Alterac Valley tactical overview Graveyards . Frostwolf Graveyard . It is a flat , fairly open area with no natural advantage for either force . Both sides have seen this as biased against them , but ultimately it is a level playing ground in a confrontation , barring the owner ' s closer spawn point . Notably , the open area is beneficial for ride - by NPC kiting , and its proximity to the nearby mine can give some NPC support via kiting . Towers / Bunkers . Alliance Advantage : Horde Tower flags are not covered by archers . Horde Advantage : Horde Towers are slightly harder to climb . Icewing bunker . Because it is situated right next to the only path into and out of Alliance territory , whoever controls IWB controls the pass . In most games the Alliance won ' t leave any defenders , making it an easy take for the Horde who can hold off a squad of Alliance players with just a couple RDPS in the windows . Were the Alliance to leave defenders here , they could rather effectively bottleneck the Horde and prevent them from moving onwards . Stonehearth bunker . Horde Advantage : The bunker is set out of the way , such that Alliance players won ' t be passing near it on their way to Galv . This makes sending one or two Horde units to capture it very easy without significantly reducing the scope of the attack force on Balinda . Iceblood Tower . A group of ranged characters encamped on the tower can effectively control the roads leading to Iceblood Garrison and Iceblood Graveyard . Towerpoint . Set almost squarely between two Horde starting graveyards , Tower Point can be somewhat difficult for Alliance to hold if the Horde holds any units in reserve from the initial blitz . However , once the point is controlled , it represents a rather effective bottleneck for the Alliance to prevent Horde reinforcements from moving towards the Alliance towers . Theories on real / perceived imbalance . Race Games . Quite simply , Alterac Valley was not designed as a PvE battle to be decided in under 20 minutes , and the removal of superfluous NPCs ( patch 1 . 11 ) does not address the placement of the remaining NPCs , the terrain , or how good the opposing defenses are with a skeleton defense — or quite often , no player defenders at all . These were designed to compliment the other NPCs , and a lively PvP battle . Another factor to consider is the level of thought put into by players who don ' t want to be in the battleground for over half an hour , and the level of organization in an average [ PuG ] . Presumably , AV being a PvP arena after all , there is a counter available to either side for whatever is put in their way . Change however comes slowly in a disorganized mob , so better tactics are slow to filter through . For instance , from this author ' s view ( Alliance ) , I can see no real reason why Horde players would not attack SP from above and behind , pretty much exclusively , from what is referred to as the high road . It ' s not intuitive however , but then it may change in time . At this time , Alliance does have a significant advantage ; issues such as the placement of NPCs in the two bases , which used to be balanced by other issues in a fuller game , and the terrain itself when used in race games , cater to the lowest common denominator of the two forces . However , Alliance , even with the perceived advantage , does not win AV an unbalanced amount of the time , though a thorough examination of rated battlegrounds might show if this advantage can be pressed in such a way to make the horde lose every time . This is simply a reflection on the playerbase , and how they have chosen to play , rather than issues of balance inherent in the map , which is after all , objectively , being abused to gain as much honor as possible . Culture . Groups of players who believe they can win , will usually win ; players who believe they will probably lose anyway , will not try as hard , and thus generally lose . If your opponent has a force of 40 who have some level of trust and organization , and you a force of 30 with 10 AFKers , bots , stealthers , fishermen and grinders , you are already at a disadvantage . What begins as a being decided by a combination of skill , gear and organization , becomes a self - fulfilling prophecy , as a loss will often result in another loss , a win in a win , as a pool of players become entrenched as either winners or losers in each battlegroup . Thus a supposed bias will emerge , while a neighboring battlegroup can have an alternate view on bias . It should be noted in support of this , that the current prevailing attitude of patch 1 . 11 onwards is similar to a pre - patch 1 . 10 ( for some servers at any rate ) situation that saw one side not caring whether they won or lost . It would seem that Blizzard ' s actions can have a resounding impact on player contribution within this battleground . Limited experience . As AV has moved from its traditional long encounters to a cynical exercise in milking the system , players are not exactly endeared to the map ( not that the previous versions were universally popular , or free of players focused exclusively on the rewards ) , a common sentiment being to get out of there as soon as rep / honor permits . Short games where essentially the same strategy is played out ad nauseum , also leads to a narrow range of experience . How much can a player know of the tactics an enemy uses on attack , if they themselves never defend ? How quickly can counters be discovered when players are encouraged not to search them out ? This leads to a playerbase that is largely inward - looking and ignorant when determining what their opponent faces — delivering an entrenched and narrow - minded view of AV . The only way to fix this is to train players , and that is itself a difficult task . To do so would take a group of dedicated players on each battlegroup queuing in a small group . These players , with clear ideas of the map , strategy , and a willingness to change strategy and command the battlegroup , can direct the other thirty five in a concentrated effort to win the game . In doing so , they introduce those players to the effectiveness of a solid group strategy . With time , the group will train enough players , and they others , etc . , so that the game is very enjoyable . Overall Problems Post 2 . 0 . Essentially , Alterac Valley has become just another PvE raid instance where a PuG can walk in and easily win . Side quests and other things that potentially make the fight more interesting are overlooked because they are simply unnecessary , and doing them removes players from ' the action ' and potentially lose you honor points . A group can leave 15 people on defense , send 25 in on offense and easily win the match . There is no need to upgrade the armor of the NPC units , send cavalry attacks , or summon the raid boss . Battles have gone from the former multi - hour strategy matches , to footraces to the opposing base . It ' s simply a matter of which group of 40 people can reach the opposing base first and kill the leader , which , in itself , is painfully easy . As of patch 2 . 4 , when Season 4 was released and Season 2 became available as Honor gear , every single Alterac Valley seems to be a massive zerg without any thought put in to the offense except " CAP THEIR BASE NOW ! ! ! " . Honestly , if I am playing Alterac Valley , I get about 5 of my friends to go back capture the towers . Bunkers / towers are rarely ever defended after the capture timer has started . The game requires many changes if it is to return to its former glory . As a Horde Paladin player , Alterac Valley frustrates me very much post 2 . 4 . In Patch 2 . 4 , the Horde ' s starting cave was moved back about another 30 seconds of running . This gives the Alliance a much closer starting point to the Horde ' s base , and the Horde ends up reaching Dun Baldar much later than the Alliance reaches Frostwolf Village . If you pay attention in Alterac Valley , you should notice that the Alliance will always start on the Relief Hut flag before Horde even reaches the Dun Baldar bunkers . This is due to the fact that Horde : A ) has no defense whatsoever and B ) The Alliance starts much closer and you can ' t get interrupted while capturing the flag at the Relief Hut .