Patch 5.3 interview with Ghostcrawler
Mystery of the Unborn Val'kyr
The latest patch 5.3 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsPvP Season 9 has begun!
by Mathew McCurley 
Dec 14th 2010 at 4:00PM
ZarhymThe first PvP season of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm is underway! Players are now able to compete in level-85 Rated Arenas for top gear, items, and titles -- and for the first time ever, they can enter level-85 Rated Battlegrounds to fight for the same rewards available through Arenas, along with the original World of Warcraft PvP titles. Players can also participate in unranked War Games, skirmishes that allow Battleground and Arena teams to hone their skills against opponents of their choosing -- even if they're in the same faction. So prepare yourselves, aspiring Grand Marshals and High Warlords, as the struggle between the Horde and the Alliance is about to get bloodier.
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, 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 2 of 2)
szilagyi Dec 14th 2010 4:47PM
Mathew, Please write a guide on how to earn the returning titles specifically, ASAP. It's confusing as hell, and for some of us -- that's the main goal of rated BGs. I'm on a slow eternal crawl to 100,000 kills and Justicar (just for the titles), but it's the cooler titles I and many are after, not even gear or other rewards.
Mir Dec 14th 2010 5:12PM
It will work basically the same way as Arena titles did, only for rated BGs. People at the very top get Brutal (or whatever season it was) Gladiator or Grand Marshall/High Warlord. The guys near the top, but not quite there get Gladiator or Marshall/Warlord. Lower down your rank the lower the level of the title. (gonna make sure to get Sargeant on all my alts....Delighted to Sir. Proceeding. It's time to dispense some indiscriminant justice.)
I don't think it has ever been said how many people (or what %) will get each title. If someone does have that info please share.
Lou-Doggy Dec 14th 2010 5:06PM
Time to smash some face!!!!!!!
In the nicest possible sense.
szilagyi Dec 14th 2010 5:13PM
Basically let me clarify: what do *I* have to do to get 1100 ranking, then 1200, then 1300, and so on, to unlock the achievements and the titles.
szilagyi Dec 14th 2010 5:14PM
Just win? Top 10 in kills in the BG instance? Top 5? Tops in honor? Can I just go queue up for RBGs like normal BGs, and just kick arse and try to win? Do I need to have more flag caps? What metrics?
Hangk Dec 14th 2010 5:18PM
The rating is the same Elo system used to score Arena teams (and, originally, chess players). Basically you gain points for beating people and lose points for losing, the magnitude of the gain or loss being determined by the discrepancy in rating between you. In other words, you gain a lot of points for beating someone a lot more highly rated than you are, and very few for spanking someone far below you in rating.
(This causes the system's most notable drawback: highly rated players are ill advised to play low rated players, or indeed pretty much anybody at all, because they stand to lose more than they gain.)
TL;DR edition: To get 1100 rating, beat teams who have 1100 (or more) rating until your rating rises to their level. Ditto for 1200, 1300, etc.
Hangk Dec 14th 2010 5:19PM
And yes, you just have to win. No other metric is relevant AFAIK.
talkingmike Dec 14th 2010 5:50PM
Hangk--
To nitpick just a hair, haven't they moved away from ELO (where everyone starts in the supposed middle) over to this "Gaussian Density Filter" method (everyone starts at zero)?
If I remember correctly, ELO did not have the intended effects of an even distribution and participation throughout the entire curve. Therefore they changed the ranking to not punish losses as significantly as ELO calls for.
Colby, where you at?
Guy Dec 14th 2010 7:48PM
Now, the question I have is, how does it figure out the teams score? If I remember correctly these are put together before the match starts. So you might on one team today and another tomorrow (unless it is a guild or whatever). So does it take the average of the 10 or 15 players.
AltairAntares Dec 14th 2010 6:37PM
Does this means there's lvl 85 stuff to buy now then?
wutsconflag Dec 14th 2010 7:05PM
Has there been any mention whether the titles earned this way and the old school PVP titles will have any differences at all? Is the only difference a FoS that you can show off?
Jan Dec 14th 2010 8:39PM
Is there anyway to watch these Arena battles? I'd be very interested to see how these matches play out. Not just for entertainment, but maybe pick up a thing or two from the combatants.
shadowrider Dec 15th 2010 4:39AM
im really pissed off, my grand marshal title means nothing now :(
Hangk Dec 15th 2010 6:59PM
You got three years of wearing a title that means "I am a PvP God" to the entire WoW-playing universe. I think you got your money's worth out of that one, bro.