PTR notes: Arena weapons buffed slightly
by Eliah Hecht 
May 14th 2007 at 10:53AM
In the wake of the sweeping PvE epic buffs in a recent PTR patch, we've expected corresponding buffs to the PvP epics. Well, they're here (partly), but they don't correspond as well as I would like. While Karazhan epics were buffed by 15 item levels, taking them from ilvl 100 to 115, Arena weapons were buffed by a mere 2, going from ilvl 115 to 117. Essentially, this puts them between T4 and T5, much closer to T4.
Stats-wise, this seems to mean a gain of under 1 DPS (depending in the weapon), as well as sometimes small quantities of other stats (I'm talking things like 2 AP here). No question, gladiator weapons did not get buffed anywhere near as much as raid epics. As far as I can tell, the gladiator armor has not been buffed yet, but I'm sure it will be. What do you guys think about this? Reaction in the forums ranges from outrage to smug satisfaction, apparently based on whether the poster PvPs much or not.
[via Shadow Gaming]
Here's all the new stats on the weapons:
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Nubster May 14th 2007 11:01AM
I dont see any buffs on these...
chillis May 14th 2007 11:03AM
the gladiators mauls dps is 67.9 and these are showing it at 67.2, thats a nerf, not a buff
Nubster May 14th 2007 11:06AM
Not to mention these stats were originally put up when the PTR's went live 3-4 weeks ago...nothing new. Idt blizz has released the PvP item change yet.
honkhonk May 15th 2007 8:31AM
I don't even play arenas, but to me it's annoying as it means before long it'll revert to the "good" old days where raid gear far surpassed PvP gear meaning any raider could jump into a BG and zerg down the opposition. I recall the fun days of WSG on our new server with at best T1 and being obliterated by premade AQ40 geared groups.
I hope this is merely an intermediary stage where they keep Arena gear on par with what most PvE players can obtain with further buffs down the road.
Ryan May 14th 2007 11:36AM
@2 Not really, since the dps rating of the weapon is useless for a feral druid. If they re-budgeted the weapon to take away dps and add stats, it's definitely a buff.
Zebedeo May 14th 2007 11:47AM
I hate the arena, I do not find it fun but stressful. I have seen other teams in my guild actually get into fights because some on the team hurt the rating when they did not do well. I do love the BGs. I wish the armor and weapons there didn't suck so much. I do not see why these can not be buffed for those of us who do not like the arena but enjoy the BG PVP.
I think raiding gear should be better then arena or battleground gear. People put a lot more time and effort into raiding and it takes organizing a larger group of people who know what they are doing to do it successfully.
Why should someone who can go into the arena without putting any of the effort into getting attunements and getting dungeon sets to survive the end game raids be given better stuff? Someone could go into the arena wearing greens never stepping foot into an instance and get some of the best gear in the game. I do not see a problem with this but I don’t think they should get better gear then what you can get from doing raids that take just as much skill and a lot more time.
Chris Gardner May 14th 2007 11:58AM
"Why should someone who can go into the arena without putting any of the effort into getting attunements and getting dungeon sets to survive the end game raids be given better stuff?"
Because they are two separate activities that should be rewarded as such.
Traditionally, PVP gear was primarily useful in PVP while PVE gear was useful in both PVE and PVP. As it stands right now, the Arena rewards are excellent for PVP and tier 4/5 is excellent for PVE. If they grow the PVE rewards too much without growing the Arena rewards, you're going to get the gear gap all over again.
People who want to PVP shouldn't be required to PVE, the same way people who PVE shouldn't be required to PVP. Can you imagine if D&T or Nihilum was REQUIRED to do Arena to advance? Heads would roll.
Besides, the argument that Arena takes less effort is largely bunk. The average Arena team (.500 wins per week) takes 4 weeks to get one piece of gear. That means 5 months to complete what's essentially a tier 4-level set. Contrast that with raiding -- you definitely get your tier 4s way faster than 5 months. As with all things in Warcraft, the better you are, the faster you get the gear.
wowtard May 14th 2007 1:22PM
It doesn't matter since 2nd season arena gear is going to be just as good as the new buffed pve gear.
yepyep May 14th 2007 12:27PM
What happen if a team sucked so bad, played 100 games, and didnt win one...would they still get arena points for those losses?
Ross May 14th 2007 12:28PM
@7 Except in the fact that if you lose arena matches, you still get arena points. Now correct me if I am wrong, but when you wipe in a raid or any instance for that matter, I don't see any loot dropping. PVE is never, "Ohh I am glad you came to check out this fight, here some epics for your trouble and time", I think it would make sense if you only received arena points when you won matches, rather then receiving them for just being there. Caveat: I know you receive more arena points for winning, I just don't think mediocrity should be rewarded anywhere, its like people standing in weekend bgs just to pick up some honor, or purposely losing Arathi for marks.
cogburn May 14th 2007 1:25PM
'PVE is never, "Ohh I am glad you came to check out this fight, here some epics for your trouble and time"'
Because in the history of endgame raiding in WoW, trash mobs have never dropped epics...
Zebedeo May 14th 2007 1:25PM
@7 I do understand that they are separate activities and should be rewarded as such. I said I do not have a problem with them getting gear but I don’t think they should expect all the stuff they get to be better then people doing end game raids. As number 9 pointed out, you really don't have to be skilled to get epics in arena. It may take longer but you can get them if you put the time in.
In raiding you have to win and you have to be good or you will never get your tier 4. You may be able to get that gear in 5 months if you happen to be in a guild that can do Kara and heroics. With the Arena you can take anyone that is lvl 70 and start working on getting “fabulous prizes” for winning sometimes. For raiding you need to have a winning team and it is much harder to put together 10 to 40 winning players.
Zebedeo May 14th 2007 1:49PM
@12, the epics that drop off trash mobs may be purple but the "real" epics drop from the bosses. The stuff in the arena also surpasses any junk epic. Not to mention they are also BOE and are normally sold on the AH. I can't imagine anyone buying a trash drop epic who is doing raiding or the arena. They are mainly there so the casual player can simply buy something purple without doing anything but farm gold. I would be up for getting rid of them but it doesn't matter because often blue items are better then these "epic" trash mob drops. (i.e. The Hammer of Destiny)
woeye May 14th 2007 1:39PM
Clearly it's time for Warhammer, because there will never be peace and understanding between the PvE crowd and the PvP crowd ;-)
Robert May 14th 2007 2:04PM
Before you all have a heart attack about this...
Season 1 is ending shortly. Season 2 will have all-new rewards.
During Season 1, most raiding guilds were able to achieve most T4 and perhaps one or two pieces of T5. It makes sense that the season 1 gladiator pieces are balanced around this.
During Season 2, we'll see guilds with mostly T5 and some T6. Expect the arena rewards to be roughly the same.
cheesebanana May 14th 2007 3:06PM
Yeh you do realise these figures are in fact LOWER than live stats?
That being said they have said they WILL be further buffed sometime before 2.1 is released.
Seeing as for example gladiator's Shanker (Dagger mainhand) was the highest DPS weapon available outside of T5 dungeons...and now Malchazeen from Prince malchezaar in Karazhan is the same DPS.
This apparently wasn't meant to be so the arena weapons will really be buffed to maybe 4-5 DPS more
multikast May 14th 2007 4:15PM
what about the war staff?!?
won't somebody PLEASE think of the war staff?!?
Artaz May 14th 2007 9:01PM
Meh - Arena is a joke. I was hoping they would fix the whole honour system where you got rewards based on putting in endless hours. I didn't expect the fix would be getting rewards for putting in only a couple of hours.
For some classes (mine especially) the arena gear is some of, if not the best, items you can get in the game. 3-4 hours every week and I get a new piece very 3-4 weeks.
What does this mean? It means that after 3 months of raiding, and progressing into SSC, I have no tier 4, no tier 5, and for those bosses we spend hours wiping on, we all have nothing. In fact, I use only 1 epic from a raid instance, the rest of my non-arena gear coming from crafted or heroic sources.
It also means that after 3 months of Arena where I play 3-4 hours a week in a 5v5 team that stuffs around yet manages to hold a 50/50 win ratio, I have 3 pieces of area gear and get my 4th this week.
And people wonder why players don't want to spend countless hours farming for pots and food and other buffs for the chacne that they will get no rewards. Why guilds break up over their lack of progression due to attendance issues. etc al.
Lets face it, if there is a system that rewards players with better or compareable gear even if they loose, thats much better than one that doesn't.
Loving my arena gear. Keep up the good work Blizzard