Lake Wintergrasp

Lake Wintergrasp is the first non-battleground zone dedicated to PvP in World of Warcraft, it is open to all players level 50 , as any player lower cannot use the portal to Wintergrasp, however it is designed for players of at least level 70. Wintergrasp is located in Northrend therefore making it only accessible to players who have activated the Wrath of the Lich King expansion pack. The battle for Wintergrasp takes place every 2 hours and 30 minutes, it lasts a maximum of 30 minutes however it can often end within 5 minutes if the attackers overwhelm the defenders. The winning side is given the option to enter the Vault of Archavon, a special 10-25 man instsance which drops epic quality items, until the next battle begins.

Players enter Wintergrasp by using the portal which spawns in Dalaran or by flying in using a flying mount however flying inside the area of Wintergrasp will automatically make players dismount due to "The air being too thin for flight".

Gameplay

Wintergrasp is a battle between the Horde and the Alliance, one side will be attacking the Wintergrasp Fortress whilst the other is defending it; this is decided on who won the previous battle. The aim of the battle is for the attackers to break into Wintergrasp Fortress and then destroy the Wintergrasp Fortress door to access the Titan Relic which once "activated" by one of the attacking players will give them the victory. Defenders on the other hand must attempt to make sure the attackers do not reach the Titan Relic otherwise they will lose control of the fortress. This is a similar style of gameplay to that found in the "Strand of the Ancients" PvP battleground.

Strategic Buildings & Vehicles

Around Lake Wintergrasp are various "Goblin Workshops" and towers. The towers start in control of the attackers whilst the workshops start in control of the defenders. Taking control of Workshops allows a side to spawn an extra amount of vehicles - catapults, demolishers or siege engines - which will help them destroy strategic objects or ,in the attackers case, destroy the walls of Wintergrasp Fortress. To spawn vehicles the player must have obtained a high enough "Wintergrasp Rank" during the battle by killing enemy players or NPCs; ranks reset after each battle.

As well as workshops there is also the option for defenders to destroy the Southern towers, destroying all three reduces the time remaining by 10 minutes as well as providing the team with a 15% damage increase buff making it a necessity to down them as soon as possible.

Ranks & Rewards

Wintergrasp has its own ranking system during each battle, each player starts with the rank of Recruit however they can achieve the rank of Corporal and First Lieutenant. Corporal allows them to spawn and drive Catapults whilst the rank of First Lieutenant allows them to spawn and drive Demolishers and Siege Engines. The rank of Corporal is earned by killing 5 enemy players or NPCs and First Lieutenant is earned by killing an additional 10 enemy players or NPCs/

Ranks will also effect the amount of Wintergrasp Marks of Honor you earn at the end of each battle, if you are on the winning team and are a Recruit you will recieve 1 Wintergrasp Mark of Honor, if you are a Corporal you will recieve 2 Wintergrasp Marks of Honor and if you are a First Lieutenant you will recieve 3 Wintergrasp Marks of Honor. If your team loses then no matter what rank you are you will only recieve 1 Wintergrasp Mark of Honor. These rewards can be used to purchase unique items from the Wintergrasp vendor.

Tenacity

If a side is outnumbered in players then they will be given the buff of Tenacity. This buff is given to each player on the outnumbered side, it will increase the health and damage of a player and can stack as many times as needed in an attempt to even the sides.

Weeklys

There are various weekly quests dedicated to Wintergrasp which, once completed, rewards the player with Stone Keeper Shards, Honor Points and gold.

These quests were changed from Daily to Weekly in the 3.1.2 patch to try and combat the lag issues during Wintergrasp battles.