Battleground

Battlegrounds are instanced areas solely used for the purposes of PvP. Each classic battleground - Warsong Gulch, Arathi Basin and Alterac Valley has two red instance entrance portals; one for the Alliance,and one for the Horde. Crossing these portals was originally one of the ways to enter the queue for that battleground. To enter the queue now, the player must seek out a Battlemaster — which can be found at the portal or in any capital city - or do so through the Player vs. Player tab. Once inside the instance, the two teams will engage in large-scale PvP with various and different objectives determining the winner. Players will earn one or more [Mark of Honor], using these along with honor points make PvP rewards available. (There is no durability penalty associated with death, except if you fall to your death).

If a character goes AFK, they will leave the battleground and gain the Deserter debuff. This prevents entry to another battleground for a 15 minute duration. You can report inactive players by right clicking on the player and selecting "Report AFK". When enough reports are registered, a 60 second debuff will begin to count down. Once the timer is up a new debuff will appear that will prevent the player from gaining any honor or marks while it is on. This debuff can be negated as soon as the player engages in PvP combat.

The two initial Battleground areas, Alterac Valley and Warsong Gulch, went live June 7th, 2005. Arathi Basin was added to the list in Patch 1.7 on September 13th, 2005. A fourth battleground, named Eye of the Storm, was released with the Burning Crusade. A fifth battleground, the Strand of the Ancients, was added in Wrath of the Lich King.

Existing Battlegrounds

Warsong Gulch

File:Warsong Gulch Graphic.jpg

The Warsong Gulch graphic

Factions: Silverwing Sentinels (Alliance), Warsong Outriders (Horde)

Alliance Base: Silverwing Hold
Alliance Entrance: Silverwing Grove
Horde Base: Warsong Lumber Mill
Horde Entrance: Mor'shan Base Camp

Levels: 10-19, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70-79, 80

Combatants: 10 per faction (5 minimum)

Map: On WorldofWarcraft.com

Arathi Basin

File:Arathi Basin Graphic.jpg

The Arathi Basin graphic

Factions: The League of Arathor (Alliance), The Defilers (Horde)

Alliance Base: Trollbane Hall
Alliance Entrance: Refuge Pointe

Horde Base: Defiler's Den
Horde Entrance:Hammerfall

Levels: 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70-79, 80
Combatants: 15 per faction (7 minimum)

Alterac Valley

File:Alterac Valley Graphic.jpg

The Alterac Valley graphic

Factions: Stormpike Guard (Alliance), Frostwolf Clan (Horde)

Alliance Base: Dun Baldar
Alliance Entrance: The Headland

Horde Base: Frostwolf Keep
Horde Entrance: North East of Sofera's Naze

Levels: 51-60, 61-70, 71-80

Combatants: 40 per faction (10 minimum)

Alterac valley is the most honor awarded in a battleground (aside from wintergrasp)

Eye of the Storm

File:Eye of the Storm Graphic.jpg

The Eye of the Storm graphic

Requires The Burning Crusade expansion.

Factions: There are no factions associated with the two sides.

Alliance Base: Not Applicable
Alliance Entrance: There is no exterior entrance. You can only enter by speaking with a Battlemaster located in a capital city.

Horde Base: Not Applicable
Horde Entrance: There is no exterior entrance. You can only enter by speaking with a Battlemaster located in a capital city.

Levels: 61-70, 71-79, 80

Combatants: 15 per faction (7 minimum)

Strand of the Ancients

Requires Wrath of the Lich King expansion.

Factions: There are no factions associated with the two sides.

Alliance Base: Not Applicable
Alliance Entrance: There is no exterior entrance. You can only enter by speaking with a Battlemaster located in a capital city.

Horde Base: Not Applicable
Horde Entrance: There is no exterior entrance. You can only enter by speaking with a Battlemaster located in a capital city.

Levels: 71-79, 80

Combatants: 15 per faction (7 minimum)

Future/Incomplete Battlegrounds

Azshara Crater

A reported future addition, but details are mostly speculative.

Tom Chilton: That was a battleground that was created pretty much at the same time that we were creating Alterac Valley...I've never really felt comfortable going forward with Azshara Crater until we finally feel like Alterac Valley really works the way we'd like it to work ... I don't want to make another "Alterac Valley" until we're pretty happy with Alterac Valley.

Blizzard info:

Caydiem: We're not making any new Battlegrounds in the near future. We naturally need to be careful about spreading the PvP community thin. That isn't to say we're not thinking about what we could do with a new Battleground, but I wouldn't expect anything anytime soon, no. (2006-01-20)[1]

Nathaera: There is one new battleground planned. (There may be more added in the future but we shall see.) Just to clear something up, The Caverns of Time are not Battlegrounds. (2006-10-11)[2]

Gurubashi Catacombs

A "deathmatch" style battleground that was scrapped and made into Arena PvP.

Upcoming battlegrounds

Blizzard poster Zarhym announced on March 23, 2009, that a new battleground was in the works. [3]

Blizzard Announced that the new Battleground will be Isle of Conquest. a new large-scale siege Battleground, will be open. The Horde and Alliance will battle head-to-head for control of strategic resources to lay siege to the keeps of their opponents. ^[1]

Notes

If you are the highest level in a bracket and you join the queue for that bracket it is possible to become 1 level higher than the maximum level for that bracket (with the exception of the level 80 bracket). This is done by joining the queue then leveling up to the next level. Since you are still in the queue for the bracket that is below your current level you will still enter the battleground of the bracket when you queued.

XP in Battlegrounds?

This article or section includes speculation, observations or opinions possibly supported by lore or by Blizzard officials. It should not be taken as representing official lore.

As the Wrath of the Lich King expansion release approached, rumors swirled that Blizzard might be adding XP gain into the battlegrounds, thus severely reducing one of the main PvP outlets for twinks. However, a Blizzard forum poster put that speculation to rest for the near future and said this will not happen when the expansion is released.^[2] As of Patch 3.1.2, battlegrounds do not award experience points.

Wowpedia

Battleground

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