Why Not Normalize PvP?

[Canderous1]

if you want equal gear and perfect balance in a pvp environment, i suggest playing a game designed around this concept. any number of pvp based fps games come to mind.

wow has always been about gear progression, just about every mmo is. you EARN gear by PLAYING the game. not by crying about it. your 15 bucks per month gives you the ability to log into the servers and play, it doesnt give everyone the right to every reward available in the game. it gives you the chance to earn those rewards. i have never had much of a problem getting enough pvp gear to feel like i was able to compete. it just takes a little time. it is remarkably easy to earn pvp gear from battlegrounds, and you dont even have to try to get conquest points anymore.

if someone has maxed out pvp gear from being on a successful arena team, and they stomp you in a bg.. do you really think the gear is what caused the stomping to take place? id say in very, very, very rare cases perhaps but most often, they would have stomped you in greens.

im the first guy to admit it sucks to get the snot kicked out of you in a pvp setting, but you know what? both sides cant win. both sides dont always have the most fun. there is always a winner and a loser. learn to lose, learn to win, learn to have fun.

[Vivek]

Ok, so bear with me here. First and foremost, this is merely a suggestion.

PvP is inherently about skill, correct? So why are gear disparities allowed? Any player that comes late into a season will tell you how hard it is to gear up and become competitive. How is a win by difference in gear considered a win when it should be about one player being more skillful than another?

Sooo, suggestion. Why not normalize PvP? When you enter a BG or arena you click some item rack that gives you all your pvp gear. Obviously this gear is the best for pvp and disappears when the match is over. Have some kind of equip all feature to save time.

To answer the need to incentives to pvp that people might have you could easily bring in mounts, titles, tabbards, transmog gear (no stats, kinda like challenge mode gear), etc. So there is still an incentive and those that perform the best will get equivocal rewards.

Thoughts?

Because that means people who play the game solely for pvp will simply come and go as they please from the game. Which Blizzard does not like/want. They want players to stay subbed to their game every month of the year, even if it means sub-optimal game design. If it translates to less dollars in their pocket, they won't go with it.

Same reason they haven't done server merges and announced virtual realms only AFTER people were done buying all the server transfers they wanted during the 50% off week.

It's also because then casual players will be more attracted to pvp instead of pve, especially the ones who aren't subbed the entire year or dont have enough time to devote to the game. Gradually too many would be engaging and enjoying pvping in a "gear-free" environment instead of grinding gear with pve since it would be the obvious choice for casual players, further reducing the pool of players who dont have to stay subbed every month of the year to enjoy the game when they come back.

When making game design decisions, number of dollars always trumps optimal game design. This isn't just the case with Blizzard, or even video game companies in general. This is just how companies "think" and work, and are usually able to get away with it because:

1- Consumers aren't aware of whats really happening.

2- Consumers are somewhat aware but don't want to take the trouble of actually taking a stand on it or voting with their wallet.

3- Consumers are aware but there are no proper alternatives to the product offered.

4- Consumers are aware but use of the product allows them access to a social environment which they don't want to forego.

5- Loyalty to the brand, product or both.


Ofcourse the argument can also be made that gearing up is an essential building block of RPG/MMORPG design that adds to the core fun factor of it all, and that factor is the primary reason behind Blizzard's design decisions for PvP gearing.

[ParanoiD84]

I would love it, then skills really comes in, but people like to kill undergeared people me included sometimes.

[nyc81991]

The reason why that wouldn't work is because WoW is all about the gear grind. Sure competition is great but its a smaller part of the experience. 5.3 did a pretty good job of making the gap smaller though.

[Vivek]

The reason why that wouldn't work is because WoW is all about the gear grind. Sure competition is great but its a smaller part of the experience. 5.3 did a pretty good job of making the gap smaller though.

I don't know about that, it seems like its a step in the right direction but still not one with proper footing.

I have a feeling they ll be changing that again in the coming patches.

The end result has come out klunky for now with pvp gear still being better in an instanced pvp environment for "most" class/spec cominations, trinkets/set-bonuses from PvE are still BiS for some class/spec combinations in instanced pvp despite gear downscaling. And ofcourse a bigger issue is that good pve gear from raids has become BiS for non-instanced pvp altogether due to the absence of battle-fatigue and gear downscaling out in the world.

Ultimately it seems Blizzard will rework bandaid fix changes like battle fatigue and gear downscaling in the coming patches to embrace a more solid form of pvp balance where pvp gear remains superior in all forms of pvp without making pve gear useless or re-introducing strict gear disparities or having a seperate set of gear rules for instanced and world pvp. Klunky band-aid mechanics cannot stay for too long, but we should be glad that they re giving pvp some attention and making changes in the right direction rather than making pvp more exclusive and reducing participation.