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Why do the Alliance continue to rush the mine? From my point of view I would say the Lumber Mill is a more stratigic point. The mine is in a vally where you can be hit from all sides execpt from the east. (I know it's a big drop but the enemy still survives it.) Lumber Mill, on the other hand, It's a cliff going up, thus you only have to defend two points. So why rush the Mine?
My AB experience on alliance says that horde usually goes for LM hard not long after the match starts. I think right after the match starts, horde goes for Farm + Blacksmith, while alliance goes for Stables + LM/Mines. However, of the times that I go to LM 50% of the time there are 5-6 hordes going hard at it too. Whereas rarely do I see 5 alliance heading to LM. Alliance is always very scattered at the beginning of the game.
I'm not sure what happens on the horde side at the beginning (and may be someone can enlighten me on that), but on alliance, we usually break up into small groups, with about 3 people at Stables, 3 or 4 at LM. The rest likes to go mine (so you get about 5 or 6 people going mines) but sometimes it breaks up into 2 groups with half going mine and half going BS.
With such thin grouping it is no wonder that we get pwned by hordes. Hordes seem to have much tighter grouping, they attack in groups of 4-5 usually, sometimes even in groups of 6 (or was that just 3 hunters).
There are times when alliance have tight groupings too, but it tend to concentrate into a massive battle at the stables. Whenever we lose all 4 or 5 nodes, most people will respawn at the hall. Hordes will be smart and send 10 people to stables trapping the outflowing of alliance n00bs. While alliance is dumb enough to engage the welcoming party head on at stables... The consequence is of course, we lose the match because we can't get out of stables to capture nodes.
However the enlightened few will run away and ignore the fight at stables and cap the defenseless mine or farm or LM. If you are alliance then this is what you should do too. That's my 2 cent worth of advice.
The mine is also the "quiet" flag in the game. Its a good thing to have because its often just sits there and ticks in the points without too much defending having to be done.
People, not you ^^, often scream and shout to go after BS or LM in game, they have a tendency to forget that each flags earns exactly the same. Some seems to think they can win if they just hold the ST and the BS.
IMX, as limited as it may be, Ally has won more often than not through this tactic... Assuming a full fifteen man PuG, one group each goes to ST, LM, and GM. Stand and hold the three while letting the Horde have Farm and BS. Harass the BS they the continually try to take ST, LM and GM. Have one or two people constantly try to ninja farm.
For what ever reason, Horde seems obsessed with taking the stables. Holding the LM and GM means you can constantly harass BS and Farm, and still reinforce the ST as needed.
So, again IMX, the effect throws off the Horde tactics. They assault ST, get rebuffed. While this is happening, they are losing Farm or BS, so the defenders and spawners run back to whichever we're taking atm and take it back. This alleviates their offensive pressure, gives our defenders time to heal and respawn. They assault another resource, and it happens all over again.
Sure, it is somewhat reactionary. But the effect is obvious. Once we have a good, solid lead, we start pushing a four cap and then a five cap. It really discourages the Hordies to /actually/ be losing an AB.
Now, the disclaimer. I noticed this over the last couple of weeks in the 20's bracket. The times this tactic didn't work is when Horde grouped into major offensive teams and zergged, without worrying about defense at all.
So basically, I say take both! But personally, I go for LM most of the time.
What I have found works for alliance, which is like 1 out of 10, when I was battle master. I tell everyone to zerg (except for one guy to take stables), stay together and rush LM. Once we take LM, and like 4-6 horde down, leave a few at LM and semi-zerg rush BS.
3 people can defend LM because you can stand on that cliff peninsula thing and look over the road and actually attack from there. It's easy to defend. Plus once you get BS you have a really good position for defense and spawning.
That one time I was leader and we went with this plan, and people listened, we PWNED and took five nodes.
Blacksmith is most important; for strategic res and reinforcement.
Lumbermill is next; for the reasons outlined above.
However, this has to be balanced against what is most strongly and weakly held. If your entire opposition is sitting in BS then there is no point in assaulting it, instead you can take all the rest of the nodes with no problem.
Of course in the chaos of battle and disorganisation having that BS makes harassing and supporting other nodes much easier so it can be worth some effort to take. It is just something to develop a feel for with experience.
IME (limited as it is), Horde (that's me! ) go for the Farm/BS/LM first. BS because of the strategic graveyard, and the LM for the view (you see them comming for a long time) and better defence (as discussed). Nearly every time I PuG AB, we stick to that basic strat, and win 90% of the time. The only time I see people seriously going after the Mines is when we're clearly superior and are trying to 5-cap them, or the group truly sucks and we can ninja it without a problem, or there are twinks stationed at the LM and defences at the Mines are weak.
LM also has the advantage of forcing your opponents to fight up, which is awkward on your view because you have to adjust your view when going up and after you get off the slope. It also makes it hard to see people who are further back, making you underestimate the forces stationed there, while in the Mines you can usually see the defenders clearly comming down (or even passing by from above).
i know when i play no my alliance toons i always go for mines. theres been plenty of ABs when horde didn't even send anyone. Last nite in the 20-29 bracket 3 paladins went to Mines and the horde sent a druid, rogue, warlock...they got obliterated adn we took mines. We then let a lvl 21 Druid sit there and the rest of us went out and fought over farm and BS while we held LM/Stables...
i just dont see horde go for Mines much. Its like a 'free' spot and only needs 1 defender to let us know if they are attacking and we can send 2-3 to get it back asap usually.
LM is nice..specially when I play my priest and Mind Control people over the cliff :)
But personally, I go for LM most of the time.
) go for the Farm/BS/LM first. BS because of the strategic graveyard, and the LM for the view (you see them comming for a long time) and better defence (as discussed). Nearly every time I PuG AB, we stick to that basic strat, and win 90% of the time. The only time I see people seriously going after the Mines is when we're clearly superior and are trying to 5-cap them, or the group truly sucks and we can ninja it without a problem, or there are twinks stationed at the LM and defences at the Mines are weak.
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