WoW Classic Alterac Valley guide - kill them Generals!

As the release of the official World of Warcraft Classic server was announced, some of you may have thought about queueing for some Alterac Valley action. Those of you who will enter Vanilla for the first time might find this guide very useful. Those who are familiar with hours-long gameplay may want some reminders. 

What is Alterac Valley

Geographically Alterac Valley is an alpine territory located north of Hillsbrad Foothills in the northeastern part of the continent.

Historically Alterac Valley is the place where Frostwolf orc clan took refuge after being exiled by Gul’Dan. The tribe led by respected shaman Drek’Thar made Alterac Valley its home and remained there even after Thrall’s departure to Orgrimmar. They have lived there peacefully until a dwarven expedition led by Vanndar Stormpike arrived to search for mining goods and relics (are we Horde biased…? Naaaa). 

The fight for this territory gave birth to the PvP battleground and became the foundation of the conflict.

What is battleground in Classic WoW?

Alterac Valley, along with Arathi Basin and Warsong Gulch, is a WoW Classic battleground. Battlegrounds are basically isolated instances designed for PvP. However, Alterac Valley was meant to be the true PvEvP, as there were many NPCs to play around on your way to the enemy base.

In order to score a win in PvP battleground, the team has to meet certain requirements. You need to collect supplies, capture the flag, or fulfill some side quests. Winning the PvP battleground is important, as it influences your honor gains overall. This is why players love these types of activities. You also have the additional factor of going into PvP battle with a human being, not NPC, which further improves the World of Warcraft Classic experience.

To avoid level discrepancy, there are level brackets specific for each battleground. In an advanced PvP every advantage matters.

You have the Alterac Valley details right below.

What are Alterac Valley Win conditions

Also referred to as ‘rules’ - these are requirements that have to be met in order to win the battlegrounds fight. In Alterac Valley, the ultimate goal is to slay the opposing General.

You can fulfill side quests on top of that which would give you a window of opportunity to easily enter enemy base and defeat the General. The side activities are, however, optional. In theory, you can 40-man zerg-rush enemy base and attempt to defeat the boss. In practice, most likely, you’ll get a whopping. It was patch-dependant, but we'll get onto it later on.

It is best for you to read this guide to learn how to lead your team to victory properly, and prevent enemies from killing your General.

How to play Alterac Valley

The gameplay was changing over the course of time, patch after patch, as Alterac Valley constantly suffered from being an insanely long-lasting one. If you wanted to go for the original Alterac Valley games, you needed a large time window, as it could take two days to finish (some people claim even more). Blizzard was making efforts to make it user-friendly, shorten the duration while keeping the climate intact. We all know the overall result. The company failed to do it smoothly, leaving community disappointed with many critic comments. 

Those who preferred Alterac Valley original gameplay with side quests, graveyards control and tower/bunker taking and hours of PvP battle complained about gutting the true nature of the battleground, nerfing PvE which led to indirect PvP buffs. Those who wanted quick in-and-out honor-gaining experience kept crying about longevity. Eventually, we came to a point where basically no one is satisfied.

This is why many players put their hopes into WoW Classic release, and Alterac Valley pre-reinforcements patch. 

Alterac Valley WoW Classic patch

According to Blizzard, WoW Classic that is to be released on August 27th will be run on patch 1.12.1. This means it will be before the infamous reinforcements mechanic applied to Alterac Valley, but NPCs nerf from patch 1.11 remain.

This means heavy focus on PvP aspect with decent emphasis on side quests.

NPCs officers

Powerful non-playable Alterac Valley units, faction-specific. Playing around them was crucial in order to win. You have details on them just below.

Generals

- Drek'Thar - is an orc shaman of Frostwolf clan, who took refuge in Alterac Valley after Thrall left.

At first, he was willing to follow Gul’Dan in his ruthless campaign, but after Durotan, the Warchief of Frostwolf clan, refused to drink Mannoroth blood, Drek’Thar followed his leader to Alterac Valley. Later on, he continued aiding Horde by teaching Thrall. Now he is the Horde’s boss of all bosses in Alterac Valley battleground, and the main target for Alliance.

He is a skilled and powerful warrior for an old, blind Frostwolf orc shaman. Protected by two giant wolves - Drakan and Duros - as well as Warmasters he can get the very best of unprepared Alliance heroes. He receives a defense and damage buff for every Warmaster in his presence.

Also keep in mind that pulling him out of his room will enrage him, healing him to full, buffing his DPS and reducing the damage taken.

Fun fact: on a list of the deadliest NPCs published by Blizzard, Drek’Thar was an undisputed leader with nearly 70,000 players slain. It was not due to his overall power, but more due to the fact that he was the most often approached of all NPCs. For the comparison his Alterac Valley PvP counterpart, Vanndar Stormpike, was… 15th. Even behind Drek’Thar’s Frostwolf Warmasters.

- Vanndar Stormpike - dwarven General of the Stormpike Guard, who entered the Alterac Valley in search for mining locations and titan artifacts. The main target for Horde in Alterac Valley Battleground. He receives HP and damage buffs for every Marshal in his presence, similar to this of Drek'Thar.

Just like Drek’Thar, Vanndar Stormpike will receive a giant buff when pulled out of his bunker.

Captains

These individuals are strong faction-specific units, just like Generals. They provide a useful buff for allied troops and players and grant honor for opposite faction upon defeating. It also denies the buff to enemies. They are basically mini raid bosses within the battleground.

Horde’s captain is Galvangar, Orc Blademaster residing in Iceblood Garrison. His counterpart is Balinda Stonehearth, human, caster boss-like unit. She can be found in Stonehearth Outpost.

Main Alterac Valley objective

The main goal of the frosty battleground remains as it used to be before TBC - kill the General. Despite the fact that reinforcements mechanic is directly affected by General’s death (it instantly removes remaining reinforcements), after patch 2.3 it wasn’t necessary to kill the General in order to win. Killing enough enemies was enough, making turtling in chokepoints and bottlenecks a viable, yet boring strategy. 

Side quests

Aside from killing enemies, their Captains or Generals, there are also side quests, which have been changing over the course of time. In theory, it was not mandatory to finish those quests, but without them it was far more difficult to reach the General.

Infantry attack

There are two mines that can be captured and controlled by either faction. Controlling them allows the Quartermaster to collect supplies. Once enough supplies are collected, a player can order the Quartermaster to launch an infantry assault, which will result in an elite NPCs charging at enemy players and NPCs. Honored or higher reputation is needed. One mine can provide enough supplies, but both mines can be controlled for a faster progression.

Cavalry assault

You can find cavalry stables near the faction fortress. Stablemaster will give the player a tool to tame Stormpike Ram (Alliance) or Frostwolf (Horde). Killing the enemy faction wild mounts gives pelts. When a certain amount of pelts is gathered, and enough animals are tamed, the player can order a cavalry charge. A high reputation is also needed.

Both cavalry assault and infantry attack are powerful tools that can be game-changing. It is recommended to keep them until the ultimate onslaught.

Guards and troops

Each faction has a blacksmith who will collect Armor Scraps. Enemy players drops them upon dying, as well as NPCs. When enough Armor Scraps are turned in, the general grants a percentage of damage buff to all faction members. Also, there is a possibility of upgrading the faction guards, which gives them strength and durability. It is important since Stormpike Bowman is listed 8th on the deadliest NPCs list mentioned before.

Air strikes

Each faction has three Wing Commanders held imprisoned in the enemies base. Setting them free and making them reach the allied base, turns them into quest givers. They demand to turn in certain items - various meat for Horde and medals for Alliance. Each fallen enemy character drops it. After enough items are collected, you have two options:

- Place a beacon - the items are obtainable from Wind Commander and has to be planted on the battlefield in at least 30 minutes intervals. After the placement, it takes 60 seconds for a beacon to arm itself. Once armed it will summon a War Rider (for Horde ) or Aerie Gryphon (for Alliance) to patrol the air. The placements points being:

• Vipore/Jeztor - west Field of Strife crater,

• Ichman/Mulverick - Snowfall Graveyard,

• Slidore/Guse - east Field of Strife crater.

- Order an air strike - pretty much self-explanatory. Once air strike is ordered player cannot interact with a Commander anymore. Each Commander will start patrolling a certain area:

• Slidore/Guse - the graveyard outside the base,

• Vipore/Jeztor - outer section of the base,

• Ichman/Mulverick - inner section of the base.

Before 1.11 patch the common strategy was to order an attack once your forces entered the area. Post 1.11 it has lost its meaning since there is less time between each ground charge due to reduced NPCs power.

Fun fact: their names are a reference to "Top Gun" characters: Slider, Iceman, Viper, Jester, Goose, and Maverick.

Elemental lords

A powerful raid-boss level unit can be summoned to aid the faction's struggles. Primalist Thurloga (for Horde) will demand Stormpike Soldier's Blood, and Arch Druid Renferal (for Alliance) will accept Storm Crystals, items that opposing faction player drops when killed. Once enough resources are collected, the respective summoner will head towards the Field of Strife in assistance of his guards, and with the help of at least ten players, he will begin the ritual.

Elemental lords are strong NPCs and if protected, can sometimes lead straight to a victory. If unprotected can be easily kited most of the times. 

Tower/bunker commanders and lieutenants

Lieutenants control certain NPC spawn points. By killing them, you prevent NPCs from respawning.

Commanders are NPCs guarding the towers/bunkers, and control NPC spawn points. Killing them prevents those NPCs from respawning, and also gives you the possibility of taking the structure.

Korrak the Bloodrager

Since we know that Alterac Valley will be run on patch 1.12.1, we also know that the troll leader is still looking for green pastures, as mentioned in 1.10 patch notes. But as Vanilla is all about nostalgy, it would be a disgrace not to give him some love.

Korrak was a troll leader with a distinctive orange skin. One of the medium-power NPC lurking around the Alterac Valley. Nothing of a big deal in the beginning, so Blizzard decided to buff him. They granted him immunity to a couple of effects as well as more damage and durability. This made him somewhat mini-boss inside the battleground.

In patch 1.8 after eastern and western Alterac Valley were cut off by the avalanche, Korrak moved himself to Snowfall graveyard. By then the early Alterac Valley gameplay was all about taking control over Snowfall. Whoever wanted control over Snowfall, they had to battle the orange mini raid-boss.

In 1.10 Korrak the Bloodrager was removed from Alterac Valley, so it came to ‘who’s first’ race.

Alterac Valley strategy

No matter the patch applied, there are some rules common for each battle. You don’t want to 40-man zerg the General and hope to kill him before the competition does. Leaving no-one to defend gives a window of opportunity for enemy rogues to capture their offensive graveyards and quickly reverse the situation. The most common setup for a 40-man squad is to leave 10-ish players defending while the rest is pushing forward. It is not specified, who’s the best to stay on defense (of course nobody wants to), but Warrior tanks and Priest healers might be useful here since NPCs provide some firepower. 

You also have to be prepared that it will not take 30 minutes to defeat the enemy. Entering the Alterac Valley, you have to be ready for a couple hours long fight and pushing the opponent back and forth. So equip yourself with a lot of patience, as you will need it — more than skill.

Cooperation is key. As in many games that have other objectives than ‘Kill XYZ amount of enemies,’ going straight for kills in Alterac Valley will not do you any good. You can send your enemies back to their graveyards 10,000 times using a sword or axe, but if they kill your General, it all will be in vain.

Also, Alterac Valley is not a place to show your ego. Sure, everybody wants to attack and deliver the killing blow to the General, but if no one stays in defense, it has to be your job. What’s more, if you see that somebody knows what he’s doing, follow him into the battle. No need to try to show who’s the boss. Arguing and trying to prove one another who’s better can only harm you. 

Horde

As a Horde player, you’re already in a disadvantageous spot in Alterac Valley, so you need to be a lot more careful, coordinated, focused, and make fewer mistakes.

Dun Baldar - attackers, are less exposed when moving north of the north bunker. Capturing it provides the great offensive base. The flags can be captured without being attacked by archers. However, it requires some practice.

Frostwolf Keep - inner gates are a tight choke point, allowing to defend against a lot of enemies.

Stormpike Graveyard - the Bridge, the mine entrance, and the road leading to Alliance starting point provide great cover. The high mountains can be climbed only far south, so Horde's range attackers have an advantage over Alliance, that cannot reach them easily.

Stonehearth Graveyard - usually left with little to no defense, as Alliance tends to rush towards the Snowfall GY. It is easily taken. 

Iceblood Graveyard - a great choke point with high ground and NPCs/tower for additional protection.

Vanndar Stormpike - this is where Horde has an advantage. Vanndar and his marshals stand near to back wall. This leaves less safe space for defending players, whereas Horde players have more free space with Warmaster aggroing onto enemies.

Captain Balinda Stonehearth - she is a rather weak caster with sloppy attacks and countered combos. Galvangar is much stronger on his own indirect fight.

Towers/Bunkers - Horde towers are harder to climb.

Icewing bunker - most of the times Alliance will not defend it, so it's pretty free to cap. It's important as control over Icewing Bunker gives control over the whole pass. 

Stonehearth bunker - it's out of the way of Alliance players, which makes it fairly easy to capture.

Iceblood Tower - worth fighting for as it gives control over passages to Iceblood Garrison and Iceblood Graveyard.

Base defense is usually to have your Hunters place freezing traps on the ramp next to the Frotswolf towers. This will slow the Alliance players down, allowing NPCs archers and AoE mages to deal massive damage. Another viable trick is, to pull enemies pets or players into Drek'Thar keep, to aggro his Warmasters and wolves.

Alliance

Dun Baldar - the Bridge in the entrance to the base is excellent choke point to defend. It gives a huge advantage and can allow you to stall the game almost forever.

Frostwolf keep - almost all NPCs on the way can be bypassed by Alliance players heading to Relief Hut, and towers archers don't have to be killed in order to cap the tower. This means that the Alliance has a big time advantage over the Horde.

Aid Station - there are five additional NPCs in the flag area that are easy to aggro, which makes capturing the Station even harder.

Stormpike Graveyard - the path is narrow, which makes Horde attackers clump up together, being vulnerable to AoE spells.

Stonehearth Graveyard - often skipped by Horde, who are most of the times rushing straight to the Captain.

Snowfall Graveyard - since Korrak the Bloodrager was removed, and Snowfall is closer to the Alliance, the advantage is pretty obvious.

Iceblood Graveyard - Warriors can use Charge to spawn camp enemies. It's relatively easy to capture because spawning players will typically advance away from the flag. When captured, provides decent choke point for Alliance to defend. 

Relief Hut - capture point is not protected by any NPCs, and the structure can be taken without effort.

Captains - Galvangar can be disarmed, which will reduce his damage output by a ton.

Towers/Bunkers - Horde flags are not protected by archers, placed in a nearly closed room in comparison to Alliance bunkers which are open.

Alliance advantage

Bunkers 

There is a theory that orcs like freedom and space. On the contrary dwarves like buildings. This way Alliance’s flag for taking is covered from NPCs, allowing them to cap the structure without being aggroed. Meanwhile, orcs have to stand in the open and kill at least two archers to take it. 

Easier to capture and defend Alliance mine

If you are planning to go for Quartermaster side quest in order to unlock the infantry attack, you’ll need to capture the mine. Or two. The mine closer to Alliance is deep inside their territory, standing alone. Horde’s mine is, well, in the open. Did we mention orcs like space?

Base defense 

Whoever built Horde’s Outpost in Alterac Valley should get whopping from Drek’Thar. The only makeshift of defense is a half-broken palisade, that means virtually nothing just like in Gothic II.

On the other hand Alliance’s engineers did a better job (they are dwarves after all) - they provided themselves with a bridge. You don’t need much military experience to know that defending bridge is far easier than defending broken gate. Especially if the bridge is within the range of NPCs archers.

Graveyards

Their strategic value is unprecedented, so holding on to a graveyard becomes an important thing. And surely it is easier to defend a structure that has natural terrain protection, than stands in the open. Alliance’s graveyard has such protection, while Horde’s hasn’t.

Neutral graveyard is closer to Alliance

Take a look.

We’ve marked the path from both Alliance and Horde to the neutral graveyard. The Alliance can reach it faster, but it doesn’t seem like a big of a deal - what value do seconds have in a 20-hour long Alterac Valley match, right? Well, paradoxically, they do have some value, quite significant actually. One good move, one correct call executed properly can set up the whole game, if you know what you’re doing.

Controlling graveyard gives your faction huge strategic advantage. It is as if it was pushing by itself towards enemy base. 

Good Horde players aren’t queueing for Alterac Valley

Experienced horde players are avoiding AV, while Alliance players are eager to queue for it. This implements a general knowledge component into the equation. Good Horde players know that Alterac Valley is hard enough to blacklist it when going for a random queue. This way most of the Horde players in Alterac Valley don’t know what are they doing. And they don’t know what to do once inside the instance.

At this point, it doesn’t really matter if Alliance players are good or not. If they are good, they will abuse the natural map advantages. If they’re not, they will still have this small edge over their enemies.  

Alterac Valley tips and tricks

1. Communicate. Alterac Valley is 40 v 40 battleground, a huge battlefield consisting of 80 different, mostly random entities. As we say here: ‘Random is bad.’ 40 people running around without purpose trying to change the world will not get you any closer to a win. Sure you may score some kills, which give honor, but this will not help you win. And you don’t want to be stuck forever in the Alterac Valley.

Some say that it was the lack of coordination that dragged Alterac Valley games so long, cause people instead of going for objectives kept chasing pointless kills. Remember, that killing the same opponent repeatedly grants less honor points, and it gives no honor after 10th kill.

2. Be aware of 'leechers.' These are players sitting somewhere with an anti-AFK macro turned on, gaining free reputation points for someone other's work. Alterac Valley is not a walk in the park, so be sure to report those to the GM.

3. Go for honor elsewhere. Alterac Valley is not for honor farming. Killing someone more than ten times is nothing unusual, so you will have the honor gains diminished. Sure, laying waste to generals, captains and commanders also gives honor, but trust us - when the battle drags over 5 hours, it’s not worth it. Instead, queue up for shorter Warsong Gulch or Arathi Basin.

Alterac Valley is a kind of World of Warcraft Classic marathon. You don’t queue for it just to run. Quick sprint, get the reward, go home. Prepare yourself for struggle, pain, and that it will not end right away. You have to be 100% aware of what you are going for. Alterac Valley is not a walk in the park, sometimes it’s not even a pleasure or a challenge but more like a true capabilities test like Runmageddon or triathlon.

4. The ultimate tip - play Alliance. Really. In such a long battleground choosing the losing faction just to prove yourself your skill can be tilting. Especially that you are matched with some random players, who most of the times refuse to play the team game, you should queue for Alterac Valley as a Horde player just to overcome the difficulties and face a challenge. Otherwise, why make it harder for yourself? 

What are Alterac Valley rewards?

Honor

Honor was arguably the most important Alterac Valley reward. It was honor-per-hour gains that made Blizzard implement all the changes to reduce the duration, as players were complaining, that the battle lasts way too long for the amounts of honor that is received.

Reputation

Reputation gains during the game

Post-game rewards

Changes to Alterac Valley

1.5 - This is where the struggle begins. Alterac Valley battleground was introduced in its primal form.

1.6 - Each faction will receive additional bonus honor points for each tower, that is not destroyed by the end of the battle. Keeping faction's captain alive until the end also grants extra points upon victory. Respawn times for tower Commanders have been increased (if the tower is not destroyed). Korrak the Bloodrager got buffed. Some bugs were fixed.

1.8 - the victorious team is rewarded with three Marks of Honor. Losing faction gets one Mark of Honor. Three Marks of Honor can be turned in for Honor points and faction increase. Players queued for Alterac Valley will enter the battleground on a one-for-one basis. The minimum number of players have been reduced to 20. Graveyards and their capture points have been slightly adjusted in order to prevent zerging.

Iceblood Graveyard has gotten the fortifications. Eastern and western segments were cut off with its mobs removed from the game. Korrak the Bloodrager has moved himself to Snowfall Graveyard, and he has to be defeated in order to capture the graveyard. Quests involving the troll king has been removed from the game. NPCs power was reduced by 15-30%.

1.10 - players killed in Alterac Valley will not drop Orc Teeth, Human Bone Chips, Forsaken Hearts, Dwarf Spines, Darkspear Troll Mojo, etc. Instead, they will give away 1 reputation point, which no longer will be split between the raid group. Tower Banners cannot be used through walls. Korrak The Bloodrager was removed, which gave Alliance a slight edge, as the Snowfall Graveyard is closer to them.

1.11 - most of NPCs guard units removed, players drop more quest items, creatures remaining got lower HP, captain buff changed to flat 20% HP buff, upgrading troops through armor scraps will result in General enabling periodic buff to damage. PvE aspect of the battleground has been severely nerfed in order to lower the duration of Alterac Valley battle.

The end of ‘good old’ AV

With the Burning Crusade expansion further PvE nerfs came to Alterac Valley. NPC’s became weaker, and the PvP aspect took over. Players could have easily ignored the environment and still be able to win.

Warmasters and Marshals numbers reduced

Back then a faction could have had up to eight of them depending on towers/bunkers captured. After changes, there were four, and you could have further decreased their strength by destroying towers or bunkers. 

The Burning Crusade PvE nerfs

The number and strength of NPC’s was gutted. The team had no longer had to complete side quests in order to proceed to the General. Going for side quests became a useless waste of time, as by the time you tamed wolves, enemies head straight to your base. You were not allowed to spend 20 minutes waiting for Elemental Lord to awaken, because enemies were zerg-rushing to kill your General. 

This has turned the whole gameplay upside down, as players were rushing straight to the enemy base to kill the general instead of focusing on objectives or even fighting each other. Because there was no more reason to do so.

Reinforcements mechanic

Arguably patch 2.3 which added the infamous mechanic is recognized as the end of classic Alterac Valley. Players death, loss of tower, captains death reduces the number of reinforcements. All of them are lost upon the General’s death. Each faction started with 600 reinforcements. 0 reinforcements meant a loss. This has made side quests completely useless, as you no longer needed to kill the enemy General in order to win.

This is where Horde had an advantage if they've got to Iceblood Graveyard first. Terrain advantage (a hill) gave them an upper hand. This caused an Alliance boycott and further changes. Blizzard moved the Horde spawning point further back which canceled the possibility of turtling in the aforementioned Graveyard. 

Summary

The community is divided. Half of the players longing for Vanilla state that it was those never-ending battles what made Alterac Valley so climatic. For the other half, it’s also the never-ending aspect that discourages them from playing. They say that not everyone can (or want) spend two days playing the game and still have fun. 

But hey, wasn’t Vanilla all about that? Isn’t it the nostalgia what made Nostalrius so popular? Isn’t it Nostalrius popularity that made Blizzard launch WoW Classic server? The ultimate questions is - do we want Vanilla as it was or do we want another retail WoW? What is the point? 

FAQ 

What is Alterac Valley?

Alterac Valley is a place in the northeast part of the continent, where Durotan’s Frostwolf clan was exiled by Gul’Dan after they refused to drink Mannoroth blood.

What is Alterac Valley battleground?

It is one of Classic WoW battlegrounds, an arena of fight between Horde and Alliance. The goal is to kill enemy general or make the opponents run out of reinforcements. It can host a total of 40 players for each faction.

How to play Alterac Valley battleground?

Cooperate and coordinate - this is key to win Alterac Valley. Well-coordinated team will always have an advantage over random and chaotic play.

Your best bet is to pick a good PvP class, like Rogue, Warrior, Priest or Mage, and play to the fullest. Being better than your opponent is an obvious tip.

How long does Alterac Valley last?

Back in the day, it could have lingered for days, even for a whole weekend. However, Blizzard Entertainment took the effort of shortening the duration by implementing a couple of patches. This way Korrak the Bloodrager was removed, changes to commanders and lieutenants were enforced, and the infamous zerg-rush strategy took over.

In 2019 Vanilla release Blizzard decided to implement patch 1.12 version of Alterac Valley. It is after Korrak the Bloodrager was removed, but before reinforcements were implemented. This means that the only way of achieving a win is to kill the opposing General. Those AV’s could last a couple of hours, but Blizzard says, that it will not take as long as the old Alterac Valley.