Breakfast Topic: What do you think of the Wintergrasp changes?
by Lesley Smith 
May 21st 2009 at 8:00AM
But, of course, there were problems. The Horde seem to out number us Alliance on my server and they're also a hell of a lot more organised. For them, Wintergrasp isn't just a sport, it's a carefully planned massacre. but, despite the instability, the DCs, the insufferable lag, it was fun. But I was keen to find out if Blizzard had plans to fix the problems so I asked Tom Chilton. He he specifically mentioned the issues of Wintergrasp and that they didn't think that the lag and other issues "was an acceptable play environment situation". So Blizzard did the 'smart' thing -- they nerfed it. Boo.
So readers? What do you think of the weekly quests? Do you think nerfing Wintergrasp was the way to go? Now you only have to do them once every seven days, do you think you will do the battles less? Are you pleased you now get more Shards for the quests? Can't care less? Tell us!
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, PvP
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
cam zable May 21st 2009 8:04AM
I think that weeklies area a great idea. I think it will put more strategy in the game and cut down on latency issues.
Taladan May 21st 2009 8:05AM
I don't know, man. I'm doing more WG now than before. And I still think it's the best "battleground" around.
I think Blizzard looked this in the wrong way: WG is popular, other BGs are not. So, instead of trying to pump up the older BGs, they tried to mess with the popular one. To remove people from WG you don't nerf quests, you make the other BGs more attractive (How? Not sure, but surely things like the massive turtling in Warsong Gulch is a problem that Blizzard never tried to fix.)
swf May 21st 2009 8:52AM
Never tried to fix turtling? Hmm.. and what about the debuff the FC's get after a certain period of time?
On topic: I think they should fix the problem and not trying to work around it by discouraging players to go there :-]. But as a hotfix i think it's allright, buys them some time to come with a real solution.
Tellen May 21st 2009 9:01AM
Well, I think they're going to try to get people back into PvP in the next patch. The new "Crystalsong Forest" battleground. The idea that crystalsong forest is going to be turned into a battleground makes sense, considering they are planing an "EPIC" bg like the AV, and AV(based on Alterac Mountains) has a very similar set up to crystal song. No quest hubs, a horde and alliance base camp, with provisions for war. It's the perfect setup. And the new collesium being put together as the new arena. They have lot's of "new" and "exciting" pvp things planned for us I'm sure.
thain May 21st 2009 9:05AM
I agree with this, rather than redesign WG to reward people for being at different locations, OR upping the rewards for other battlegrounds so that WG wasn't a MUST GO TO whenever it was actually up.
They simply nerfed the quests. So on Tuesday (by and large the WORST lag day) lag server wide will be just as bad as ever come raid time.
Northernhope May 21st 2009 1:53PM
How do yo make older BGs more attractive? Simple as giving us rewards. AV in my BG was damn near broken until 3.1 when they started to offer lvl80 epics for honor only (ie hatefull set pieces, deadly off set pieces).
Was nerfing WG a good idea? yes and no. Yes because I get get more out of each daily (10 shards) and can focus more on battling. No because last night I suffered horrible lag again. Note I never suffer lag except for WG and I have a new, powerful PC.
Agerath May 21st 2009 8:10AM
Third-rate, sure...
pmcdaniel84 May 21st 2009 8:47AM
I think the biggest reason WG is so popular is because of the vast scale of the battle and the fact that its people from your own server. Im an oldschool pvp'r and I hated the day BG's went cross realm. After that point there was just a huge influx of honor farmers and other issues that sucked any and all fun out of the game. I still remember the epic battles over SFGY and of course the ever amusing release of the troll at the bottom of the GY. Worg riders (played horde) ect. The BG's now miss their epic feel and are nothing more than honor grinds.
WG on the other hand has a reward linked to it, you get access to a pve dungeon that has some pretty decent loot drops, you know your enemy and you form grudges against certain players (the way pvp should be), not random xxx from xxx realm.
Taladan May 21st 2009 6:36PM
You know, your comment made me realize that one of the greatest things about WG is that you know the people you're playing with.
Take this: You jump into a BG in your battlegroup and you play with some people in other server that, unless you get an incredible luck of fate (and RNG), you'll never play with again. With WG, you usually see the same old faces, people you know, people you joked with and such.
I remember doing AV in the times of premades. We were famous with the "Firetree premade": People in other servers knew the premade and we usually won in less than 10 minutes. Basically, you have the same with WG: You join the raid about 20 minutes before and discuss the tactics to win. Normal BGs (unless premade) you don't have that luxury.
In those 2 minutes before that battle (with people joining in the last second), you can't really discuss some tactic to win anything.
stevegrohs Jun 2nd 2009 4:19PM
The most similar thing i can think of was the twink BGs before the nerf. while this did ruin BGs for every non-twink, you certainly got to know your rivals.
Clint May 21st 2009 8:11AM
I personally love the weeklies idea. I'll still do just as many battles as I did before, but I won't have to mess with making sure I get those pesky quests done every day. I wish more of the quests used to grind out faction/honor etc were weeklies to allow us more time for other fun things in the game, especially for those out there who only have a few hours to play a week.
Faar May 21st 2009 10:39AM
I'd love the weeklies idea too if the weeklies reward was anywhere close to the dailies reward it replaced. But it isn't, you finish the weekly and you get 13g and something deposited into your pocket, just like with the old daily.
That's epic fail, if you ask me.
Green May 21st 2009 11:10AM
I thought the dailies would be upped to a weekly lvl! that doesn't mean change quest honor from 1000 to 3000 that means change it from 1000 to at least 5000 and WTF you get 13g? That is the minimum amount I make for EVERY DAILY not WEEKLIES.
I dont mind the idea of a weekly quest but at least make it worth an amount equal to 5-7 days of dailies?
Clint May 21st 2009 2:49PM
It's just a matter of preference I suppose, but I still like the idea better even if it never rewards more cash. I don't disagree with the idea that it should give more gold now though.
Eisengel May 21st 2009 4:08PM
Personally I hate the weeklies, they've killed WG on my server. The Alliance/Horde ratio never was good, but now there is so little motivation for people to do WG since they all got their PvP gear and whatever else they wanted from it long ago, that it's essentially impossible to ever capture it. Without dailies to lure more people in, WG is pretty much done for me.
Gizmoduck May 21st 2009 8:12AM
I feel that they need to add more shards/money/honor to the quests. As a person that did these quests 5 times a week i am losing many many shards/money/honor because of the change. If it gave 20 shards/ 6k honor/ 60g it would not be a problem. But they dont, where if i did it 5 times a week like b4 i would make that np.
devilsei May 21st 2009 11:29AM
Hey, I bet it did work in reducing lag though, I mean, with such lack-luster rewards, I only took one look at the quest, closed without accepting it, talked to the flightmaster, clicked Dalaran, then as I flew off, gave the entire zone two middle fingers, not going to bother with the PvP aspect of it now. So thats one less person to cause lag.
Warhammer43 May 21st 2009 8:16AM
And just how do you suggest blizzard "fix" turtleing? Thats not a problem with the battlegrounds design that something players CHOOSE to do.
Taladan May 21st 2009 8:29AM
Hey, I don't know, but I also never thought about a massive scale battle like Wintergrasp.
Maybe turn the flags into... erm... "poisonous" stuff after a while, so the flag carriers start dying after a while. The longer the battle, the stronger the poison.
Also, there is a little "Reply" button under the comments. It helps people track what you're talking about.
PvtDeth May 21st 2009 8:57AM
There's plenty that can be done, like having point values for turning in a flag decay over time. Instead of three captures, make it so the first to 300 points wins with flag turn-ins starting at 100 points each and dropping over time. The poison idea is a good one too. Also giving a debuff to the flag carrier that starts after, maybe 3-5 minute, then grows as time passes. Perhaps also a less powerful debuff aura for units friendly to the carrier.
All of these would give the carrier a reasonable time to make a break for home base or hide for a bit. If you want epic battles, you can always go to AV or Wintergrasp. I don't really think anyone enjoys 90 minute Warsong turtles.