Post by Revolutions on Nov 16, 2005 18:06:14 GMT -5
Arathi Basin (AB) is basically a game of capture-and-defend. Released in patch 1.7.0, this battleground provides a 15vs15 environment for both casual and organized players alike.
Games in Arathi Basin can be as short as 5 mins, or as long as 40. The average game takes about 30 minutes.
Arathi Basin is located in Arathi Highlands. The entrance is located in Refuge Point (Alliance) and Hammerfall (Horde). For Blizzard's page concerning Arathi Basin, click here. Fight the enemy and recieve honor for your faction - win or lose!
Basically, this is a capture-and-defend game. Players compete to control resource nodes. The more nodes you control, the more resources you gain. The first team to reach 2000 resources wins the game.
The typical strategy as the game begins is the following:
Group 1 - Gold Mine
Group 2 - Blacksmith
Group 3 - Lumber Mill
One person stops at The Farm or The Stable to capture the home base node.
Both factions use this strategy, its fairly common for players on both the Alliance and Horde. There are a few possible counters. The first is to do the exact same, simply outplaying the other
team. Remember to focus fire and the like. If you work together you'll beat them. Likewise, whichever team can assault the node first will gain the upperhand after one minute as they will have a close
graveyard to resurrect at. That said, its hard to burn the flag when the area is not secure.
Another counter is to split into two groups instead of 3. One person can quickly stop at the home base to capture the Farm/Stable. Then the remaining 14 can split into two groups of seven. With superior numbers
you should be able to capture both nodes that you attack, leaving your team with three nodes and the other with only two! After rolling them at the two nodes, you can attempt to take the other while the enemy is still recovering
from your devestating attack.
Zerging is also another strategy. While it is an easier "strategy" it isn't nearly as effective. Zerging involves travelling in a pack of 15 wherever you go, basically slaughtering everything in your path. While this is effective for getting
one base it isn't nearly as effective at holding the bases or capturing multiple bases. It is also not very flexible, meaning it can be hard to adapt to the other team. Keeping that in mind, this can be a good way to organize the group in a casual game. (Revolutions' side note: Note, setting your assist macro to your desnated DPSer makes this really fast and efficient, macro string should be as follows [replace name w/ dpser's name]
/target Revolutions
/assist
This will allow you to click the button, and aquire the groups target instantly)
Each group should contain the following...
Primary Healer - Priest/Druid/Paladin/Shaman
Secondary Healer - Priest/Druid/Paladin/Shaman
DPS1 - Mage/Rogue/Hunter/Shaman/Warrior
DPS2 - Mage/Rogue/Hunter/Shaman/Warrior
Crowd Control - Mage/Warlock/Druid
Warrior
With plate and heavy damage, the warrior is one of the most fearsome opponents in Arathi Basin. As a Warrior, you should be charging in before your group, hoping to grab some targets and making a difficult kill.
Expect to get CC'd a lot as players do not want to kill you off the start, but cause as much havoc as you can while you aren't under control. Find a soft target such as a priest or mage, and give them a hard time. Spam your abilities on this target, interupting their casting and dealing massive damage.
Use Piercing Howl whenever you can.
Paladin
The paladin is a hybrid of a healer and a tank. If you have to tank, make sure that it takes the enemy a looong time to kill you. But if you're not under attack, be sure to heal your party members.
Even though Paladin DPS is low, you can still be a pain for anybody that is trying to capture a base or for enemy healers.
Rogue
The ultimate in ninja looting. Target enemy bases, stealth, and wait for the base to be left undefended. Then capture the base so as to slow resource flow or to wait for reinforcements.
Rogues are also good at defending friendly bases as you can stealth and then attack the enemy after they start trying to capture the base. Do not appear out of stealth until they begin capturing as it ensures that you do not get CC'd. It also gives time for allies to arrive.
Use sap to thin out the numbers of the enemy before an offensive or when on the defensive.
Hunter
Patch 1.7.0 unvieled a variety of new playstyles for hunters, be it beast mastery or marksman, but the hunter's role in AB remains much the same no matter the playstyle. You're a ranged DPS class, so deal as much damage as possible, and take as little damage as possible.
Place freezing traps when on the defensive or for the initial push, and always watch the flag to be sure that it is not being captured. If it is being captured, hit multishot and anybody nearby will be interrupted.
Priest
Heal and AoE fear whenever you get the chance. There isn't really much to say for this as most Priests already know what do do.
Here's a handy tip though, when defending the lumber mill, use mind control to send the horde leaping off the cliff.
If you see enemies coming up, shield your party before the battle begins.
Druid
Heal, heal, heal. A combat resurrection can be a nifty trick when the defense is beginning to fall apart, or on a tight offensive.
Fellow casters will also thank you for Innervate.
Cat form can be a useful skill when defending bases so as to remain undetected or when stealing an enemy base.
Shaman
Shamans are both DPS and healers in AB. Keep your party alive as much as possible, but also kill those ugly Alliance players. Throw down magma totems to screw up captures, and go for weak cloth wearers.
Mage
Polymorph healers and warriors. Call out on vent/teamspeak before you do so (if your group uses it) or make a handy dandy macro.
Spam skills such as Frost Nova and AoE people that are trying to capture the flag. While not all AoE's stop the capture, they can help to kill the person!
Warlock
If you want to be the best defender, use an infernal, dismiss it, and then banish it on top of the flag. This should give you enough time to prevent the flag from being captured if you die. Just respawn and banish again. As you practice you should be able to time banish with the resurrection timer.
Likewise, any spells can be a pain for people trying to capture the flag, and Warlocks are definately a handy DPS class to have around.
Notes
Nodes remain neutral for one minute after the flag is burned. This stops the flow of resources, but does not allow resurrection.
Each base has a graveyard. Players do not resurrect at the flag, but on a nearby hill or behind a building (depending upon the location).
Resource income scales exponentially as more bases are held.
The map has several chokepoints where players can stop the opposing team from moving forward.
There are no guards or NPCs to provide assistance.
The game starts 2 minutes after the instance opens.
Tips
Ninja - A lot of the time bases are left undefended. A sneaky player can get to these bases, burn the flag and wait for reinforcements, or simply disrupt resource flow. Similarly, even if ia base is defended, there are always bases that are defended less heavily. Go for the easy targets, not the difficult ones.
The Stable/The Farm - If the opposing team has no controlled bases past the Stable (for Alliance) or the Farm (for Horde) they will resurrect in their base allowing you to form a blockade that prevents them from moving around on the map. Extremely useful in defense!
All 5 Resource Nodes - If your team is able to hold all five resource nodes for even a short period of time, you will gain 30 resources per second. Thats quite the resource flow. Just a few seconds with all the bases controlled can decide the outcome of the game.
The Blacksmith - The Blacksmith can be a useful node to hold, as it is in the centre of the field. Holding the Blacksmith in addition to other resource nodes allows you to quickly move around after resurrecting and can make a large difference in the game. Although, one key mistake with the blacksmith is to focus entirely on it, as other resources must be held as well to win the game.
The Lumber Mill - The Lumber Mill is an excellent location to hold as it is on the top of the map, allowing you to see distant areas of the map. Especially with devices such as an Ornate Spyglass, or Hunters can make use of Eagle Eye. With these you can see nearly the entire map.
Adapt - Adapt to what the enemy is doing. Very few games will turn out as you expect, sometimes the other team can be unpredictable. If they send 10 people to a base you probably aren't going to hold it off with 5 people. Although you may be able to hold it for a few seconds while you wait for reinforcements to arrive, or if you get lucky with resurrection timers.
Ventrillo - Organization is the key to Arathi Basin. If you're an organized group you should have everybody in the group on Vent or Teamspeak. If you're organizing a pickup game then try to get as many players as possible to join. Assign a leader and call out moves. If you see enemy players, say how many. Its fast to talk, typing is slow.
Crowd Control - Crowd Control is an essential part of AB games. Because the games are a smaller scale than Alterac Valley, it makes a huge difference if one or two players are out of the fight. Try to take out Priests and Warriors first. Hunters should be sure to use traps and Warlocks can even use banish or seduce.
Main Assist - Assign three main assists. One for each group. Make sure all players have a /assist macro set up. If you are engaged in a 5v5 battle, and one team assists and the other spreads out their targets then it is clear which team will win.
Defense - You have to defend what you capture. You can't just leave it open as there are no guards. Even one person left to defend a base can make all the difference. Also, in defending a node, remember that you don't have to kill all the incoming enemies, only stop them from burning the flag. Time your deaths with resurrections so that you can resurrect as soon as you die and raise havoc once more. The animation as players attempt to take the flag is clear, make them your priority if you see that. When defending, fight nearby the flag don't let yourself be drawn away.
The Push - The first push of the game is essential. All players should rush to each node as quickly as possible using spurs and enchants to increase the speed. Basically, you want to beat the other team there, if you can already have the flag burnt before they arrive all you need to do is defend it. Disorient the incoming horde with abilities such as polymorph, frost nova, and piercing howl.
Arathi Basin Resources! (Repeatable)
Note: This quest contains different flavour text for the Horde, but the concept remains the same.
War must be fought with soldiers, any soldier will tell you. They'll also say that a battle fought with poor gear or on an empty stomach is lost before it starts!
That is why Arathi Basin is important. There are key areas in the basin that hold essential resources. Metals, weapons, food, lumber - all are needed, and all can be gained there.
That is what I want from you, . Enter Arathi Basin, win the battle by holding more bases than the enemy, and return to me with a crate of resources.
Objective: Win the battle for Arathi Basin, get an Arathi Resource Crate, and return it to Sergeant Maclear at Refuge Pointe.
Rewards:
+50 Reputation with The League of Arathor/The Defilers
+3300 experience
pproximately 1500 bonus honor is rewarded to the winning team. The losing team recieves bonus honor depending on the amount of resources gathered. As for reputation, each game is worth 80 points. The rewards can be found on Blizzard's website.
