AV now considered a PvE raid?

[Deleted]

I just wanted to post how depressed, sad and disappointed i am at the current state of the once epic Alterac Valley BG.

Ive always loved the big BGs which feel like a massive war between 80 players moving around a large map trying to outfox each other with numerous tactics. But now this BG has been reduced to a fast 'Rush' tactic which means the game is over in less than 5minutes, and worst of all the top killer is lucky to get over 3 killing blows...

AV has been reduced to players exploiting their PvE skillset by nominating tanks, healers and dps and simply rushing up the map as quick as they can and hoping they get to engage the boss b4 the enemy does. Its sad to watch 40 players passing another 40 players in the middle of the map and nobody stopping to actually fight the other team.

Yesterday I got 4 AV in a row through Random BG and all 4 were over in a total of about 20minutes (1 WSG lasts 25mins)... and worst point was that one fight i had zero hks, yes ZERO! Id spent 5 minutes running around the map trying to cap gys, towers etc and didnt engage a single enemy player in doing so, and worst of all not a single enemy player was killed in my area to register a single hk! lol

And yes i went from start to middle and then back to try to defend our own boss... not a single HK!

My question is, how can this be called PvP?

[Profish13]

The best AVs are the low level ones, the majority of the lowbie ones turn into reinforcement wars.

[Jeffrew]

I agree. I used to PvP a lot too. Now I just do quick BG's for my honor to gear them up fast with the 390 set to get ready for PvE. PvP is pretty much dead for me atm.
Hoping it'll be better in MoP. I'm sure it will be. Really looking forward to the talent changes too. Hope it'll mix things up a bit.

[steveyboy]

Most AV;s I have been in result in a horde victory.

Why?

Because I get about 10 people to defend our towers and GY leading to some pvp between alliance and horde.

Also the fact I do 40 man premade avs..............

[Lucetia]

And yes i went from start to middle and then back to try to defend our own boss... not a single HK!

My question is, how can this be called PvP?

If you want to make it last longer do what most have been doing lately if you are Horde, capture Snowfall Graveyard. Yes you will hear massive QQ about how it will turtle, but in the end it actually does more than that. It forces the Alliance to spawn north making your towers last longer if you give it a little defense and then it makes you rely on actually downing the Alliance Towers / actually killing them. Best AV's I've been in as Horde is where Snowfall has been captured.

[reohh]

Its funny because AV used to be my favorite battleground. Now its the worst for the exact reasons that you mentioned.

[Deleted]

Miss the good ol' days of summoning the ice lord . I agree with the OP that this form of AV is mega lame and boring as hell. But still i prefer it over SotA....

[Deleted]

Also the fact I do 40 man premade avs..............

I also do AV premades, its the only way to 'force' some pvp... even if its totally 1 sided and all ur doing is farming them...

My point is that a BG is a PvP game and therefore should be designed to encourage players to actually fight each other. Right now AVs is designed against PvP...

Who said 40man raids are dead?

Its alive and kicking in Alterac Valley!

[chemicader]

I have started to dislike AV and to enjoy any other bg where I can instantly find an opponent and start brawling with him.

[dicertification]

In complete agreement with the OP. AV use to have the potential to be an epic battle if both sides were trying. Now it's a 5 minute zerg.

[underdogba]

The problem with AV that I see having evolved over time is that the nuances of the gameplay have become more and more irrelevant, however any attempt to restore some of that gameplay would result in it being a longer-lasting BG than it already is, which is not really in line with the other BG's.

[Eliandal]

It's always fun taking 15-20 people and defending Balinda or Galv - and watch the rage that ensues It's never fun being farmed though - and I know that when we organize them that's not the objective (although sometimes people do get a little too over zealous)

There have been aq couple of epic battles in the Nightfall BG over the past few weeks though - and for alot of people they're definately fun. For many they're not, and to them, I usually just let them know the debuff will wear off faster than the game will end - so just leave now and 'quitcher bitchin'

[Kisho]

I hope that Blizzard will see what Arenanet are doing with GW2 and bring back the old AV to combat it.

Essentially, GW2 is doing Realm Vs Realm combat, and the area they fight in is a persistent world. There're no matches, no resets: it goes on and on and on. There are objectives you can take which help your team, make you stronger. So you can make a small group of players, go take one of these objectives, and help out your entire team.

Old AV sounds very close to that. Went on for days, objectives you can take that summon monsters that help you, boost your reinforcements, etc. All you'd need to do would be to take it out of the random pool and allow people to queue for it seperately. I bet it'd be an absolute blast: you drop in to help, drop out and be replaced when you feel like doing something else. Give sufficient rewards for taking objectives and it'd be brilliant, I reckon.

Who knows.

[artem123]

Its funny because AV used to be my favorite battleground. Now its the worst for the exact reasons that you mentioned.

me to =/ it was funner playing D and just wreckin faces at times

[Kashii]

At some point in practically every AV I've been in for the past several years a discussion starts about how awesome AV was in Classic.

Blizzard ruined it by removing the NPC's and making the side events like summoning the Frost Lord or gathering supplies in from the mines or collars and pelts essentially useless.

Recall that this all came about as people started focusing on grinding honor as fast as possible and that it could be done more expeditiously in AB or WSG (later other BG's).

Yes Blizzard RUINED AV. Yes, Blizzard should revert the changes. Just be prepared for all the resulting QQ from Honor Grinders and Arena Babies if they did.

[Deleted]

The problem with AV that I see having evolved over time is that the nuances of the gameplay have become more and more irrelevant, however any attempt to restore some of that gameplay would result in it being a longer-lasting BG than it already is, which is not really in line with the other BG's.

ALL of the other BGs last between 20-30minutes on average... i dare u to time them, cos this is correct information. AV takes the lowest amount of time to play at an average of 4-10minutes. Its ALOT quicker game than every other BG in the game!

[Eliandal]

At some point in practically every AV I've been in for the past several years a discussion starts about how awesome AV was in Classic.

Blizzard ruined it by removing the NPC's and making the side events like summoning the Frost Lord or gathering supplies in from the mines or collars and pelts essentially useless.

Recall that this all came about as people started focusing on grinding honor as fast as possible and that it could be done more expeditiously in AB or WSG (later other BG's).

Yes Blizzard RUINED AV. Yes, Blizzard should revert the changes. Just be prepared for all the resulting QQ from Honor Grinders and Arena Babies if they did.

I wish they would! I know I'm not alone in preferring 'larger' scale pvp - and *I* would love to go back to the weekend long AV's of old. I don't grind honor, and I can't stand the smaller BG's. I may be in a minority - but there have to be at least a few of us left !

[Deleted]

I wish they would just remove AV from the random BG so only people who want to run AV will, whilst doing so also restoring all the npc's, captains and guards that used to be there. 7 hour long games that you can come and go to as you please was awesome during vanilla, if it's not among the other BG's in the random signup I can't see how anyone who dislikes that form of play could ever complain. Alas I doubt Blizzard would ever though this though...

I wonder how many people even know about the wolf/ram riders, about lokholar the ice lord and ivus or whatever the alliance version was called, that the mines actually served a purpose to send out an elite squad of npc's that helped out in fighting your opponents...

[zera]

Just make av more like how it was in vanilla. I mean who wouldn't want a bg going on for a week

[Yvaelle]

IMO bring back Vanilla AV's where there are no reinforcements (not the stuipd counter at least) and zerging is impossible without building up your NPC troops.

Vanilla AV was the original League of Legends map IMO - you had lots of NPC's rushing the breach, sometimes big NPC's that provided buffs if you killed them - you had people laning the NPC's to push the towers - and you had players jungle' ing the passersby.