Battleground


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Battlegrounds are instanced areas used for player versus player combat. 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 their respective battlegrounds. Now, to enter the queue for any battleground, 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 objectives determining the winner. Players will earn honor points making PvP rewards available.

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 an inactive player by right clicking the player's portrait 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. This system is often abused, since a player can have good reasons for not participating in PVP, for example when they are defending.

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. The sixth battleground, the Isle of Conquest, was added in Patch 3.2 on August 4th, 2009. Two new battlegrounds, Battle for Gilneas and Twin Peaks, were added with the launch of the third expansion, Cataclysm.

Warsong Gulch

 * Factions: Silverwing Sentinels,  Warsong Outriders


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


 * Levels: 10-14; 15-19; 20-24; 25-29; 30-34; 35-39; 40-44; 45-49; 50-54; 55-59; 60-64; 65-69; 70-74; 75-79; 80-84; 85
 * Combatants: 10 per faction

Arathi Basin

 * Factions: The League of Arathor,  The Defilers


 * Alliance Base: Trollbane Hall
 * Alliance Entrance: Refuge Pointe
 * Horde Base: Defiler's Den
 * Horde Entrance: Hammerfall


 * Levels: 10-14; 15-19; 20-24; 25-29; 30-34; 35-39; 40-44; 45-49; 50-54; 55-59; 60-64; 65-69; 70-74; 75-79; 80-84; 85
 * Combatants: 15 per faction

Eye of the Storm
Requires World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade.


 * Factions: Draenei,  Blood Elf


 * Alliance Base: Northern rock
 * Horde Base: Southern rock
 * Exterior entrance: There is no exterior entrance to the battleground as in the classic battlegrounds, but the Eye of the Storm is located somewhere in Netherstorm


 * Levels: 35-39; 40-44; 45-49; 50-54; 55-59; 60-64; 65-69; 70-74; 75-79; 80-84; 85
 * Combatants: 15 per faction

Alterac Valley

 * Factions: Stormpike Guard,  Frostwolf Clan


 * Alliance Base: Dun Baldar
 * Alliance Entrance: Headland
 * Horde Base: Frostwolf Keep
 * Horde Entrance: Northeast of Sofera's Naze


 * Levels: 45-49; 50-54; 55-59; 60-64; 65-69; 70-74; 75-79; 80-84; 85
 * Combatants: 40 per faction

Strand of the Ancients
Requires World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King


 * Factions: No factions are directly associated with the battleground, but members of The Silver Covenant and The Sunreavers appear during its battleground holiday.


 * Faction bases: Neither side has a fixed base as teams alternate playing offense by attacking the keep and defense by preventing the attack
 * Exterior entrance: There is no exterior entrance to the battleground as in the classic battlegrounds, but the Strand is presumably found south of Dragonblight


 * Levels: 65-69; 70-74; 75-79; 80-84; 85
 * Combatants: 15 per faction

Isle of Conquest
Requires World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King


 * Factions: No reputation can be gained while playing in the Isle of Conquest, however the Alliance is represented by members of the Alliance Vanguard and the Horde by members of the the Horde Expedition


 * Alliance Base: Alliance Keep
 * Horde Base: Horde Keep
 * Exterior entrance: There is no exterior entrance to the battleground as in the classic battlegrounds, but the Isle of Conquest is located northwest of Sholazar Basin and west of Icecrown


 * Levels: 75-79; 80-84; 85
 * Combatants: 40 per faction

Battle for Gilneas
Requires World of Warcraft: Cataclysm


 * Factions: Forsaken,  Worgen


 * Alliance Base:
 * Horde Base:
 * Exterior entrance: There is no exterior entrance to the battleground as in the classic battlegrounds, but this battle takes place in Gilneas.


 * Levels: 85
 * Combatants: 10 per faction

Twin Peaks
Requires World of Warcraft: Cataclysm


 * Factions: Wildhammer clan,  Dragonmaw clan


 * Alliance Base: Wildhammer Longhouse
 * Horde Base: Dragonmaw Clan Compound
 * Exterior entrance: There is no exterior entrance to the battleground as in the classic battlegrounds, but the Twin Peaks are found in the Twilight Highlands.


 * Levels: 85
 * Combatants: 10 per faction

Azshara Crater
Originally slated to be an Alterac Valley style instance, this battleground was far enough along in development that there were even Horde and Alliance entrances in Azshara. It never saw release, however, and with the zone overhaul in Cataclysm removing the physical location in which it would have existed, its fate seems to have been sealed.

Gurubashi Catacombs
A "deathmatch" style battleground, it was scrapped early in development but the concept eventually turned into Arena PvP.

XP in Battlegrounds

 * Gaining XP for playing in the battlegrounds was added in Patch 3.2.
 * Players are awarded experience for completing objectives and actions that yield honor in Battlegrounds (honorable kills not included).
 * In order to assist those who choose to keep an alt for the purposes of playing in a specific level of battleground, there is an added option to turn off the ability to gain XP. This ability costs 10G to switch on or off and prevents XP gain in all areas of the game. The NPC to turn on or off XP gains is the Experience Eliminator, found near Battle Masters as a stealthed NPC. With XP turned off, the player is matched only against others who also have XP gain turned off; this is because the developers assume that if you don't want XP, you must be twinking.
 * In Alterac Valley (AV) you can earn XP by killing mobs, however the XP gain is modified depending on the distance of other same-faction players. Closer leads to less XP gain, farther leads to greater. Patch 3.1.3
 * By glitch or by design, XP awards were increased to move twinks to next bracket quickly, but Call to Honor weekend play still acts as a multiplier of this increased amount, allowing the player to add one level in as little as three wins. This can be used to great advantage in leveling characters.