is WoW PvP esports?

[propsmc90]

I know I'm going to get murdered by some of you guys (or all), but I'm going to risk it, cause I don't know, is WoW PvP on the e-sports scene?
I know Starcraft 2 is but I'm not sure about WoW PvP.

Thanks!

[Deleted]

Blizzcon is the only event I know who is still hosting WoW arena esport. MLG and other private events stopped hosting WoW arena in Wotlk.

[propsmc90]

Oh okay... so I guess in my mind its not considered an official e-sports thing then... :|

[Vanamman]

It was on MLG for a limited time, but wasn't worth the money they were spending at all.

[PizzaSHARK]

Nope. WoW is even less worthy of being called an eSport than League of Legends.

[Thalais]

WoW isn't an Esport because the lack of desire to host events for it.
WoW has too much imbalance between specs that everyone would just play the top comps every time and there isn't a reason to not do that.

At lease in LoL, there are OP guys but only if they are fed, if you don't feed them, the game is more balanced.

[Blueobelisk]

WoW has too much imbalance between specs that everyone would just play the top comps every time and there isn't a reason to not do that.

Yeah this is the best answer. I think Blizzard is afraid of officially calling Arena an esport because they'd have to make sure it was extremely well balanced. Blizzard balances class/specs for both PVE and PVP, so there's never really going to be balance in both, and when they have to choose between PVE balance or PVP balance, I think we all know which one gets priority.

That's not to diminish the value of WoW PVP, those player hosted and Blizzcon tournaments are great, but Arena isn't an 'official' esport.

[Deleted]

WoW PvP will never be considered esports, it's far too unbalanced to be seen as a serious platform. 2s is horrid, 5s is generally a zerg-fest, and RBGs are either boring crap (e.g. Gilneas enemy team leaves after the opponents cap 2 bases because you know you don't really stand much chance of getting it back), or they show even more the imbalance in the game (was watching an RBG stream yesterday when a fire mage just totally dicked on people the whole time and they have 0% chance of stopping him capping bases from them etc.)

[Gandrake]

No.

It got taken of MLG circuit because, you know, WoW is WoW. That, and anyone can see what is going on in an FPS; if you shoot a guy in the head you're winning. Someone who has never played WoW before can't even tell what is happening.

Just a bunch of numbers and people not dying.

[Wolfdragon]

It's been an E-Sport for about 4 years, just isn't one in cata, but considering what mop is doing it's probably coming right back into the e-sport scene, and due to Yaspresents and NAO efforts it's an e-Sport even now. It is extremely unbalanced in terms of RLS, and most LS comps after nerfing TSG to the ground and making shamans unkillable gods with the nature's guardian buff in DS. However in MoP they're balancing wow around a different perspective in fact this is THE PvP expansion, not the first one like TBC was, but one after years of expirience with that part of the game.

People say LoL shouldn't be an E-Sport is another thing, it's actually a rather balanced game.
And I know Blizz can do fine with game balance, as it will soon enough, if they actually care.

[propsmc90]

Hmm, I guess'll have to see when MoP comes out :P

[Stormspellz]

the wow team gave up on esport potential early wrath, now they give pvp'rs enough to keep following the carrot on the stick of actual balance.

---------- Post added 2012-07-30 at 06:31 PM ----------

It's been an E-Sport for about 4 years, just isn't one in cata, but considering what mop is doing it's probably coming right back into the e-sport scene, and due to Yaspresents and NAO efforts it's an e-Sport even now. It is extremely unbalanced in terms of RLS, and most LS comps after nerfing TSG to the ground and making shamans unkillable gods with the nature's guardian buff in DS. However in MoP they're balancing wow around a different perspective in fact this is THE PvP expansion, not the first one like TBC was, but one after years of expirience with that part of the game.

People say LoL shouldn't be an E-Sport is another thing, it's actually a rather balanced game.
And I know Blizz can do fine with game balance, as it will soon enough, if they actually care.

no its not the pvp expansion, its the horde v alliance story expansion, don't confuse the two.

[Deleted]

It's been an E-Sport for about 4 years, just isn't one in cata, but considering what mop is doing it's probably coming right back into the e-sport scene, and due to Yaspresents and NAO efforts it's an e-Sport even now. It is extremely unbalanced in terms of RLS, and most LS comps after nerfing TSG to the ground and making shamans unkillable gods with the nature's guardian buff in DS. However in MoP they're balancing wow around a different perspective in fact this is THE PvP expansion, not the first one like TBC was, but one after years of expirience with that part of the game.

People say LoL shouldn't be an E-Sport is another thing, it's actually a rather balanced game.
And I know Blizz can do fine with game balance, as it will soon enough, if they actually care.

giving mages more control, survivability, and not nerfing burst...yeah balanced alright.

[Feranor]

WoW has no interesting PvP, no balance to speak of and to someone who hasn't played it for at least a while it's just flashy effects and numbers while everyone runs around pillars until something dies. Also, matches are largely decided by flukes (like when in Rogue vs. Rogue matches the one who got unstealthed first blew up in a matter of seconds) and repetitive, so it's not really enjoyable to watch in any case.

[Schroedinger]

As many already pointed out, no, it is not.

Sport, by definition is based on fairness and skill. WoW PvP is based on gear, then class/class combo and RNG. These are the factors which define these part of WoW. When you take gear factor away, still remains parts which are not skill or fun related. A healing or damage crit deciding outcome of the match? Well.. no thank you.

The Street Boys (Ghostcrawlers gang) is not able or willing to put more emphasis on player interaction knowing it would rapidly dimishing the number of people involving in WoW. What average Johny wants? To train, to research, to combine to be better or just roll the "right" class, get the "right" gear and "pwn n00bs"?

I really hope I will never see WoW as a "sport" in any event that matters, I really do, as it go against everything what is funny and interestng in e-sports.

[Wiredmana]

It's been taken out of many "leagues".

On the other hand - Blizzard still has many competitions year round for themselves... It's one of those self promoted things I guess. It can still be considered an esport as there's prizes and someone can live off of it if they're amazingly lucky - but the amount of competitions is so low that I wouldn't ever want to defend it as a esport.

If you catch where I'm coming from at all?

[Deleted]

It kinda is but not very big compared to other games..

[Deleted]

sorry but I disagree. It is an E-Sport. There's plenty of official tournamounts, that ARE officially recognised by Blizzard. So...just because it isn't mainstream doesn't make it any less.

[xrayEU]

It is, BUT it's not a good game to spectate with so many abilities and it's not a good game to play since it's not balanced around PvP.
Sad but true, it had potential but blizzard digged their own grave when they released WoTLK.

[Aideren]

WoW PvP doesn't compete with other esports like League of Legends and Starcraft imo because it is only part of a game and doesn't garner the full attention of an entire staff to balance current issues like say LoL does.