This is inspired by the discussion
currently going on in the Season 3 Date & Discussion thread, which has branched from the original topic considerably and is worthy in my opinion of its own discussion.
How can Blizzard make battlegrounds more fun? How can they make the honor grind enjoyable, with honor gear being a reward for participating in a fun and engaging system instead of, for some, a dreaded necessity?
There are two main approaches to this in my mind:
1) Changes to the honor system, including the method by which honor is gained. Daily quests, ELO systems for BG's, etc.
2) Added variety to the BG's themselves. Additional BG's (one of which is of course already in development), new maps for existing gametypes, etc.
While I am very much in favor of changes to option 1, let me focus for the moment on number 2. Specifically, let me talk about variety.
Looking at other online PvP games, there are typically a wide variety of maps (10+) and a variety of gametypes (5+). These can then be combined to create numerous different alternatives. Capture the flag takes on very different flavors depending on the map, which adds greatly to the replay value. To make a tenuous comparison, imagine if Halo 2 had only one map for CTF, one for Territories, and one for Big Team Battle Assault - it would getting boring incredibly quickly. Would adding new gametypes to the existing WoW maps add value to the BG system? What if when you queued up for AB, you would randomly get one of the following variants:
- Neutral CTF, with a neutral flag at the blacksmith. Victory requires 5 captures. Similar to EotS but without any "resource" locations to control
- Traditional AB
- Traditional CTF, with flags at both bases. Victory requires 3 captures. Essentially WSG with the AB map. This would definitely have a different flavor than traditional WSG due to the different routes available to flag carriers. Base defense would be much more important.
- Traditional AB with the addition of combat NPC's at all nodes. These NPC's must be defeated to capture a node (unlike AV, a flag cannot be clicked until all its defensive NPC's are defeated) and once captured, NPC's of the appropriate faction will spawn to help protect the node alongside players. This emphasizes teamwork more than the current AB because capping a node will require coordination and players won't be able to run around solo and find unguarded nodes. Capping a node will be much more significant, unlike the "hot potato" syndrome you see in many PuG AB's.
This addition seems like it would make an afternoon of queueing up for AB much more fun and lively. It's difficult to make a case that the current BG's aren't a little stale at this point; almost 3 years of the exact same 3 BG's would get boring in any game.
WSG variants could be along the lines of:
- Speed match: All players granted a passive 20% movement speed buff.
- Beserker flag: Holding the flag decreases your health by 1% every 3 seconds, but increases damage done by 25%.
- Assault: Take your flag into your opponent's base to score.
- Annihilation: First team to 150 HK's wins. No flags.
Would this be an improvement? What do you think Blizzard could do to make you look forward to queueing up for BG's?