You need a separate Community Council for PVP - 6 years since a new BG map

Community General Discussion
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I like PVP and Blizzard claims to as well. Around this time last year - which was the 5th Anniversary of Seething Shore battleground (Blizzards newest Battleground) - Blizzard had a blue post on the forums or twitter (I can’t remember which) saying “we love BGs too” yada yada.

We’ll now it’s the 6th Anniversary and Seething Shore is still the newest BG. Six years with no maps. BG maps which I’m just guessing have to require the least amount of maintenance possible. In the modern era the only time I can remember a map needing an overhaul was DWG because DH’s and Priests broke it. But that shouldn’t really count because Blizzard developed new abilities that would break it - that’s not the maps fault.

I’m very excited for Blitz to go ranked, and I’d love to see that pushed out early - How’s June Blizzard? - but we need a lot more maps to be cranked out asap. So rather than just demand things, here’s a list of things I think you can do with minimal effort to spice things up for the BG community.

  1. Many have said we don’t need to reinvent the wheel, just make more node maps or CTF maps. I’m fine with this AND new maps, but in the interest of time the former is obviously a lighter lift.
  2. Bring old maps back - at least for casual BGs - the amount of complaints I hear on ToK or SS makes me think that SotA or Tol Barad can’t be worse. But even if they ARE worse - they’d be a change of pace. When I get BfG for the 8th time in my session I want to scream. And while I don’t love SSM, at the very least it’s a change of pace.
  3. Please find a way to normalize tanks, specifically on CtF maps. Nothing against DH or Druid but in Blitz, if one of those classes means an auto-win you’re going to have problems.
  4. To that end, you need to come up with a meta for CtF maps. Do you want tanks to carry and be near unkillable? Or have it be a sprint across the map because holding the flag makes you a delicate flower? Having a vision on this should help with any balancing you’re attempting.
  5. Many of us want a Blacklist option back for casual BGs. I don’t think that should exist for Blitz but for casual, one normal and one epic ban would be a huge morale boost. And if you make more maps, it’s going to be easier to manage.

At this point, with Solo Shuffle, you’ve got a healer issue, you’ve got an MMR issue, and you’ve got a participation issue. A lot of those problems get diminished with Blitz. Healers go from 33% of the team to 25% of the team. 1 healer for 2 DPS goes to 1 healer for 4 DPS.

A larger player pool means managing MMR disparities is much easier, and the thight balancing arena requires is more relaxed in Blitz. BGs are the future. And with the sorry state that SS is in right now, we really could use a bail out.

That bail out is releasing Ranked Blitz asap.

You’d also be wise to really create some sort of map-making feature in WoW that let’s players create and vote on maps to allow to be made playable. I don’t want to sound like a jackass here but if you’re not going to make the maps, the least you could do is let us do it. Six years…for a BG map. Forget the details and art assets - how long did SS take as a concept?

Finally, and maybe less importantly, we only have 4 epic BG maps, and it’s important to point out that Epic BGs are the most newb friendly access point for PVP. While I’m sure Epic BGs take longer to make - and they aren’t a priority IMO getting Ranked Blitz out now is - creating new Epic BG maps is important.

More important than new Epic BG maps? You need to make them less complex.

There should be only like…3 objectives in Epic BGs. Something like:

  1. Kill the big boss
  2. Kill the lieutenants
  3. Capture nodes

or

  1. Turn in scraps
  2. Destroy mini bases
  3. Kill big boss

I keep discovering new stuff in Ashran - this is not good - what are the mines for? Why is there a hidden teleport in your bases prison cell? The ogres, the dinosairs, the dragons, the mages, the backdooring their scraps collector (why this is allowed, I have no idea), the buffs, the class-specific buffs in Ashran alone, the buffs given to melee on the road to glory.

No, no no.

Make the Epic BG maps like giant MOBAs. They don’t all have to be like League or DOTA - you have the basics in there now - but follow that concept. Don’t do too much. If some Pet Battler wants to get into PVP, it should take them 2 - maybe 3 games to fully understand the concepts. The board game Othello used the tag line: A minute to learn, a lifetime to master" - that’s the plan.

The PVP community pays a subscription, too. A lot of players do multiple aspects of the game, there’s probably a lot of players who do some PVP, and if you double down on BGs, engagement in PVP is certain to increase. While I have my problems with SS, it was an improvement. But WoW PVP will always be better suited for BGs.

Please don’t ignore us for another 6 years.

7 Likes
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I gotta wonder what’s left of the PvP community that my arms warrior has to wait 45 mins for a Solo Shuffle

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Doesn’t the CC include reps for pvp already?

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No idea, but if it does, that proves my point. By including PVP with everything else, it’s just another way to sweep the issues under the rug.

6 years. No maps. Which can’t take more than a week of labor. Six years.

3 Likes
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Maps like new arenas? Or new BGs? I would think both would be more than a week, but certainly a new BG.

I don’t pvp, but yeah it is pretty lame. I used to enjoy a BG or two way back in the old days. It felt exciting to get a new one because it wasn’t just a new location. It was a whole new game mode! You’d think someone would be excited to flex their creativity in that way.

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we barely have the regular ccs doin anything lol good luck

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Honestly I think people would be happy with BG Map skins.
It wouldn’t take more than a week to convert WSG into a Belf verse Velf Map opposed to the more Orc verse Nelf assets, or an Undead verse Dwarf map.

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Trouble is, do they pay any attention to the CC as it is?

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The lack of new battlegrounds isn’t quite top of the list as to why people are losing interest in PvP. None of my friends or guildmates who regularly play PvP even mention that as a “problem” they care about. The core issues go much deeper.

I kinda like this idea. I’m not sure how well it “fits” since there likely won’t be any lore-relevant locations for new battlegrounds now that the faction conflict is squashed for the foreseeable future, but if reskins of existing ones are made as sort of “alternate reality” takes, then that could be fun. Makes me think of how hero skins in Overwatch and Heroes of the Storm are sometimes designed.

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The PvP crowd should organize a massive boycott unsub in S4.

Not really anything else I can think of that might move blizz to do something at this point.

1 Like
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They already grab people for the CC to represent the PVP community.

They’re also doing a new battleground next expansion.

PvPers not playing these past few seasons because rating gains are low is why rating gains are low.

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Yeah, but imagine if all 30-40 of them actually unsubbed!

3 Likes
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Lol, I don’t know anyone that still PVP’s in WoW except when it’s comp stomp myself included since I stopped at the start of Shadowlands.

1 Like
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The Community Council is just a face with no power as it is, so why would you want to make another useless group that doesn’t impact the development of World of Warcraft?

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Because I want an opportunity for your charming responses to be featured more prominently.

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You think too highly of me. :blush:

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pvp is a mini game with a mini pool of players, it’s on par with pet battles.

why should they? they aren’t even active on their own section of the forum.

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They need CC’s for every section of gameplay.

The biggest flaw of the CC (apart from, maybe, how the people are picked) is that it’s too small. They have a couple people who do each game activity as their big focus, but they lack critical mass in EVERY aspect of gameplay to have a meaningful discussion on any of them.

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As an FYI, there is a megathread for PvP if you want to add all of this to it.

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Cite your sources.