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Wrath 101: Honor points
One of our site leads, Dan O'Halloran, asked me a question that surprised me yesterday. He asked me what he was supposed to do with Honor points and where he could spend them. See, Dan isn't a huge fan of PvP. In fact, he only happened to try out the wonderfully fun and crazy Wintergrasp in between exploring on his brand-spankin' new epic wings. I think he found it fun enough to play it again. This brought us to the conclusion that maybe, just maybe, a whole lot of players are going to be accumulating Honor pretty soon without them knowing it. He thinks that a lot of players, mostly strictly-PvE carebears, would be curious enough about Wintergrasp to try it out... and hopefully enjoy it enough to play it again. I hope so, too. This means a whole lot of players who'd never PvP'd before, like Dan, for example, would need some sort of guide on Honor points and what to do with them. Here's where we step in with this handy little Honor overview.
Wrath Dailies: Wintergrasp daily quests
So now you know all about the zone, familiarized yourself with the gameplay, and have some sort of idea on the strategies on how to win it, let's have a look at the daily quests associated with the zone. The cool thing about Wintergrasp dailies is that they are the only source of Stone Keeper's Shards outside of dungeon bosses and the only way to obtain them whether or not your faction controls Wintergrasp. The Wintergrasp dailies are also an excellent source of Honor and some can be done without actually doing any PvP whatsoever, which is a strange new trend in Wrath of the Lich King, where the PvP side of the game is accessible entirely through PvE. The very first daily quest is self-explanatory -- Victory in Wintergrasp, which requires players to win a battle for the zone. Alliance players get this quest from the Tactical Officer Abrahmis, while Horde players get it from Tactical Officer Kilrath. If you control the zone, these NPCs can be found in front of Wintergrasp Keep, where the Titan Relic is housed. If you don't, they can be found in the landing camps on the East or West. The quest seems to be currently unavailable in the game, as it has been very buggy and many players have reported not completing the quest even after a victory and having the requisite Rank. I'm certain the quest will return in bug-free form with Patch 3.0.8, if not hotfixed sooner. Completing the quest awards one Stone Keeper's Shard, 13 Gold 23 Silver, and 1241 Honor at Level 80. %Gallery-39251%
Wrath 101: The Vault of Archavon
So you've won Wintergrasp. Now what? Well, the very first thing that most players do when they wrest or maintain control of the zone is head into the Vault of Archavon. The vault is a raid instance accessible only to members of the faction that control Wintergrasp. It is one of the more important reasons why control of Wintergrasp is so important. Archavon the Stone Watcher is an extremely easy raid boss who drops pieces of Tier 7 and Arena gear. In short, he means free epics.While there are no level restrictions to entering Wintergrasp (though if you can't fly you'll either have to take the portal or be summoned), players must be Level 80 and in a raid group in order to enter the Vault of Archavon raid instance. It's a very short raid with exactly four trash mobs who have special abilities, but are essentially tank and spank and prepare the raid for how the boss will be like. Archavon is a DPS race.
The Art of War(craft): Wintergrasp
Now that you've familiarized yourselves with the zone and Wintergrasp gameplay, it's time to look at the strategies used in order to win. As you can probably guess, the strategies for offense and defense are somewhat different. Playing defense, you must play for the full 40 minutes in order to win while playing offense, you want to finish the game as quickly as possible. If the timer hits ten minutes and offense hasn't broken down the doors to the inner sanctum, it's in trouble.Just like other Battlegrounds, organization goes a long way. Unlike other Battlegrounds, however, you won't automatically be grouped into a raid, so a lot of the time players will be looking to join a group when the battles start. As long as you know what you're supposed to do, you should be fine, though. The good thing about the zone is that the map will show you where battles are and where vehicle movement is taking place, so even if you're going solo, you'll have an idea of where to head for some action. %Gallery-39429%
Wrath 101: The battle for Wintergrasp
Now that you've taken a look at the zone, it's time to understand how to play the game. The battle for Lake Wintergrasp is one of the most fun parts of the game today -- it's certainly my favorite thing, such that I sometimes only log in whenever I know there's a battle. The great thing about Wintergrasp is that there are numerous battles throughout the day. It's the game's best mini-game, and I'm looking forward to seeing it get even more awesome as more and more players reach Level 80 and Blizzard makes improvements to the zone. Pre-game An hour before each battle, an NPC in Dalaran -- Arcanist Braedin for the Alliance and Magister Surdiel for the Horde -- will yell that a battle will soon begin. He will repeat this battle cry again at thirty, fifteen, ten, and five minutes in order to alert the inhabitants of Dalaran to hopefully drive players into going to the zone. To make it easy, portals to Wintergrasp appear at the Silver Enclave and Sunreaver's Sanctuary. Generally, a portal to Wintergrasp appears in Dalaran for the controlling faction and observably disappears about an hour before battles begin. This usually means that defenders must make their way through flying mounts into the zone before the battle begins or wait until the game ensues whereupon their faction's respective Wintergrasp Battle-Mages will open a portal to allow reinforcements. Defenders will port directly in front of Wintergrap Keep, where the Titan Relic is housed, while players on offense will port into their respective landing camps -- the Horde on the West side, and the Alliance on the East. %Gallery-39429%%Gallery-39251%
Wrath 101: Wintergrasp zone overview
These days, my schedule revolves around partitions of two and a half hours. This is the time I allot for meals, errands, work, showers, and most other mundane things. In between those two and a half hours, I take a break from whatever I'm doing and play ten to forty minutes of Wintergrasp. Ever since I made my way into the zone, I've made it my second home in the World of Warcraft. I log out in Wintergrasp about as often as I do in Dalaran. I know I said that PvP is sort of pointless right now, but Wintergrasp is the most fun I've had in Wrath and the game in a while. Nowadays, whenever I dream, I dream of siege vehicles and exploding walls and towers.Wintergrasp is the smallest zone in Northrend, bordered by Sholazar Basin, Icecrown, and Dragonblight. It is a PvP zone, which flags all players entering it for PvP. This isn't an issue on PvP servers, but on normal or RP servers, this makes everyone in the zone fair game. There is no physical way to access Wintergrasp other than through a flying mount, creating a natural Level barrier of 77 although lower-level players can be summoned or take the portal from Dalaran. It is my favorite zone in Wrath of the Lich King, although it isn't without its flaws. %Gallery-39251%
Wrath 101: Farming for Eternals
So you're level 80. What now? Raiding? PvP? Hah, no, not really. It's time to start farming mats for... everything! When you're off farming, Eternals (the Wrath equivalent of Primals) are probably on the top of your list. We've had a lot of people asking us what the best places for Eternal farming are, so we're here with the answer.Below is a quick guide to the best spots for every type of Elemental Eternal in Wrath of the Lich King, and it's assumed that you have Cold Weather Flying when you're out farming. Most of the best farming spots aren't exactly tuned for players lower than level 77, and you can't get to the really awesome spots at all. So hold off on your farming until you're 80, or near 80. It will make your life easier.
