Wintergrasp is like every other battleground.
- 8/10 players believe the objective is to kill or die. HK’s are the reason to play.
- 2/10 players know there are objectives, try for the objectives and get frustrated by the honor farmers.
I found myself explaining the significance of the towers to two people over the weekend. Luckily both were friends, so they listened.
There are guides, but who reads them?
I know there are guides out there, I read a few of them back at the time of release, then promptly forgot everything they tried to inform me.
It’s not the fault of the guides, it’s more that (in particular with BG guides) I need to experience a zone, instance or fight before the pieces of the puzzle click.
BG’s are also so simple on the surface.
- Zone in…
- Follow the masses (they must know what to do!)…
- Kill things
- Kill more things
- Pray for a win
There are so many toys!
WG is further complicated by the lure of machinery. The Goblins built tool sheds, they will let us take the tools, screw objectives, I’ve got a tank!
So what is the objective?
The prime objective depends which side you are on. It’s still the same physical objective, but one wants to reach it, the other wants to stop this happening.
You may not have noticed the big orb in the keep… Just in front of the entrance to VoA, next to the portal to Dalaran and the summoning stone.
You may not have noticed because it’s so big. It probably just fills your screen and becomes another piece of Blizzard artwork to ignore.
That is the objective!
- As defenders you don’t want the enemy breaking down the doors to touch it.
- As attackers, that Orb is more important than nearly anything.
The tools of victory.
Once you have scored 5 honor kills you reach the rank of Corporal. This entitles you to visit a workshop and get the plague spewing catapults.
These are primarily for use against other players, but can be used against walls and towers. They aren’t particularly effective, but they are better than trying to scrape the mortar from the walls with your dagger.
Once you get 20 HK’s you can use the bigger, more effective siege weapons.
Attackers use these to break down the keep walls, defenders use them to do laps of Wintergrasp.
But that’s not what they are for!
When you are attacking, it’s easy to see where to point your siege weapons. There’s a big keep with big walls, point your siege weapons at that and bring the walls down.
As defense it may not be so obvious, but trust me, there is a use for these machines of war, which I will get to in just a minute.
Make the Workshops work for you!
There are also 6 workshops scattered around the map, two of these within the keep.
Control of these provides 3 benefits.
- You can build machines (just to state the blatantly obvious)
- They determine the maximum number of machines each side can have. Every one you hold entitles you to 4 machines.
- Controlling the workshop controls it’s related graveyard.
Workshops can win games
They can definitely have a major effect on a game. If the defense has all the workshops, then that’s 24 machines for them and 0 for the attackers.
Remember it’s hard to break walls down with a dagger.
However it takes a fair bit of effort to take and keep all the workshops, so you are more likely to slow, but not stop the enemies advance.
I don’t know how many games have been lost once all the workshops have been taken by the defenders and they go on a midfield rampage forgetting the 1/2 dozen enemy in the courtyard.
Forget the Front lines!
OK, don’t forget the front lines, you need people manning the walls, repelling the enemy, giving your commando units time to win the game for you.
They have commando units now?
Yep, accepting anyone that knows that there are better ways to win a game than trading scorches outside the front gate.
They need to go deep behind the enemy lines, to the bottom of the map.
Their objective is two fold.
- Take the workshops
- Destroy the towers.
Some workshops are better to lose than others.
One mistake a defending team makes is pushing to take the closest workshops to the keep.
This isn’t bad per se, but will just extent the battle and make it harder for the commandos at the back line.
Just as in AV, where there are certain GY’s you want the enemy to hold because it means they will spawn where YOU want them, it’s the same in WG with the towers.
Where do you want the attackers to spawn?
Near your strongest defense, which is the keep. You have big walls, big guns, siege weapons and lots of spellcasting, whirlwinding and healing bodies.
As importantly, you want them to spawn away from you commandos.
It’s human nature when you Rez in WG, you run to either:
- The battlefront – preferably where there are lots of allied bodies, or
- A controlled workshop.
If the controlled workshops are near the allied bodies, people will charge there without thought.
While they are looking in the wrong direction…
So now you have all the attackers at the front line, your commandos can get to work.
Get the workshops.
Killing the guards will raise your rank, as will any attackers hanging around the back line.
The more of you there:
- The easier it is to repel the enemy
- The quicker you will take the Workshop and it’s graveyard.
Remember these workshops are taken by the number of warm bodies.
- One warm friendly body = slow capture
- One warm friendly body + one warm enemy body = standoff.
- One warm enemy body = slow loss.
The more warm friendly bodies you have, the quicker you can capture the workshop.
Get some kills at the Towers.
The place I usually start is in the enemy towers (or one of the back workshops). The guns count as HKs as well, so I take them out in relative safety, as well as the guards when they spawn, then head to the nearest backline workshop to get some more HKs, take control of the Workshop and build me a machine of destruction.
Destroy the towers and win the game.
All being well there are some other objective-savvy players around too, otherwise do your best to take down the towers (if you are defenders) or hold the towers (if you are offense).
The towers buy time.
The towers represent time.
- If the attackers control them, they can take their time and use their daggers on the walls if need be.
- If the defenders control them (destroy them) time will evaporate for the attackers.
As defenders you must take all 3 towed down ASAP! Doing so drops the timer down to a few minutes.
For even a strong attack this means they will score the achievement if they can do this. Most attacks are that strong.
I have been in winning sides where even after the enemy has entered the courtyard we have won because we got that 3rd tower down.
I have been on losing sides where the attackers don’t have any workshops, but they controlled the towers.
The majority of WG WTF losses (the ones where you appear to be in control, but still lose) are due to the towers still being up.
As the battle wears on, people start leaving the keep chasing HKs, while the enemy sneak in to win the game.
Get the Towers!
(Sorry Tam, it frustrates me that much)
Mr. Tree made an observation to me the other day, something I noticed as soon as I stopped running WG on Squidly and started on Gnome.
If you have a healer or two out side the front gates when you are attacking, you probably haven’t died.
No heals = quick and humiliating deaths = no HKs = no use of siege engines.
So please, if you can heal. HEAL!
At least until we get the siege engines rolling.
Gnomer and Out, Squidly and Stout!
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