Very true, but your (constant) whine has been that you don't like grinding up honor. You now have an alternative that gives you exactly what you've asked for, yet you refuse to do it and still complain.
I don't have a problem paying for that opportunity, however my 4 other teammates are unwilling to do so given that we only play for 2-4 hours every week.
Not sure if anyone has mentioned this but to stop win-trading and queue dodging blizzard need to change how queueing works. If your queue for arena pops currently, you can just not join the game and not get a loss. If they changed it so that when your queue pops, if you dont join the game then you lose the match. Win-trading and queue-dodging would become non-existent. The planned changes so far wont stop win-trading.
Not sure if anyone has mentioned this but to stop win-trading and queue dodging blizzard need to change how queueing works. If your queue for arena pops currently, you can just not join the game and not get a loss. If they changed it so that when your queue pops, if you dont join the game then you lose the match. Win-trading and queue-dodging would become non-existent. The planned changes so far wont stop win-trading.
I think getting rid of queue dodging will definitely impact win-trading, it may not eliminate it, but it should make it harder.
Not that that really affects me personally, I have been playing on 1700-1800 teams with RL friends for the past few months. I have some mixed feelings on the changes, for me personally, it will mean I won't be able to spend all my honor for probably a handful of weeks until after 2.4 is released, and thats fine if we face more evenly matched teams.
What if they introduced checkpoints for lack of a better term. Once you pickup the honor boots, your personal rating when you join a team is always 1700. If you have the s3 weapon, you are 'checkpointed' at 1800. Then change the mechanic being introduced for the difference between personal and team rating, so that you earn points based on the lower of the two.
So if I paid some pro pvpers to get me a s4 weapon, once I had it, I would always be considered a 2050 player on joining a team.
On the high end of the spectrum it would make trying different comps easier, and people who like to play on multiple teams wouldn't have to grind through re-leveling a charter.
On the low end, it would hopefully keep the top of the line players who restart a team in the lower ratings for a shorter amount of time, and matchmaking would be easier for newer players, who get checkpointed at 1500.
There are some holes in the idea regarding point gains and how matchmaking would work, but I think it could solve a lot of the current problems that both ends of the Arena scene currently face.
It's questionable whether there will be anything that can ever be done to stop people from selling points/rating. There's little difference between legitimately recruiting an alt of someone good at PvP permanently to your team and then gearing him up, and selling the spot to someone. Things that might stop this is to make people pay large amounts of gold to join arena teams they did not charter, prevent a team from having too many roster changes within a time frame, or do away with all Team Ratings and base everything on Personal Rating.
The former two can be worked around with enough gold, while the latter is what I assumed the system was going to use the whole time and seems far less exploitable. The rating of a team would be equal to the highest rated member; if it was averaged, any random person added would pull them down and make it easier to farm points for that person. Teams are matched with similar ratings, and aren't told where they're headed when the queue pops up. Everyone on the team gets the same adjustment to their rating after the match so that you can't lose most matches but still have someone low in rating gain points. Arena points are awarded on a per-person basis; each person on the team doesn't necessarily get the same number of points.
This system is exploitable by tanking one's rating and then inviting a player to whom you're selling a rating increase to. In general, such an arrangement is absolutely impossible to distinguish from a normal team forming. However, there are ways of discouraging it. First, not have your rating reset when you change teams. The rating should be a reflection of how well you're doing in that bracket overall, not with any given team. The current system makes it far too easy to boost weaker players. Second, require maintenance of your rating to be able to equip anything with personal rating. Maybe not the same as level you need to buy it, but perhaps 50-100 lower. You shouldn't be able to tank your rating to help others and keep your amazing equipment. Lastly, a limit should be set (minimum 10 obviously) of how many more games you can lose compared to ones you win per week. The limit would become a percentage with a large number of games played, as such players would be more likely to legitimately want to play more despite a losing record (which approaches 50% as the games played increases if the limit isn't changed to a percentage). Additionally, a similar limit could be set over a month, but in such cases you're more likely going to run into people legitimately having a bad streak that want to play more. This will prevent people purposely tanking their rating quickly, while presumably letting anyone legitimately trying to make back their rating enough leeway to do so.
The last suggestion is somewhat contrived in attempting to prevent ratings manipulation, but as long as participating on arenas in the live realm has no cost but time, people will be able to artificially lower their ratings in order to help bring others' ratings up at a later point in time. There is no way to combat this but to limit it to a "normal" amount and provide incentives beyond more arena points for having a high rating. The Tournament Realm appears to be Blizzard's step in this direction to move to a model in which there is nothing to be gained from one's rating but advancement, which suggests that the live realms will never truly be fixed.
Getting rolled by a team in all S3 shoulders who are actually rated 50 points below you sucks and having it happen 3 or 4 times in one night can make a huge difference. Going 12-4 v 8-8 due to no real fault of your own is demoralizing, and personally I believe that is a much bigger problem than Welfare epics.
For me this hits it in one, I don't know if Cyclone-EU (BG9) is the norm, but pretty much every other team I have met above 1600 is sporting at least S3 weapon (not a big deal), and maybe 1/5 with S3 shoulders & the whole works (really big deal). Which sure as hell makes 1850 seem out of reach since when we inevitably get rolled often enough to cap our rating at 1775-1790, even with waiting with queues after being rolled and playing during normal hours. Anything to stop this is welcome - such as the rating "checkpoints" suggested as items are acquired.
There HAS to be people below 1600 simply due to the nature of how the system works.
No, there have to be TEAMS below this rating. People can and do dump teams when they get too low and reroll a new one.
I don't see how the cessation of point selling is going to reduce inflation. Taking my backwater server as an example - There have been 3.5 groups of players (not teams, more later) deservedly over 1900 since the start of S3 in 3v3s. All of us have sold points at some stage. Personally I've levelled up 2 teams to sell points on. I don't see how that's adding to inflation, rather it's deflating points, since we're knocking down people in the 1700-1900 bracket. I've done a similar thing in 2s, with helping people get weapons and such. I'm knocking down people who I shouldn't be. If you stop that (which this change might not) then decent players will only be holding one team, rather than propping up 3+ teams like I am atm.
As someone who greatly enjoys battlegrounds but really has zero interest in arena, I agree with those who have stated that it's nice that Blizzard is setting the bar for competition so high that I won't feel pressured into joining an arena just to get weapons. I felt forced to do arenas in S2 in order to get weapons to compete, since they were vastly superior to anything readily available in PvE.
There are lots of comments regarding how PvP players will actually have to work for their high-level gear rather than buy points from arena speculators or go afk in AV. Am I the only one who finds this announcement to be completely out of line with the 2.4 recent addition of T6 level BoJ items in Quel'danas? The best PvP items, which were previously available to all, are now only available to the skilled. The (virtually) best PvE items, which were previously only available to the Illidan-clearing raiders, are now availble to the "LF tank H UB, gearrd only plz!!!" crowd.
What I find even more alarming is that Blizzard is actively encouraging gear disparity in the one aspect of the game where the overgeared players negatively impact the experience of the undergeared players! What a riot! I don't care if "Mcburnxmagex" (the actual name of a mage on my server) earns BT/Hyjal loot from continually wiping in Karazhan. It doesn't affect me. He's having a good time and improving his character, and I'm enjoying my progression raids. However, in a PvP setting, where the gear of random players directly affects my experience, why is Blizzard actively encouraging gear disparity? Furthermore, where are they doing it in the realm where gear disparity negatively impacts the fun of the undergeared? Why are they going in one direction for PvE and then turning around and doing the exact opposite in PvP?
Their actions are puzzling, to say the least. Thank goodness I don't PvP enough for it to affect me.
As for making a mass assumption people will quit over, you're making one assuming people wont. Trying to say that either of us is wrong right now would be pointless, because we can't predict the future.
[/quote]
There are lots of precedents in WoW history that can help predict the future of the game however. Silithyst pre TBC, Halaa, 2.3 AV. A lot of Season 4 gear has been restricted to a select group of people (win traders, fotm classes, and skilled players). Keeping S3 on the vendor is little motivation for players to continue arena when S3 has been the longest season yet and people have had a full set since January.
There is a grey line between forcing and motivating people to do something in WoW. Examples are badge of justice for PvP cloaks, and rating requirements for honour gear. Are people being "encouraged/motivated" to do PvE to be more successful in PvP? Are people who only enjoy battlegrounds "encouraged/motivated" to do arena to be more successful in battlegrounds?
I somewhat feel like I am being forced to learn advanced pilates pose #125 before I am allowed to do a simple push up.
There are lots of comments regarding how PvP players will actually have to work for their high-level gear rather than buy points from arena speculators or go afk in AV. Am I the only one who finds this announcement to be completely out of line with the 2.4 recent addition of T6 level BoJ items in Quel'danas? The best PvP items, which were previously available to all, are now only available to the skilled. The (virtually) best PvE items, which were previously only available to the Illidan-clearing raiders, are now availble to the "LF tank H UB, gearrd only plz!!!" crowd.
Season 4 items without rating requirements:
Gloves
Off-hand
Belt
Necklace
Trinket
ilevel 141 items available via Badges:
Pants
Boots
Gloves
Chest
Belt (leather, mail and plate only)
Ring
Main-hand weapon
That's 5 slots vs. 7 slots, and only if you're mouth-breathingly bad at PvP (or not even trying). A minimum of 1575 rating gets you pants and bracers from PvP, which brings it on par with the PvE Badge rewards.
So no, it's not out of line. In fact, the rating requirements bring the PvP acquisition rate to par with the PvE badge rate. That is, only someone who can kill Mother Shahraz gets T6 shoulders, and only someone with 2000 rating gets S3 shoulders, regardless of how many badges or arena points they might have saved up.
Season 4 items without rating requirements:
Gloves
Off-hand
Belt
Necklace
Trinket
ilevel 141 items available via Badges:
Pants
Boots
Gloves
Chest
Belt (leather, mail and plate only)
Ring
Main-hand weapon
That's 5 slots vs. 7 slots, and only if you're mouth-breathingly bad at PvP (or not even trying). A minimum of 1575 rating gets you pants and bracers from PvP, which brings it on par with the PvE Badge rewards.
So no, it's not out of line. In fact, the rating requirements bring the PvP acquisition rate to par with the PvE badge rate. That is, only someone who can kill Mother Shahraz gets T6 shoulders, and only someone with 2000 rating gets S3 shoulders, regardless of how many badges or arena points they might have saved up.
I understand your basic point that it's not as if people will be barred from getting any gear whatsoever, and I think it's a valid argument. However, to correct some mistakes:
* Badge Weapons (off hands and ranged weapons as well) are ilevel 146. Minor point.
* ilevel 141 shoulders *are* available to random level 70s, and have been for several months (via BT/Hyjal craftables). Most servers have progressed to the point where HoDs (and the BoE patterns that produce BoP items) are no longer a rare commodity. In several months servers will start to see more of the Sunwell patterns up for auction as well, and it wouldn't surprise me if guilds start selling Kalecgos trash clears to randoms for the chance at getting the weapons that drop there.
Requiring arena point ratings for honor reward gear still doesn't sit well with me, mostly because it unncessarily limits the options of those who don't like arena (including the pvp soloers.) We'll probably have to agree to disagree.
Not sure if anyone has mentioned this but to stop win-trading and queue dodging blizzard need to change how queueing works. If your queue for arena pops currently, you can just not join the game and not get a loss. If they changed it so that when your queue pops, if you dont join the game then you lose the match. Win-trading and queue-dodging would become non-existent. The planned changes so far wont stop win-trading.
Originally Posted by Slorkuz
If a team does not enter an arena match that is starting they will lose points equal to the amount that would have been deducted if they had played and lost.
Blizzard doesn't regard the new gear as BG gear which requires an arena rating - (as someone, Drysc? said) they regard it as Arena gear which requires you to do BGs. Would there be as much outcry if they were added as arena-only items, instead of BG bought?
What they could do to help combat high-rating people in the lower brackets is put a minimum rating required on the higher-ranked gear, say 200 points below what it takes. So the shoulders at 2200 rating would require a current rating of 2000+ to actually equip. (whether it picks from the highest personal rating, or the lowest, or the average, or some other number)
Another option would be to, when you have a group going in with some people with significantly lower ratings than others, change the formula for points gained/loss so the losing team loses less and the winning team also gains less.
Another option would be to, when you have a group going in with some people with significantly lower ratings than others, change the formula for points gained/loss so the losing team loses less and the winning team also gains less.
Have you never done arenas? A 2k team beating a SIGNIFICANTLY lower rated team will gain a mere 0-6 points. If they were to lose they would lose 26+.
If you are talking about one player's personal rating lower relative to their whole team... that would just make smurf teams so much easier to run. Drop a player and re-add them. Bam, 1500 personal rating on a 2200 team.
I'd call myself a PvE'er who enjoys a little PvP now and then. I play 10 arena matches a week (most weeks) with a couple of friends, either 2v2 or 3v3 depending on whether we can all be on at the same time during non-raid time. We hang right around 1500, typically. None of us has a full set of PvP gear, none of us respecs for PvP (so we arena as raid spec), and none of us has tried very hard to get good at arena play. We tend to win games against equally- or lesser-geared opponents, and we pretty much always lose when we see S3 weapons or shoulders in the mix, which is about half the time.
Up to now, I play/have played arena for a few reasons: 1) to acquire a couple of what were best-in-slot items available to me for PvE at my guild's then-level of raid progression (for a T5 hunter, those were the Vengeful helm and axe); 2) to get a few decent pieces of stam gear for those raid encounters where such is useful, that won't totally compromise my DPS output; and 3) to get enough PvP gear to make battlegrounds an enjoyable experience rather than a frustrating insta-stomp every time I rez.
While I basically agree in principle the PR requirements that are being put in place, I can safely say that once I have acquired my last piece of S3 gear, and I get the S4 gloves, I'll be permanently retiring from arenas. I could see my team reaching 1600 without too much trouble, but...I don't think any of us will care enough to do so. I'm not upset about this, but clearly my team is a perfect example of a lower-rated group that will intentionally remove itself from the arena pool, which means someone else will have to take our spot near the bottom of the ladder.
I'd call myself a PvE'er who enjoys a little PvP now and then. I play 10 arena matches a week (most weeks) with a couple of friends, either 2v2 or 3v3 depending on whether we can all be on at the same time during non-raid time. We hang right around 1500, typically. None of us has a full set of PvP gear, none of us respecs for PvP (so we arena as raid spec), and none of us has tried very hard to get good at arena play. We tend to win games against equally- or lesser-geared opponents, and we pretty much always lose when we see S3 weapons or shoulders in the mix, which is about half the time.
Up to now, I play/have played arena for a few reasons: 1) to acquire a couple of what were best-in-slot items available to me for PvE at my guild's then-level of raid progression (for a T5 hunter, those were the Vengeful helm and axe); 2) to get a few decent pieces of stam gear for those raid encounters where such is useful, that won't totally compromise my DPS output; and 3) to get enough PvP gear to make battlegrounds an enjoyable experience rather than a frustrating insta-stomp every time I rez.
While I basically agree in principle the PR requirements that are being put in place, I can safely say that once I have acquired my last piece of S3 gear, and I get the S4 gloves, I'll be permanently retiring from arenas. I could see my team reaching 1600 without too much trouble, but...I don't think any of us will care enough to do so. I'm not upset about this, but clearly my team is a perfect example of a lower-rated group that will intentionally remove itself from the arena pool, which means someone else will have to take our spot near the bottom of the ladder.
Maybe I'm an eternal optimist (and I'm definitely beating a dead horse here) but if, and a big if at that, in S4 that you wouldn't be facing teams at 1500 in S3 Shoulders and Weapons, couldn't you see yourself actually having more fun in Arenas? Also, isn't then 1600-1700 well within reach because you are facing teams that are correctly rated at those ratings?
What about a S4.5 set? It would be 7-8 more stat points, for about 10x the price. Even the best of the best would only be able to buy 1-2 pieces per season, so it shouldn't be enough to dominate. That would give the cream of the crop something better to do then to sell points for the most part.
The only problem is that people would still be able to sell PR on off-bracket teams, but I think it would help the situation some.
Getting rolled by a team in all S3 shoulders who are actually rated 50 points below you sucks and having it happen 3 or 4 times in one night can make a huge difference. Going 12-4 v 8-8 due to no real fault of your own is demoralizing, and personally I believe that is a much bigger problem than Welfare epics.
I'll do you one better than that. One of the 5v5 teams in my guild (rated around 2,150 going into the week) went 44-11 last week and *lost* 70 points of thier ranking. It's not that they suck it's just that they ahd too many cases of running into teams thier equal (or even better) when those teams were rated 200-300 below them. I'm not sure if it's a real flaw in the system or just a quirk of our BG but teams in the 2100 area there quite commonly get paired up against teams 250 or more points below them.
Maybe I'm an eternal optimist (and I'm definitely beating a dead horse here) but if, and a big if at that, in S4 that you wouldn't be facing teams at 1500 in S3 Shoulders and Weapons, couldn't you see yourself actually having more fun in Arenas? Also, isn't then 1600-1700 well within reach because you are facing teams that are correctly rated at those ratings?
Just a thought.
How would a player in the 1500s in S4 NOT be going up against full S3 players?
I think playing against competition which didn't outgear you would invigorate the Arena, at all ratings levels, I'm just not seeing any changes which will make that happen. And for the record, having certain PvE raiding items (if we're trying to make "fair" competition) should generate some effect on your Personal Rating too - I'm mostly thinking of the weapons here.
Let me preface this post by stating I've never been above 1850 rating ever on any team. So just so you know where I'm coming from...
I'm just throwing this out there for consumption, call me a scrub as you see fit.
========================
Why not do variable based item cost for arena items? Price items such that the cost of the item minus your current average of (personal rating - 1500) * 4 with a modifier of 50 additional cost for every player under 5 limited to 2 lowest and divided by (Current Season - Season of Item + 1) is the price of the item. You also wipe points from the previous season.
That's a big sentence, so let me break it down...
(Base Price - (Current Rating - 1500) * 4 + (5 - Current Team Size) * 50) / (Current Season Level - Season Level of Item + 1) = Final Price
Example:
Let's go with a base cost of 5000 Arena points for a 2h Weapon. Lets say player A's best team is his 2v2, with 1500 Rating. The item cost is now (5000 - (1500 - 1500) * 4 + (5-2)*50) / (S4 - S4 + 1) = 5150 Arena Points. This player cannot buy this weapon ever until he raises his rating. This player now has a 5v5 Team, and can buy the 2h Weapon for 5000 - (1500 - 1500) * 4 + (5-5)*50 = 5000 Arena points. At a 5's level of 1500 play, it will take this player 15 Weeks to acquire the arena points needed to buy this weapon. Furthermore, if this player ever drops his personal rating below 1500, this item becomes unpurchasable due to price, even on a 5's team.
Now, let's look at a player on a 2v2 1850 rated team. For that same 2h weapon, it only costs 5000 - (1850 - 1500) * 4 + (5-2)*50 = 3750 Arena Points. This player would take 6 weeks to obtain this item. On a 5v5 Team, the price would only be 3600 Arena Points, and that player would take 5 weeks to obtain this item from 0 points.
Now, lets look at a player on a 2v2 2000 Rated team. For that same 2h weapon, it only costs 5000 - (2000 - 1500) * 4 + (5-2)*50 = 3150 Arena Points. For a 5v5 Player, 3000 Arena Points.
Now, lets look at a player on a 2v2 1500 Rated team looking to purchase a S3 2h Sword. It would be 5000 - (1500 - 1500) * 4 + (5-2)*50 / (4-3 + 1) = 2575 Arena Points, allowing the player to purchase the older season of gear much quicker to get to the level needed to compete.
Essentially, the system works by prevention via time mechanics to stop people from obtaining gear without completely shutting someone out. As you gain rating, not only do things become cheaper, but you earn more points.
Obviously, there's probably exploits I havent thought of here (mostly related to personal rating exploiting), but overall it's something fresh to think about.
Someone just starting would be better advised to go with older seasons as it would be much cheaper to obtain. As long as the pricing for items is intelligently assigned, then items become rare based on time and ability. If you see someone that has a S4 2h Mace, for example, you know that player has a high rating, or didnt get it until very late into the season.
Maybe I'm an eternal optimist (and I'm definitely beating a dead horse here) but if, and a big if at that, in S4 that you wouldn't be facing teams at 1500 in S3 Shoulders and Weapons, couldn't you see yourself actually having more fun in Arenas? Also, isn't then 1600-1700 well within reach because you are facing teams that are correctly rated at those ratings?
Just a thought.
In general I think its great that items are getting a rating requirement.
I also hope that Blizzard manage to make high rated pvp fun, and prevent high rated players from participating in low rated fights.
The problem is that the timing for these changes sucks. With this extremely long season 3 everyone got all the items they can get and have 5000 points ready. So we will basicly have all new (sub 1700 rating) items within a few weeks. For my part i think the excitement will pass away quickly, so I really do hope they manage to make up for it by increasing the fun factor.
For me this hits it in one, I don't know if Cyclone-EU (BG9) is the norm, but pretty much every other team I have met above 1600 is sporting at least S3 weapon (not a big deal), and maybe 1/5 with S3 shoulders & the whole works (really big deal). Which sure as hell makes 1850 seem out of reach since when we inevitably get rolled often enough to cap our rating at 1775-1790, even with waiting with queues after being rolled and playing during normal hours. Anything to stop this is welcome - such as the rating "checkpoints" suggested as items are acquired.
eu cyclone is a very competitive bg
im in your boat pretty much and we're struggling to push 1800 and our killer 8/10 is full vengeful teams.
I got a couple of friends who was in a 2100ish team here, and he had an alt in another bg (whichever grim batol is) at around 22-2300 and he says cyclone is a world of difference
How would a player in the 1500s in S4 NOT be going up against full S3 players?
I think playing against competition which didn't outgear you would invigorate the Arena, at all ratings levels, I'm just not seeing any changes which will make that happen. And for the record, having certain PvE raiding items (if we're trying to make "fair" competition) should generate some effect on your Personal Rating too - I'm mostly thinking of the weapons here.
My point was that with the new "within 150 Personal Rating of Team Rating" rule that you will no longer see so many 2000+ quality players power leveling a team just so they can sell it to other players who will then go and lose 30% of the games. So if (again, big if), this system makes it so that teams actually play at their "correct" rankings, I think that'll make the game much more enjoyable for those in the 1500-1700 part of the bracket.
It's an assumption obviously, but by my personal experience, I want to know that I have a fair shot at winning every game. As it sits now, out of 10 games, there might be up to 4 games that I have no shot due to the quality of skill/gear of the opponents who are just powerleveling a team to sell. Going 4-2 against the "real" 1600-1700 and then getting rolled 0-4 by the powerlevelers blows, making my decent night with a 2:1 W:L ratio into a bad 2:3 losing me points.
My point was that with the new "within 150 Personal Rating of Team Rating" rule that you will no longer see so many 2000+ quality players power leveling a team just so they can sell it to other players who will then go and lose 30% of the games.
But they will be there to make new teams, level personal ratings, or just to beat down people. The problem is that personal ratings currently dont reflect the skill/gear of the player all the time, and that isnt fixed yet.
But they will be there to make new teams, level personal ratings, or just to beat down people. The problem is that personal ratings currently dont reflect the skill/gear of the player all the time, and that isnt fixed yet.
Yes, just like we can't stop the ganking in Southshore or Alliance from MCing people off of Freewind post, this is still possible. But, if people can't pay their way to Shoulders and Weapons anymore, you might not see so many re-rolls.
Then again, maybe you'll see people doing 4.5/5 teams and taking them to 1700 to get people most of the gear which will make the problem even worse. I guess we won't know until S4 starts.
Partially to play devil's advocate, partially because I do have a different point of view, I make this post:
WoW is an MMO, and in MMOs, everything is a grind.
It is not intended for a starting player to be competitive in arenas, just like it is not intended for a main tank in full blues to survive kael's pyroblasts by "outgearing" them.
However, grinding full honor gear/s1/s3 from losing games is ridiculously, trivially easy. It does however take time - but this is an MMO. If you don't want to spend hours and weeks getting powerful enough to compete, reroll counterstrike.
If anything, the fact that some people cannot break a certain rating merely goes to show that either:
A) They have not grinded enough gear or
B) They do not possess enough skill to go higher.
But wait, the posters say. I have the skill, I just can't get the gear because it's too highly rated and I'm fighting people who have it! That 5-10% upgrade in power they have over the stuff I have means I'll never be able to beat them! (5-10% is extremely generous for s3 weapon and shoulders versus... everything else which is acheivable through farming honor and losing 10 games a week).
/roll eyes
If the complaint is, but I should be able to do it with an s1 weapon so I don't have to buy anything twice! I'll never be able to catch up to the top having to spend points like that! The response? Buy it, grind more. Once again, WoW is an MMO is a grind is a timesink. You grind your s2, then you grind your s3, then you grind your s4. Grind grind grind, farm farm farm. The cycle never ends.
If you and your friends get 4/5 s3, an s2 weapon and all the nice accessories, but are still losing to players that have more experience/skill than you, tough luck. Not everyone can be at the top. Not everyone can kill Illidan and get warglaives, not everyone can break 1850 and have s3 weapons.
Luckily, there's a consolation prize for those of you who think you're good, but aren't. There are more welfare epics that require zero skill on your part to get! Even less skill than it takes to run kara, or heroic mech. Lose 500 AVs and get your tier 6.5 equivalent ring/necklace/whatever pieces I'm forgetting in s4! Lose 100 arena matches over 10 months and get a couple of armor pieces that are better than or equal to tier6 (depending on class).
Plus you don't even have to worry about consumables or repair bills (just strip naked before you bg/arena for those of you who nitpick that "there are repair bills!").
To summarize my two main points/responses to the two biggest complaints in this thread:
Q) Fighting teams with better gear than me at low ratings is unfair! Why don't they make it so I only fight players that are equal to me in gear?
A) You can have gear that's a few percentage points worse than them with no rating requirement, farm more. This is an MMO. Expect to farm until you have competitive gear. S3 weapons/shoulders are not huge upgrades over S2, and you can get everything else with zero skill required.
Q) Fighting teams that have far more skill than me is unfun! Why doesn't blizzard make it impossible for me to fight players who vastly outskill me?
A) Blizzard is addressing this, though in a piecemeal, baby steps sort of way that won't satisfy everyone with its first iteration. However, by making point selling far more difficult, the number of smurf teams, which is the main complaint, are sure to drop. If you lose, it will be because you got outplayed. If you were "outgeared", see question 1.
All in all, I am EXTREMELY HAPPY with the addition of rating requirements to most of the season four items. I won't be able to make easy gold via point selling, and my alts most likely won't get much past their current 4/5 s3 from losing 10 games a week, but I could care less. More competition, less terrible players with the best gear in the game makes me happy, though it may alienate the so-called "casual" crowd that blizzard has been pandering to since the release of TBC.
04/23/08, 11:14 PM
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