Hi, Blizz, I’m Maldoren! From Wrath up until Legion, my primary endgame content was unrated bgs. In Legion I got to doing other things and didn’t play as much, but you could still find me in the occasional bg.
BfA removed my endgame from me, thus for large swaths of the expansion I was not subbed, and with the way you have designed Shadowlands gearing it appears you will be losing a lot of my money this expansion, as well. And the reason is because of the way you treated unrated pvpers compared to all other groups of people.
With the “gear is gear” crossover philosophy between pve and pvp, you make the assumption that rated pvp is equivalent to Mythic and M+, and unrated is equivalent to LFR and Heroic dungeons. The problem is that nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to unrated pvp.
For pve, and to a lesser extent rated pvp, gearing operates on two principles: One, more difficult and coordinated content rewards better gear, because two, you need it in that content. Harder content with the toughest opponents rewards the best gear, while easier content with easier opponents rewards lesser gear. Simple and fair philosophy…
…that doesn’t apply to unrated pvp. We are not treated per the two principles of gearing because we are forced to fight against people in gear that is far superior to what we can earn in unrated pvp. Unlike every other form of content, unrated pvp is designed to actively punish players who don’t do harder content. In no other form of content are you unable to get the gear you need to overcome what you will face.
I’m asking for you to make unrated pvp the same as every other form of content. Should we earn the same gear as rated pvp? Nope, because it is less competitive and coordinated. But the flip side is we should not NEED the better gear in unrated pvp, which means the maximum ilvl inside unrated pvp should be capped to what you can earn from playing unrated pvp. This puts unrated pvp on par with every other form of content and lets players who enjoy spamming bgs be on an equal footing within the content they prefer without forcing them to be punching bags, while also not giving rewards equal to more difficult content.
I will not do M+ or rated pvp. Not happening. I play this game to relax, not because I have anything to prove, but I will also not accept being in the only group that is looked down upon on a structural level. If unrated pvp will not be treated equally to everyone else, then you will lose my sub and a bunch of my money at some point, just like in BfA. And I’m hardly alone.
