Patch 2.3 and you: PvP edition
by Robin Torres 
Sep 26th 2007 at 11:05PM
The patch 2.3 lovefest continues with some PvP action, starting off with the Arena. Blue posters Drysc and Kalgan have released information about Season 3 and what changes will be for it in patch 2.3:
Season 3:
Season 3:
- The Rating (not the points) required to purchase Season 3 weapons will be 1850.
- The Rating required to purchase Season 3 shoulders will be 2000.
- The Rating will not be required to wear the items, just to initially purchase them.
- The Personal Rating will be used to purchase the items, not the team rating.
Personal Rating System:
- It will be introduced in patch 2.3 and will be used in Season 3, which makes it sound like Season 3 will begin when 2.3 is released.
- The Personal Rating will be unique for each team the character belongs to.
- It will rise and fall using the same formula as the Team Ratings.
- It will only be affected by the games that the player plays in, not all team games.
- Eligibility for end of season rewards will be determined by the Personal Rating, which must be within 100 of the team's rating.
- It can't be padded by joining a new team. The Personal Rating will reset for the bracket when a new team is joined.
Battlegrounds:
- There are more undisclosed changes coming to AV in patch 2.3.
- All battlegrounds will have a "free" buff period before the start of battle and briefly after being resurrected by the Spirit Guide, like the Arena.
Daily Quests:
- They will target a random battleground each day.
- You get them from Alliance Brigadier Generals and Horde Warmasters near the Battle Masters in all major capitals.
- The quests will reward gold, experience and honor.
- You can do the quests as soon as you are high enough level to do the battlegrounds. So on WSG days, level 11 characters can do the daily quests.
Filed under: Patches, News items, PvP, Forums
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Manablight Sep 26th 2007 11:09PM
Sounds like good changes to me.
abhinav Sep 26th 2007 11:20PM
Sounds like bad changes to me. It's blizzard making things harder for the average player, especially on weapons. I can understand why blizz is doing this but still.
Crypt King Sep 26th 2007 11:53PM
To be successful in Arena you need to gear, so now it will be harder to get the gear to be successful in those Arena. So fewer people will get the benefit fo bothering to do Arena. Now we're back to the whole
"Grand Marshal" thing. Arena teams are going to disappear in droves.
Johnny Sep 26th 2007 11:51PM
about time. It pisses me off to no end seeing pvp scrubs with 1300-1400 ratings getting weapons about the same or superior to T5 raiding content. Screw the welfare epic system.
Would have more sense to flip the higher requirement on weps than the shoulder piece.
twh Sep 26th 2007 11:51PM
Still waiting for the Paladin Edition.
D Sep 27th 2007 12:23AM
This sucks with the weapons, because arena was a way for people that didn't have access to the high end raiding gear the opportunity to gear out, albeit really really slowly.
Now what will happen is that all those folks who just want the weapons will realize that the weapons are not available, so they won't bother with arena. Will be nice to see how happy people like Johnny will be when they have to wait a half hour for a match.
I don't know what the big deal is with allowing the low ranked teams access to these weapons.
RizziNUp Sep 27th 2007 12:58AM
Don't forget the the Personal Arena Rating only applies to buying the Season 3 Arena weapons, not Season 2 or Season 1.
People will still have a chance to get great gear, but the very BEST will have the top notch gear.
Byron Sep 27th 2007 1:37AM
Posted this in the article above, then scrolled down and realized the 2.3 pvp article is a more appropriate spot, reposting:
Healing debuffs will now affect Drain spells and abilities. More specifically, Warrior's Mortal Strike will debuff Warlock's Drain Life and Siphon Life:
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=1778037077&sid=1&pageNo=4#66
Greeneyed Sep 27th 2007 3:04AM
I don't see why making PvP loot more exclusive is a step in the right direction. Me personally I won't have any trouble getting it since I can get a 2000+ rating in a couple nights of arena with my 2v2 partner pretty easily. But for other people it's gonna put them at a disadvantge. If I have a season 3 weapon and you have a season 2 weapon I'm simply going to win from sheer hitting power. I liked that they were allowing casual players to get the best PvP gear. THAT was a step in the right direction. PvP should be about skill not gear. I like fighting opponents who have equal gear or even better gear. You get more of a sense of pwnage when you win. And PvPers aren't as selfish as raiders from my experience. We could care less if your shoulders look like mine. We aren't really trying to stand out visually as much as raiders are I guess.
Greeneyed Sep 27th 2007 3:25AM
I hope they update the cloak, trinkets, rings and gems as well. The cloak hasn't been upgraded since season 1. The stats on it aren't that great anymore. I wouldn't mind them upping the price for an upgraded version.
Sephirah Sep 27th 2007 3:53AM
Well, the shoulder obsession isn't only among players...
Quote (from Drysc):
"The shoulders for any set are commonly the most visually representative, they're the most visible at any distance, and as they allow a lot of space compared to say a leg or bracer item, we commonly take them and really create something visually impressive. We want that visually impressive item to represent what a player has achieved, and so the achievement of being a contender in the arena at a higher level will be visually distinguished. "
Kryptonls Sep 27th 2007 4:22AM
... or you could just raid and do Heroic's to get nice gear, for those that have been overly reliant on the Arena for now.
Willfferal Sep 27th 2007 5:09AM
....and the druid t6 shoulders look ugly.
cheez Sep 27th 2007 4:34AM
i love it! I was playing pvp b4 a year or so, ranking like a lil bitch, got to rank 11 after quiting games and dropping my rank a lot of times, standing and all those things that made pvp hard. Now i came back and i see every damn noob having an arena weap, great changes, arena gear is not for everyone, u guys can get the lvl 70 pvp gear if u want a gear, is hell easy to get it.
Scylloga Sep 27th 2007 4:47AM
@9
You contradict yourself. "PvP should be about skill not gear". You need skill to get the high rating. As it is now all you need to do is suffer through several weeks of getting your arse handed to ya and you will have the weapon.
I have been ganked by several people on my server that if they didnt have the gear they do my lvl 19 druid would wtfpwn them.
The pvp system right now is gear driven not so much skill. Anybody can buy into a rated team and sap off there hard work.
vatality Sep 27th 2007 6:28AM
@12
some people don't have the time to raid on a regular basis, i'm not one of them
my main issue is that the ONLY epic offhand weapons before Black Temple are the arena weapons, now blizzard does this and no one but fury warriors and rogues are gonna care, so blizzard is gonna care
Klingers Sep 27th 2007 7:20AM
This whole system isn't a change for the better. I can understand on an intellectual level why the dev team do these kind of things, but it's still just so... Mean spirited.
90% of people who could be classified as "every damn noob having an arena weap" or those casual people who grabbed level 60 epic PVP gear when the initial pre-BC honour changes went in, generally think "hey, this is nice. Blizzard are actually thinking of *me* for once. I can get something *cool* without having to put in 12 hours a day".
It'll be interesting to see how this change ripples through the arena community. If my prediction comes to light then a very large percentage of the teams who do their 10 matches a week in the hope of having a gear set in 6 months will pretty much give up, arenas will decline significantly in popularity and all those people who are saying right now "Yeah, about time! Why SHOULD these nubs have welfare epix?!1!" will be in for a nasty surprise when they find those casual teams propping them up in the ratings aren't there, thusly lowering their comparative rating to below what is needed to purchase gear.
We won't shed a tear for that lot.
Tommysalami Sep 27th 2007 12:17PM
Lets not forget that this only restricts weapons and shoulders, the rest of the gear will be achievable without a high rating.
drakar24 Sep 27th 2007 9:36AM
I'm a lvl 70 rogue on a PVE server. I like raiding mostly, so that's what I spend most of my time doing. I enjoy the arenas and do them just for fun and points. I have no problem with the best weapons going to the best players.
My problem is that as a combat sword rogue, there is no OH sword from the blue Latro's from Black Morass until Mt. Hyjal. Nothing. Nothing in Kara, nothing in SSC, nothing in TK. Arenas filled the gap. I don't mind them reserving the best weapons for the best players, but I sure hope they adjust their itemization so those of with mediocre ratings can still get appropriate gear.
Richard Sep 27th 2007 9:42AM
@17 You're right on.
These retards crowing about "nubs with welfare epics" have no clue that it's those "nubs" that are propping up their ratings.
I GUARANTEE that when this goes into place, and the low-rating "casuals" who leave in droves, you are going to see tons of threads:
WTF BLIZZ? I WAS 1900+ PRE 2.3, AND NOW I CAN'T BREAK 1700! ARENA = BROKEN!
Mark my words. These idiots are in for a rude awakening.
The bottom line is that these people who get these "welfare" epics aren't going to be able to play any better with the gear, as there is a much different skillset required to arena over PvEing.
I smoked a Rogue last night with 4/5 Merc Glad's and both swords, me having 4/5 T4 and 3/3 Primalstrike.
Gear < Skill < Gear + Skill.
Get over the whining, you teenage children who think you're "entitled" to something because you can spend 4x the hours a day over the casuals.