Bloodwind was a level 60 Horde player on Tichondrius. He spent more time ganking low-level Alliance players in Stranglethorn Vale than running dungeons.
As a Warrior scrub, he knew better than to stick around after a kill. He would gank someone and run, which only made it more exciting.
Late at night, if he found a lone Alliance player, he would sometimes even corpse-camp them. He could not understand what they typed back, but the garbled text only made him happier. In his head, they were begging him for mercy.
"Today is another fine day."
He'd heard that the max-level players from the Alliance's major guilds were all busy progressing Molten Core, so Bloodwind took the zeppelin to Grom'gol Base Camp, ready to keep hunting Alliance lowbies in the zone.
"Today I'm killing a hundred Alliance lowbies. I'll make sure all of Tichondrius knows my name. I'll be the Alliance's nightmare."
Now that NoTrace no longer killed low-level players in Stranglethorn Vale, Bloodwind wanted to become the Horde's second NoTrace.
"I heard some guy named Ganklord in Azshara got famous on the Azeroth National forum just by killing lowbies every day. I'm going to make an even bigger name for myself."
For a Warrior scrub with no sense of his own limits, that sounded like a perfect career plan. He roamed Stranglethorn Vale and Duskwood every day, trying to copy Ganklord's reputation.
With dreams of forum fame dancing in his head, Bloodwind strolled out of Grom'gol Base Camp.
"The Alliance!"
The moment he left the camp, Bloodwind saw several Alliance players riding toward him and jumped in fright. "The Alliance actually has the nerve to come right up to Grom'gol?"
Then he saw the wall of players behind them and nearly jumped out of his skin. "Oh my god, the Alliance is attacking Grom'gol Base Camp!"
A minute ago he had been dreaming of surpassing Ganklord. Now he spun around and sprinted straight back into the camp.
"Oh no! Hundreds of Alliance players are attacking Grom'gol Base Camp!"
Bloodwind shouted in the local chat channel in a panic, then immediately ran toward the zeppelin, hoping to escape on it.
"The Alliance is attacking Grom'gol Base Camp? Is that for real?"
"Holy crap, so many Alliance. There are at least a few hundred of them. Grom'gol Base Camp is done for."
"Guys, I'm going to Orgrimmar to get reinforcements. Hold out for now."
"I'm going to Undercity for reinforcements. Hang in there!"
"Damn cowards. If you've got the guts, stay and fight the Alliance."
The Horde players who failed to board the zeppelin to "call for reinforcements" cursed furiously as they watched it depart.
"The zeppelin is too slow. I'll Hearthstone to Orgrimmar and get reinforcements."
"My Hearthstone is set to Undercity. I'll go to Undercity and call for help."
The few Horde players whose Hearthstone was not on cooldown used it at once and fled.
With the zeppelin gone and their Hearthstones on cooldown, the Horde players left behind in Grom'gol Base Camp were starting to panic. Some of the smarter ones had already made up their minds. The moment the Alliance began attacking Grom'gol Base Camp, they would log out to save themselves.
Gabryell led ten full raids to the outskirts of Grom'gol Base Camp and surrounded it completely.
"Don't let even a fly escape."
Now Grom'gol Base Camp was sealed off. No one could enter, and no one could leave. The Horde players still out in Stranglethorn took one look at the Alliance army and wanted nothing to do with it. None of them dared return to the camp.
"Hahaha, do you think the Horde will send a large force to reinforce them?" To David, the handful of Horde players inside wasn't nearly enough to go around.
Susie said, "They won't. The major Horde guilds are busy progressing raids. They won't mobilize that many people just for one small camp."
If Darkshire were surrounded by a Horde army right now, the major Alliance guilds, busy progressing Molten Core, would not send reinforcements either.
"This isn't satisfying enough," RedAce said. It was his first time taking part in a large-scale PvP event like this. As a whale who loved PvP, he felt that mobilizing such a huge force just to wipe out Grom'gol Base Camp was not exciting enough.
Bringing an army this big just to crush Grom'gol Base Camp felt like using a bazooka on a fly.
Gabryell smiled. "Tonight, I'll make sure all of you get your fill. Everyone, charge straight into Grom'gol Base Camp. Leave nothing standing. Don't let a single Horde live. Kill every NPC."
Civilian NPCs hardly mattered at this point. The higher PvP ranks weren't even unlocked yet, so they might as well go all the way.
"Charge! For the Alliance!"
David was the first to lead the charge.
"Melee, hold the NPCs. Mages, Blink into the Horde crowd and bomb them. Healers, keep the raid topped up."
With their overwhelming numbers, there was no need for much command. If four hundred people attacking a Grom'gol Base Camp with only twenty or thirty Horde players left still somehow got people killed, then they could forget about attacking Orgrimmar. They might as well Hearthstone home on the spot and call it a night.
"Bloody and violent, but I like it."
As a Warlock, DesertWanderer could not Blink into the crowd like a Mage. He had to settle for dropping Rain of Fire from the edge.
"Ogabs, that's about enough," DesertWanderer said, still not satisfied. He could not wait to head to Orgrimmar and kill Thrall.
Gabryell looked over the now-cleared camp, then tilted his camera toward the zeppelin flying toward Grom'gol Base Camp. "See that zeppelin? The moment it docks, send every Horde player on board straight to the Graveyard, then seize the zeppelin."
A zeppelin could not carry too many people at once. If too many boarded, it would randomly throw some of them into the Void.
Anyone thrown into the Endless Void could not return to the Graveyard even by clicking Release Spirit. They would enter a bugged state and ultimately have no choice but to contact customer support.
With ten raids needing to cross into Durotar, taking the zeppelin in batches would waste too much time.
"Everyone in my raid, board the zeppelin together. Warlocks from the other raids, come with us."
Gabryell planned to have the core raid arrive in Durotar first and seize the Durotar zeppelin station. Then the Warlocks from the other raids who came with them could summon their own raid members over.
There were enough Warlocks, and there would be plenty of Horde players on the zeppelin to use Drain Soul on for more shards, so there was no need to worry about running out of Soul Shards.
"David, your raid takes the second zeppelin over and helps us hold the Durotar zeppelin station."
Gabryell was also worried that a single raid might not be enough to clear the area, so he had David's raid take the next zeppelin over first.
David said, "No problem, but..."
He stopped, as if he wanted to ask something but held himself back.
"I know what you want to ask."
Gabryell stopped hiding the plan. "I know the rest of you are wondering too. We're heading to Durotar—home of Orgrimmar."
That was enough for everyone to more or less figure out what Gabryell was planning, and excitement began to rise.
Gabryell continued, "That's right. We're going to the Horde capital, Orgrimmar. We're going to take down their Warchief Thrall and slaughter Orgrimmar!"
The moment he said it, everyone was stunned.
"Holy crap, Leader, you're taking us to sack Orgrimmar!"
"My god, I knew there had to be a reason you gathered so many people. So we're going to raid Orgrimmar. Hahaha, kill those Horde pigs!"
"Ogabs you are awesome! I'm going to take a screenshot standing on Thrall's head!"
Guild chat exploded immediately.
David was the most excited. "Leader, let me take point!"
He wanted his raid to be the first across and the first to clear the landing.
Gabryell stuck to the original plan. "My raid goes first. Your raid follows as support. The other raids hold Grom'gol Base Camp and wait for your raid's Warlocks to summon them."
Gabryell was afraid David might board the wrong zeppelin and end up in Undercity, so he reminded him, "Remember, take the same zeppelin I take. Do not get on the wrong one and end up in Undercity."
"Got it!"
David reined in his excitement. "I promise I won't get on the wrong one."
At that moment, the zeppelin docked. Before the Horde players on board could react, they were wiped out by a pack of ravenous Alliance players.
Gabryell led his people onto the zeppelin bound for Durotar. With a massive army pressing forward, they advanced on Orgrimmar.