Alterac Valley in Classic

[Chicachica-dark-iron]

I knew you’d ruin Classic AV. I knew it. Most of us want the ‘hard’ AV from Vanilla. But, you just proved your not giving us what we really want. I was looking forward to Classic …but, now I know your just going to keep screwing us. So, I won’t be playing Classic after all.

[Cleavis-magtheridon]

When I think of Vanilla AV, I think of patch 1.5… that was the AV that lasted the longest throughout vanilla.

You can disagree about whichever versions were most or least enjoyable, but 1.5 to 1.8 was four months.

1.11 to 2.0 was six.

[Argaio-emerald-dream]

This is the patch where classic AV died. It isn’t classic at all.

The feeling on AV classic was on both faction organizing their objectives in order to win the “Tug of War”, by summoning riders, elementals and giving insignias to commanders to get wind riders.

In 1.12, these features almost disappeared because both factions just started to ignore each other. AV turned into PVE rush instead of PvP battleground.

Please, reconsider this decision and give us the TRUE Alterac Valley classic. Not that garbage.

[Pärker-wyrmrest-accord (Pärker)]

Exactly what I expected, thanks for the update anyway. Keep on keepin on blizz.

[Chicachica-dark-iron]

“Exactly” …why can’t they understand that!

[Brokenwind-malganis (Brokenwind)]

@Kaivax

This is a subject that has been asked about several times recently, and we want to clarify some of the details surrounding it. Like many aspects of the game, Alterac Valley was tuned and adjusted in different ways from patch to patch in 2005-2006.

First and foremost, we’re planning to use the 1.12 version of Alterac Valley. For many parts of the game like this, we’re picking an original WoW patch that gives us the most clarity for WoW: Classic, and 1.12 is that patch.

In Alterac Valley, that puts us before the introduction of reinforcements. It puts us before the removal of all of the Commanders and Lieutenants. The only win conditions are the killing of Drek’thar in Frostwolf Keep or Vanndar Stormpike in Dun Baldar.

It gives us several early improvements to the BG that we’re glad to have in place. Early on in AV, there were too many NPCs and they were too hard to kill. By 1.12, many had been removed and NPC health was brought down to a reasonable level. Turning in armor scraps is an encouraged, supportive activity by this point. Many capture points (mostly graveyards) had been moved away from their initial placements to gain better balance across the map. Korak the Bloodrager was removed, and killing opposing players no longer drops items like Dwarf Spines, Orc Teeth, or Human Bone Chips. Gross.

In our content plan update, we mentioned that we’re still working out exactly how and when PvP elements of Classic will roll out. We’ll update you on that here very soon.

Peace out. You lot are completely tone deaf, and either inept and incapable of pulling it off, or just lazy.

You’ve just made PSs a better alternative.

[Stimpäk-proudmoore]

Great job on this update! Glad we aren’t getting a frankenpatch

[Sharonah-tichondrius]

Why not implement the best parts of AV from all the classic patches?.. So we get a good hybrid between the day long AV’s and the boring 15 zerg fests?

Ohh, I remember now… cuz the #nochanges people are idiots.

[Argaio-emerald-dream]

And I’m going to join you. After we cap SF, we will retake SHGY and start the turtle we love.

[Mcpurple-muradin]

I knew you’d ruin Classic AV. I knew it. Most of us want the ‘hard’ AV from Vanilla. But, you just proved your not giving us what we really want. I was looking forward to Classic …but, now I know your just going to keep screwing us. So, I won’t be playing Classic after all.

To be intentionally snarky… see you when Classic launches.

Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. AV is just a tip of Classic. If you wanted Classic because of a specific battleground of a specific patch, then it probably wasn’t going to end well for you anyway you slice it.

[Luuni-area-52]

AV wasn’t very popular, While some people enjoyed the mix of PVP and PVE, most did not. Thx! - John Staats

Hello people complaining. This is a quote from John Staats. John was on the original Warcraft team and designed Molten Core and Warsong Gultch. John was a level designer in Vanilla. So he would have a bit of insight as to why AV was changed throughout AV.

Don’t blame Blizzard. Blame the authentic Vanilla players in 2004-2006 who begged Blizzard to change AV. People in original Vanilla, the actual Vanilla players, asked for changes.

So this is authentic.

https://www.reddit.com/r/classicwow/comments/9fb2bo/john_staats_ama_author_of_the_world_of_warcraft/e5ymu7a/

[Igotsoul-deathwing (Igotsoul)]

I want to do turn ins and summon wolf riders and wyvern bombers.
I want to turn in bloods and summon Lokholar the Ice Lord to break the enemy lines.

1.12 AV completely bypasses the coolest parts of the BG.

[Dealloc-dethecus (Dealloc)]

Why not implement the best parts of AV from all the classic patches?.. So we get a good hybrid between the day long AV’s and the boring 15 zerg fests?

Ohh, I remember now… cuz the #nochanges people are idiots.

[Chicachica-dark-iron]

Nope. I won’t bother. AV and SS VS TM were my ultimate favorites. Rushing to the end boss isn’t AV to me.

[Angry-maelstrom]

I have a feeling some of the people complaining didn’t even know who Korak was until it was mentioned that he wouldn’t be in AV.

[Hathosse-moknathal]

Except that we’ve seen the massive popularity of the original Alterac Valley on Nostalrius. People loved it. Nostalrius, by the way, is a shutdown private server of which Blizzard invited the developers to meet with, to discuss how they did things, and gather community reactions.

Btw, I like how these new arguments are coming up, hours later, as everything else is being debunked. You can read the comments. You can see the overwhelming support for the Original AV.

Furthermore, hindsight is 20/20. Those players did not know what would happen to AV. They didn’t know that it would become devoid of PvP and exist only for people to rush past each other to kill the boss.

[Derkarn-area-52]

I have a feeling some of the people complaining didn’t even know who Korak was until it was mentioned that he wouldn’t be in AV.

I wonder how many of them remember how stupidly easy he was to kill in 1.5? I wonder how many of them remember that he had to be buffed in 1.6?

[Fifi-hakkar (Fifi)]

Thanks for update. Was hoping for having the summoning bosses in, but can’t complain since the plan is what was in classic, so it’s good to know what to expect.

[Deloch-thrall]

This is very disappointing. The ‘real’ AV to me was from 1.5 to 1.8. I remember being increasingly bummed about the changes to it after that.

To be fair, 1.12 wasn’t the worst version of AV.

I understand that if you didn’t have awesome gear and a group with you the NPCs where a pain in the butt, so if you don’t want to go with 1.5 I understand…but can we at least compromise on 1.8?

[Grimtoke-runetotem]

Ivus?

Is it even real AV if half the raid isn’t yelling “SUMMON IVUS!!1!” the entire time?