Battlemasters
Located in all of the major cities, right-clicking on a battlemaster will allow your character to enter a battleground queue just like you normally would if you touched that battleground's entrance portal. The functionality is exactly the same, so when it's your character's time to enter the chosen battleground, you will be teleported directly in. Some of the Battlemasters are listed below:

• Glordrum Steelbeard stands in the Hall of Arms in Ironforge, serving as the Alliance battlemaster for Alterac Valley.
• Aethalas of the Silverwing Sentinels stands ready in Darnassus, next to the warrior trainers, to send Alliance characters into Warsong Gulch.
• Brakgul Deathbringer is in the Hall of the Brave, located in Orgrimmar's Valley of Honor. He serves as the Horde's battlemaster for Warsong Gulch.
• Kartra Bloodsnarl will send you to bring glory to the Horde in Alterac Valley. Guards in their respective cities can give you directions on how to find them.

Characters that use the Battlemaster to enter a Battleground will port back to that Battlemaster when they leave the Battleground for any reason.

Battleground Holidays
Battleground "holidays" exist for Warsong Gulch, Alterac Valley and Arathi Basin. Holidays occur during most weekends, starting on Thursday night at midnight and continuing until Tuesday morning. During a holiday, emmissaries from that Battleground will be found in the major cities, and honor/faction rewards for performing objectives in that battleground are increased.

While in a Battleground

• The score screen displays information on the status of the Battleground. You can bring up the score screen while in a Battleground by pressing shift+spacebar. See our score screen guide pages for details on the information listed on the Alterac Valley and Warsong Gulch score screens.
• Players that go AFK (automatically or by manually inputting the /afk command) while in a Battleground will be instantly teleported to the Battleground entrance.
• You can open the world map to see the locations of all the players on your side who are in the Battleground.
• If you are disconnected while in a Battleground, you have a short time to safely log back in and resume adventuring in that Battleground.
• Logging into a Battleground that's closed will teleport you to the entrance (dead characters will be resurrected as well).

Battlegrounds shutdown in the following circumstances:

• One of the Battleground's victory conditions is met. When this occurs, a score screen will appear and the Battleground will close in two minutes.
• One faction's total amount of players in the Battleground slips below the minimum allowed for that Battleground. A countdown will then ensue and the faction that has the minimum number of players or more when the countdown ends will be declared the winner by default. The minimum number of players per faction is 10 in Alterac Valley, and five in Warsong Gulch.
• If both factions slip below the minimum number of players allowed for that Battleground, the map will close after a countdown with no winner.

When a battleground is closed, the following happens:

• All players are prevented from moving or casting.
• All players are healed.
• The score screen is displayed with a Leave Battleground option.
• Players are able to view the score screen or leave the Battleground.

How many people must gather for a Battleground before I can enter?
For Warsong Gulch, eight players from both factions must be present in the queue at the same time. Since Alterac Valley is designed for full-scale epic battles, at least thirty players are required from both sides in order for an instance to begin.

Will joining the queue alone using the "First Available" option get me into Battlegrounds more quickly than entering in a group with the "Join as Group" option?
Yes. Think of it as being seated at a restaurant. If you show up at a restaurant with ten people, the staff must wait until there's room to seat you. This may take some time, depending on the crowd. If you request a table for one, however, you'll be seated much more quickly, as there's more room for just one person than ten people.

The same holds true for Battlegrounds. For example, if 24 players are waiting to get into Warsong Gulch and they form four raid groups of six players each, not one instance will start because none of them can fit. Unless you absolutely have to be with the people in your group, join solo. You'll get in faster.

How can my entire party or group of friends join a Battleground together?
You can join the Battleground as a party or raid by forming the group and having the party or raid leader enter the queue by clicking the "Join as Group" button.

If I join a group that has already been placed in a queue, will I be placed in their queue along with them?
No. The group leader will have to re-enter the queue in order for everyone in the party to be placed in the queue.

Do I need to be in front of the Battleground instance while waiting in the queue?
No. Roam around and play! You can even run instances while in a queue -- you'll be ported straight into the Battleground when the time comes.

Are there plans to implement alternate methods for joining Battlegrounds?
The next patch will introduce a new way to enter the Battleground queues. Battlemasters! They are located in some of the cities and right-clicking on them places your character in a Battleground queue just as if you had touched that Battleground's entrance portal.

What happens if I'm dead or in the middle of flying between two locations when my time to enter comes up?
Being dead or locked into a flight path will not hinder your ability to enter Battlegrounds once you're in a queue. Simply accept the invitation to join and prepare to be ported.

What if I'm in an instance when the Battleground time comes up?
If you are in an instance when it is your turn to enter the Battleground, you will still have the option to either port to the Battleground or remain in the instance.

Why does typing /afk kick me out of the instance?
Battlegrounds are a fast-moving PvP environment where it's important for everyone involved to remain active. Being idle or away from the keyboard can certainly hurt the rest of the players on your team by hindering their ability to complete important objectives.

Do the diminishing returns rules for contribution on honor kills still apply in Battlegrounds?
Yes. Defeating the same opponent repeatedly within a short amount of time will result in less contribution, until eventually none is received.

I want to tell my friends to join the same instance as me. How do I find this information to ensure we all join the same one?
When you attempt to enter the Battlegrounds portal, an interface box appears listing each available instance with a number.

When honor is tallied each week, are rankings from the Horde and Alliance independent of each other?
Yes!

How do insignias work?
Your character carries a team insignia on it that can be looted by enemy players when you die. When a player removes your insignia from your body, you can no longer resurrect at your corpse. In this situation, you must resurrect at a friendly graveyard.

Is there a durability loss for dying to anything in Battlegrounds?
There is no durability loss for dying to a player or NPC in a Battleground, only to other forms of death such as falling damage. However, regular combat durability loss from normal use of your equipment is applied in the Battlegrounds.

Multiple Battlegrounds Queues Players will be able to enter multiple battleground queues!No longer must you make the hard decision of which queue to join -- when queued for all three, you can join the first one available or hold out for that special Battleground you're really seeking.

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