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 newsBlizzard on 2200 rating PvP weapon availability
by Matthew Rossi 
Jan 26th 2011 at 8:00PM
Confused about when you'll be able to use your 2,200 arena rating weapons? Well, Blizzard has decided to clarify exactly when that will be, and the answer is not Jan. 25 (yesterday) but rather two weeks after patch 4.0.6 drops. Why, you may ask?
Daxxarri - 2200 Rating Weapon AvailabilityThe decision to further delay availability of weapons requiring 2200 rating was not made lightly. Currently very few guilds are clearing PvE content that drops weapons of this caliber, which would make rated Battlegrounds and Arenas the primary source for top-tier weapons. We of course don't want players who are pursuing PvE content to feel as though they must engage in heavy PvP to obtain these weapons in order to be competitive or successful.
Understandably, some folks are upset -- probably the ones who either already have the ratings and points ready to spend, or the ones who managed to get the weapons during the brief window where there was a bug. Daxxari answers those concerns in a later post as well.
Daxxari - Blizzard and Communication (RE: 2200 Weapons)Some of you may recall that there were times in the past when it was common for the Arenas to be flooded by geared raiders actively engaging in arena matches exclusively to acquire weapons for the sake of defeating PvE content. That's not the intended design for arena rewards (that they be part of PvE progression), and that was a situation that we were hoping to avoid now. Raid content is very challenging currently, and as a direct result, there are fewer top tier weapons floating around. What we didn't want was a 'gold rush' on arenas, which would diffuse the competitive space there as well as give PvE focused players an undue advantage for raid content.Blue poster text.
So as of right now, the answer to when you can get or if you already have them use 2,200-rated weapons is "soon," and the reason for the delay is to prevent the PvE-to-PvP rushes of the past. Seems reasonable enough to me, although to some degree, people are always going to PvP for PvE gear and vice versa.
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 leveling up a new goblin or worgen to breaking news and strategies on endgame play.Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, News items, PvP, Raiding, Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 4)
Cthulu Jan 27th 2011 1:13AM
You can't make pve gear not usable in arenas..that would be just unfair..cmon..then you basically say..to pvp you have to get crafted pvp gear and then only get gear from points...thus no incentive to do anything else....
And of course the QQ would be massive from the pvp'ers.
Alex Jan 26th 2011 8:36PM
A "Nerf" to PvP for PvE reasons? So this is what schadenfreude feels like.
In all seriousness though what was the problem with having PvE players flood the arenas? Longer wait times? Unfairly easy opponents for dedicated PvPers? Other?
Pronkey Jan 26th 2011 9:54PM
This isn't a nerf to PvP for PvE reasons, this is a company that is perfectly willing to treat many of its customers like second-class citizen. It is also something that would probably be impossible to pull off had it not been for Blizzard's MMR problems to begin the season.
To answer your question though, while Blizzard seems to have no issues with requiring PvPers, PvE in order to remain competitive, they have a huge problem with the reverse. I would also imagine that they would like to avoid a situation of sold ratings although, if that's accurate, it may prove to be the first time ever that they've given any thought to the 'Spirit of the Game' when it comes to PvP.
Nadril Jan 26th 2011 9:17PM
They don't want PvE players who can't clear content to feel like they "need" to arena to get the best gear.
Which is stupid because if they can't clear content than how do they expect to get a 2200+ 3v3 or 5v5?
Greg Jan 26th 2011 9:27PM
We should try to quantify our statements here a little better. You mentioned PVPers required to farm PVE to remain 'competitive.'
What exactly does 'competitive' mean? Able to achieve a 1.5k rating? 2k? 2.5k? Compete in a MLG event? And in which brackets?
I'm not trying to engage in hyperbole; merely pointing out that we should agree on some kind of baseline to frame the discussion. For instance, when it comes to PVE, Blizzard's goal is fairly clear: get most of the player base to see the end game content. We can presume that this goal is met when a certain percentage of all players sees all or most of the current end game bosses.
In regard to PVP, what is their measurable goal? Do they want all players to achieve a certain rating? Does Blizzard want everyone to fight a certain number of arena or rated BG matches? Without a clear and measurable goal, I believe the player base will always regard manipulation of the rewards system as unexpected and capricious.
I would encourage everyone interested in fixing this problem to do two things:
1. PVP often.
2. Talk about it constructively in the official forums.
Blizz has a good track record of addressing problems that get lots of constructive feedback in the forums
Manadar Jan 26th 2011 8:54PM
I guess I'll keep my unfair advantage in PvP with the heroic polearm from Halfus hc for some more weeks. Funny how it only works in one way.
nieboh Jan 26th 2011 9:03PM
funny how what only works one way? I guess I don't understand your statement.
It's not like they're taking anything away from PvP, they're just delaying it slightly. Would you rather they give you the weapon rewards immediately, but nerf them down to the equivalent of 259 blues?
nieboh Jan 26th 2011 9:07PM
whoops! brain fart. had someone in the office calling out numbers over the phone and got mixed up. I meant "nerf them down to the equivalent of 346 blues".
sprout_daddy Jan 26th 2011 8:58PM
Once again, PvP and PvE demonstrate their ability to get along like oil and water.
I particularly like the idea of making certain items gained from PvP not usable in raids. For the five years I've been playing the game, Blizzard has killed themselves trying to balance progression raiding and "progression" pvp'ing. Why not just come up with some triggers and apply them? Seems like it would solve a lot of the fussin' and a feudin'.
Rob Jan 26th 2011 9:12PM
Its kinda silly. So what, the top PVP people are upset because the top PVE may want to be also a top PVP person so they can get top PVE rewards? So what. This affects 1% of the population, if that.
robitrock Jan 26th 2011 9:31PM
Look back to TBC pvp and you'll get your answer to why there delaying this, everyone did pvp cause it was good easy gear that they couldn't get in pve without clearing more content if they had put these out everyone would be using these in pve,
Its happened before it would happen again.
Stardusted Jan 26th 2011 9:21PM
I guess I don't understand why anybody trying to truly tackle raiding would want to use PvP weapons or gear...that resilience takes up some stat space that would be much better spent on something else for PvE.
I understand that getting PvP gear may be easier at the moment vs PvE gear, but is it really that hard to understand that they are two different games?
robitrock Jan 26th 2011 9:34PM
If the gears easier to get people will do it, had a bear tank in a heroic just the other day in full pvp gear......didn't work so well.
Happened in Wrath to trying to get in raids saying they have a high gearscore, then you look at there gear and it was half pvp stuff.
Zanathos Jan 27th 2011 12:45AM
That's why it's specifically weapons held. Stat loss discouraged pvp armor, but when it comes to weapons, average damage is way more of a dps gain then whatever haste or crit rating you're missing.
mike Jan 27th 2011 8:58AM
Pvp gear is fine for pve. You are generally losing the secondary stat you don't care ad much for, for resilience. It's not going to make or break a run. It's the player, not the stat.
Stardusted Jan 27th 2011 11:26AM
I disagree about the "its the player not the stat" sentiment. My resto shaman would be horrible if I chose gear with agility and strength on it no matter how well I knew which buttons to push when. I feel like bringing the player includes bringing the player with the best knowledge of their class, including what gear to use. If your whole raid geared up in PvP gear it would probably be a lot harder to clear content. I'm not saying impossible, but harder, despite the higher ilvl your PvP gear may bring with it.
Ultimately it seems like raiders try to emulate the success of other raiders before them, unless you're among the top tier raiders in the game (like Paragon). Once a top guild clears something, every other raider in the world looks over their stats, what they did, when they did it, and where they stood while doing it. So much so that forums erupted in "Shaman are useless" QQ after Paragon's recent world first simply because they didn't bring a Shaman.
If the best aren't gimping themselves by using PvP gear in PvE content, why would everyone else think its a good way to go?
michaeljannino Jan 26th 2011 9:39PM
I feel really bad saying this, but I've been an avid WoW.com/WoW Insider reader and listener for years now (going on three?) and I feel that you guys may be slipping a tad bit behind on the speed of getting information to us.
It may just be me more actively searching for it, but it's scaring me. :/ I love you guys.
Steve Jan 26th 2011 9:42PM
PvP is the mini game. Why should the best weapons/gear come from that? I wish they would separate PvP and PvE completely. Different trees, different spells. Different forums so I dont have to read all the bitching that PvPers do about each others class and can read PvE content only. If they put this in place they could stop hurting PvE abilities because they are to good in PvP. They just try to balance both PvP and PvE together and you cant.
robitrock Jan 26th 2011 10:39PM
There not the best weapons there is better stuff in raids that on par if not better than these but like the article states most people haven't gotten there yet.
They just want to prevent people using the pvp gear in Raids, like what people have done in the past.
Nadril Jan 27th 2011 12:02AM
PvP is a mini game? The fuck?
I'm not going to get into an argument about PvP vs PvE but seriously that is ridiculously ignorant. It's another way to play the game. You go kill your dragons and I'll go compete and kill my players.
Separating PvP and PvE is an ok idea in theory but I still don't like it. It just makes things needlessly complicated in the end.
And I'll say it every time but people constantly cry about PvP nerfs/buffs hurting PvE. They NEVER talk about it the other way around. They also should know that at this point Blizzard tends to not needlessly nerf or buff something without realizing the other implications. They slip up now and then (the PvE fury buff might end up really hurting PvP balance) but they do pretty decent at it.