Alterac Valley - Holiday Weekend 12/31/09

It's holiday weekend (Call to Arms) in Alterac Valley. I fought in 7 battles on Wranngar, 1 win and 6 losses.

A holiday weekend is the worst time to fight in a battleground if you want to win. Fortunately I don't need to win, I am capped on marks in AV and I am also capped on honor. So why was I there? For the kills. If nothing else, you can get a lot of kills on a holiday weekend in AV because almost every battle ends up in a turtle. Today was no exception. Out of the 7 battles I was in there was only one group that could be called decent. Actually that group was pretty good. That was the first battle I was in, the one we won.

Holiday weekend brings out all the weekend warriors and double the AFK. You get double honor for fighting in a battleground on it's holiday weekend. Weekend warriors are people who only fight in battlegrounds on their holiday weekend. You can spot them a mile away, they have the oldest PvP gear because they can't get enough honor fast enough to upgrade as it changes. They usually have a lot of blue gear and no skill too. They might as well be AFK for all the good they do.

The battle we won was the exception and I thought it was going to be like the last time I fought in AV on it's holiday weekend. We actually had good groups all weekend and won a lot of battles. That is the rare, rare, exception. Usually it is like today, undergeared people who have no clue what they are doing. I don't know how it can work out to their advantage losing every battle on the holiday weekend, seems to me you would get more honor fighting in winning battles on a regular day.

Anyway we won one battle by capping 3 towers and killing Drek and lost 6 battles by turtling. Even when the Horde don't kill Vann in battles like those the weekend warriors are so undergeared that they Horde are just raping them. You can watch the reinforcements clicking down like a countdown timer. You lose 1 reinforcement every time someone gets killed.

Usually I will just stealth past the Horde and cap towers or graveyards but there is no sense in it on the holiday weekend, we were not going to advance. The Horde know what they are up against too, they wait at Galv and just slaughter the weekend warriors when they show up. You can't tell them otherwise either, you tell them it is a trap and they still run right in there, just like sheep running to a pack of wolves.

I did get a few hundred kills out of it though so it wasn't all for nothing. I might fight in there some more this weekend for the kills, I won't expect to win that's for sure. Another thing weekend warriors are good for is crying when the battle runs over 15 minutes, they start saying just let the Horde cap everything so they can get their mark. I say screw their mark, I have never given the Horde anything and I never will. They should have been around when there were no reinforcements and the battles could run for days. The only way it ended then was when one sides General was killed.

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Daily Battleground - Arathi Basin 12/31/09

Today Wranngar's daily battleground was Arathi Basin. I wasn't too excited about this one as the Alliance has been doing poorly in all the ones I have fought in lately but we won the first one I was in. That was the only one I fought in because, although we won, the play didn't inspire confidence.

I got in before the battle started and we started 15 to 15 for a change. When the gate opened I headed right to the Lumber Mill and helped cap that. It wasn't too hard as the 4 Horde who got there at the same time we did turned around and ran. That was when things started to go downhill. I was heading to the Blacksmith when I noticed everyone leaving the Lumber Mill. That is not unusual for the Alliance, they don't seem to know the meaning of defense. I went back to the Lumber Mill so there would at least be someone there to call incoming, not that I expected anyone to come. I usually go straight to a node, help capture it, then guard it. Today I figured I would try something different and go on offense but then I remembered why I always stay to guard, someone has to do it.

It was the same story at the Blacksmith, as soon as they got the flag started everyone left. I pointed that out but no one went back so the single Horde that rode in there had no problem capping it, everyone was at the Farm. Everyone being at the Farm caused us to lose the Stables. Finally the raid leader said something and people smartened up a little, they were leaving at least one person to defend.

Meanwhile I could see 4 Horde coming to the Lumber Mill, on tracking, so I called incoming. No one came... We lost the Lumber Mill but managed to pick up the Gold Mine and then the Stables again. We got the Blacksmith back and I said to just guard those, it only takes 3 to win but, as usual, everyone wanted a 5 cap, I guess, so they wandered off to other nodes and we lost the stables again.

I was at the Blacksmith defending at this point and I stayed there until towards the end when we lost that too. At that point we were far enough ahead and had the Gold Mine, Farm and Stables that it didn't matter, we won. I was really surprised we won with that group but looking back, it was no worse then any other group, none of them know how to defend and it is just going for one node after another losing one after another.

I turned this in when I got out and collected my 19g86s, 1241 bonus honor and 25 arena points. I say I collected my 1241 bonus honor but that's not really true, I would have gotten it if I wasn't capped on honor.

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