Does anyone know what actually determines which faction holds WG when there’s multiple games? As far as I can tell it seems to be whoever wins the last running game, but has Blizzard confirmed this anywhere?
edit - it’s bugged specifically for arugal alliance.
Its odd. I lost the last game and when i zoned out i had the buff.
Back when you could just spam queue it, I’d see aliiance win 3 or 4 out of the 4 games (both defending and attack) and then still not get it.
Probably usual horde bias bull 
If anyone on your faction queues into a winning game, it is available for everyone on that faction.
So I would assume it ends up being open to both factions at all times. The fortress is just phased separately for each faction so you have access to your NPCs.
That is 100% not how it works
Are you sure? I have had the buff 100% of the time outside of the 30mins when you can queue into the battle itself.
The way it works now is on a cross server queue bg much like retail.
However… If anyone on your faction wins ANYONE the entire faction has control of WG but this also applies to the opposite faction so with that being said Horde and Alliance will have WG at all times
No one holds it now, much like blizzards dev team, everyone wins and gets a participation trophy now, even when they do a horrible job, just like the blizzard dev team.
At what point we’re you ever able to spam queue wintergrasp? I know in retail you can but that wasn’t added until way later. Like WoD maybe?
Everybody holds wintergrasp simultaneously at all times. As long as I win WG within the 30 minute queue my faction on my server will hold WG for the 3 hours. And if the opposite faction has one person who wins a game in that same 30 minutes they also hold WG for that 3 hours. The confusing part is the layers that make it work.
To be fair it wintergrasp should be like this. It’s a terribly designed battle that is extremely one sided. Not to mention most servers end up being one sided and then that side will have wintergrasp at all times.
something is bugging the WG. I won and didnt get buff also. no idea what is happening can someone help
i figured it out… ITS PHASE BASED SWAP PHASES !@#!#!@ I Changed layers and it opened an gave me buff and vendor
I have 100% won wintergrasp, flown over, and horde had control. Which means we cannot use the vendor.
Idk if you guys have actually played the game or are just speculating? There is only one npc, on a mammoth, and he is either a horde npc or an alliance npc. In the same spot. There are not two npcs. There can’t be. There is literally no concept of both factions holding it.
Maybe that worked for you, I’ve tried layering and it didnt work. There are 3 layers typically on my server (there were at the time), and despite coming off a win none had the vendor.
When the game goes down to one layer, or on smaller servers, this wouldn’t solve the problem anyway. I also don’t see what layers on ONE realm would have to do with it when the wg bg itself is CROSSREALM
XD
Even now you can spam queue it, if you know how.
Sounds like a bug.
Yes, through the magic of phasing, the keep belongs to your faction and the horde are on their phase in the keep that belongs to them!
I encourage you to go read the official explanation about it
In Wrath of the Lich King Classic, this works in a fairly simple way, if anyone on your faction participates in and wins a Battle for Wintergrasp, your entire faction is granted the Essence of Wintergrasp and the buff will last until the next time the battle is initiated.
You guys are confusing having the stonekeeper shard buff from actually CONTROLLING wintergrasp.
Let me break it down for you.
1 person on your faction wins a wg = you get the buff, yay.
A faction controlling WG:
No, you are the one confused here. The buff is all of this:
Another important element of the Battle for Wintergrasp was the buff conveyed to the winning faction– Essence of Wintergrasp . This buff allows you access to additional content, such as being able to fight the Elemental enemies in the Wintergrasp zone after the battle, as well as access to Stone Keeper Shards; a special currency that players could use to purchase powerful items such as mounts, item enchantments, and recipes. Lastly and perhaps most important, this buff also conveys access to the raid zone— the Vault of Archavon.
Ok great, let me know how spending those shards on anything other than a head or shoulder enchant works out for ya