In the original version of Alterac Hollow, there were no reinforcements.
In that version, the deciding factor wasn't strategy, but numbers. Since there was no concept of reinforcements, the entire Battle of Mount Osan could be fought from day to night. Moreover, there was no concept of cross-server battles either. For servers with imbalanced factions, one side wouldn't have enough people in the middle of the night, and the outcome would be decided.
The later version of Alterac Hollow underwent a series of changes, mainly in two aspects.
First, the complex mechanisms were comprehensively weakened. Most neutral NPCs were removed, the attributes of guards were weakened, and many powerful NPCs that could be summoned no longer appeared.
Second, the concept of reinforcements was added, so that the duration of the battle in Mount Osan could be controlled.
All in all, these changes tended to speed up the pace of the battle. After all, a battle that lasted from day to night would never reach a conclusion, so it was hard to say how good the gaming experience would be.
Moreover, the honor rewards on the battlefield mainly came from the key points such as occupying the strongholds and winning the battles. The Alliance and the Horde were in a stalemate on the plains, and neither side could get too many honor points, which was a serious waste of time.
In the original design, Mount Osan was a large-scale interactive PVE game, in which PVP was only a small part. The players had to complete various quests and influence the battlefield through many key NPCs.
For example, after the players rescued the air force commander and handed over various items, they would hear the air force roar and fly into the enemy's airspace to start bombing.
Alternatively, the players could capture their own animals and kill the enemy animals (sheep for the Alliance, wolves for the Horde). Then, they could summon their own cavalry to charge.
In addition, they could also summon special forces as reinforcements, upgrade the defense of the army, and even summon the ultimate unit to control the battlefield.
After handing over enough blood or Storm Crystals from the Alliance soldiers, the Druids would come to the plains. The players had to assist them in the summoning ritual to summon the King of the Forest, Ivers, or the King of Ice, Lokhora.
In other words, the Battle of Mount Osan was not a simple battle between Alliance and Horde players. They had to rely on various methods to increase the combat power of their allies in order to win the battle.
Of course, it sounded good, but in reality, as the version changed, there were some problems.
This was because completing these quests required a lot of time. Take the summoning mechanism for example. Players needed to spread out to hunt wolves and sheep. After collecting various items, they had to run back to hand them in. This created a contradiction.
If the NPC's strength was relatively weak, the opposing players would immediately gather and attack your Sentry Tower. Then, while you were still busy collecting items, you would be pierced through in a wave of attacks. If the NPC's strength was very strong, both sides would desperately collect resources, and the battlefield would become a battle between the NPCs. Moreover, the duration of the battle would increase exponentially, which was the opposite of the goal of speeding up the pace of the battle.
As a result, no one cared about these complicated mechanisms. Both the Alliance and the Horde preferred a fast-paced battle. Every player was very important, so sending people to collect these things would only slow down the pace of the battle.
Therefore, this version of Alterac Valley still retained the NPC system, but added in the concept of reinforcements. After all, it would be pointless if the battle lasted the entire night. For example, the Alliance was clearly at a disadvantage, so they defended the bridge to the death. In the end, neither side could win. It sounded quite exciting, but it wasn't the case when it came to fighting.
Chen Mo saw that the Alliance only had around a hundred reinforcements left, while the Horde only had around four hundred. That was quite pitiful.
It wasn't that the Alliance was weak, but there were many reasons why the Horde had the upper hand in the early stages. Because of the Horde's appearance, most players who chose the Horde at the beginning were the type of guys who liked to kill people. Most players who liked the appearance and scenery wouldn't choose the Horde. Therefore, the Horde was more cohesive in the beginning.
Of course, as the Alliance gained the upper hand in the later versions, the Isle of Conquest became the Alliance's Isle.
Obviously, the difference in strength between the two sides was huge. The Alliance lost a lot of towers in the beginning, and could only defend the bridge now. The commander obviously didn't know much about the battlefield. Luckily, he was quite responsible, and kept spamming for everyone to defend the bridge.
The bridge was easy to defend, as the Alliance's terrain was loose on the outside but tight on the inside. The defense line of one tower and two towers could be said to be full of holes, but the bridge was definitely easy to defend and hard to attack. All sorts of Blizzards, Rain of Fire and ranged skills were thrown at the bridge. Even a fly wouldn't be able to fly over, let alone the Horde.
The two sides were in a stalemate. Although the Alliance managed to defend the bridge, due to the existence of the reinforcements system, the Horde would still win even if they traded three heads for one.
Chen Mo sent a message in the battlefield channel, "Give me the battlefield leader."
He was afraid that the current battlefield leader wouldn't see it, so he repeated the message twice.
In the end, the title was switched to him in the next second. Evidently, the previous battlefield leader was eager for someone to take the blame.
Chen Mo quickly divided the teams, throwing the Thieves and Druids into teams 7 and 8. The teams in front were also focused on class combinations, ensuring that each team had a ranged class and a healer.
"Everyone, listen to my command. Team 1234, continue to defend the bridge. Team 56, follow me to the bridge and cover team 78. Team 78, sneak past the Horde's defense line. Don't attack anyone you see. Sneak all the way to the Battle Plains in the middle. Stay in Stealth and wait for my next command.
"Those who are still outside, if you're a Stealth class, go to the Battle Plains. If not, quickly die and come back. Hurry, move. "
As Chen Mo spoke, he typed the battle plan into the battlefield channel.
It had to be said that the title of battlefield leader was quite useful. Most of the Alliance players were already in the stage of waiting to lose, because they felt that they couldn't win even if they fought, and they couldn't retreat (if they retreated, they would have the debuff of desertion). Now that there was such a strong commander, they all began to move.
Although many of them were still lazy and didn't know what they were doing, at least the Alliance players who were guarding the bridge gathered according to Chen Mo's command.
Now that the Horde had occupied the Lightning Spear Graveyard on the other side of the bridge, the resurrection points of both sides were very close, separated by only one bridge. Therefore, Chen Mo couldn't risk going all out. If they didn't make it through the first wave and were wiped out by the Horde, then there would be nothing Chen Mo could do.
Most of the Stealth players in team 78 were at home, but a few had snuck out and were scattered around. The others were behind the bridge, waiting for Chen Mo's command. Once team 56 charged forward, they would sneak over while the Horde's defense line was distracted.
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