WoW's new problem, the BG issue

Patch day has come and gone, and everyone is upset for various reasons, as normal. Major issue right now, AV is a wasteland. Where once was a thriving angry mob playing a fun BG, there is now a thriving angry mob playing the WoW forums. The forums actually give a sense of reward in terms of stress relief and getting your feelings out there. Funny, that's really the entire issue in the first place. The following is a post I made on those forums:

"Northrend leveling just wasn't interesting. Level 71 was, but that's about it. I know Blizzard spent forever on it, and they're all proud of it, but it still blew. Leveling has become so easy, yet still mind numbing in longevity,that it's about as interesting as afk'ing in a BG.

It's pretty obvious players aren't viewing leveling as a mode of progression for a character anymore. It's just a grind that they have to jump hoops through in order to get to the progression paths in the end game. WoW is an old game and it's expected, but it's also expected of Blizzard to fart miracles.

Why even increase the level cap to 85, why not just make a really involving and entertaining quest chain that players have to complete, takes maybe 5 hours, and call it a day. Congratulations, you can join the rest of the remade 80's.

It's the same problem with battle grounds. For arena players, they aren't viewed as a mode of progression, they're just like leveling. That's the real problem with battle grounds. If you don't offer a reward, many people won't want to participate. Thanks for the treadmill guys, where's mah carrot at!?"

Now, I wrote that after participating in some BG's myself today, to see what all the fuss was about. I went on a level 80 toon. Well, it's true that AV is a wasteland, there wasn't a single game running when normally there would be 7, but everything else was normal. When you go off the forums into the game itself, it's like a magical cloth is pulled over your eyes, and all you see is happy people.

It's a real issue in this aging MMO. MMO's need to stay fresh, they need to offer a reward for the grind. Currently there is no reward for leveling, except that hey, now you can actually level in a way important to the game itself. I won't bring up Aion's leveling just yet, because I feel I need to experience it a little more to get the full scope of how it's working. I could generalize it, as I have before, but I'll reserve from doing so for this post.

Rated Battlegrounds in Cataclysm

The biggest news out of Blizzcon for me was the addition of rated battlegrounds in the upcoming Cataclysm expansion. I was pretty much ecstatic. I have long rallied for the arena system of old where by there were no rating requirements, but ratings determined how many points you achieved a week. Those with poor ratings often could not gain more than 200 or points a week, which meant 6 to 8 weeks of arena just to get a pair of pants!

Blizzard got it completely wrong, I'm not afraid to say it. They blame the failure of interest in TBC raiding on the easy access of arena gear. TBC raiding failed because of the massive system shock to guilds, both from the initial cut of numbers from 40 to 25, and then the progression path that involved a 10 man raid. The jump from easy mode Karahzan to SSC/TK definitely didn't help the issue.

Gaining gear through arenas was often called "welfare", but it was damn hard to get at the same time. By their own word, the majority of players were at 1500 rating. The system was a bell curve. If Blizzard felt that players were getting gear too quickly, then all they had to do was raise the cost of pieces of arena gear. Instead they added the horrible rating system, trying to promote raiding by removing access to weapons. The archaic concept of raiding in order to gain upgrades to weapons was pulled straight from someones ass.

Honestly, not much has changed with the inclusion of the rating system. The same players still gain the same approximate amount of upgrades as if there weren't rating requirements at all, they're just limited to gloves and legs instead of getting to choose from the entire 5 peice set. The bigger problem is the removal of accessable weapons to players who don't want to PvE.

Back to the topic though. The rated battlegrounds aren't actually worth... anything. So far there's no conclusion on if players will gain seperate rating for bg's then their arena ratings, but the general consensus looks like it is tied to your arena rating. Many people are throwing around the idea that rated bg's will up your arena rating, and that's how you will gain bonus arena points. I can't believe that that is the system, but knowing Blizzard, these people may be right.

Two huge problems with rated battlegrounds that I can't believe Blizzard is stupid enough to implement. 1) You are only allowed to play around 6 game a week. What? What in the world is the point then? Why only 6 games, the entire point of rated battle grounds was to let players enjoy battle grounds and get back into the PvP progression path that arenas blocked them from. Then there's the even bigger issue. 2) No PuG's. Only full teams of 10, 15, or whatever the number of people play an AV match is, can queue for a rated BG. So close Blizzard, so close yet so stupidly far. All that is needed is the no rating change if you lose concept, coupled with a BG MMR and normal rating system, and you end up in a situation where people can PuG to their hearts content and progress in your game.

Rated battlegrounds at this point in time are nothing more than a gimmick. They aren't meant for the casual player to have a means of end game progression, they aren't meant for BG lovers to have a means of end game progression, it's nothing but hot air to make their expansion look better if you don't do your research. Just reading the info on MMO-Champ about rated BG's will leave you nowhere near the actual idea.

Blizzard, you need to bring back PvP progression for casual players. Does everyone deserve all the best gear? No. Does everyone deserve a chance at that gear? Yes. I still feel that Season 2 arena was the best PvP progression path WoW has ever shown. The old argument that shoulders are seen and worth something is actually really bad these days, with how horrible and small the shoulders look, they just aren't as big as they used to be back in Season 3. Rating should determine how many arena points you gain, the speed at which you can aquire PvP gear. A 1500 rated player should be able to accomplish 2 pieces of season gear through arenas by 80% of the way through the season if they play every day. An 1800 rated player should accomplish 4 pieces by 80%. A 2k+ player should accomplish all 5 pieces by 75%. And that's not even including the weapons. An arena weapon for a 1500 rated player, back in Season 2, would take over 50% of the season to gain enough points.

It looks like I'll be picking WoW back up anyway, and I'll try my best at 3v3 arenas, hopefully my priest will take me back and they'll kick their rogue, but who knows. I can just BG too, and thankfully they're reintroducing a PvP honor weapon this coming season... last I heard anyway. It's always fun wrecking max pvp geared arena players in BG's because they're terrible at anything outside of a box. Just like I'm terrible inside a box.