In an informative tell-all, Cory Stockton,
WoW's lead content designer, has posted a blog entry discussing the past, present, and future of Tol Barad, its cousin Wintergrasp, and his hopes for the balance changes that will soon be coming to Tol Barad. One particular issue mentioned is that the attacking side in Tol Barad is less favored as part of the design, but taking Tol Barad is too hard, as opposed to being just challenging. Check out the post on the
WoW community site
here, and check back later here on WoW Insider for my writeup and reactions to the changes.
For the most part, I think Stockton's aims, goals, and intentions are good for Tol Barad, and people need to remember that the changes listed are not the end all, be all for the zone. We've got a lot of balancing coming, so hang tight.
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Tags: blizzard-community-site, cory-stockton, corystockton, tol, tol-barad, tol-barad-balancing, tolbarad, TolBaradPeninsula, wow-community, WoW-community-site
Filed under: PvP
Jan 10th 2011 at 3:00PM 
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
BigBadGooz Jan 10th 2011 3:06PM
Personaly I doubt tol barad will br what blizzard hoped it would be
N-train Jan 10th 2011 3:30PM
I find it interesting so many people have all ready thrown in the towel and given up on TB, given that we're only a month into this expansion. I was even seeing comments (here and on the community site) saying Blizz should just scrap the whole thing a whopping 2 weeks into the expansion.
Maybe its because the whole world-pvp/bg zone isn't as new to anyone anymore like WG was, or maybe its because most people aren't raiding yet and could care less if Baradin Hold is open, but either way I fail to see why anyone thinks the idea is busted beyond repair or doomed to suck when we haven't seen a single permanent fix to it yet. If this were January 2012 and the fifth or sixth time Tb was getting some major work, I'd be ready to call it done, but until then I'm holding out that Blizz will get it right.
wow Jan 10th 2011 3:42PM
People just like to follow the 'popular' train of thought, speaking out obviously instantly makes you 'bad'. I mean, how could all those people saying TB is broken and should be given up be wrong? /sigh
Scooter Jan 10th 2011 4:14PM
@N-train
What's funny is that whenever I organized a run to get back TB we won. It is hard to be the attacker but that makes it fun. I like the idea Blizzard is going to implement. Easier caps for attackers, harder caps for defenders. All it takes to win is to grab 2 points and have enough time left to cap a third. Honestly only a small tweak is really needed.
Achnos Jan 10th 2011 4:34PM
To be honest, looking a side from the balance issues and the actual Tol Barad itself me and my friends have found the tol barad , especially the peninsula, to be really fun and enjoyable in the fact that its really got us all into world pvp again, and we're having a great time.
Looking past the balance issues i think Tol Barad is some of the best pvp stuff in a long time, so kudos to blizz!
Sleutel Jan 10th 2011 6:53PM
@N-train:
The reason so many people are saying it should be scrapped is that it is, as designed, *horribly and irrevocably broken*. There are so many changes that would have to be made to balance it properly that it would almost make as much sense to throw it out completely and start over again.
Sally Bowls Jan 10th 2011 7:00PM
@ntrain
It is the same Blizzard who shipped TB who is supposed to "fix" it, so I think the pessimism is quite justified.
Regardless of your feelings about TB, it is clear the Beta process did not do what a Beta for software developers is supposed to do.
And the 1800hp fix and then changing it to 360 was bizarre. What did Blizzard think was going to happen when they made it 1800? So why did they change it? Were they really surprised what the players did when it was 1800?
PvP is not very important to WoW and eventually they may iteratively patch things until they get something reasonable. But it is by no means sure.
kingerz Jan 10th 2011 7:56PM
It's just a bland, dreary zone and boring even on the first go. WG was like a supermodel compared to this bedraggled alleycat. The level of self-appointed experts in there typing away insults is worse than ever.
No fun, basically.
Hollow Leviathan Jan 10th 2011 8:16PM
Compared to the ambition of Wintergrasp, Tol Barad could be seen either as a return to simple and straightforward mechanics, or boring bordering on lazy design without any subtler edge for players to master and show their skill. I think it's too simple a design, I was hoping for something much greater.
Deathgodryuk Jan 10th 2011 8:27PM
@Sally Bowls
PvP is the entire reason many people play the game, saying it isn't important is just silly. Many people, like myself, came to this game in the first place because of PvP and spend a great deal of the time we spend in game engaging in just that. The PvP community may not be as vocal as the raiding community but we're here and we'll gank you when the opportunity arises ;)
Occamrazor Jan 10th 2011 3:15PM
TB was just a setback for a larger plan
Expo Jan 10th 2011 3:09PM
I guess over-reacting with huge changes/nerfs could be worse. I'm happy they are at least letting us know it's being looked at.
digitalnexus1 Jan 10th 2011 3:17PM
Yeah, Bliz's typical reaction is to scramble with nerfs and buffs when there's complaints. (Usually over-compensating to the OTHER extreme, in almost every situation). They're reaction here, which basically says, "Yea, we know...but we kinda like it this way." Its....odd for them, to say the least. It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the course of the expansion.
Know Jan 10th 2011 10:10PM
The thing I wish they would look at, is how difficult it is to get into TB. On my server (Dreadmaul) you watch for the 15 minute mark in the PVP window, queue the second it becomes available and I STILL haven't been able to even get in to a TB match yet. The WG Tenacity buff etc. was a bit clunky but at least you could get into the zone when the action was happening. As PvP is the main thing I love about WoW this really is a dampener on my fun. :(
Sumadin Jan 10th 2011 3:12PM
Well It's about time.
gundamxzero Jan 10th 2011 3:12PM
6 paragraphs to say, "the zone has issues, no changes announced at this time. We are looking into it."
Alexander Krizak Jan 12th 2011 8:17PM
Except, of course, for that whole idea of making it easier for a side with two bases to take the third than it is for a side with one base to take the second.
A little more time spent reading and a little less time spent trying to stick it to Blizzard. That's all I'm asking.
Ice Jan 11th 2011 8:27AM
Devs at about TB before beta: "We are designing this zone that it changes hands often so one faction doesn't have monopoly on it"
How did it go so wrong?
People on beta (and now live): "Man this is so broken, so easy to just camp on one spot and once we feel like losing that spot it just zerg another on other side"
I think main reason it wasnt changed hardly at all from beta (I was there) was that noone hardly did it or those who did never gave feedback.
I was on EU beta and went to TB on every time I wasnt on heroic at the time, because blizzard made all BGs un-accessable on beta that was only PvP action there was.
But all I saw was hardly 10 people on horde and 5 alliance.. after the 1:1 change I never got into the tol barad. There was some feedback in the youtube beta videos and some forum posts but I guess they thought it was good idea "once theres full raids"? Pft.. making 10-10 to 40-40 hardly makes difference in overall desing it seems.
Ailuvan Jan 10th 2011 3:12PM
We must have differing definitions of "...informative tell-all...".
TL;DR version:
Wintergrasp used to be broken too, and after 2 years, we finally figured out how to make it more balanced. We have some ideas, maybe some of those will amke it to Tol barad eventually, too.
woecip Jan 10th 2011 3:30PM
At least on my server (Stormrage) the "balance" they brought to Wintergrasp killed it. 50% of the time there are no Horde in the zone at all. Horde always had tenactiy and it was at least active and fun. Its now a dead zone like EPL PvP.