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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsForum post of the day: Keep your E-sport out of the Battlegrounds
by Amanda Dean 
Apr 23rd 2008 at 8:46PM
Drysc's announcement of new gear requirements for season four has not been entirely well received. Doorf of Maelstrom is downright upset with the addition of arena point requirements to battleground honor gear. In a thread entitled "Keep your E-sport out of the Battlegrounds" feels that this new mechanic is unfair and forces people to play in the arena in order to truly enjoy the battlegrounds.
Several posters, like Evennia of Feathermoon agree that arena and battleground are separate PvP systems. The forums have many threads today expressing outrage at this change. Dottie of Sargeras believes that this change will be the subject of a lawsuit since it is limiting people's access further to certain aspects of the game. This is an extreme extension of the argument that all players should have access to all game content. Still others, such as Oded of Draenor are once again calling for a separation between traditional WoW and the arena Esport.
Don't get me wrong, I love to play in the arenas, but I agree that the arena and battlegrounds should be treated as separate systems. I suppose the change could be an attempt to refocus folks on their PvE goals. By making battlegrounds less fun and requiring arena participation, many casual PvP players may pursue the PvE environment.
Filed under: Items, Blizzard, PvP, Forums, Battlegrounds, Arena
Reader Comments (Page 6 of 6)
Syme Apr 24th 2008 10:30AM
My entier issue with this is that Blizzard is once again attempting to pump up the Arena participation numbers so they can better market this to the eSports companies. That's why Arena gives the best gear in the game. BGs and Arenas are different games and require different skills, but Blizzard hopes Arenas will bring in additional money, so it gets all the best goodies. Now it gets all the second best goodies too, all so Blizzard can say "See how popular it is!"
terra Apr 24th 2008 10:36AM
I don't think it's all that bad that you won't be able to get the absolute best versions of a few PVP pieces by doing only BGs. You can't get the absolute best of the other pieces unless you do arena, and now they've just extended that idea.
The stats differences in those three items are really not going to be game-breaking for someone who only does BGs and has the current honor-purchasable items. So far, each season's new gear has not been a massive upgrade over the previous. Yes, the rating requirement change may be irritating in principle but in practice, you honestly don't need to be in complete top of the line PVP gear to be successful in a BG since winning a BG is more about high-level coordination.
Roboticus Apr 24th 2008 11:05AM
Much of this discussion centers around needing "skill" in pvp to qualify for the best gear. But is there different skill needed for arena vs. battlegrounds? I don't think there is.
I think that anyone who is unable (not talking about unwilling) to break 1600 simply does not have a great amount of skill, and they (whether they know it or not) are not contributing to the BGs success as much as they should. Arena teaches you the very skills you need to succeed in pvp in an environment where your personal abilities are more clearly defined.
I get the impression that these people who think BGs should lead to the very best gear are the very same people I sucker away from the flag in AB while my friend caps it in their absence. Or the same 3 rogues who beat on my in defensive stance while my healer yawns in the background.
BGs are autopilot much of the time for much of the people playing them. Arena, past 1600-1700 (and much moreso higher), is a game of precision where a single mistake can quickly snowball into a loss, and where YOUR own mistakes are quickly noticed by you and your teammate(s) and then fixed.
Yes, it is true that by requiring a rating to get honor gear, blizzard is merging two aspects of the game. But in doing so, blizzard is realigning the process for distributing loot to be (slightly) more based on skill than just on participation.
Zor Apr 24th 2008 10:45AM
Blizz:
please dont change the wat you have been doing things in the past.
albeit, the few that could be addressed
a) removal of all requirements for outdated gear (via BG honor only)
i) the best of the best WILL have 2+ season gear better for their Arena work - with stringent requirements on latest and greatest gear
b) STOP the highest rating teams/toons farming 1500 rating teams - with your system no on that hasnt abused the system for some time now will no longer be able to compete - ever.
c)first there was PVE, then PVP came around via BG's, now Arena
please keep them seperated, OR MAKE THE PVE REQUIREMENTS EQUAL - to step in Sunwell you must have an Arena RATING OF 2200+ (ROFL)
to get into Kara you need a rating of 1650+ (can you smell what the rock is cooking?)
get ma drift?
wyrd Apr 24th 2008 1:32PM
Yes blizz, no changes. Leave everything the way its always been. Actually, lets go back to the original honor system and thro away arenas entirely. Change is scary, and it keeps me from the 3% upgrade the newest pvp set would give me. How dare you force me to play arena for arena gear!
Shinwei Apr 24th 2008 11:39AM
You do not REQUIRE people to play Arenas in order to play battlegrounds. You do not REQUIRE season 4 gear to play in the battlegrounds. You can still get Vindicator's gear, and if you really are so casual that you don't play Arena at all, I don't see any reason why you would be discontent with your Vindicator's epics. They are still going to be very good, just like Veteran's was still very good in Season 3.
ShafeNutS Apr 24th 2008 11:52AM
@ Zor - make the PvE requirements the same? Honestly.
The only reason the whole welfare arguement was ever made was because you had to be running heroics (not just honored for keys) or into Kara in order for you to be wearing epics. This took time, skill, and coordination not to mention preparation.
Arena's come around and that was cool. Oh wow gladiatior cool check out that stam and what is resil? It is when they transfered arena gear to honor gear that started it all. Arena should have gone just like badges. More badges for new gear that has a higher level. Old stuff would still be bought with only arena points just how many you spend will get you S1, S2, or S3.
You create an atmosphere that allows losers (my brother) to just show up to a BG run around doin laps, or trying to jump to a certain area, or just stealthing right next to tower in EoS to pickup a full set of epics. OK so we shouldn't be greedy let them have some epics, but when the epics they have solo'd while smoking bongs and playing guitar hero while AFK can dominate players in full Kara epics because of the nature of th stats. Sure skill can change the outcome of any fight, but in general a toon in all S1 with full vindicators accesories will wreck a kara/gruuls geared player in a head to head situation.
Blizzard tricked us players that favor PvE into thinking that PvP realms were just so we could attack the other faction anywhere "adding a sense of excitement while you leveled or just explored." Having now actually began unraveling their real plan of completely changing the dynamic of the world in the PvP servers to suite an entirely different game. All other posters who said it have been right. They are trying to draw more players by making Counterstike WoW.
The irony is that the PvE people who dedicated all efforts to try and coordinate raids and get gear and build large guilds who function together (oh wait sounds like an RPG) were up in arms about the arenas and PvP in general. Now however those same players that praised blizzard for the Arena gear for honors is now QQ ing their faces of about Arena rating requirements for honor gear. You shouldn't have been given Arena gear for Honor anyways as it should have NEVER been allowed outside of arenas even in BGs. BGs should be seen as an extension of the main world environment, you only choose to join a battle that is taking place right there in Azeroth. Normal honor gear from vendors for zones such as WSG, AB, and EoS was always fine. Arena gear does not translate anywhere else because of "fairness" S3 = T5-T6 range. I know as a % more people have S3 gear than are walking around with even 1 T6 piece. The Effort to Reward ratio is unbelievably unbalanced and that is why every arguement made against arena gear or arena requirements holds water. The only arena requirement for gear should be that arena gear stays in arenas. And for those who say without Season gear BGs would be no fun I would say how about the new rep sets for each of the 5 major outland factions. Blizzard could easily use these types of sets obtained in that fashion to help BG players to get some different gear without always having to raid, but still providing an overall incentive to group for 5 mans and to work more together anyway.
Gryphonfox Apr 24th 2008 11:53AM
Something no one seems to have mentioned. A vast majority of people who do arenas currently are at 1500 rating or lower and will never get any higher. Come Season4, there is no longer any incentive for these people to do arenas...which, when dealing with a ladder rating system, is going to cause some chaos when the lower rungs of the ladder disappear and the people rated 1850 suddenly find themselves struggling to climb over 1500...cause all the scrubs will be gone.
ShafeNutS Apr 24th 2008 12:02PM
This is like players like me saying I like 10 man instances and I want T6 gear you shouldn't make me run a 25 man. i will sue you because you are forcing me to interact with a group larger than I will group with to get the gear. No QQ bout arena requirements thats the least of our problems.
Akks Apr 24th 2008 12:54PM
Take your E-sport fantasies and stick them where the sun don't shine Blizz - We dont like it, we dont want it, and it is not the "future" of Wow. If you keep trying to force E-sport crap on players who don't want it you will loose your fan base to other games. Please wake up and see which way the wind is blowing before it is too late. The game should be about fun and love and not greed. The people who made this game great did so not for money, they did it becuase they loved the game. The people in charge now dont seem to give a rats ass about the "game" and making it better they just see $$ signs and they are about to kill the golden goose ramming E-sport down everyones throats.
Wisakedjak Apr 24th 2008 2:39PM
This announcement has me seriously considering allowing my accounts to lapse, not because ZOMG I CAN'T HAVE S4 EPIXX but simply because it is yet another illustration of the current attitude toward PvP in WoW.
Participation in the factional Horde vs Alliance conflict just isn't encouraged anymore, not by the lore, the more recent zone designs (Sunwell Isle, in particular- both factions sharing a hub and working on the same exact quests...), the mechanism by which people are rewarded for participation (farm honor 'til your eyes bleed to get gear a year and a half out of date), or the design and development focus of the game (one crappy, unoriginal new BG since the release of AV).
Instead, that focus moves more and more to a form of PvP that fits more neatly within the current "everybody hold hands" version of WoW- arenas. We get in there, we kill each other regardless of factional alliances, then go back to being buddies afterward. It's compartmentalized, meaningless PvP, with no chance of becoming anything resembling the sort of epic conflict that the factional war promised.
In short, PvP is being made more and more meaningless in the scope of the game. This is just one more indication of that trend, and, to be honest, I'm tired of it. Based on my opinions expressed here, you probably have a pretty good idea of where I'm headed from here, but if not... well...
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!
Wow85 Apr 24th 2008 2:10PM
I do not have a problem with the new arena rating requirements. People who do well in PvP (arena) deserve to have good gear. I do have a problem with putting arena rating on BG gear. I don't PvP much, but I don't think people who just want the BG gear should have to arena in order to get it. They are entirely different PvP settings and should be treated as such.
Arena/BG used to be a nice way to fill out your gear until something better dropped for you in PvE. If Blizz wants to end that, that's fine and I applaud making the game less carebear.
There should be a gear gap in the game. I will say however this gap should be surmountable. If you are just entering the arena scene, I'm not sure how you climb to the top.
On a side note about making the game more carebear, I raid heavily and am disgusted at all the new badge gear floating around. People who farm Heroic Botanica everyday (pick your favorite) should not have tier 6 quality gear on. They haven't earned it. Yes, you ran heroic Botanica 20 times. Congratulations on doing something that requires very little skill. There should be something forward to look to at endgame whether it be pvp or pve. The best should be rewarded with the best gear. "casuals" should have access to epics but they should be "casual" epics with lesser stats, because they did not put in the time. Don't tell me, "But I put in the same amount of time you put in raiding in heroics" because it is not even close to the same thing.
Zor Apr 24th 2008 3:20PM
@ ShafeNutS
sarcasm for the win ;)
Verit Apr 24th 2008 4:19PM
How do you sue a company for a game change? Can I sue Blizzard because I think some of these raids are too difficult for 99% of the guilds out there?
ShafeNutS Apr 25th 2008 1:03PM
@ Zor -> Whew!!
Everyone seems to be on the right track.