Assault on Stormsong Valley (Alliance), WoW 8.1 PTR

by Magistrate - 5 years ago     show comments

Zone-wide assaults return in Battle for Azeroth with patch 8.1, “Tides of Vengeance.” Similar to Legion assaults, Kul Tiras and Zandalar will feature timed events where the competing faction will muster an offensive against your faction’s zones. In this post, we look at the Horde assault on Stormsong Valley, where the player defends as the Alliance.

• Miss other Alliance or Horde assault reviews? We’ve got you covered!
• Some of this is recap of the overall assault system. Simply skip to the Tiragarde Sound Assault section if you already know the basics!

BFA Assault Overview & Rewards

• The game focuses on one of the six BFA zones at a time.
• Horde or Alliance can do the assault regardless of whose continent it occurs on.
  • Horde defend in Horde zones and attack in Alliance zones.
  • Alliance defend in Alliance zones and attack in Horde zones.
  • These assaults are not wpvp in nature unless you have War Mode on.
• New Horde or Alliance mobs, rares, and World Quests spawn with new quest mechanics.
• Complete 4 assault World Quests to move to the next stage of your faction’s defense.
• Complete the 4 World Quests and defeat or defend in the name of your faction for rewards:
  • Up to 370 ilvl gear cache.
  • XP: Great for gearing and leveling alts 110-120!
  • Reputation with 7th Legion or the Honorbound, as well as the participating zone’s major reputation (Storm’s Wake for Alliance in Stormsong Valley).
  • 7th Legion or Honorbound Service Medals, a new currency in 8.1.
  • Azerite Power.

Stormsong Valley Assault

Alliance start the Stormsong Valley defensive by automatically picking up Storm’s Rage, which tracks your completion of 4 assault World Quests. Players will immediately notice a Horde airship pummeling ground forces with ballistics, as well as new Horde mobs and structures.

Below, we look at some (but not all) of the possible assault World Quests in this particular zone.

• Unfriendly Skies: Falstad Wildhammer informs players that the Horde has taken Alliance soldiers captive in the above airship. Players will board the airship, free Alliance prisoners, slay Horde soldiers, defeat Mechanic Trax, and decommission the airship’s engines.
• Azerfight!: Grumbol Grimhammer tells players that Horde forces are massing around a surge of nearby Azerite. Players can pick up a powerful Azerite buff in the ship wreckage, which lasts 30 minutes, doubles healing and damage, and increases max health by 25%. Downside: the buff decreases health (not max) by 2-3% per second held. You don’t have to use the buff, but it does make filling the Horde kill meter fill much more quickly, and the health loss is hardly noticeable.
• Hold the Highland: Grumbol Grimhammer orders players to slay Horde soldiers. It’s a pretty standard “kill x” quest, except that you can also get kill credit by “executing” Horde NPCs laying around the battlefield near death.
• Mortar Master Zapfritz: Grapple to the top of nearby Shephard’s Bluff to kill this goblin, who bombards the valley with his cannon. You’ll have to dodge poison pools and his attacks as you stay atop the small hilltop. (I didn’t do this one in the video.)
• Dinomancer Zakuru: Players must slay this shapeshifting Zandalari troll through several creature phases with distinct attacks, each one based on a dinosaur. At certain health points, he shifts back to his troll form and casts an interruptable heal-over-time. The HoT can be stolen with Spellsteal, removed with Purge, etc. Clever note: you can also aggro him into the nearby friendly guards if you need help.

After completing 4 assault World Quests, Genn Greymane orders players to mount a hippogriff and bombard the nearby Horde base, Warfang Hold, and then free more Alliance soldiers from Seawatch Point.

Finally, Sister Lilyana will award players the ilvl 370+ gear cache, as well as experience (low-levels only) and rep.

Keep in mind this is PTR footage and is subject to change.

Don’t miss the rest of our patch 8.1: Tides of Vengeance coverage! The next patch lands December 11 in the US, 12 in EU, and 13 in Asia.