World of Warcraft: Eye of the Storm

Eye of the Storm is the most recent battleground to appear in World of Warcraft. Introduced with The Burning Crusade expansion, this ostensibly seems like a fairly straightforward game of controlling key areas of a map. In practice things are a little trickier. This is because lots of players still seem confused about the basic strategy of the game. Which is why we've compiled a guide to help your side win and make sure that you don't look like a total noob.

The basic premise is surprisingly similar to the venerable Arathi Basin battleground - capture and hold positions in order to amass 2,000 points to win. There are a few subtle and not so subtle differences here though. For starters, both teams earn points for every second that they hold at least one tower (the more towers, the more points). This means that huge shifts in the score line are possible in just a few seconds. Most confusingly though, there is a flag in the centre of the map which can be picked up and taken to a tower under your control to earn extra points.

The reason this flag is confusing is because many players run straight for the flag in the belief that they are helping the war effort by getting it. While this is certainly true in the later part of the game, it isn't true at the beginning. In fact, the lack of manpower where it is needed most (the towers) means that running straight to the flag can often cost your side the game.

A better starting strategy is to split the teams up so two or three players go for the two towers on your side of the map, while a larger contingent attempts to capture an opposing tower. As long as your team can then respond to your opponents' movement quickly enough, you should find that you have a quick win on hands. Of course, if you can manage to grab all four towers, you'll win incredibly quickly - generally in less than a minute.

Worth grinding?

When should you dive into Eye of the Storm?

Eye of the Storm isn't the honor shower that Alterac Valley is. You get 189 honor for a win, plus what little extra you get from killing opponents compared to the 500 or so that can be had from winning AV (in roughly the same amount of time). Hopefully you get a sense that this battleground isn't the best place to earn your S2 gear.

Even so, Eye of the Storm is definitely still worth mastering - for three reasons. Firstly, you'll need to be good at it in order to complete your daily battleground quest - which is always worth doing for the extra 419 honor plus cash reward for completing. Secondly, some of the items you'll want to buy with your honor will require Eye of the Storm Marks as part of their cost - such as the stunningly-good neckpieces. Thirdly, you'll also want those Eye of the Storm marks for the repeatable quest - For Great Honor (which requires one of each mark). There's another reason too (yes, we know that makes four) - playing a different battleground will stave off boredom.

Towers are worth more than flags

There are two types of player in Eye of the Storm: those that assault and hold towers, and those that rush to the flag. This latter group will even argue that collecting flags is the best way of winning. They are wrong.

A normal character will take roughly a minute to take the respawned flag to a tower. Assuming you have two towers, this means that during that one minute you’ll accrue 205 points - 2pts x 60 seconds plus 85pts for handing in the flag.

Imagine instead that you have three towers with no flag, then you’ll earn 300 points over the same time - 5pts x 60. Capture a flag in that time as well, then you’ll be sitting on 400pts. Capturing the flag with one tower meanwhile is worth a measly 135pts.