Zach loves the Battlegrounds. He loves them so much that he spends nearly all his playing time mucking around in them. He loves them so much he writes a column devoted to them. He loves it so much he makes a comic based on Battlegrounds play. You could say he eats, lives, and breathes Battlegrounds and world PvP. And maybe some Krispy Kreme doughnuts. It's kind of hard to get by without doughnuts.

Alright, so you have some kind of vague idea about what a Battleground is. Basically, Battlegrounds are where players go to consensually bash each others brains out. Or fry them. Or freeze them. These instances are designed for players to enjoy PvP, get a bit of honor and, if you're not already at max level, some experience. In the future, Blizzard has revealed plans to make the Battlegrounds even more like instances or dungeons by hinting at possible actual loot rewards. It's an interesting concept we'll have to revisit sometime in the future.

For now, we'll get back down to the basics. Last week we discussed how to get inside a Battleground. That's easy enough, especially with the new changes to the Battlegrounds queue system. This week we'll take a closer look at the different Battlegrounds available. Think of it as a nice buffet of PvP that you can choose from. What kind of Battleground you choose will depend on what kind of game you want to play (or more realistically, what Marks of Honor you still need. We'll get to that later). Hit the jump to check out this week's featured Battleground, Warsong Gulch.

WARSONG GULCH

What is Warsong Gulch?

Basically, Warsong Gulch is a Capture-the-Flag type of game where players must take a flag from the enemy base and bring it back to their own base while having control of their own flag, with the first team to capture three flags winning the match. Flags can be taken by right-clicking on it, and captured by stepping into the spot where your team's flag is. Your team's flag must be at its spawn point in order for your team to score.

In Patch 3.2, the map became a timed Battleground that lasts no more than 20 minutes. If the timer expires, the team with the most flag captures wins. If both teams have the same number of flag captures at the end of the match, the team that captured the last flag wins. If neither team has captured a flag, the game ends in a tie. There are 10 players per side in Warsong Gulch, currently making it the smallest Battleground.

That sounds silly! Why are we doing all this?

The battle for Warsong Gulch is one of the oldest and most touchy conflicts in the game -- it represents the clash between those tree-hugging night elves, the Silverwing Sentinels, and those resource-gathering orcs, the Warsong Outriders. The Sentinels are trying to retake the forests of Ashenvale while the Warsong Outriders are furiously trying to gather lumber because, well, the Horde needs it to make those fancy war machines. While getting the flag probably has absolutely nothing to do with deforestation and the green movement, it continues a proud tradition of one-upsmanship between the Alliance and the Horde because, you know, flags rule.

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