On Monday, December 8, please join members of the World of Warcraft development team for some Midnight Beta PvP.
We’re playtesting Training Grounds, which is a new PvP gamemode aimed at helping introduce PvP to new players. This mode pairs players against combat bots, with the goal of allowing players an easier on ramp into learning both PvP combat and the battleground maps that it supports.
We’ll get underway at 3:00 p.m. PST (6:00 p.m. EST).
To playtest this with us, log onto the endgame Realm “Xal’atath’s Endgame”, where you’ll find max-level character templates and access to various vendors. To queue up, open the Group Finder (default hotkey: i), click on the Player vs. Player tab at the bottom, select Training Grounds and click Join Battle.
The two maps currently available are Arathi Basin and Battle for Gilneas.
Before we get things rolling, we recommend taking some time to get your character setup properly for PvP combat. Please check out the various gear and profession vendors in Orgrimmar and Stormwind to use the latest trinkets, PvP gear, and class sets in Midnight.
We look forward to playtesting with you and reading your feedback afterward!
Just a quick question. Is it intended that we can craft up to pvp ilvl 302 gear when crafting max rank gear? Or is this an issue that needs to be fixed?
It’s an issue that needs to be fixed along with bugged trinkets in instances. It will probably be fixed after this event sadly with how little attention pvp recieved
will revolve entirely around the rewards for participating, which will suck if you go on bliz’s history of pvp rewards for time spent
the gameplay and matchmaking issues with regular and rated pvp will continue to chase players away, along with the large amount of script cheating players use to trivialize pvp mechanics
How is this PvP testing when it’s players versus npcs? When do we get to test player versus player combat (i.e. without pvp trinkets being completely broken for a month)? Will there be any non-comp stomp PvP testing with the Blues?
For those who really wanna be as powerful as you can be, I’d suggest:
Using 4/5 tier, learn engineering, and jewelcrafting, max out knowledge in both, and make tools(in some cases) so that you have enough skill, and concentration to craft the highest quality Thalassian Competitors (302 Ilvl in pvp). Id recommend using those for bracers, boots, helm/gloves depending on if you do engineering/LW/tailor/BS. Engineering helm/bracers/boots give all one stat, the other crafted pvp gear is 50/50% random stat(cuz missives dont work). Then if you want to go even harder, Jewelcraft ring(s), and a necklace, with the verse embellishment, which gives you 112 versatility per(its procs from helpful spells, not healing, the tooltip is wrong), and you can create the best gems like +12 Mastery, +5 Haste, +32 main stat.
*you might still need to visit silvermoon pvp vendor for the engineering boots, the professor tauren might not have them still. Otherwise, craft some thalassian comp ones from Tailoring/LW/BS.
Blizzard, what would be cool, is if there was a never ending AV battle, in the field of strife, For those of all levels potentially..
You join in, and its just a nonstop bloodbath of 40v40, where people would spend hours, gaining honor, leveling, having alot of fun I bet.
I had this idea for Season of Discovery a few months ago.. Those servers are still up, everyone still has their maxed out tier 3.5 toons, that were very fun to play..
Someone should organize a public event, where players can partake in a never-ending AV, like in the old days(like patch 1.12).. Its technically possible on SoD, right now.
Yall might need to modify the version of current AV to pull it off for retail/beta though.
Remember 12 hour AV matches? That would be so hype, I still dont think the game/the average PC can handle that much spell density still… in 2025.. its just too much for some reason. (watch the 40 paladins vs 40 evokers for reference). Maybe one day it’ll run smooth.
Very weird nobody is replying to this. Seems like a perfect opportunity to address the issues with pvp. A fourm by a Blue who actually brought up the word “PvP”.
the training grounds needs to be more advance this doesn’t teach anyone anything on how to pvp other than to mash buttons, ANYONE can mash buttons, this doesn’t teach ppl the importance of Crowd Controlling, what to look out for i.e not breaking CCs, when is a good time to use your medallion and when is not a good time to. the bots are not challenging enough and the casual bgs and rated bgs are a sweatfest and ppl are just gonna get bombarded by experienced ppl and then be discouraged to play, this mode needs something to teach people to understand what diminishing returns are i.e. a rogue spamming cheap shot thinking he can infinitely stun someone and then gets confused when they can no longer stun someone or CC someone. or how to pay close attention to comb other abilities while certain procs are up. atm this training grounds is no different than wailing at moving target dummies that tickle you.
The bots were super easy to kill just like how they have been in the current version of comp stomp. I suppose it makes sense if this game mode is targetted towards that are new to PvP and therefore have no gear.
However, echoing what Chariana just said above me, the bots just aren’t as sophisticated and meticulous as other players are.
People that transition from training grounds to actual random BG’s are going to have a whole different experience from the former.
The fact that they un-stickied this post without even replying to how it went while the PvE with the blues post remains is appropriate for how much focus there is on PvP in this game.
I played a few rounds of training grounds; the bots were far too squishy and each match wound up spawn camping them immediately. Kind of impossible to tell how how they played when they died instantly. I do appreciate the idea of a place where new players can familiarize themselves with the maps and objectives.
Some feedback:
As someone commented above, there needs to be a “boot camp” style training ground where the game explicitly explains diminishing returns, cooldown trading, trinket use, line-of-sight and dampening. Each of these need to be clearly explained, one at a time, and then together, in a scenario.
There should be some explanation about how the objectives are slightly different in unrated vs rated battlegrounds.
While we’re on the subject of making PvP as intuitive as possible, it’s insane to me that tooltips on abilities don’t explain their PvP modifiers. So many abilities behave differently in PvP that if you’re new to it, it will feel very uncomfortable.
Yes, it would be a good idea to at least, put on the official website, or inside the game journal, details about how the different battlegrounds work, with a casual/rated toggle, that shows the differences, just like there is for dungeons.
For over 20 years, people relied on personal experience, youtube videos, wowhead, icyveins, arenamate, and watching live streamers to learn.
Also, it would be very helpful if we saw pvp modifiers on abilities, make it a toggle in the spellbook/talent menu, so the pve-only players dont HAVE to see it. There can be an added tutorial arrow pointing to it for new players/characters.