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by Amanda Dean 
Feb 7th 2008 at 6:50PM
Since the inception of the arena system in WoW, players have been very creative in finding ways to boost their ratings. First it was a matter of highly-ranked teams selling slots to less skilled players. Lately the subject of trading wins and losses has been the buzz. Blizzard has taken the steps that they feel necessary, such as instituting the personal rating system, to combat the issue.
In a thread entitled "Selling arena teams ok/not ok?" Legolawls reiterated the subject of team leaders selling off points, and blue posts condoned the behavior. That player feels that selling violates the spirit of the game. This elicited a responses from both Crepe and Turtle (via Auryk) saying that there are currently no rules preventing the sale of an Arena team. Interestingly they even hinted that entire team sales are acceptable. As long as the transaction occurs only in-game it is considered to be a legitimate service. Team captains are free to sell slots or even their entire teams as they see fit. If the team were being sold outside of game, for a real cash sum, the matter would be different.
This means that five seasoned players can pony up the 200 gold to start up a team at a 1500 rating. Then they spend a few weeks working it up, sell it off for a tidy profit, and start over again. This means that players who are skilled and geared enough to be in the top brackets are regularly dropping themselves back to pairings with players who lack the resources to put up a fight. While winning and making gold are fun, it sounds even more tedious than dailies to me- not to mention frustrating for those of us who get rolled by those who significantly outgear us.
This also means easy games for true top ranked teams. They would be matched up with teams of equal rating but lesser skill, which would then inflate their ratings. True, the rating of the purchased team will drop, but if they play only 10 games a week, they'd still have a few weeks to bank inflated arena points.
Apparently, even with the recent changes, arena points are still for sale. I think it would annoy me most if my team leader sold a team out from under me. So what is that Vengeful Gladiator's Waraxe worth to you?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Ranking, Blizzard, Forums, Arena
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
Suzaku Feb 8th 2008 12:27AM
Not only is buying and selling arena slots, ratings, teams, whatever, a legitimate in-game economic practice (so long as it remains in-game), it is actually backed by the LORE.
The World of Wacraft comic depicts Reghar Earthfury, Gladiator Master, among other things, buying and selling arena team members.
Pzychotix Feb 8th 2008 4:19AM
So I can't buy points to get my S3 gear faster? I have the rating needed for all the equipment, but 2s only gives you so much points, and considering I need a #%!@ ton of points for all the gear I need, 1000+ points for 600g is a good deal. I prefer not to play 5s, and I have a bunch of money. I'll support the market as long as they keep selling.
Eternalpayn Feb 8th 2008 7:24AM
I don't see a problem with this, really, but I don't play Arena yet, haven't hit 70. I guess it's like paying for a tank, or a low level dungeon run, if you look at it.
Also, I have a question for people who play in the arena: Can druids combat rez in the arena?
wily110 Feb 13th 2008 10:00PM
O was come from china , and i am also a wower , i didn't play 5V5,because i am a pVe inner .i love the natural of wow
Iceman Feb 8th 2008 8:33AM
For the people who say its ok to sell spots cause it doesn't look that bad on paper, consider this. When you are in a arena and you get rolled over by full vengeful geared people and lose 20 points because they have a lower rating than you, its a problem.
Thing Feb 8th 2008 8:47AM
Hate to break it to ya, but the Waraxe is only 1000 points and I 2v2'd with another hunter for 4 weeks and ours right after the patch came out. We stayed right around 1500 rating or just below. It's not hard to get the points.
Now...i kinda do want the chest and helm, but that is another story.
FireStar Feb 8th 2008 9:16AM
I was wondering why i heard furi on illidan in the trade channel selling arena points for gold, cause i thought it was against tos.
Roboticus Feb 8th 2008 10:46AM
I play a moderate-casual 3v3 for roughly 25 games per week at the 1600 to 1700 bracket. The teams we fight against, without any ambiguity, can be categorized into two types: equal skill and farm teams. On equal skill teams, we win 70-80% of the time, but against the farm teams, we win 0%. The trouble is, we lose 17-20 points when we lose to the farm teams, but only gain 10-16 points on the equal skill teams.
Some nights, it's as bad as 50% of the teams being farm teams (Rampage BG). Do the math and you can see we've hit a plateau. What's frustrating is given our success rate against non farm teams, this plateau is artificially low, pushed down by the charter sellers.
thush Feb 8th 2008 11:56AM
Many people upset about this are raiding elitists that simply have the "I wanna have better gear than everyone else" attitude. I don't have any problems with people selling arena teams, team slots, or raid slots for PvE. I used to, but after thinking about it a little more I don't care. In fact, I might start doing that. Organized PvPers have connections that get them into guilds, raids, or arena teams. It's an advantage. Solo players have an advantage too if they look for it by grinding gold. So I lik the idea. It elminates dealing with guild drama and finding teammates that don't constantly jump ship and show up when they say they will. I'm pretty much a solo player that plays on my own schedule and I'm good at doing dailies, BGs, and grinding gold because of having collection profs. In fact, this is very similar to buying rep! I got exalted with scryers buying signets with money I made from mining ore and selling leather. Did the same for rep CE buying coilfang armaments (let's face it SV gets old fast).
As long as it is legit, who cares. you have to put out some kind of effort whether it is PvPing, raiding, or simply grinding gold.
Good_Idea Feb 8th 2008 1:01PM
I guess you'd buy a 5v5 arena team just to gets points faster? I don't know, sounds lame to me. Personal rating is still stopping you from getting the weapons.