The Art of War(craft): Strand of the Ancients part III
Final notes
Strand of the Ancients is one of the most efficient Battlegrounds from which to farm Honor because it has a guaranteed time to end and because players have the opportunity to both attack and defend. Unfortunately, as important as those roles are, manning cannons or siege vehicles grant less Honor because it grants less Honor from player kills. However, attackers gain bonus Honor for each gate destroyed while defenders gain bonus Honor for every gate that remains intact at the end of the timer or match. Bonus Honor is also awarded for capturing or defending the Titan Relic.
Three Strand of the Ancients Marks of Honor are awarded to the members of the winning faction at the end of the match, and one for the losing faction. In the event of a tie -- which can happen if neither team captures the relic at the end of ten minutes or, however unlikely, both teams capture it in exactly the same time -- players are awarded one mark each. These marks can stack up to 100 and are only usable in conjunction with other Battlegrounds Marks of Honor to complete the repeatable PvP quests Concerted Efforts (A) or For Great Honor (H). The Strand of the Ancients marks replace the Alterac Valley marks from the older versions of the quests. This quest awards 930 bonus Honor.
The associated factions for the Battleground are the Valiance Expedition for the Alliance and the Warsong Offensive for the Horde, although no reputation is gained from either faction when playing in it. Players starting at Level 71 may queue for Strand of the Ancients through the various Battlemasters in major cities and the portals in Dalaran or Wintergrasp.There are two brackets for the Battleground, Level 71-79 and Level 80. The only difference aside from the level spread is that tanks and cannons have 50,000 hp and 25,000 hp in the Level 71-79 bracket respectively.
Zach would like to spread the love for PvP around
. In what he attempts to be a weekly endeavor, he writes about Arenas, Battlegrounds, and world PvP in one column. He talks about how Patch 3.0.8 changes PvP here and here.
