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Comment by Oakenshadow

This is the new Wintergrasp-like zone that's going to be released with Cataclysm.

Comment by 281529

According to wowwiki, the island is very well-known for its huge prison.

I'll assume the prison will be the Cataclysm equivalent of the Vault of Archavon

Comment by 282480

lol... MEGA STOCKADES

But really it doesn't look that effective, because it has a bridge to land. Needs to be 1 - 2km off land in shark, crocolisk and frenzy infested water. =)

Comment by ryokuga

WTB Prison Break references?

PS: That bridge leads to the Daily Area, so basically Tol Barad is still an isolated island.

Comment by leettroll

ALACTRAZ

EVEN MORE PROOF Battle of Alcatraz

Comment by Dragosh12

Posted screens. As you can see in the current beta build, the zone is quite unfinished.

Comment by 321140

I find your lack of forts disturbing, commander.

Comment by Eander

Few things about Tol Barad in the current version of the beta (9/4):

A different take on Wintergrasp. There are 3 buildings that the controlling faction starts with. The objective for the opposite faction is to capture these buildings by standing around a flag, like the vehicle workshops in Wintergrasp.
There are 3 "spires" that also belong to the controlling faction. Scattered across the zone are siege engines that members of the opposite faction can hop into and use to blow up a spire. I've yet to see one destroyed, but my guess is that once one is blown up, the opposite faction gains more time to try to get control of the buildings. Maybe a buff too. I'll update if I ever see one destroyed.
Something else to mention is that the tanks have a "siege mode" ala Siege Tanks from Starcraft. Once you get a tank within range of a tower, if you put it in siege mode it automatically attacks, leaving you free to hop out and defend it or whatever.
If you die within the zone (whether during the PVP event or while questing/whatever), you are taken to a spirit healer like in Wintergrasp or any battleground.
You can queue for Tol Barad at level 80 (or perhaps even lower). The quests in the zone are moderately difficult for an 85, so outside of a group, lower level people probably don't want to try the quests.

Whoever wins gains access to a hub of 12 quests in the center of the zone. Some notes on these:

Of the 12 quests, there are 3 that can be completed at any time within the zone:
1. The Leftovers is a quest asking you to kill 12 members of the opposite faction that are hanging around the buildings you fight for control of during the PVP event.
2. Swamp Bait is asking you to collect 8 hides from Crocolisks in the swamp next to the center area. Hides were a 100% drop when I did this quest earlier
3. A Huge Problem is a group quest tasking you with killing an 85 elite that patrols around the zone named Problim. He's huge and hard to miss. He carries a tree, and has a buff that says so.
Beyond those 3 quests, there are 3 cell blocks with 3 quests each.
The zone rotates through which cell block is open at a given time. So, in essence, you can only do 3 quests (beyond the 3 listed above) until the block that's open rotates.

The quests for each of the cell blocks are more or less the same, just in a different area with different mob types.
One quest will ask you to kill a certain number of the mobs you'll find in that block.
Another will ask you to collect items from within that cell block. These are clickable items found on the ground within the block you're in
The last one will ask you to kill a named mob within that block. For all three, you have to loot the mob in question to complete it. The mobs in the way of the named all hit pretty hard and are pretty densely packed together. You don't want to have to run back through because you forgot to loot the quest item.

D-Block: This cell block is occupied by demons. It's northwest of the central hub. The named you have to kill is a core hound named Svarnos. He can be found by following the right path in the block. There are quite a few shackles (the item you need for this block) in the room behind him too, so be sure to look around in there for those once he's dead.
Cursed Depths: This cell block is occupied by undead. It's directly east of the central hub. The named you have to kill is a skeleton mage named Archmage Galus. He can be found by following the left path in the block.
The Hole: This cell block is occupied by human prisoners. It's southwest of the central hub. The named you have to kill is Warden Silva. He can be found by following the right path in the block. There are pairs of orc warrior Warden Defender mobs guarding gates in the hall that leads to the Warden. They both Blood Rage and hit quite hard. This cell block in particular it's almost necessity to group to get through, just because how closely packed the mobs are and how hard they hit.

In this build of the beta, the NPCs you turn the quests into appear to be stuck in a different phase. Some people in general say they only spawn on occasion. Regardless, each of these quests rewards about 17 gold and a Tol Barad Commendation.

Comment by Domina

As of the date of this posting, you can find a (the?) portal to Tol Barad on the island in the lake in the far Northeast corner of Stormwind.

When you click the portal, it informs you that you must be level 85 to enter.

Comment by homer115

anyone know if there going to be mining nodes in this zone like wintergrasp?

Comment by Qessu

From winning a battle you get 250 reputation with Hellscream's Reach or Baradin's Wardens. You also get 3x Tol Barad Commendation.

Comment by 713155

Has anyone died while in Tol Barad then had their character teleported to the graveyard in Westfall? Just came across this weird ass glitch.

Looks like my corpse is in Hillsbrad, right below where Dalaran used to be. That's 48 gold down the toilet.

Comment by smalls103179

Why more gold for Ally on "The Leftovers" and "Learning From The Past"? Is this right?

Comment by 501448

its like your team will only win AB if you hold all of the nodes at the same time.

Absolutely incomplete. Correct version should be:

it's like your team will only win AB if you hold all of the nodes at the same time, with the opposing team starting with all the nodes at its possession. Furthermore, the map is at least 3 times bigger. Finally, you only have half of the time you have in WSG and if you want to extend the time -which you could read as attacker's agony- you have to spare a good portion of your team for destroying the towers, which makes the balance even more favorable for defenders

Yay!

Come on Blizzard, you don't even need to test this BG with users to see the fault in the logic.

Comment by 227157

Has anyone found a way to determine which factions controls Tol Barad without having to actually go there? Thought there might be something similar to the little faction icon over Wintergrasp, but so far haven't seen anything.

Comment by Pronkey

The expansion has been out for just over a week. The fight for this place has been happening for just shy of that. Most people's initial experience in any PvP battleground is something along the lines of, "What the hell am I supposed to do?" Let's all give it a little longer than everyone here seems willing before we start passing judgment on the 'impossibility' of something.

For the record, I agree that attacking seems to be the tougher of the two.

I've played in five and here's what I've learned:
Attacks, 2-2; Defense, 1-0

Attacking:
1. Towers
Getting towers down gets your team more time. It also forces the defenders to allocate resources to getting sieges down.
The more time you have, the more the place seems to swing to the attackers' advantage.
As of today, I'm a fan of getting towers knocked down.
2. Capturing bases
Same mechanic as the EotS node capture, the more players you have there, the faster the flag turns. Clearer the tougher part of the BG. Attacking one means not defending another. Effective communication will probably need to ramp up a bit in order to manage a good attack. ("You suck", "Fail Alliance/Horde", and "F'ing noobs" does not qualify as effective communication.)

Defending:
1. Towers
Keeping towers from falling means the attackers have less time. I believe the siege engines have a million health. As the siege engines only need to be set up and left in order to attack, they often are.
As of today, I'm a fan of not allowing siege engines to knock down our towers.
2. Defending bases
I haven't been on the losing side of a defense yet but I've been close (and I'm pretty sure if they had managed to get a tower, it would have been more than close). Again, effective communication is going to be key here. I think there are a bunch of different ways to approach the defense (as well as the attack). Zerg, split, different groups responsible for different areas (individual base defense, tower defense, roving defense).

Overall though, I think it's going to be an interesting battleground and I'd like to see Blizzard leave this one as-is for right now.

Edit: I've played many, many more since this post. I haven't kept an accurate track but I'd guess that the current record looks something like this:
Attacks 4-10; Defense 7-1

I'm still a fan of killing towers on offense, no longer a fan of protecting them on defense.
Contrary to popular belief, turtling on defense can net your team a loss (with less than two minutes to go, turtle away).
While not impossible to win on offense, it is far more difficult to mount a successful attack than it is to mount a successful defense (I would anticipate that Blizzard will adjust something here. I hope it's not a 'Tenacity' deal but I would be happy with: Making a capped keep irreversible, adding a bonus to capping power when towers are destroyed, giving the 3/5 of the bar that is currently grey to the attacking team...as it stands, that grey might as well be the defense's color.)
Effective communication is still key.

*It is my understanding that you cannot turn the flag while mounted, can anyone confirm/deny?

Edit 2:

Before the Blizzard 'fix' my record finished somewhere along these lines:
Attacks 5-22; Defense 14-1

That's not indicative of one faction being stronger than the other, it's an indication that the victory conditions for the attacking side were/are far more difficult to achieve than those for the defense. To believe otherwise is, well...you pick a word.

Anyway, I'll be interested to see how Blizzard decides to try and correct this, until then, everyone enjoy your Blizzard-sponsored, win-traded Tol Barad.

Side note: Being mounted does not appear to affect the capping power of the player. There are spots inside the keeps that will not count toward capping for whatever reason.

Comment by stormhaze

Given that this place is like Wintergrasp, how do you get to it by way of travel, or is there a portal that gets you there from Org/SW?

Comment by Coldbear

Kinda sad how they had to resort to making this an instanced BG instead of a zone and part of the rest of the world. But I guess it might have turned into another Isle of QQ.

Comment by Denial

Make sure you /love Sassy Cat and Wharf Rat on Tol Barad Pennisula. Then Baradin Fox Kit on the actual PVP island while you're in the area.

Counts towards the To All the Squirrels Who Cared for Me achievement

Comment by GovtGeek

If you're like me, you wanted to know the raid you can run after you win. You're looking for Baradin Hold. Currently, Argaloth is the demon you want to kill.

Comment by Lidmo

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/1232869
Blizzard said:
~~Tol Barad - Winning as an attacker now rewards players with 1800 Honor Points, up from 180. Winning as a defender still rewards players with 180 Honor Points.~~

~~This pretty much facilitates the trading of TB possession every battle, which is a decent solution that I proposed early on, first week of Cata.~~

EDIT: It's obviously not a permanent solution by Blizz, TB needs a proper lookover for balancing and this hotfix is so most people will be able to access the dailies and raid. Only people whining at the moment are those who enjoyed grinding BGs for gear but don't have the skills to match the gear.

EDIT 2:

As you’re probably aware by now, an update was applied to Tol Barad shortly before the holidays which granted the attacking side 1800 Honor Points for a victory. While the goal with that change was to provide more incentive for the attacking forces to claim victory, it ultimately led to an undermining of the spirit of competition in Tol Barad. We’ve just applied a hotfix which has lowered the attacking faction’s gain to 360 Honor Points for a victory. The defending faction will still earn 180 Honor Points for a victory.

We appreciate all of your feedback regarding this change. We'll continue working to make Tol Barad a fun and engaging PvP environment.

- Bashiok on the US forums

Comment by 598280

Anyone know how they determine who will get to enter the battle? Seems to be purely random since I signed a second after it was possible and didnt get in while a guildie signed 2 min before the battle and got in.

Comment by Terbovus

Just a separate note on the dailies. Is it just me or are they pretty much undoable solo?

I find that you pick up adds so incredibly easily, and they all hit pretty hard, so basically if you don't have a group then its painful drudgery with frequent deaths and repair bills, particularly given the presence of hostile folks from the other faction. Tough mobs I can deal with, but multiple tough mobs who start attacking you before you can even see the buggers is a bit too much.

It might be okay when the gear improves, or for plateys, but given that I play for fun, then this isn't good. Might end up just leaving Tol Barad to the ghosts and crazies.

Comment by 88677

A little story about going to Tol Barad:

There's a portal in Orgrimmar near the portals to the new cata zones, that will take you to Tol Barad. I assume it's similar in Stormwind but I don't have any ally toons high enough to verify it.

You must be level 85 to go there, and you HAVE to use the portal.

I tried going there on my level 81 horde hunter, flying on my drake (280%+10% guild perk) from Sandy Beach in Vashj'ir, but first you go into deep water which triggers the fatigue, then when the fatigue bar is about 25% left, you hit an invisible wall right as you hit the south edge of the Tol Barad zone (you can actually see the colours of the mountains by then - if your graphic distance is on high or better). By this time it's too late to turn around or head for shore, and death is unavoidable.

I assume there's invisible walls on the other sides as well, I didn't try because of the much greater distance from land, plus I ended up dead in the graveyard Northern Barrens, and had no choice but to take rez sickness.

Comment by delaydackel

Regarding daily quest rotation: I got told that after every successfull defense they rotate but after attacking they stay the same as the last time your faction helt tb. Can anyone confirm/deny this?

Comment by Crazyshockz

>>>>>TOL BARAD WIN-TRADING IS NERFED<<<<<

A post on mmo-champion confirmed that the faction on offense now only recieves 360 honor and 30 honor for each tower controlled, instead of the old 1800 honor per offensive win. This is Blizzard attempting to nerf the win-trading, however 360 honor is still a very good amount (about 3 battlegrounds) So if you got your PVP blue gear while the fun lasted, good for you, if you didn't, tough luck ):

Comment by 392844

So, am I the only one around here who thinks the whole Tol Barad zone looks a lot like Shutter Island (The Movie)? Or has this already been mentioned? If so, excuse me :).

Comment by Chifen

Yeah... you cant fly to this place from Vashj'ir, incase you were wondering

Comment by 537397

WHAT A JOKE :(

Have tried to get in to the last 4 battles, only to see them end without even getting an invite.
Previous to that, pretty much same as all you other poor buggers who have tried attacking. wtf

Am seriously starting to regret buying Cata :(

Comment by 253465

If you are a hunter you are able to watch the battle from your respective starter town. Using the center tower you can jump your eagle eye to each of the towers/capture points and back.

Comment by 760488

Does anyone know how queueing works for this?
My server is mostly horde and I am indeed one as well...

But its almost impossible to get queued and not because the raid is full...

My friend got in and said there were only 5 horde in the raid the entire time... but it was against 3 alliance

Im wondering if this is blizzards way of leveling the playing field? So it's not 40 vs 3 like it use to be in wintergrasp.

Either way its rediculous and un fair for us just because of the competition to get in.

Comment by 333328

A few weeks ago, this BG was giving the amazing amount of 1800 honor if you win while attacking... obviously everybody made kind of a "pact" so all you had to do is watch the other side pwnning you, so next battle you gonna be the attacker and you will win lot of honor.

This was hotfixed, and this is the new honor recieved:

360 Honor Points if you win attacking.
180 Honor Points if you defending.
75 Honor Points if you lose, attacking or defending doesnt matter.

Also you will get 3 Tol Barad Commendation when winning, and 1 when losing.

Hope this helps, correct me if I am wrong with anything.

Comment by 771164

The problem that I have noticed, and a few others as well, is that in our Horde dominated realm, Area 52, the BG is nowhere near balanced. There are times when it is a fight of 6v3 at each cap location. This IS taking in consideration that noone is dead or farming. Also, being that we hardly ever have control over the area, maybe twice a week, hardly anyone on our side has raid gear yet, compaired to the other side that already has full sets of raid gear. So what we are looking at is a large grp versus a small grp, and raid gear vs non raid gear. There is no way for 20 people with non-raid gear to compete with 29 with full raid gear. Until Blizz makes this an iLvl vs. iLvl match, I see no balance. 1v1, iLvl v iLvl; 20 avg. iLvl 347 players versus 20 avg. iLvl 347 players will be more balanced and actually make it a skill fight.

To mstightmami:
From my understanding, the BGs are set in intervals of 10, so if one side has 11 the other side can have a full 20. 1v10, 11v20,... Makes it very frustrating when the dominant side is 9 greater than your side, very unbalanced and an almost unfair advantage. And you know as well that the dominant side will be better geared than the other, another unfair advantage. Makes it no longer a fight of skill, but a burial of the smallest team with the lowest grade of armor.

Comment by 616859

i have been "removed from group" 3 times while in tol barad. the first two times, i was standing still for a short while, so i figured i must have triggered some afk flag setting and got booted.. thats a problem in itself that blizzard needs to fix, but thats another story. so the third time, however, happened after a long post in raid chat. immediately after the post i began moving around and fighting.. about 45 seconds later i was removed from group..

so the question im leading up to is: does the person designated raid leader in tol barad actually have the ability to boot people? if that is case, dont you think there is something wrong with that? im fighting for up to 25 mins to get denied an honor bonus at the end of the fight based on the whim of some individual who doesnt like the way i post in raid chat..

Comment by Dreamender

This zone is a complete failure, don't bother with the dailies as you need literally HUNDREDS of hours of effort for a mediocre non-BiS trinket. And if you're outnumbering the other side on your realm, don't bother going there at all.

Comment by bkevol

Please blizzard, for the sake of all the realms that are un equal horde/alliance make a system like wintergrasp was.
this is rediculous how unbalanced factions are in this game

https://www.wowhead.com/cata/blog=145516/patch-3-3-3-upcoming-wintergrasp-balance-changes

Comment by PonyHawk

I've noticed that certain areas where dailies are supposed to take place are closed off. I don't know why. I got quests for 'D-Block' and I went there not being able to get in. I went back at a later date and was able to complete the quests but went to the 'Cursed Depths' and couldn't get in there.

What gives?

Comment by 758633

Truly Tol Barad seems not to be all its cracked up to be, if your on a high population server it becomes a daily thing. Larger side (in my case Alliance) vs smaller side. it usually works out like this "side 1-attacking" "side 2 defending" "side 1 attacks and wins" wait 2 hours "side 2 attacks and wins". Tol Barad seems to not be determined by the intelligence of the players, but just pure chance and luck

Comment by Fiyasoldier

Not sure if its dragon mounts in general , but Proto-Drakes cannot be summoned here , even if your only going to walk while riding it

Comment by droodspeaking

Here's what i'do if I was designing this battleground,althought that would make it more like wintergrasp.The three bases would be able to get captured only by the attacking force (like the strand of the ancients graveyards) and not be able for recapturing by the defenders. After that the demolishion tanks would be available for the attacking force (spawning inside the bases) to attack and destroy the towers.Destroying a tower would give them 2 more minutes to attack, destroying all of them would lead to the last phase wich would be: destroying one of the entrances to the keep.That would be where attackers and defenders would give all they had, maybe in a last man standing contest (respawns would stop until either the attacking force kills all defenders inside the base and visible winning tol barad or until the defenders kill all attackers inside the base and visible).If the defenders managed to defend the keep attackers would have more chanses based on the time left.Or maybe a last boss like alterac valey and isle of conquest.That's what i'd do anyway no one has to like it, thanks for reading.

Edit: i would like to say that in my server usualy the attackers win no matter the faction.On other servers maybe a capture in which one attacker counts as two defenders would help.

Comment by bmoc65

I wonder if Blizzard has kicked around the idea of having one of the BGs be cross-faction. I think the most interesting twist in that scenario is communication....both alliance with horde and O with D. All of the BGs so far you haven't been able to communicate with the opposition...it would be interesting if you could.
"Hey bastards, we are coming down the something-something road to kick your butts!" :-)

Comment by 745466

There are no lists that keep track of wins etc. like in WG, as of i know. That'd be nice

Comment by 808531

The new tol barad raid like Vault of Archavon Baradon hold is the new raid, and like wintergrasp you must control Tol Barad.

Comment by 348807

I used to hate Tol Barad, I thought I'd never get that damned drake or that wolf, and used to QQ like'a baby in TB Gen chat and when I got back to Orgrimmar, I'd QQ some more lolz ...I hated Tol Barad.

I vowed never to return after I got the mounts. Doing daily after daily and getting ganked constantly, was taking it's toll on me. Tol Barad was giving me a headache because I'd get angry at Ally for gankin' me constantly, and the mobs in TB are totally relentless and far too annoying, with their constant grunting and yelling with each blow, totally relentless. So, I found that within one day of not doing TB, I was almost missing it, I Que'd, went in, we lost it, I gathered a group and we went ally hunting!, as it was about time they got some "come-uppin's" lol ...now? I so love Tol Barad, that I often times try to keep the fights going, no matter WHO gains control. Also, I have found that you may think you are losing Tol Barad when you are in control, and all of a sudden, Vwahla!...we won! and kept control!
...on the other hand, Horde may be attacking, and the whole time, thinking they are not going to win and all of a sudden WHAM we've taken TB and are in control. Personally, I could care less who's in control anymore, all I wanna do is kill my enemy! :) I have a macro that really, really pisses them off, it's a sort of raid yell, that is in their language and can actually read it, it says: "you are the son of a pig, and weak, you will lose!" (lol)laugh --> Dogg kagg mog Ruk'ka'ha Kil ogg Lok'mogul re'ka kek

Comment by moocow

Trivia: Tol Barad means Island Tower in Sindarin.

Comment by 754387

It's on your map dude

Comment by 363646

When it comes the PVP and Battlegrounds Blizzard sucks big time. I never have done a battleground or PVP with a nice relaxing feeling what you should have playing a game, i assume.
All i experience is frustration, angry and regret. the only reason i do pvp is too get stronger with the stupid resilience armor that you need for not be ganked like a sitting duck. If you ask me, loose the level ranges so that a lev 10 can beat up u level 85, move the resilience so that a pve gamer got equal chances against a pvp gamer and put it more up too accomplish targets instead of fighting eachother only.

Comment by 170114

Don't know if there was a change or something since I wasn't playing for some time but last 2 weeks i'm on tol barad about 6 times every day and on my realm (Stormreaver-EU) defense never ever wins.Not even close to win actually without even 1 tower destroyed and the game is already over so the faction that controls it switches every 2.5 hours.

Comment by SylvanElf

a nice relaxing feeling

What? Are you kidding? Battlegrounds should never, EVER feel "nice" or "relaxing" That's why I rolled on a pvp server to begin with, to add the edge of danger lurking around every corner!

OK, that said... I'm just starting out in this zone, whats the objective of this battle? Is is a node/resource based one like AB? Or more like a "Defeat the commander" a la AV?

Comment by Argondr

Isn't there any equivalent to Archavon's Log? D:

Comment by ParisAvenue2011

On a NORMAL (PvE) realm, players are NOT automatically flagged when entering this zone. So it's rather different than Wintergrasp in that respect. Worth noting for non-PvPers out there (like me!).

Comment by 765496

how it is decided who gets in? I quee at 14:59 and 90% of time I dont' get in. random just hates me or? there is no way I will get 100 wins when I can't even get in once a day.

Comment by z3r0gamer

OK, first off, I havent played since the jousting tournament was implemented. We moved and I'm posting from a library. After reading these comments, I'd like to say something. To all those who think TB is broken due to lack of communication, There are several free VOIP clients that allow you to run your own server. I recommend Mumble. To you people who say that you can't split the attacking force, you don't get the power of Hunters, Druids, and the Blackened Worg Steak. Sense Humanoid. Give the steaks to 3 people who mastered running like all hades is chasing them. Have them count the people at each base, just a rough estimate, and split your forces accordingly. And, to everyone, make SURE that before you jump off that platform, you know EXACTLY what you have to do. Popping slowfall before you jump, and using a movement-boost, like Sprint, or a mount, lets you get pretty far. Finally, never underestimate PVE tactics. Polymorph is still premier CC, if popped at the start of the fight. Get people to respect the sleep, and Wyvren Sting hurts. Rogues, if you havent, try subtlety. Contrary to popular belief, at least when I left, it works for PVP IF you actually think about the buttons you push. Shadowstep confuses the crap out of people, and gaining a combo point every time ANYONE IN THE RAID crits helps with damage output. Even if you don't kill them personally, you make casters a little happier with easy targets. Basically, throw them off. Pop talent skills that noone expects in PVP. Feign Death, hunters, when you really ARE about to die, and then pop up and use the aforementioned Wyvren Sting on a priest. You're dead anyway, so annoy them. Most importantly, NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF ENEMY RAGEQUITS.
Sorry for the long post, but I had a lot to say.

Comment by Mantrhax

ITs really weird that anyone can join the fight at 29:30 and with 10 sec get 165 honor for loosing, or 300 honor for wining without even fightin anyone ....something wrong with this design ?

oh im not sure if i can say bad design here O_o

Comment by chekk3

How many times you can do the tol barad PVP (not the quests) in a single day?

Thank you

Tol Barad

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