The unbalanced state of Wintergrasp
Hello Lordareon,
After many weeks of monitoring and playing through the majority of Wintegrasp battles I believe that most people already know that currently the battle for Wintergrasp is completely unbalanced, meaning that atm the defending side has a clear and huge advantage over the attacking side. That is proved by the fact that whoever controls WG atm holds it for at least 2-3, or even more in some cases, straight days (!) without losing it even once whatsoever stomping through the enemy attacker and by the end of the battle camping him in its graveyard. Mind that this has nothing to do with faction balance since its happening for both the horde and the alliance on different time intervals. Right now the only possible way of actually winning as an attacker is during EU sleep time when the server has the lowest pop if you are lucky enough so that you get a lot more players than the defending side so you can zerg them out.
This ofcourse means that VoA, vendors etc are accessible for each faction on huge time intervals, so many time zones or many days that people cannot login (work, school w/e) are excluded from ever gaining accesss to WG if they are not lucky to be available when their faction controls it every 2-3 days.
The reasons for the advantages are more than obvious I will state just a few :
1. It takes little to no time and its too easy to bring down the attackers southern towers even with them defending them
2. Reaching Rank 2 so you can get sieges and start attacking the fortress takes the same time as it takes for the defender to bring down the southern towers, and by the time you get to Rank 2 the defender is returning with 30% damage buff in the base 5 shoting all the sieges.
3. THE BASIC reason this happens is because the retail balance changes that were done in 3.3 to WG so that it can change hands frequently ARE NOT IN EFFECT in this server.
I will copy paste the blue post back from 3.3 where it explains how balance in WG works below :
Here are the key systems in place behind the hidden Wintergrasp advantages and how they will function in the upcoming patch:
There is an internal tug-of-war scale not visible by players which will shift under specific conditions.
The scale starts at 0 (neutral) and can move up to 700 points in either direction favoring the Alliance at one end, and Horde at the other.
This scale is persistent and does not reset to 0 whenever control of Wintergrasp shifts.
If an attacking force captures Wintergrasp Fortress while under the effects of any of the advantages listed below (400-700 points in their favor), the scale tips 100 points in favor of the opposing faction.
If a defending force successfully defends Wintergrasp Fortress two battles in a row, the scale tips 100 points in favor of the opposing faction.
Each consecutive successful defense after a faction’s first two consecutive defenses will further tip the scale 100 points in favor of the opposing faction.
As a quick example, if the scale is at 0 and the Alliance capture Wintergrasp fortress while attacking, the scale will not move. If the Alliance defend Wintergrasp twice in a row after this, the scale will move 100 points in favor of the Horde. Each consecutive defense by the Alliance after this will move the scale 100 points further in favor of the Horde each time, bringing the Horde to 400 points in their favor after one unsuccessful defense and five unsuccessful attacks, a total of six Horde losses in a row.
As another example, if the scale is at 400 in favor of the Horde and they capture Wintergrasp fortress while attacking, the scale will move 100 points in favor of the Alliance. If the Horde defend Wintergrasp twice in a row after this, the scale will move 100 points in favor of the Alliance. Each consecutive defense by the Horde after this will move the scale 100 points further in favor of the Alliance each time, bringing the Alliance to 100 points in their favor after one unsuccessful defense and five unsuccessful attacks, a total of six Alliance losses in a row.
The following advantages are provided at the beginning of the battle for Wintergrasp whenever these corresponding ranges on the scale have been reached:
0-300: No advantages granted.
400: Faction starts with the Sunken Ring Factory under their control.
500: Faction starts with the Sunken Ring and Broken Temple Factories under their control.
600: Faction starts with the Sunken Ring and Broken Temple Factories under their control and gains access to Catapults after earning 1 kill in battle.
700: Faction starts with the Sunken Ring and Broken Temple Factories under their control and gains access to Catapults, Siege Engines, and Demolishers after earning 1 kill in battle.
TL;DR : Implement the retail balance changes that were released in 3.3 so that WG can actually change faction hands frequently, more than once a week if you are lucky.
