New Arena items every season
by Eliah Hecht 
May 10th 2007 at 2:42PM
Alright, this is a little surprising. Aeus, from the European WoW forums, is now telling us that all the Arena rewards will be updated every Arena season, and the items for the upcoming season 2 are already created and ready to go. Of course, we still don't know when season 2 is, but it's bound to happen sometime. The reason this surprises me is that the CMs have previously said that Arena itemization would be tied into PvE progression, such that the Arena rewards would be commensurate with the epics people were getting from raids; that implied that there wouldn't necessarily be new items every season. I'm pleased with this change, though; new items seem vital to keep people interested in the Arena system. Here's what Aeus had to say, in full:With the recent addition of Arenas, we thought we'd share some information to try and answer some player questions as well as address concerns:
- There should be no downtime between Arena Season 1 and Arena Season 2. Arena Season 2 is planned to start the week right after Arena Season 1 ends.
- There are plans to update all Arena items with each new Arena season. The items for Arena Season 2 are already done and ready to go.
- Players will be able to save up to 5.000 Arena points at any one time, and currently we do not plan to reset these points with the start of a new Arena Season.
- The top 0.5% of the teams of each bracket will receive the Netherdrake epic flying mount, as well as the top Arena title. This means that the top 0.5% of the teams in the 2v2 bracket, the top 0.5% of the teams in the 3v3 bracket, and the top 0.5% of the teams in the 5v5 bracket will all receive the Netherdrake and the title.
Every player on these top teams who has played at least 20% of the total games of the team for the Arena Season will receive these rewards. - There will be 4 titles total for players to earn. The highest ranked title is for the top 0.5% of the teams. The specific % needed for the remaining 3 ranks will be revealed as they become finalised.
- This in-game Arena Season is completely separate from the Arena Tournament. Tournament qualifiers will not receive a Netherdrake mount by default
Filed under: Items, News items, PvP
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Jeroboam May 10th 2007 3:34PM
This news is a little disturbing to me. While I think that having new items is a great idea, and I'm all for new stuff, having arena items introduced that are comparable with raid items is not quite fair.
There is a lot more time, effort, and money going into Raiding then going into arenas. The item rewards should reflect that. Why would you spend hours and hours raiding when you can play your 10 matches a week every week and save up for a gladiator set equal to tier 6? I like Blizzard making things accessible for more people, but you have to save some rewards for those willing to invest in them.
Coma May 10th 2007 3:41PM
Invest in them? WTF is this a job now? You think being good at Arenas is easy? Man you need to go get a life if you think "investing time in raids" means anything. KKTHX4PLAYINGULOSE
Angelus May 10th 2007 3:56PM
@1. If your're gonna cry about it, stop raiding and get in the Arena. If you think it's that easy then why wouldn't you. Because it's not so easy for you maybe?
bliSSter May 10th 2007 3:53PM
@Jeroboam
No they don't. If you don't want to put in the time of the raiding activity and are only doing so to stroke your e-peen and have OMFGWTFBBQ1337EPIXYAY!!, then you should find something new to do with your time...something that you actually enjoy doing within the game. Your comment reeks of, "I just raid to get the best gear in the game and no one else deserves it." Um, piss off much?
Some people enjoy raiding and hanging out with a large group of their online friends. Others would rather solo, farm and play the AH. Others still would rather play small group content, while there's a good chunk of players that prefer the PvP game. Just because you enjoy your particular activity in no way, shape, form or function invalidates someone else's time in the game.
I personally don't care if you choose to spend your time as a second job playing WoW, that's your prerogative. But if you just enjoy PWNING NUBS with your uber PvE gear in battlegrounds because you happen to have more time, gtfo. You're enjoying content that the vast majority of Blizzards paying customers don't have access to - that's your reward.
As for the PvP rewards, I'm glad that some more information is forth-coming, but I'm not spending another single arena point until I find out what the next season's gear is shaping up to be. We got a late start so I've only gotten a few of the items, but I'd much rather start the new season right off the bat with a couple of updated items, if they're upgrade worthy.
It's great they're giving us some news, but there are still a ton of questions looming. Most obvious, what are the stats and set bonuses for the new gear? How do they compare to tier 5/6? Are the costs on the items going to be comparable to the current seasons? Will the season 1 gear still be available if someone chooses to complete that set for it's specific bonus(es)? Are the season 2 items simply upgraded weapons, armor or both? Are the Battleground items also going to be upgraded or new items offered to complement the new season gear?
Lots left to chat about. ;)
Bill G May 10th 2007 4:07PM
I agree that the PVP rewards should be comparable to the PVE rewards.
I think Blizzard is putting themselves in an interesting position though.
It's a lot easier to change the arena rewards, you need not create new arenas for people to earn them in.
On the other hand, setting up the expectation of "each new arena season brings upgraded items" means that blizzard will have to upgrade the top PVE items as well.
Now maybe they'll just buff existing items [like they are doing in 2.1] each time. That would make it as easy as changing the arena rewards. Because having to create new raid encounters where you "earn" PVE items takes Blizzard a hell of a lot longer than a 4 month arena season.
Krooked May 10th 2007 4:42PM
It is quite obvious that arena gear is much more easy to get than comparable gear from raids. I am a dedicated raider and enjoy fighting and wiping my way through the end game content. I enjoy fighting actual players in the arenas equally. In my very short time on a 5v5 team I have already earned two pieces of the gladiator set. Someone who has a good team that farmed arenas continuously could have all of their gear in no time. While I do think the arena items should definitely be buffed every season to compete with raiding gear and to keep players interested in it, I do not think it should compare to tier 5/6. I agree with Jeroboam. The items that players wear should reflect the time and effort put in to getting them.
amasen May 10th 2007 4:43PM
raiders who complain about comparable rewards need to chill. They still generally get the best items in the game, and on top of that they are the only ones who get access to any of the important lore in this game.
I'd rather fight Illidan that get some glowy shoulders any day.
amasen May 10th 2007 4:47PM
BTW. Raiding is incredibly easy. Getting raid gear is just as easy. I did all the content pre-TBC up to Naxx (including C'thun), and it takes not skill but only time and a very flexible and open schedule.
The maximum amount of arena points you can get per week, generally works out to be the same as how long it takes to get gear while raiding.
Eldiablohijo May 10th 2007 4:57PM
I like it that Blizzard will be updating Items with each Arean season to try and keep people fighting and keep the PvP active.
But i'm still against the whole PvP for Gear and PvE for Gear. I strongly believe there should be no over-lapping between rewards you recieve for PvPing and rewards you recieve for PvEing (IE Gear from PvE and some other rewards from PvP)
However, Blizzard has kind of dug themselves into a corner with this and would have to completly revamp the way they do PvP rewards, which I don't think will happen.
But then again WoW seems to be more of a PvE based game than PvP, since the majority of the players in WoW spend the greater ammount of their time in PvE rather than PvP.
My whole complaint with the WoW PvP system is why PvP if you already have comparable gear from raiding? Then on the flip side why raid if you have gear from PvPing, a good system should encourage players to do both.
bliSSter May 10th 2007 5:37PM
@Krooked
I find your perspective hilarious as well.
Here's the deal, you simply believe no one else should be entitled to the gear you, as a raider, can get...unless they raid. You have gotten a couple of pieces of gladiator gear. I'll pay no mind that you don't divulge how long it took you to achieve this in relation to night after night of time spent in a raid instances - you simply state that it was a "very short time".
You COULD get lucky tonight and get 2-3 different drops, depending on your luck or DKP, and which zones you run. You also potentially have the option of running 25-man content, or heroics for badges, or karazhan, or whatever else is available in this primarily PvE game. PvP is much more limited in its environs.
This "very short time" you speak of is dependent on team rating and points are paid out weekly dependent on said rating. Many players will spend their entire season, basically wiping against other groups, and they might achieve nothing more than a 1200 rating. It will take them just as much time to achieve their PvP set as you to achieve your PvE set...and primary weapons are also quite expensive in terms of point cost. This payout also doesn't include rings, neck, cloak, or 3 pieces of gear that need to be obtained outside of the arena. You, as a raider, have full access to from drops for these slots WHILE running PvE content to complete your set.
PvP players run the same instances (BGs and arenas), over and over again to achieve their gear in similar fashion, it's just more tuned to their preferred activity. So tell us all again why it is that you deserve your gear more than PvP players? Because you raid PvE? Hmmmm...I don't think it holds much water but thanks anyways for playing.
Syrio May 10th 2007 5:54PM
It's interesting that everybody is mentioning raiding in response to this PvP-specific news item.
The problem isn't that the arena awards are too easy to get relative to raiding rewards. The problem IS that there is no minimum skill requirement to get the arena awards.
The best arena players out there will get their items a few weeks earlier than the mediocre players, who will in turn get them a few weeks earlier from the really bad players.
But guess what? You can be incredibly horrible, and at the end of the arena season you're running around in the same stuff as the top players on the top teams.
People push hard in the endgame because they want to conquer content that average players and average guilds can not. They want some gear differential, something that rewards them for being that much better (or more patient, or whatever you want to call it, let's save the "PvE IS EZ MODE!!!1!" comments for elsewhere).
The current arena system awards the top 0.5% of teams (an astronomically small number, relatively speaking) with a mount, and the other 99.5% of players with nothing out of the ordinary. So unless you are lucky enough or good enough to be in that 0.5%, what do you get for your efforts that a scrub team with a 1200 ranking won't also get?
Nothing.
Argent May 10th 2007 5:54PM
people have the option of buying seat time on a top-rated arena team to get gear. people can continuously re-form arena roups every other week to boost their ratings.
the amount of time i invested to get my 2 pieces of arena gear amounts to about 3-4 hours, max.
3-4 hours of raid time will get you a HM arcatraz clear -- or a good push through karazhan.
either way, i might have a chance to get an epic there (and so do 4-9 other people), but i could just as well come up empty and have to come back tomorrow/next week.
how anyone can seriously try to argue that getting arena epics that are on par with gear that people have to spend an inordinate amount of time on getting is simply beyond me. it's as if common sense just takes a leave of absence because, hey, i get cheap epics. woo-freakin'-hoo.
and as for 'raiding is easy' -- that made me seriously laugh out loud. spending hours and hours on farming repair gold and alchemy mats really just screams 'easy mode'.
if you guys love arena so much, fine. that's your prerogative. but the fact that blizz is pretty much cheapening the value of it's raid gear by putting such easy alternatives for people into the field really isn't helping anyone. and being obtuse about this fact isn't exactly a good thing either.
bliSSter May 10th 2007 6:13PM
@Argent:
I understand where you're coming from, but if you don't enjoy spending hours and hours farming, ask Blizzard to change the raiding system...which they're already doing with the elixir/flask changes - it's not much but it is a change. I farm for the same hours and hours for my potion and elixir mats because I'm on a lower population server and they're not always readily available on the AH. I pop pots and elixirs like candy for BGs and laughable world PvP because I'd prefer to win and do whatever is in my ability to contribute to that end. So, from my seat, I farm just as much and put in just as many hours as I did when I was raiding BWL, AQ and Naxx...it's just consumed with a different activity.
Comparing your experience as a PvE raider on your particular realm with your particular guild or arena team, against my experience on my realm, with my arena team as a PvP player is equally obtuse. I play the game with personal friends who may or may not contribute to the best class matrix or best game play. I still enjoy the experience because I enjoy the company. If enjoying this experience comes at the expense of not being on a top-seated 5v5 team, then so be it...and I'll take my gear as I can get it: very, very slowly.
But don't demean the equal amount of time, energy and patience that someone else might be putting in because you believe your time is more valuable due to raiding...you're simply putting it into a different part of the game.
In both cases here, broad generalizations FTL.
dev May 10th 2007 6:41PM
Yeah you raiding guys need to stfu. Blizzard is finally saying ok more casual guys here is a way you can earn the best gear as well and the raiders start whinning and crying like little nerds. I keep seeing this well we need more people to raid , raiding is harder crap so we deserve more. Its a game raiding nerds can you just freaking realize its a game and leave it alone.
Asynchronous May 10th 2007 6:55PM
Here's the difference:
PvP can be sorted in every way as a ratio of some sort. It's all continuous, with the exception of the mount, which goes discretely to the top .5%. Good arena teams get the exact same arena points as everyone else, just more of them.
PvE is discrete. You can, or you can not. You got Gruul to 95%? No loot. You got Gruul to 5%? No loot. You get no rewards if you lose, you get all rewards if you win.
You could use consumables in PvP. Let's say they add 10% to your dps. This means you win 10% more, and you get 10% more reward. Consumables do nothing for you if you would've won anyway, in PvE, and they do everything for you if you would've lost.
It's this difference that makes the time/money/effort spent a completely different issue trying to compare them.
Den May 10th 2007 7:33PM
Weapons aside Arena gear sucks for PVE if you think otherwise then you don't understand itemization at all. The funny thing is when you read people saying that "horrid" teams will we running around in full arena just like the top teams at the end of the season. People saying this have no idea how the arena system works.
As your rating drops you see a massive decline in the points you get each week, meaning the bottom teams will be walking out with a two handed weapon and 1 bit of armor.If you are happy to spend the 240g each week to remake your team that loses every game you might get close to a full set at then end of the season. But the amount of time and gold spent will be close to a raiders.
Something interesting is that people from our second Kara group have been joining our main raid for the experience. Basically they get all loot defaulted to them, 1 rogue has come to 1 raid so far and picked up 4 epics? How is that for time vs reward?
bliSSter May 10th 2007 8:01PM
@Asynchronous:
I'll agree with that sentiment, but that doesn't mean that the arena or the battlegrounds systems are necessarily flawed. I'd be more inclined to say that the raiding model is flawed. I personally prefer some take on the AQ20 system of rewards in terms of a compilation of reputation and dropped tokens for getting gear. I like the rep-based, upgrade path of rings and such given by Brood of Noz or the Violet Eye. At least you've walked away from a night of raiding with something a bit more tangible than reputation gains...which have a cap.
More of this type of loot reward would go a long way to reward the chronic time commitment of the raiding community. I didn't enjoy having to wait on drops and amass DKP when I was raiding...because it felt like a really long time and slogging through progression nights wasn't enjoyable until we got the first boss kill. But PuGging BGs and sitting in a low-ranking arena team requires just as much time/effort/patience as when I was raiding. When someone is on the losing end of a BG or arena match, they get very little honor/points...but you're right, they do get something in the end, even if it's small. But technically, if a raider is in a DKP-based guild (or similar system), they're getting something as well. They'll stockpile those points to spend on gear when it is available...just like in PvP. So they're not that terribly different.
With the consumables argument, I think you're right in terms of it having a larger impact on the task at hand, but I also believe Blizzard is augmenting that with the new potion system...and I believe this to also be a change for the better. This coming from an alchemist who took Elixir Mastery for my guild.
All of that said, I still think the raid system needs work more than the PvP system...in terms of gear progression/payout.
DontLetsStart May 11th 2007 2:35AM
The complaint seems to be along the lines of "if good gear can be gotten other than raiding, what's the point in raiding?"
To me that tells me one thing: raiding isn't fun. If raiding isn't fun (and I personally believe it isn't), then it's broken. You take away the fact that raiding is the only way to get the top loot, you take away raiding, because raiding sucks.
Surely it's only a matter of time before Blizzard puts two and two together, realises people don't actually want to raid, they only want the loot, and starts spending their energies on more enjoyable ways for people to get that loot, instead of wasting massive amounts of resources on raids. Isn't it?
ben1778 May 11th 2007 10:11AM
Let's get this perfectly clear.
There's no need to argue about who gets what gear more easily with less gold or time involved.
If you have your gladiator gear and you go into Kara, those 11k-15k hp will not get you too far if you pull aggro. So the gladiator gear isn't the best choice for raiding.
If you have T4/T5 gear and you go into the arena, you might do well, but more likely you will suffer due to low HP or low resilience.
Who cares what route you take to gear up your character since most of the gear is pretty well tailored to help you mainly DOING THE ACTIVITY YOU ENGAGED IN TO GET THE GEAR IN THE FIRST PLACE.
How incredibly dull would this game become if there was only one route to get your epics and within each class toons ended up looking like cookie-cutters?
Variety is good and go play the way you want. If the raiders always want to be angry that they put in all that work for epics, then go do something FUN for epics instead of pretending it's your job.
If you can't find a FUN way to go about getting your epics, quit playing and go play a game you can enjoy more.
Epics aren't worth making yourself miserable and bitter.
GamerJunkie May 11th 2007 2:19PM
I agree with #19, PVE folks who complain about PVP rewards have no rights. Not everyone has no life but to be forced to raid nightly to get your tier pieces.
PVP system gives the casual players a route to get their epics at their own pace.
It doesn't mean casual players are getting them every week or often. It depends if you're in a good arena team. You can argue that you can pay to be on an arena team that farms the stuff but the same can be said of farming guilds that sells Raid spots.
The PVP + PVE gear not really the same, some base stats are the same but not entirely.