**How to Attract More Players to Arena** Constructive thoughts/suggestions

[Tampwn]

I've posted a reward/progression system for arenas that I think could help to not only attract new players to arenas but also help keep the existing PvPers queuing. If you like or dislike some of these ideas, or have anything you think could build off of this system please head over and post in that thread. It's a long post but worth the read I think.

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/to...44505?page=1#0

WARNING: This is a long post with some very good ideas, please read it all and leave your comments as to any flaws in the system, how it can be improved, or suggestions on what you think will increase participation.

Arena participation is getting lower and lower with each season. The biggest problem is obvious class imbalances which are not easy fixes but that's not what this is about. The problem is there is no incentive or motivation for average players to continue playing outside of getting your conquest capped and waiting for next Tuesday. The reason for this is the current rewards system. You have Glad Titles/Mount that .5% of the PvP player base will obtain along with 2.2k weapons that maybe 20% of players will get? This isn't very incentivizing for a vast array of average arena players (such as myself) Now to figure out what we can do to get players queueing let's look at a model that is successful, that being the PVE model.

PVE players have a vast array of different things to motivate them to keep playing whether it be doing dailies for cool mounts at exalted, or hunting rares for vanity items, heroic raiding for the best gear/bragging rights, challenge modes for transmog gear, it goes on and on. Why can't PvP have similiar rewards?

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I propose the implementation of a token currency system for arenas. With each arena win the player will be granted one token. With these tokens, the players would have access to NPC's offering number of cosmetic/vanity items/pets etc. Here are some ideas of some different items that could be offered:

Mounts: People love mounts, there are people that will farm the same content over and over and over again just for a chance at a flashy mount. PvPers have access to the old BG mounts that were implemented ages ago and have never changed. The mounts could work like this: (the token cost could be raised or lowered)

No Rating: 125-300 tokens - Some type of cool mount

2.2k Rating: 300-500 tokens Same mount, reskinned or possible armor or something added to it. This distinguishes those players that got high rating for there mount and the players that just grinded out the wins for the no rating mount. (NOTE: once you've hit 2.2k that season you qualify to buy the mount regardless of your rating)

PETS: Same as with the mounts, there are a lot of people out there that love them and will spend tons of gold or put intons of hours farming to get them.

No Rating: 75x Tokens - Some type of cool pet

1800 Rating: 75x Tokens - Either same pet reskinned or unique pet for those pushing their rating

TABARDS: I'm not a huge fan of them but that's not to say there aren't others that are.

1550 Rating: Tabard 1
1750 Rating Tabard 2
2.2k: Rating Tabard 3

Gems/Enchants: There are a lot of PvPers out there that have very little interest doing anything in game other than PvP. Not everyone wants to spend a large amount of time in game gathering, doing dailies or farming the AH.

No Rating: 10-25 tokens - Your choice of any uncut blue quality gem
No Rating: 30-50 tokens - Your choice of any uncut meta
No Rating 50-75 tokens - BoP nice bracer enchant of your choice (170 int/str/agi)

I think this could help some of the less wealthy PVPers get some gems and enchant for their gear. It also helps the server economy giving JC's in trade more gems to cut and by making the enchants BoP (maybe BoA) you would not run the risk of people reselling on the AH.(More enchants could be added)

A BOA SOLUTION TO GEARING ALTS: After you have leveled a couple characters to max level the BG grind can be unpleasant to say the least. How about a Bind on Account badge that can be mailed to an alt and turned in for honor?

No Rating: 10 tokens - BOA badge that can be exchanged for 1k honor (the number of tokens to honor reward can be adjusted)

VANITY/FUN ITEMS: Some of the items dropped from the new rares are really cool, but hunting down rares sucks. We could implement some of those items found on the current rares to the vendors.

No rating: XX Tokens - Hardened Turtle Shell used to knock players off their mounts. Why do we have to hunt down rares to get a PvP item? Only makes sense that you should be able to PvP to get it.

No Rating: XX Tokens - Gnomish Cloaking Device 30-60 min CD - This item would transform your appearance into that of world mob. So for example you can go to a questing area with tigers, click the tiger and transform yourself into it. Other players would see you exactly the same as the other mobs. When a player comes up to attack you you are instantly shifted into your normal form and the fight is on!!!

Keep in mind the token cost of items may need to be raised or lowered significantly but you get the idea. They KEY to this system working is that every arena season new mounts, pets, and a vanity item or two be added, while the previous seasons mounts will no longer be available.

This is just a handful of ideas I had as to some of the rewards that I think would get even non PvPers into arenas as well as further motivating the existing PvPers. Blizzard puts a TON of resources into the PVE side of this game, and they should as it is the main focus of a lot of the player base. However, I feel as though a small amount of resources could go into an excellent Progression/Reward system for arena players that oculd put some life back into PvP!

TL;DR: We need a better rewards system to encourage participation. This could include mounts, pets, tabards, vanity items, BOA honor system for gearing alts ETC.

[Sarevoc]

To Blizzard:

1. Stop the class balance lie (balanced for 3on3 lol) and at least try to fix it (for 1on1)
2. Give us 1on1 Arena

That's it. I would play arena all day long, even if I would also cry all day long how unbalanced class x vs class y actually is.
To the mmo-champs here: I know that you are excellent at pointing out why something cannot work, but try to think for a solution, for a change...

WHY do I need to depend on others if I want to be successful?! Because it's a MMO?
I want a MMO to play with and against others, but not to depend on them. Being dependent is not equal to socializing.

[Greid]

I think you bring up a few great points, but adding cosmetic incentive to get people to play PvP like many play PvE might not be the answer; this is too simple of a reduction.

I think that the easiest example of a common PvP complaint addressed here is in the BGgrind. It takes a long time to confidently gear up a character to the point that you feel comfortable in arena past 1500 mmr. Because of this, you see hordes of people queuing for BG's without paying particular attention to the battleground itself or how it plays out, they are just there to put in their time and get the rewards. Blizzard is working on this with the possibility of adding spec limitations (should probably have 2/3 healers in a 15man bg).

This will help a bit if it goes live but it also takes away a lot of the fun and randomness of queuing for a BG. When you get into a random bg, frequently someone takes charge, takes a look at their team's gear and spec, and figures out a few sentences to say to remind people what to do--frequently this little step helps a HUGE amount, and other times its just an elitist ass-hat getting mad at "n00bs fighting on roads." This is the element of arena that sucks--gearing up for arena.

Sorry for the long-winded answer, but I now segue into a possible fix.

Blizz has proven that they can adjust gear level (see challenge modes), so if they were to implement some vanity/cosmetic items, it would be interesting to see them as rewards for PvP done in "adjusted PvP" "Elite PvP" "Level PvP" call it what you will. Imagine queuing for a BG and having everyone be the same iLvl and only interested in winning, communication would go up, people would be focused on getting outnumbered fights and intelligently engaging as opposed to just picking on under-geared people as they accept defeat and take their losing honor.

This would inevitably fix arena as more people would get into PvP for the rewards (damn you Skinner Box!) and slowly the general player base would be attracted to PvP. This is a team game and arena is the epitome of a small team where skill matters most. Let's just try to make people better.

[Magemaer]

To Blizzard:

1. Stop the class balance lie (balanced for 3on3 lol) and at least try to fix it (for 1on1)
2. Give us 1on1 Arena

That's it. I would play arena all day long, even if I would also cry all day long how unbalanced class x vs class y actually is.
To the mmo-champs here: I know that you are excellent at pointing out why something cannot work, but try to think for a solution, for a change...

WHY do I need to depend on others if I want to be successful?! Because it's a MMO?
I want a MMO to play with and against others, but not to depend on them. Being dependent is not equal to socializing.

I couldn't agree more.

Note that i'm not against having group activities, but limiting us to those in order to force socialization...that sucks.

I'd like 1v1 pvp aswell. The single, direct confront is the base of any pvp activity.

Starcraft has 1v1 aswell as 2v2, 3v3 and 4v4. Why can't WoW follow the same line?

[Tampwn]

I think you bring up a few great points, but adding cosmetic incentive to get people to play PvP like many play PvE might not be the answer; this is too simple of a reduction.

I think that the easiest example of a common PvP complaint addressed here is in the BGgrind. It takes a long time to confidently gear up a character to the point that you feel comfortable in arena past 1500 mmr. Because of this, you see hordes of people queuing for BG's without paying particular attention to the battleground itself or how it plays out, they are just there to put in their time and get the rewards. Blizzard is working on this with the possibility of adding spec limitations (should probably have 2/3 healers in a 15man bg).

Not sure if you read all the ideas I listed but not everything would have to be cosmetic:

"A BOA SOLUTION TO GEARING ALTS: After you have leveled a couple characters to max level the BG grind can be unpleasant to say the least. How about a Bind on Account badge that can be mailed to an alt and turned in for honor?

No Rating: 10 tokens - BOA badge that can be exchanged for 1k honor (the number of tokens to honor reward can be adjusted) "

Imagine being able to kill three birds with one stone. While doing arenas on your main, you are actively capping your conquest for the week, pushing your rating, as well as sietting aside honor to help gear an existing/future alt. I also proposed uncut gems and enchants to help those that don't do dailies or PVE and struggle for gold.

My suggestion is not a be all end all solution to all the inherent problems of class balance in arena. There are 34 specs in this game and balacing them all for PVE and PVP is a massive undertaking. That's not to say they should continue making adjustments and striving for balance, but that maybe a system such as I suggested could be implemented at the expense of a small amount of resources.

[Greid]

Yeah, adding a carrot on a stick for people isn't always the option, but having honor-alt tokens can have drawbacks too. If it ever reaches a point where the conversion is close enough (as it would have to be to be really popular and actually bring people in) than you'll have people playing their mains in order to gear up an alt, stocking up X tokens then getting their alt past the gearing phase in one fell swoop.

This is more of a philosophical question that I think Blizz is on the side of "make them go through a learning curve." But it would be a wonderful addition that I support. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think there was something like Wintergrasp Tokens that you could pass to an alt and convert to honor before. The precedent is there.

[Vampyrr]

Id rather they scrap arenas altogether and make RBGs more accessible. Arenas are a pain in the dick there is no semblance of balance and things that are broken in regular pvp are EXCESSIVELY broken in arena. Its a nightmare.

[Socialhealer]

remove a lot of CC from arena simple.

not many people like to be controlled and have their keyboard tell them they cant do anything 50%+ of the time, this alone puts a lot of people off arena already.

i wouldnt mind be bursted down by a bm hunter, its more the fact i cant even move/cast while he does it makes me go....yeh arena lets queue!

same for warriors...cool ur dps owns me, now pls stop chain interupting stunning and silencing me, i pay to play...let my keyboard work.

[otro]

Introduce queues according to your rating and role... I imagine there are A LOT of players like me who don't really know anyone online and play mostly solo.

[George Costanza]

One vs one arena is the only thing i would want (make elite stuff to it as well and I'd be game.) for now I am stuck with Battlegrounds... I really REALLY miss TB/WG, I know that they are viable to use but I want them to be lvl 90 versions instead of lvl 80 and 85 . No need to make VoA and TB raid into 90 versions but i just want something alike that :P.

[Zagan]

1v1? Q'ing up as Holy. Come at me bro, but be careful - I lift.

---------- Post added 2012-11-05 at 10:00 PM ----------

On a serious note, if they were to introduce arena phasing and stat supression to where you could Q at specific levels (70/80/85) while you, of course, are 90/cap it would not only promote arenas, but give twinks the intiative to actually level. Same goes with BGs. Kind of like how the arena tournament was for a while. Seeing it done with challenge modes, bring it to the PVP side of the house too.

[Magemaer]

1v1? Q'ing up as Holy. Come at me bro, but be careful - I lift.[COLOR="red"]

I heard there is a class with no dps spec. Oh wait

[Gnimmels]

To Blizzard:

1. Stop the class balance lie (balanced for 3on3 lol) and at least try to fix it (for 1on1)
2. Give us 1on1 Arena

That's it. I would play arena all day long, even if I would also cry all day long how unbalanced class x vs class y actually is.
To the mmo-champs here: I know that you are excellent at pointing out why something cannot work, but try to think for a solution, for a change...

WHY do I need to depend on others if I want to be successful?! Because it's a MMO?
I want a MMO to play with and against others, but not to depend on them. Being dependent is not equal to socializing.

Agree! Introducing 1on1 wouldnt make people stop socializing or cooperating in the different (all the other?) aspects of the game.

[Firebert]

Make Arena solo-queuable for the twos bracket (otherwise known as the Capping Conquest bracket) and the threes bracket for rating.

[Sengoku]

A BOA SOLUTION TO GEARING ALTS: After you have leveled a couple characters to max level the BG grind can be unpleasant to say the least. How about a Bind on Account badge that can be mailed to an alt and turned in for honor?

Wintergrasp Commendation
Binds to Battle.net account
Item Level 1
Use: Grants you 150 honor.
Max Stack: 250
Sell Price: 17g 50s

This item is no longer available within the game.

http://www.wowhead.com/item=44115/wi...p-commendation

[Animaneth]

The problem I see with arenas, as was stated, is the grind you have to do before it. If you don't grind BG's then you wont get honor to get some decent gear.

Using the scaling technology would make it better at the entry point, but it will be hated by people who are doing arenas saying: "why should I care on doing this? I have no incentive for putting effort if we are all equal"... Beyond what the elitist pvp community wants the rest to believe, part of the fun they have is destroying people that stands no chance. Same stats for everyone and GG to that scum.

I would say equalization until certain rating and then yes, it's up to you. That way people would be able to "grind" but not thru bg's but thru arenas, at the same time learning how to play on them, pvp in a BG (even RBG) is a totally different beast to pvp inside arenas.

That's what I think at least.

[rkma]

The way to attract more players to arena is to eliminate fixed teams and move to a freeform model like StarCraft 2, where you can simply group up with someone and the team is automatically created for you. This change should have been made in season 1, because the current model discourages people from joining teams with their friends as opposed to people who are already geared or experienced.

[Lassira]

remove half of the abilities from classes
the amount of power creep in this game is hilarious

[Lulbalance]

1v1 arena!!!

BUT - with a 15 min time limit and if its a draw it goes to dmg done. i can just see a nightmare of healers q'n up and hoping you /leave when you see them.

[Nicola]

Easy, remove arena.
The only reason players do arena is for the gear and possible tittle rewards, noone would give a single fuck about arena if they would just reward honor...
Arena is the thorn in the pvp balance, everything is balanced around 3s, or at least, they try to do that. It would be so much easier if they balanced classes for 1v1 and battleground play, where you effectively PvP instead of humping pillars all day long...