LotV WSG

[Prune/Jak]

Yeah, so WSG sucks, right? Well, the reality is that on WSG weekends, it's very difficult to get other BGs going, so we may as well learn to play it well. Most people's distaste of WSG stems from the fact that most games are stalemates with each team sitting on the other team's flag. They can last hours and hours with no winner, and when you do win after all that time, the bonus honor isn't near worth it. But, if played correctly, WSG can be won very quickly and be an excellent investment for honor grind sessions. Here's a strategy I picked up recently at alla that I would like to give a shot with LotV + EoD folks:

II Warsong Gulch

This is the easiest of all the battlegrounds and the one most people get introduced with. Still many people don't understand how to play it to win. Far too many raids divide into two groups and designate one for offense and one for defense, placing the defensive group in your flag room and sending the entire offensive group to get the enemy flag. This strategy rarely works and when it does it far too often ends up with both sides sitting on the other side's flag, which makes for a long and tedious game. Others just zerg to the enemies flag point and then zerg back with it. This is actually a better strategy since it often gets you into the middle where you belong, but still one that will not win a whole lot of games.

Warsong is actually won in the middle, not in the flag houses. The team that best controls the middle will almost always win the battle. By controlling the mid field, you can both stop enemy players from getting your flag to their base and also aid your own flag carrier on his way across to your base. The best strategy I have found is to divide your team into 3 groups. Remember in a raid, there is no reason to have two 5 man groups. You can set up your grouping in any way you please. Here's my suggestion.

Group 1 - Midfield. My suggestion is to for a 5 man midfield group. For level 60's I suggest asking who has epic mounts and assigning them all to the midfield group. A good mix of classes is needed for this group and at least one healer should be there if at all possible. Pretty much any class is useful for this group, though hunters can really rock in the midfield. The role of this group is to travel together and either stop enemy flag carriers from crossing the field or to aid your flag carrier to get safely to your flag room. If the offensive group is having problems getting the flag out of the flag room because the other team is playing strong defense, part of this group can break off to help assault the flag room. The most important rule for this group is to always stick together. This group is the most crucial group in the raid. You must make sure their flag carrier never gets across the field to cap.

Group 2 - Defense. This group should be 3 players who stay in your own flag room and protect the flag. A rogue is crucial here. Other good classes for this are shaman, warlock and mage. The ability to stun and slow is very useful to this group, as they are most likely going to have to stop a druid from grabbing the flag and running out in cat form. Inevitably, one will get away. At that point, it is crucial for you to shout out which way he is going so that the midfield group can prepare to stop him when he emerges. Repeat - always yell which way the flag carrier is going. Also, your job is over when the flag carrier gets away. Go back and defend the room again. Resist the temptation to chase him. You will likely not be able to catch up in time to make a diference in mid field and if you leave the flag room, the other team can just sit there, wait for the flag to drop and pick it right back up again.

Group 3 - Offense. This is a 2 man assault team. One should always be a druid if possible. A shaman can substitute if necessary. The other should be a healer if possible. Paladins are ideal for this, but a priest, druid or shaman works as well. If you have an abundance of speed and free action potions, then any class that can take damage without quickly dying can also run offense. A rogue with sneak, sprint and a bunch of speed and free action potions can sometimes be a one man offense. The idea for this is to try to sneak into the flag room, grab the flag in cat form and run quickly out the door. Keep the flag holder healed until he gets to the midfield where group 2 can come to assist and run interference to get him to the flag room to cap. If the defense is too strong, several people from group 1 can help on the initial assault.

Some general rules and suggestions for WSG

# Whenever your flag is taken, make sure you yell which way the flag carrier is going so that your teammates can meet him at mid field. Whenever you take a flag, yell which way you are going for the same reason.

# Don't fight in the midfield if you can help it unless you are helping your own flag carrier or stopping theirs.

# Stay together. Going off on your own will just get you killed and deprive your teammates of help while you rez. As long as you stay in a group, you will likely win the battles and ultimately the war.

# Don't turtle up with the other team's flag. If both teams capture the flags, be sure to send a sizable force to the other side to try to get yours back. Because of the diminishing returns on honor for kills, prolonging a game is both pointless and boring. You are really better off just losing the match than sitting all ten players in one place with the enemy flag for several hours.

# Potions can make the difference between winning and losing. Load up on speed potions and free action potions before queueing up for the game, epecially if you are going to be trying to get the enemy flag. Other useful potions include stoneshield for emergency defense, catseye to detect rogues and elves, and invisibility.

# If there is a healer with the flag holder, get him first and try to stun or slow the flag carrier while you do it. It does no good to keep hitting the flag carrier if someone keeps healing him back up.

# When your team gets the flag, the goal is not to kill the people chasing the flag carrier, but rather to slow them down and keep them from killing him. Thus, you should use whatever attacks you have that stun, freeze or slow the persuers rather than your best kill blows. If you can get them to drop far behind the flag carrier, you will end up with the cap even if they ultimately survive the battle.

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Anyone up to give it a shot?

--Jakani/Prune

[Aphramzo]

Its funny, I always bitch about hating WSG, but seem to always get the most honor during WSG weekends. After playing about 15 or so games this weekend, here is my take.

The two group setup - seems to be the most common in many PUGs, but never works. I still dont know why 'leaders' tell the raid to do this.

The Zerg - Very good for the first cap. You send your whole team. You WILL get their flag. Chances are you will get to mid field with about 7 guys left, then intercept their carrier and cap. Good, now you are up by one. But much after that it can be difficult to zerg in a full group. Guys who die will not wait at GY for others, the group starts to thin, then it all goes to hell. That and the intercept part doesnt work, cause you are not sure when/where you might find their carrier. I still think this is the best way to start the match.

As for your proposal, I think I like it. I would be more than willing to give it a shot and see how it actually works.

An extra thought: The best games I had this weekend we started off with a zerg. It worked. Then 3 went on O and 7 stayed on D. The 3 on O were a mage and two healers (a druid and priest i think). The mage made a GREAT runner. I had never seen this before, but it worked like a charm. Granted he was a General, and had great gear, but damn. Blink, Frost Nova, and Sheep. The dude was almost untouchable with two healers. Then once he would get to about midfield, 3 of the D would come down the tunnel for support just to make sure. Thats when a locks howl of terror is nice . We won 2 games like this in under 30 minutes total.

Anyway these are just my thoughts. I say we try Prunes idea, TONIGHT!

[Mcguirk]

Yeah, what the hell. . WSG can still suck my arse though.

[a rotten guest]

the 7-3 plan works well either way
7 on d or 7 on o
the point is that a coordinated effort works better than a half-ass one

unless your team is overpowered you will eventually come across a team that can match or surpass you in some way, throwing off your original plan, at this point its your ability to adapt that will get you the win

a strat i like is midfield fighters must focus fire, a toon at 20% health hits just as hard as one at 100%, a bg is partially a game of numbers and typically the team with more toons on the field ready to fight wins....
if you dont have enough firepower to stop your opponents use common delay tactics: run thru them, around them, behind a tree (lol) or one of their buddies, etc