In a recent blue post, the developers from Blizzard have announced the upcoming changes to Epic Battlegrounds, coming to World of Warcraft: Shadowlands in patch 9.0.5 in March.
Ashran
“We’ve increased the player count again to make the battleground feel more epic. We also wanted to even out the Horde and Alliance sides of the map, especially at the start. The Tower Mages have had their difficulty lowered as they were a bit too impactful to the battleground. Additionally, we’ve reduced the cost to summon Fangraal and Kronus to help teams push the mid-lane more often.”
- Maximum player count per faction is now 35 (was 30).
- Starting reinforcements are now 175 (was 150).
- To allow both factions to have easier access to Star Root Tubers and Song Flowers, both these tasty treats will now spawn alongside each other in the Dark Woods and Root Den.
- Artifact Fragment cost to summon Kronus and Fangraal reduced to 1500 (was 3000).
- Horde and Alliance tower mages are now worth 30 Reinforcements when slain (was 50).
- Horde and Alliance tower mages have had their spells adjusted
Isle of Conquest
- These changes are intended to discourage base-rushing and have all control points be important, not just Hangar.
- Glaive Thrower health has been increased by 40%.
- Alliance and Horde Commander health increased by 50%.
- Demolisher health increased by 25%.
- Catapult health increased by 100%.
- The amount of siege damage required to break down keep walls has been increased by 20%.
Wintergrasp
- Wintergrasp has been very defense-favored, so we’ve made the following adjustments to even out both sides of the playing field.
- Broken Temple and Sunken Ring Workshops are now controlled by the attacking team when the battle starts.
- Wintergrasp Wall, Wintergrasp Fortress Wall, and Wintergrasp Fortress Gate health has been reduced by 20%.
- Destroying Towers reduces match time by 8 minutes (was 5 minutes).
- Siege Engine’s Steam Rush ability deals 20-35% of a player’s health (was 30-45%).
- Demolisher’s Hurl Boulder ability deals 20-25% of a player’s health (was 36%).
- After 5 minutes, all players in the battleground who do not have a rank (including players who join late) will now be granted the rank of Corporal.
