Arathi Basin

Located in Arathi Highlands, Arathi Basin (AB for short) is a fast and exciting battleground. The Basin itself is rich with resources and coveted by both the Horde and the Alliance. The Forsaken Defilers and the League of Arathor have arrived at Arathi Basin to wage war over these natural resources and claim them on behalf of their respective sides. It is similar to "King of the Hill" or "Conquest" modes in other games.



Overview
The goal is to control locations on the map ("Resource Nodes"). While a node is controlled, it generates resources for your side, and the first side to gain 1,600 resources wins the contest.

Basic Rules

 * Each side has up to 15 players.
 * There are five Resource Nodes on the map: the Farm, the Stables (ST or occasionally SB), the Blacksmith (BS), the Lumber Mill (LM), and the Gold Mine (GM).
 * A node only earns resources when it is captured (see below). With the exception of possible strategic value, there is no difference between the nodes.
 * The rate of resource accumulation increases non-linearly as more nodes are captured. That is, if a side owns 2 nodes, it will not accumulate resources 2x as fast as when it only has 1 node. See the Strategy section below for more info.
 * Arathi Basin is banded by level, just like Warsong Gulch. The minimum level to join is 10, and different instances will spawn for players between levels 10-14, 15-19, 20-24, etc. up to 80-84 and 85.

Entering Arathi Basin Battleground


There are several methods available.


 * The battlegrounds tab of the Player vs. Player window allows players to queue for a battle regardless of location.
 * You can queue for the battleground through Battlemasters located in each capital city.
 * The battleground can be entered directly through entrances located in the Arathi Highlands zone.
 * For Alliance players, the entrance is located inside Refuge Pointe.
 * For Horde players, the entrance is just north of Hammerfall.

Strategy and Tactics

 * Arathi Basin Strategy and Tactics for more details
 * Proud Aardvark's Arathi Basin Strategy Guide

Accumulating Resources
Resources accumulate at the rates shown in the table below.

So if your team has three nodes, their team has two nodes, and they lead 1400 to 1300, you can still win if no nodes change hands. But if your team is at 1200 you cannot win unless you gain control of four nodes.

Honor Rewards
The game awards bonus honor to everyone on your side of the match for reaching certain goals. Those goals are:
 * Collecting multiples of 260 resources (at 260, 520, 780, ...), rewards 20 honor each (at level 60).
 * Winning the match rewards 20 honor (at level 60).

Honor for lower level matches scales down from the amounts given. Other scored events are not granted honor. These include: killing blows, assaulting a node, capturing a node, and defending a node. Honor is awarded for honorable kills as normal.

Winning a complete match (1600 resources and the win bonus) gives 140 honor (at level 60).

Losing a match gives you less bonus honor depending on how many resources your side managed to collect before the loss. You will still accumulate some honor from honorable kills.

On the Battlegrounds Holiday weekend for Arathi Basin, the bonus honor goals are:
 * Collecting multiples of 160 resources (at 160, 320, 480, ...), rewards 20 honor each (at level 60).
 * Winning the match still rewards 20 honor (at level 60).

Quests
There are a number of quests involving fighting in Arathi Basin, some of which need reputation with the battleground faction. You can get them from one of the NPCs near the battleground entrances in Hammerfall or Refuge Pointe.

The first quest will usually be, for which you need to assault four different bases.

Alliance

 * , available at and awards 1000 reputation. For this quest your team will need to assault and control 4 bases at the same time.
 * , available at . For this quest your team will need to assault and control all 5 bases at the same time. Rewards the.

Horde

 * , available at and awards 1000 reputation. For this quest your team will need to assault and control 4 bases at the same time.
 * , available at . For this quest your team will need to assault and control all 5 bases at the same time. Rewards the.
 * , available at and awards 10 reputation. You also get a  which has 20 bandages and 20 Arathi Rations, both only usable in Arathi Basin.

Reputation
Doing battle in Arathi Basin improves your reputation with The Defilers (Horde) or The League of Arathor (Alliance). On the Battlegrounds Holiday weekend for Arathi Basin, the Reputation rewards are:
 * Collecting multiples of 160 resources (at 160, 320, 480, ...) = 10 rep (total 100 rep if you win)
 * You would need 320 non-holiday wins to become exalted with the faction.
 * Quests in Arathi Basin give reputation too
 * Collecting multiples of 150 resources (at 150, 300, 450, ...) = 10 rep (total 130 rep if you win)

Rewards
Arathi Basin items are available by spending honor points. The Alliance vendor for these items is near the Alliance Arathi Basin battleground entrance in Arathi Highlands. The Horde vendor for these items is outside the Horde Arathi Basin battleground entrance in Hammerfall in Arathi Highlands.

Though some of the Arathor and Defiler factions items have different names and artwork, equivalent items' bonuses and equip effects are identical. Highlander's items are Arathor items.

The bulk of the items are belts, boots, and shoulders tailored to various classes. More powerful versions of some items can be purchased as you gain levels, allowing higher level players to receive faction rewards with better equipment bonuses.

See Honor rewards for other items which can be purchased with Honor Points.

Experience in Arathi Basin

 * Players are awarded ~0.8% of a level for completing a Match.
 * Players are awarded ~0.8% of a level per 260 Resources.
 * Players are awarded ~0.8% of a level for a Victory.


 * The specific % of exp does vary per level, but it should amount to just under 16 Victories per level.

Patch changes




Historic info

 * Arathi Basin old rewards

Previews

 * Official Preview at WorldofWarcraft.com
 * Preview at WoW Guru

Humor

 * Who's Arathi MP3, a parody by anim5 of International Detective Dragons From Outer Space of Abott and Costello's "Who's on First?" skit.

Bassin d'Arathi