Battlegrounds. I thought I'd never see the day, but here they are. Sometime yesterday afternoon, Blizzard released the patch that, in the eyes of many, is the first step in redeeming the World of Warcraft PvP experience. I know I've been waiting for them for quite a while, going so far as neglecting to try them out on the test server so as not to spoil the experience for myself. They've been live for more than 24 hours, and judging from the looks of things on my server, people don't seem to want to do much else. The Horde entrances to both of the newly-added Battlegrounds have been camped since they've launched, and they don't seem to be letting up. There was a bit of downtime last night, and this has seemed to only further fuel players' bloodlust. It's really too early to tell, but I have a sneaking suspicion that WoW will be much-changed by Battlegrounds.

Now, I haven't had a whole lot of experience with Alterac Valley, the larger-scale of the two PvP zones added. I'm hearing that battles taking place there can last many hours, and I just haven't had that kind of time for the past two days. I have been going nuts playing Capture the Flag in Warsong Gulch, though. To be frank, I can't seem to stay out of there.

A fool and his flag are soon parted.

But before I go on, I have to get the following off my chest: I know that the dominant opinion regarding WoW's PvP dynamic is that the Alliance side is home to generally weaker players who only triumph in battle due to their superior numbers. But after a few hours in Warsong Gulch, I'm starting to doubt the veracity of this. To put it lightly, the Alliance has been owning us Horde, and it shames me more than a little to say it. They just seem to be better organized than the pick-up teams I've been running with for much of the afternoon. I'm hoping that's it, actually: that we've been facing what are essentially groups composed mostly of guild buddies that know how to work with each other. I've noticed many of the better groups have multiple members with the same guild tags, whose names I recognize as being among the more accomplished guilds on the server. I'm hoping that's it, anyway, as getting completely owned by the noobish, zergy Alliance would have quite the detrimental effect on my internet gangsterhood.

Of course, I won't mention what server my main is on, so as not to embarrass my fellow Horde. Let's just say that if you encounter a level 60 Troll mage quietly crying to himself in an empty flag room, there's a good chance you're in the same room as me.

Not to say that I'm not enjoying it. Warsong CTF beats the crap out of the lame Hillsbrad zerg by a mile. In terms of honorable-kill-farming, it's much more efficient, and it totally renders the Alliance's relative numerical advantage moot. And the game itself is fast-paced and exciting, and it rewards teamwork very well. I know a few people have concerns regarding their particular class' roles in these kinds of battles, but from my experience at least, every class I've teamed with and gone up against has been fairly formidable.