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Reddit user wins AV like a real champion
Alterac Valley has been a brutal contest between the Alliance and the Horde since the beginning of World of Warcraft. The Battleground has gone through radical redesigns over the years, but one thing has remained the same -- Alterac Valley has always held a powerful, destructive secret for the brave to exploit when there was otherwise no hope for victory. Reddit user frodwith posted a tale of an epic AV battle, an Alliance team on the ropes, and a force awakened in the snowy chasm that has not seen the light of day in long, long time. When a full team of Horde multiboxers (players who use multiple characters simultaneously) garrisoned themselves into Drek'thar's keep to farm honor, the Alliance had to take drastic measures. Some people do not even know of the existence of Ivus the Forest Lord or Lokholar the Ice Lord, two nasty NPCs that are spawnable by turning in the faction's respective items. After a summoning ritual, the faction's NPC will spawn and set upon a path of destruction all the way to the enemy leader's keep. I think you can see where this story might go. With Drek'thar heavily guarded and an expert team of computer-assisted players between the Alliance and victory, everyone worked together to begin the summoning rituals. Read the full story on Reddit for a fun, nostalgic time of triumph and PvP adversity.
Around Azeroth: Alterac Valley revisited
A reader that we will just refer to as Mark sent us this amazing screenshot from Wrath of the Lich King's revamp of Alterac Valley. No, no. These three aren't on defense, nor are they AFKing. No sir. In fact, they're the offense. It turns out in Wrath, you don't even need to leave home base to win. Drek'thar and Vanndar come to you. It's a little unbalanced though, Drek'thar isn't very good at crossing bridges.Seriously though, Mark says him and a few buddies were taking a little break (and drinking a little ale) after defending Stonehearth from a few waves of Hordies and he decided to snap this picture. If you have any pictures our readers might like, sharing it is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wow.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next! Remember to include your player name, server and/or guild if you want it mentioned. We prefer full screen shots without the UI showing -- use alt-Z to remove it. And, please, no more sunsets! Unless it's a sunset full of delicious candy that I may eat to sate my undying hunger for flesh. I mean sugar.%Gallery-1816%
AFK punishment is still just a band-aid
The AFK problem has been with us for a long time now, and ever so suddenly Blizzard has decided to step up and enforce a new form of punishment on their side, to take away honor and PvP rewards from people who have been reported AFK a lot. Definitely this is an improvement, and it should help to discourage this unfair practice, yet at the same time it's not a true solution.As Drysc said, the problem isn't just a matter of punishing people who break the rules, it's finding out why they are doing this, and change their incentives, so that they don't want to break the rules in the first place. Our reader Aviel has some insights as to why people AFK and how to fix it, and she (or he) has posted her excellent analysis on the official WoW forums.In short her argument is that, while Blizzard is trying to develop PvP content that is "fun, competitive, and compelling," players are generally making "game theory" decisions, about how to maximize their honor gain in the time they have to play. Fun is definitely an element, but overall, if people can't earn enough honor to make their time worthwhile in a particular battleground, they will quit or seek alternatives. She points out that as long as honor is a kind of currency to be spent, people will choose the method with the easiest honor gain over the one they enjoy most (which can lead to get-rich-quick schemes such as AFKing). She leaves her solutions to this problem for the Suggestions forum (though I could not find her actual post there), but posters in that thread share some ideas, and there are many other player suggestions out there as well. Of course Blizzard is tight-lipped about their own solutions so far, but we can rest assured that they care about the issue and plan to do something about it.
