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Battlegrounds General Information
The Eye of the Storm Battleground will be added when the Burning
Crusade expansion is released in January, 2007.
Battlegroups
When you enter a battleground, you will be fighting alongside
and against players from not only your realm, but from a
preformed group of realms. These preformed groups are called
battlegroups. Normally you wouldn't ever be able to interact
with players on other realms, but thanks to battlegroups, you
can meet and play against those players. Find out which
battlegroup you are in by searching for your realm on the
battlegroups page.
All players in a battleground will have their realm name
displayed next to their character name in the chat log and score
screen. Players from realms other than your own also have a "*"
on their name. To send a whisper to a player from a different
realm, you can either double-click their name in the Chat Log or
use the command /w [playername]-[realmname]. However, other than
conjured items, you are unable to trade with players on other
realms.
Joining a Battleground
Battlemasters
Battlemasters are usually the fastest and easiest way to enter
battlegrounds. Located in major cities, battlemasters for each
of the battlegrounds will be found conveniently standing near
one another, which also allows you to easily switch between
battlegrounds. If you want to go to a different battleground,
simply talk to the battlemaster for that battleground. Because
Battlemasters are located in major cities, you can queue up for
the battleground and then go do other things like visit the
auction house or the bank while you're waiting for your game to
start.
Right-clicking on a battlemaster will allow your character to
enter a battleground queue just like you normally would if you
touched that battleground's entrance portal. The functionality
is exactly the same, so when it's your character's time to enter
the chosen battleground, you will be teleported directly in,
with an option to decline entry if you've changed your mind.
The Alliance battlemasters are located in the Hall of Arms in
Ironforge, in Stormwind Keep, and near the warrior trainers in
Darnassus.
The Horde battlemasters can be found in the Hall of the Brave in
Orgrimmar, in the Royal Quarter in the Undercity, and on the
Hunters' Rise in Thunder Bluff.
Guards in their respective cities can give you directions on how
to find them.
Characters that use the battlemaster to enter a battleground
will port back to that battlemaster when they leave the
battleground for any reason.
You may also join a battleground by attempting to enter their
actual portal entrance. These portals exist at the physical
sites of the battlegrounds themselves, found at the following
locations:
Warsong Gulch: Ashenvale
Alterac Valley: Hillsbrad Foothills
Arathi Basin: Arathi Highlands
Lastly, you may join a battleground by talking to that
battleground's special emissaries that appear in the capital
cities during that battleground's holiday weekends. Much like
joining through a battlemaster, once leaving the battleground
you are transported back to the emissary.
Multiple Battlegrounds Queues
Players can enter multiple battleground queues! When queued for
all the battlegrounds, you can join the first one available or
hold out for that special battleground you're really seeking.
You can also be in the queue for a battleground while inside a
different battleground.
Groups (Default Raid vs. Organized Raid)
When you join a battleground, you'll be placed in a raid group
automatically. However, if you join the battleground while
already in a preformed raid group, you will remain in your
preformed raid instead of the default battleground raid group.
You will need to combine raid groups if you want to play
together. If you're in a battleground and you want to join your
guild or another group's battleground team (commonly called
"premade" or "organized team"), you can still do so. Just have
them invite you while you're already in a battleground. Then
when the game starts, you'll be plucked out and will join their
battleground. Pretty cool!
Communication
Players communicate in the battleground channel. To type in this
channel type: "/bg text." You can set the color for the text for
this channel as well. To find the color right-click on the
General chat window name/tab. Go to Channels -> Party. There,
you can set the color for both battleground and battleground
leader.
Battleground Holidays
Battleground "holidays" exist for Warsong Gulch, Alterac Valley,
Arathi Basin, and Eye of the Storm. Holidays occur during most
weekends, starting on Thursday night at midnight server time and
continuing until Tuesday morning. During a holiday, emissaries
from that battleground will be found in the major cities, and
honor/faction rewards for performing objectives in that
battleground are increased.
The order of the holidays is: Alterac Valley -> Warsong Gulch ->
Arathi Basin -> Eye of the Storm.
Battleground Tokens/PvP Rewards
While fighting in battlegrounds, players can receive honor
points that can be used as currency to purchase rewards. Read
more here.
Upon completion of a battleground, the winning side will also be
awarded three tokens for the battleground you're in while the
losing side will be awarded only one. These battleground tokens
can be used as currency to purchase weapons, armor, and other
equipment:
General Rewards - Alliance players can find their rewards in the
Champion's Hall located in Old Town, Stormwind. Horde players
should visit the Hall of Legends in the Valley of Strength in
the city of Orgrimmar.
Alterac Valley - Rewards can be purchased from an NPC outside
the instance in the Hillsbrad Foothills. There's also a NPC in
town inside Alterac Valley who sells some rewards.
Arathi Basin - Rewards can be purchased at Refuge Pointe in the
Arathi Highlands for Alliance, or in Hammerfall for the Horde.
Warsong Gulch - Rewards can be purchased outside the entrance to
Warsong Gulch in Ashenvale (Alliance) or the Barrens (Horde).
Eye of the Storm - Rewards can be found in the Champion's Hall
in Stormwind (Alliance) or the Hall of Legends in Orgrimmar
(Horde).
AFK/Deserter Buff
When a player leaves a battleground before it concludes, they
will be unable to re-enter any battleground queue for 15
minutes. They will receive the deserter debuff. This is to
prevent players from entering and leaving battlegrounds until
they get the desired team matchup. The deserter debuff will
continue to expire while you are offline.
While in a Battleground
The score screen displays information on the status of the
battleground. You can bring up the score screen while in a
battleground by pressing shift+spacebar. You may also bring up
this screen by clicking on the battleground icon displayed on
your mini-map. See our score screen guide pages for details on
the information listed on the Alterac Valley and Warsong Gulch
score screens.
Players that go AFK (automatically or by manually inputting the
/afk command) while in a battleground will be instantly
teleported to the battleground entrance with the deserter debuff
applied to them (see above).
You can open the map to see the locations of all the players on
your side who are in the battleground.
If you are disconnected while in a battleground, you have a
short time to safely log back in and continue to fight in that
battleground.
Logging into a battleground that's closed will teleport you to
the entrance (dead characters will be resurrected as well).
Using the /who command while in a battleground instance will
only display players in your instance.
A battlegrounds match will end in any of the following
circumstances:
One of the battleground's victory conditions is met. When this
occurs, a score screen will appear and the battleground will
close in two minutes.
One faction's total amount of players in the battleground slips
below the minimum allowed for that battleground. A countdown
will then ensue and the faction that has the minimum number of
players or more when the countdown ends will be declared the
winner by default. The minimum number of players per faction is
10 in Alterac Valley, 5 for Warsong Gulch, 15 for Eye of the
Storm, and 10 for Arathi Basin.
If both factions slip below the minimum number of players
allowed for that battleground, the map will close after a
countdown with no winner.
When a battleground is closed, the following happens:
All players are prevented from moving or acting.
All players are fully healed.
The score screen is displayed with a "Leave battleground"
option.
Players are able to view the score screen or leave the
battleground.
Multiple Battlegrounds Queues
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Players will be able to enter multiple battleground queues! No
longer must you make the hard decision of which queue to join --
when queued for all three, you can join the first one available
or hold out for that special Battleground you're really seeking.
You can also be in the queue for a battleground while inside a
different battleground. .
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