Cataclysm: PvP weapons clarification
by Matthew Rossi 
Apr 29th 2010 at 1:00PM
Bornakk - Cataclysm Badge and PvP Point ChangesThe lower tier weapons will correspond in quality to items found in the latest raid tier on normal difficulty and cost only Conquest Points. The higher tier weapons will correspond in quality to items found in the latest raid tier on Heroic difficulty and will have a minimum personal rating requirement in addition to costing Conquest Points. All of the highest-stat PvP armor, including shoulder and head pieces, will cost only Conquest Points and have no rating requirements. We have updated our original announcement text to reflect this clarification.
This basically means that while the best weapons will require success in Arenas and Ranked BG's, PvP players will be able to get weapons upgrades via running PvP out of the gate rather than having to hope for an instance/raid drop. It also means an end to armor pieces, trinkets and other items requiring a rating to purchase, making gearing up for PvP easier. It seems likely that this change is aimed at making PvP easier to start in and taking some of the perceived need to PvE away from the PvP game.
Filed under: News items, PvP, Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Fatamorgana Apr 29th 2010 1:12PM
Personally, I'd love to see them change this to be more like the rings of Kirin Tor.
The lowest tier of armor/weapons has it's base cost and you have to spend earned points to bring each piece up to the next tier/grade. The better players will get thier higher tiered items more quickly as they have a higher win:loss ratio. The players who aren't as talented at pvp can still get theirs through determination and dedication. To quell one argument that may arise, two equally geared players duking it out will end in the more skilled being the victor.
This wouldn't be a bad idea for some raiding items as well, imo.
Opinions?
T Apr 29th 2010 1:24PM
Sounds good. Probably won't happen though. If Blizzard wanted skill to be the foremost decider in (arena) pvp, they'd temporarily place everyone in the same, class/spec-appropriate sets of armor for each match and be done with it. Skill would at that point be the only deciding factor. Right now, it is not and they seem relatively happy with the system in place.
Butt Apr 29th 2010 1:42PM
@T
I get what you're saying, but then there would be no incentive for you to do Arena. I mean, I'd still do arena for the fun of it, but not as much since I wouldn't have any goal other than ratings. Right now I am on my way up to 1800 rating (I am at 1650), it's getting pretty hard, but the reward are those juicy weapons we can get once we get there. If it weren't for the weapons, we probably wouldn't take those matches as seriously.
Hendrata Apr 29th 2010 3:20PM
This is what I'm concerned. If there is no rating requirement, then why bother increasing your rating? There is a slight advantage in that you accumulate more points per week with higher rating, but it's less of a motivator I think.
Maybe if they introduce one or two slots of rated armor. Say to get the top tier weapon you need to have 2300 rating, to get the shoulder you need 2000 rating, to get the ring you need 1500 rating. That's it. Everything else is up for grabs provided you have the points, I think this still allows people to gear up and at the same time encouraging them to increase their rating.
Personally I think the slot that would make sense to be rated is the trinket slot. Make a great "on use" effects that are PVP related. Say it's a smoke bomb for everyone (or a second smoke bomb for rogues). Say it stuns enemies in a frontal cone. Or a PVP "on equip" effects. Lower the duration of fear by x percent. This type of effects would be a great carrot-on-a-stick for increasing your rating (pun totally intended).
V Magius Apr 29th 2010 4:45PM
@Butt
I see your dilemma. You can PvP for the fun of it, but nothing to really show for it. You could earn the gear you're renting. Say you rent the Season 7 for Arena. As you get more points, you can buy the Season 7 gear for use outside of Arena. If you come in the top X%, you get the special stuff as it is now.
Much like twinks, it should be about skill not gear for Arena's. If you are a better skilled player, then you will advance faster and receive more fulfilling wins. Unlike the twink, I don't expect the Arena system to die a horrible death as all the talk is shown to be nothing more than talk.
lsprof4 Apr 29th 2010 1:14PM
Why? Why?!? WHY do they keep trying to force me to do arena?!?!?!
OhneRastZumZiel Apr 29th 2010 1:17PM
Actually, you won't have to do a single bit of arena if you do the rated battlegrounds instead. Those will grant the "arena" rating.
lsprof4 Apr 29th 2010 1:23PM
Ahhhhh....thank you!
Elmouth Apr 29th 2010 1:24PM
This is a welcomed change, having to farm PvE for PvP weapons was a bad idea for everyone, PvPers didn't like having to farm PvE and often tried to do so wearing their pvP gear, and PvErs would go nuts voer people trying to make their way into raids wearing PvP gear.
Now its back to BC/Vanilla model, where if you want to gear up for PvP you can do so by doing PvP. Logic pwns all.
Hopefully rated BGs drop a nice amount of Conquest points so that farming arenas will only be another option rather than a Must.
fearthefireblade Apr 29th 2010 1:32PM
With the rating removed from gear, I'm fine with the weapon having a rating.
It's obtainable from BGs and it gives you that one thing to work for (actually try, not grind).
If the BiS gear is available for points, getting the rating for this weapon becomes comparatively less of a detriment when you don't have it, but still something with palpable results when you do.
This is the closest this issue will come to balance, I think.
thecooliestguy Apr 29th 2010 1:14PM
This is GREAT. I have a holy paladin in a 2's team in full 251+ gear but still using a pve sword and shield at ilevel 232 and below. Having to PvE to be able to PvP is just dumb.
A welcome change.
Valt Apr 29th 2010 1:17PM
Im very excited about this. I can get more resi and so forth, and sometimes maaybe even "easier to get weapons".
But then I always remember how bad our battlegroup is at BGs I kinda lose intrest. They really need to change a lot of them. I really wonder what else we weill see for BGs rather than simple "rated".
JAREDO Apr 29th 2010 3:11PM
This post made me wonder. Are they still removing resilience in light of player health going up?
Valt Apr 29th 2010 5:21PM
Resi wont be removed but it will be pretty much nerfed to shiz cos of scaling I think.
Resilience
This will only affect damage done by players, crit damage included. It will not impact crit chance, mana drains, or any other such effects.
nekorion Apr 29th 2010 1:21PM
sup retaliation, alliance side. yall stoked for to get beat in the face with an influx of bgers with actual pvp weapons? I'm psyched.
erknost Apr 29th 2010 1:26PM
Anyone understand how the rated BGs are gonna work? Exactly like the current BG random Daily? When I queue for a rated BGs I'm gonna earn Honor or Conquest points? Or how I'm gonna earn the Conquest points in the rated BGs?
Valt Apr 29th 2010 1:38PM
Lets say its WSG weekend, next week its WSG rated BG.
You go there possibly with premade according to blues. You do it.
If you lose, np. You get small points but no rating.
You win. You get points and Rated BG rating.
You wont lose rating. But if you really want rating faster you will still do arenas thats for sure.
No info is the rating gain once day or all day.
jealouspirate Apr 29th 2010 1:42PM
I'm hoping that, just like raiding in Cata, they'll cap the maximum rating/points you can get per week such that you can get them all exclusively by BGs or Arenas without being slower than those who do both.
Boobah Apr 29th 2010 2:49PM
Yes, there's a hard weekly cap on the top tier points for both PvE and PvP. Introduced in the very same post.
And rating on the heroic-equivalent weapons is pretty much necessary, or all the serious raiders would feel obliged to snag those rather than making do with the weapons that actually drop from the regular-mode bosses that they're actually downing.
The other option is not having weapons that are equivalent to heroic-quality weapons, in which case all the serious PvPers are gonna be forced to raid heroics to be competitive with those who actually want to do both.
etherpuppet Apr 29th 2010 1:28PM
Good change.
However, if they REALLY wanted to measure skill, they would give a default "uniform" of standardized armor and weapons (dependent on class and spec) to all PVPers in a BG or Arena.
Last I checked, professional sports teams all had some pretty standard gear - helmets, shoulderpads, etc. There's a reason some professional athletes take steroids - it's one of the few ways to get a non-skill-based advantage on other competitors.