World of Warcraft (WoW): Classic has finally launched its first two battlegrounds, Warsong Gulch and Alterac Valley! After months of hype, the patch bringing these two modes in has arrived, and gamers can represent their faction on the bloody fields of fan-favorite battlegrounds.

These two battlegrounds were supposed to launch with the Phase 3 content update, but because of the extremely high demand for Alterac Valley and Warsong Gulch, Blizzard decided to treat players and release them earlier.

Both of these game modes were featured in Vanilla WoW, and since WoW Classic is a remastered version of Vanilla, it’s only right for this staple PvP option to be available.

Last month, the Phase 2 content update dropped, and brought with it the Honor system, allowing WoW gamers to collect Honor whenever they killed an opposing faction member in world PvP combat.

Battlegrounds are more sanctioned encounters since they are in a controlled map and game mode. Players around the same level are matched up to earn Honor in Alterac Valley and Warsong Gulch, unlike in world PvP, where a level 20 can be slaughtered repeatedly by a stalking level 60.

Players know what they are getting into when they sign up for a battleground, and there are more objectives in the match then just downing enemy players.

Alterac Valley has both teams starting in separate bases on either end of a snowy valley, and in this Classic version, Alliance and Horde must take down the opposing faction’s boss to win.

This is a 40 vs. 40 battle, and players must be at least level 51 to queue into Alterac Valley.

Warsong Gulch is a capture the flag battleground. Alliance and Horde start at either end of the map, within their base, and will attempt to seize the other faction’s flag, bring it back to their base, and place it on their own flag to score a point.

Players will load into a match with players around the same level as them, with the ranges being 10 to 19, 20 to 29, 30 to 39, 40 to 49, 50 to 59, and 60. This means that a player must be at least level 10 before they can queue into Warsong Gulch.

These are two very different battlegrounds, but they are entertaining nonetheless. They have been around for 15 years and are geared up to provide the thrills that veteran players know, and excitement for new players to find.

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This is another fantastic element added to the Golden Joystick PC Game of the Year. For the Horde!