AFK punishment is still just a band-aid
by David Bowers 
Jan 12th 2008 at 6:15PM
The AFK problem has been with us for a long time now, and ever so suddenly Blizzard has decided to step up and enforce a new form of punishment on their side, to take away honor and PvP rewards from people who have been reported AFK a lot. Definitely this is an improvement, and it should help to discourage this unfair practice, yet at the same time it's not a true solution.As Drysc said, the problem isn't just a matter of punishing people who break the rules, it's finding out why they are doing this, and change their incentives, so that they don't want to break the rules in the first place. Our reader Aviel has some insights as to why people AFK and how to fix it, and she (or he) has posted her excellent analysis on the official WoW forums.
In short her argument is that, while Blizzard is trying to develop PvP content that is "fun, competitive, and compelling," players are generally making "game theory" decisions, about how to maximize their honor gain in the time they have to play. Fun is definitely an element, but overall, if people can't earn enough honor to make their time worthwhile in a particular battleground, they will quit or seek alternatives. She points out that as long as honor is a kind of currency to be spent, people will choose the method with the easiest honor gain over the one they enjoy most (which can lead to get-rich-quick schemes such as AFKing). She leaves her solutions to this problem for the Suggestions forum (though I could not find her actual post there), but posters in that thread share some ideas, and there are many other player suggestions out there as well. Of course Blizzard is tight-lipped about their own solutions so far, but we can rest assured that they care about the issue and plan to do something about it.
I agree with Aviel that most players are evidently seeking the fastest way to get honor gear over the best way to have fun. But trying to earn honor currency in the fastest way possible is itself its own game-within-the-game, and the drive to earn as much honor as possible by winning can be a great motivator to do one's best. Clearly the temptation is very strong for AFKers to try to scam the system and get something for nothing, but I would hate for the AFK problem in Alterac Valley to require that we give up honor as a currency, or heaven forbid, force us back into the old honor system. While it may be true that "love of money is the root of all evil," just getting rid of money can't fix the problem of human selfishness.
The honor economy must revolve around justice, so that if you want to spend honor you can work to earn it, but no effort also brings you no reward. The system should allow a good deal of freedom in how you choose to earn your honor, but no freedom to leech it off of others. The question is: how can such justice be achieved, especially in the face of the selfishness that inspires AFKing?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, PvP
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
swatltlen Jan 12th 2008 10:56PM
The biggest problem is that in AV you can get more honor from losing quick than winning in twice the time. You can lose every game in 10 minutes and still make out with more honor than if you take 20 minutes to win. Changing the system to allow a bigger honor gain for victory would be not the solution, but a part of one.
Imogynn Jan 12th 2008 7:03PM
BGs and Arenas aren't fun unless you get the gear for them.
To get the gear for them you have to do them even though they aren't fun.
By the time you are competitive and could have fun; you are burnt out and bitter.
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Serve with a chilled light cabarnet.
amasen Jan 12th 2008 7:22PM
This is so very true.
I cannot stand battlegrounds any more. On both my warrior and priest I have about 30k honor left to grind and then no more. I am ecstatic about it, but every battleground I queue for is a painful experience that I dread reliving.
If only they could make it so that a players skill is rewarded in battlegrounds, then I would find my way back there in a heartbeat. Until then, I am truly excited for the day I never have to do them again (at least until level 80)
theRaptor Jan 12th 2008 9:41PM
Player skill counts in Arena. Unfortunately you need decent gear from BG's for it to matter. Unless they make a gearless BG, this will always be the case.
Sean Jan 12th 2008 9:46PM
You don't "have to" do them now. Who is holding the Boomstick to your head?
You do the BGs because you think you need the S1 gear, but that just isn't the case. All the gear you need is there in quest rewards, boss drops, and rep rewards.
PvP gear is good for PvP, but if you want gear for PvE...then get into an instance.
Laedrana Mar 25th 2008 8:14AM
I am not geared for BG's but go in anyway as an enhance shammy and do my best. It is very frustrating playing BG's at is always seems there is lack of real communication between players, no real strategy within the group, and lots of bickering. Then there are those who just solo and do what they want regardless. I have very seldom ever been in a BG fight where the Alliance has won. It would take me months of playing in BG's constantly to even earn enough points to buy decent gear. I'm already getting burned out...
Flambeau Jan 12th 2008 7:09PM
it's a step, but the main point was AV was 40 people, the chances of being spotted, with out mods was slim. now with mods that auto report, its become far more known. and just as widespread, but this doesn't really help. The problem is it takes almost no effot in AV to get honor, even on a non holiday AV game it still beats holiday AB, EOTS and WSG is almost never any honor.
hopefully thanks to the mods, the game gets better, but they will still do it. and it's gonna be rampant
next patch (2.4) as season 2 beats kara and all the newbies will just goto BGs for the easy epics. and it's obvious Blizzard knows it as the new dungon is only supposed to be as hard as SL or SH and gives kara or better loot. welcome to the bginning of content not worth doing.
til then, let's hope people reform.
oshin Jan 12th 2008 7:42PM
Season 2 gear for honor in patch 2.4 is unlikely, odds are it will be the season 4 patch, if that comes before the expansion.
At the end of the day most of the bgs have been in the game for 2 years, people are sick of them, but yet are forced to farm them hard for gear they need for arenas, and even 5/10 mans.
Whats the quick and dirty solution ? nerf the amount of honor av gives and cause people to scream in agony, or buff the honor gains in wsg/ab/eots to the same level (and maybe remove diminishing returns in bgs). Reducing the honor costs would probably help too.
The proper solution would be to implement a more enjoyable bg system in the expansion that allows people to get the gear they need. Of course thats easy for me to say, espically as I dont have a clue how pvp could be made more interesting.
Aigarius Jan 12th 2008 8:05PM
As far as I know in many battlegroups noone is playing AV anymore - Alliance looses with 0 honor because of the terrain, because of that Alliance does not go to AV which means that Horde has 3+ hour queue time.
Flambeau Jan 12th 2008 7:44PM
in responce to amasen and to all others reading.
The next question is when will finality set in, according to Blizzard as reported on near every site is that patch 2.4 is teh final patch, then comes Wrath, even if there's minor patches, there will be no season 5. This means the LAST season to hit BGs will be season 2. and out of that comes 2 facts. WotLK greens will destroy it, and probably season 3 epics as well. so this means that it's about progression which usually dies like a snowball in hell when a final patch is announced or whether people believe the gear will be useful.
and even then, the arena system:
is it worth it to even bother getting season 4 gear?
we all know marks were destroyed as EXP in BC, and thus were trash - to be converted into currency. but what about arena points? surely season 4 will no where be as good as season 5 as season 5 will be the "katrazhan level" of WotLK. would it be wiser to save up for when you hit 80? and laugh at all the crap loot in the instances of northrend and be able to have the gear to try to steal a wrlds first? sure there's a cap on arena points, but not enough to stop having more than adequate gear to only have to get gear from the standard amount of running leveling instances to get to 80. and if not, will it be worth it to PVP more than instance? or pull the "welfare" epic as by 80, dialy quests are gonna be raking in the gold, and you can reset your team to 1500 and loose 10 a week to 1400 each week for points while barely even taking a hit to the cash flow like it currently is.
Hopefully these points are brought to blizzard's attention, or we will see just how prepared they are for WotLK
mike Jan 12th 2008 8:32PM
OMG get over it already.
I love how people have to rationalise why they afk.
Sounds like the 8 year old kid that stands in the middle of the school yard, refusing to give anyone the ball cause he doesn't like the game everyone is playing.
Grow up people. bg's boring for you? Just tired of pvp. move on to pve or another game!
Deuce Jan 12th 2008 8:34PM
I have said it before...
Give us alternative ways to get epics... Blizzard favors PvP and Raiders... Not crafters and questers... Arena gear though BG's is a huge buff for PvPers in general... Imagine if Blizzard gave all crafting professions 5-piece craftable gear for every spec... Of course that would make money for gold farmers...
Sean Jan 13th 2008 10:57AM
If you're not raiding or doing serious PvP, why do you need Epics? Blizz crafted the system so that whatever you're doing now you'd get the gear you need for the next level of play.
So the long quest chains and level 70 instances have the gear you need to do heroics and Kara. Kara has the gear you need for ZA and Gruul. BGs have the gear you need for, well, more BGs or Arena.
I love the idea of more Crafted gear, but no matter what you're doing you have access to the gear you need for the "next thing."
Dave Jan 12th 2008 9:19PM
The best solution would be that if someone gets reported as an AFK player, they're removed from the BG and given the deserter tag. It'd be even better if this deserter tag could stack, and if you get it twice in an hour from being reported in BG's, clearly there's something wrong and/or fishy and you should get locked out for an hour. Multiple stacks, multiple hours until it's entirely discouraging.
People will find a way around things. People are remarkably resourceful when it comes to this crap, they'll go so far to avoid just going in a BG and killing other players. Most of the time if you just stay with 3-4 other people and attack what they're attacking you're doing the right thing. Instead people invent new and stupid ways to avoid actually doing what's meant to be done in a BG.
I think they need to make a new BG every patch. Surely something like that can't be TOO hard to invent. Every time a new Arena season starts, a new BG should come with it if there are going to be epic items that upgrade every season and force people back into the BG's they otherwise are bored of running.
Less time developing huge 25-man raids like Sunwell Plateau that %5 of the playerbase MIGHT see, and more time making new and interesting BG ideas for the other %95.
Malachi154 Jan 13th 2008 12:47PM
I agree with Dave... Simply boot people out of the BG 30 seconds after they have been reported by 5 or more players unless they engage in PVP. I really like the idea that if they get more than one boot in 24 hours, they are banned from the BG's for 24 hours. Remove the payoff (honor) and you remove the incentive. Giving someone the boot removes honor gain, mark gain and credit for dailys. As for abuse, it takes multiple people to report someone AFK, and you can clear it by entering PVP. If your participating, you should have no fear of abuse...
Kanuris Jan 13th 2008 9:55PM
"Simply boot people out of the BG 30 seconds after they have been reported by 5 or more players unless they engage in PVP"
What if those 5 people are stupid idiots who report you while you guard Iceblood Tower to make sure it burns...
Slayblaze Jan 12th 2008 9:45PM
While I agree with most of what was said, I really feel that the true issue is boredom that causes most of the problems with afk'ing in battlegrounds. The "base gameplay mechanics" of each battleground are sound, solid, and time-tested. I believe that Blizzard could solve most of the boredom issues simply by adding several different maps to each BG and setting up a rotation.
The gameplay of Alterac Valley is standard "Capture-and-Hold" - a very solid and enjoyable tactical gametype used in many First Person Shooters. What those shooters have that WoW BG's do not have is a map rotation. Playing on the same exact map game after game just gets boring. It would be incredibly easy with Blizz's programming resources to make some new maps for each of the BG's...all of the textures and environments already exist.
I really think that they choose NOT to do something like that because then the Battlegrounds would become TOO successful and they would be so fun that too many people would do nothing else. I used to spend hours and hours playing Unreal Tournament CTF...the same exact PVP gametype for hours...and the thing that kept it fun and fresh were the different maps (and the solid gameplay) in the rotation. Honestly I think if Blizz added a bunch of new maps to their battlegrounds, I would seldom do anything else in the game exept BG's. But as it is now, I get bored playing in the same exact snow-covered hills of AV for more than a couple hours, as do most people. They start hating it but continue on for the honor, when just some more variety would go very far in preventing the boredom.
doug Jan 13th 2008 7:42AM
If you get locked out how could you go back into the BG to get the debuff to stack?
Krick Jan 12th 2008 10:12PM
For my protection pally, I only want one piece of battleground gear, the season 1 "Gladiator's Gavel": http://www.wowhead.com/?item=32450
It costs 20 Eye of the Storm marks and 25,200 Honor.
I picked up the 20 marks in one evening of play, but I really can't stomach grinding out the 24,000 or so honor I still need.
It just blows my mind that anyone can manage to get the honor for one item, let alone a full set.
...
Krick
http://www.tankadin.com
shabaz Jan 12th 2008 10:15PM
My Problem and the problem in my battle group stormpike is we dont win av nor do we get any honor. Maybe 1 in 10 games we will get 100 bonus honor. This makes our afk go to eots ab and wsg. making it almost impossible to win those. So now the only way i have to get gear is to arena, or beg to get into a non hard core raiding group.