New Isle of Conquest Details Emerge!
Posted by 
Admin on Friday, June 12, 2009 - 29 Comments Tags: 3:2, PvP, battleground, content, isle of conquest, new, player versus player
Admin on Friday, June 12, 2009 - 29 Comments Tags: 3:2, PvP, battleground, content, isle of conquest, new, player versus player 
Blizzard released some more information on the new battleground that will be coming out in the 3.2. The first thing to really notice is that it is a return to form, of sorts, to the 'bigger' battles. With the release of WotLK we saw the release of Wintergrasp which is only held back by how many players the server can handle (which had a recent change to hopefully alleviate that), alongside the new battleground Strand of the Ancients which was a departure from the typical BG with the inclusion of vehicles.With Isle of Conquest Blizzard is opening a battleground that will support 40 on 40 player battles (the same as Alterac Valley holds). Siege weapons will make an appearance of course (SotA, Wintergrasp), alongside capturable locations (AB, EotS, SotA) which will open access to bigger and better siege weapons. One of the more interesting new vehicles is the Glaive Thrower which sounds as if you can assault the keep walls with it, or load up some friends and shoot them over the walls to engage the enemy directly!
The system overall for this battleground seems to be very similar to the new design of AV in that the reinforcements are tied to how many people have died on your side in the battleground. I'm sure this is to prevent those epic seven hour AV sessions that were had before many of the initial changes (oh the good old days).
But enough of me talking about the new battleground, why not check out the details Vaneras over at the WoW Europe Forums posted:
An island somewhere off the shores of Northrend. A rock, hardly worth a second look. But as insignificant as it may seem, this is no ordinary place. A sound of thunder as waves crash endlessly against rocky cliffs; a sound of fury as swords clash on the blood-stained fields of this island on the edge of forever.
Welcome to the Isle of Conquest.
The ongoing struggle between Horde and Alliance has turned many once peaceful (and some not-so peaceful) places into theaters of constant war. The Isle of Conquest is the latest such place, set to be the location of a battle of epic proportions over the island's precious resources.
An Alliance and a Horde general are fighting for dominance, overseeing the action from the safety of their keeps. Whichever side manages to eliminate the enemy general first will triumph on the island; failure to protect your leader will bring shame, dishonor, and defeat. There is no peace accord here, and it’s an all-out war between the factions.
Once More into the breach...
Isle of Conquest, a new battleground scheduled to make its debut in the upcoming content patch, Call of the Crusade, will pitch teams of up to 40 players against each other in a massive battle over this small island off Northrend's northern coast. To win, your team will need to make use of the island's unique strategic locations including an oil derrick, a siege workshop, and a fully equipped airship hangar. You will deploy devastating siege weaponry on the field; Light have mercy on anyone caught between you and your ultimate target, the general holed up in the enemy keep.
There are five points of interest on the Isle of Conquest for the factions to battle over. Each one offers its own benefits and strategic value. Which one will you claim for your side, and will it be enough to ensure victory?
Capture Locations
Consider your options before storming out of your keep to confront the enemy head-on. Spread throughout the Isle of Conquest are several capturable locations (as seen on the map), each granting a unique strategic advantage to your team.
The Oil Derrick: Located on the northwestern end of the island, this smudge in the Frozen Sea produces enough black gold to run a thousand siege engines. Taking this resource garners precious reinforcements and a continuous flow of honor to the side that controls it.
The Cobalt Mine: This snow-covered assembly, located on the southeastern end of the island, hides untapped supplies that must be harvested. Taking this resource grants reinforcements and a continuous flow of honor to the side that controls it.
The Docks: The western shore's docks will further expand your selection of siege weapons with the devastating new Glaive Thrower and the Catapult. Unleash the destruction of the Glaive Thrower upon the walls of the keep, or launch your invading party over the walls to assault the keep from within.
The Airship Hangar: This sturdy steel structure stands on the peak of Mt. Conquest overlooking the eastern side of the island, allowing players to board the airship docked there. This devastating weapon of war is capable of raining death upon the heads of your enemies and destroying enemy defenses. Once onboard the airship, players will find it comes equipped with parachutes enabling a strike team to drop into the enemy keep from above.
The Siege Workshop: Situated right between the Alliance base and the Horde base, this siege workshop occupies a strategic hot spot. Seizing it grants the controlling party the ability to utilize an arsenal of siege vehicles perfectly suited to reducing the enemy keep’s walls to dust and ashes.
Graveyards: There are five graveyards in the Isle of Conquest that are attached to different points of interest on the map: the Horde base, the Alliance base, an oil spill island in the center of the map (attached to the siege workshop), the northeast corner (attached to the airship hangar), and the southwest corner (attached to the docks).
Main Objectives
The Keeps: The Horde and Alliance keeps sit at opposite ends of the island. These citadels host four easily accessible defensive cannons set on the ramparts, capable of unleashing hot fury onto oncoming attackers. Additional explosives sit safely stowed in the base of the keep along the back wall. At least, they’re safe as long as they don’t fall into enemy hands. If they do, though, they can be employed to bring the stone walls down from within.
The General: Holed up behind the keeps' massive walls, the generals command their forces from a position of relative safety. Should the keep fall and the general be slain, the Isle of Conquest will fall to the victor.
Reinforcements: Isle of Conquest uses a reinforcements system similar to that of Alterac Valley. The clock is ticking and every individual counts. If too many of your comrades fall to the enemy the battle will end in defeat. Killing enemy players will reduce their reinforcements by one for each kill, Once your faction’s reinforcements reach their limit, so too does your bid for control of the island and the wealth of resources you’ve fought so hard over.
An island somewhere off the shores of Northrend. A rock, hardly worth a second look. A test of strength. A chance to prove your might, to crush your enemies, to make a difference, a chance for endless glory and conquest.
Will you seize it?
Reader Comments (29)
@Decado
Probably going to be something like 1 honor point every 20 seconds; can't see it being a huge source of honor.
Decado don give them any ideas on how to screw it up they do fine on thier own i be stupid not to give any defence against aircrafts but the point is more often then not teh people below are going to be vunreble to an attack unless they gve teh air crafts pea shooters again which would make them completly use less imagine i am riding riding to a base and boom a horde bastrd droped a bomb on my ass and i wasnt in an anti craft machine
It's not Aircrafts (plural) it's Airship (singular, or one Airship), as was mentioned. So far it sounds like it's going to be like the Airships in Icecrown, and on a static, set course, at a static set speed (not player controlled air combat vehicles like in Howling Fjord.) It should be pretty easily avoidable on ground, however, if your faction does not control it, I wouldn't want to try assaulting a control point it's flying over.
From what Blizzard has stated you can capture the Airship control point that will allow you onto the airship to drop behind enemy lines. Basically, you can use this if your faction can't capture the Siege factory to get into the Enemy's Keep. I'm not sure if the Airship will also have siege weapons on it or not. My guess is the Airship might have some weaponry mainly used to Siege the enemy walls and defend your own walls against ground based Siege Vehicles.
As someone else mentioned, as a Rogue/Druid you can airdrop from the airship or get catapulted into the enemy keep and there are Bombs that can be used there to destroy the keep walls from the inside. So, there's opportunity for Covert-Ops here.
Anyhow, here was an additional blue post about the Airship after the first post:
"The airship will have a set flightpath, though you will need control of the hangar to be able to get on board."
The more I think about the Airship the more I realize it's actually pretty smart to add. It has potential to add an interesting twist of strategy to the map.
Say you really want control of a certain control point, but the opposing faction is defending it pretty well. However, your faction has control of the Airship. What better timing to attack that control point then when your Airship, with friendlies manning the weapons on it, raining destruction from above... or at the very least, distraction from above, and you and a group of people from your faction make the move.
With the Airship in play now for that control point it tips the scales in your favor and your faction wins it! It will add an interesting strategic twist to the battle, like the Elite summons, Air Commander or the elite summon group that would assist you with summoning in AV (which if you didn't play old AV, you've probably never seen.) However, it's no longer PvE mobs in a PvP match, which is nice.
I can see it being a very strategic option for the BG. So, even if one faction zergs the Siege control point and then zergs the keep walls to clear a path to the General, it's quite possible for the other faction to grab the Airship and maintain pace on attacking the other general.
Or, the Docks. However, with so many options it could be as random as AB. Right out of the gate you have a few options, being the Lumber Mill, Mine and Blacksmith. Some even just go for the far away capture point too with the Farm or Stables, knowing that it's usually weakly defended right out of the gate.