If you are like me, then you play MMOs for the PVP. The character building and equipment hunting, and transmogs and such… all of that goes into creating a fun character to play in PVP. PVE is there for a change of pace, but its not why I play the game.
Unfortunately, Blizzard doesnt appreciate that kind of gamer. Its obvious in the design of the itemization, and the importance of ilvl, that players are expected to partake heavily in dungeons and raids. If you do not want to spend a majority of your time grinding PVE, then your only option is PVP items. The proverbial bone that blizzard threw to PVPers.
The problem with PVP items is that to get them you need conquest…not honor… honor is the pvp item equivalent of WQ items. Conquest can, of course, only be acquired through daily BG/arena quests, and weekly BG/arena quests. Or, through rated BG/arena games.
On the surface this seems somewhat reasonable… but when you really dig into how the system works, it is incredibly ineffective for PVPers.
Completing daily quests gives a not-too-great amount of Conquest, and can be extremely frustrating if you do not bring along a full team with you to the BGs. Additionally, the complete lack of bolstering means that unless you have managed to stay on the ball since the expansion’s release, you are going to be undergeared and disadvantaged in organized PVP at level 60. Getting your daily wins can literally take the entire day, depending on where you at in ilvl, friends, comp, and overall skill. All of that just to get a bare minimum of Conquest.
If that isnt enough of a headache, you also have to take part in rated BGs and Arenas to truly farm gear. That means you dont really have the freedom to play the game how you want. Do you like playing tanks? Forget it… tanks arent viable except as flag carriers, and RBG pickup groups only want one of those, and you better be the right spec and ilvl. Forget arenas. If you play damage, get in line cause so does 99% of the rest of the players and you arent special. Good luck getting a team. When you do get a team… you better hope enough of them are competent, and no one is a jerk, otherwise it isnt any better than joining a random BG.
So really, unless you are prepared to deal with all that extra bull&$*%, you are gonna have a long grind to get all your conquest gear and then upgrade it to the same item level that PVE players are getting by just spending the majority of their grinding dungeons. BUT WAIT! No…you cant actually do that because you cant increase the item level of conquest gear unless you have achieved a high enough rank in PVP. So not only do you have to grind far longer and harder to get the CHANCE to get equal level PVP gear… you also have to be good enough at it, and diligent enough, to achieve the highest ranks in PVP just so that you can spend even MORE of your conquest to increase the level of all of your gear. GOD FORBID YOU WANTED MORE THAN ONE SET OF GEAR FOR DIFFERENT SPECS.
To a person like myself, who doesnt want to treat the game like a second job, it is essentially impossible to ever achieve a competitive item level just to TAKE PART in pvp, unless I do the dungeon grind. This is a broken system. It is PVP unfriendly.
Rant over. All that being said… ive always been told that if you are going to complain about something, then you better offer solutions to fix it as well. So here is that.
FOR WAR MODE PLAYERS ONLY, they should implement these changes:
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On servers with sever population imbalances, there is a weekly PVP mission called “Against Overwhelming Odds”. It is to slay 25 level 60 players from the other faction, and rewards 250 anima and 200 conquest. With War Mode On, this quest should be available every week, for both factions, regardless of population levels.
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In addition to the above quest, a couple of other daily PVP quests should be offered to War mode players.
a) Kill 15 players. Reward: 40 conquest, 100 anima
b) Achieve bounty status. Reward: 100 conquest
These would be offered on top of the normal BG/Arena quests.
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With War Mode On, the PVP rank requirements should be removed from the cost of upgrading conquest gear. The entire point of War Mode was to provide PVP minded players a way to play the game how they like, without interfering with PVE minded players. It makes sense that, for War mode players, it should be easier to take part in, and compete, in PVP. Anyone who likes to PVP knows that you WANT people to take part and be able to compete on an even playing field. You dont get satisfying PVP if you have a huge disparity in strength between casual players and professional. Only jerks and morons like to pick on other players. Making it easier to upgrade gear means a more players able to compete on an even playing field, which translates to more and better PVP. To make this work there would have to be restrictions on wearing PVP gear without War Mode on…which also makes sense to me, so do that too.
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Assuming some of these other suggestions are done, another worthwhile addition would be the return of something similar to the supply drops in BfA. They provided conquest, items, and world PVP incentives. There is no negative to having these in the game. All they do is make world PVP more fun.
I am well aware that this post will only be read by a handful of people. If anyone from Blizzard sees it, they are unlikely to read it and even more unlikely to take anything I said seriously. I am writing this because I know that if nothing happens between now and the end of next month, I will be letting my account go dormant again and moving on. There is just no way for a player such as myself to enjoy WoW in its current state. I felt that if I was going to leave the game, I at least wanted to throw these thoughts and suggestions out there, just on the slim possibility that it might affect future changes in the game that will make it a more satisfying pvp experience.
For anyone who read all this, you are the real hero. If you have any of your own thoughts on it id like to hear them.
TLDR: The PVP item system isnt realistic for people who want to PVP. There are flaws in the design. Here are some simple suggestions to fix it.