Oh REALLY?
Let’s take a look at that claim, shall we?
https://wowwiki.fandom.com/wiki/Patch_2.3.0
Alterac Valley
- Additional Warmasters no longer report for duty upon destroying an enemy tower. However, destroying an enemy tower still eliminates the associated opposing Warmaster.
- All Warmasters are linked to each other and their respective Generals and can no longer be pulled individually.
- Honor from capturing towers has been increased.
- All Commanders and Lieutenants have left Alterac Valley in search for other battle opportunities.
- Players will no longer be sent to their starting tunnels on death unless that team controls no graveyards in the battleground.
- Many NPCs in Stormpike and Frostwolf holds are no longer elite
- Bonus Honor in Alterac Valley is now only awarded during the battle for destroying enemy towers and slaying the enemy Captain. Upon conclusion of the battle, bonus honor is also awarded for intact towers, a surviving Captain, and for victory in the battle. The total bonus honor awarded should be similar to the previous total.
- The Horde and Alliance now have a limited number of reinforcements available in the battle for Alterac Valley. The number of reinforcements available is reduced upon player death, loss of towers, and death of Captain Galvangar or Balinda Stonehearth. In addition, all available reinforcements are lost upon the death of General Drek’Thar or Vanndar Stormpike. If a team is reduced to zero reinforcements, the opposing team wins the battle.
- Towers and Graveyards in Alterac Valley are now captured in 4 minutes (down from 5).
This was patch 2.3.0.
Key points to take notice of are the removal of lieutenants and commanders, the increased honor from towers/bunkers, the change of spawn points when dying so you can only ress in the cave once all graveyards are gone, and MOST IMPORTANTLY:
The introduction of RESOURCES.
So what did this do? Well, it changed the meta. By a lot. The asymmetrical design of the map no longer worked, because it wasn’t about the PvP anymore.
It became about the PvE. But people still rushed to the end, because it assured victory with the most amount of bunkers/towers left, so in Patch 2.4.0 they made further changes.
https://wowwiki.fandom.com/wiki/Patch_2.4.0
Alterac Valley
- Captain Balinda Stonehearth can no longer be interrupted, silenced, or have her spells slowed. In addition, her water elemental cannot be banished, and does increased damage.
- Vanndar Stormpike and Captain Balinda Stonehearth have had their health totals reduced to match the health totals of Drek’thar and Captain Galvangar.
- Warmasters/marshals in Alterac Valley now increase each other’s maximum health and damage by 25%. This is a stacking effect.
- Horde players will now start the battle closer to Drek’Thar and Frostwolf Keep.
- There is now a Join as Party option.
Key points to notice there is that they introduced the “aura” buff from warmasters/marshals, that increased the health and dmg of all other warmasters/marshals AND of Drek’thar and Vanndar, by 25% for each one.
This was to slow down the meta in AV, and force players to go for towers/bunkers instead of cheesing it with base rushing.
So of course the different range to the first Bunker vs. the first Tower became a BIG PROBLEM. Not because of silly reasons like so many of the “boohoo the AV map is Horde favored” keeps blaming, but simply because RESOURCES MATTERED A LOT.
The AV in Classic, while it’s the watered down version from the end of Vanilla, is still not the one with resources in it. The distance to the first bunker vs. the first tower doesn’t matter as much as it did in the burning crusade’s version of AV.
They also removed elites from basically everywhere except the captains, bases and cave guards, in Patch 2.3.0, which made NPCs inconsequential. The bows didn’t hurt, and there was no elite to “guard” a flag inside a bunker/tower.