It’s not just battlegrounds that people don’t like, it’s also the unbalanced/one-sided maps. Wintergrasp is a perfect example, and possibly Isle of Conquest as a runner-up
There’s also 1 or 2 similar “snowball effect” BG maps in the regular map-pool, like Seething Shore
0 harm really. I remember back in Legion (the last time blacklisting was in the game) the queue times for random BGs were actually shorter than they are now, despite blacklisting being an option. Blacklisting option is actually preferable to people “voting with their feet” by simply leaving these same unpopular maps like they do now (causes backfillers, wastes time of the new players added, etc) in the absence of blacklisting
If blacklisting were still in the game, the people who don’t want to be in X unpopular BG map (example: Wintergrasp) would simply never zone into said BG map in the first place.
So the remaining players (who don’t have map X blacklisted) would have more enjoyable games in map X and possibly more comebacks/recoveries since they’re willing to try harder and actually stick around in these unpopular maps. There would also be less negativity/toxicity in BG chat from people who don’t like the BG map (…more common in epic BGs to be fair) or don’t want to be there
I think lowbie/LFD dungeons don’t really matter as much as max-level random BGs do - most players just “blast” thru those lowbie LDF dungeons with mass-AOE pulls in like 10 minutes, so seems like a moot point as far as adding a blacklist option.
BGs on the other hand are content that is still relevant to the “main” max-level/level 60 playerbase, so the enjoyment factor absolutely matters - and unpopular (or unbalanced/one-sided) BG maps detract from this enjoyment of casual PvP
I like the idea of blacklist for all random queue content, or at least mass-queue for bgs so I can queue for all the ones I like instead of just a few of them.
I would cancel the Oculus, Gnomergan and Violet Hold, that would make random dungeon leveling already much more enjoyable for me. Since you mention the factor of uneven maps, I will bring up the dungeon equivalent which is comparatively long dungeons.
Blacklisting doesn’t address the problems that make people want to afk or drop group the instant they land in certain bgs, which are ones lots of people hate.
They need to get competent people working on PvP so they can rework those so they aren’t so hated. This will be easier to do than building new maps from scratch - which they should also do.
Even a f2p game like Rocket League lets you downvote 2 maps you don’t like, and those maps are purely cosmetic. I know a lot of people that don’t like Ashran(not me), so it would be great if they could blacklist it and not have to waste their time leaving each time it comes up in rotation.
I imagine blacklisting would at least provide devs with the raw numerical data (example: 10000 players have X blacklisted, 1500 players have map Y blacklisted) that would point them to the troublespot/unpopular maps so they can investigate “why” players don’t seem to like map X and ideally… actually do something about that specific map to possibly change that (balance/tuning pass, overhauling the map, etc etc) and bring that unpopular map more in-line with other BG maps in terms of popularity/player enjoyment
They can see how many people quit the instant they zone into a bg they don’t want to be in now. Indirect data gathering is extremely inefficient guess work. They need to stop guessing based on gut feeling and actually do a research project to find out what people hate and why.
A competent PvP team that knows what they are doing can fix these issues.
There was lots of demand to bring in Wintergrasp as a bg. Now everybody hates it. They shouldn’t be waiting several expansions to figure out how they borked it so badly.
ASK PVPERS. They have players’ phone numbers. They also have former players’ phone numbers. If they’re serious about fixing the problems with PvP they will hire a research company to get them data.
The time to return blacklisting is after improvements have been made that equalize popularity. Not now, when everybody has 4 bgs they want to blacklist.
“Which one do I hate the most of all the ones I hate?” is not a question so many paying customers should have to be asking themselves.
I still think blacklist would provide better overall data/statistics
Besides zoning into an unpopular map, players might leave a BG for a large variety of reasons:
you notice your team is 30-40k hp alts, while the other team is mostly 80-90k health mains
maybe the gear/health values are fine, but it’s an imbalanced comp instead… say, the other team got 3 healers to your team’s 0 healers
you notice it’s a rigged premade-vs-pugs match, and you’re on the “pugs” side of the match
you can tell it’s going to be a long/slow turtle loss
you notice it’s a really lopsided score/your team won’t recover
you backfilled into a losing/in-progress BG but wanted a fresh match
you lag badly or disconnect
you leave because you had to go (real-life issue, important phone call, etc)
you realize you won’t have enough time to finish the match, and leave early
etc etc
The point is, raw blacklist statistics/data is pretty cut-and-dry, there’s sooo many variables as to why players might leave a BG that it’s not an accurate indicator of anything. Whereas with blacklist data, it’s a straight “9k players have map A blacklisted, while 1k players have map B blacklisted”… using such data the devs would quickly identify the “troublespot” BG maps and focus their attention there
TBH I’m surprised wintergrasp is part of the rotation, I’ve only seen the defending team nearly lose a single time. If your the attacking team it’s pretty much over when it starts due to all you having to do is cycle caps in a massive group.
Kotmogu would go on my blacklist - It’s a frying pan or fire type of map (it’s unenjoyable on both sides: too much of a steamroll makes the map disinteresting, and of course being on the receiving end of the steamroll is disheartening.)
SADLY, Deepwind Gorge would go on the blacklist as well - new map is WAY TOO HUGE; it’s more travelling than fighting on objectives/nodes.
There’s a few premaders floating around these boards that frequently claim otherwise, but yeah, as a general rule zoning into Wintergrasp offense is almost an “auto loss” in a pugs-vs-pugs match… almost everything about the map is stacked “in favor” of the defense pugs
Maybe one of those said premaders will stumble upon this thread/is lurking it right now, who knows
