2020.01.28 Update
Blizzard released a patch for WoW Classic today which removed the ability to determine the AV instance that "pops" for you when you queue for "First Available". As expected, this throws a wrench into the works of addons like AVQ. It is now possible to queue up to 5 people simultaneously using the standard Blizzard AV UI, which is great news for the average player. I'm still investigating the best options to queue with more than that, but it doesn't look like a "quick fix" is possible.
Overview
AVQ is a WoW Classic addon to help you queue Alterac Valley (AV) as a premade with your friends.
It works by assigning the raid leader an "AVQ leader" role and helping every person in the raid proceed in lockstep with them through a modified Battlemaster GUI. Technically, it's not required that every member of the raid be using AVQ to benefit from it, as much of the queueing management is done by the leader. However, you will get better results if everyone has AVQ installed, because a large part of getting into the same AV instances is queueing at the same time, reporting your instance number, and quickly re-queueing for a chosen instance, and AVQ makes all of these things dead simple.
Features
Many people simply use a Discord countdown to queue AV as a group, but AVQ offers advantages beyond that, making it easy to do the following:
- Target Battlemasters -- AVQ automatically creates a macro to help you target AV Battlemasters in each of the 6 major cities. Just pull up the Macros UI (type /macro), find the "AVQ Target BM" macro, and drag it onto your bars. To actually speak with the battlemaster amid crowds, we recommend binding a key to the "Interact with target" action in-game (found in the "Targeting" section of the "Key Bindings" menu).
- Skip Gossip -- To help you get to the AV instance list more quickly, AVQ will automatically bypass the battlemaster gossip screen.
- Ready check -- AVQ lets you know when everyone is online, at a battlemaster with the window open, and able to queue.
- Queueing countdown -- Uses party chat (and raid warning when available), so Discord is not required. When the countdown process finishes, a gigantic "Queue" button unlocks.
- Auto-announce instances -- When your queue pops, your instance number is shared with the raid using an invisible protocol, providing everyone with an updated status GUI and the leader with the information needed to select a promising instance. (If you'd like, you can enable an option so instance numbers also go into raid chat.)
- Instance analysis -- Who's eligible to enter an instance, which is the most popular, and who should re-queue?
- Requeueing -- AVQ followers can leave their current queue and requeue for a desired instance by using intelligent buttons that simply Do The Right Thing when you click them. Click once to drop queue, click again to requeue. The correct instance to queue for is automatically selected for you.
- Auto-announce success -- When everyone is eligible to enter the same instance, an "Enter" button unlocks. You can also trigger a raid notification if you'd like.
- Mass Leave -- If you need to abort the queueing process for the whole team, there's a button for that, too.
- Ignore AV Chat -- AV can be a toxic place. If you enjoy WoW more without the pointless arguments, you can enable an option to ignore AV battleground chat. (Toggle this with /avq ignore)
- Automatic Mark of Honor turn-ins -- Enable this in the configuration panel. (/avq config)
AVQ was written with the goal of keeping players on the same page and trying not to leave anyone behind. As group sizes increase, it becomes harder to get everyone into the same instance, but AVQ will help you get the best results possible.
Limitations
In years past, Blizzard has locked down some of the BG queueing API due to abuse and botters, so there are some things that AVQ simply cannot do:
- It cannot automatically queue.
- It cannot automatically leave queue.
- It cannot automatically refresh the list of available battlefields. (This is only needed when the leader-chosen AV instance is one that didn't exist when the window was first opened.)
What AVQ does instead is provide shortcuts so that you can deal with these scenarios quickly and easily. It has an "automagic" button to queue and requeue as needed; you just have to click it. And, refreshing the battlefields list can be done with a single keybind.
How to use AVQ — The short version
Form a raid, speak with an AV Battlemaster, and use the new buttons. Leaders have a more complicated control panel to orchestrate the queueing process. Followers, however, just have a big red button to click and obey.
How to use AVQ — The longer version
If you've ever tried to get a group of players into the same AV instance manually, you already know this process. AVQ just automates away much of the tedium.
Stage 1: Setup
Form your raid, get to a battlemaster, and open the queue window. The leader will have an AVQ control panel. Everyone else (including the leader) has a big, fat, stupidly-simple "automagic" button whose function will vary depending on the queueing process.
Stage 2: Queueing
The leader initiates a ready check and, when they're happy with the results, starts the countdown. When the countdown ends, everyone's automagic buttons turn into "Queue" buttons at the same time. Spam-clicking these buttons during the countdown is a good idea to ensure simultaneous queues.
Stage 3: Selecting a preferred instance and requeueing
As queues pop for people, the AV instance numbers will be auto-announced to the raid for AVQ to analyze. (This is done invisibly, although there's an option to send them to raid chat as well if you'd like.) In rare circumstances (less rare for small groups), everyone will get the same instance number on the first try. In that case, AVQ skips to Stage 5.
What more commonly happens is that raid members will be assigned to several different AV instances, and the raid leader will have to make a judgment call. If there are too many disparate instance numbers with no clear pattern, the leader can choose to request that the raid "Abort" and try again (go to Stage 2). Or, if there is a common instance number among many raid members, the leader can click the "Select Popular" button to designate that the chosen one. (As the button name implies, AVQ picks the most popular instance. In the case of a tie, the leader's instance is chosen.) In AVQ v27 and later, the leader may also click on the bar graph of any instance to select it as the queueing target.
Once an instance is selected, the players who have an instance pop for the chosen number wait. The others must requeue for the correct instance. AVQ makes this easy by changing the automagic button into a "Leave" button for these players. Once they have clicked to leave their instance, it becomes a "Queue" button again. The correct instance number will be auto-selected from the AV battlefield list if possible. (In circumstances where the chosen instance is a brand new one not visible to all players, the battlemaster UI must be closed and reopened to refresh the list. Binding a key to "Interact with target" in-game is a great way to do this quickly.)
Stage 4: Waiting for success
The raid now waits to see if everyone can get a queue pop for the chosen instance. If everyone was able to requeue quickly, this often succeeds. But, in the event that queues fail to pop for the stragglers before they expire for the successful people, the leader should choose to "Abort" and go back to Stage 2.
Stage 5: Success! ...or, close enough!
If at any point everyone becomes eligible to enter the same AV instance, AVQ will announce this and the automagic button will turn into an "Enter" button.
For very large groups where not everyone can make it into the same instance within a reasonable number of attempts, the leader may be forced by practicality to leave a few people behind. In that case, they can use the "Commit" button to commit to the chosen AV instance, allowing all eligible clients to enter the battlefield at that point. Anyone who failed to receive a queue pop for that instance should remain queued in case a spot opens up.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why do I sometimes get a queue pop for the wrong instance number?
This happens sometimes, but it's not a bug in AVQ (as it also happens without AVQ installed). I don't know the exact conditions that trigger it, but unfortunately it's out of my control.
Q: Will you make a version of this for WSG?
A: No, I'm not going to do that. AVQ is meant as a way to let you play with your friends. WSG already has that option, so the only reason to create a WSG-specific addon would be to help people roll enemy PUGs with their stealth premade. It's better for everyone if WoW is a game where PUGs are matched with PUGs and premades are matched with premades, which is the current WSG status quo. In other words, trust in Blizzard's queueing algorithm, and if you're struggling then maybe you need more practice. ☺
Known Issues
- None, at the moment.
Feedback
It makes me happy to create things that people find useful. Because of this, I welcome and appreciate your feedback. AVQ is still in active development and improving regularly, often with the help of said feedback. Before making a post or sending me a message, however, please ensure you're using the latest version and that you've skimmed (or Ctrl+f searched) to see if it's already covered in this documentation. Thank you for using AVQ!