How do Battlegrounds Work?

What are Battlegrounds?

Battlegrounds is a new feature launched on February 25, 2010. Battlegrounds are a Player vs. Player (PvP) environment which take place on a completely separate server from the regular PvE and PvP servers. It roughly coincided with the release of Sentinel’s Fate (Feb 16) and Game Update 55.

Tokens

Each of the 3 Battlegrounds have their own unique Token. These tokens can be spent at the Battlegrounds Merchant in Qeynos Harbor or North Freeport. Multiple tokens from different zones are required to buy items.

Just by participating in a Battleground, you will earn at least 1 token. If you are the winning team, you will earn 3 tokens.

In addition, there are 2 Battlegrounds quests available for each of the 3 Battlegrounds zones. Don’t forget to pick these up before joining up!

How Do I Join a Battleground?

To join a Battleground, press Alt-Z to bring up the Zones window. Select the Battlegrounds tab. Click to view the Battlegrounds Window. You can choose one of the 3 zones presented in the list:

• Battlefield of Ganak (Capture the Flag: 12 vs 12)
• Gears of Klak’anon (Protect the Relic: 6 vs 6)
• Smuggler’s Den (Hold the Fort: 24 vs 24)

or you may choose First Available.

If you are already in a group or raid, you can click Queue Group or Queue Raid to bring your pre-made group or raid over to the Battleground. Otherwise, you can click Queue Self and jump into a pickup group.

When the zone becomes available, you will be prompted to join the Battleground.

What Happens Next?

As soon as you accept the prompt, you are immediately logged out of your main game server and whisked away to the Battlegrounds server. Your group (or raid) is assembled on either the Red team or Blue team and off you go!

Rules

You are now operating under a PvP ruleset. This can substantially change how your gear works on Battlegrounds vs. your regular server. You can look at how your gear will behave in PvP by clicking the [X] PvP checkbox on the examine window. The duration of your stun/stifle/mez/root spells is substantially reduced. And you may not use any sort of Evac/Escape ability.

You may not speak to the opposing party or any other public chat such as Out-of-Character, Shout, or level chat.

Capture the Flag (Battlefield of Ganak)

In Capture the Flag, you are naturally trying to bring the opposing team’s flag to your home base. To do this, you simply run up to the flag of the opposing side and your character will grab it and carry it around.

You cannot score unless your team’s own flag is safe and secure in your home base. With the change to 12 vs 12, if you coordinate your strategy, you can set up a defense perimeter of 2-3 players to guard the flag, 1-2 players trying to get the flag, and then the other 7 players involved in skirmishes in the center of the playing field.

The first team to successfully capture and return three flags wins.

Protect the Relic (Gears of Klak’anon)

Acquire and hold the relic to accrue points faster than the opposition. The team with the higher number of points at the end of the time limit wins.

Hold the Fort

Gain control of the five spires which jut out over the raging ocean and hold your position longer than the opposition!

At the End of a Battle

When a Battlegrounds encounter concludes (either the prerequisite number of points have been reached, or the timer runs out), all characters are teleported to their home bsae and rooted in position. A scoreboard appears show how both teams did.

After approximately 30 seconds, the Battleground closes and you are returned to your place of origin.

Battlegrounds Rewards

We are currently working on a complete guide to the Battlegrounds armor and weapons.

>> View Battlegrounds Armor

At launch, Battlegrounds is restricted to level 80-90 with Battlegrounds armor at a minimum level of 90. It is intended for Battlegrounds to have rewards added so that Battlegrounds are open to players from level 10-90.