SoW AAO S17 M4 – The Little Leagues Go Big

Today I wanted to play both SoW matches, one with my alt alliance and one with my main. Two weeks into Season 17 and I’m already feeling the fatigue. Double SoW days are not easy, especially with the anniversary event still throwing new quests at us every week. So stepping into the second half of the month and the final stretch of the season actually feels like a bit of relief.

AAO has been doing well so far. Even though I haven’t been around for the Wednesday matches and I’m no longer shot calling or leading a team on the map, it’s honestly fine. Less pressure, less time investment, and I can just enjoy the match when I do show up.

The first two matches were good wins for us with great attendance from the alliance. 

The third match was a massacre against WxD, and honestly I’m glad that one happened on a Wednesday because that's the matches I'm missing due to work. Still, sitting at two wins out of three isn’t bad at all.

Heading into our fourth match I have a good feeling we’ll make it three out of four, which also means getting more guaranteed season rewards.

Before the battle even begins the numbers already tell the story.

Our participation is roughly 3:1 and the starting points are about 5:1 in our favor. This is very likely going to be a stomp.

If that’s the case, we might as well make good use of the match. The goal isn’t simply to win, it’s to hit bigger objectives: reach 80k points, collect 120 Blessing boxes for the alliance rewards, and then disband so the other side can still get something out of the game.

As we race toward Armory and Hot Springs a few of their players seem to have taken a wrong turn and ended up in a sea of AAO. Those early encounters are short and very one sided, allowing us to secure both big objectives fast.

And with Hot Springs ours and the dragons still a while away, we push down toward their Strongholds. If HS and Armory still had a bit of red resistance, the Strongholds are practically empty.

A few of them are gathered near their Outpost so I head down there to see what’s going on. By the time I arrive several AAO players already had the same idea and there aren’t nearly enough reds left to go around. The fight ends almost instantly once the blue wave rolls in.

Even without map control they can still be annoying when the chests start spawning, and since our second objective is collecting 120 Blessings we have to stay sharp. If they want to race for boxes, that’s fine. We just happen to have a lot more runners on the track.

About ten minutes in we’ve basically done everything available at that stage of the game. With the map secured we gather around the dragon landing points and prepare for escort duty. I’m on the blue team this time, which means our first dragon spawns near the enemy base. Under normal circumstances that might be scary, but today it’s not really a problem as the location is empty.

At this point a few enthusiastic AAO players even start camping the enemy base, which gets shut down quickly. Even if the match is easy we still keep things respectful and want to enforce the "bro code".

If they want to fight they can come out on the map, but there’s no need to sleep on their doorstep.

Some of them do venture out eventually, trying to stay under tower protection, but the hunt for elimination points draws some of our AAO players into those fights anyway. The towers aren't enough deterrence for the elimination points hunger.

The pace of the match slows down after the opening phase. By halftime we’re already sitting above half of our target points and about halfway through the Blessings objective as well. Dragon escorts continue smoothly and it’s clear that the win itself was never in doubt.

Once we approach 80k points we start pulling back from the map. The buildings we already control will keep generating points for us, so the only thing left to focus on is grabbing enough boxes to reach the 120 Blessings mark.

Players spread out across the map to cover chest spawns and make sure nothing slips through.

Eventually we cross the 80k threshold and deliver one more dragon since it was already on the way. Objective one: done.

Not long after that the Blessings counter reaches 120 as well. With both goals completed we abandon the map so LKx can collect some points before the match ends.

The final red dragon even pushes them past the 40k milestone so they secure their second reward tier. They almost managed to slip in the blue dragon as well, but at that stage it really didn’t matter anymore.

The match ends exactly how we expected. A clean win, max objectives completed, and a fairly relaxed game overall.

https://youtu.be/LWi_isUjmp4

With four matches played in AAO and me only present for half of them, the alliance is now sitting at an impressive three wins out of four. The only loss came against WxD, which is hardly surprising. Considering AAO is playing in the Super League this season, that record feels even more impressive.

With two matches left in the season, I’m curious to see who we’ll face next and just how far up the ladder AAO can climb.