New PVP Changes April 29/14

[DarkArchon]

War looms on the horizon, and although the Iron Horde poses a substantial threat to all of Azeroth, old grudges between the Alliance and the Horde are not so easily set aside. As Warlords of Draenor development continues, we wanted to share some exciting changes coming to PvP gear and how you’ll earn it in the expansion.
I’ve Got the Power!

In Mists of Pandaria we introduced the PvP Power stat, which allowed PvP gear to be functionally superior to raid and dungeon gear in PvP combat without exceeding the value of its equivalent PvE gear in PvE content. That was largely a success in instanced PvP Arenas and Battlegrounds, but we think we can do better—while also granting players those same benefits in outdoor world PvP. So, in Warlords of Draenor, we’re taking a different approach.

PvP gear in Warlords will no longer have PvP-specific stats. Instead, it will scale up to a higher item level as soon as you enter a designated PvP area, such as an Arena or Battleground, or as soon as you enter PvP combat anywhere else in the world. If you’re out questing with PvP gear, your items’ base item level will be used while fighting back the Iron Horde, but the second that raiding Druid tries to gank you, your higher PvP item level kicks in and you’ll have the upper hand. Each piece of PvP gear will have its PvP item level displayed clearly on its tooltip, so there’s no guesswork involved.

On top of that, all gear—even gear found in PvE content—will be scaled up to a certain minimum item level in any designated PvP area. That minimum is still lower than any of the actual PvP gear, but a fresh level-100 character who’s just wearing some dungeon gear, or even whatever they picked up while questing, will not be at quite as severe a disadvantage should they choose to step into a Skirmish or Random Battleground.

One added benefit of this new system is that most PvE gear will no longer need to be downscaled in PvP areas, as the equivalent PvP gear is already a higher item level in PvP situations. Instead of making players wearing PvE gear feel weaker in PvP, this makes it so players wearing PvP gear feel stronger. The only exception is Mythic raid gear. Mythic’s PvE item level and Conquest’s PvP item level are very close, so we’ll be downscaling Mythic gear slightly in designated PvP areas just to make sure that Conquest gear remains the best available for PvP.

What’s In the Box?!

The Warlords of Draenor expansion will also bring some major improvements to the way PvP gear is earned. For starters, we’re vastly improving the bonus rewards you can earn from doing Random or Call to Arms Battlegrounds. At the end of a match, you’ll earn a Bronze, Silver, or Gold Strongbox—or possibly all three. Which Strongboxes you earn depends on how well your team did in the match, but you can still earn them even if your team doesn’t win.

Take Warsong Gulch,for example. If your faction captured at least one flag before the game ended, you’ll get the Bronze Strongbox. Capture a second, and you’ll earn both the Bronze and Silver. And if you capture all three, not only do you win the game, but you’ll also earn all three Strongboxes. We’ll be restructuring the scoring of other Battlegrounds slightly (such as changing Arathi Basin to end at 1,500 points) so it’s easy to figure out what you need for each Strongbox.

Inside those Strongboxes could be any number of rewards: Honor points, Conquest points—even gear. Better Strongboxes can have better rewards, so even if your team is behind in the match, it’s worth keeping up the fight to try to earn the best reward you can.

Of course, Skirmishes (the unranked Arenas we announced a little while back) will have rewards as well. We’re still discussing exactly how we want to hand them out, but you’ll be able to earn gear and Honor by playing Skirmishes if you’d prefer.
A Veteran’s Honor

Another issue on our radar is the ever-increasing item level gap between the gear you can purchase with Honor and Conquest points. To help bridge that gap, in Warlords we’re going to have three separate tiers of PvP gear.

It starts with an introductory set of a quality similar to today’s Honor gear, except you’ll earn it much, much faster. That set comes primarily through the Strongboxes, and you’ve got a high chance of getting a piece in each Strongbox you earn. After that starter gear comes a new set: Veteran’s gear. There’s a small chance to find a piece of Veteran’s gear in a Silver or Gold Strongbox, but you can also purchase Veteran’s gear with Honor points. That gear’s PvP item level will be halfway between the starter gear and Gladiator’s gear.

Adding the Veteran’s tier accomplishes a lot of things for us. First, it helps make sure that someone who wants to step into rated PvP later on in the season isn’t nearly as far behind their opponents in gear. Second, since the basic gear is earned so quickly, that helps ensure players get those important set bonuses, trinkets, and so on without too much trouble, and helps put everyone on a decent baseline in their ability to compete. For players who enjoy PvP but aren’t really interested in jumping into rated competition, earning Veteran’s gear will feel a lot more rewarding.

As for Gladiator’s gear, we’ve been pretty happy with how Conquest points have worked in Season 15, but we are making one small change: Rated Battlegrounds and Arenas will have the same base Conquest cap. That cap can then be increased by your rating in either Arenas or Rated Battlegrounds (whichever is higher). Instead of giving you extra Conquest points, winning a Rated Battleground will allow you to use a bonus roll token for a shot at a piece of Gladiator’s gear, similar to the Celestial world bosses on the Timeless Isle. This tweak makes the weekly Conquest cap easier to understand, while still providing an extra incentive for running Rated Battlegrounds and letting you use your bonus rolls on PvP gear through PvP.
The Island

While these changes will bring some pretty exciting changes to World of Warcraft PvP, there’s still another major piece to this puzzle: Ashran. We’ll be sharing more details on what you can earn from Ashran soon. In the meantime, we look forward to seeing you on the battlefield!

[Optional]

I'm sorry but that's just dumb. You get strong boxes based on how well your team did, we ARE talking about random pug bg's? LOL. I feel sorry for Alliance. No strong boxes for them. (If the win ratio stays roughly the same as it is now, that is)

It shouldn't be based on your team, it should be based on your healing done as a healer, dmg done / objectives taken or defended for others. Leaning more so on objectives taken or defended for tanks. That would actually motivate people to TRY to aim for objectives, and TRY to put out as much dps as they can muster, instead of half ass fighting on the roads like a bunch of idiots.

[BananaHandsB]

I'm sorry but that's just dumb. You get strong boxes based on how well your team did, we ARE talking about random pug bg's? LOL. I feel sorry for Alliance. No strong boxes for them. (If the win ratio stays roughly the same as it is now, that is)

I'm sorry but It shouldn't be based on your team, it should be based on your healing done as a healer, dmg done / objectives taken or defended for others. Leaning more so on objectives taken or defended for tanks.

Which Strongboxes you earn depends on how well your team did in the match, but you can still earn them even if your team doesn’t win.

You can still can get strong boxes if you lose. But winning does have to be better than losing in terms of rewards, and it is, appropriately so I might add, so I'm not sure the problem you have with this.

imo all these changes are much needed, and might actually bring me back to the pvp scene in WoD

[Yuyuli]

I like all the changes they are making

Could be the first time i can actually go and enjoy PvP in WoW.

[Dug]

I'm sorry but that's just dumb. You get strong boxes based on how well your team did, we ARE talking about random pug bg's? LOL. I feel sorry for Alliance. No strong boxes for them. (If the win ratio stays roughly the same as it is now, that is)

It shouldn't be based on your team, it should be based on your healing done as a healer, dmg done / objectives taken or defended for others. Leaning more so on objectives taken or defended for tanks. That would actually motivate people to TRY to aim for objectives, and TRY to put out as much dps as they can muster, instead of half ass fighting on the roads like a bunch of idiots.

I hope they have something up their sleeve to combat the horrible Alliance win ratios. Really is sad that the only BG I win are AV and IoC

[PrairieChicken]

I'm sorry but that's just dumb. You get strong boxes based on how well your team did, we ARE talking about random pug bg's? LOL. I feel sorry for Alliance. No strong boxes for them. (If the win ratio stays roughly the same as it is now, that is)

It shouldn't be based on your team, it should be based on your healing done as a healer, dmg done / objectives taken or defended for others. Leaning more so on objectives taken or defended for tanks. That would actually motivate people to TRY to aim for objectives, and TRY to put out as much dps as they can muster, instead of half ass fighting on the roads like a bunch of idiots.

Even if you suck hard you will get bronze. Getting 500 points in AB or EoTS is not that difficult at all. Only exception would be CTA bgs and holinka admitted that they are trickier issue than other BGs.

Furthermore giving them for personal play wouldn't work since it will incentivize people to do things to get them more boxes instead of winning BG and playing as a team.

[Beck]

even gear found in PvE content—will be scaled up to a certain minimum item level in any designated PvP area.

Does this include being tagged in world pvp? What would prevent a group from finding a friend from the opposite faction to tag them in pvp combat before pulling a world boss for that 2nd ilvl stat boost?

[Mafic]

This is great! I will never step a foot in the WoD continent.

[greeeed]

losing BG -> everyone leave
unlucky random person join -> now he either leave and receive 15 min debuff or waste 5-10 minute till his team lose....

at-least now even if they lose -> as long as they cap some of tower/flag...etc they still can get something usefull

[Optional]

I hope they have something up their sleeve to combat the horrible Alliance win ratios. Really is sad that the only BG I win are AV and IoC

Agreed. It's the only thing stopping me from going back to Alliance..



But PVP gear switching on when you get attacked? I hope that instantly heals you for the health deficit once its activated or it'll be useless. I like this idea though.. especially because hard core raiders as it stands right now outshine pvp geared people by a mile, outside of bg's anyway.

[Blithe]

Agreed. It's the only thing stopping me from going back to Alliance..



But PVP gear switching on when you get attacked? I hope that instantly heals you for the health deficit once its activated or it'll be useless. I like this idea though.. especially because hard core raiders as it stands right now outshine pvp geared people by a mile, outside of bg's anyway.

Well it's not like Blizzard can do anything about it, and it's not their fault that Alliance loses every battleground that isn't a 40-man. That my friend, would be the cause of your players.

[shoc]

I can see strongboxes adding incentive to actually perform more objectives, and trying to go for that one last cap before the game ends.

[Dug]

Well it's not like Blizzard can do anything about it, and it's not their fault that Alliance loses every battleground that isn't a 40-man. That my friend, would be the cause of your players.

Blizzard could allow cross faction transfers for free from Horde to Alliance only, for a limited time. They'll never do it but a possibility. Either that or same factions BGs but also "off the table"