Visiting Dalaran, I noticed the Battlegrounds room which used to have placeholder crystals, was updated adding three rooms, two of which contain portals to Arathi Basin, Warsong Gulch, Alterac Valley, Eye of the Storm and … Strand of the Ancients. For those who went to the Blizzard Worldwide Invitationals in Paris, or watched the video streams—Strand of the Ancients Battlegrounds is formerly known as Northrend Battleground Blockout. It is an isle off the southern coast of Dragonblight.
Players spawn at boats by the shore. You can visit the Factory to pick up some Seaforium charges to blow the gates, or use a siege weapon. The opposite team will be protecting the gate by shooting the cannons located at both sides of the gate. Players can attack and destroy these cannons.
Once the gates are destroyed, keep moving forward to destroy the next gates. Another group should take care of taking the flag once it becomes enabled, and protect it from enemies. Specially rogues and mages who can approach via invisiblity. It takes about 10-15 seconds to channel the taking of the flag. Keep enemies crowd controlled, silence or kill them asap to stop them from interrupting the channeling of the flag-taking.
The battleground lasts approximately 20 minutes. It’s pretty engaging, and everyone has a purpose or functionality to succeed. From defending the gates, to using the siege weapons to quicken the destruction of the gates. I was a bit lost in this first time, but from what I could gather—the mechanics behind these battleground will offer a lot of fun to pvp players who do not want long fights.
