The Pre-made Epic Battle ground situation is getting out of hand. ( This is also an issue for casual Random Battlegrounds as well.) For context, I've always loved Leading Epic Battle Grounds, and have always wanted a Premade/Rated option for Epics, although I can see why it isn't practical. TLDR: Pre-made epics are a growing problem, Every single Epic BG is untuned and no longer function as designed, can our Community Council do anything to address this issue?
For people just getting into the PvP scene casual Random Epic Battle Grounds are a great place to learn how to play and and in some cases are one of a players first interactions with PvP. Going against an 8 Healer 4 Tank Highly Coordinated Premade Epic and getting farmed for 40 minutes for honor, or getting Boss Zerged and finished in 3 minutes is a terrible way to get to know PvP. Half the team leaves after getting stomped in the initial go, nearly cementing the fate of those who stay. The PvP community has shrunk and is still shrinking and this is one of many cuts leading to it’s death.
Being experienced in leading Epics a Non-Premade Group with a strong leader can pull out a win over a Pre-made but this is an exception. Queing into a game against a Pre-made can essentially be a 30-50+ Minute time sink with a nearly guaranteed loss. Or a 3min Zerge loss. Allowing this to continue is immensely disrespectful towards the time of the players.
The presence of Pre-Made Epics resulted in the creation of more Pre-made Epics to increase the likelihood of victory, and the numbers are only going to keep going up to the point where if you want a shot at winning you’ll have to be in a Pre-made to win, if something isn’t done. It’s time for Blizzard to turn their eye to the things that are harming one of their End Game Pillars, and fix it.
Furthermore to people running these Pre-mades (I know a few of you) why bother? The weekly quest requires only 1500 Honor Earned in Epics, you can get that off a single well fought win or 1 win and a loss, is your time really so much more valuable than everyone else’s? If you’re conquest farming there are better ways and the weekly quests give plenty. I know one group that’s running Pre-mades as a community service to help people get wins BECAUSE THERE ARE SO MANY PREMADES.
Tuning - All Epic BGs need to be tuned and restored to their intended states.
Alterac Valley - I can Tank Vaandar Stormpike with 0 towers down in AV and get a fast enough kill to win on a Zerg. Most games regardless of Pre-mades are zerge to the end cap 2 towers and GY and Pull, this needs to be tuned.
Ashran - Backdooring is a piece of cake and the only reason we’re seeing less of it is because players have been forced to watch out for it, the game was never intended to be won by 4 players downing the boss, as fun as it is.
Isle of Conquest - Capping Hangar at the start is the best strategy for victory, it out performs Work Shop and Docks even when held together. There are many ways to pull out a win over this but again those are exceptions and if a rogue ninja caps Docks even once the chances of pulling out said win become very slim.
Wintergrasp - Defending team has a huge advantage and wins most games, perhaps reducing wall HP, and increasing tower HP could help? Giving defenders more time to wipe demos without getting ploughed. Perhaps reducing time needed to capture or recapture a Workshop for defenders?
I’m not going to pretend to have all the answers on how to fix this but some Pre-made Coordinators are running 3rd party addons to coordinate ques (these addons could be black listed). One Forum suggested allowing a 75% vote to end a game if they encounter a Pre-made to prevent getting farmed, I actually like this idea, could use some work. Even making Pre-made coordination a temporary bannable offense might be an option.
Various Communities (you know, the “Not Guilds”), and Discords are being used to assemble these Pre-mades, not sure what can be done about this.
Would anyone on the Community Council be willing to bring this issue to the table for discussion? Or perhaps anyone who knows a Council member bring this to their attention?