Shorter Arena seasons in the future?
by Zach Yonzon 
Mar 11th 2009 at 9:00AM
The reason for the extended Season 3 was because Blizzard had wanted PvP progression to match PvE progression, so were waiting for more guilds to gear up with Sunwell-level items. Considering how difficult Sunwell Plateau was, this took some time, delaying Season 4 considerably. PvE content in Wrath, on the other hand, was so accessible that by the time Season 5 started a month after release of the expansion, players were decked out in the best PvE gear -- which changed the balance of Arena play for the first few weeks.
Blizzard is looking to address that by starting Season 6 simultaneously with the "first tier of raid content" or essentially make PvP gear more accessible to prepare for the next season of Arena play, according to Ghostcrawler. Although Blizzard hasn't given a starting date for either Season 6 or Patch 3.1, the new Arena seasons are looking to match the shortened Season 4 in length and might indicate a trend in PvP season progression. That is an exciting change of pace and a comforting message to PvP enthusiasts that Blizzard is committed to keeping PvE and PvP progression at a similar pace. And if the development of Ulduar is any indication, that seems to be a fast one.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, PvP, Arena
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Axolotl Mar 11th 2009 9:06AM
I don't like arena but I do like Battlegrounds, just wished we didn't have to do arena to get good PVP-gear.
If it were up to me, arena seasons would be non-existent (as would arena)
bundee Mar 11th 2009 11:38AM
Once you find a spec for your class that handles PVP better, you will enjoy arena a lot more. For example, I raid Balance and my friend raids Prot or Ret, but we PVP as Feral and Holy respectively. Moonkin blows in PVP (or probably I blow. But god I hate mages and hunters...). So I looked at other options with my character. I don't regret it one bit.
fauxgt4 Mar 12th 2009 12:21AM
Re: "wished we didn't have to do arena to get good pvp gear"
I got news, you don't really have to. Gear that is obtainable without stepping into an arena, ever:
Deadly Chest (Vault)
Deadly Legs (Vault)
Deadly Gloves (Vault)
Hateful Belt (Honor)
Hateful Neck (Honor)
Hateful Back (Honor)
Hateful Rings (Honor)
Hateful Boots (Honor)
Trinkets (WG, Honor)
Titan Forged Helm (WG marks)
Titan Forged Boots (WG Marks)
Hateful Shoulders (Valor Marks)
What you can get:
PvP Weaons/ offhands and special items (libram/ relic/ totem/ etc)
This is not even mentioning that there is now crafted gear with resil for any class/ spec.
If you get the above listed gear, you will be far better geared than most arena players below 1800.
Can you get "The Best" pvp gear. No... but honestly I think its easier now to get darn good pvp gear than ever before for those who are arena-phobic.
If anything, hard core pvp people should be complaining that people are getting pvp gear by demonstrating no skill in pvp at all (25 vault is a joke).
mibluvr13 Mar 11th 2009 9:17AM
Er, you mean, Blizzard hasn't given a starting date for Season 6 yet, right? We're in Season 5.
Ray Mar 11th 2009 9:28AM
All they have said is that it will be after 3.1 drops. Season 5 will prob run for 15 to 20 weeks in total due to 3.1 dropping before the next festival. Atleast this will give me some time to get some more epic pvp gear. I wonder if they are going to change the loot in Vault to the nea Season 6 gear....
Wyred Mar 11th 2009 9:56AM
That's a yes on new loot, should be dropping from a new boss in VoA I believe. No word on whether this boss will be an actual raid or a 25 man zerg again. What I'd like to know is whether the old loot will be honour bought in season 6, or whether we'll get any decent pvp weps short of being good at arena ( I suck).
Quickshiv Mar 11th 2009 9:47AM
I know its been said before but blizz needs to seriously wake up. Arena WOW and PVE WOW are two different games they should not be tied together in any way. What sport has a season length based on something so random as quild PVE progression.
Here it is once again the best way to fix arena.
Have a separate set of gear only usable inside the arena/bgs/wg. Change every ability to work differently inside arena/bgs/wg then it does outside or change every ability.
You could still have a reward system so you could buy better gear that would be usable outside of arena/pvp/bgs but if you want a real sport everyone should have access to the same gear inside.
bundee Mar 11th 2009 11:43AM
Reason for the wait is that they don't want PVPers to have higher level gear than raiders.
Clbull Mar 11th 2009 11:56AM
Well heres the argument against that.
PvP players are geared a bit differently to PvE players. PvP focuses more on stats like Resilience, Stamina and a few other stats like Spell Penetration, Armor Penetration and Critical Strike Rating. PvE gear focuses more on damage/tanking/healing stats like Attack Power, Spell Power, Hit Rating, Critical Strike etc.
Clbull Mar 11th 2009 11:53AM
Imho, if they want to make PvP gear more accessible in the next season, they should reduce the rating requirements.
I mean Hateful required about 1550 - 1775 rating, which requires a bit of Arena skill to get, but Deadly was 1750 - 2050 rating, which is steep imho.
I hope that the next season reduces the requirements to more obtainable levels. I mean it takes long enough to get Arena Points as you can only get them weekly, and based on rating.
profglitch Mar 11th 2009 12:19PM
There is nothing at all "comforting" about this message.
STOP trying to equate PvP with PvE. THAT is the main problem we have to begin with. THAT is why we have such terrible imbalance in the game.
Thander Mar 11th 2009 12:37PM
Well Blizzard still considers WoW to be a PvE game, so any PvP stuff has to be based around PvE. Not to mention, if they release all the new PvP gear before equivalent PvE gear is out all the raiders will complain and threaten to quit.
No one plays this game for PvP. You play it for raiding and a side of PvP. If you're really serious about it, you use the arena seasons as practice for the real tournaments.
profglitch Mar 11th 2009 1:13PM
uh, no.
"nobody" plays for PvP? Really?
Tell that to the guy who made rank 11 in the old honor system, stopping there only due to starting college.
Tell that to the guy who sat at 75000 honor for months yet still joined a PvP guild who did nothing but queue premades of everything every night, just for the love of the game.
Tell that to the guy who watches every streaming arena tournament he knows about, who understands the game, who follows the game, and who, for all intents and purposes, raids at 80 IN ORDER TO PvP, because Blizzard decided to link the two up.
Sorry, dude. I play this game to PvP. I RAID because I have to if I want to PvP.
flythebike Mar 11th 2009 1:09PM
"No one plays this game for PvP." You might want to tone down that statement somewhat. There have been long periods of time in WoW where that was what I did, in fact, although I'm currently in an OS3D farming guild.
Tossing a few Best in Slot (BiS) pieces of PvE gear into a PvP set can really make you pressure healers a lot more.
I think the rating requirements on the gear pieces was done well this season, there in increments so as you progressed in rating you could get better gear, both incentivizing you to push, and rewarding your result. I know I struggled in the 1500s at the start of the season, but with practice and improved gear I'm about 1900 now. I'm lucky to be playing a ret paladin, and after suffering through S2-S4 with that spec, I can now do well, finally.
They need to keep the PvE/PvP "seasons' in sync, and I'm glad they're bringing this season to a close. There have been so many imbalances - we played 7 games last night and six were V a holy pally/X team. The class balancing that is being done with 3.1 will shake that up, so it makes sense to end this season as it is. Just be sure to /laugh at (nearly) every gladiator holy pally, DK, and hunter you see post 3.1.
David Mar 11th 2009 1:11PM
Arena gear needs to be Arena-Only.
PvP gear should be for battlegrounds, Arena, and PvE.
PvE gear should be for anything.
It's annoying that Bliz says "It's just a game" and then forces it to become work by requiring Arena points. Arena points require playing 10 times in areana and that requires finding someone to do arena with and that requires a heavy commitment from all involved to be available at certain times for a set time... that last part sounds like work... not a game.
Hobbes Mar 11th 2009 1:28PM
It requires less work to find 1-4 partners for 1 hour of arena than to find 9-24 partners for 3 hours of raiding.
David Mar 11th 2009 2:06PM
True Hobbes... but it takes almost no time at all to get into a BG... especially if you're not picky about the BG.
Zamboni Mar 11th 2009 1:22PM
So PvE content and advancement is controlled by the need to keep the arena seasons on a regular schedule?
Just uncouple the gear sets already. Anyone in the Arena checks out a set of gear and everyone fights in the same tier. You leave the arena, you go back to your regular gear. Raiders don't have an unfair advantage in the arena, and arena gear won't make a mess out of the regular game.
Bossy Mar 11th 2009 2:08PM
Good God,
There are MORE PvP players in Wow than ANY other group of MMORPG's combined.
My guess is their number is around 20 % of all Wow players.
That's at least 2.500.000 players doing seriously PvP play in BG's and or Arena's.
That said:
IF the next Arena cycles are MUCH shorter (like 16 to 18 weeks), because of the shorter life cycles of Raid content...
isn't it time ...
...they introduce back the old arena system to get gear. !!!!
Everyone can have the best standard Tier PvP, but it takes the best players a week for one piece and the lesser player 6 or 7 weeks.
That would mean the lesser players (sub 1600 rating) would get a maximum of 3 pieces of a set and could play in the "new season" to have that 4th piece of the old set.
While the "Godly" good players could all walk around in their full tier set after 5 or 6 weeks.
And let them have some elitist pieces - like shoulders and a cape and perhaps shoes - still WITH a rating of 1900, 2000, 2200.
But at LEAST then our group of friends could get together again and have FUN in Arena, playing for something.
Those 2 full sets of rated PvP gear with - for most people - too high ratings are the reason Arena is no longer popular with the "masses".
Too freaking hardcore ratings.
Michael Mar 11th 2009 2:57PM
"There are MORE PvP players in Wow than ANY other group of MMORPG's combined."
Could this possibly be because there are more people playing WOW than any other MMO????
The seasons and side by side gear progression is for a reson, so that the PVP'ers dont walk into a PVE raid(and vice cersa) and slaughter the PVE'ers simply because of gear.
Now the suggestion that Blizz just make the abilities do different things in PVE as PVP is F'ing ridiculous. Ya Blizz should just revamp everything they have done in the last year, oh ya we want it done next week. Come on.
The gear needs to be on par with its counterpart, period.