TL;DR:
-
Embrace the Mosh Pit - searching for non-marked players to attack was a fun and different gameplay, just visually convey that information and reduce the feelsbad of Bloodless players attacking Non-Marked players.
-
Reward 5v5s. Make it easier to find the Blood Champion, and add more mini-objectives throughout the zone to encourage 5 player groups to converge on those locations and fight.
The event so far has been off to a rocky start, with the first iteration being chaotic but obviously unintended GY farming, the next iteration being quite fun and something we’ve never seen before but also in some respects not intended, and now the current iteration which is just awful, literally worse than Ashenvale PvP.
I think Blizzard needs to step back and think about how players are engaging the content, what players want, and what Blizzard can do to support those activities. There are very clearly two different camps with this event, one who primarily want a chaotic Free-For-all, and one who want 5v5 PvP. The first iteration just kind of a mess, but the second iteration produced a unique style of gameplay that a lot of players highly enjoyed. Seeing 80+ players in a sweaty free for all, all searching for targets to kill was something wholly unique and never before seen in WoW and it was highly appealing to FFA players. It was decent enough for 5v5 players but it could turn into a bit of a cluster.
The second iteration was what Blizzard should have built off of. This third iteration is a massive step back, completely shutting down the FFA aspects of the event as groups of 5 instantly pounce on players as soon as Bloodless falls off. Groups of 5 sitting equidistant, waiting to jump players trying to run away from the GY and rebuff is neither fun for FFA players and not really fun for 5v5 players either - easy blood but not engaging combat.
With that in mind, I would say Blizzard should do the following-
-
Upon resurrection, for 10 seconds players are Ethereal, completely immune to damage but deal 100% less damage and healing. They also have instant cast spells and no mana or reagent cost. They’re completely invisible at this time.
-
30 seconds after that buff falls off, players are now Bloodless. They take and deal 75% less damage and healing. They’re visible, but appear with a sort of ghostly appearance. They do NOT award blood while Bloodless.
-
Mark the Blood Champion on the map.
-
Add blood totems throughout the zone. These need to be somewhat distant from any GYs that exist. Blood Totems will give you a x2 multiplier to blood gains while within X number of yards of the blood totem. Mark Blood Totems on the map. If enough activity occurs at a single blood totem, it will summon the Blood Champion.
-
Add a Blood Portalstone to the vendor. The Blood Portalstone can be used while the STV event is active from anywhere in the world. It will create a portal to 1 of 8 random preset locations. Everyone in your party who uses the portal will drop off in the same location. After exiting the portal, the same standard rules apply after dying - you start off ethereal, then bloodless, then you can fight fully.
I think these changes would facilitate an FFA-friendly meta while creating areas of conflict in the zone for 5 player groups to engage in combat with each other and feel rewarded. The random nature of the Blood Portalstone means that not every single game would be played out as the Mosh Pit, as different groups appear in different parts of the zone.