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It has been suggested that Karazhan Tower be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

Instances, also known as instance dungeons or simply "dungeons", are special areas in World of Warcraft of which many copies can exist at once. "Instance" can also refer to a particular copy of such an area. These areas allow many groups of players to traverse the same geography and battle the same enemies at the same time, without interfering with each other. All instances are accessible by a swirling portal, sometimes blocked by a locked door (and thus requiring a key). The Naxxramas Necropolis provides a small exception to the swirling portal rule by not having one, instead you simply step on a platform located in the Eastern Plaguelands to automatically teleport into the instance. Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Image File history File links Please see the file description page for further information. ... The Karazhan Tower is a location set in Blizzard Entertainments video game and book series, Warcraft. ... In MMORPGs, an instance dungeon is a special area, typically a dungeon, that generates a new copy, or instance, for each group that enters the area. ... World of Warcraft (commonly abbreviated as WoW) is a massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Blizzard Entertainment and is the fourth game in the Warcraft series, excluding expansion packs and the cancelled Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans. ...

Instances were first proposed by Richard Garriott in the late 1990s as a way to solve a set of related problems which had become obvious in Ultima Online. The problem is simple to state: everyone wants to be "The Hero" and slay "The Monster", rescue "The Princess" and obtain "The Magic Sword". When there are 2,000 and more players all playing the same game, clearly not everyone can be the hero. The problem of everyone wanting to kill the same monster and gain the best treasure was terribly obvious in the game EverQuest. The creation of instances largely solves this set of problems. There are few examples of boss camping and kill stealing in World of Warcraft - because a copy of the dungeon (instance) is always created on demand for a character or their party. Richard Garriott in Lord British attire Richard Allen Garriott (born July 4, 1961; nickname Lord British) is a significant figure in the video game industry. ... Ultima Online (UO) is a popular graphical massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), released on September 25, 1997, by Origin Systems. ... EverQuest (EQ) is a 3D fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) that was released on March 16, 1999. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Kill-stealing, in video games and computer games, is the act of defeating an enemy, such as a monster, when it is at its weakest before another player, who has been weakening the enemy, gets the chance to kill it. ...

List of instances

This is a list of the major and minor Locations ordered by region (after the events of the Third Great War) in the Warcraft universe — a fictional universe in which a series of video games and books are set. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Locations in the Warcraft Universe. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Locations in the Warcraft Universe. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Locations in the Warcraft Universe. ... Stormwind is the Human capital city in the fantasy Warcraft universe. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Locations in the Warcraft Universe. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Locations in the Warcraft Universe. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Locations in the Warcraft Universe. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Locations in the Warcraft Universe. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Locations in the Warcraft Universe. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Locations in the Warcraft Universe. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Locations in the Warcraft Universe. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Locations in the Warcraft Universe. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Locations in the Warcraft Universe. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Locations in the Warcraft Universe. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Locations in the Warcraft Universe. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Locations in the Warcraft Universe. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Locations in the Warcraft Universe. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Locations in the Warcraft Universe. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Locations in the Warcraft Universe. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Locations in the Warcraft Universe. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Locations in the Warcraft Universe. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Locations in the Warcraft Universe. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Locations in the Warcraft Universe. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Locations in the Warcraft Universe. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Locations in the Warcraft Universe. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Locations in the Warcraft Universe. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Locations in the Warcraft Universe. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Locations in the Warcraft Universe. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Locations in the Warcraft Universe. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Locations in the Warcraft Universe. ...

Burning Crusade Instances

These are instances that are in World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. Several instances, such as Hellfire Citadel, are split into 5-man "wings". The raid encounters in those instances are included in the "Raids" section.

A new battleground, Eye of the Storm, has been added. It mixes the hold-for-points aspect of Arathi Basin with the capture-the-towers aspect of Eastern Plaguelands world PvP and the capture-the-flag element of Warsong Gulch.

Map of Draenor/Outland from World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. ... Map of Draenor/Outland from World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. ... Map of Draenor/Outland from World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. ... Map of Draenor/Outland from World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. ... Map of Draenor/Outland from World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. ... Map of Draenor/Outland from World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. ... Map of Draenor/Outland from World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. ... Map of Draenor/Outland from World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. ... Map of Draenor/Outland from World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. ... Map of Draenor/Outland from World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. ... Map of Draenor/Outland from World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. ... Map of Draenor/Outland from World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. ... Map of Draenor/Outland from World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Locations in the Warcraft Universe. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Locations in the Warcraft Universe. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Locations in the Warcraft Universe. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Locations in the Warcraft Universe. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Locations in the Warcraft Universe. ... Map of Draenor/Outland from World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. ... Map of Draenor/Outland from World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. ... Map of Draenor/Outland from World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. ... Map of Draenor/Outland from World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Locations in the Warcraft Universe. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Locations in the Warcraft Universe. ... Map of Draenor/Outland from World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Locations in the Warcraft Universe. ... Map of Draenor/Outland from World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. ...

Battlegrounds

General Description

Battlegrounds are a type of instance dungeon introduced in version 1.5. The purpose of Battlegrounds is to provide players with an area to engage in PvP combat. Like a standard instance, the dungeon is spawned on demand for the players inside, however there are some differences: This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

• A minimum number of people on each side are required to play.
• Upon reaching the victory condition, players are ejected to the entrance (or if they joined from a Battlemaster they will be ported to that Battlemaster) and the dungeon is cleared and the statistics are stored. The victors are rewarded with faction reputation, honor points and three tokens (Marks of Honor) that may be exchanged for items as of patch 2.0. The losers receive only one Mark of Honor, and less faction reputation and honor points.
• If the number of players dips below a certain threshold, a warning will sound and in several minutes the battle will be over if no new players join.
• Depending on the time of day, server population, and general willingness to play, the wait to join a Battleground can be from few seconds to a few hours.
• As of Patch 1.12, battlegrounds have become "cross-server", meaning that players from several different game realms are able to fight in the same battlegrounds. With this addition, the wait time to enter a battleground has been significantly reduced.
• In Warsong and Arathi, players are grouped by levels: 10-19 (Warsong Gulch only), 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, and 70. Alterac Valley is restricted to players level 51-60, 61-70. The new Eye of the Storm battleground is restricted to players level 61-70.
• Battleground combat does not provide experience points (XP) upon killing an enemy player.
• Upon leaving a battleground prior to its completion, a character is given a deserter debuff. The deserter debuff prevents a player from entering a new battleground or entering the queue for a new battleground. The debuff expires in 15 minutes, persists through death, and cannot be dispelled. As of Patch 1.12, this debuff continues to expire even if the player is logged out. The one exception is if the player was in multiple queues when he/she entered one battleground; the player may switch battlegrounds when summoned without penalty.
• A party leader or raid leader can place his or her group in the queue for Warsong Gulch, Arathi Basin, and Eye of the Storm as long as no member of the raid has the deserter debuff (only the people in the group or raid who fit leader's bracket will get the queue). This allows players far away from any where in Azeroth or Outland to be teleported directly into a battleground and immediately leave it and reappear in the city that the Party Leader or raid leader has queued you in.

Common Battlegrounds Tactics

• "Zerging", This term derives from another Blizzard game Starcraft. This tactic originally was mass producing the cheap and quick to build unit the Zergling which if built in high enough quantities could overwhelm defenders by encircling them and destroying them. In World of Wacraft this refers to the practice of grouping the majority of players on one team into a single force. This force can then storm objectives and prevail through force of numbers. It is a risky tactic as it leaves your own positions undefended and runs the risk of having your team slaughtered should you encounter a large and skilled defense.
• "Turtling", refers to the practice of grouping your entire team about one position, usually as a defensive measure. This means that enemy players will attack uselessly and be slaughtered by your team's combined might. It is not often used by players who are winning as it results in a prolonged game. It can be effective if you have a few skilled players on offense but otherwise usually results in a long, slow defeat for the team employing this tactic.
• "Ninjaing", refers to the tactic of having a few small groups or solo players sneaking behind the battlefront and hitting lightly guarded defensive positions far behind enemy lines. It is usually no more than a slight setback for the foe but can be deadly if it is combined with a strong offensive push that drives the enemy back to the captured position. Such as capturing towers in Alterac Valley while the Defense is fighting elsewhere requiring some D to break off and recapture the tower while the opposing O breaks through. Usually Ninjaing is done by a Rogue using stealth or a Druid in cat form using prowl.
• "Tanking", refers to the tactic of having a few players with high health and armor (warriors, paladins or bear form druids) charging the enemy lines recklessly. Healers constantly shield and heal the "tank(s)" while ranged damage classes drive home an attack. If it works correctly, the enemy will spend a lot of time killing the "tank" while their ranks are thinned and crippled at range by your team. If it doesn't work correctly, the "tank" is horribly butchered in seconds.
• "Kamikaze" is more of an individual effort than an organized strategy, involves one or more brave players who run straight into the enemy lines and try to mete out as much damage and kill as many foes as possible. It works best in small skirmishes, distracting the enemy team by having them target the suicidal player closest to them while the rest of their team is destroyed. This is often used to distract opposing team members from the flag carrier in Warsong Gulch and Eye of the Storm. This only really works in quick, all-offensive battles and not large, prolonged battles of attrition. Mages have been known to be the most deadly kamikazes, dealing high amounts of burst and AoE damage.
• "Twinking" Is when a character tries to accumulate the best possible gear and upgrades and stops leveling at the top of a certain level bracket. The most prevalent twinks are in the Warsong Gulch battleground level 10-19 bracket. As such high grade gear for level 19 can usually sell for more than gear at the highest levels. Twinks are usually only able to be killed by another twink or a group. The reason for twinking is mostly pride or to get Very rare PVP accessible only gear. However a good twink can cost an upwards of 2000 gold making the ability to twink limited to players who have high level characters, or high level friends. As of now twinks in the level 19 bracket are the most prevalent, the reasons for such are that level 19 is the quickest to reach, and the "twink" gear at level 19 is yards away from the rest, and there are less spells and abilities. At higher levels the "twink" gear, if there is any, is not much better than what the rest of the players will be wearing making twinks in the 40-49 and 50-59 bracket almost non-existent. Other reasons for this are feeling that if you leveled them up that high you might as well keep going.

Warsong Gulch

• The smallest of the four currently available Instance type battlegrounds pre patch 2.0 . A basic 'Capture the Flag' objective with 10 players per side. The first team to bring the opposing team's flag back to their base three times is declared the winner. Players can only score points if they return an opposition flag to their base while their own flag is safely at their base. This situation often results in 'cat and mouse' hunts for opposition players who are carrying their flag while defending players who are carrying the opponents' flag.
• In some level brackets, "turtling", or having everyone defend the flag carrier and delaying the game, is a frequently used tactic used by both Alliance and Horde players. This can be an effective tactic if used correctly, but it frequently results in almost never-ending games. Game length often depends on the strength of the defense, a determined defense will mean that the flag will not be captured until the base is taken by storm whereas if no one is on defense, it can be snatched by a single player.

This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Arathi Basin

• Capture nodes: Blacksmith (BS), Stables (ST), Lumber Mill (LM), Gold Mine (GM), and Farm.
• Players get resources 'points' for each node they hold for more than 1 minute. The resources are added at 10 per second per base (except if you hold all 5 bases in which you receive 20 resources a second). When a faction reaches 2,000 resources they win that battleground.
• Although Zerging has some effectiveness, the game layout discourages it as it leaves the other four nodes vulnerable. The scoring method used by Blizzard discourages players remaining as Defense at the nodes, this modifies game play by encouraging offensive (sic) behavior.
• An effective way to prevent the other team from capturing the nodes is to leave 2 or 3 powerful players at each node to fend off any small group attackers or to hold out and prevent the other team from capturing the node until more players can come to help defend the nodes under assault.

It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Rush (computer gaming). ...

Alterac Valley

Alterac Valley is a 40 player by 40 player (or commonly known as a 40-man) battleground in World of Warcraft. It is currently the largest of the four battlegrounds. The objective is to kill the final boss found in Stormpike Hold for Horde players or Frostwolf Keep for Alliance players. To reach the final boss players must fight mobs, mini bosses, and opposing team players, while taking and controlling key graveyard respawning points along the way. The first side to kill the final boss wins the battle, however Honor points are only accumulated by destroying enemy mini bosses and objectives like towers. Often both sides separate into offense ('O') and defense teams ('D'), designed to either reach objectives for O or to frustrate the opposition players in D. A complicating factor in the battleground is the large number of quests available within the Instance, since players on these quests reduce the primary objectives of O and D players, thus reducing the amount of force they have on either O or D, sometimes giving an advantage to one side over the other. Though most battleground win percentages rely on player base Alterac Valley has been cited by many players to give an advantage to the alliance faction. Such as the Alliance base is more tightly grouped and only accessible via a bridge from which NPC archers can snipe at the oncoming Horde. The tightness of the base usually leads to more NPCS coming out to attack the Horde raiders. On the other hand the Horde Base is more loose resulting in the ability to bypass many NPCS which tip the battle in the Alliance base.The Horde Base is accessible via 3 ways. 1 is to go through the main gates which are only loosley guarded by a level 60 elite which can be bypassed by immediately turning right,mounting your character and jumping of a hill over the walls, or a gap in the walls against a mountain. The spawn point closest to the Horde base is in the wide open while the Alliance counterpart is set into a mountain. In sport, offense (American English) and offence (British English and Canadian English) is the action of attacking or engaging an opposing team with the objective of scoring points or goals. ... In sport, defense (AmE) and defence (CwE) is the action of preventing an opponent from scoring. ...

Eye of the Storm

The Burning Crusade brings a new type of battleground to the game. This is more of a hybrid of the existing battlegrounds, as it includes capturing flags, controlling towers and accumulating up to 2,000 resources to win. The towers you can capture are: Fel Reaver Ruins, Mage Tower, Draenei Ruins and Blood Elf Tower. A flag is set in the middle of the battleground, being capturable by both teams, if it is successfully brought back to a base that your team controls, 70 points are awarded to your team, and the flag is reset in the middle of the battleground. It is located in Netherstorm, Outland, limited to 15 players per side. It also introduces two new level brackets for play, 61-69 and 70. Ref World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade is the first game expansion for World of Warcraft. ...

Battlemasters

Battlemasters are NPCs that allow easy entrance to Battleground instances. They act as a fast way to enter a Battlegrounds instance from the major cities of Azeroth: An NPC from the video game The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. ...

• They are located in all capital cities in Azeroth. If one cannot find the Battlemasters, they may also have the choice to ask a guard to find out where these NPCs are located, or they may even ask fellow players.
• Upon leaving a battleground a character will be automatically teleported to the Battlemaster from where they joined the queue. If they joined directly at the instance they will still be ported back to the battleground instance portal. This was a change in version 1.7.
• A player is allowed to be queued for up to three Battleground instances. A prompt will appear notifying the player when the Battleground instance is ready at which point the player will have the choice to enter the Battleground instance or hide the prompt message. When a player is in a Battleground instance they may still receive the prompt for other Battlegrounds they have queued that are ready for them to join. They may switch Battlegrounds when the prompt appears with no penalty. If a character is a ghost they can still enter the Battleground. Ghost characters that enter a Battleground will be automatically brought back to life when entering and/or leaving.
• Tuesday through Thursday, Battlemasters are restricted to a stationary location in each of the capital cities. From Friday through Monday you might also find Emissaries representing one of the battleground hosting factions scattered throughout the cities, some at specific locations and others walking around. These are called battleground holiday weekends and they occur on a schedule that is published on the World of Warcraft website. Players participating in battlegrounds on their holiday weekend earn additional honor points and faction in comparison to any other time.

See also

• Locations in the Warcraft Universe

It has been suggested that this article be split into articles entitled Kalimdor, Eastern Kingdoms and Outland, accessible from a disambiguation page. ...

External links

• Instancing Basics, from worldofwarcraft.com (official site)
• List of World Dungeons, from worldofwarcraft.com (official site)
• Instance at WoWWiki, a World of Warcraft wiki