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Blinded Iraq war vet raids with a little helpRated battlegrounds FAQ
by Mathew McCurley 
Nov 4th 2010 at 11:40PM
Some highlights include the three brackets (10v10, 15v15, 25v25); weekly conquest point caps based on your highest PvP rating in any bracket; and winning in a group comprised of 80 percent guild members awarding guild experience. Hit the jump for the full blue post.
Rated Battlegrounds FAQJudging from the posts on the forum, it looked like most players were confused about what rated battlegrounds really are and how to interact with them. Hopefully this FAQ can help clear up some of those questions. Feel free to respond with any other questions you might have and we will do our best to post up the answers in this thread.
Rated Battlegrounds are broken down into three brackets. 10v10, 15v15 and 25v25. These brackets rotate weekly and can be viewed in-game via the calendar by activating the battleground holiday filter.
Players must create a raid with the full number of players required for the current bracket before entering the queue. Any level 85 player of your faction may participate in the battle (regardless of guild association).
When players win a battle, they are rewarded conquest points, up to their weekly cap. Weekly caps are individual for each player and are based on your highest single pvp rating from the previous week (the cap resets on Tuesdays). This rating can be derived from your 2v2, 3v3, 5v5 arena, or your rated battleground rating.
Players start at zero rated battleground rating and progress upward from there. Rating is only reduced after a lost battle when the player is above their internal matchmaking rating. For the most part, a rating only goes up.
Epic ground mounts will be rewarded at the end of each season to the top 0.5% of players. Titles are also available as you gain rating in the system. The titles are rewarded directly from achievements earned from gaining the required rating.
Winning a rated battleground with a team composed of 80% guild members will result in the additional benefit of guild experience gain for your guild. The UI will display a guild banner near the minimap that lets you know if you are eligible for guild achievements and experience.
Rated Battlegrounds are broken down into three brackets. 10v10, 15v15 and 25v25. These brackets rotate weekly and can be viewed in-game via the calendar by activating the battleground holiday filter.
Players must create a raid with the full number of players required for the current bracket before entering the queue. Any level 85 player of your faction may participate in the battle (regardless of guild association).
When players win a battle, they are rewarded conquest points, up to their weekly cap. Weekly caps are individual for each player and are based on your highest single pvp rating from the previous week (the cap resets on Tuesdays). This rating can be derived from your 2v2, 3v3, 5v5 arena, or your rated battleground rating.
Players start at zero rated battleground rating and progress upward from there. Rating is only reduced after a lost battle when the player is above their internal matchmaking rating. For the most part, a rating only goes up.
Epic ground mounts will be rewarded at the end of each season to the top 0.5% of players. Titles are also available as you gain rating in the system. The titles are rewarded directly from achievements earned from gaining the required rating.
Winning a rated battleground with a team composed of 80% guild members will result in the additional benefit of guild experience gain for your guild. The UI will display a guild banner near the minimap that lets you know if you are eligible for guild achievements and experience.
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it; nothing will be the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion (available Dec. 7, 2010), from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
benbettis Nov 5th 2010 12:12AM
Can't wait. Thanks for the details!!
Netherscourge Nov 5th 2010 8:33AM
So all Rated Battleground teams need to be pre-made? Like Arenas?
I thought it was more of an individual PvPers thing where you could hop into a Rated BG queue at any time, with or without a team, and rank up in them...?
I'm kind of saddened by this. I thoght it was be more friendly to casual PvPers who don't like Arenas.
Oh well. Back to raiding :(
brendan.euclid Nov 5th 2010 9:03AM
If that was the case, what would be the difference between normal BGs and rated BGs? You don't need to make a team, with a charter and all; You just need to have a premade group like you do for a raid. You can pick those people up on your server, or they can be people from your guild that you regularly play with.
Grak Nov 5th 2010 10:16AM
Plus, you arent going to stand a chance trying to pug your way through rated battlegrounds; premades will dominate. If you dont have the tactics and communication of a premade, your pug will get steamrolled.
Thundrcrackr Nov 5th 2010 10:30AM
I find this disappointing as well. They're basically just PVP raids.
So now in addition to seeing "LFM ICC25 minGS xxxx, link spec and achieve" in Trade we'll also see:
"LFM rated BG, min GS xxxx, min resil XXX, link class/spec"
If you don't have it, you don't get in. Just like raids. It'll be great for high-end PvPers, but that's it. Might as well just be called Arena 10s/15s/25s. This does nothing for the average BGer.
loop_not_defined Nov 5th 2010 10:42AM
Rated Battlegrounds are like Raids and Arenas because...that's the entire point. You get the best of PvE gear from Raiding. You get the best of PvP gear from Arenas and Rated Battlegrounds. The entire point system, new to Cataclysm, is based around this.
Speaking as someone that can only ever play super-casually due to multiple real-life commitments, I don't understand why you guys are surprised by this. o_O
Thundrcrackr Nov 5th 2010 10:50AM
We are surprised because we thought we would just be able to queue for it, not have to meet a raid leader's requirements in order to be admitted.
loop_not_defined Nov 5th 2010 10:51AM
So you're surprised because it isn't exactly like regular Battlegrounds with better gear?
Thundrcrackr Nov 5th 2010 11:04AM
Yes. It could have worked exactly as the current BG system but with better loot.
It would draw better players obviously, so if you're a PvP noob or just want to play casually then you would stick to the regular battlegrounds and if you wanted a more competitive atmosphere with better loot then you could use the new rated battlegrounds. And that's pretty much how it is - the only surprise for some people is the fact we can't queue for it.
loop_not_defined Nov 5th 2010 11:13AM
Thundrcrackr, who would choose to stay in normal Battlegrounds? Look at the LFD. I don't know a *single person* that chooses to never do Heroics because they don't think they can. Your suggestion is completely out of touch with reality...which is that people will go where the loot is.
The only limiting factor I can think of is ease of use. As an example, dungeon running practically exploded overnight with the release of the LFD system.
benbettis Nov 5th 2010 11:22AM
@Thundr
What you're saying is that people will sit there thinking, "I'm a noob, therefore, I should stick to regular BGs." ...Right. Cause that will happen.
I'm not really sure what people thought this was going to be. Blizzard is trying to make BGs what they were SUPPOSED to be about before. Teamwork. Everyone wanting personal rating and queues must not have been around for the vanilla honor kill farm fest. To me, this is the only way this can work. Forming teams, relying on teamwork to win. And with perks at the end of the tunnel. Sounds brilliant.
Thundrcrackr Nov 5th 2010 11:29AM
"if you're a PvP noob or just want to play casually"
I'm sure if you got your ass handed to you your first time in you'd think twice about going there again. Just like being undergeared for Heroics. You wipe a few times then realize maybe you're not ready for them and go back to normals until you gear up more. I know lots of people who won't do the ICC heroics yet, for example. They stick to the regular ones til they get better geared.
I'm sure there are plenty of BGer's who were looking forward to testing their mettle in the new rated BG's in hopes of better gear. Maybe they'd get crushed and realize it wasn't for them. Maybe they'd surprise themselves and do pretty well. The point is, they won't have the choice now like they thought they would because they can't queue for it. They'll have to meet a raid leaders requirements which they won't be able to do unless they're already a hard core PvPer who meets a certain GS. I don't see how this concept is so hard to understand.
loop_not_defined Nov 5th 2010 11:50AM
I think I understand, now. You wanted Heroic Battlegrounds...except the difficulty wouldn't scale because you're fighting *players*, not NPCs. If everybody queued up for Rated Battlegrounds, they would be fighting the same people they were fighting in Normal Battlegrounds. They wouldn't "get crushed".
Everything you're asking for is the exact same as regular Battlegrounds, just with higher ilvl rewards. That's it. Same game, better rewards.
Thundrcrackr Nov 5th 2010 11:53AM
And i'm not saying it shouldn't be this way, just that it isn't what some people were expecting.
devilsei Nov 5th 2010 12:09PM
Nether, the original intent was exactly that.
http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/08/22/blizzcon-2009-rated-battlegrounds-and-the-return-of-pvp-titles/
(had to dig through roughly 60 pages to find that, I'll admit, did cheat and started from oldest posts, but still!).
I understand mechanics change, but not everyone keeps up with every bit of WoW info like some obsessive fanboy. I was still vaguely under the assumption they were sticking to this more casual form of pvp. Premades already exist as is, and this won't fix or change much.
What would of been easier would to have simply made Battlegrounds check if a group if a full or not for that particular battleground, then attempt to match it as closely as possible with another group of similar size. Premades still fight premades, and casuals can fight casuals, difference could be that full-group premades could earn a bonus to their points with consecutive wins.
I mean hey, wasn't that the idea behind making 10 and 25mans drop the same gear? Don't see why it should be so different for pvp.
benbettis Nov 5th 2010 12:17PM
@devilsei
I see where you're coming from, but the problem with casual vs casual, premade vs premade, is: Why do a premade, when it's far easier to form a group of 4 of my buddies, queue up, and roflstomp my way through a WSG full of casuals? .....Which is how it is now.
The problem with bgs now is there is NO teamwork. With this approach, Blizz is forcing us to use strategy and organization to win, not crossing your fingers for a good group after you queue.
loop_not_defined Nov 5th 2010 12:35PM
The original Blizzcon 2009 stated intent was that Rated Battlegrounds would be for groups and guilds. Not individuals. That hasn't changed. It can be found in the link provided above.
alien Nov 5th 2010 1:29PM
I would think the premade issue would be solved by itself: matchmaking score.
jhoover Nov 5th 2010 3:44PM
"We are surprised because we thought we would just be able to queue for it, not have to meet a raid leader's requirements in order to be admitted."
So you are saying that because it's rated you can't be the one to make the group and not have all that idiocy and elitism, and just accept anyone who joins? So that others can just queue for it with you because they are like minded? Cause I don't read anyplace that can't happen. Of course, if you don't have the initiative to do so, to not become part of the problem, well, that's not Blizzard's fault...it's yours and you don't deserve those points.
Me, I'm gonna be out there making groups every day!
Brad F. Nov 5th 2010 4:32PM
I was under the impression that "teams" would not be required, and you could queue as an individual. The challenge would come from your individual rating... and I thought that would come at the end of each game by giving credit to those with the highest dps, healing, HKs, KBs, tower caps, tower defends, flag caps, flag defends, and so on. I thought there would be some math behind the scenes that would rate you on how well you performed and match you with other players that perform at your level.
This isn't really as cool as I hoped. I have the Battlemaster title and consider myself great at BGs. However, my server and guild have little to no PvP talent. This leaves me with nothing new to look forward to. I like that I can queue for a BG on my own and do my thing, and I was hoping that would be rolled into the Rated Battlegrounds.