Armaggedon's coming

This is a post to answer a question, but 1st I have a question…

ORLY?

I don’t think so… even Jong didn’t think so, so who would think so?

Who says Blizzard doesn’t have a (perverse) sense of humor?

What actually initiates the “all in” call?

WoWenomics has directed folk here to pick up the basics on Alterac Valley from my post Life is Cheap #4: Your First Alterac Valley as PvE player and (I assume) one of those folk was Joe.  He had a good question.

Maybe you mentioned it and i didnt see it. What actually initiates the “all in” call? What set of circumstances need to be in place? I have been down there to kill the general many times and i know not to go in till i see the call, just dont know why i am waiting.

There are a few different times that the ALL IN call may be made, sometimes the conditions are ideal, other times it is an act of desperation.

Ultimately there is one thing in common:

Taking Drek en mass

If you have spent any time in Drek’s (yeah Horde, you can work it out on your own) courtyard, you will know that the moments, minutes, before a proper attempt on Drek are filled with one fool getting a little too close to Drek, pulling him and at the very least resetting him, if not forming a warm puddle of blood on the front steps.

The thing about taking on the leaders in AV is when you enter that room you need to be committed (No not in the psych institution sense).

• No namby Pamby 1/2 arsed attempts.
• No “Oh Shit I just took some damage I am going to get out of here”.

If you leave his room while he is chasing your butt, you just reset him… bad if you didn’t damage him at all because it frustrates your team mates and adds another minute before a genuine attempt (and often at that stage of the game, 1 minute will be the difference between success and failure), unforgivable if you have taken a chunk of Drek’s health.

So at the very basic level, the ALL IN call is an attempt to ensure that the Tanks, DPS and Healers all enter the room at once and commit to the fight.  Even if the conditions aren’t ideal, a coordinated attempt on Drek and his buddies will be successful if everyone gets off the mound and commits at the same time.

Favorable Circumstances

Beyond ensuring a coordinated attempt there are some circumstances that will determine the most appropriate time to call ALL IN.

Tanks, Healers, DPS

You can’t take Drek solo.

He is a raid boss, so you need the right composition of troops to take him on.

• Do you have at least one tank?

You will probably need at least two under ideal circumstances.  One for Drek, one for his dirty dogs. Always good to have another up your sleeve and if circumstances aren’t ideal, you will need some more meat shields.

• You will want a collection of Healers to cover the tank and the raid damage (Why do people feel drawn to Drek’s whirlwind?)

• I hate to admit it, but you will need DPS to burn him down.

Towers = Hard Mode

Hard modes are pretty common these days in raids, but they have existed in AV since day one.  The more towers/bunkers you have destroyed, the less of Drek’s buddies you have to contend with (easy mode).  The less towers/bunkers destroyed the more you have to deal with (hard mode).

• That’s why it’s important to recapture your towers/bunkers – to make the job difficult for the enemy
• That’s why you should guard the towers/bunkers you have captured until they are destroyed – to make your life easier.

The AV I was in the other day, we made it to Drek in record time, then most people had a picnic on Drek’s mound (and I don’t mean his corpse).  Meanwhile the Horde recaptured everything behind us.

End result… we couldn’t take Drek!

This is why you see people asking/posting tower timers, you want to start your assault the moment all the towers/bunkers are destroyed.  If need be moments before they are destroyed, you just need to hang on a few seconds for the Warmasters to despawn.

Graveyard

You want to make sure you have the enemy’s graveyard.

Let me rephrase that.

If there is a possibility of failure, you want to make sure you have the enemy’s graveyard.

You don’t want a disheveled run back from a distant GY to try again and again.  If you cock up, you want to be back in position within a minute for a 2nd attempt.

If the stars have aligned, you have destroyed the enemy’s towers, you have tanks, healers and dps ready to go and you can enter that room as a single unit, then ALL IN can be called before the GY is captured.

If not, watch the BG timer so you know the second you can call ALL IN.

Galv, where for art thou?

Is Galv down?

Doesn’t really matter all that much, but if he is, then you can tick another box on the ALL IN checklist.

Warm Bodies

It’s no good having one tank, healer and DPS ready to take on Drek, you need more warm bodies.

• Not AFK botters
• Not ghosts making the run back
• Not people midfield promising they will be there as soon as they have their 10,000 honor kill… only 9,998 to go!

You want a minimum of 10-15 warm non-mouth breathing people of the appropriate class ready to go.

One AV I was in the troops were ready to take Drek, but there were no healers.  I ghost ran from the Stormpike Aid Station to the Drek, rezzed, announced my presence and the ALL IN was called.

Defense and Your Faction Leader

How is D going?

Have you asked?

If they are doing fine, then you don’t need to rush the ALL IN for Drek unless reinforcement numbers are getting low.

I mean either side.

Killing Drek gives a virtual truckload of XP and Honor.  Don’t win by default if you can take Drek down.

If D is in trouble, then you may have to risk an attempt or two.  If you have the closest GY, then it’s worth the risk – better 2 messy attempts at Drek than a loss at the hands of Drek’s mound.

A Voice

Who has the right to call an ALL IN?

Well you do if you know there is a good change of success.

You have the right mix of tanks, healers and DPS, enough towers are destroyed, GY is taken, there are enough warm bodies and/or your D is faltering so you need to make an attempt now.

Ultimately the ALL IN call is just a rallying cry.

• It gets everyone on the same page.
• It’s just a Ready Check and the command to go

If you are itching to make the call,throw out a couple couple of quick questions:

Do we have tanks?

Who will tank Drek?

Do we have healers?

You know who your tanks are!

All IN!

Remember that more likely than not, the other 20 people on the mound are waiting for someone else to make the call.  If the conditions are right, make it!

Does that answer the question?

See Joe, I told you I would ramble…

I think that answers the question, but I know that my wise and always ready readers will have some additional thoughts, so I will step aside from this answer now and leave the great unwashed masses that read this blog to correct me and set you on the right path.

In other news…

OK, completely unrelated to AV, ALL IN, or even Blood Elves.

I mentioned the other day that Gnomeaggedon had been promoted to a Core Raider, but with a guild tag of “Who is this?”

Well, there has been a guild status update for Gnomeaggedon…

Did I?

I guess I did… but it was assisted.

Looks like I have two unguilded toons now…

WTS two badly geared but well played toons.  May never make it to your raid nights, but good value to have on your raid roster!

Jong, your illestretpally

Gnomer and Out, Squidly and Stout!

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http://gnomeaggedon.net/2009/11/13/alterac-valley-all-in-or-not-all-in-that-is-the-question/