Alterac Valley is undoubtedly the most complex and interesting battleground to exist in WoW. There are numerous ways to gain advantage, numerous ways to strike the enemy, numerous ways to win. I don't doubt Kronos developers' ability to script it correctly and make it function the way its supposed to, I'm sure that when AV gets implemented, we all will be able to fight there they way its meant to be.
But what concerns me is not that players will be unable to call cavalry charges or dominate another faction on Field of Strife with the help of an Elemental Lord. What worries me is that those things will not be used most of the time. As you know, absolute majority of AV's on other private servers nowadays happen extremely fast. It is no longer a fight between two huge groups, it's a race to kill other faction's general. It happens because its simply unbeneficial to wage long AV's, both parties benefit from quicker matches and quicker wins/losses. During my stay on ED, I've had AV's in which I didn't even meet any of the other faction's players. Both sides just rushed to other side's base. The longest Alterac Valley battle I've saw there lasted 2-3 hours. And just to remember how many times were people asked to "stop defending because we should just lose and try again next time"... That's not how this battleground is supposed to work.
I know that one can't just tell other players to stop choosing most effecient way to do things. But admit it, long and bloody battles all across the zone are much more appealing than PvE rushes. How can the game provide an authenic Vanilla WoW experience if AV's last mere minutes?
So my suggestion is the following: Let there be additional rewards for long AV's. Some kind of a honor bonus that outweighs benefits of quick wins. I know that this is by no means Blizzlike. If anybody else has other suggestions of how to improve the AV experience, I'd like to hear it out. I know that I'm not the only one who's bothered by this problem.
But what concerns me is not that players will be unable to call cavalry charges or dominate another faction on Field of Strife with the help of an Elemental Lord. What worries me is that those things will not be used most of the time. As you know, absolute majority of AV's on other private servers nowadays happen extremely fast. It is no longer a fight between two huge groups, it's a race to kill other faction's general. It happens because its simply unbeneficial to wage long AV's, both parties benefit from quicker matches and quicker wins/losses. During my stay on ED, I've had AV's in which I didn't even meet any of the other faction's players. Both sides just rushed to other side's base. The longest Alterac Valley battle I've saw there lasted 2-3 hours. And just to remember how many times were people asked to "stop defending because we should just lose and try again next time"... That's not how this battleground is supposed to work.
I know that one can't just tell other players to stop choosing most effecient way to do things. But admit it, long and bloody battles all across the zone are much more appealing than PvE rushes. How can the game provide an authenic Vanilla WoW experience if AV's last mere minutes?
So my suggestion is the following: Let there be additional rewards for long AV's. Some kind of a honor bonus that outweighs benefits of quick wins. I know that this is by no means Blizzlike. If anybody else has other suggestions of how to improve the AV experience, I'd like to hear it out. I know that I'm not the only one who's bothered by this problem.