Bravo.

The shoulders are more ornamental than functional. You can get by just fine with 4 other pieces of season 4 gear. Not having season 4 shoulders wont make or break teams. The weapons on the other hand are a bit of a different story. The difference between season 2 and season 3 weapons are significant in many cases, and I would imagine the gap will widen with season 4.

If fair and equal is the goal, then I suppose the requirements on weapons does go against this. It creates a situation where those who have proven their skill are given a slight advantage over those who haven't yet done so. Those who were either late to start the arena grind, or perhaps even starting out with new alts for PvP have to display even more skill than those who came before them. It isn't impossible at all, but the barrier to entry certainly exists.

You're effectively arguing for WoW to become an FPS, which is contrary to MMO design philosophy. I'm not sure what the answer is, to be honest - but the ease of access to these items has had a damning impact on every other facet of this game. I'd rather see Blizzard correct class imbalances than hand out even more candy.

@ Mana

The fault in your logic is that eventhough you need an Arena Rating of 2000+ to 'buy' the S3 Shoulders, you do not need an Arena Rating of 2000+ to 'wear' the S3 Shoulders.

It kind of makes the requirement pointless, no? Especially when you can form a new team (ie. pay people) and get a 2000+ rating in one night, buy your gear with banked points, and go back to sucking at Arena.

I think everyone would agree that forcing someone to maintain a 2000+ rating for shoulders is unfair, since we can all have a bad week. But then what does the rating indicate? What does it mean? All it means is that you were able to hit a 2000+ rating, one time, and then went immediately to the vendor. It doesn't say anything about your skills as an Arena player. (cant tell you how many 1500 ranked players I've seen running around in 5/5 Vengeful)

If the system is that flawed, it shouldn't be there in the first place. Be honest: epeen aside, why should it matter if some scrub loses his way to 5/5 Vengeful? Based on Blizzards logic of 'earning the right' to your gear, ALL current Arena gear should have a Ratings Requirement on it.

But then they know the vast majority of players wouldn't bother with Arena, as they are unequal to the task of getting above 1500-1600, and then they wouldnt play / pay their $15 a month.

I repeat, Arena is a joke.

@Zanjati

I'm really not. If I were, I'd be suggesting that racials be removed, or all classes be given similar spells/abilities.

I do believe that certain classes should be balanced up or down, but overall, I like the fact that certain strong comps become FoTM, only to be supplanted at the top by other comps that effectively counter them. The ways that classes counter or compliment each other is what makes MMO PvP interesting to me.

Gear is an entirely separate scenario. This is gear that is available once you meet a requirement. Making it available to everyone doesn't make WoW more like an MMO, it ensures that new players or comps have the opportunity to compete on their own merits, without a barrier to entry.

If it were my decision, I'd implement a free PvP set of gear, obtainable upon hitting 70, and only usable within the arena or one of the battlegrounds. I'd make it the best gear available for PvPing, and keep PvP rewards to non-combat items only, thus removing the gear grind (and gear barrier) altogether.

I agree