did to me, you may as well stop doing battlegrounds.