Developer Update: Warzone Arenas

[infedele]

will bolster be in arena? i hope not ......

[Yndras]

The good teams will be higher up the ratings ladder than the typical solo que people. So it will work itself out almost immediately.

 

You mean like the ranked warzones did?

[annabethchase]

You mean like the ranked warzones did?

 

There wasn't a rating system determining matchups from the que in 8v8, was there? I know on my server it didn't matter because the likelihood of more than 3 teams que'ing was tiny, but I never heard that existed.

[Jadescythe]

From what I understand this will not be the case. Solo ranked queued teams will go against 4 man premade teams. So its essentially the same thing. Hope you like losing, there are some really skilled ranked teams out there.

 

Ranked solo and ranked team ratings are separate, so I would assume the queues for both are separate as well. In regs, they will still be mixed, however.

[Chiron_Prime]

There wasn't a rating system determining matchups from the que in 8v8, was there? I know on my server it didn't matter because the likelihood of more than 3 teams que'ing was tiny, but I never heard that existed.

 

According to all the information I've ever read or was told about ranked games... the system always existed and was always in place... although from personal experience it never really worked. I remember clearly having 4 teams queuing for ranked, 2 teams of similarly high ratings and 2 teams of similarly low ratings... and guess what matches ended up happening more often... yup... you guessed it... top team versus weak team, instead of top vs top and weak vs weak.

Edited August 14, 2013 by Chiron_Prime

[DarthxFreeze]

Personally, I like the sound of all of this, however I am extremely sad to see ranked warzones (8v8) go. Though, I am wondering why not do to 8v8 what you're doing to arena? Have a solo queue option for those wanting to get ranked commendations.

 

Additionally, Bolster should be removed from ranked warzones. Bolster is fine for regular warzones, as you are attempting to get gear, but if one queues for ranked they shouldn't get boosted. It makes the entire process of getting gear pointless. It'd be like bolstering people in ops to a level good enough for the op they're running. Get rid of bolster to make gear viable. Also, if you can keep 8v8 Ranked Warzones please do so.

 

Also, it would be awesome to put a vendor in the game who sells the schematics for all the old gear sets (Battlemaster, Champion, War Hero, etc) so that we can craft gear we like the look of, plus it's always sad to see these old sets simply die out. I guess it'll be coolest because this is the first major pvp update, so it'll be symbolic in a way.

 

Thank you

Edited August 15, 2013 by DarthxFreeze

[UnholyDutchy]

Glade To see they Finally put in Que for rank and match people up right .

 

Few Questions.

1. Is our PVP Gear going to get change again ?

2. Is bolster going to be remover or fixed ?

[ELECTRICJUDGMENT]

Sorry to disappoint you with the facts.

 

Speaking of the facts, lets review.

 

The guild is 10 years old and named after a Rob Dougan song (not the album of the same name) which appeared in the Matrix Trilogy of films. What's more I didn't pick the name.

 

The title "Master" is a guild rank.

 

Aequitas is from Latin meaning justice, equality, or fairness and I am being MORE than fair in my statement that Gabe was the one dev that I can point to who delivered onto this game THE WORST PvP changes in the history of the game. He was out of his element and shouldn't have had the position.

 

If you'd like to talk more about it and why PM me. Lets not clutter the thread with old (and bitter) issues.

 

How did you not pick up on my sarcasm? Haha

 

Furious Angels (the song) was never featured in any of The Matrix films. Clubbed To Death was the only Rob D track on The Matrix OST.

 

As a representative of fairness and equality also, I think I am being more than fair as well when I say your assessment of Gabe is in fact unfair as you know very little of his actual experience or qualifications. He is a developer at BioWare. You are not. Are you implying you are more qualified than Gabe? If so, please list your qualifications and experience so we may compare side by side. That is fair. That is equality. That is just.

Edited August 15, 2013 by ELECTRICJUDGMENT

[LordArtemis]

I only have one question.

 

Is Bioware aware of the pitfalls of Arena in WoW and other games, and will they strive to avoid those mistakes?

 

This is my biggest concern. Things around here will devolve quickly if we start getting ability adjustments every few weeks for the sake of Arena balance.

[Yndras]

There wasn't a rating system determining matchups from the que in 8v8, was there? I know on my server it didn't matter because the likelihood of more than 3 teams que'ing was tiny, but I never heard that existed.

 

There most definitely was. Problem was getting people in the queue.

[Yndras]

Personally, I like the sound of all of this, however I am extremely sad to see ranked warzones (8v8) go. Though, I am wondering why not do to 8v8 what you're doing to arena? Have a solo queue option for those wanting to get ranked commendations.

 

Additionally, Bolster should be removed from ranked warzones. Bolster is fine for regular warzones, as you are attempting to get gear, but if one queues for ranked they shouldn't get boosted. It makes the entire process of getting gear pointless. It'd be like bolstering people in ops to a level good enough for the op they're running. Get rid of bolster to make gear viable. Also, if you can keep 8v8 Ranked Warzones please do so.

 

Also, it would be awesome to put a vendor in the game who sells the schematics for all the old gear sets (Battlemaster, Champion, War Hero, etc) so that we can craft gear we like the look of, plus it's always sad to see these old sets simply die out. I guess it'll be coolest because this is the first major pvp update, so it'll be symbolic in a way.

 

Thank you

 

The more I think about it the more I come to believe that the REAL reason 8v8 Ranked is going is because they couldn't get the queues to work together.

 

I remember they had problems in the beginning with ranked queues and the queueing system and part of me thinks this has probably resurfaced.

 

So bioware, opting not to pull the arena's has opted to bring the new content in in favour of the old content which was less utilised.

 

Now, I cant argue with this reasoning above. But this isn't the reason they have given us. Have some transparency bioware and tell us what is going on please.

 

Elaborate on the difficulties so we can properly understand your reasoning. Despite the odd few, we are actually a reasonable bunch when you communicate with us.

Edited August 15, 2013 by Yndras

[Projawa]

Would it be feasible for a group-queue team with 3-4 op/scoundrel healers to simply turtle throughout the match and through the poison gas timer that eventually kicks in? The other team dies from the gas and the team stacked with healers wins. Everyone catches on and then the ranked arena scene becomes dominated by healer-majority comps and turtle/stalemate matches that last far too long.

 

What can BW do to prevent this, short of making the poison gas add a debuff that cuts healing received by 100%

Edited August 15, 2013 by Projawa

[MocniSkopac]

If you think removing 8v8 Ranked PVP is due to the lack of players doing it;

 

Why aren't you removing Nightmare modes off of PVE? On #TOFN we clearly have more ranked games than people doing nightmare modes every night.

 

You're making no sense Alex.

 

I want nightmare modes removed in next "MAJOR PVE PATCH". You're literally throwing PVPers down off the cliff.

 

Truer words had never been spoken

[funkiestj]

ON TOPIC QUESTION: Should I start downloading PTS today, tomorrow or only on Friday?

 

It typically takes a long time to download PTS so I'd like to start as soon as makes sense.

Edited August 15, 2013 by funkiestj

[OscarGuy]

I might have missed this in the extensive replies, but is there any reason one of the sample pics features a Trooper dual-wielding pistols?

It doesn't really make sense to me. If anyone could offer an explanation it would be great!

[AntonMercer]

Would it be feasible for a group-queue team with 3-4 op/scoundrel healers to simply turtle throughout the match and through the poison gas timer that eventually kicks in? The other team dies from the gas and the team stacked with healers wins. Everyone catches on and then the ranked arena scene becomes dominated by healer-majority comps and turtle/stalemate matches that last far too long.

 

What can BW do to prevent this, short of making the poison gas add a debuff that cuts healing received by 100%

 

If I read it correctly... it actually looks like the implemented the PVE que to the PVP but with a better match making ability. Meaning that when a group ques it will take single quers of the same class and rank to go against them. I could be wrong

[MishraArtificer]

I might have missed this in the extensive replies, but is there any reason one of the sample pics features a Trooper dual-wielding pistols?

It doesn't really make sense to me. If anyone could offer an explanation it would be great!

I'd like to add to that and say that the rifle that the Sniper is using in the pic opposite of the Trooper(?)...

 

...IS USING A RIFLE THAT HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN IN-GAME!

[DarthVengeant]

Everything sounds great......then I read that gas will be put into the air and you are essentially timed and will eventually die from it as it takes over the area. What a freakin' HORRIBLE idea. Every....single....time....Bioware does something now they put one thing in it to RUIN it completely. For example: the Bounty Contract event, you are RANDOMIZED by contracts. So, you essentially end up playing a guessing game that MAKES NO SENSE and end up having to kill the same contracts over and over hoping you get the one you want. FAIL!! Then you have hordes of people camping the same small area and rudely stealing your Shady Character. FAIL! What kind of idiots think this crap up?

 

Well, after having read about the gas my excitement just died completely.

 

I will prob quit this game soon. I am on my last leg with Bioware and their incompetence and stupid ideas. They take all the fun out of things that COULD have been fun. It's like dangling a 100 dollar bill infront of you for weeks, but telling you afterwards that the only way to get it is to spend 99.

Edited August 15, 2013 by DarthVengeant

[Projawa]

If I read it correctly... it actually looks like the implemented the PVE que to the PVP but with a better match making ability. Meaning that when a group ques it will take single quers of the same class and rank to go against them. I could be wrong

 

Should 3 healer teams (or more specifically, 3 op/scoundrel teams) prove to be the dominant group composition for ranked group-queuing teams, I think BW should take steps to mitigate their collective effectiveness. I understand the counter-argument, which is every class comp is fair game and "what about 3 tanks, or 2 tank/2healers" where you can't selectively mitigate certain comps and not others for fairness sake. However the poison gas mechanic favors the strategy of outlasting your opponents using healers- you don't have the dps to kill the other team but all you have to do is outlast them and wait for the gas to arrive to kill them for you. If you are facing a mirror team of 3 healers then it becomes a test of who can outheal the gas. Both scenarios are perversions of the TDM concept and neither scenario is fun because the poison gas suddenly becomes a key objective of the contest like all the other nodes/doors/caps/ball objectives we know so well. Alex's post specifically says arenas are supposed to be non-objectives based competition, aka the opposite of wzs.

 

I'll wait and see what changes they make to the gas mechanic and/or any class balance changes like nerfing certain heal specs. However, the setup I mentioned is a distinct possibility that could ruin competitive arenas similar to how tanky/healy comps have ruined ranked wzs. It would turn arenas from "players killing players" into "players waiting for the gas to kill players". I don't think they will decide to apply the single-queue setup restriction (1 tank, 1 healer, 2 dps) to group-queuing so we'll see what else they come up with.

Edited August 15, 2013 by Projawa

[Yndras]

Also, no mention of how teams are formed or ranked.

 

Do you have arena teams which consist of a certain number of members or is it just personal ranking?

 

Can you give your team a name? How will you know which team wins the season? Is it just the people with the highest ranking that wins the season.

 

A small pre season was created for 8v8 Ranked as well. We all know how short that was..... it never ended and now season one will never start.

[GNWP]

Another cool addition is Adv Class icons will be displayed on the scoreboard instead of base class icons from now on.

Will be Sorcerer/Sages Assassins/Shadow icon's messed up colors will be fixed then?

Edited August 15, 2013 by GNWP

[Stavroz]

Ok super excited for arenas but i feel that it has not been implemented properly.

 

You have solo que and group que.

Thats fine and you can have 2 different ratings.

 

Please make groups REGISTER their teams.

Have a roster of 10 interchangeable ppl (or legacies) and the TEAM gets a rating.

You can then make a MEANINGFUL leaders board based on team.

 

If it is done like the 8v8 preseason ranked then what is the difference!? Its a half baked system with no real diffrence except it will have a pretty label that says Season 1 that means nothing.

 

Who is the best team. What does the best TEAM get for being the best. What are the top 20 TEAMS?

 

If you want to know who the best solo players are the solo que and solo rating covers that!

 

 

PLEASE HAVE PROPER LEADER BOARDS!

Edited August 15, 2013 by Stavroz

[Scorpiooooo]

Teams won't be able to practice/perfect 8v8 Normal Warzones, simply because you can't queue as an ops group.

[GNWP]

And 2 more important questions.

1. What you going to do to prevent wintrading in ranked arenas and what punishment you'll going to implement to wintraders? Because, if people CAN they WILL wintrade! Well, some of them. Especially if the reward for ranked matches will be significant.
   
2. What you going to do with leavers in Ranked solo q?
   

[Tarackian]

I do not like the idea of being forced into arenas. I enjoy Warzones. Why force me into arenas?

 

When the WoW devs tried to shoehorn people into arenas it didn't work out too well and they eventually had to back off of it the following year.

 

It seems to me Arenas are really just a bandaid fix for not linking the servers together for cross-realm queues.

 

How long is that gonna last? I know one of your goals by grouping arenas and warzones together is to make queue times faster, but all you're going to do is alienate people after they get destroyed in the arena.

 

Bad players can hide or be carried in a warzone, but on a 4 person team they will be ostracized. And what of guilds that have been running 8 man teams for months or even a year now? You're just going to tell them too bad?

 

Most people don't like facing their own faction in warzones. Now they will be facing each other even more often.

 

I'm on a pvp server with a dying population and I'm skeptical that this will do anything to help with that. Many people have already transferred to Baston or POT5. (btw; transfers another really bad idea, way to kill servers)

 

TLDR: This is a bandaid fix to cover for not implementing cross-realm queues, and if cross-realm queues aren't even on the drawing board you're making a big mistake