Friday (23 Oct) - Wintergrasp

Friday (23 Oct) - Wintergrasp

Wintergrasp is a full pvp zone in Northrend. All I really know about it is that the faction (horde or alliance) that controls the fortress defends against the faction that attacks and tries to take it back. Once one side wins, that faction has control of the fortress until the next battle starts. Battles begin every two hours. Also note that only the fortress area is under faction control; the other areas of Wintergrasp are still open pvp zones. Wild figured that out some time ago when an alliance player took me out while I was fishing in Wintergrasp for the daily fishing quest.

JB is slowly gaining an appreciation for pvp vicariously through her young sister, Ezuh, as well as through the one on one jousting she's had to do. JB became intensely interested in Wintergrasp during her research of +hit gear - Wintergrasp gear, which can be purchased with special Stone Keeper's shards earned in WG, are loaded with +hit. But that hope was dashed when she discovered that all of that gear came from VoA, the 10/25 raid inside Wintergrasp, and can't be bought with the shards. Very little useful gear can be had from the shards. Sigh.

Despite that, JB remained interested enough to go find out what Wintergrasp was all about.

JB had the daily fishing quest that required fishing for "terrorfish" in Wintergrasp. The next WG battle was scheduled to start in the next thirty minutes. The only places Wild has ever been in WG is where he goes fishing, and the fortress itself. Well, the fortress was out because it was currently controlled by the Alliance. So JB went fishing. When she entered the zone she JB got a message asking if she wanted to join the queue. JB accepted, and went back to fishing. And what do you know, she was soon attacked by an allie. JB lost that fight and was killed.

The good news was that she discovered where the WG graveyard was. Then, on her way back to the river where her corpse was, she discovered the horde flight path. Now that was a great find, and she only saw it because she'd picked up a starter quest for WG and saw the "?" to complete that quest as she flew back.

The small horde camp sat next to a tributary of the main river, and while waiting for the battle to start JB finished up her fishing quest. I had no idea what to do or where to go. I figured I'd have to find a vehicle somehow in order to participate. There were a dozen or so players hanging around the camp, so JB decided she'd just follow them when the battle started. Later, I would figure out that the good players would already be assembling near the main objectives of the battle, engaging in a little pre-battle pvp with the defending alliance, and organizing the raid. Most of those at the horde camp were likely as new at this as JB. So it was kind of like the blind leading the blind when the battle officially started. Once the battle starts, everyone that queued is automatically assigned to a raid of up to forty. I'm not sure what the max number of players can be, but I think we had at least two raids going, so there were more than forty of us.

Flying is allowed in WG now, but everyone at the camp jumped on their ground mounts and charged off - in more than one direction. JB followed the largest group and soon found herself outside the walls of the fortress, where a massive pvp battle was in progress between allies and horde mostly on foot. JB joined in, targeting distant allies and blasting away. JB also found herself targeted, and even got some heals from other horde, but she was mostly on her own. Being a ranged DPS, and in a crowded battle like this, it was a blast tearing down alliance who couldn't really tell where all that firepower was coming from. JB's Lava Burst looks like a burning comet about the size of a basketball with a flaming tail, and seeing that coming at you . . . JB was having fun.

The vehicles began showing up, some used to attack the walls of the fortress to open breeches, others dropping plague bombs on the battlements to force defenders back, and more vehicles with a gunner to attack other vehicles and those on foot. Still on foot, JB targeted vehicles as well, and some of them were lightly armored enough that if they stayed in range JB was able to destroy them.

Of course JB died - many times, rezzing sometimes at the graveyard, sometimes at other areas as the horde forced the alliance back and took objectives. There are several structures where vehicles are built, and it's these areas we fought over, because ultimately whoever could put the most vehicles into the field were likely to win the battle. JB followed a small group from the graveyard to one of the vehicle factories. The two horde players got siege engines. JB couldn't get one of those behemoths because there is a ranking system based on enemy kills that determined which vehicles you can have. Although JB couldn't get a siege engine, she did get a catapult, a light, fast vehicle with it's main payload being those plague bombs. Catapults don't have a second seat for a gunner, so JB had to drive, target, and fire the catapult, which made for some crazy out of control driving at times, particularly when she started taking fire. Catapults don't last long, JB quickly learned, but she did manage to get some plague bombs onto the defending battlements before her catapult was destroyed and she was back on foot.

In the end the horde retook the fortress, winning the battle. JB got 20 stone keeper's shards (most of them from one time only starter quests, so that number was unusually high). The only item that JB cares about that can be bought with shards is the heirloom shoulder, which can be shared with other players in an account (listen up, Ezuh :-) ). It takes 200 shards to buy it, though, so no one hold your breath.

JB now has 93 lifetime honor kills (HKs) - she got 79 of those kills in that WG battle.

Wintergrasp is a level 80 area, but you don't have to be level 80 to join in the fun. You should give it a try, sometime, erik, with DER.

From WG, JB headed over to the Argent tournament grounds to continue her training. She decided to represent the city of Thunder Bluff, and made that official. Now she has a new set of three dailies to do if she wants to continue to advance and collect seals to buy goodies with. Two of the three quests require a higher level of skill in jousting that will again try JB's patience and skill.

A final note on the Argent tournament: With the coming of patch 3.3, it appears that the Argent Tournament will end. The tournament grounds will still be there, but with the coming of Icecrown Citadel in 3.3, the "games" will be over and the real battle will begin. The grounds will become a staging area to launch attacks directly on the Citadel. Whatever JB (and DER?) need to get out of the Argent tournament had best be done before the release of patch 3.3, which is already active on the test realm. Even Wild might want to complete up to JB's current level - that +43 hit necklace would be nice around Wild's feathery moonkin neck.