Once the battleground is ready, you can enter it from wherever you happen to be.The offensive and defensive teams should communicate often on their status and progress throughout the match. Keep in mind that outside of its holiday weekend, Alterac Valley will tend to have the longest average queue of the four battlegrounds.For example, if the defensive team finds the other side pushing hard in one location, they can rally to that point.
Queuing with friends
For Alterac Valley, there is no option to join as a preformed group.They can also let the offense know that they need to hurry to defeat the enemy general. However, by clicking on the “”join battle”" button at the same time, you and your friends have a chance of entering the same battleground.The offense may then bypass some objectives in favor of rushing to the general’s fortress. When the pop-up appears notifying you of your ability to enter the battleground, you can confirm which Alterac Valley you received and compare with your friends.Similarly, the offense can discuss which objectives to conquer and which to bypass amongst themselves. If not enough of your group got into the same battleground, you can always leave the queue and try again.Each side can also call for reinforcements from the other. Alternately, your group can manually queue for a particular Alterac Valley instance by selecting it from the available battleground list when queuing.
Stay Together
Try to stay together with a pack of allies, as there is strength in numbers. However, queuing for specific battleground instances can result in significantly longer waiting times, since it won’t necessarily be the first available instance.In Alterac Valley, some enemy NPCs (such as the two generals) are extremely tough and can only be defeated by a large group of players.
Joining a fresh Alterac Valley game
Before the gates open and the match starts, there is a brief waiting time for the team to completely fill up and for any last-minute preparations such as casting buffs.The number of guards, enemy players, and sheer amount of terrain to cross lends itself to having a large group of players sticking together to accomplish the objectives of the battleground as fast as possible. Move up to the closed gate so you can get out and into the action as soon as possible.If you are off on your own, you might be very susceptible to attacks by a mass of enemy players. As soon as the match starts and the gate opens, rush through and mount up.However, it is also a viable tactic to station small teams of players or even individual players to hold and defend objectives such as graveyards and towers. Go go go! Follow the pack of players into enemy territory.On defense, having the bulk of your defense banding together to hold strategic objectives is very effective. If you’re playing a defensive role, stop when you see the enemy rush and slow down their advance.This is particularly true at key chokepoints, where even a small defense can hold off a larger attacking force. If you’re on offense, you will be heading for the enemy fortress, capturing and taking down some strategic objectives on the way.
Rejoining the Front
If you find yourself unable to proceed in the map because you’ve been cut off from the main force and are surrounded by the enemy team, you have several options to rejoin the main pack.
Joining a game in progress
If you have joined a game that has already started, open up the map with the “”m”" key.One is to wait until your teammates have captured a forward graveyard, at which point you can attack the enemy, die, and be revived at that forward graveyard. Each person on your side (Alliance or Horde) is represented on the map by a dot.You can also “”ghost walk”" to a graveyard on the other side of the enemy then use the spirit healer at that forward graveyard to revive you. You can mouse over the dots to see player names too.Another trick is to ask a Warlock on your team to summon you up to the battle. Where the players on your team are and what objectives your side controls can give you an idea of how the battle is going.