Hi,
I know the topics been beaten to death but I’m compelled to add my voice to this piranha tank in the ongoing effort to see PvP in it’s best state possible. I don’t come here speaking as a veteran multi glad, but as a long time universal WoW player that gets that specific itch scratched by the gameplay WoW PvP offers, and I’m not great at writing bulk points in a way that’s so digestible so please consider those factors when you read my post.
PvP at it’s best is still fun though at its worst, and far too consistently, is downright frustrating. The amount of micromanagement spread across CC, micro CC, mitigations, absorbs, buffs, movement abilities (more on this later) and CD’s is exhausting. It’s to the point that everyones favorite load screen tip “Struggling with a tough foe? Remember, just keep your Health above 0 while lowering your enemy’s Health to 0. Works every time!” is something I have to chuckle at given how disingenuous it is to what WoW is actually like to play outside of questing where no one struggles with a tough foe.
To start, I see a lot of discussion and outrage on age old incidents, I’ll use melee chasing around pillars and dying as an example. This behavior of lining healers has grown more consistent in the rated space with the addition of Solo and Blitz, which is natural given the pug nature of these modes which are objectively more popular than party lobbies, though the addition of 2-4 gap closers, openers and general movement abilities that have been homogenized into nearly every spec in the game is, in my opinion, the catalyst of the issue. If you give players more tools to screw up, they are going to do so more often. Newer players and PvE enjoyers are going to see that charge is off cool down and utilize it unaware that playing their character in a way that comes natural to them is active sabotage, yet here they are with 2-4 gap closers to create the lose condition. In the current meta it feels 9/10 safer to be kiting rather than chasing, as kiting now still offers 100% damage uptime for a stark majority of specs.
What’s unforgivable in my book is how some specs seem to get a pass where as others can remain in mediocrity. Why are mages (a class I have played extensively) with their 2 blinks, displace, alter and gigashields currently cosplaying as warlocks being the 5th pillar in the middle of an arena map unbothered?
Why are MM hunters deleting people for 5mil odd aimed shots?
Why is BM seeing so much success having S macro’d into and bound to their PvE rotation, ignoring all CC that isnt stun on cooldown on the kill target?
Why is every shaman spec mid or downright trash - again? (I understand resto is doing okay but in the face of disc I honestly cant compare it).
Why have casters and ranged DPS been divided by one feeling like you’re a comp stomp NPC/target dummy/active thrower and the other being spoiled for win conditions? At least give the benefits of instants to classes that don’t have an obnoxious level of mobility.
Why is night elves?
I don’t see how any of the above is considered healthy in the PvP space and the currents state of it feels so obvious that I can only think of it as an active ignorance towards PvP as well as some of WoW’s most dedicated playerbase.
The change on CC not breaking immediately honestly needs to be reverted. It was a lazy solution to a lazy design choice of baking cleave into everyones ST rotation. Doesn’t the over saturation of movement and gap closing/opening abilities for the purpose of advantageous positioning entirely contradict this weird, acute safety net change to CC? Why does CC need protection when we have an obnoxious amount of freedom of movement to ensure cleave wouldn’t hit a CC target anyway?
Immortal healer arc is boring. I understand it would be miserable to die more often but with the strength a healer brings to a situation, it’s fair that an unpeeled/unsupported healer should die under the circumstance of being trained by 3-4 dps regardless of spec. There’s no black or white on this imo, dying is a part of PvP and it’s silly that any one role or spec is liberated from this regardless of how well played it is.
It feels harder than ever to predict incoming damage without the use of addons or weakauras and this doesn’t lie directly in audio/visual cues of a spec’s offensive cooldowns. There’s way too much reliance on ritalin fueled hyperfixation in lower rating brackets on awareness of you healers position, their CD’s, are they currently CC’d etc. Paired with the internal management of your own defensives, positioning and cooldowns AS WELL as the enemies - it cocktails into a scenario where too often in a single match does the next global make or break the round despite best intentions. It’s very punishing and a little exhaustive knowing you’ve lost a round because that next global responded to one thing while several other critical events were also happening at the same time. I understand gross amounts of counterplay awareness and skill is important for high end rated PvP but it isn’t fun as a mandatory introduction to the in the lower, mid and casual environments that make up a large bulk of PvP. The ridiculous MMR inflation really nails this one home.
TLDR, It’s my own spin on the same echo chamber. PvP gameplay bloated, balancing bad, PvP Inaccessible for new players, low effort specs seeing the most success is stupid, 2 pvp devs scrreeeEEEEE.
I just really like PvP and want to see it improve in all areas and not just micro tuning for the top 1% of players. I understand my accounts on everything may deviate from your own and am open to your thoughts. Cheers.
