I will state the case of how Rated BGs were stolen from BGers and is now being given to the Arena players. Following Ill give proof that this is the case.
This happened when it became clear that many many people liked that Rated BGs were being added and alot of old timers were reactivating their accounts for them. At this point Blizzard had what they saw as a problem because so many pvpers hate Arena that they were afraid the only ones doing Arena would be the diehard Arena fans.
Obviously this bothers the Devs because the main one in charge of PvP , Kalgan, is a huge advocate of Arena. But at same time they have to put in Rated bgs because so many people wanted access to top tier weapons via BGs because many prefer bgs over arena and felt they shouldnt be punished for it.
So what does Blizzard do? They get all the BGers excited about rateds and then proceed to work to bring back Isle of Que style world pv and add in another Wintergrasp. All things that the bulk of Pvpers prefer over Arena. So after everyone is excited and deciding to either stick around for Cat or reactivate? They start manipulating the Rateds to cater to Arena players. I give you proof
1. Battle for Gilneas: What should be a 40v40 BG is not. Its a 10 man which is just ridiculous. It should have been at least 15.
2. Twin Peaks: What should be a 15v15 BG is not. Its a 10 man. Its WSG rehashed and perhaps even made into a more of a stricter strat ala arena.
Let me explain. The only oddball in the bunch below is WSG as it should be.
WSG-10 man
AB -15 man
EOTS-15 man
SotA- 15 man
AV- 40 man
IoC- 40 man
Heres how this caters to Arena players. 10 man BGs are much more structered and require strict comps unlike 15 where you are more flexible and flexible doesnt mean lame it means it opens the bg to more randomness. Which is in fact HARDER to deal with than strict comps. 10 man BGs are much much more like Arena than 15s or 40s. Its basically 2 arena teams. Besides 15 would have made it easier for guilds to constantly run BGs most weeks.
3. No Consumables or Engineering items. WTF. I mean really. Why the hell would you do that unless you are catering to the Arena crowd.
4. Removing 25 man rateds. Again this caters to the Arena crowd. 2 less weeks of no ten man arena style bgs. I dont know how many of you have ever been in premade AVs squaring off but its the best BGing you will ever encounter. Sadly its pretty rare the past couple years.
Arena people hate randomness. They hate chaos. They hate anything other than strict comps with strict movements. Its a twitch game for them. They dont want to think they only want to react. In Arena for every Action there is a set reaction. Its garbage. In BGs you cant predict whats going to happen. Their is no set strat because you never know what you are going to face. Thats what makes BGs so much better than Arenas. Id say that Blizzard just doesnt get that but I dont actually believe that. I think they know exactly what they are doing. They are just trying to leech off the BGers by converting the BGs to cater to them.
Honestly I could probably stomach the 10 mans even though it really pisses me off that they manipulated the BG people like that but the consumables and engineering removal is too much. I am honestly not buying Cat for either one of my accounts until that is removed and my accounts will be canceled. I have no motivation to play nor have i for very long time but i kept my accounts active for no good reason. I was thinking of quitting wow for good until i heard about rateds.
Kalgan/Blizz...Get your Arena crap the f*** out of my BGs. Stop manipulating WoWs pvp landscape to cater to you personally, it was bad enough that you ruined UO pvp. Leave the BGs alone. Leave it as anything goes. Put the 2 new bgs to 15 per side. Then go sit with a few of your buddies and kill each other over and over in Arena.
BG Fans, Strike and Petition now or pay later. Tell Blizzard we dont want their Arena crap in our BGs. Demand the new BGs go to 15 man to Break the Arena mold. WSG should remain a niche bg like the 40s.
Some of you might disagree with me on this but I am telling you these moves are done ENTIRELY with Arena people in mind. Screw that. They already have Arenas.