So I went Merc Mode to help Alliance in Korrak's Revenge

[Shalaator]

After having an unintterupted 100% win rate in Korrak's on Horde leveling from 30 to 120, I decided once I was max level I'd queue in merc mode for a few games.

My experience on Horde was very BORING to be honest. Alliance O was easy to wipe or at the very least delay. As a resto druid I ran all the OSH*IT buttons (including flourish instead of germ) and typhoon. Blitzing in and around the flags at towers, lining and hotting myself (as well as stealth approaches), I was able to spin towers 1v10 for up to two minutes (so long as I dispelled our big elite tower commander). This 2 minute spin per tower equates to nearly 10 minutes of time gained for our OFFENSE .


Also I noticed a lot of alliance AFKED on tower defense. I confidently decloaked and recapped towers by "guarded" by over 6-7 alliance that weere actually AFK at the flag, and then I proceeded to spin that tower for another 2+ minutes (this never happened in merc mode, trying to ninja cap in kitty form is a suicide ticket).


For the games where the Alliance O was instantly wiped, we as Horde still proceeded to the enemy keep at breakneck speed, no more than 10 Alliance Defending could ever be seen as our entire 40 man raid zerged Van. We still won the game in under 20 minutes with all available alliance on Defense.


So what could be causing this? My curioisty was piqued!

So I hit 120 and go merc mode...

Very first game THREE alliance mages drop portals over healthstones...had people not been angry in raid chat...I would not have noticed either and probably clicked it myself. Because of this our 40v40 started as 31v40. We lost nine players to troll prots (probably 9 PvPer's since they wanted healthstones for PvP).


As soon as the gates opened, a random player used drums...now we're 10 minutes behind on a major offensive due to drum fatigue.

So we 31v40 with no lust...but hey...I'm a Nelf resto druid now, I should be able to spin these towers for days.

NOPE!

First of all, it's very difficult to spin 1v10 at the Alliance bunkers. On the horde side this was actually very easily with typhoon.

Run into horde tower in Bear Form: Swipe
Run out
Run in: Swipe
Run out: HOT HOT HOT
Run in bear form: Swipe
Run out...enemy players finally folow you out...typhoon and root melee that fell..dispel elite commander in cc...
Run in: Swipe, Get stunned/rooted, enraged regen + renneeal + barkskin + healstone/etc
Run out, HOT HOT HOT
Run in bear form: Swipe, get attacked, Tree form, spam regrwoth, bear form wipe, tree form heal bear form wipe.
run out, typhoon, root melee that fell (instnat root with tree form).

Yeah...HORDE HAS A HUGE DEFENDER's ADVANTAGE at their towers. It takes way less horde players to DELAY alliance O. In order to spin an alliance bunker for 2 minutes I require at LEAST ONE other healer and BLOOD DK.


Ok, so 31v40, no lust, harder to defend towers.

But the it gets worse...alliance hasn't capped anything...and horde is already at our bridge...there's supposed to be 37 players now (after refill), certainly 37 players with NPCS is enough to push 40 horde back and eventualyl send the druids forward to summon Ivus?!?

Well as a healer I have the privledge of usually knowing how many friendly players are near me...the answer was never more than 10-15. My Wild Growth hit the same players every time and my tranquilty/flourish never got more than 11 people...and that was with the best possible positioning.

In fact...I can't find the 25-30 players at all...MY FIRST GAME!

Well maybe Alliance got mad and quit/afked...let's queue again.


Second Game.

No troll mages and drums...fresh 40v40 start.

I looked at some profiles/achieves while game was starting and selected/asked a team of 7-8 alliance to help me delay IWB and SPGY. They were all PvPer's. Not fantastic (1600-1700 cr in rated) , but definitely 100x better than the average horde pub.

Our defense team of 7-8 succeeded in delaying the 34 horde advance for over 45 minutes (when the game ended my merc mode buff only had 8 minutes left).

How did I get the number 7-8? As a healer I can count the 7-8 raid frames. How did I get 34? They had exactly 10 in IWB, 4 in South Bunker, and according to BGE exactly 20 at SPGY.

Our defense forced them to overdefend IWB with 10...we recapped South Bunker three times (we didn't stay though, since we had to delay SPGY) against four stealthies. Overall we delayed a 35 horde offense for over 45 minutes!


How then has our team of 30 offense not crushed the 4-5 horde defense?

30:5 ---> 6:1

35:8 ---> 4:1 (approx)


Although we won this game...it was too close for comfort. Horde pulled Van about 20 seconds after Alliance.

I then won the next game as well, we even summoned Ivus but he died charging too far ahead of us.


So things we're looking ok so far, I was 2-1 Merc Mode in Korrak. Maybe alliance just needed a few dedicated PvPer's to play D.



Then I played a few more...lost them all as bad as the first game...and it just kept getting worse. In fact most games were legit 20v40, since 20 alliance players were either AFK/questing/herdingrams/killing korrak/etc.


My overall conclusion based on personal observation is as follows:

Alliance has too many mount farmers.
Alliance has too many go to Korrak.
A lot of Horde Merc Mode players (except me obviously) purposely throw by going afk for free xp. They evenly free admit in raid chat when I ask them why are they in merc mode and afking at snowfall.
Alliance has legit trolls.
Alliance usually has 1/3 to 1/2 the team afk, it usually is a 20v40, even it it says 40v40 on the scoreboard. There supposed to be 40 alliance defending Van when we have no GY"s except the Aid Station...so where are they? I can't ever find more than 10 alliance when I'm healing defense, even when all 40 alliance sould be present at our general...even the map shows there's no alliance anywhere except at our general....

....so where are these other 30 players...why are they taking NO DAMAGE and way beyond my healing range? Turns out they are all afk on the edge of the map behind Van lol.


So yeah.

Alliance CAN win. I did twice and even summoned Ivus in one of those (and strangely these two wins were in my first series of merc mode games), but in general alliance has too many afk's/questers/trolls/leavers/defeatists.

Horde plays to win.

Also Horde towers are easier to defend. Other than that, I don't see much of a terrain/map advnatage for horde; however, the tower/bunker disparity is HUGE imo, and allows a much smaller D team to delay Alliance, giving horde more numbers on O. However I don't consider this advantage sufficient for Horde to win IF the alliance team is full of better players overall, this advantage only helps when the teams are roughly equal in skill and determination.

The majority of the losses are from 20v40: AFK/questers/trolls/bots/leavers/griefers/trolls/defeatists


I find this very sad, because my first two merc mode wins were THRILLING! True epic AV battles I haven't seen in over a decade...it was like drug addict in relapse...I had to keep queuing...I needed more of that thrill (I was even declining RBG invites from btags)...I needed to relive that again and again...just like old times.


But I never got that "rush" ever again...not because I got bored...but rather frustrated since it's been 20v40 ever since.

My suggestion is to remove rewards entirely for the losing team and double rewards for merc mode victory. I personally dont' care about the rewards, but the REWARDS are affecting me since it causes other players to AFK for free SH*T. DOnt allow losers to collect anything...period.

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ere's the screenshots from my most recent Ivus summon win (you can see my goblin portrait with alliance Drek kill quest completion).

After switching to my main Hpriest, I've had a lot more success healing and holding the turtle long enough to send our summoners forward.



With Ivus selected after Drek died

Showing the summoning:





Another game on my resto druid where we summoned Lok (non-merc!), we had a long fight in the Field of Strife bfore we could complete the summon. I wish I was healing alliance in this particular game, it would have been ecstatic!

[Doffen]

The portal thing needs to be removed, taking a portal shouldn't instantly kick you out from the battleground. There must be a workaround for that.

For the rest of the post, it's 100% my experience. Lost my first horde one 2 days ago, but won rest after, just as before. Still only won 2 as alliance, and now we must be talking up to 50 AVs soon.

[Wakozi123]

Horde are tryhards who think PvP matters. Alliance don't give a shit. Have fun thinking anyone cares.

The way to fix PvP is to make it exclusively Horde. Find a way to make it Horde Sylvanas versus Horde anti-Sylvanas or something. Just let the idiot PvPers play against each other.

Wtf Alliance doesnt care about PvP? Horde should just fight each other? Christ, what did you smoke dude? Why do you think Alliance is always complaining at the beginning of a game or during one? Because they don't care? Really... Most retarded post of the week for sure

[Nnyco]

Horde are tryhards who think PvP matters. Alliance don't give a shit. Have fun thinking anyone cares.

The way to fix PvP is to make it exclusively Horde. Find a way to make it Horde Sylvanas versus Horde anti-Sylvanas or something. Just let the idiot PvPers play against each other.

You clearly care enough to make a post like that.

[ONCHEhap]

Wtf Alliance doesnt care about PvP? Horde should just fight each other? Christ, what did you smoke dude? Why do you think Alliance is always complaining at the beginning of a game or during one? Because they don't care? Really... Most retarded post of the week for sure

I think he took too much [Vision Dust]

[Lochton]

Honestly, any portal or portal toy should be disabled in PvP (with limitations to the actual Alterac Valley portal toy).

[Maljinwo]

The Alliance understood long ago that levelling in Korrak is faster if they throw the match

[Lochton]

Horde are tryhards who think PvP matters. Alliance don't give a shit. Have fun thinking anyone cares.

The way to fix PvP is to make it exclusively Horde. Find a way to make it Horde Sylvanas versus Horde anti-Sylvanas or something. Just let the idiot PvPers play against each other.

Aaaand, so thus you presume that Alliance just is going to foot the long wait time and just play vs. themselves, thus removing the whole idea of even being multi faction for we're just going to be fighting our own the whole time?

What you suggest next? Only Horde raids for Horde, and same for Alliance?

[Fallen of Lordaeron]

Horde are tryhards who think PvP matters. Alliance don't give a shit. Have fun thinking anyone cares.

The way to fix PvP is to make it exclusively Horde. Find a way to make it Horde Sylvanas versus Horde anti-Sylvanas or something. Just let the idiot PvPers play against each other.

Do you think any part of this game matters more than any other part? Really? Let people enjoy things.

[Lime]

The portal thing needs to be removed, taking a portal shouldn't instantly kick you out from the battleground. There must be a workaround for that.

Nah. The portals and the fake afk messages are the only things interesting in Korraks.

[Lochton]

The Alliance understood long ago that levelling in Korrak is faster if they throw the match

Yes, and no.

Alliance has learnt the following.

Moderators, take note, this is not bashing.

1.: Alliance Vs. Russian-Horde -> Drawn out honor farming, botting and lots and lots of camping = Try to lose fast -> Raging and lolling -> zero effort.
2.: Alliance Vs. Horde -> Icewing MUST be taken before Stonehearth, if not = We're gonna lose now.
3.: Alliance Vs. Horde -> Someone calls out for killing Korrak, thus badly distributing people = We're gonna lose now -> Rest goes on doing nothing.

That is how I see it mostly.

[Bethanie]

Horde are tryhards who think PvP matters. Alliance don't give a shit. Have fun thinking anyone cares.

The way to fix PvP is to make it exclusively Horde. Find a way to make it Horde Sylvanas versus Horde anti-Sylvanas or something. Just let the idiot PvPers play against each other.

Nah, it would be much better if when you join a random battleground you are randomly assigned to a side. Would make the matches more interesting for sure.

[StillMcfuu]

Horde are tryhards who think PvP matters. Alliance don't give a shit. Have fun thinking anyone cares.

The way to fix PvP is to make it exclusively Horde. Find a way to make it Horde Sylvanas versus Horde anti-Sylvanas or something. Just let the idiot PvPers play against each other.

So Alliance doesn't care about PvP? And we know Alliance doesn't care about PvE; so what does the Alliance care about?

Pet battle faction confirmed.

[ONCHEhap]

Yes, and no.

Alliance has learnt the following.

Moderators, take note, this is not bashing.

1.: Alliance Vs. Russian-Horde -> Drawn out honor farming, botting and lots and lots of camping = Try to lose fast -> Raging and lolling -> zero effort.
2.: Alliance Vs. Horde -> Icewing MUST be taken before Stonehearth, if not = We're gonna lose now.
3.: Alliance Vs. Horde -> Someone calls out for killing Korrak, thus badly distributing people = We're gonna lose now -> Rest goes on doing nothing.

That is how I see it mostly.

Which is absolulely ridiculous.AV,especially this version of AV has a colossal amount of room for counterplay,yet people fail at one thing and just give up

[Lime]

The Alliance understood long ago that levelling in Korrak is faster if they throw the match

Not throwing, just avoiding turtles. Leaders, Towers/Bunkers, Losses, Wins. Those should be what you're aiming for if you want fast XP.

Just commit to rush strats and everyone wins.

[Marrilaife]

So Alliance doesn't care about PvP? And we know Alliance doesn't care about PvE; so what does the Alliance care about?

There's next to noone left on the Alliance except the solo casuals, people you see in BGs are probably half horde mercs, they just want fast honor / xp.

[Shalaator]

I'm queueing Korrak at max level with 425+ gear to learn my resto druid now.

Arena livelord talents for alliance bunker defense (properiy, soul of the forest, germ, bash, cyclone).

Spinlord talents talents for solo horde tower defense (cenarion ward/treeform/flourish, typhoon, focused growth)

Raidlord talents for raid healing.

I dont learn anything on horde cuz we win too fast with no resistance

Queuing random bg's and ally merc mode korrak is giving me the PvP learning experience I need on my druid, assuming Alliance is NOT AFK/questing in Korrak.

I'm the only 2100+ Holy Priest in Rated BGs this season (Trainmeplzz-Tich on hord).

Before I bring my resto druid to play witht eh big boys (even on alt teams), I want to secure a lot of general resto druid PvP experience.

This comes 2v2 and 3v3 alt arenas. Random bgs and Korraks. Korrak provides a "teamfight" experience like I will encounter in rated bgs in Silvershard/kotmogu/gil. Certain talents that are taboo in arena work great in Korrak and probably will work good in 9v9 and 10v10 RBG teamfights.

So believe it or not, some people aren't doing Korrak for leveling. We're doing to for PvP.

Holding the bridge for 6 hours and summoning the druids/Ivus was absolutely amazing.

[Lochton]

Which is absolulely ridiculous.AV,especially this version of AV has a colossal amount of room for counterplay,yet people fail at one thing and just give up

Honestly, a lot of the Horde does the same.

Only time I admit, that I miss the newer version of Alterac Valley, is when against Russians (or before I offend someone, 'large group of 40 players with the majority of the names written with the Cyrillic alphabet'), then you need that resource counter badly, or the fight will last hours. I used to be fine with that but many players aren't anymore.

[Shalaator]

Which is absolulely ridiculous.AV,especially this version of AV has a colossal amount of room for counterplay,yet people fail at one thing and just give up

Ironically my very last Horde Korrak was several hours long, I went from 109 to 120...only one we lost, which is what made me try merc mode...I wanted to replicate that experience and did on my third game. Haven't ever since

[Ize]

Honestly, any portal or portal toy should be disabled in PvP (with limitations to the actual Alterac Valley portal toy).

Whilst i dont recall ever mis-clicking a portal myself, i recall ppl getting annoyed in LFR with mage portal trolls as well before so two potentially very easy fixes:
1. Add a cast time on clicking on portal (like a heartstone has) so you can cancel it if its a mis-click.
2. Add an interface option for a confirmation box to appear when clicking an 'instant' portal. (thus allows people to toggle that on/off at will)