Wintergrasp Walkthrough
Although long gone are the days of Crocolisk Surfing, I am now in the heart of Wintergrasp, the new PVP Zone for the expansion, Wrath of the Lich King. Mind you this is still in the testing phases of beta and nothing is written in stone yet.
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Basics
Wintergrasp is a zone specifically designed for World PVP. The whole zone itself is comprised of a vast frozen tundra with ruins of ancient buildings as well as some goblin ingenuity. Within this zone, Alliance and Horde compete against one another to obtain or defend the sacred artifact hidden within inside Wintergrasp Keep. In order to accomplish this task, both sides are given various weaponry to fight their opponents in a no holds barred cage match.
Although smaller then most zones surrounding the area, it's just like walking into a Battleground except you don't have to queue up for it. Take a look at the map.
The Middle-Northern area of the map is Wintergrasp Fortress:
Deep within the barricaded walls lies Wintergrasp Keep where the sacred artifact is being held. On the outside of the fortress are many gun cannons positioned on the walls and the towers. On the inside are two identical Siege Factories that make vehicles for the upcoming battles.
Gaining Access
Wintergrasp is open to anyone and everyone who can actually get to the zone. Unfortunately when you start out in Northrend you cannot use your flying mount right away. You must first obtain level 77 and do a small series of quests just to be able to ride your flying mount.
Wintergrasp has the same type of limitations. It is only accessible by flying into the zone, and once you are you in the zone, you are immediately dismounted from your flying mount. You can use ground mounts however, and any of the vehicles provided to you within the battle itself. You may also be able to summon friends into the zone using a warlock but currently there are no summoning stones within the zone itself.
This may change later on as there appear to be places where a Flight Master would be located but nothing is currently there.
Battles
Each battle lasts a maximum of 45 minutes. This is deciphered by how quickly you win or lose the current match.
In between every battle there are currently 30 minute intermissions. You can go out and kill the opposing side, but it won't count for anything but normal honor when you're done.
At the end of the round, if you are the winning side, you will gain 7500 Honor and 150 Arena Points. Whether or not this will change in the future I am uncertain. As of now the losing side receives nothing. However this will change as well as many other aspects to the current system, so we shall wait and see how everything pans out.
Currently there are no limits to the amount of players that can enter the zone. Which can make this very difficult for either side to gain the advantage once it's already been dominated by the opposing side. As many have already expressed their concerns, there's no point in staying in a zone where you are outnumbered 5 to 1.
Offense
Your main job is to breach the outer walls of Wintergrasp Fortress and make your way inside to Wintergrasp Keep where the sacred artifact is being held. Doing so will win you the game, and end that round.
As easy as this sounds, standing in your way are the opposing side who are typically huddled inside the Fortress bombarding you with the gun turrets located all around the fortress. To make matters worse the fortress also has teleporting discs located on the outside and the inside to allow easy access in and out of the fortress for the defending side. Once the walls are breached however, there is no means of stopping the offensive side from running inside, except of course to kill them.
Defense
Your main job is to protect the Sacred Artifact hidden within Wintergrasp Keep. Failure to do so will end in a loss. Although this may seem very difficult, you are given 2 Siege Factories on the inside, as well as fortified walls to the fortress and keep itself. These walls can only be brought down by the larger catapults and siege tanks, and makes it very difficult for the opposing side to make their way inside.
You also gain access to the many gun turrets located along the walls and towers within the fortress to help you defend against the offense. The battle quickly becomes intense as each side gains access to new and more powerful vehicles.
Siege Factories
Located all around the map are various Siege Factories. In order to obtain one for your faction, you must stand there, much like taking over a tower in Eye of the Storm. Once you have obtained the Siege Factory an NPC will pop up inside and allow you to make weapons based on your PVP Rank for that particular round. A goblin appears inside for the horde, and a gnome appears inside for the alliance.
All you have to do is talk to the NPC and choose which vehicle you wish to make.
Ranks
As each round starts, you will have no rank. In order to obtain a rank you must currently land a killing blow on the opposing team. However this will be reworked to only require a Honorable Kill instead of the Killing Blow in a later patch (remember this is only beta).
Unfortunately I have not received a rank higher then 2, so I'm uncertain of how many kills you must obtain before you reach it.
- Rank 1: 1 Killing Blow
- Rank 2: 10 Killing Blows
- Rank 3: Uknown
- Rank 4: Unknown
- Rank 5: Unknown
Why are ranks important? Because they allow you access to various types of vehicles.
Weapons, Tower Cannons, & Vehicles
Since you start out with no ranks and don't have access to any vehicles at the beginning of the round, they decided to give us The RPG-GG and Inflatable Land Mines. Basically you're given a Rocket Launcher that you can't aim to well, and some land mines that you hope some one will walk over. However they both do extra damage to the vehicles.
Tower Cannons
They surround the various towers of the zone as well as the Wintergrasp Fortress walls. Once you jump into one you can maneuver it around and aim it at your oncoming enemies. Just a basic gun turret.
Catapult
This crude looking machine is the first one you will gain access to and only requires Rank 1. It can only hold one person and has two attacks: Plague Barrel, and Flame Breath.
- Plague Barrel - As the name suggests, it launches a highly volatile barrel at your opponents that explodes and spreads the plague when it lands. It leaves behind an AE cloud that will deal constant damage to anyone still standing in it.
- Flame Breath - Deals constant fire damage to anyone in front of the Catapult for about 10 seconds. This one hurts badly if you're caught on foot by a catapult. Just pray you have enough life and can out maneuver it before you become toast.
Demolisher
The upgraded version of the catapult. This one still has the basic catapult function but deals greater damage and now deals siege damage to the buildings and walls of the fortress. This vehicle can also hold 3 additional passengers that sit on the vehicle and are able to use any ranged abilities they might have, spells, arrows, etc. Sorry melee, it's just a fun ride for you guys. You need rank 2 to acquire access to this vehicle.
Shredder
A small one-man robot that looks exactly like the Shredders in WC3 if you've ever played the game. However it comes equipped with a few various weapons to help you duke it out in battle. A little bit on the weak side however, but still fun to use.
Flying Machine
Yes you do get a flying vehicle (assuming you have the rank for it), but don't attempt to fly it out of the zone or it will dismount you. However the fun part about this vehicle is that if it is destroyed while you are in it, you will parachute down the ground. Granted this might make it easier for the opposing team to kill you, but hey at least you survived the fall.
Bomber
Much like the flying machine however this vehicle has room for two and is more designed for, you guessed it, bombing. Gaining access to Napalm you can douse on your enemies, as well as having your own private bombardier buddy sitting next to you, this vehicle can be quite fun in the right hands.
Siege Engine
One of the most powerful vehicles in the game due to it's massive amount of HP, this thing can take a beating and keep on ticking. However it's damage is very small, and requires a 2nd person to mount the gun located on top. The driver has access to a bashing ability that forces the front bumper of the vehicle outward to push back and deal damage to anything in front of it. The gun turret located on top of the siege engine is much like the turrets used to defend the towers.
For a good display of the vehicles I'd recommend watching this Youtube video. One of the better ones I've found displaying the different vehicles. Although this was back when the vehicles were just lying around and anyone had access to them. Now you have to obtain higher and higher ranks.
Graveyards
Don't worry there are plenty of graveyards around, and they will rez you automatically just like in a battleground. They are currently located at the Siege Factories that you've taken over, as well as other places around the map just in case you do not currently have any Siege Factories under your control.
Notes
| Parts of this page were originally written by Joobishwun. |
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| Wrath of the Lich King required! |