Chapter 1101: Alterac Valley (Third Update)
In the earliest version of Alterac Valley, there was no such thing as reinforcements.
In that version, victory was usually determined not by tactics, but by numbers. Without the concept of reinforcements, an entire Alterac Valley match could stretch from day into late night. Also, there was no cross-server battleground matchmaking at that time. For servers with imbalanced factions, once one side ran out of players late at night, the outcome was decided.
Later versions of Alterac Valley underwent a series of reforms, mainly in two aspects:
First, the various complex mechanics within were comprehensively nerfed, including the removal of most neutral NPCs, the weakening of guard attributes, and the disappearance of many powerful summonable NPCs.
Second, the concept of reinforcements was introduced, controlling the duration of each Alterac Valley match.
Overall, these changes were aimed at speeding up the pace of the battleground. After all, if a match dragged on from day to night without a result, the gameplay experience could hardly be called good.
Moreover, the honor rewards from battlegrounds mainly came from key milestones like capturing strongholds and achieving victory. If the Alliance and Horde were stuck in an endless stalemate on the Field of Strife, neither side could earn many honor points, which was a serious waste of time.
In the original design, Alterac Valley was conceived as a large-scale interactive PvE game, with PvP content only making up a part of it. Players had to complete various tasks and use key NPCs to exert a critical influence on the battlefield.
For example, after players rescued the Air Commander and turned in enough items, they would hear the Air Commander roar, fly to the enemy's airspace, and start bombing.
Alternatively, players could capture their own faction's animals and kill the enemy's animals (sheep for the Alliance, wolves for the Horde) at the Stable Master. After that, they could summon their faction's cavalry charge.
Additionally, players could summon special forces for support, upgrade army defenses, or even summon ultimate units to dominate the battlefield.
After turning in enough Alliance Soldier's Blood or Storm Crystals, the Druids would arrive at the Field of Strife. Players had to assist them in performing a summoning ritual to call forth the Forest Lord Ivus or the Snow Lord Lokholar.
In other words, that version of Alterac Valley wasn't simply a battle between Alliance and Horde players. It required using many means to boost allied combat power in order to win the war.
Of course, it sounded good on paper, but as versions changed, some problems emerged.
Because completing these tasks took a lot of time. Take the cavalry summoning mechanic, for example. Players had to scatter to catch wolves and kill sheep, collect various items, and then run back to turn them in. This created a contradiction:
If the NPCs were relatively weak, the opposing players would just group up and tear down your towers while you were still grunting away collecting stuff, and then you'd get steamrolled in one push. If the NPCs were very strong, both sides would desperately gather resources, turning the battleground into a war between NPCs, and the match time would multiply, which ran counter to the goal of speeding up the battleground's pace.
So, in the end, these complex mechanics were largely ignored. Both the Alliance and Horde preferred fast-paced offensive and defensive battles. Every player was crucial, and diverting manpower to collect these items was just slowing things down.
Therefore, Chen Mo's version of Alterac Valley retained the NPC mechanics but introduced the concept of reinforcements. After all, if a single battle dragged on all night, it would be meaningless. For instance, if the Alliance was clearly at a disadvantage and just stubbornly defended the bridge, neither side could win. It sounded exciting, but in practice, it wasn't really like that.
Chen Mo took a look. The Alliance's reinforcements were down to about 100, while the Horde still had over 400. That was way too miserable.
It wasn't that the Alliance was weak. The Horde's early advantage in the battleground was due to several reasons. Considering the Horde's aesthetics, most players who chose the Horde at the start were pure-blooded guys who loved to charge in and kill. Appearance enthusiasts or scenery lovers generally wouldn't pick the Horde. So, the Horde had higher cohesion initially.
Of course, in later versions, the Alliance gained the upper hand, to the point where the Isle of Conquest became the "Isle of the Alliance," but that's a different story for later.
Clearly, this battle was a mismatch. The Alliance had lost many towers in a daze at the start, forcing them to retreat to the bridge. The commander obviously wasn't familiar with this battleground either, but at least he was dutiful, constantly spamming the chat, urging everyone to hurry back and defend the bridge.
The bridge was easy to defend. The Alliance's terrain was loose on the outside and tight on the inside. The defenses at the first and second towers were riddled with holes, but the bridge was an absolute stronghold. They just frantically threw Blizzards, Rain of Fire, and ranged skills onto the bridge. Forget the Horde, even a fly would have a hard time getting through.
The two sides were deadlocked like this. But even though the Alliance held the bridge, with the reinforcement mechanic, the Horde could trade three of their heads for one Alliance head and still win.
Chen Mo sent a message in the battleground chat: "Give me the battleground leader."
Afraid the current leader might not see it, he repeated it twice.
The next second, the title was transferred to him. Clearly, the previous leader was also eager to find someone to take the blame.
Chen Mo quickly reorganized the current raid. All Rogues and Druids were thrown into squads 7 and 8. The earlier squads were also arranged with class balance in mind, ensuring each squad had a ranged class and a healer.
"Everyone, listen to my orders. Squads 1, 2, 3, and 4, continue defending the bridge. Squad 5 and 6, charge with me toward the bridge to cover squads 7 and 8. Squads 7 and 8, stealth and sneak past the Horde's defense line. Don't fight anyone you encounter. Stealth all the way to the central Field of Strife and stay stealthed, waiting for my next command."
"For those still outside: if you're a stealth class, go directly to the Field of Strife. If not, die and respawn quickly. Move it, let's go."
As he spoke, Chen Mo typed the tactical arrangement into the battleground chat.
It had to be said, the battleground leader title was useful. Most Alliance players were already in a waiting-for-defeat phase, thinking they couldn't win like this and couldn't retreat (retreating would give them a Deserter debuff). Now that such a decisive commander had appeared, they began moving on their own.
Although many were still sluggish and unsure of what they were doing, at least the Alliance players stubbornly defending near the bridge gathered according to Chen Mo's orders.
The Horde had already captured the Snowfall Graveyard across the bridge. The respawn points for both sides were very close, separated only by the bridge. So Chen Mo couldn't risk a full-scale sortie. If the first push failed and the Horde swept them in one go, even Chen Mo's skill couldn't turn things around.
Most of the stealth classes in squads 7 and 8 were at the base, with a few having sneaked out and scattered around. The rest were waiting behind the bridge for Chen Mo's orders, ready to slip through the gap when squads 5 and 6 charged forward, pulling the Horde's defense line.
They didn't know if resistance would still make a difference, but since things were already like this, they might as well give it a try.