We’ve updated several PvP-focused elements of the upcoming Mists of Pandaria Classic experience, and we would like to share them below:
During active Arena Seasons, the Conquest cap will go up every week for all characters. If a player does not reach the cap in a week, they will be able to catch up. This is a change we made in Cataclysm Classic, and we were pleased by the feedback.
For example, if you create a new character and hit max level 4 weeks into the Arena Season, your available Conquest cap will be 4 times the weekly cap, and you can catch up to everyone else without being permanently behind.
We are bringing back Gladiator and Rank One titles and rewards for 2v2s and 5v5s.
We will have a flat cutoff instead of a percentage of players for Rank One and Gladiator slots.
Having multiple alts in the Gladiator range no longer counts towards multiple slots when calculating the cutoff for that arena bracket size.
For example, if you have 4 characters that are all Gladiator in 3s, you only count as one spot and all 4 of those characters get Gladiator rewards.
Similarly, if you have 2 characters that are Gladiator in 2s, 2 characters that are Gladiators in 3s, and 4 characters that are Gladiator in 5s, you count as 1 character in 2s, 1 character in 3s, and 1 character in 5s for cutoffs. All of those characters get their Gladiator rewards.
If you have 2 characters that are Gladiator in 3s, and one character that is not, you count as 1 slot in 3s, your 2 characters get Gladiator rewards, and your character that was not Gladiator does not get the rewards.
Base Resilience is set to 62% Damage Reduction from players for the duration of Arena Season 12.
Base Resilience is set to 40% for characters below level 90.
Battle Fatigue is set to -30% Healing and Shielding for the duration of Arena Season 12.
Note: We are aware that PvP Power has not been contributing towards Healing on the Beta, and that has been accounted for with the Battle Fatigue and Base Resilience numbers we have arrived at.
There is now a maximum PvE-Item Level of 473 while inside of Arenas, Battlegrounds, and Rated Battlegrounds.
If you are wearing a non-PvP item in an Arena, BG, or RBG that exceeds the 473 item level maximum, it will be set to item level 473 for that match.
For clarity, PvP items like Conquest Weapons at item level 490 are NOT affected by this cap and retain their item level.
Good changes. But as your target demographic (dad, limited play time, reluctant buyer of boosts), when will you implement rated solo queue? What successful pvp game doesn’t have rated solo queue?
Otherwise participation will die despite these efforts, just like in TBC/Wotlk/Cata. Sitting for 30 mins in LFG to have a partner leave after first loss is so demoralizing I will just log out. Solo queue with attending solo mmr lets us practice and find partners and increase participation in pvp generally.
Give me rate solo queue and I’ll prob boost every class to 90 just to try it out.
Oh yeah, also let skirms and rated arenas give honor (but less per hour than bgs to keep bgs healthy).
Interesting changes, but one question I have is would separate wow accounts on the same battle.net account count as alts?
Would it also be possible to see some changes for RBGs? The horde RBG bracket is entirely dead compared to the alliance side. Perhaps a seperation of Hero of the Faction slots?
These changes are only as good as when ppl can find consistent players to push with. I tried out cata pvp early on and it felt quite impossible. There wasn’t even a pvp lfg section… I’m expecting another one month hype before going back to retail S3.
I know this is extremely unlikely, but I am begging yall to put it back in for 2s on retail. That bracket has 0 value outside just wanting to play it since the solo brackets came out. Would love to have more incentive for pushing high rating in that bracket.
Great changes, I do hope that the 2’s/5’s R1/glad spots are reduced compared to 3’s to keep that bracket the main pvp bracket. Personally would have preferred only gladiator available in 2s/5s, but very happy to hear these changes.
Honestly, having a solo queue for people so they don’t have to sit around in LFG tab, and dealing with people asking “what’s your CR and XP” all day, would really help the pvp bracket. Some people just want to play, and get some games in for the practice, and playing with people at their CR is going to benefit them. But that’s usually ruined because people who are just getting into pvp are gate kept by the “LFG” trolls and try hards
lol now you know how classic era/anniversary players feel when retail got the original vanilla (fun) version of AV and classic era/anniversary got the worst version.
Ya solo queue (same arena pool as current, not segregated) for single round rated arena would be the biggest and easiest win for blizzard in terms of participation which translates to $$$.
Really no excuse not to do it. Especially when AI tools are just getting more and more advanced. It’s a proven successful model too based on some of the most popular pvp games in the world.
Just don’t do something stupid like segregating the queues and making it 6 rounds and only for 3v3 and only for 2 dps + healer. The winning strat is just adding a soloQ option onto the existing system (2v2, 3v3 and 5v5). That’s it.
