War Games FAQ
by Adam Holisky 
Jun 21st 2011 at 1:10PM
Today, Blizzard has provided an FAQ today on the War Games mechanics, which we've got for you below.
You can access the War Games mechanic in-game by typing /wg or /wargame.
The full blue post after the break.
Blizzard
To answer your burning questions, we've updated the FAQ below.
Q: What's a War Game?
A: A War Game is an unranked match in which one group of players challenges another group to an Arena or Battleground skirmish in a setting of their choosing. The leader of the group will be able to initiate a War Game by opening the Player vs. Player window (H) as explained below.
Q: How does it work?
A: After you've formed your group (a minimum number of party members is needed depending on the Battleground or Arena chosen), open the Player vs. Player window (H), and select the War Games tab. To start a War Game you must be the party leader, select a Battleground or Arena, target an opposing party leader, and click the Start War Game button.
The other party leader will receive a pop-up notice stating " has challenged you to a War Game in the ."
The challenged party leader then has a little over a minute to accept the challenge. Once he or she accepts, each group will be placed in the queue and will receive a pop-up window prompting them to enter the skirmish once it's ready.
Q: Can I play War Game skirmishes against members of my own faction?
A: Yes! The War Game skirmish system allows you to challenge players in your same faction to Arena and Battleground matches. You can also challenge those of the opposite faction.
Q: What Battlegrounds and Arenas are available to play?
A: Players can choose from the drop-down menu the following Battlegrounds and Arenas to play in:
Battlegrounds
Q: Can I challenge a team from another realm to a skirmish?
A: No, you can only challenge opponents on your own realm.
Q: Can I start a game if one team has fewer group members than the other?
A: You are able to create a Battleground War Game with uneven team sizes, but you are not able to create an Arena War Game with uneven team sizes. For example, an 8v5 Warsong Gulch War Game is possible, but launching an Arena War Game with uneven team sizes won't work.
Q: What's the largest possible size for a War Game?
A: Arena War Games can support up to 5v5 matches. Battleground group sizes are limited to the maximum number of participants each map normally allows.
Q: Are any statistics recorded from War Game skirmishes?
A: No, they work similarly to the old Arena skirmish system. Kills, damage, and healing are tracked and displayed at the end of the match, but wins and losses are not.
Q: How long does it take for a War Game match to start?
A: Once the challenge has been accepted, you will generally be through the queue in less than 30 seconds. War Games offer you a quick way to get into practice matches with other teams, test out potential recruits, or just have fun with your friends.
Q: Can I receive achievements or guild experience in a War Game?
A: Because you can pick who you play against, nothing is awarded for playing in these skirmishes -- except for the rush that comes with a hard-won victory, of course.
Q: Do I get honor for killing players in a War Game Battleground?
A: No. These are skirmish matches, so no honor is awarded for objectives or kills.
Q: Why have you added this feature?
A: Players have long been asking for a way to challenge specific teams, guildmates, friends, and rivals to skirmish matches in Arenas and Battlegrounds of their choosing. We hope you enjoy this new feature, and we look forward to seeing you on the battlefield!
Q: What's a War Game?
A: A War Game is an unranked match in which one group of players challenges another group to an Arena or Battleground skirmish in a setting of their choosing. The leader of the group will be able to initiate a War Game by opening the Player vs. Player window (H) as explained below.
Q: How does it work?
A: After you've formed your group (a minimum number of party members is needed depending on the Battleground or Arena chosen), open the Player vs. Player window (H), and select the War Games tab. To start a War Game you must be the party leader, select a Battleground or Arena, target an opposing party leader, and click the Start War Game button.
The other party leader will receive a pop-up notice stating " has challenged you to a War Game in the ."
The challenged party leader then has a little over a minute to accept the challenge. Once he or she accepts, each group will be placed in the queue and will receive a pop-up window prompting them to enter the skirmish once it's ready.
Q: Can I play War Game skirmishes against members of my own faction?
A: Yes! The War Game skirmish system allows you to challenge players in your same faction to Arena and Battleground matches. You can also challenge those of the opposite faction.
Q: What Battlegrounds and Arenas are available to play?
A: Players can choose from the drop-down menu the following Battlegrounds and Arenas to play in:
Battlegrounds
- 10v10 (minimum 5v5)
- Warsong Gulch
- Twin Peaks
- Battle for Gilneas
- (Rated)Eye of the Storm
- 15v15 (minimum 8v8)
- Arathi Basin
- Eye of the Storm
- Strand of the Ancients
- 40v40 (minimum 10v10)
- Alterac Valley
- Isle of Conquest
- Random Battleground
- Nagrand Arena
- Blade's Edge Arena
- Ruins of Lordaeron
- Dalaran Sewers
- The Ring of Valor
- All Arenas
Q: Can I challenge a team from another realm to a skirmish?
A: No, you can only challenge opponents on your own realm.
Q: Can I start a game if one team has fewer group members than the other?
A: You are able to create a Battleground War Game with uneven team sizes, but you are not able to create an Arena War Game with uneven team sizes. For example, an 8v5 Warsong Gulch War Game is possible, but launching an Arena War Game with uneven team sizes won't work.
Q: What's the largest possible size for a War Game?
A: Arena War Games can support up to 5v5 matches. Battleground group sizes are limited to the maximum number of participants each map normally allows.
Q: Are any statistics recorded from War Game skirmishes?
A: No, they work similarly to the old Arena skirmish system. Kills, damage, and healing are tracked and displayed at the end of the match, but wins and losses are not.
Q: How long does it take for a War Game match to start?
A: Once the challenge has been accepted, you will generally be through the queue in less than 30 seconds. War Games offer you a quick way to get into practice matches with other teams, test out potential recruits, or just have fun with your friends.
Q: Can I receive achievements or guild experience in a War Game?
A: Because you can pick who you play against, nothing is awarded for playing in these skirmishes -- except for the rush that comes with a hard-won victory, of course.
Q: Do I get honor for killing players in a War Game Battleground?
A: No. These are skirmish matches, so no honor is awarded for objectives or kills.
Q: Why have you added this feature?
A: Players have long been asking for a way to challenge specific teams, guildmates, friends, and rivals to skirmish matches in Arenas and Battlegrounds of their choosing. We hope you enjoy this new feature, and we look forward to seeing you on the battlefield!
Filed under: PvP
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Saeadame Jun 21st 2011 1:33PM
This is a lot of fun, my friends and I have been screwing around doing 2v2s or 3v3s once in a while. I would still like to see the return of the unranked arena matches where you queue with a party member and get a random other group (skirmishes?), as those were fun too, but war games are really great. I want to try out the BG ones for sure =D.
Darkfreak Jun 21st 2011 6:35PM
Yep, those were skirmishes. In my opinion (and in the opinion of many PvPers), skirmishes were a better system for doing unranked arena. While the new UI for it is certainly prettier, if you wanted to do an unranked arena, skirmishes were just plain easier. You could just queue up for them like a regular arena, only you didn't need a partner.
Ice Jun 21st 2011 1:35PM
I really like this feature. Small rival (friendly) arguments between guilds whether its pvp guild or pve, RP realms can PvP without fear of griefing with set rules, gear, objects, goals etc and naturally you can practice things before going to rated BG.
Heck you could even do player-run tournaments with this with bit of.
Good to see they are promoting it more.
Tho I must admit, it usually ends up just like when people were kids and you had to pick people to "your" football team.. Someone picks the best ones and you get rest =P
Oh and also, the level range should be expanded bit more. I would like to do some odd PvP with lets say 78's to 85's - more levels more people to choose from. Because IIRC you cant do that, they have to be from "that bracket"... which is bizarre because its unranked and who cares if 70s get steamrolled by 80s, they chose to join and they wont lose anything.
GhostWhoWalks Jun 21st 2011 1:38PM
There's something odd about War Games that I'm hoping my fellow WoW Insider commenters can help me figure out: nobody seems interested in playing them.
I was thrilled when I heard these War Games would be added in, because I love Custom Match options in my multiplayer games. I fondly remember the many nights when my friends would all gather together, load up Halo or Gears of War or 007 on the nearest console and then spend several hours battling it out with each other. These would be fierce competitions, but also filled with plenty of laughs when people would start doing silly things (like an impromptu pistols-only duel). Did they award us experience or add to our kill/death records like ranked online matches would? No, we were just having a good time duking it out.
So I was kind of surprised when War Games were implemented and I tried to gather people from my guild together for some wacky, unranked PvP fun...and nobody wanted to try it. There were some who said they just didn't like PvP, which was fair, but even the ones who did turned me down by saying that if there were no Honor rewards and we weren't getting stats out of it, there was no point. I tried to argue that the point was to have some fun, but my words fell on deaf ears.
Has this been other people's experience? Is there a lack of people playing War Games because they don't get anything out of it, or have you had more luck than I have?
Dakiri Jun 21st 2011 3:10PM
Really? That's depressing (although looking at some of the other commenters, apparently we're in the minority here). War games are tons of fun.
My guild's very cloth/plate heavy, so we had a grudge match between those armor classes in WSG. Lemme tell you, as the holy pally healer for the plate team, I've never dispelled so much in my life. :)
There are a lot of just cool things you can do with this, down to just killing each other and having some good old trash talking.
Skarn Jun 21st 2011 4:33PM
Unfortunately, that seems to be the biggest problem with WoW as a whole. People don't do anything unless they get some sort of shiny item or stat boost from it. People don't run Heroics for fun, they just do it for the loot and points. No one does World PvP any more because you don't get Honor for it.
Alas, for far, far, far too many, the game is not about having fun. It's about getting stuff. Stuff that is supposed to then be used for fun...except they don't like fun! It's baffling.
dengarsw Jun 21st 2011 5:47PM
I hate saying it, but this is WoW all over. It's why RBGs are getting more rewards attached to them. War games require too much work and have no reward, so no one wants to do it. On the other hand, raiding is never out of style, since it's got rewards busting at the seams.
IMO, the minimum cap needs to be completely removed so it can be more of an exploratory feature. I have guildies who wanted to do war games to learn a map, but we needed far too many people to start them, and some folks were too embarrassed to learn with their fellow guildies around to judge them (and we're not really a hardcore guild!).
Micheal Jun 21st 2011 1:38PM
This seems rather pointless to me just from reading about it. Of course, that's my opinion before I saw it in live action once the patch hits, so I may change my mind, but as it stands I can't see more than a very small group of people ever using it. And those that PLAY arena or rated battlegrounds will be hard pressed to find even more time out of their schedule to "practice".
Pointlessness aside, the only good thing I can see from this is player-run tournaments.
Stray Jun 21st 2011 3:01PM
I was introduced to PvP because a friend and guildie offered it as an alternative leveling process. I took right to it, to the point where I made the conscious effort to--back when the ranks were 10 levels in a bracket rather than 5--level questing or dungeoning to a level where I wouldn't be steamrolled and pounce in to PvP to the next breakpoint. I have introduced many friends to PvP who never tried it before, and let me tell you, so many needed a lot of hand holding. Fear of failure, frustration from strangers you can't control being cruel/griefing/emoting in an unfriendly fashion...in particular one PvE-centric healer friend had a hard time accepting that her heals not preventing our deaths was just a part of battlegrounds, not an indication that she was a failure. This is an incredible opportunity for more control over an environment to allow people baby steps into a whole new world, not to mention various other uses: strat practice, testing out comps, testing out prospective player team mates, or just having fun! Sometimes it can be very scary to jump into something that will show up on your statistics (even unrated BG win/losses are logged and accessible to anyone from your armory page) without attempting it in a practice stage first. Hell, imagine if you could go into a raid where you don't receive valor but you also don't run up a repair bill or essentially lose food/flasks you've crafted/paid for. When you're trying something new and it costs you both time AND gold, it can be doubly frustrating.
Sorry for the essay reply, simply offering something for you to see when you claim you can't c;
p.s. If you can't see more than a very small group of people ever using it, you may wish to refrain from squinting! I don't have hard numbers here, but quite a deal more resources go into designing and implementing things like heroic Sinestra that is seen by only the most dedicated of hardcore raiders before becoming trivialized than taking an existing concept (arena skirmishes) and applying the framework to battlegrounds. It's simply a quality of life option put out for those that enjoy that side of the game.
And let's face it, I don't think I'd be the only one who wouldn't love the chance to say, pull a big bad raid boss with a Rainbow Generator or spend a phase tossing Empty Brew Bottles at the dragon who wiped us so many times and just plain old having fun with that side of the game, either. Al'akir skirmish /dance party in mid-air GO!
Micheal Jun 21st 2011 3:15PM
Well, yeah, you do list things that it would make sense to use it for... but I'm talking about practical applications.
Maybe you are one of the lucky people who have a rated BG team that is always on and always willing to play, but I don't have that. Some weeks I can gather 10 people for them, some weeks I can't... I am absolutely certain that from my pool of guildies and server-mates, I won't find anyone who wants to practice strats.
This isn't to say some people won't use it for that, just that, still, I'm finding it hard to see this being used commonly. Arena skirmishes were a fun little side thing, so overall I'm glad this kind of system is put into place again, BUUUUUT whether it's any kind of big deal or anyone will really care remains to be seen.
>.<
Really not trying to troll or give Blizzard any hate, if that's what it comes off as, I'm sorry!
restodr00d Jun 21st 2011 1:55PM
I was browsing through the site and saw this and I can honestly tell you I didn't remember this feature at all, it took me a couple of seconds to remember that this was already in the game.
Anyway to me is not a game breaking addition or a bad one I just don't see the point of it.
Matthew Jun 21st 2011 1:56PM
Removing skirmishes was stupid.
eximus Jun 21st 2011 2:01PM
what about levels? What level does a character have to be to enter War Game? And if other than max levels can join what is the maximum level range in the War Game?
I really hope that level 1 or atleast lower than 10 can do a War Game :)
Adrianne Jun 21st 2011 3:17PM
I was wondering that too. I don't know about level one, but can anyone lower than level 85 do them? Can you have different levels in one game? Could you have several level 70s gang up on a few 85s for example? Or is it limited to the standard battleground brackets?
splodesondeath Jun 21st 2011 3:51PM
They clearly explain in the article that they brought it back because people wanted skirmishes back and a fun way to face off against each other without worrying about rewards or anything.
It's random fun, guys. It's not ground-breaking or anything, it's supposed to just let you goof around; isn't that what video games are for?
Coldbear Jun 21st 2011 5:53PM
Great thing for server communities.
Not so great thing for people who like the whole Alliance vs. Horde thing. You know, backstory and lore and an immersive world and all that stuff that's not important anymore.
the_miwa Jun 21st 2011 6:36PM
We've actually been using the wargame function every friday night for naked pvp battles with all guildies/allies/friends. We do 2-5 rounds. The first week started with 5 versus 5, and by week 5 we actually field between 10 and 14 people total. Both teams hang out in the same vent and it is hysterical. Sometimes we do capture the flag games, and other times we just hang out in the middle of the bg and just pvp. I like to say things in vent like,"hey folks! I'm a healer and only died twice! get with the program and kill me people!!"
The basic rules are--you can't wear any gear or weapons or trinkets with stats on them. Just white or grey items under level 30. People show up naked, or in holiday gear or wedding dresses or evening gowns. Swashbuckler shirts are popular. And then we try to balance the groups and balance the damage, for example when the warrior couldn't do enough damage, we gave him a better weapon, and gave the overpowered hunter a lower level bow. And any class with a pet has to put it on passive so they get any bonus stats but not pet damage. And teams get mixed around a lot each week.
Naked boom chickens are OP. So are blood dks, especially when they have a personal healer who knows how to fake her healing casts so the real ones don't get interrupted. :) Mages are fragile but quite annoyingly fun.
Most people playing have never done pvp before, and this was a very nonthreatening, fun, low pressure way to get them to try something new. Everyone is getting better at being situationally aware, at using their class abilities, at working as a team. And just having a good time. It's okay to die, to mess up, to try different things, to figure things out bit by bit. We also have a couple serious pvpers who hang out with us, and who are happy to give pointers or just provide a role model.
This week, the goal is to gradually let people add stat gear to what they are wearing, until we end up in regular gear sometime next month.
lawlingU Jun 26th 2011 12:33AM
Blizz has been Curing Symptoms Instead of causes for the duration of Cata and they need to do something to fix that.