Here comes the next content patch (3.2)

[Lakov_Sanite]

I would bet money that battlegrounds will become more popular in low levels due to this, not less.  Not only will a majority of players be able to log in on nights when they don't feel like grinding for some decent(albeit slightly lower as stated) exp but they won't have to deal with being bitchslapped by twinks which made battlegrounds infinitely less fun.


Also a blue Q&A mentioned they were wanting to add blue and green drops to battleground matches at the end, sort of a warhammer style loot bag.

[Draegan]

I would bet money that battlegrounds will become more popular in low levels due to this, not less.  Not only will a majority of players be able to log in on nights when they don't feel like grinding for some decent(albeit slightly lower as stated) exp but they won't have to deal with being bitchslapped by twinks which made battlegrounds infinitely less fun.


Also a blue Q&A mentioned they were wanting to add blue and green drops to battleground matches at the end, sort of a warhammer style loot bag.

That would be win.

Leveling in WOW without doing the best quest grind route would be great.

I'm at lvl55 with my RAF dual box setup.  It went by FAST... gotta love triple experience.  Depends on how much experience you're getting per BG.  If you get the equivalent of 2-3 quest turnins then it's win.

[Ingmar]

I'm actually seriously considering making a twink now, because evidently it applies in PvE as well, so I could realistically farm up some nice twink gear and throw some enchants on.  Maybe in one of the later tiers, then again, the twink BG's might be utterly desolate because even though all the twink troll alts on the Blizzard forums claim it, I really doubt they actually like twink on twink pvp.

Pretty much. Plus what they've really just done is killed low-level battlegrounds entirely.  It already took me 10-20 minutes to get games on my 17 hunter and 29 rogue, and on Alliance side at least half of those players weren't twinks.  Even in prime time the highest number of BGs that I've seen running at those ranges was 3.    Split that up and you're getting a bg every few hour or greater initially, which will only decrease with time as folks don't bother queuing up anymore.

Well, theoretically the fact that you can get XP and avoid the twinks should drive participation up at least some. It remains to be seen if it will be enough of course.

[chargerrich]

I really think this is going to be huge... gainng xp in battlegrounds is just another way to level and the more ways to level that are available equate to less people getting burned out on questing or grinding.

Add to the fact that twinks get all but removed from the equation (well at least a good majority of them) is just a bonus.

As a side note I am glad that Blizzard listens to the 99% of the player base and not the poopsocking 1% who scream the loudest. I play 40 hours a week, run a large guild and raid 5 days a week but I am still not in that 1% category and love that Blizzard is making the game more accessible to the majority. Now all we need is a /55 switch 

[ghost]

I would bet money that battlegrounds will become more popular in low levels due to this, not less.  Not only will a majority of players be able to log in on nights when they don't feel like grinding for some decent(albeit slightly lower as stated) exp but they won't have to deal with being bitchslapped by twinks which made battlegrounds infinitely less fun.


Also a blue Q&A mentioned they were wanting to add blue and green drops to battleground matches at the end, sort of a warhammer style loot bag.

I really enjoyed the WOW BGs when they were equally matched teams.  They are infinitely better than anything WAR has to offer.  I care less about the xp issue than the twink issue, but to fix one you have to fix the other.  This is going to be major, major win.

[Arrrgh]

Players will now be awarded experience for completing objectives and actions that yield honor in Battlegrounds (honorable kills not included).

That sounds like the twinks can just live in mid field. If they avoid flags they won't get exp.

[Lakov_Sanite]

I'm pretty sure winning will give an overall exp gain.  I'm not sure I like that flag captures award individual exp though as it will just make people more dickish to their own team mates.

[chargerrich]

I'm pretty sure winning will give an overall exp gain.  I'm not sure I like that flag captures award individual exp though as it will just make people more dickish to their own team mates.

Sorry I have not read the patch notes (at work, filters...) anyway, how will individual xp work? Lets say we are in AV and kill Belinda, normally we get like 62 honor and everyone on Horde gets it... how will xp be rewarded? killing blow or small radius or some other form of limitation?

[Gobbeldygook]

I'm pretty sure winning will give an overall exp gain.  I'm not sure I like that flag captures award individual exp though as it will just make people more dickish to their own team mates.

As an example to address both of these posts, your team capturing a flag in Warsong Gulch will award everyone on your team a certain amount of experience, just as is currently the case with honor. The attack/defend issue won't really pertain to experience gains since honorable kills will not be awarding honor.

Source

[Sjofn]

Sweet.

[Merusk]

Twinks will still be around, just not twinked as horribly as they are.(Oh, hello level 19 mage with 2khp)   I've got the Ancestrial weapon and shoulders on my twink and I'm saving for the trinket.  If I have to I'll just mail  upgrades from crafters for the other parts.. like I always do.

[Ragnoros]

This looked like major gnashing of teeth info, guess no one here arenas?

Arenas

The newest season of Arena gear can only be purchased if you meet the requirements with your 3 or 5-player team rating. Rating requirements from 2-player teams can still be used to purchase the previous season of gear.

[Sheepherder]

This looked like major gnashing of teeth info, guess no one here arenas?

People still play arenas?

[Ingmar]

This looked like major gnashing of teeth info, guess no one here arenas?

Arenas

The newest season of Arena gear can only be purchased if you meet the requirements with your 3 or 5-player team rating. Rating requirements from 2-player teams can still be used to purchase the previous season of gear.

I do, but I'm nowhere near the 1900+ or whatever rating you need to get the newest season gear so I don't really care. Our prot warrior/moonkin duo just clawed our way to 1450 and we felt good. 

[Rendakor]

That was probably the nail in the coffin for our arena participation. My DK/Lock duo stayed in the 1500-1550 range but I really despise everything about the Arena system.
<rant on>
The matchmaking system is awful, since it has some made up bullshit fake rating that it uses to assign you games, that has NEVER been within 100 points of our team's actual rating. The scoring system seems equally arbitrary: you gain or lose points based on some arcane combination of your personal rating, your team's real rating, your team's fake rating, your opponent's fake rating, and your opponent's real rating. Hard fought games against people 100 points above us will yield a 6 point gain, then a loss to an even team will cost us 11. Every week it seemed like two steps forward, one step back. I inherently hate any system where progress can be LOST; any time where you play for an hour or whatever and are worse off thereafter is fuckall stupid.

The stages are imbalanced as well; they're fixing the Sewers but no mention of the one with the elevators (Blade's Edge maybe?). Pets frequently get stuck in the terrain of the elevators themselves; guaranteed loss.

And now Blizz deciding that once again, more people = better loot. I only know one really good PVPer, so we just did 2s. All attempts at 3s have failed to get out of the 1000s, I can't even imagine trying 5s.

Even the way you get Arena gear is fuckall stupid. You need personal rating, team rating, Arena points AND fucking Honor? Like, really? Imagine needing a personal Achievement, Valor Emblems, Heroic Emblems, and a bullshit new Guild Achievement just to buy a piece of badge gear.  Requiring personal AND team rating just stops players from experimenting or playing with others; why even allow more than 2 people on a team?

Sigh. </rant off>

I really wish when they put in Season 7, the add the Season 5 weapons back in as Honor only, no Arena required. Or hell, put in some ilvl 200s, comparable to Titansteel so no one cries WAH WELFAIR EPIX!

[Lakov_Sanite]

if your rating is 1550 then this change won't affect you in any way.

[Fordel]

I do, but I'm nowhere near the 1900+ or whatever rating you need to get the newest season gear so I don't really care. Our prot warrior/moonkin duo just clawed our way to 1450 and we felt good. 

Only because we would get to 1447 then run into Priest/DK, Priest/Rogue, Priest/Mage etc...


Fuck priests 

[Rendakor]

if your rating is 1550 then this change won't affect you in any way.

Untrue, the first piece of Furious gear becomes available at 1400, with another available every 50 rating.

[Phred]

I really wish when they put in Season 7, the add the Season 5 weapons back in as Honor only, no Arena required. Or hell, put in some ilvl 200s, comparable to Titansteel so no one cries WAH WELFAIR EPIX!

You probably already know this but on the off chance you dont. The jousting weapons are 12 days of meh dailies for 1 weapon. As close to free epix as you're gonna get in the current state of the game.

[K9]

I think he means weapons with resilience; which are nonexistent for any but the top-tier of pvpers.

[Musashi]

It might bear repeating before this turns into a shitfest that the reason they use a rating system is so that you don't have a soul-crushing grind against people on amphetamines.

Could the rating system be done better?  Of course.  Nothing is perfect.  I don't know about fake ratings.  If that's true, then it's crazy and should be changed.  But hating any system where you can lose points is only begging for the grind back.  If you can't lose points, then it's only a question of grinding to the win.  So which one is worse?

[Selby]

If you can't lose points, then it's only a question of grinding to the win.  So which one is worse?

The old system where you had to grind out BGs & honor more than everyone else +1 to get the highest title and best gear was horrible.  Everyone knew who the handful of people who had no lives and sat at their computers all day were.

[Gobbeldygook]

Could the rating system be done better?  Of course.  Nothing is perfect.  I don't know about fake ratings.  If that's true, then it's crazy and should be changed.

There is a hidden rating you cannot see in game, but you can see on the armory.  The hidden rating is their estimation of where you 'should' be based on past performance.  If you had a 2300 3's rating, disbanded your team, and made a new one, it doesn't match you up against rating 0 teams, it matches you up against teams it thinks actually stand a chance against you.  MMR carries over between seasons, but not brackets.  Here's an explanation for how it worked in s5 (Everyone starts at 0 now so it works somewhat differently now, but it's about right).

[Rendakor]

The MMR isn't even hidden anymore, it's listed on the screen it shows after an Arena game; the rate at which your real rating advances is based on how close your real rating is to your fake rating.

The old system was awful too. I just don't think this is much of an improvement. "Anything is better than the shit we had before" is not an arguement I accept.

And yes, I was looking for weapons with resilience on them.

[Fordel]

One of the largest flaws of the current system, is it only works if you assume all class/spec/comps are created equal, which is obviously NOT the case. 

[tmp]

Every week it seemed like two steps forward, one step back. I inherently hate any system where progress can be LOST; any time where you play for an hour or whatever and are worse off thereafter is fuckall stupid.

The rating is not progress, it's position on a top-10-million list calculated and presented in obfuscated manner. So yeah, if you lose some games then you quite naturally drop some spots on that list. They could've a system where everyone would just keep gaining points and then X people with the most points could get the stuff*, and the effect would be quite similar -- a catass with no life would be able to oust you from your "earned" reward by putting in more time than you did. As it is, it's based more on the actual performance in number of matches.

*) 

[Lakov_Sanite]

wintergrasp to become a 100 v 100 bg

Quote from Blizzard staff
Wintergrasp

    * To provide players with a more transparent notification of when Wintergrasp battles occur, as well as better control zone population and stability, several changes have been made.
    * Players now have the option to queue for Wintergrasp from a Wintergrasp Battlemaster in any capital city or by simply entering the Wintergrasp zone.
    * Queuing will begin 15 minutes before each battle. If chosen, you will automatically be teleported to the zone. Any players in the zone who have not been chosen from the queue will be teleported out when the battle begins.
    * The queue system remains active for the entire battle. As soon as a player leaves, a new one will be chosen from the queue.
    * Trying to enter Wintergrasp during an active battle for which you have not been chosen will teleport you out. Please note that, as you are now able to fly over Wintergrasp, you will only be teleported out if you try to land and join the battle.
    * Level 80 players get higher priority in the queue than lower level players. In addition, a random selection of queued players will be taken from both the Battlemasters and the zone itself.
    * The queue will accept up to 100 players from each faction, resulting in a maximum battle of 200 players at a time.

[Kail]

wintergrasp to become a 100 v 100 bg

Oh, for fuck's sake...

As an aside, does anyone know if they're doing anything about the level-limited BGs?  PvP for XP sounds great, but until 50 or so, there's nothing to queue for except Arathi and Warsong, and I am already bloody sick of CTF.

[Rendakor]

Just when I thought the patch notes couldn't get any worse...

[WindupAtheist]

It's amazing how thoroughly they've ruined Wintergrasp. I had gotten to like dropping in and doing my dailies, even with the big lag at the end. But then they wrecked the dailies, and now they're pretty much writing the whole idea off as a failure.

[Rendakor]

It's like what they did with AV all over again.

[K9]

Next it will be tenacity in BGs.

The game definitely seems to have lost its way a bit.

[Simond]

Well, WG was only designed as a spoiler for WAR anyway ("You want open-world PVP? Here's your fucking open world PvP!") and really sjhould have been an instanced BG from the beginning anyway because world PvP doesn't work. Ever.

[Lakov_Sanite]

Well, WG was only designed as a spoiler for WAR anyway ("You want open-world PVP? Here's your fucking open world PvP!") and really sjhould have been an instanced BG from the beginning anyway because world PvP doesn't work. Ever.

This. Precisely.

Some of you may have liked WG but to me, it was never fun.  Oh I liked the idea of it, the concept but every fight just ended up on my server as horde being outnumbered 5 to 1.  The only reason WG was even created and kept around so long was to draw people away from war but it never should have been made in the first place.

Wow never could support 500+ people all fighting in one zone and they shouldn't have ever attempted it, most modern mmo's just weren't built for that.  To people thinking this is a bad thing I don't know what to say....did you like servers crashing?

[Merusk]

The people who think it's a bad idea probably know their faction will now lose all the time, shutting off access to Emalon. Which sucks.  Hell, it only takes 20 coordinated Horde to wipe the Alliances ass NOW.. when it's limited to equal sides, the Alliance is never going to have control of WG again on my server.  Hilarious.