Patch 5.3 interview with Ghostcrawler
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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsGhostcrawler speaks on Arenas and Battlegrounds
by Zach Yonzon 
Mar 28th 2009 at 7:00PM
On Arenas
- "Players go where the loot is." - on why he thinks Season 5 has less participation, pointing to the fact that it's easier to gear up through PvE
- "Getting 100% of WoW players into Arenas is not our goal. Getting 100% of players who like to do Arenas into Arenas is a goal."
- "I hope it's obvious we would not have gone for that new system if we did not think it would offer an enormous improvement over the old one." - on Blizzard's planned move to a new rating system (again) in Season 6, where teams start from 0
- "It actually takes a great deal of time to make a BG. It isn't the map creation; it is making all of the rules work. We are working on building better tools though to streamline that process." - responding to a post saying that Blizzard can crank out a Battleground every 8 weeks
- "If we offered epics through BGs, it would basically be (right now at least) some kind of grind fest."
- "We would LOVE to offer good gear through BGs, don't get me wrong. We just haven't figured out a great way to do it yet."
- "I think this is fair. We have some BG plans up our sleeve." - on the accusation that Blizzard has focused on Arenas and largely ignored Battlegrounds
Filed under: Blizzard, PvP, Battlegrounds, Arena
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 4)
Ferarro Mar 28th 2009 9:02PM
Algalon is a horrible, horrible pain in the neck.
Lemons Mar 28th 2009 9:16PM
GC didn't even address the insanely terrible class imbalance in wotlk, and the fact that DKs and Pallys are steamrolling all of the other classes.
Lemons Mar 28th 2009 9:19PM
umm I guess insanely terrible class IMbalance would be a good thing...
meant insanely terrible class balance..
growlkitty Mar 28th 2009 9:48PM
Imo it would be a good thing for arena's to end. Way too may game mechanics have been adjusted from result of arena that favours the popular classes. There are 2 dungeons sitting there in old wow that have never been opend along with a pvp instance in azshara.
Balius Mar 29th 2009 2:41PM
They don't have to end, they just need to be separate. If Arena balancing didn't effect PVE balancing, there would be no issue.
Sisqo Mar 28th 2009 10:24PM
"And with a happy heart I watch as arena tanks."
Well with a happy heart i watch as Blizzard's credibility tanks and soon enough they will lose their player base.
Nagi Mar 28th 2009 10:37PM
If the goal for arenas is to only get the people interested in arenas playing them, why have so many of the class changes since 3.0.X went live been directed at making ALL OF US tailored to an arena play style whether we gave a damn about it or not? Why are we all being turned into homogenized ADD burst machines, perfect for arena but increasingly lacking for every other aspect of the game if only some of us are expected to partake?
If Blizzard isn't trying to force 100% of the players into arena, then maybe they should stop with all the buffs and nerfs that tend to only favor their bizarre definition of "PvP class balance."
qoa Mar 28th 2009 11:47PM
I'm going to agree with your feeling of joy at arena tanking. Going from goal oriented battlegrounds to death matches feels backwards.
I feel this way A LOT, but I find that I shouldn't ALLOT that much personal time thinking about it. Just sayin'.
Kakistocracy Mar 28th 2009 11:55PM
Ah, qoa, nicely done, though despite trying to create new phrases, he does make a point, the people that are really into arena are not that impacted by the changes (but we can cross our fingers and hope that decreased fan base will result in a decreased developer time investment in arena), so maybe Domilol is just trying to be the next Shakespeare.
Behr Mar 29th 2009 12:00AM
If blizzard really wants to make arena's a true measure of 'skill' heres how to do it: Negate gear in arenas.
That is to say, when you go into an arena your stats are automatically set to certain values. Perhaps an incentive to succeed in arenas would be allowing players with high ratings to have a certain amount of flexibility with their stats, such as putting more 'points' into crit rather than hit, etc etc, so on and so forth.
-behr
Dornax Mar 29th 2009 12:06AM
All they really need to do , or what they should have done was instead of making arena death matches, They should have created smaller BG's.
You could have them as small as 5 on 5 or like warsong 10 on 10. They could still be mandatory team vs team and have ranking and points for gear and seasons etc. The stupidity of uber fast burst Death Matches is just really lame for this type of game.
I prefer my deathmatches not to be governed by classes gear or op combos.
Sl0th Mar 29th 2009 12:24AM
I did arena in season 3. I was okay at it. I admit the only reason I started arenas in the first place was to get the season 3 axe and helmet for my hunter, but I enjoyed it even after I had both items. And then season 3 ended. And I stopped. Why? part of it was that my 2v2 partner had quit WoW. Part of it was that I was burned out on my hunter and wandered off to level other alts, none of whom have ever set foot in an arena. but in the end, I just didn't enjoy it near as much as I did battlegrounds.
I haven't set foot in an arena since the end of season 3. And I don't think that will change much. I've been tempted to go back and try and get some cheap PvP gear, but once I had the gear, I doubt I'd continue much longer after.
Macr Mar 29th 2009 12:29AM
The reason I'm not playing Arena isn't due to the Loot... I've forever looked forward to new seasons over new PvE content (though I like to do both).
I'm just sick of balance issues in arena, there's too many issues with the 2v2 and 3v3 brackets. So I just don't take WoW seriously anymore, it gives me headaches if I do.
Verit Mar 29th 2009 8:16PM
I'm actually in the same boat as you - if I try to follow wow too much it really does make me uneasy for some reason.
Keleron Mar 29th 2009 12:37AM
The comment about bg epics being a grind.. how is that different from arena or running naxx a thousand times trying to get my drop? Its all a grind. The time I use to bgs, raids or arena is my time spent. If I am grinding bgs for honor and marks, and enjoying myself, whats wrong with that? And why shouldn't I be entitled to epics? It takes a lot of time to get the honor/marks for the gear.
As for enjoying Arena.. many players don't. They do arena because they enjoy pvp and unfortunately arena is the only way to get the gear needed to be competitive in pvp. Well unless you are lucky in VoA of course.
They realize players go where the loot is.. they are making a new bg.. but no bg loot is really worth it, so why even bother?
They should do away with arena points and just make everything honor based. Make arena points honor points instead. If the goal is really to have players that enjoy arena doing arena, then that should be fine. Players that like BGs will play them, those that like arena will do arena. Problem solved. ...assuming that the goal really is to have players that enjoy arena doing arena and not force pvpers to do arena.
Maerhyl Mar 29th 2009 8:55AM
My thoughts exactly
Irshalthra Mar 30th 2009 10:48AM
This.
Of course BG is a grind and Blizzard should be happy with it being a grind. The more grinding I do, the more money they make - end of story. If they can keep me happy grinding - whether it is PVE armor, PVP armor, achievements, etc, then I will play longer and spend more money.
The day I do not have anything to grind is the day I don't pay anymore.
I am willing to grind BGs and spend more money. I am NOT willing to grind arenas. Therefore there is no use in grinding BGs. They will be losing money when my PVE experience is over.
Shadymike Mar 29th 2009 12:51AM
Not all of us players care about PVP, Arenas or BG. What we DO care about is getting our characters jerked all over the place trying to balance out something that doesn't concern us. Blizz needs to implement a seperate set of rules for powers depending on if your IN or OUT of a PVP situation.
Respox Mar 29th 2009 3:09AM
This.
Even with fewer players doing Arena now, they continue to "balance" around it. Since GC has come out and said that they will *not* be instituting different rulesets for PVP and PVE, players that never Arena are doomed to suffer PVE nerfs to address PVP issues.
The saddest thing is, they aren't close to balancing PVP anyway. When the dominant factor for success is the character selection screen, you know the developers have already failed.
Gothia Mar 29th 2009 3:00AM
GC as usual doesn't listen to any other point of view -- dude is seriously wearing some thick rose-colored sun glasses and takes too many happy pills. The problem with Arena and PvP in general since 2.x patch is the insane burst damage done by Dps players. Who wants to have a time to live of less than 30 seconds -- unfun. Everything about the games PvE aspect is all out of whack since they went easy mode for every level of the game from quests to raids. If WoW had any sense they would (1st) fire GC and start (2nd) challenging the players again instead of handing us everything on a silver platter. Remember when you couldn't solo a group quest unless you tricked the system like dying and rezzing next to the quest item to complete your objective -- those days are gone because its Mr. Solo pew pew pew 5 mobs down *Next*. Give the boy an accomplishment?
WoW is the best BORING MMO to date.