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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsAdvancing the battlegrounds
by Mike Schramm 
Nov 17th 2009 at 3:00PM
An interesting thought, for sure, and probably true -- while there are situations where I aim to be by myself in the battlegrounds (if I'm on my rogue and just want to hunt down some clothies), things almost always go better in there when you work as a team. So here's an idea: why not take the rewards implemented in the LFG system and apply them to better behavior in the battlegrounds?
Certainly, cross-server battlegrounds was an inspiration for the cross-server LFG system -- you can jump in any battleground now almost any time you want. But it'd be good to bring some of the theory back across the aisle, so to speak. Maybe you could choose a role when entering a battleground, and label yourself as offense or defense, so the team could know where to go and when. Maybe veteran battleground players could get the ability to set waypoints or otherwise direct the team. And it would be nice to see Blizzard give rewards for doing it right -- maybe tokens for topping the points meters, or an extra buff when you're working with a team rather than off dying on your own.
These are all ideas for after 3.3, of course -- we're getting tons of nice new upgrades to the LFG system already, and Blizzard will probably have their hands full working out the bugs on those. But let's not forget the other big group activity in the game -- while guild leveling will likely bring at least a few improvements, it will be nice to see even simple upgrades like vote kicking added to the BGs as well.
Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Quests, Making money, Battlegrounds
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 4)
AltairAntares Nov 17th 2009 3:26PM
Just give people a bonus when their within a certain distance of an allied player, kinda like the defense bonus.
Clarick Nov 17th 2009 3:33PM
Yeah...I like this idea. I know when im in a BG and someone yells "EVERYONE TO XXXX NOW!!" I don't really like that and i typically don't listen. However if you could party with 5 or 10 people I think it would be easier for a guild to group up for BG's just like we do now for instances.
As it stands now I really stopped doing BG's except WG because I get something useful from WG. Stone Keeper Shards are nice and honor buys epic gems and thats all I really need
Neirin Nov 17th 2009 3:40PM
Giving rewards for topping anything one the bg scoreboard is dangerous territory since it potentially rewards gear more than anything else. Being in a grp is also already at least sort of supported in bgs - the "Loyal Defender" buff encourages a group to stay and defend a base (though I believe a column here said that you still end up with less honor that way).
Also, you should remember that rated bgs are going to be part of Cataclysm. I'm sure blizz has some extra ideas up their sleeve for bgs to help facilitate this and might just be sitting on it so they can unveil it during beta.
Hyruliandescent Nov 17th 2009 3:40PM
Yo
Idanian Nov 17th 2009 3:47PM
Well, when he says Lone Ranger I think he means Rambo.
Sure there are some times when 1 person can get the flag/node because they play it smart and pay attention to combat shifts. They are good to have invaluable since they can turn games around.
Most of the time though, its the Rambo mentality. You have 1 person running headlong into a mob of 3+ enemies. John Rambo could easily kill them all, so they figure they can too.
Vladeon Nov 17th 2009 7:36PM
Sometimes it's good to have one person run headlong into a group of 3+ enemies, especially when you see the flag carrier with two people run past you to cap it and the 3+ enemies are running towards them. I can't tell you how many times I've (as a protadin) held off four or more enemies to give my flag carrier enough time to cap that flag. For some reason, they all gravitate to the pally and try to take him down together it's an interesting and useful phenomenon. So don't be knocking the John rambo style of pvp in wsg at least.
slyman.is.god Nov 17th 2009 3:46PM
well, I'm all for working as a team in bg's.. Alterac Valley doesn't work if people stay fighting in the middle, doing nothing. Same for WSG.. but beeing a druid, you know, I kinda got used to playing alone in WSG. This happened 'cause people luv staying in the middle doing nothing, so I just thought that it was my duty to win the friggin' game, even if I had to do it by myself. So, more than once, I just went ninja, grabbed the flag and scored the three points all by myself. If I died along the way, okie dokie, I just attacked again. I always thought my dream WSG would be whole team on D and me and my girlfriend attacking. One time this happened exactly as I planned it and we won very nicely. Of course, WSG is a lot more fun if you have a nice group with you giving support and carrying the flag together, but when nobody listened and I didn't have a choice, I just did the dirty job by myself. This doesn't work very good in other battlegrounds.. WSG is one of those where you can afford to do things like this.
In Alterac Valley, as I leveled up, I noticed people just killing wildly, not caring about capping anything. So I went south every time, didn't kill anything on the way and always tried to get both frostwolf towers and frostwolf relief hut. Of course, more than once, hordes would come and retake them, but I did manage to cap both towers in many occasions, giving us complete advantage and winning the game soon after. This was my regular schedule when I was stuck at 60.. now, when I finaly hit 80, this didn't happen anymore. People knew what to do and I didn't have to ninja anything. We went as a team and we capped the towers together, which was awesome. Finally people understood what needs to be done.. when things don't work, you just have to solo play and try to make things better.
So, in conclusion, I think solo playing in BG's is sometimes needed :D
cheers!
Edge Nov 17th 2009 5:25PM
It is NEVER needed, but it is sometimes necessary.
Jeremy Nov 17th 2009 3:58PM
OMG Bg's..
Everyone is in PVE gear just running around stupidly trying to blow up their opponents.
I feel people do this because they fail at PVP. Cant duel a pvp spec'd player and expect to win so I'll go to
a bg and hope to nuke a few.
I get all the screaming and I get the positive feedbacks as well. But what you really got to understand
and Im thinking I do, is this...PVP is dieing. All the best pvp players raid now because they dont
want to put up with the stupidness of things like this article. Pvp used to be fun and its not anymore.
This game is killing everyone right now. Why--
NEED ACHIEVEMENTS or no raid--annoys the pve raiders or people who want to be
Ok then I'll use my pve gear in pvp----annoys the pvp players
How about a deadly geared play run 25 onyx with all of you?? Wouldnt that piss you off a little?
tatsumasa Nov 17th 2009 4:22PM
you don't need to hit enter at the end of each line cuz then you end up with lines with only
two or three words and it's hard enough to read your little rant anyway without having to
decipher all your little dashes and triple periods and endless run-on thoughts!
Speedmonkay Nov 17th 2009 4:02PM
" maybe tokens for topping the points meters"
Bad Mike ! Bad bad Mike !
How can you suggest something like that in the same article about making the team work together? Wouldnt that encourage the idiots to do like always and sit in the middle and fight the whole damn time ?
I PvP as a resto druid (1077resil) and I usually try to run the flag. I say try because alot of the time I am by myself and that resil and my HoTs will only get me so far with 3-4 guys running after me. Where is my team ? Well usually one guy is watching our base (without the flag in it), 2 are at the graveyard, and everyone else is in the middle. Working on their numbers to top the point meters.
Honestly as long as the main source of honor for most people is KBs and HKs people are just going to do what they gotta do to get their honor, even if it means screwing everyone else trying to complete the right objectives to win.
Wither Nov 18th 2009 7:38AM
Totally agree, topping points meters in BG is fail.
Topping DPS meters as melee means NOT attacking the healers to allow continuous damage.
Topping healing meters means constantly spamming AoE heals and over-healing everybody.
Not only that, but both measures are completely class dependent. How is a rogue to compete with a warlock spamming SoC in AV? Two paladins or druids fighting each other could be a never-ending battle - topping both healing and DPS and yet achieving absolutely nothing.
divinite Nov 17th 2009 4:05PM
I wouldn't mind a few changes such as making the BG options similar to new improved LFG. Having it so you can queue for a random BG instead of only 2 at a time, having a role designated so you wouldn't have a completely mismatched group (no healers is the biggest), having some kind of match rating so those of comparable gear are in your group and someone in a crafted level 78 blue set isn't up against a group in full Relentless. It would also be nice if there was some feature like the new LFG will have to kick people for AFK/etc, reporting just doesn't work. Add on to that the ability not to be matched with someone on your ignore list. I would need much more than 50 spaces on my ignore list though.
Scott Nov 17th 2009 4:11PM
Easy way to make things more cooperative, I think. Just remove gaining honor or tokens for anything but winning. This forces people to be cooperative (and competitive).
Or an alternative, only if your side wins the battle do honor gains count.
Paulio Nov 17th 2009 4:59PM
The problem with removing honor gains or pegging them to a win is that Blizzard already knows that this would make participation in BGs drop considerably. If you happened to be on a battlegroup where the other side has been dominating, you'll probably be on a permanent losing streak as players on your side increasingly ask, "why should we even bother? We always lose". BGs like Strand and IoC would become even emptier than they are now. Honor at least has some wider value while marks are not interesting to most casuals because the vast majority of the available rewards from marks are outdated/worthless.
Blizzard has to hold out some carrot to get people to join BGs and fill out the ranks. In some ways it's no different than a modern military -- you need some meat to push out in front of your officers. Not everyone can be a winner and not everyone is expected to survive.
lightningjynx Nov 17th 2009 5:07PM
No, for the love of all that is holy, NO! This would be a very bad idea. I've been in BGs where the fail on our group is just overwhelmingly bad, and to go in and be stuck with a bad group and get nothing for it then what is the point? And I've been in groups that have completely obliterated the field. If they only gave honor out for winning, it would also defeat the purpose of trying to level through battlegrounds. What is the point of going in at level 22? Hoping you get carried by your teammates? I honestly think they should change the level brackets to 5 levels instead of 10. Especially now since they say that BGs are a good way for experience.
My complaint about BGs is no one wants to defend. It usually seems that the people who leave up defenders are the ones who win it, but not always. /shrug I just have fun going in and trying not to be obliterated. 3 against 1 is never fun
Fatamorgana Nov 17th 2009 4:48PM
What about a raid-wide scaling Resilience Aura?
You'd have to be within 10-15 yards for it to stack with others. Since both sides have access to this buff, it doesn't imbalance the BG one way or another.
The fights would take a little longer since more people have more resilience. Personally, I think this could make for a more epic fight.
Thoughts?
Oomfoofoo Nov 17th 2009 5:43PM
WTB edit button. I meant to reply here.
Legobro Nov 17th 2009 4:51PM
Blizzard really needs to look at Mornern Warfare 2 for some ideals. They have a great online multiplayer , with the perks and a leveling up system. That game is very fun, battlegrounds just seems so boring and old.
Oomfoofoo Nov 17th 2009 5:41PM
This sounds nice, but might make turtles more unbearable.