wow Battle of Stromgarde Warfront Preview

[Stan 5,240]

A detailed preview of the Battle of Stromgarde Warfront on Battle for Azeroth Alpha.

The first public testing of Warfronts is now over and we had the chance to test out Battle of Stromgarde on Battle for Azeroth Alpha.

Check out our Warfronts guide for more details!

Gameplay

• Warfronts are 20-player scenarios very similar to Wintergrasp or Tol Barad in terms of gameplay.
• The goal of a Warfront is to destroy the opposing faction's leader. In this case, it was Muradin Bronzebeard located in Stromgarde Keep.
• The opposing faction's forces periodically emerge and attack areas captured by your team, so it's good if you're group is dispersed across the map, ready to defend attacked areas.

Resources 

• You collect resources (iron & wood) to build and upgrade structures and units / troops.
• Iron is gathered by peons when a mine is captured. It's used in the construction of buildings and troops. You can carry a maximum of 200 iron at a time.
• Wood is gathered from piles of wood throughout the warfront. It's used in the construction of buildings and troops. You can carry a maximum of 100 wood at a time.
• Introductory quests teach you how to collect iron and wood. You're also given a scroll that allows teleporting to your base on a 5-minute cooldown.
• Your base contains a chest that periodically generates iron over time (similar to the garrison cache). The current amount of iron in the chest is indicated as a buff.

Contributing Resources

• When a structure is under construction, you'll need to contribute both iron and wood to build it. There's a progress bar indicating how much resources are needed before a particular structure becomes available.
• Contributing resources is very similar to how Broken Shore structures are handled.
• Capturing various areas unlocks access to more powerful units.

Structures

Let's begin with your base. It can be upgraded up to level 3. Additional structures that can be build here include: Altar of Storms, Armory, Barracks, Workshop and the Warmill.

Great Hall (Level 1)

• Required to construct other buildings.

Stronghold (Level 2), Cost: 380 Iron, 180 Wood - Requires Altar of Storms and Armory

• Increases number of peons collecting Iron.
• Increases rate of unit production from Barracks
• Unlocks commander specific units from Barracks.

Fortress (Level 3), Cost: 620 Iron, 260 Wood - Requires Workshop

• Increases number of peons collecting Iron.
• Increases rate of unit production from Barracks.
• Increases damage dealt by Demolishers.
• Commanders can now use special ability.

Altar of Storms

• Constructing the Altar grants you access to the Bristling Power buff that you can get for 10 iron or wood. Stacks up to 10 times.
• If you have Essence of Storms, you can gain the Call of the Storm buff as well.

Armory

• Grants access to research which increase the combat powers of troops.

Barracks

• Barracks are used to train units.
  • Train Grunts (20 Iron)
    • The backbone of your army. Assault enemy locations and help you capture the battlefield.
  • Train Axe Throwers (30 Iron)
    • Agile ranged troops able to deal great damage from a distance.
  • Train Shaman (50 Iron, You need to capture Circle of Elements)
    • Powerful casters who draw their strength from of elemental spirits. Useful to quickly heal nearby groups.
  • Train Wolf Riders (50 Iron, You need to capture Newstead)
    • Fast moving powerful fighters. Able to lock enemies down with nets, and burn large areas of ground.

Workshop

• Unlocks Demolishers for 80 Iron each.
• Only 3 Demolishers can be active at once.
• Demolishers have access to the Bombard ability.

War Mill

• Constructing War Mill grants access to two buffs for your troops.
  • Steel Weapons - Increases all damage dealt by 10%.
  • Steel Armor - Reduces all damage taken by 10%.

Key Areas

In addition to upgrading your base and building structures for the generation of units, the map contains key areas that need to be captured in order to advance. Capturing Newstead allows your team to recruit mounted troops. Each area has a powerful commander. Once defeated, the area can be captured by clicking the flag. 

Circle of Elements

• Construct a Spirit Lodge to bring powerful caster units to your army.
• Unlocks Shamans (50 Iron) and Elemental Spirits (50 Iron)

Drywhisker Mine

• Allows for the collection of Iron.

Hatchet Ridge

• Allows for collection of wood.

High Perch

• Construct a tower, providing fast access to captured locations.

Newstead

• Construct a Bestiary to recruit mounted troops.
• Unlocks Wolf Raiders (50 Iron) and Kodo Riders (60 Iron)
• Completing the "Raiding Their Stores" quest in Newstead rewards an item that increases your primary stat by 20% in Warfronts:
  • Chunk of Boar Meat
  • Baked Egg
  • Slice of Cheese
  • Flagon of Applebrew

Valorcall Pass

• Capture to lay siege to Stromgarde.

Gameplay Video

Screenshots

[Arkpit 101]

"Wafronts" He he ^^

Edited April 19, 2018 by Arkpit

[Badadada 184]

I was really looking forward for this part of the expansion, but from what I've seen so far in alpha gameplay videos, it's quite a big let down. Hope they can fix it somehow until launch, They could start by replacing the mine's layout, since I was going in that tunnel every day for a whole expansion (WoD) and it still haunts me. But at least I can choose to chop down trees instead, which is at least an equally awful reminder to that shameful era of the game.

[Taurentippin 5]

3 hours ago, Arkpit said:

"Wafronts" He he ^^

Aleco's typo was better : "Mike Donias Confirms Burned Cars Will Be Added"

[Dejo93 1,023]

Here's what I think. As long as it's fun, gets regularly updated, gives cool rewards, people will play it. Imo, make it seasonal or an event, because it wil get old fast.

[Terragon 0]

Seems like moba mechanics to me, here's something I'm not going to play in the next expansion. I hope the pve part will be interesting. 

[Valks 2,375]

On 19/04/2018 at 9:13 PM, Taurentippin said:

Aleco's typo was better : "Mike Donias Confirms Burned Cars Will Be Added"

Who needs to play a card when you can just throw a burning car?