Southshore vs Tarren Mill - A post analysis

If you engaged in PvP early on in WoW, you might have fond memories of—and perhaps a few scars from—the endless tug-of-war between Horde and Alliance players at Tarren Mill and Southshore. To recapture that feeling, we’ll be opening a Team Deathmatch–style Battleground based on that timeless struggle. However, unlike the old days of Tarren Mill vs. Southshore, there will be a clearly defined victor, so you’ll need to work as a team or face crushing defeat.
- Gearing Up to Celebrate 10 years of Warcraft, August 2014

When the battleground first came out it seemed a simple enough concept - kill each other, and each kill gives points and the first to 300 points wins.  Our base had guards and reinforcements, theirs did too.

However, in the first few weeks of Tarren Mill vs Southshore I was unable to get a win and it seemed like a gross lack of teamwork.  I lost a few, and left a few because of so much infighting in the group (and one because I went in as a tank instead of heals), but in the last few days before it was gone, I was determined to win one.

One of the things the group often did was clump at the first tower.  It probably doesn't matter where the group clumps together, as long as they are together.


People have a tendency to chase as well.  For those who love the chase they are easily gripped even further away from the group by opposing team DKs and then out of range of heals and then go splat. Hopefully our teams priests can pull them back in time!


There was a comment on Wowhead which said that killing the opposing teams Flight master would give you 200 points.  Totally NOT true.  As you can see in this picture above, the flight master, Darla Harris, had been pulled (and killed twice) and there were no points to be had.

So, last weekend I thought I'd better get this achievement before it's gone forever, and having discussed it in guild, a lot of people had gone onto alliance to get their achievement.  I had no choice but to persist.

I lost a couple to alliance (one of them, interestingly, Exray was in, on his alliance toon and he was killing ME and Sev!) and then I saw Mataoka pondering on battlenet whether she should venture into Tarren Mill.

I told her she should, because in my limited experience, Alliance always win.

She snorted at me. Apparently alliance have been complaining about Tarren Mill being unfair!  I was shocked! She teased me about my loose interpretation of ALWAYS win, and she told me that apparently Horde does better on Saturdays.

Well it was Saturday in the US now, and Sunday in Australia, so off I went.  And lo and behold, I won!

I had lost the previous one, and it was interesting because there were a couple of things I hadn't noticed in previous matches.

In that game, we were winning for most of the match and then at the end, Alliance came back and smashed us.  This was because our team was getting kills and ranking up within the battleground.  As we ranked up, we were worth more as targets - at max rank (High warlord) we were worth 14 points!

So that was how they won, they got us all to high rank and then started decimating a few of us and Alliance overtook us and they won.

So when I went in again, I took notice of this ranking thing, and we were losing for most of the fight and then me and some others started calling out the high ranking targets and focussing them down, and we WON!


After that, it was strange, it was as if Horde had suddenly rallied together!  The next game I won also, and poor Alliance was being graveyard farmed.  We pushed them all the way back to Southshore, even killing their guards and NPCs as well.  Graveyard farming was an effective, though mean way to ensure a win, and I felt sorry for those poor Alliance players.

I didn't die in that game and so I got a really good rank!


Poor Mataoka - after a day or so she told me she had done 25 games and ALL LOST.  I was horrified - I know I hadn't done that many and the event was nearly over!  I wished I could help her but it was difficult unless I got into her particular battleground.

On MMO-Champion they had a graph showing wins for Horde and Alliance - according to them 5.9% of Alliance had a win, and 6.1% of Horde had a win!

So I'm pleased I got my win, and I wish everyone had gotten one.  The event will be in it's final stages if not finished already so my congratulations to everyone who managed to get the achievement/FOS, and for all those who struggled, I wish there was some way it would have worked out for you.

Navimie, the Slayer of Southshore, signing off.

Comments

  1. When you set up a limited event, and folks who have never played before, it spells potential frustration and disaster. Too bad there wasn't some information for newer players, though that would not have helped the 'patience' factor. Loss of patience lost us every round. Oh well...c'est la guerre!

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    1. So more torture for you with this extended thing eh? /hugs /throws four leaf clovers /throws rabbit feet

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  2. You know, I still get twitchy when people mention Tarren Mill. I spent my formative WoW years on a PvP server, and I can't tell you the number of times I got ganked in and around Tarren Mill.

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    1. Ah the joys of being on a PvE server. I don't think I could cope on a PvP server.

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  3. Everyone's experience is so diverse it's and I can only hope the ones who didn't get it still can in this extended week of attempts.

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