Stranger (not verified) on January 9, 2007 - 20:40.
Fact #1
You need gear and a team to win games.
Fact #2
Grinding makes Blizzard rich.
Fact #3
PvE-oriented teams usually win in PvP.
The master plan of most PvE geared players is to raid end instances and then go in BGs and win all the time, to unwind, to relax. It's not their main concern, and not their main priority timewise. When BC comes out, PvE oriented players will want to run the new instances, not play arena over and over again. By allowing casual arena players to have access to the best rankings, you are basically saying to end-game PvE players "come unwind with your guild in the arena for a couple of games and dominate this place too, for minimal amounts of time which you can afford". If the argument is to give a chance to casual players to have access to nice arena gear, I don't think this is the way to approach it. I really don't know how Bliz can try to please both hardcore and casual players in a fair manner. Both of them are clients that pay the same amount of money at the end of the month, so you need to keep both interested. Hardcore players like the carrot, casuals want it too, but would rather like to have quick fun, since time spent in WoW is an issue.
If you want a quick picture of how PvP is represented if everyone was of same gear level, create yourself a character in the 10-19 or 20-29 BGs, and for about 500-1000 gold, you have pretty much next to the BEST character you can get, EVER. No more brand new tier sets, no more gear updates, or skill sets, etc... Low-level characters are a "fast-forward" in the PvP timeline in WoW. Hardcores make twinks, casuals do not, and then complain about the twinks. Play twinks vs twinks, and you have pretty much tier 3 guild against tier 3 guild. Same thing, but a LOT more accessible. The day Bliz puts requirements on enchants is the day they decide to flatten PvP, in my opinion, and "punish" hardcores.
All in all, myself being a PvP oriented player, it's all a matter of where you have most FUN. I had a twink in the 10-19s, and was BORED out of it because it was always the same easy wins, until alliance organized themselves and made a twink guild. Then I saw the other side of the coin, where you mostly lose. WSG basically became a rep grind. Then cross-servers came, and that pretty much ended it, since you could see teams all the time. Being part of a twink guild became a NECESSITY to win. I think this was a factor Bliz considered for creating arenas, so that teams would go there instead of BGs (for the higher levels).
True, it's frustrating to see those tier 3 guilds come in AB and 5 cap, or farm your graveyard in WSG. Why should it be PvE gear that wins over PvP gear, when you are doing PvP? This is because Blizzard chooses to reward hardcore PvE players with the best gear instead of hardcore PvP players. I think it's that simple. At the moment, you can't expect to win them all if you haven't experienced everything the game has to offer. This means that you are forced to organize or be part of a PvE guild if you want to succeed in the high tier PvP matches.
You can't stop people from being hardcore, and making very effective teams. It's just a fact to accept. Casuals have a disadvantage right from the start, because they simply have less experience and organization than the hardcore players. When they ACCEPT that fact, then they should opt for fun games instead of that carrot. It's window shopping, really. Showing it to them makes them want to have it, and BECOME hardcore about it, or give up.
In conclusion, I think that Bliz should do something to reward PvP-oriented players. This is a reality I have found annoying for quite some time now: PvE oriented players dominate PvP, even against organized PvP teams. Blizzard should give access to unique skills or other such advantages in the PvP sets which only work on PLAYERS. When they realize that PvP and PvE are separate things, I think matches will be much much more interesting. Even casual players could do that nice ability from his normal PvP set to the well geared PvE player with monstruous stats, but no such ability. There is simply no advantage to being a uniquely PvP oriented player now, even with Arena.
-0.1 seconds on Cyclone? please... I'd rather have that Dreamwalker set ANY day!
Re: WoW's Arena system: more hardcore than ever
Fact #1
You need gear and a team to win games.
Fact #2
Grinding makes Blizzard rich.
Fact #3
PvE-oriented teams usually win in PvP.
The master plan of most PvE geared players is to raid end instances and then go in BGs and win all the time, to unwind, to relax. It's not their main concern, and not their main priority timewise. When BC comes out, PvE oriented players will want to run the new instances, not play arena over and over again. By allowing casual arena players to have access to the best rankings, you are basically saying to end-game PvE players "come unwind with your guild in the arena for a couple of games and dominate this place too, for minimal amounts of time which you can afford". If the argument is to give a chance to casual players to have access to nice arena gear, I don't think this is the way to approach it. I really don't know how Bliz can try to please both hardcore and casual players in a fair manner. Both of them are clients that pay the same amount of money at the end of the month, so you need to keep both interested. Hardcore players like the carrot, casuals want it too, but would rather like to have quick fun, since time spent in WoW is an issue.
If you want a quick picture of how PvP is represented if everyone was of same gear level, create yourself a character in the 10-19 or 20-29 BGs, and for about 500-1000 gold, you have pretty much next to the BEST character you can get, EVER. No more brand new tier sets, no more gear updates, or skill sets, etc... Low-level characters are a "fast-forward" in the PvP timeline in WoW. Hardcores make twinks, casuals do not, and then complain about the twinks. Play twinks vs twinks, and you have pretty much tier 3 guild against tier 3 guild. Same thing, but a LOT more accessible. The day Bliz puts requirements on enchants is the day they decide to flatten PvP, in my opinion, and "punish" hardcores.
All in all, myself being a PvP oriented player, it's all a matter of where you have most FUN. I had a twink in the 10-19s, and was BORED out of it because it was always the same easy wins, until alliance organized themselves and made a twink guild. Then I saw the other side of the coin, where you mostly lose. WSG basically became a rep grind. Then cross-servers came, and that pretty much ended it, since you could see teams all the time. Being part of a twink guild became a NECESSITY to win. I think this was a factor Bliz considered for creating arenas, so that teams would go there instead of BGs (for the higher levels).
True, it's frustrating to see those tier 3 guilds come in AB and 5 cap, or farm your graveyard in WSG. Why should it be PvE gear that wins over PvP gear, when you are doing PvP? This is because Blizzard chooses to reward hardcore PvE players with the best gear instead of hardcore PvP players. I think it's that simple. At the moment, you can't expect to win them all if you haven't experienced everything the game has to offer. This means that you are forced to organize or be part of a PvE guild if you want to succeed in the high tier PvP matches.
You can't stop people from being hardcore, and making very effective teams. It's just a fact to accept. Casuals have a disadvantage right from the start, because they simply have less experience and organization than the hardcore players. When they ACCEPT that fact, then they should opt for fun games instead of that carrot. It's window shopping, really. Showing it to them makes them want to have it, and BECOME hardcore about it, or give up.
In conclusion, I think that Bliz should do something to reward PvP-oriented players. This is a reality I have found annoying for quite some time now: PvE oriented players dominate PvP, even against organized PvP teams. Blizzard should give access to unique skills or other such advantages in the PvP sets which only work on PLAYERS. When they realize that PvP and PvE are separate things, I think matches will be much much more interesting. Even casual players could do that nice ability from his normal PvP set to the well geared PvE player with monstruous stats, but no such ability. There is simply no advantage to being a uniquely PvP oriented player now, even with Arena.
-0.1 seconds on Cyclone? please... I'd rather have that Dreamwalker set ANY day!