WoW PvP: 5 Reasons Why Alliance Doesn't Win Alterac Valley

I've noticed lately, and especially since WoW patch 2.3, that the alliance loses Alterac Valley a lot more than it used to. In my experience, Alterac Valley was one of the few battlegrounds (a.k.a. "BG") that you might consistently count on to get some decent honor, and that was mostly due to the fact that Alliance forces would ride in, skip everything, and down the final boss-Drekk-of the horde forces.

I'm sure I'm not alone in realizing that this simply isn't the case anymore. If you want to see just how bad it's been for me lately, look at this simple table of relevant information:

W-L---Time---Estimated honor---BG-type

1-0 12:00 am 2843 AV
1-1 12:15 am 3055 AV
1-2 12:31 am 3245 AV
1-3 12:46 am 3538 AV
1-4 1:05 am 3703 AV
1-5 1:18 am 3877 AV

Several things to keep in mind here: the "Estimated honor" column represents how much honor I had at the end of that particular battleground. Similarly, the "Time" column represents the time (EST) at the end of that particular battleground.

Of course this graph only represents 6 games, so in the larger picture, it may not speak to any general pattern-that is, a pattern of the alliance consistently losing across all servers-and that limitation needs to be kept in mind. However, I will say that this data is fairly consistent with what I've experienced lately. Loss after loss. The question I want to address here is simply this: why can't we win??

Reason 1: Allies don't protect newly captured graveyards

Allies are great at getting out of the start area and making their way quickly to the first important enemy graveyard-Ice Blood-but after capturing it most of the players just keep riding.

Before Alterac Valley was significantly changed, there was no need to protect newly captured graveyards that were a significant distance from the endpoint: Drekk's fortress. If you moved fast, you could kill Drekk with only a couple of graveyards captured.

Blizzard realized that this made for rather mundane play, so they changed Alterac Valley around such that each faction now has reserve forces. These reserves are non-playable characters but capturing graveyards is important in maintaining a sufficient number of them. If either faction drops to 0 reserves, that faction loses.

In the games I lose, the allies don't protect newly captured graveyards and thus allow horde players to recapture them undetected. This is doubly bad: it can lead to diminished reserves and it effectively ends any possibility for alliance players to mount a comeback.

Reason 2: Alliance players don't think killing Capt. Galv is important

Blizzard's change to Alterac Valley also increases the importance of NPC's, in particular mini-bosses such as Captain Galv on the horde side. Alliance players are used to skipping him because technically you don't need to kill Galv in order to win the battleground. Under the old rules, the way to win was to simply kill the opposing factions end boss. While you received bonus honor for killing the opposing factions captains, it was completely unnecessary.

In the revamped Alterac Valley, failing to kill the captain not only depletes your reserves faster, it also makes you lose out on a lot of additional honor points. Even if the alliance loses a particular Alterac Valley, for instance, if they did take out Galv they probably will end up with an additional 100 honor points, roughly (bonus honor is contingent on many factors, so this is just a rough approximation).

In contrast, in every single Horde victory that I can remember, Horde players took out the allies' captain.

Reason 3: Lack of healers?

One reason why horde players seem to be more resilience isn't because they necessarily have better gear than alliance players--though I've certainly seen my share of players who think this is the case-it's because they have more players who specialize in healing, rather than doing damage.

It's kind of hard to compare just how many healers the horde has over the alliance, but the simple truth is that I've experienced more healers and I highly doubt this to be anomalous. Horde players heal: shamans heal and paladins in particular, as compared to the alliance. Based on several hours' worth of trying to figure this discrepancy out, I'd say that the number of horde healers in a given Alterac Valley trumps the number of alliance healers by about 2x.

Now why could this be? Well, one theory has to do with demographics. Many players seem to think that average horde player is older than the average alliance player. I'm not at all sure about this: its hard to tell and I don't know where to get that sort of information from, even if there was a way to tell. That said, there is something to be said for what this position presupposes: younger players may be more apt to want to do damage and see big critical hits on their opponents, even if their class can heal (and not every one can). Alternatively, if horde players are older maybe they've accepted what their chosen classes can and can't do. So for instance, maybe older players tend to accept that paladins can do some damage, but their ability to stay alive and heal through lots of damage received is phenomenal.

Reason 4: Lower average level

One thing I can vouch for is that there seems to be more lower leveled alliance players than horde players. I can't remember the last time I saw a level 61 horde player in an Alterac Valley. I'm sure they exist, but I can't recollect them.

On the contrary, in my past 10 battlegrounds I've counted an average of 7 alliance players lower than level 65 per battleground. Given that most AV's feature 40 players, 7 is significant compared to 0.

If alliance has lower leveled players, it means a general lack of gear selection, unfulfilled talents and abilities, and gear that's comparatively pitiful.

Reason 5: Alliance players seem to be meaner to one another

My friend players a horde level 70 rogue but he used to play a level 70 alliance rogue. He's experienced both worlds and has confirmed what I've seen posted many times in the WoW forums: horde players communicate better and aren't as "jerky" to each other.

Out of 6 recorded battlegrounds above, only one started without use of derogatory terms or completely irrelevant chatter. The battleground chat is flooded with negative emotive language. It's highly annoying for those who want to actually win. It makes communication really difficult, and it's just unnecessary.

Conclusion: What can be done about these issues?

I'm not going to say that these reasons are completely sound. They are theories and explanations, not facts. That said, I think they represents a kind of standard that's been imbued in alliance players' skulls: alliance stinks at PvP and always will.

What steps could Blizzard take to address these kinds of concerns? I've got a few suggestions.

First, give players the ability to kick other players for perceived lack of sincerity and/or decent attitude. This would be similar in function to the newly implemented ability to vote to kick players that are obviously not at their keyboards and thus not contributing to the effort.

Second, and I'm completely serious (because its gotten this bad), conduct some sort of demographic survey so that the players can know the average age of their factions player base. At the very least, access to this information would help confirm the idea that horde players are more mature than alliance players simply because they tend to be older.

I realize that this isn't a game-breaking obstacle. WoW PvP is still very fun despite the fact that I always anticipate losing. That said, I think steps can be taken and I think players should start addressing this issue rather than motivate it.