It’s almost as if the WoD Blizzard devs of the past could be speaking to present day Blizzard devs:
Another issue on our radar is the ever-increasing item level gap between the gear you can purchase with Honor and Conquest points. To help bridge that gap, in Warlords, we’re going to have three separate tiers of PvP gear.
It starts with an introductory set of a quality similar to today’s Honor gear, except you’ll earn it much, much faster. That set comes primarily through the Strongboxes, and you’ve got a high chance of getting a piece in each Strongbox you earn. After that starter gear comes a new set: Veteran’s gear. There’s a small chance to find a piece of Veteran’s gear in a Silver or Gold Strongbox, but you can also purchase Veteran’s gear with Honor points. That gear’s PvP item level will be halfway between the starter gear and Gladiator’s gear.
Adding the Veteran’s tier accomplishes a lot of things for us. First, it makes sure that someone who wants to step into rated PvP later on in the season isn’t nearly as far behind their opponents in gear. Second, since the basic gear is earned so quickly, that helps make sure players get those important set bonuses, trinkets, etc. without too much trouble, and helps ensure everyone is on some baseline in their ability to compete. For players who enjoy PvP but aren’t really interested in jumping into rated competition, earning > Veteran’s gear will feel a lot more rewarding.
As for Gladiator’s gear, we’ve been pretty happy with how Conquest points have worked in Season 15, but we are making one small change: Rated Battlegrounds and Arenas will have the same base Conquest cap. That cap can then be increased by your rating in either Arenas or Rated BGs (whichever is higher). Instead of giving you extra Conquest points, winning a Rated Battleground will allow you to use a bonus roll token for a shot at a piece of Gladiator’s gear, similar to the Celestial world bosses on the Timeless Isle. This tweak makes the weekly Conquest cap easier to understand, while still providing an extra incentive for running RBGs, and letting you use your bonus rolls on PvP gear through PvP.
3 Simple tiers of gear, all earned doing PVP, and allows people to gear to a basic level very quickly, lowering the barrier to entry for all. And the most fun gear system I have experienced in WoW.
All without stepping on the toes of the PVE gearing system.
no it should not, perhaps more gear faster, but not better gear. you dont give the fastest car in a race a supercharger, that just ensures he is the only winner going forward.
Generally, I think that WoD had it perfect (everyone could eventually have the gear), I would certainly not begrudge say one weapon that was a prestigious high rating item, if the gladiators among us felt that was needed. Obviously not something over the top powerful but higher ilvl that the regular conquest gear.
I am not a glad player, and I likely won’t ever be a threat to one if I had the same gear as them at the end of the season. I will say this though, WoD had the right sauce to keep a BG hero like myself in the game knowing that eventually, even I, could have that gear.
Having the majority of gear gated like they are proposing in SL, is disheartening for me. I already know that I will not have much chance of being on the same level as someone who does high level PVE or high rated PVP.
PVE also gets easier no matter how slowly you gear. A heroic raid boss does not gear up as the expansion moves along.
In PVP, it gets harder and harder if you can’t keep up with everyone.
WoD again, had this just right. I played a lot of alts and it always felt like I could catch up to everyone in a reasonable amount of time. Gearing was fun and not a chore like it was in BfA.
SL looks to be shaping up to a similar experience, PvP gear looks to be gated behind rating and ridiculously long honor grind for sub par gear, or endless PVE.
its hard to say whether the grind will be long or not because we really dont know all that much.
In BFA you could expect to be about 1 week behind a normal to heroic raider for gearing(provided that raider didn’t also do M+)
and despite everyone crying bloody murder, the scaling actually does keep the game relatively balanced, at no point in the expansion have i ran into a superior geared player and fealt that it was impossible to take them on. no, in fact a whole 15 ilvl advantage just makes you a spicy meatball, nothing more.
it wasnt until 8.3 that classes really started to show that you needed to at least do visions, as the corruption stacking was basically requiring you to do this to keep up. even if only at a minimal rate.
but even still, i have alts that i have basically carried games with that are decked out in aspirant blues and dont have the cloak, corruption, or any good essences or azerite traits.
I guess that is my experience in BGs recently, running into an enhance with 50% vers and maxed verse amps. They were taking on 2-3 people at a time. An enhancement shaman!
In WoD, I knew that I could have gear like that, without dedicating months of PVE to do it. In BfA, it was just discouraging, because I knew there was no hope of having gear like that without having dedicated the entirety of one patch to mostly PVE.
Reading this premise for WoD gearing from Blizzard makes me realize just how far we have fallen:
WoD PvP gearing was the most fun and the expansion I PvP’d the most, even as a casual. I could eventually acquire the gear, which meant I could have a bunch of alts. If I got bored playing one, i could just hop on another and play them. I had a fully geared lock, disc, mage, feral, and pally, while also PvEing on my death knight.
I know the content was slow to non-existent and the overall expansion wasn’t great, but I had a ton of fun in PvP and loved playing. It’s what kept me subscribed during the expansion.
Never had as much fun in the game as being able to PvP on multiple toons because the gear was obtainable and better than PvE gear.
The system was a huge success. Not sure why it needed to be changed. I wish it would come back.
while i’ve done plenty of competitive gaming, the rated player superiority complex of wow is simply astonishing.
you not only have people convinced that rated players are better than unrated, but that the unrated players should somehow worship the ground the rated players walk on.
its not until you get to the very top of the arena ladder, well above 2400 and gladiator that you start finding players above what you see in unrated. and even then, that’s iffy.
if you know who is who, particularly in epics, you begin to realize how tiny of a fish the 2.2k 3s player screaming about rating really is.
My problem is that I primarily heal since I always solo queue and want to contribute my best, so gear disadvantage is a real concern. I’ve taken half or even 2/3 the damage for the entire team in BGs, with too big of a gap I’ll just be a detriment to the team and spending most of the match in the GY.
I should really just break down and play a dps. I have a rogue with slightly better gear than this, although I haven’t played him lately I have a good amount of PvP experience on Raist (though mainly Aff ). My DK was always a beast as UH in BGs (and better in WPvP as blood).
I don’t know why, I guess I’m just obstinate. I also have an expectation to do my best to promote the team, also maybe a consequence of having focused healing in BGs. I don’t want to take the heal slot of someone that can actually be effective.
They’re not locking gear behind rating, just adding a few ilvls per rating. It’s not like the days where you had to be 2200 for shoulders or weapons or w/e it was. Basically what they did in Legion/BfA.
i think the main concern is that bgers will top out where literally everyone else starts for ilvl, and this will require them to play rated pvp up to a substantial level (2400+) or gear from pve.
in addition, that topping out is after hundreds of games, instead of right now where you can expect to come in line with a heroic raider about halfway into the season, for SL its looking an awful lot like we will end up at the end of the season where pvers started in terms of ilvl, never catching up or matching.
IMO, if dungeon is 187, normal raid is 200 and heroic is 213, then our initial bg gear should start at 187, upgrade to 200, and then upgrade to 213. max 3/3 for each season. at the start of a new season, 13 ilvl is tacked on to the cap and you can upgrade each item to the new cap.
this keeps bgers up to date, and keeps it easy for them to catch up. i think on SL the issue is our ilvl for bg gear caps out at 187 and the only way to get higher ilvl is to play rated pvp.(i could be wrong, a lot of the info on SL pvp gear is sketchy still)
). My DK was always a beast as UH in BGs (and better in WPvP as blood).