Filed under: PvP

We talked the other day about three things I learned to love about Battlegrounds by playing Star Wars: The Old Republic's Warzones. Honestly, I stopped at three on purpose. There's so much to complain about in Warzones that it could keep a retribution paladin (which I am) busy for weeks. But I didn't want to give the wrong impression; I really do enjoy SW:TOR Warzones.

Warzones offer a different game, different playstyle, and significant change of pace for a grizzled PvP veteran. While I could just go all mushy about my assault cannon, I'm more interested in the design aspects that really work well in Warzones. With that in mind, here are three things I think WoW should borrow from Warzones.

(And no, I'm not talking about Huttball here. Huttball is fun and all, but it's just a specific game. That'd be like saying "SW:TOR isn't good because of Alterac Valley." That's not particularly helpful, even if I do love scoring a goal through a sweet ball-passing chain. I'm talking about overall game dynamics.)

OK, I admit it. I've been trying out PvP in Star Wars: The Old Republic. You can't claim to have diverse knowledge of disparate PvP systems if you don't ever, you know, play other games. "I hear it's hard to get the huttball across the line" isn't quite the same as "You touch the huttball and 15 Sith Juggernauts appear and teabag you like the Lipton Army."

That doesn't mean I've quit my time in WoW Battlegrounds. Not to offend any saber-jockeys out there, but the PvP in WoW is better. Don't get me wrong. I'm having a great time firing rockets and dodging laser swords, but WoW's PvP has been honed as a separate game style. Its balance and play is beautiful and elegant. I didn't even realize how true that was until I spent some time in SW:TOR's analogous group PvP area, called Warzones.

Let me put my money where my mouth is. This is a (small) list of things I've learned to love about Battlegrounds from doing Warzones.

Daxxarri has hit the official World of Warcraft blog with a new feature called the World of Warcraft War College, a new initiative to open up the PvP scene to more players with information, forum topics, and discussion about breaking into player-versus-player action. Discussions between players, mixed with official Blizzard topic suggestion and input, are hoped to fuel a new avenue of information for players looking to get into the scene.

This week's discussion is all about getting geared up for PvP. Gear is important in PvP because of the resilience rating, which increases your effectiveness and defenses specifically against other players. Daxxarri asks players to discuss their best techniques and tricks to gear up quickly to be competitive in Battlegrounds and Arenas. Do you have something to share? Hit up the official thread on the WoW community forums.

Who are the "greens," the shining emerald jewels of the posting community on the official World of Warcraft community forums? How does one go from being, say, Eldacar the PvP enthusiast to Eldacar the forums MVP, who recently unleashed a volley of questions on the current state of WoW PvP that gathered a virtual storm of opinions and insights on the official PvP forums? Who is this guy, and why is everything he posts on the forums in bright green letters? Here's your answer -- the scoop on a green straight from one of the blues, Blizzard Community Manager Jonathan "Zarhym" Brown:

"Eldacar's posting style and contributions to the community first crossed my radar during Cataclysm beta," Zarhym explains. "He had created some very useful guides on the beta forums detailing good feedback and bug reporting etiquette. I stickied his information and had brief contact with him via email and in the beta around that time.

"In the fall of 2011, once the community team solidified plans for expanding the MVP program, his name popped back up in part because of some PvP-related posts he was working on," he continues. "I really make an effort to try and hang onto the names of constructive, eloquent posters -- whether or not they're critical of some of Blizzard's decisions. The MVP program is really meant to be a reflection of the diversity within our community. Its members are just a collection of folks from the community who are embraced by their peers for their knowledge and personality, to the extent that we want to give them official recognition. I think Eldacar's a damn fine example of this."

A "damn fine example"? Frankly, we're with Zarhym -- Eldacar's thoughtful approach and obvious passion for his subject matter made trumpeting his recent call to arms for player feedback a no-brainer. So who is this guy? And how'd he get so damn fine, anyway?

WoW Insider covers the world of player vs. player action in Blood Sport for fans of Battleground, world PvP and Arena play. Steering you to victory is Olivia Grace, who spends most of her time in Azeroth as a restoration shaman turning people into frogs.

So last time, we talked about how to get started in Arenas. I'm going to flatter myself and assume that a few readers had a little try at Arena. How did it go? I really hope it wasn't that bad and didn't put you off; it's a steep learning curve.

Resilience -- the 4,000 mark is a good place to be, but remember that people who've been gearing up aggressively will likely be in the 4,800 area at the moment, depending on their stat strategy. Resilience scales a bit strangely, but take it from me that 800 resilience is a substantial chunk. If you're into math (and re-reading posts to properly understand them), check out this official forum post to get a better understanding of resilience scaling.

But it's OK! The MMR system will save us! I mentioned it very briefly in my last column, but Mackeli's comment makes me think I didn't make it clear enough. Due to the MMR reset at the beginning of this season, you will start with an MMR (Matchmaking Rating) of 1,500. Trust me, that's quite a lot, especially for complete Arena beginners. An MMR of 1,500 means that the game expects you to win against teams with a rating of 1,500 roughly 50% of the time. That might not sound so bad, sure, but unless you're a PvP genius, 1,500 MMR is going to result in quite a lot of losses at first. Don't be disheartened. It's normal! You're going to learn to win by losing. I promise.

MVP Eldacar has dropped WoW Insider a line asking for a hand directing all our wonderful PvPing readers over to a feedback post on the official forums to give feedback on Cataclysm PvP and thoughts on improving PvP in Mists of Pandaria.

I think this sort of player participation is really important. Much as I'm a fan of pew-pew over QQ, constructive criticism is a great thing. Eldacar wants to know your opinion on the current Mists of Pandaria PvP proposals and what you love about PvP, as well as what your PvP gripes are from Cataclysm.

What's great about our particular omniscient deity in Azeroth is that Blizzard not only listens but responds. And, if it gets enough consistent feedback about something, it may well do something about it. So if you have something constructive to say, get over there and say it! You could shape the future of Azeroth.

However, what nobody is looking for is OMG Blizz nerf mages like now! -- so just don't, OK?

Here are Eldacar's guidance questions to think about when posting:

• What are your biggest PVP-related quality of life issues (things that are an inconvenience but don't significantly affect gameplay or balance)?
• What Cataclysm BG changes and additions did you like?
• What Cataclysm Arena changes and additions did you like?
• What Cataclysm general PVP changes and additions did you like?
• What are your top issues with Battlegrounds in Cataclysm?
• What are your top issues with Arenas in Cataclysm?
• What are your top issues with general PVP in Cataclysm?

WoW Insider covers the world of player vs. player action in Blood Sport for fans of Battleground, world PvP and Arena play. Steering you to victory is Olivia Grace, who spends most of her time in Azeroth as a restoration shaman turning people into frogs.

Now, I've put that video up there because I think it's the culmination of one of the most exciting Arena finals I've ever watched. Bear in mind if you're watching it on speakers that the commentators get pretty excitable at various points, and there are a couple of "cr*ps" in there.

The Arena is, in my opinion, the biggest rush in the entire game. Nothing in PvE can compare. And these guys in this video are the best of the best -- quite literally, in fact. That's what this match was, the final match of the BlizzCon Arena Grand Finals of 2011. If you enjoyed watching it, I heartily encourage you to watch the rest of it.

If you're a pure PvE player, you may possibly have watched that and thought "Holy moly, what on earth just happened?" I wouldn't blame you. It's fast-paced, reactionary, and confusing as all hell when you get started. So that's why I'm writing this post -- to help you get started.

So what's Rule 1? Resilience. Resilience, resilience, resilience. We touch on this in our initial PvE to PvP guide, but for Arena, I can't express strongly enough how important it is.

Well, the end-of-expansion blues are here, there's this other MMO out there, and guilds are seeing members drop like flies. Now's the time when many players who don't want to give up WoW find themselves turning to PvP as a way to kill time and keep playing while they wait for old friends (and new content) to come back around.

The thing is that PvP is a fundamentally different game from PvE. I'm not saying one's better or worse; the two aspects of WoW just have significant variations in gear, thought processes, and playstyles that can make the transition a little bumpy. As such, let's renew a guide to getting away from killing bosses every week and get down to how to kill your fellow players. (In game. Let's not get weird here.)

WoW Insider covers the world of player vs. player action in Blood Sport for fans of Battleground, world PvP and Arena play. Steering you to victory is Olivia Grace, who spends most of her time in Azeroth as a restoration shaman turning people into frogs.

You've probably heard it approximately a hundred times in Battlegrounds, particularly if you play as either Horde or Alliance. Yep, they both have their moments -- the faction you're not in is no better than the grass is really greener on the other side of the walls of Orgrimmar. But that aside, you've probably heard people bemoaning the lack of PvP healers. "Hey," you think to yourself (like a good, contributing member of the team), "I've got that healer I leveled ... Maybe I should bring that character along to the next Battleground I do!"

That would be your first experience of the sheer, unadulterated joy of healing Battlegrounds. You may note a small quantity of sarcasm there; you'll be cursing your kind heart as you're repeatedly ROFLstomped by two DKs.

So how do you avoid your repeated untimely demise and start topping the healing chart in your local Battleground? And how do you transfer your skills into the Arena?

First and foremost, PvP is not PvE. Well, duh -- revolutionary stuff. But seriously, the skills you learned in PvE won't really apply here. The damage is not predictable. You can't prepare for it. There aren't phases. Standing in the same place in each encounter won't work. You don't have a tank whose job it is to protect you. And in one similarity to PvE, once people figure out you're the reason why they can't kill that warrior, they're going to be after you. Sadly, people can't be taunted, even with yo mama jokes. Also, none of this is true -- but I'll get to that much later.

WoW Insider covers the world of player vs. player action in Blood Sport for fans of battleground, world PvP and Arena play. Steering you to victory is Olivia Grace, who spends most of her time in Azeroth as a restoration shaman turning people into frogs.

So you've had a week away from the arena. What have you been up to in that week? Playing in the autumn leaves? Finally cleaning your keyboard?

Or maybe you've been frantically gathering a transmogrification set (once you'd got over the fact that you couldn't transmogrify your paladin into a power ranger)? I know I have, and I'm now in love with Kezzik in Area 52! Perhaps you've been running the new dungeons or flirting with the new raid? ...Or ganking your GM in the Darkmoon Faire's Deathmatch Arena, like @trimbleirl.

If you are one of the people who has done enough hard work in season 10 to get a title, you should give yourself a pat on the back. Well done! You're well on your way to the upper echelons of PvP, and I hope you climb even higher this season! And if you're one of the people who has been working through Battlegrounds every day to get your conquest points, congratulations! You're going to be among the first to get your grubby mitts on the new gear.

But moving on from what you could have been doing to what you could be doing now, what are the top tips to prepare yourself for season 11?

WoW Insider covers the world of player vs. player action in Blood Sport for fans of battleground, world PvP and Arena play. Steering you to victory is Olivia Grace, who spends most of her time in Azeroth as a restoration shaman turning people into frogs.

With patch 4.3 imminent and Arena season 10 due to end Nov. 29, it seems reasonable to assume the patch will appear in early December. While you're racing to get your team into title range, get that last piece of gear, or just running laps of your capital city, you might be thinking forward to the arrival of the patch and wondering what your fate will be in PvP as the nerf bat winds up for another swing. Firstly, let's deal with some housekeeping.

Conquest points, the PvP equivalent of valor points, will now be far, far easier to earn from ordinary Battlegrounds. The first daily Battleground win will now award 100 conquest points, up from 25, and wins after that will award 50 conquest point, up from, well, none! The conquest cap will remain, so while it will still be far quicker to reach it through Arena, it will also be attainable via Battlegrounds of the non-rated variety. This makes it far easier for solo players to build up the resilience numbers people often demand (fairly or otherwise) for access to Arena and Rated Battleground teams or just to gear for Battlegrounds.