I think the timing of this post - a few months into the expansion - should give you an idea of how much of a PvPer I am. I am not. At most, I spent some time in BC PvPing to get the "welfare epics," specifically daggers for my Rogue and to get the Black War Wolf. During Wrath, I did a bit of PvP as well on my Death Knight, this time. And since then, I haven't done all that much. Oh! I did some PvP for the Legendary chain in Mists, so I do know a bit about Kotomogu and Silvershard Mines.
Warlords, of course, did not bring us any new battlegrounds. Instead, the focus on PvP environments was dedicated to the creation of Ashran - a new PvP zone.
This is something that has been attempted before. Wrath brought us Wintergrasp, and Cataclysm followed that up with Tol Barad - tying both into the small, quick PUG raid instances that in Mists were replaced with World Bosses (which had been a thing in Vanilla and BC.)
The major problem with both Wintergrasp and Tol Barad is that they really just wound up working like a normal Battleground, only non instanced. They did have the new interesting wrinkle that the winner of the previous battle would have to defend, while the losing faction would have to attack, but ultimately it was a single "game" that started and finished, just like instanced Battlegrounds.
Ashran, however, takes inspiration from the Timeless Isle. Rather than being focused entirely on a single goal and event, it is instead decentralized. The main road between Stormshield and Warspear functions somewhat like a more traditional BG - a bit of Alterac Valley or Isle of Conquest - but there are many off-shoots where there are hostile NPCs that can be fought for various rewards.
Artifact Fragments function as your Timeless Coin equivalent, but true to the PvP nature of it, you'll lose a sizable portion of said fragments if you get killed. And players who kill you will be able to get your fragments.
Rather than spend them on gear or what-have-you, the fragments can be given to various NPCs at your base, allowing you to send powerful NPCs into the field or creating portals and gateways to more easily traverse the island. At one point, I rode out of Stormshield only to be stopped in my tracks by a massive Frostwyrm that someone had summoned, rooting everyone and dealing a moderate amount of frost damage.
The central fight between the bases is probably where you're going to see the most action, though periodically there seem to be events in the side areas (of which I believe there are seven - mostly Ogres to the west with areas of Goren, Arrakoa and Sabreon to the east,) which are meant to move the focus of the battles.
But if you're interested in going off on your own, there's a lot of island to explore, and you can actually avoid other players if you want - though fair warning, sometimes big packs of players will circle through these areas and chop you down along with the Goren you're fighting.
I was involved in two big pushes against the Horde, both successfully killing High Warlord Volrath (which is a name from Magic: The Gathering, if I recall correctly.) Taking down the Troll the first time I got a box containing a set of PvP shoulders and gloves - the latter of which was part of the actual set. I imagine this is on a weekly cooldown, or something, as I only got a bit of Honor the next time I downed him. Still, as someone who has no PvP gear, getting those pieces was pretty nice (and they'll make for good future transmog if I can fill out the set.)
I've only just scratched the surface of the zone. They're doing something very interesting, though. One particular feature of note are these books that drop off of various rare mobs found on the island. You can get a class-specific book that will modify an ability or grant you a new one. As I was on my Warrior, I got a modified Spell Reflection, which causes it to last 5 seconds and bounce all harmful spells cast at me back at their casters for twice the effect.
If I recall correctly, Paladins get one that lets them send opposing players to their faction's jail, Hunters get one that extends their attack range to 100 yards (imagine that plus Marksmanship's mastery) and Priests, I believe, get the ability to fly.
I don't know what the hardcore PvPers think of the place, but I think it's pretty nifty.
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