Short guide to proper BG-ing.

[TheFacewhatno]

This guide won't go into much detail but it will present the general guidelines that should be followed in BGs on the maps that I and a few friends have figured some basic winning strategies for. The purpose of this guide is to improve the experience while RBG-ing as many people don't know what to do and lose as a consequence. So let's get started.

General guidelines:


Most of the time you want to keep your front strong and flexible. Getting flanked is a synonym for losing the game. When you advance you need to do it as a team and watch your flanks so as not to get backdoored by a smaller number of the enemy's team, which can (and will most of the time) kill your healers/capture the point/get the flag.

Always prioritize killing the healer or at least keeping him busy. I've seen countless people attacking the damage dealer first, and although that is a good strategy WHEN THE HEALER IS BUSY if he is ignored the fight is already lost. Never go alone thinking you can take on the whole enemy team, even if you are a tank. Always stick together and avoid spreading out, as spreading out will thin the front, giving the enemy an easier time getting to your healer and picking you off. When you see somebody going for your priest or druid or whoever is keeping your team alive, CC him and, if the rest of the team is not taking care of him, do it yourself.

On Capture the Point:

Let's say the horde is the winning team, how did they manage to push back the enemy team? They made sure that the alliance could not go past it's front and attack from behind. Getting flanked is a synonym for losing the game, as I've previously stated. I have drawn what the starting routes for the horde would have been in this scenario:



The Horde advanced on the farm first, as it was the first point, then the Blacksmith and the Lumber Mill. The reason they took the Blacksmith is because it is the middle of the map and it has easy access to all the points. The reason for taking the Lumber Mill is intelligence. It is a high vantage point and it can be used to judge the situation in all of the points except the Mine. The reason they skipped the Mine was because it is a blindfolded location. Whoever caps that point can't judge the situation anywhere else on the map unless the team communicates well.

Now, the only reason for taking the Mine would be to block a path for the enemy. The mine leads to the farm, which opens up an opportunity for backdooring. The Lumber Mill has the same feature, but the fact that it is high up makes it more valuable. After taking the aforementioned control points the horde should leave at least two defenders at every point to call INCs and to stall the attackers while the main body advances to the location to defend.

When attacking the mine, the general guidelines presented earlier come into play. If the Horde plays according to plan, they would win the mine. In order to show what the outcome might be if they don't play accordingly, I'm going to give you another edited map of Arathi Basin.



The Alliance can now attack all of the points easily. It has openings to D and E, but also B. Capturing B would allow the Alliance to attack the other two points from any angle and increase the pressure on the Horde. If the Horde wins the fight for the Mine, the map would look like this:



A can be attacked from any angle and be surpressed by the Horde's troops. B is safely behind the lines(though you may encounter solo-ers who would go to capture it, but usually the remaining defenders can hold it).

On Capture the Flag:

On these maps I've encountered two strategies, of which one seems to be the most successful:

First Strategy:

Rushing the enemy flag and stealing it, killing the enemy flagger on the return trip.

Second Strategy:

Fighting the enemy head-on in the middle, pushing the enemy team back to spawn and sending two people to get the enemy flag.

Debate

Of the two strategies I think the first one is flawed for the following reasons:
1.You never know how tenacious the enemy flagger will be, why would you risk him picking up the flag in the first place?
2.If it backfires, it backfires horribly... you can get flanked and wiped out by the enemy team.
3.You leave your front open to the enemy's attacks, practically inviting him in your base.

Now, let's do a break-down of the strategy I usually choose:
1.Winning the teamfight depends on the level of teamwork,cooperation and communication in the team.
2.It is a slow but steady method. Rushing brings failure.
3.The advantage being that you don't leave your base open, and once you finish the enemy team you can pretty much win the game.

I'm sure I don't need to show a map here. It's pretty straight-forward. Just respect the guide-lines and your team should win if it is skilled enough.

Conclusion

So, all in all, the basic concept is to think of the game as a strategy game, and of you as just a unit.

Hopefully this guide was helpful and informative. I hope that whoever reads this will apply to some extent the principles I wrote down. And maybe make BG-ing a more pleasant experience.

[TheFacewhatno]

I would appreciaty a little feedback. If you found this guide helpful I'd like to know.

[Juggertank]

Before I go into some of the guide's lacking portions, I just want to ask... what did you use to highlight the map? (the highlighter in paint will usually make an ugly overlapping)

Rest:
Your Guide doesn't include any sort of Terror tactics, False Fronting, or even base sequencing. There's nothing on situational goals of a losing fight, or tips on long-prep Call-outs. No addon suggestion, or trash-talk cross faction translations. In General.... there's just so much more that people could know to do their role better.

You need to put a lot of time into knowing how to direct players to get some synergy from them without them even seeing the big picture. That's something that most players haven't quite reached yet.... "mastermind"ing a group of randoms. TBH, I'll probably make one to meet my own standards of a guide before I go away for the summer.

[Razkarul]

On the AB part, there is not much meaning behind flanking and the like if you're doing it correctly and not fighting on the roads. You can always go from one side of the map to any other base without passing trough another base (The roads between mine-blacksmith, blacksmith-lumber mill). The most important thing there is ninja-capping (with few defenders CC-d or even mid-fight) and not making a giant zerg-group that stops at every single enemy on the roads, and never splits up.

[ficozvecka]

Capture the flag aka WSG, I'm more into the 2nd tactic, the teamfight, but the problem is most guys thing that taking the enemy team on mid is wrong, so my entire team happens to go into their flag room and they get wiped on the way back. I wish more people could realising teamfighting is they key to winning WSG.

[TheFacewhatno]

I see what you mean, Jugger. I haven't experienced the tactics you suggested yet, but that might be because I haven't spent nearly as much time as you in BGs. Anyway, this guide was supposed to be basic and only lay the foundation for everything else.

I agree, Raz. I'm not sure if I made myself clear enough in the guide. My intention was to encourage people to stick together not in one huge cluster but in smaller "commando" like units. And the map was just to server to illustrate the way I think of the battlefield during a BG.

I know what it's like, ficoz...