Entries in wintergrasp (17)
The Volatility of a Vault PUG
Each time a new Vault of Archavon boss is added, it seems that a PUG's chances of actually completing a full run decrease more and more.
VoA, when you're in a situation like mine in that your faction rarely holds Wintergrasp, can be a tough raid to pre-plan. Once you hold Wintergrasp, your regular 10- or 25-man groups likely aren't entirely on, and other guildies may already be saved to the raid. But those two Emblems of Frost for each kill of Toravon are precious loot that you don't want to pass up; usually, the situation calls for a PUG.
Why Do We Have Cross Faction Nameplates?
After slightly redeeming myself in raiding last night - assuming you consider Vault of Archavon raiding - I was able to participate in my first Wintergrasp in a long time. The battle was nothing special - Alliance fell apart and lost, shocking - but my main mode of defense made me realize something. Why the hell are we able to see nameplates for the other faction? The ability to recognize the opposing side isn't new, and people, yours truly included, have been griping about it since day one. Yet we can still locate baddies thanks to their nameplates. I'm not complaining about being able to identify one troll rogue from another. Or being able to learn someone's name that I am standing next to. I am referring to one's ability to identify a target as hostile when the only identifying marker is the nameplate. That means without it, I would be clueless as to who they are without further investigation. During my hold of a southern tower I completely abused the mechanic. I sat at the top of the stairs, waiting for the nameplates to show up. Show up they did, through the many layers of floors. The markers popped up ages before the attached target was near the top level, so I simply went into stealth and waited. I'm not sure if the unsuspecting horde were able to see me or not. If my streak of kills is anything to go by, they had no idea that I had just committed first degree murder. There are numerous other cases where your nameplate can give you away (see screenshot), or outright get you killed. I know it's a thing of small concern to those who don't bother PvPing, but Blizzard prides itself on the small details. In my opinion, the nameplates should only come up when you're close enough to engage - say 40 yards - and have the person targeted. That would tidy up some of the forms of abuse, such as the edge Solidsamm had, and still be informative. I'm sure the PvPers out there have some good stories on how they took liberties with the mechanic, so let's hear them. Perhaps nameplates explain how some of the apparently random kills came to be? What's your best explanation for the plates existing as they do?
Is Blizzard Really Short-changing PvP?
We dedicated players can bicker all we want about Arena balance or Rogues being over-powered, but what about the presence of PvP available in the game itself? When you have a game as popular as World of Warcraft, you're bound to attract the ire of the gaming community at large. In my travels around the internet, I've learned that there are quite a lot of people fed up with Blizzard's baby, and one of the chief complaints, next to simply being an MMO, is that it doesn't focus enough on Player versus Player combat. I suppose this isn't a new argument. After all, the game's been criticized for its "care bear" approach to open-world ganking since before its launch, and, at that point, I can understand why. It stands to reason that the people most interested in the game at the time were those that had spent extensive amounts of time playing through the Warcraft strategy games. WoW offered them a new, interesting, and more intimate way of engaging in the age-old conflict between the Alliance and the Horde. With so much standing animosity between the two factions, it would be reasonable for your average pre-release gamer to expect copious amounts of wanton bloodshed and for all-out war to consume Azeroth whole. Well, the fight with the Burning Legion mellowed those tensions. The Alliance lost their core leaders and Thrall tried his best to pacify the more chaotic aspects of the Horde. So when it came to retail, the only thing you could do in WoW was to attack someone on the opposite side if they let you, duel with fellow players, and play a silly game of "capture the flag" in Warsong Gulch (though, if memory serves correctly, Arathi Basin may have been available, as well). Quite the disappointment for some, but a great boon for others. The game's population swelled not only on the brand name, but the number of players who wanted to work cooperatively towards their goals. But Blizzard didn't completely forget about PvP. Instead, they made great strides to make it more and more a part of the game without completely alienating their base. But to this day, the game takes a lot of guff from those who have long-since quit the game or never played it in the first place. In fact, so heralded is this mythical PvP nirvana, that a lot of people believe that's the only way to make a dent in Warcraft's armor. That its players simply continue to bide their time and play such a "boring" game because a real, honest, PvP-dedicated MMO has yet to come along. The problem is that they have. Guild Wars, Warhammer, Aion. Countless other Korean MMORPGs. More games than I'm willing to list here have used PvP as a selling point to distance themselves from WoW. And yet, its success remains unparalleled in the genre. Now that's not to say that they're bad games or that they don't present a viable PvP option, but rather, I propose, the market for such games isn't quite as big as one might initially think. After all, not only are these games competing with Warcraft, but also games in other genres: Call of Duty, Unreal Tournament, HALO, Gears of War, Madden, Street Fighter, Super Smash Bros., Starcraft, Warcraft 3. Taking a quick look at the pro circuit will allow you to see what sorts of titles are dominating the competitive gaming scene at any given moment, and MMOs are curiously absent... aside from, ironically, Arena play in WoW. In my experience, the vast majority of competitive gamers prefer instant action, as opposed to the typical need to grind to a certain level to even start playing seriously. Now here is where WoW excels: it's got some excellent PvE content to pull you along, making that grind more or less worth it (at least the first time through). PvP, even if it isn't in its ideal form, is layered on top of that core structure. But some people maintain that the game simply doesn't go far enough. Really? Currently, you've got your choice of six different Battlegrounds, an extensive, rating-based Arena system, and World PvP objectives like Wintergrasp (and, to a lesser extent, Venture Bay, Halaa, and the Bone Wastes as the next most popular locales). The next expansion will add ratings to Battlegrounds, three brand new ones to fight in, the Tol'Barad PvP zone, and most certainly several unrevealed Arena maps, to boot. I contend that the sum total of World of Warcraft's PvP content eclipses that of nearly any competing MMORPG. Is it as integrated into the game as it is in other titles? Perhaps not, but that's splitting hairs. If a game's PvP is restricted primarily to certain zones, regardless of whether or not they are physically connected to the core game world, I don't think it's any different from the way Battlegrounds are set up. And, of course, there's always rolling on an open PvP server if that's the way you really want to play the game. Blizzard may have shifted their focus to PvE content early on, but I think that the concept of PvP in Azeroth has come back in a very big way. With those old conflicts rising once again, both the Horde and Alliance marching to war against each other, even with a greater threat looming, I think the game's potential for competitive player combat can only become greater. So, I ask you readers: Is Blizzard really short-changing PvP? Have you been satisfied with the amount of content added, or do you think other games have succeeded at competing on this front, offering a better, and supposedly more comprehensive PvP experience?
Cataclysm Countdown: Areas of Contention
Cataclysm Countdown is a series of informed speculative articles concerning things we might see in the next expansion that I will be posting every day this week, leading right up to Blizzcon. In the interest of thought purity, I will do my best to steer clear of recent “leaked” material, relying upon it only where it logically connects with the existing lore. Nothing hereafter is official or has been confirmed/denied by Blizzard at the time of its writing. The Lich King falls. The Argent Crusade's task of defeating the Scourge is over, and with it the tenuous cooperation between the Alliance and the Horde. A new threat arises from the depths of the ocean and brings death and destruction to both sides. Jaina Proudmoore and Thrall take it upon themselves to protect the world at large, ascending from their positions as faction representatives. In the interest of self-preservation, the remaining forces of the Horde and Alliance cease any remaining ties. Instead, tempers flare as Garrosh, the new Warchief of the Horde, and King Varian Wrynn bare fangs at each other and decide to drag their people, once again, unto the brink of all-out, bloody-nosed WAR. The stage is set for a conflict greater than Azeroth has ever seen before. But how will we experience it? World of Warcraft, despite its name and pedigree, was not built from the ground up for PvP play. Ever since the game's release, Blizzard has added more and varied ways of engaging the enemy, but it's always been compartmentalized and shoved just to the side of primary content. Even Lake Wintergrasp, arguably the crowning jewel of PvP combat at the moment (it both maintains the scale of a Battleground and affords access to certain rewards typical of World PvP). Though it's far from perfect, Wintergrasp will likely be the template for this part of the game moving forward. Let's stop for a moment, though, and let our imaginations run wild, yeah? WoW, at its pinnacle, should emulate the large-scale, world-wide conflict that the series is known for. Ideally, that means bunkers, forts, and whole armies fighting with each other in all zones across Azeroth. Players would be able to not only construct siege vehicles, but hire mercenaries, create defensive buildings, and upgrade units. OK, have a good image in your head now? Well, hold onto it, because that's only a dream. With the changes we are expecting to see to the rest of the game, PvP on that level would be near impossible to implement. Let's not forget all the balancing that would be involved in the creation of so many new game systems. We've got to face the reality that World of Warcraft just can't support such an overhaul in its core gameplay. Will we see something approaching that near the end of the series? Quite likely, through patches and incremental additions along the way, but not right now. Still, that doesn't mean we won't see PvP combat expand in Cataclysm. The key really is just to find a happy medium. I see this as taking at least one of two forms:
- Zone-wide PvP -- With many zones being re-purposed in the expansion, it stands to reason that a few of them could play host to open fighting. Those with high amounts of resources, or those that straddle the border between core Horde and Alliance territories will be the ones most impacted. The first that comes to mind is the Hillsbrad/Arathi area of Eastern Kingdoms. With the Scourge threat defeated and the Plaguelands theoretically in the process of returning to normal, little stands between the Alliance reclaiming Lordaeron than the Forsaken. With his new found allies, the Worgen of Gilneas, on Undercity's doorstep, Varian is in a good position to retake the former Human kingdom. The Forsaken, with some help from the Blood Elves, would fight back to protect the only place they can call home. Several areas like this can be spread throughout the world map, with control of them affording certain buffs or rewards.
- Objective-based play -- True World PvP would be hard to manage. Imagine a full PvP server, but one where control of the world actually matters. Instead, what not have a series of smaller objectives that each side needs to take and hold. Holding a number of these sites at any given time would afford lesser rewards, perhaps some sort of points or honor to every player in the general area. These points could then be used to purchase faction rewards in the main cities. Final Fantasy XI did something like this with crystals needed for crafting professions, and so has WoW to an extent (with Stone Keeper Shards and the like), though it was necessary to engage in PvE content to obtain those items.
Preparing for Patch 3.2: Battlegrounds
Battlegrounds have been much more popular than every other area of PvP. They don't require you to even think about making a group and only a few people there are from the same server, so you can play as bad as you want; those people will never see you again! There are objectives, so you can significantly contribute even if you are not the best at PvP combat. The first thing you should be aware of is the new battleground in patch 3.2, Isle of Conquest. Amatera already posted a great breakdown of the battleground, so go check it out if you are completely unfamiliar with it! This new 40 versus 40 battleground is the first 40 man content we've seen since original WoW's Naxxramas, and fans of Alterac Valley should cheer at its introduction. It seems to be a great way to get honor, and it introduces yet another battleground token. These tokens appear to only be used for the repeatable quest For Great Honor or Concerted Efforts. Currently you can exchange one token from each of the five battlegrounds for 1241 honor. In patch 3.2, you'll need one from all six battlegrounds (Alterac Valley, Arathi Basin, Warsong Gulch, Eye of the Storm, Strand of the Ancients, and Isle of Conquest), and receive more honor. I'd suggest saving up marks from other battlegrounds, as if you want the next tier of gladiator gear that you want with honor, you are going to want as much honor as possible next season. Speaking of honor, one of the only ways to get the new epic gems in patch 3.2 is to buy them with honor. Its sure to be a goldmine, so if you enjoy battlegrounds and Wintergrasp, you can buy lots of epic gems at just 10,000 honor. You can use them yourself, throw them at your guild and have them love you, or fetch a high price on the auction house. Its like converting honor to gold! If you want ways to stockpile honor for patch 3.2, consider the following methods:
- You can save up to 5 Commendation of Bravery between patches. That will run you 500 arena points from this season and give you 10,000 honor for next season. 500 arena points is just 2 weeks of games regardless of your rating for 3v3 and 5v5 and 3 weeks for 2v2, so get a team together, lose all of your games if you have to, and get some free 3.2 honor!
- Stone Keepers Shards can convert to honor at the price of 30 shards for 2,000 honor. 9 Wintergrasp Marks of Honor get you 2,000 honor as well, both via Wintergrasp Commendation (which is BoA). There is no hurry to buy these, as you can save these items through to next patch.
- I say it again: Battleground marks! By running Isle of Conquest, if you have lots of other marks stockpiled, you will receive honor at a great rate!
- Bound for Glory (maybe)
- Stormtrooper (maybe)
- Stormy Assassin
- Save up battleground marks for the next patch so you can get a head-start on honor.
- You want honor next patch for epic gems and better PvP gear.
- Save up Wintergrasp Commendation and Stone Keepers Shard.
- Do the time limited achievements now for Arathi Basin, Eye of the Storm, and Warsong Gulch.
Wintergrasp Rewards
Fighting in Lake Wintergrasp is among the most effective ways to obtain honor. With the addition of the weekly quests, you can jump in once or twice a week for an absurd return on time invested. Its no wonder that there is such immense lag whenever the battles start. In addition to honor, there are many other rewards to be had in Wintergrasp! Just like in a battleground, you recieve Marks of Honor upon the conclusion of the battle; 3 for a win and 1 for a loss. These can be exchanged for a variety of great gear. The first set of gear to note is the variety of trinkets, which will run you 25 marks each. There are the "Titan-forged Runes", which provide the "PvP Trinket" effect of being able to remove all movement impairing effects every 2 minutes, but also give a PvE stat. I don't really understand these items to be honest or why anyone would use them over a Medallion of the Horde/Alliance. The next trinkets are the Anvil of Titans/Flow of Knowledge, which provide 84 resilience and a chance on a successful melee attack/spellcast to increase attack power/spell power by 1000/590. Some players may recognize this as the PvP version of the Mirror of Truth/Sundial of the Exiled. You should note that they all share the same internal 45 second cooldown. Finally, you can acquire the Platinum Disks of Battle/Sorcery/Swiftness to increase AP/SP/haste on use, as well as provide resilience. Since I usually burst down targets once I open on them in PvP anyway, I use the Anvil of Titans and Medallion of the Horde. Next up are the Titan-forged belts. These are iLevel 213 and are nearly identical to the Deadly Gladiator's series of belts. You can pick them up for a mere 15 marks. The Titan-forged chest pieces are also on par with Deadly Gladiator's chest pieces at 40 marks, while the Titan-forged helms are on par with Hateful helms, also at 40 marks. The Cloth wearers can choose between haste (Salvation) and hit (Dominance). Rogues get armor penetration (Triumph), while druids can pick between the rogue piece and hit or haste. Hunters and Shaman also get to pick between Dominance, Salvation, and Triumph, while Warriors and Death Knights get only Triumph. Paladins get the choice of Salvation and Triumph. These provide great alternatives to spending honor on your entry level PvP gear. However, note that by using Titan-forged pieces, you don't get the Gladiator's set bonus from those pieces. Choose wisely!
What 3.2 Means for Wintergrasp
Wintergrasp barely got a mention in the first draft of the patch 3.2 notes, but the outdoor PvP zone will in fact see some major changes in the new patch. The updated patch notes show the following changes: To provide players with a more transparent notification of when Wintergrasp battles occur, as well as better control zone population and stability, several changes have been made.
- Players now have the option to queue for Wintergrasp from a Battlemaster in any capital city or by simply entering the Wintergrasp zone.
- Queuing will begin 15 minutes before each battle. If chosen, you will automatically be teleported to the zone. Any players in the zone who have not been chosen from the queue will be teleported out when the battle begins.
- The queue system remains active for the entire battle. As soon as a player leaves, a new one will be chosen from the queue.
- Trying to enter Wintergrasp during an active battle for which you have not been chosen will teleport you out. Please note that, as you are now able to fly over Wintergrasp, you will only be teleported out if you try to land and join the battle.
- Level 80 players get higher priority in the queue than lower level players. In addition, a random selection of queued players will be taken from both the Battlemasters and the zone itself.
- The queue will accept up to 100 players from each faction, resulting in a maximum battle of 200 players at a time.
Arena Season 6 Breakdown
Patch 3.1 introduced arena season 6. While PvP will likely get a large makeover in 3.2 and the number of arena players is at an all-time low, it isn't difficult to get some good PvP gear to jump into the fray if you are so inclined. The most successful PvP outlets are Lake Wintergrasp and the five battlegrounds, which award large amounts of honor. Players can also now convert arena points to honor by purchasing Commendation of Bravery for 100 (arena points, or AP), awarding 2,000 honor (and allowing you to get a head start in honor between seasons). Any team that plays 10 games a week gets arena points regardless of their rating. For teams below 1500, a 2v2 team will get 261 AP, a 3v3 will get 303 AP, and a 5v5 will get 344 AP. If you are just going for honor rewards, that is the equivalent of 5220, 6060, or 6880 honor respectively. That's a lot of honor for just playing 10 games! Below is the complete list of rewards from honor and arena and their cost. We earlier speculated about this list; this one is the correct and complete one for 3.0.8 and presumably the rest of season 6 and 3.1. Arena required denotes Arena Points, Honor designates Honor Points, Archavon/Emalon designates that those pieces drop from them, and Option Two lists a second exchange rate for some items. Rating is required only if bought with arena/honor/badges. This list does not include gear bought with badges. Later, we will look at the PvP gear available from Wintergrasp.
Item | Honor Required | Rating Required | Arena Required | Archavon Normal | Archavon Heroic | Emalon Normal | Emalon Heroic | Option Two: Honor | Option Two: Arena |
Deadly Gladiator’s Wrists | 31600 | 0 | 0 | Yes | |||||
Hateful Gladiator’s Gloves | 31600 | 0 | 0 | Yes | 7200 | 200 | |||
Hateful Gladiator’s Shoulders | 31600 | 0 | 0 | 9600 | 275 | ||||
Deadly Gladiator’s Necklace | 38000 | 0 | 0 | Yes | |||||
Deadly Gladiator’s Cloak | 38000 | 0 | 0 | Yes | |||||
Deadly Gladiator’s Ring | 38000 | 0 | 0 | Yes | |||||
Deadly Gladiator’s Belt | 49600 | 0 | 0 | Yes | |||||
Deadly Gladiator’s Boots | 49600 | 0 | 0 | Yes | |||||
Deadly Gladiator’s Battlemaster Trinket* | 49600 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
Hateful Gladiator’s Legs | 49600 | 0 | 0 | Yes | 12000 | 350 | |||
Hateful Gladiator’s Tunic | 49600 | 0 | 0 | Yes | 12000 | 350 | |||
Hateful Gladiator’s Helm | 49600 | 0 | 0 | 12000 | 350 | ||||
Deadly Gladiator’s Idol/Libram/etc** | 6400 | 1250 | 350 | ||||||
Deadly Gladiator’s Gloves | 7200 | 1300 | 400 | Yes | |||||
Deadly Gladiator’s Legs | 12000 | 1350 | 700 | Yes | |||||
Deadly Gladiator’s Tunic | 12000 | 1400 | 700 | Yes | |||||
Furious Gladiator’s Wrists | 39400 | 1400 | 0 | Yes | |||||
Deadly Gladiator’s Helm | 12000 | 1450 | 700 | ||||||
Furious Gladiator’s Belt | 62000 | 1450 | 0 | Yes | |||||
Deadly Gladiator’s Shoulders | 9600 | 1500 | 550 | ||||||
Furious Gladiator’s Boots | 62000 | 1500 | 0 | Yes | |||||
Furious Gladiator’s Necklace | 47400 | 1550 | 0 | Yes | |||||
Furious Gladiator’s Gloves | 0 | 1600 | 1300 | Yes | |||||
Furious Gladiator’s Rings | 47400 | 1650 | 0 | Yes | |||||
Furious Gladiator’s Legs | 0 | 1700 | 2150 | Yes | |||||
Furious Gladiator’s Tunic | 0 | 1750 | 2150 | ||||||
Furious Gladiator’s Trinket | 62000 | 1800 | 0 | ||||||
Furious Gladiator’s Offhand | 0 | 1850 | 1100 | ||||||
Furious Gladiator’s One-hand Weapons (tier 1)** | 35000 | 1850 | 1200 | ||||||
Furious Gladiator’s Two-hand/Range Weapons (tier 1)** | 50000 | 1850 | 1400 | ||||||
Furious Gladiator’s Helm | 0 | 1900 | 2150 | ||||||
Furious Gladiator’s Thrown/Wand/Idol/etc | 0 | 1950 | 1150 | ||||||
Furious Gladiator’s Shield | 0 | 1950 | 1950 | ||||||
Furious Gladiator’s Cloak | 47400 | 2000 | 0 | Yes | |||||
Furious Gladiator’s Shoulders | 0 | 2050 | 1750 | ||||||
Furious Gladiator’s Tabard | 0 | 2300 | 500 | ||||||
Furious Gladiator’s One-hand Weapons (tier 2)*** | 35000 | 2350 | 3000 | ||||||
Furious Gladiator’s Two-hand/Range Weapons (tier 2)*** | 50000 | 2350 | 4250 |
The Faulty Design Of The Argent Tournament
It's been just over a month since the Secrets of Ulduar stopped being secretive and brought us the Argent Tournament. The new Icecrown area was designed to raise the level of solo content for those players who wouldn't be entering Ulduar any time soon, or ever. And we enjoyed it for awhile. I've only missed 3 days worth of dailies since the tournament went live and would consider myself a bit of an expert on the subject. Don't believe me? Well then how about this dose of arrogance; I can down all four Champions for Among the Champions without healing my stead. That really should be an Achievement in my humble opinion. Doing anything that many days in a row leads to a bit of burnout and I am no exception. I can't wait until either new Argent Tournament content is added - how long does a coliseum take to build anyways? - or I can stop grinding those Champion's Seals. Only 70 more to go till I grab the five-some of pets, then it's back to grinding for the Hippogryph. Enough background and qualifying information. The major fault of the tournament isn't that the content gets stale quickly, or even that it's more financially rewarding to not Champion every faction, it is the design of the Citadel quests. Actually, not the quests themselves, but the area of Corp'rethar itself. I'm lucky enough to have time in the morning to tackle my dailies when most people aren't online. Over the course of the month+ I have had to delay those tasks till peak hours, a time when the Court of Bones turns into a mini Wintergrasp. If I had to deal with the lag and lack of mobs on a daily basis I think I would have quit the Argent Tournament a long time ago. At first I wrote off the problem as being due to the allure of new content, and wholeheartedly expected the area to become a wasteland in the near future. Last week's afternoon Citadel run told me otherwise. How did Blizzard not see this coming? They basically took the crowds of Dalaran, tossed them into a single confined area and have them fight over a limited resource (although quickly respawning). Who approved that design document? With the reduction of the Hippogrpyh's price, the bird has been re-added to list of things to purchase. This means I only have...44 days left. Those added quests and chance to score a Seal from the purses can't come soon enough. Solidsamm deserves a break after the pets. Do you experience this kind of lag, or is it limited to my aging and crowded server? Still plugging away at those Seals?
Patch 3.1.2 Breaks Wintergrasp Instead Of Fixing It
For all intents and purposes, Patch v3.1.2 was designed as a clean-up to Secrets of Ulduar. The minor content patch added a few features that were meant for Ulduar's patch, including the swanky Equipment Manager, further "fixes" for Wintergrasp and general tweaks to the massive amount of changes v3.1 brought us. Unfortunately the Band-Aid (TM) patch tore the wound open. It took Blizzard a little while to admit it, but v3.1.2 completely broke Wintergrasp on many servers. If you don't happen to be on one of the affected servers then you missed out on some serious Honor. The issue is that the Wintergrasp timer is royally screwed, which caused the battle to restart ~5-10 minutes after it had completed. I managed to score a few Wintergrasp Achievements during my struggle to complete my daily fishing quest. I was also rewarded with a handful of marks and a token amount of Honor for my anglin' expedition. It's unknown what caused the error, but Blizzard has disabled the PvP zone until it can be rectified. Thankfully, the Wintergrasp bug seems to be the only lingering issue, but it wasn't the only one for Magtheridon (US). As with most patch days, my ancient server struggled to re-open in a timely fashion. It was then plagued by login and world server issues, a problem that delayed last night's raid for more than an hour. During the wait I tried to busy myself with Terminator Salvation. It just wasn't my night, the action title fails to install from the DVD. Sigh. In the end my night of gaming was worth the wait. By the evening's culmination I had scored a shiny new dagger to replace my dull Maexxna's Fang redux. Score. How were your servers? Any login problems? Did you get a chance to soak up Wintergrasp wins, honor and tokens? Exactly how bad is Terminator Salvation?