>>13886531
Originally, AV matches could last hours or even days because the only way to win was to defeat the opposing commander at the far end of the valley. It was possible to join a match, play for hours, log off, then come back the next day and join the exact same match.
In BC, Blizzard implemented reinforcements that would dwindle as teams lost towers and players died, and if reinforcements hit zero, your team would lose. Thus, AV got faster and faster to complete, and eventually the strategy was just to zerg rush the opposing base and hope that the few players left behind at each tower could defend long enough to capture them and let you down the end boss. It's been that way ever since, so most of the PVE mechanics like summoning air support or literal raid bosses to fight for you are basically impossible to ever see in a match. Hell, there's even an achievement to win in under six minutes, which really isn't possible to acquire anymore due to gearing changes. But still, goes to show just how much it had changed over time.
Also AV has always been Alliance-biased anyway, so Horde players often blacklist it from their random BG map pool. Many examples of why it's biased, but one in particular: Horde players going into the Alliance base are funneled through a small canyon without much chance to spread out, with a deep valley over to the side they can be knocked into and killed with fall damage. They then have to cross a bridge that they can also be knocked off of into the valley below. In contrast, Alliance players can spread out more en route to the Horde base, and there was even a shortcut they could take where they could literally jump over the Horde's wall due to advantageous terrain. The shortcut was fixed literally four expansions later, but by now so few Horde players bother with the battleground that those that do play it don't know how to win.