State of The Game - Mark Jacobs

[Paelos]

A mini-keep taking scenario is a good start. It has objectives, and it plays to the strengths of the overall point of RvR.

I would still like to find the guy who thought Murderball was a good idea. I would put him in a room with the guy who created the WoW arena concept and force them to duel in aimless carnage for hours on end.

[Howitzer]

What I really don't understand is that DAoC had those fantastic battlegrounds, that had one mini keep and let people level up doing mini-rvr. Then when some one in this thread suggested some thing like that, Mark reacted as if it was a totally new idea.

It boggles my mind that WAR didn't have something like this. At least like one per tier.

Yes, absolutely.  I remember those mini-RVR keep sieges that actually TRAINED people on what to do and what to expect at end-game that really only motivated them to move on up.  I have no idea why such a great idea was changed. I realize that this is WAR and not DAoC, but "RVR" is Mythic, and its something we all expected and wanted to see again.

[Arthur_Parker]

Scenarios are fine.

No they aren't, the same ones always pop, so everyone picks those scenarios to queue for. 

Increasing the rewards for open RVR doesn't mean they can't improve the queueing system for scenarios as well.  Give players a menu to rate the scenarios in order of those they enjoy best plus those they want to auto join, make the menu pop up at the end of a scenario until they fill it in at least once.  Then display the result to all the players, "intelligence suggests the enemy is moving towards scenarios 1, 2 & 3" so those players can modify their preferences if they want.  Also, instead of the join one scenario or "join all" button, have it set so you can join 3 or 4 of the 6 with the "join all" button once your preferences have been set.

End result, players get to influence which scenarios pop by indicating their favourites, the other scenarios will pop more often if it's as easy to queue for them as for the most populated.  With the current system, I believe a lot of people give up queueing for the scenarios that don't pop, making the problem worse.

On the size of the RVR lakes, I don't think that's a big issue.  If the rewards are a lot higher for open RVR, then more people with be there.  If there's 100-200 enemy players in open RVR, trust me, knowing where they are isn't going to be a problem with the improved communication channels.

[Phred]

I'm having many flashbacks to 6 years ago.

6 Years ago didn't Mark have Tweety doing most of the talking?

[Lantyssa]

For the first time, now that I am starting to do Tier 3 scenarios, I'm getting a lot of Game Over - Unbalanced teams.  My favorite was the crypt map where it was three against ME.  I 'won' because they had to split the damage done to me.

I don't want scenarios to go away, but the number does need to be reduced, or some tweak figured out so people don't queue for all then drop it because it isn't the one they want to play.  Maybe Arthur's suggestion on rating them.

[UnSub]

1-20 of this game is the most perfect MMO experience I've ever had.

Which side / pairing?

I'm playing HE with Bat Country and Tier 2 is killing me. That the HE side is pretty much empty contributes a lot to this issue.

Also, I'm aware of the technical issues of having larger server populations, but then the game is called WAR, and "War is everywhere!", not Skirmish: "War is around, if you look hard enough".

I was thinking that the dependence of WAR's PvP on PvE loot really showed that someone lacked the confidence to allow PvP to stand on its own two feet.

[ffc]

If this game wants to keep me as a customer, here are the things that have to change:
1. Significantly increase experience gains from quests. Pretty no-brainer here. I should be able to progress from tier to tier purely from quests if I want to. Hell, I don't think I should have to change pairing unless I want to hang out with some dwarves, yet I not only have to, but that's not even enough to get me through each tier.
[...]

I agree with all your points, but this one will be the reason I quit if it is not addressed. 

I made the mistake of rolling an alt.  I was reminded of how much fun the low level game was.  Scenarios are not all called Tor Anroc, PQ's progress quickly with just two-three players, and I painlessly advanced my XP/Renown at a steady clip.

The thought of going back to T3's grind and hopping pairings to "repeat" quests makes me ill.  I cannot believe how badly the Fun Express crashed in T3.

Oh wait, yes I can.

[Kirth]

1-20 of this game is the most perfect MMO experience I've ever had.

Which side / pairing?

I'm playing HE with Bat Country and Tier 2 is killing me. That the HE side is pretty much empty contributes a lot to this issue.

Also, I'm aware of the technical issues of having larger server populations, but then the game is called WAR, and "War is everywhere!", not Skirmish: "War is around, if you look hard enough".

I was thinking that the dependence of WAR's PvP on PvE loot really showed that someone lacked the confidence to allow PvP to stand on its own two feet.

Just leave HEvDE now and do dwarf or empire. the lack of polish in T3 and T4 (broken quests, PQ's not marked, etc...)shows.

I had a thought, related to the join all option, what if the scenarios popped on a rotation? in that if you hit join all it will rotate what scenario it tries to fill up so if you get a serpents pass one go you might get battle of praag the next. People can still selectively Q and it will use those people to fill up scenarios on a rotation, in this way you may not have say 5-10 serpents passes going but 1-2 of each scenario going at the same time. I find that I just hit join all and leave the serpents pass Q and sometimes I get a scenario, sometime not. It is worse during prime time when hitting join all (as order) instantly pops up with serpents pass.

[Venkman]

Obviously WAR isn't there yet, but you excel in other areas and unfortunately it seems like the steps being taken are... short-sighted.

If it's the long-term, well, you would look at everything carefully.  You would take safer steps while you plan out the bigger steps. 

This.

When you're actually accountable for the financial success of a title as part of a large company, you're not going to quickly react and implement based on a few posts from people more likely to quit anyway than not.

At the same time, that doesn't mean the people aren't right. I have no idea how WAR is built, but I get the sense a lot of stuff is static, thus requiring a lot of manual changes to get many of the things desired here. If that is the case, it probably is a big effort to "fix itemization", "fix lake sizes" (not like they can just change the radius or occurence), "increase [rewards] for RvR" and all of that. Thus the emphasis on sliders and new servers, which from a production standpoint may actually be a lot easier.

I also wonder how much of the live team is structured and resourced to act like a development team. It could be that making development level changes are going to take longer just based on this game no longer being under full-time development.

Finally, the WotLK milestone is something of a red herring. It does not come with RvR. It's basically more of the same WoW that people came to WAR to get away from. Yes, there's 10 more levels to gain and a new fotm class that's going to be nerfed and buffed for the next year. But it's otherwise a known quantity.

So as usual in this genre, there's a choice between something that works very well and yet may be boring people, and the hope that the something new turns into what players want it to be. And as usual, players will bounce back and forth between the two. That is something that goes for far longer than WotLK launching.

[Modern Angel]

1-20 of this game is the most perfect MMO experience I've ever had.

Which side / pairing?

I'm playing HE with Bat Country and Tier 2 is killing me. That the HE side is pretty much empty contributes a lot to this issue.

Also, I'm aware of the technical issues of having larger server populations, but then the game is called WAR, and "War is everywhere!", not Skirmish: "War is around, if you look hard enough".

I was thinking that the dependence of WAR's PvP on PvE loot really showed that someone lacked the confidence to allow PvP to stand on its own two feet.

Orc but if you're in t2 now, after everyone has moved on, I imagine it would be a very different experience.

[UnSub]

1-20 of this game is the most perfect MMO experience I've ever had.

Which side / pairing?

I'm playing HE with Bat Country and Tier 2 is killing me. That the HE side is pretty much empty contributes a lot to this issue.

Also, I'm aware of the technical issues of having larger server populations, but then the game is called WAR, and "War is everywhere!", not Skirmish: "War is around, if you look hard enough".

I was thinking that the dependence of WAR's PvP on PvE loot really showed that someone lacked the confidence to allow PvP to stand on its own two feet.

Orc but if you're in t2 now, after everyone has moved on, I imagine it would be a very different experience.

I think Destro is more fun to play than Order in terms of PvE content. A lot of people complained when the extra cities were cut, when ironically it appears that if all players had a choice of either Empire or Chaos only (still the same number of classes) the game would probably be a smoother ride for people.

[Howitzer]

Few thoughts....

Scenarios are fine. People complain that they are the only thing to do at the moment, but honestly... they are the only thing to do at the moment.  I agree, getting rid of them... bad idea. There are some rulechanges that need to be implemented to fix them... Basic shit that any ignrarnus that plays the game can figure out.  Only the ignorant couldn't imagine that expressing the "take away" in any software product is like committing professional suicide.  TWEAK IT BUT DON'T EVER REMOVE A FEATURE.
Make WINNING the match worthwhile...  give more reward for winning and I dont mean 10% more xp or whatever crap algorithm is in place at the moment.  Right now we have people in these scenarios droppin groups for more xp, we have them not even bothering with winning the match because they get more Renown and XP from killing players win or lose.  That needs some fixing.  Make them NOT worthwhile if you're not going to actually PLAY the damn thing the way its supposed to be.  you dont' cap an objective, YOU DON'T GET CRAP.  Seriously.  how can you get more xp and renown even if you LOSE?  I wouldn't even do the damn things if it wasn't worth my while, so why not make it so I need to TRY, and COMPETE?

On that note, it started me thinking how frustrating it is to not be able to warband and join a scenario.  please add that feature.  don't hold us back because "it would make it unfair" we should be able to be as competitive as possible in this game.  That counts for everything.  I joined a guild years ago so I could play with alike minded gamers to advance my GUILD in this game.  I'm forced daily to play with, often times, completely idiot randoms because (and I could be wrong on my reasoning why it isn't allowed) it would make it "unfair" to do these scenarios?  Crap, that might make them "less appealing" to some as a way to grind out renown/xp and drive people out into the world to do it if they're getting it pushed in by elitist idiots like myself.  LET US WARBAND for them.  Eventually let us cross/server do scenarios.  And fix the bugs/exploits in them .. of course.

RVR.  This is where this game is supposed to excel.  Problem is it's the WEAKEST of all the things that this game has going for it.  Currently I'm level 40.  I logged in on a Saturday.  A SATURDAY on a HIGH POPULATION SERVER.  Guess how many KEEPS I took?  ZERO.  We own them all, and we can't advance to the next zone (fortress) because for some reason we can't even lock the damn zone.  I mean, we have been doing PQs all day in a zone to try and get the thing to lock so we can progress, except THE DAMN BAR WON'T EVEN MOVE.  Taking objectives, killing players, completing quests, and winning scenarios is supposed to move that bar, except.. if you dont have players in a zone to fight you, you can't even move the bar.  You can't take back objectives because there aren't any people in there, and if you DID ALL THE QUESTS already you can't move the bar yet again?
Seriously someone needs to fix that.  Put it on a timer.  If we hold everything for an hour, we get to progress... do SOMETHING To keep gameplay going.  Right now... YOU CAN'T EVEN PLAY THE GAME?! 

Another seriously annoying thing in this game.  HOW IN THE HELL CAN SOMEONE THAT JUST SHOWED UP TO A KEEP RAID, DOING LITTLE TO NOTHING win a LOOT BAG?  I bring my guild to a keep, some retard shows up smacks a few buttons and he gets to take the loot kuz he "rolled high?"  Why in the HELL can't we figure out a way to progress our guild?  I mean, RVR means Realm vs Realm not "my guild" vs realm, but with how loot is distributed, it can take literally YEARS to get all your pieces to a set because any idiot is welcome to show up and roll?  Think about how stupid that is.

I keep wondering.  Is this game going to work out?  Maybe its our server?  Should we reroll on another server?  Will that fix it?  If our server is already HIGH population (Badlands) and we can't find anyone to fight.... does that mean we're so ahead of the curve that'll be fixed in time when the opposition levels up?  how long can we tolerate a game that has NOTHING TO DO IN IT?
Should we wait and see if time fixes it?  When will patch 1.1 come out?  Will that buff weak classes to the point where they will be competitive in a game that is built on the very thing some classes can't do.. KILL OTHER CHARACTERS?  Will it make it "worthwhile" to go RVR?  Right now nobody does it, either A because they're not high enough, or B because it doesn't mean jack crap. 

I'm sure you've spent untold hours thinking about how to fix it.  You seem very passionate about this thing, I would be too.

I can't begin to be like some people here and think I know what is going to fix the game, I can only express to you what it is I see that makes me not want to play the game.  THERE IS NO RVR IN THIS RVR GAME.  I don't know how to stimulate the community to RVR in the wild. take keeps, go and pvp outside for a change.  All I know is that is what was promised, and that was NOT delivered.   Closing Scenarios will NOT fix the game.  The CARROT on the STICK might work for a while, but eventually I think something MAJOR has to be done to fix it.  Once we get all our loot what next?  This game isn't competitive by any means, there's nothing MY GUILD can do right now to say, we accomplished something, when the game seems built to appease the masses.. even if they want to just play casual...   No matter how hard I play, how much quests I do, right now.  I get just as much as the next guy who turns up 2 minutes before we're done with our 1 hours worth of work.   Sorry, that shit wont cut it.

I've been gaming with Maliak for years now in DDH and can vouch for what he is saying here.  One other thing to note here that I read what someone else wrote about Mark which I am 100% in agreement with: 

I believe in Mark Jacobs. He may very well be the most human MMO developer I have ever had the experience to encounter. His honesty, insight, and willingness to own up to mistakes makes him in my eyes one of the best resources WAR has behind it.

This is the one reason that I have hope for this game more than I normally would for others.  The bottom line though is, I'm starting to become very concerned that the thing holding me to Warhammer the most, (my guild), is losing serious interest in staying full time and hardcore dedicated to it.  Time is running out.

[slog]

Someone must have linked this thread because the Vaultards have invaded.

[Howitzer]

Someone must have linked this thread because the Vaultards have invaded.

Not sure who you're referring to but if your goal is to encourage a closed discussion that is free from the public eye I would suggest recommending this entire forum closed and hidden to all except the highly devoted 40-yr old virgins.  Otherwise, be happy that new blood comes in here once in a while to add meaningful feedback to these threads that matter to all of us who care about this game.

Cheers. :)

[schild]

WHA, FoH and SA actually, not IGN, though I'd wager there's a link there now also, but no substantial number of visitors.

http://www.fohguild.org/forums/mmorpg-general-discussion/35739-war-nda-officially-lifted-post-pics-info-483.html

Edit: People came here, obviously, hoping to get their voice heard. Instead it just seems like dev stalking. Oh well, whatever.

[Lakov_Sanite]

WHA, FoH and SA actually, not IGN, though I'd wager there's a link there now also, but no substantial number of visitors.

http://www.fohguild.org/forums/mmorpg-general-discussion/35739-war-nda-officially-lifted-post-pics-info-483.html

Edit: People came here, obviously, hoping to get their voice heard. Instead it just seems like dev stalking. Oh well, whatever.

People want to feel like the people they are paying for a service are listening to them(even if they aren't) this is exactly why you need pfficial forums, if only to make people feel like you care what they say.

[Howitzer]

WHA, FoH and SA actually, not IGN, though I'd wager there's a link there now also, but no substantial number of visitors.

http://www.fohguild.org/forums/mmorpg-general-discussion/35739-war-nda-officially-lifted-post-pics-info-483.html

Edit: People came here, obviously, hoping to get their voice heard. Instead it just seems like dev stalking. Oh well, whatever.

Not sure, schild, but as for me, I've been reading this site for years just never bothered to join into the discussion.  I can't speak for anyone else.

In regards to Jacobs making polls and posts asking for feedback from VN, it really shocked me as well.  The only reason I ever visit is because I know Mythic posts there.  Why? I really have no idea...  Saying you post on VN is like saying your website is hosted with Geocities.com.

[Arthur_Parker]

In regards to Jacobs making polls and posts asking for feedback from VN, it really shocked me as well.  The only reason I ever visit is because I know Mythic posts there.  Why? I really have no idea...  Saying you post on VN is like saying your website is hosted with Geocities.com.

Oh please, he's not going to post at foh for obvious reasons.  They decided not to have official forums, I don't agree with it but considering they aren't doing 40k online I can understand it.  Mythic have a long history with vn because of daoc, pick something else to be shocked about.

[Paelos]

Well, the moment this thread got a little momentum, I figured it was only a matter of time until people on the outside started storming the gates. Not that I think it will matter much, because I'm pretty sure Mark is off working on the stuff that was repeated a billion times already. My sub expired today, and I'll just wait until we have word that the grind in the 20s and 30s is reduced and/or gone.

As long as they have a long term plan to improve the game in that regard, I'll be back in 6 months when it's done.

[Howitzer]

In regards to Jacobs making polls and posts asking for feedback from VN, it really shocked me as well.  The only reason I ever visit is because I know Mythic posts there.  Why? I really have no idea...  Saying you post on VN is like saying your website is hosted with Geocities.com.

Oh please, he's not going to post at foh for obvious reasons.  They decided not to have official forums, I don't agree with it but considering they aren't doing 40k online I can understand it.  Mythic have a long history with vn because of daoc, pick something else to be shocked about.

Ok, you got me.  You're right, I'm wrong.

Note folks: The Golden Rule of Internet Forums: "No one ever admits they are wrong, and everyone wants to have the last word."

[Paelos]

Stay on topic guys. We don't really care why you're here or where you came from if your points are solid.

[Howitzer]

Stay on topic guys. We don't really care why you're here or where you came from if your points are solid.

Hey, good attitude. =)

With what you said before, you said you let your 30 days run out and didn't subscribe.  I did the opposite.  My reasoning is that if I let my character slide for 6 months I'd be behind beyond belief especially in renown rank.  The other thing is I am pretty sure that there is absolutely NO worthy MMO coming out on the market in the next 2-3 years which means, (for me), its Warhammer or bust. WoTLK in my eyes is just more of the same things Tigole has been shoving down people's throats since his glory days in <LoS> EQ1: - Raid - Raid - Raid.  No thanks.

[Azazel]

As long as they have a long term plan to improve the game in that regard, I'll be back in 6 months when it's done.

Ahh Paelos. Do you know how it hurts me deep in my soul when I agree with you? 

[Sparky]

In regards to Jacobs making polls and posts asking for feedback from VN, it really shocked me as well.  The only reason I ever visit is because I know Mythic posts there.  Why? I really have no idea...  Saying you post on VN is like saying your website is hosted with Geocities.com.

Oh please, he's not going to post at foh for obvious reasons.  They decided not to have official forums, I don't agree with it but considering they aren't doing 40k online I can understand it.  Mythic have a long history with vn because of daoc, pick something else to be shocked about.

Last game that made me read VN boards for the latest word was Horizons.  Not a great association.

[Tmon]

Last game that made me read VN boards for the latest word was Horizons.  Not a great association.

I just read this one, sooner or later anything important gets cut and pasted here.  I give a long delayed and richly deserved salute to those brave souls who read VN so I don't have to.

[lac]

So I rolled an ironbreaker on a recommended low pop server. Ouch. Thank god for scenarios or I'd never run into anybody. In those scenario's I meet the same guys over and over again, but that's cool because you can actually go after that a-hole that busted your balls in the previous one. I'm having a good time.
Playing on a low pop server also means you really have to organise your rvr. Unless we give our destruction brethren a time and place, besieging a keep will be pve most of the time.
Of course public quests are undoable. I'm rank 20 now and I have never seen more than 3 people doing a public quest, and even then we wiped out on stage two.
We are on a new server where people from a high pop server can migrate to, yet none of them want to anymore, because people that did get the word back that the server is dead besides t1. And while that isn't exactly true, it isn't all that far from being wrong either.
I'm still enjoying myself but on my server it's pretty clear that unless we get a higher population there won't be much war going on.

You can actually see subscriptions fizzling out in tier 3. They should make an animation for it.

[Paelos]

As long as they have a long term plan to improve the game in that regard, I'll be back in 6 months when it's done.

Ahh Paelos. Do you know how it hurts me deep in my soul when I agree with you? 

  Bad grinds create strange alliances.

[Modern Angel]

It's struck me how WoW's time investment has evolved with their playerbase and it's even more glaring with the issues WAR is experiencing. A guy who started WoW in, say, his senior year of college at release is now 26 years old. The free time and outlook of a 22 year old is very different than a 26 year old. I started at 26 and am now 31; that's a big difference, too. So while I'm certain that some of the in-game issues prompted the moves from 40>25>10 man raiding and the like I'm just as certain that Blizzard being cognizant of how large portions of their playerbase "growing up" with their game was a big factor.

So when people talk about WAR competing with WoW now as opposed to WoW four years ago I think this is another factor. WAR made a game which, due to the grind, is catered to a group of people with more free time and tolerance than I currently have. If WLK were not shipping with 10 mans as an option I would probably be out. As it is, for all the talk of WoW being a kid's game, it's the only one on the market that caters to adults. To me.

That's such a strange thing to me, that the game which required such amazing catassery in the late AQ40/early Naxx days would become the only thing out there for an adult's schedule. I guess what I'm saying is that I'm not convinced that making a game for late teens/early twenties is the way to go about this. It's a big pie now but I think it's aging far more quickly (along with the rest of the PC market) than the XBox Live crowd which is constituting such a big part of the internet gaming market moving forward.

[Megrim]

So I rolled an ironbreaker on a recommended low pop server. Ouch. Thank god for scenarios or I'd never run into anybody. In those scenario's I meet the same guys over and over again, but that's cool because you can actually go after that a-hole that busted your balls in the previous one. I'm having a good time.
Playing on a low pop server also means you really have to organise your rvr. Unless we give our destruction brethren a time and place, besieging a keep will be pve most of the time.
Of course public quests are undoable. I'm rank 20 now and I have never seen more than 3 people doing a public quest, and even then we wiped out on stage two.
We are on a new server where people from a high pop server can migrate to, yet none of them want to anymore, because people that did get the word back that the server is dead besides t1. And while that isn't exactly true, it isn't all that far from being wrong either.
I'm still enjoying myself but on my server it's pretty clear that unless we get a higher population there won't be much war going on.

You can actually see subscriptions fizzling out in tier 3. They should make an animation for it.

One thing i haven't seen addressed adequately is the gear aspect of PQs. I'm a little confused, as per lac's post for example, as to why people bother with PQs at all - from everything i've seen of the game so far (Tiers 1 and 2) Renown gear is leaps and bounds better then PQ gear. There does not, quite literally, seem to be any point in doing them.

[Howitzer]

It's struck me how WoW's time investment has evolved with their playerbase and it's even more glaring with the issues WAR is experiencing. A guy who started WoW in, say, his senior year of college at release is now 26 years old. The free time and outlook of a 22 year old is very different than a 26 year old. I started at 26 and am now 31; that's a big difference, too. So while I'm certain that some of the in-game issues prompted the moves from 40>25>10 man raiding and the like I'm just as certain that Blizzard being cognizant of how large portions of their playerbase "growing up" with their game was a big factor.

So when people talk about WAR competing with WoW now as opposed to WoW four years ago I think this is another factor. WAR made a game which, due to the grind, is catered to a group of people with more free time and tolerance than I currently have. If WLK were not shipping with 10 mans as an option I would probably be out. As it is, for all the talk of WoW being a kid's game, it's the only one on the market that caters to adults. To me.

That's such a strange thing to me, that the game which required such amazing catassery in the late AQ40/early Naxx days would become the only thing out there for an adult's schedule. I guess what I'm saying is that I'm not convinced that making a game for late teens/early twenties is the way to go about this. It's a big pie now but I think it's aging far more quickly (along with the rest of the PC market) than the XBox Live crowd which is constituting such a big part of the internet gaming market moving forward.

Great post.

[Righ]

As it is, for all the talk of WoW being a kid's game, it's the only one on the market that caters to adults. To me.

There a few other games that are 'casual friendly' and as a result appeal to adults. CoH/CoV is one example. The main problem is that they primarily appeal to people who want to do the same thing repeatedly - tax accountants, bass players and IT systems administrators, for example.

[schild]

One thing i haven't seen addressed adequately is the gear aspect of PQs. I'm a little confused, as per lac's post for example, as to why people bother with PQs at all - from everything i've seen of the game so far (Tiers 1 and 2) Renown gear is leaps and bounds better then PQ gear. There does not, quite literally, seem to be any point in doing them.

lol so wrong

[Zira]

Summary...

* PvP is crazy fun... love it... want more
* T3 PvE is mind-scorchingly fucked.  If T4 is worse...  
* Renown gears sucks ass....

[Megrim]

One thing i haven't seen addressed adequately is the gear aspect of PQs. I'm a little confused, as per lac's post for example, as to why people bother with PQs at all - from everything i've seen of the game so far (Tiers 1 and 2) Renown gear is leaps and bounds better then PQ gear. There does not, quite literally, seem to be any point in doing them.

lol so wrong

lol show me

[schild]

One thing i haven't seen addressed adequately is the gear aspect of PQs. I'm a little confused, as per lac's post for example, as to why people bother with PQs at all - from everything i've seen of the game so far (Tiers 1 and 2) Renown gear is leaps and bounds better then PQ gear. There does not, quite literally, seem to be any point in doing them.

lol so wrong

lol show me

Show you what? I don't think I'm wearing a single piece of renown gear (unless you count the one set piece you buy in tier 3, shoulders I think or wristguards) and almost all of it is tier 3 PQ drops, including some Tier 2 PQ drops and my ballistic is probably 25-50% higher than if I were wearing the proper level renown gear.

If you think renown gear is better than PQ gear, you're not getting decent enough rolls in PQs.

Edit: http://www.wardb.com/profile.aspx?id=27513#guild-roster

I'm pretty sure I, in fact, have no renown gear at all. My ballistic would probably be 200 less if I had renown gear in fact. Sure my armor might be higher but then I'd be doing DPS wrong.