The NPCs are far too weak in 80 AV relative to the power level/gearing of characters so it’s easy to take out Drek/Vann with 2 towers up.
That’s very difficult to do in 71-79 AV. The NPCs hit a lot harder, and so you get a lot more competitive games where you end up with defensive strategies mattering a lot more. Most of the time, each team has to get down all 4 towers to have a chance at Drek/Vann. That’s what 80 AV should be.
71-79 AVs are similar to what classic 51-60 AVs were like. It’s actually fun to play games where there’s 40 horde fighting 40 alliance near SH GY or 25-30 alliance are trying to take the horde base against 10-15 defenders.
I never thought I’d be the one posting a thread like this as somebody that’s spent 99% of their time on their main before WOTLK, but now I’ve switched almost completely to playing BGs on this character which I’ve decided to freeze at level 79.
I used to do the daily BG on my main every day despite being honor capped…, but now I just do it on this alt.
And this is true of all the BGs, not just AV. I’ve been disappointed with 80 PVP, but 70-79 PVP feels way more true to what PVP was like in classic/TBC.
So if you’ve been disappointed with 80 PVP, make an alt and freeze it at 79. There’s plenty of games with limited queue times (lots of levelers in the 70-79 range) and you get a good variety of games.
And this is my main, just wanted to post about this for those who’ve been looking for the best PVP experience. I think it’s in the 70-79 bracket to be frank.
I’ve been leveling my dwarf priest and can confirm 70-79 AV is really fun. Usually lots of pvp going on, large and small group. Not sure if I want to gear the dwarf priest when I ding (79 now) or go right to my 70 mage and do it again.
At 80 it’s only fun if a group of you intentionally sabotage the pve race via Galv defense or big clash in mid.
Way ahead of you. I have 3 x 79’s and 0 (zero) lvl 80’s. Lvl 80 is a bait. It’s just a never ending gear grind. 79 pvp is where the fun is at for casual BGs. You can just use full brutal or the crafted pvp gear and you’re good to go. People in the 70-79 bracket also try really hard to win since experience gains are on the line.
Level 80 AV is already a faceroll in Phase 1, what’s it going to be like when tanks can handle Drek/Vann + 4 marshals all at once?
Unless there’s massive buffs to the NPCs, it’s just going to get much worse. Every AV will be 2-3 min eventually, not sure how that’s “fun”.
Yeah, the offensive/defensive possibilities are really what makes it enjoyable. There’s so many opportunities to foil the other team when each side really has to get all 4 towers down to take down Vann/Drek.
And that lends itself to a lot of PVP opportunities, in the bases/towers/recapping/etc. It’s not just a pure base race like at 80.
how is the 70-79 bracket more fun? Have you actually played it? It’s all multiboxing DK bots that gold farmers use, they automate bgs to lvl to 80…how is that fun
its all over wow classic reddit with full videos of full 10 man wsg all dk bots in lvl 58 starter gear lvling in 71-79 bgs lol it’s insane, funny to see but it’s diff not fun.
Yes there are DK bots, but there’s just as many people “going through the motions” at 80 as 70-79.
AV at 71-79 avoids the 70 bots, but still has some issues.
Still, the numbers are nowhere near as bad as either of you claim; I’ve been playing dozens of 70s BGs every day the past 2-3 weeks and the numbers aren’t as crazy as they were at first when it seemed like half of the BGs were DK bots.
Yeah, I remember seeing that thread on 79 twinking a few months ago and being “who would stop at 79 when 80 is right there for endgame”, but now I completely understand. It’s like getting off the endgame hamster wheel and just enjoying BGs.
The 70s BGs are far more competitive and the players actually want to win (in part for better EXP gains) instead of just saying “let’s lose fast for max honor per hour” the moment things start looking unfavorable.
And the gear level stays flat which means there’s no gear grind past getting Brutal gear or crafting a blue gear set. That will also help in the sense that AV won’t become more trivialized as it does at endgame as later tiers make the NPCs seem far too weak in the 80 bracket.