Battlegrounds have been a part of players’ everyday lives in World of Warcraft for nearly 20 years. But even if you’re not a big PvP fan, you’ve peeked into Alterac Valley or other Battlegrounds.

For many, it’s perfectly normal to just hang back and defend a tower, even if no one ends up attacking. But this is an offense, says Blizzard. Because then you’re not really taking part in the battle.

What is it actually about? The Alterac Valley battleground is one of the oldest PvP battlegrounds in World of Warcraft. The objectives are relatively simple: capture the enemy towers and graveyards, then defeat a PvE boss in the enemy base. The first one to do this wins the battle.

Allied towers have to be protected and enemy towers have to be destroyed. Because every tower still standing strengthens the boss at the end, so it’s worth taking out the towers beforehand – you’d think.

But Blizzard has now clarified in the official forum: If you defend a tower and no one attacks it, then you’re effectively not taking part in the battle.

PvP battlegrounds like Alterac Valley are also popular in WoW Classic right now, because that’s where WotLK Classic is starting:

What exactly was said? A few days ago there was a big wave of bans, where many accounts were wrongfully punished. According to Blizzard, this was due to an error in the analytics data and the unlawful bans were reversed.

However, many players are still banned and will probably remain so, as Blizzard considers the punishments to be justified in numerous cases. When asked if the ban system in WoW is automated, Vrakthis from customer service explained in the official WoW forum:

For non-participation, players can report you if they think you are afk or not contributing. If enough of these reports come together, then you will usually get a temporary debuff that should cause you to participate in the fight. If you don’t, you’ll be kicked out of the battlefield.

These messages can also trigger an investigation, but none of this happens automatically. A member or members of specific teams that handle these things will then look at the messages and your in-game behavior to determine whether or not there is evidence that you contributed to the battleground.

In response to concerns that you could get banned if you didn’t adhere to the mass of players who “immediately whip through Alterac Valley” for, say, defending a base, Vrakthris then went on to explain:

Some might report you if you don’t participate in the way they think you should, but that doesn’t necessarily trigger anything. Like I said, the application of these penalties is not automated. They’re based on your actions and the data that your actions provide.

That said, it’s important to remember that Battlegrounds is a team event. You’re not there solo, and to some extent it’s often necessary to work with your team. If you go off alone to defend a lonely tower without your team’s approval and you never encounter anyone to defend against, well, you’re not really taking [am Schlachtfeld] participating.

What does this mean now? In short, if you thought you were the lone hero, heroically protecting the tower and scaring off attackers with your presence alone, you’d better think twice. Because that obviously doesn’t count as participation in the battlefield.

So if you’re concerned about the safety of your own account, you’d better swim with the crowd in PvP and participate in actual combat.

This is how the community reacts: Opinions on this statement are clearly split. While many make fun of the statement, there are also numerous players who share this view. They say that PvP battlegrounds are a team endeavor and those who want to do their “ego thing” should not sign up for a group activity. Some of the comments in the subreddit include:

• “So now people are supposed to be able to prophesy and predict whether someone will defend the towers or not? Delaying the recapture of a tower can buy more time to defeat the boss, so it can literally be a matter of winning or losing in games like this.”
• “To be honest, I understand what they’re trying to do with this. I remember the old days of sitting afk in the tower watching YouTube while the rest of the raid did the actual work. I guess too many people took advantage of that and that’s why we can’t have nice things now.”
• “I (obviously) think it’s stupid to ban people for defending, but I can also see how it might be a problem to catch the right AFKers while not spotting those who are really defending a tower but just not attacking an enemy.”

What do you guys think of this decision? Understandable and sensible? Or absolutely incomprehensible?