There are more really big changes coming to the way that PVP gear works coming in patch 5.3. As you know if you read our
previous blog
on the subject, we approached patch 5.2 with the goal in mind of
narrowing the PvP gear gap, as well as working to make PvP more
accessible to all players, to broaden interest and provide a robust pool
of competitors that enriches the PvP experience for everyone.
PvE vs. PvP
We face some significant challenges, so we’re prepared to take some
unprecedented steps to meet them. Historically, we have always had a
hard time balancing PvP gear against PvE gear, as these two areas of the
game have very different gear design goals. In PvP, we want gear to
matter, but we don’t want gear to become the overwhelming reason someone
wins a match. For PvE, the difference in power between tiers has to be
significant enough that players really feel rewarded and more powerful
when they upgrade. This problem has been compounded as we now have Raid
Finder, normal and heroic raid tiers, as well as item level gating to
enter the Raid Finder.
Transitions: From Season 12 to Season 13
Patch 5.2’s gear changes represented our first attempt to balance PvP
gear with PvE gear, and offer better ways to narrow the gear gap. We
introduced the Elite tier of gear that would be available to all players
after earning 27,000 Conquest Points throughout the season. This
allowed us to balance Honor gear against Raid Finder gear, Conquest gear
against normal mode raiding gear and Elite gear against Heroic mode
raid gear. But, keeping pace with PvE gear also means that there is
significant difference between this season’s Honor gear and the Elite
gear. Not to mention that there is a tremendous difference between a
fresh 90 and a veteran, Elite geared player. While it’s important to
have that difference, the competitive nature of PvP means that highly
geared players can serve as a deterrent to players who are looking into
trying PvP for the first time. Trying to keep pace with the escalating
ilevel of PvE gear has proven quite difficult for PvP.
Furthermore, as Season 13 has illustrated, having more than two levels
of PvP gear can generate some significant issues during season
transitions. Players expect that each season will start on a fairly
level playing field. The presence of upgrades in 5.1 meant that some
players now have a gear advantage over players with this season’s Honor
gear. The presence of higher ilevel Elite gear has the potential to
create an even bigger issue in Season 14.
Still, we think we’ve taken some great steps forward with PvP gear in
Mists of Pandaria. PvP Power has given us an extremely useful ‘knob’ to
turn so we can adjust PvP gear to make sure that it’s better than its
PvE equivalent. Meanwhile Resilience, while well-intentioned, has
actually made the gear gap worse over time. We think that most players
would be okay with going into PvP with lower damage if they were a bit
more durable. We believe that a broader population of PvPers will offer a
better experience for everyone, and also provide a better pool of
players as we introduce refinements to how Battleground queuing works in
the future. One of the best ways for us to increase the number of
players that participate in PvP is to reduce the barrier to entry for
those who play World of Warcraft regularly but don’t participate in PvP.
Specifically, we’re referring to PvE players that spend a lot of time
gearing up in PvE but feel that PvE gear is a severe liability in PvP
(because, well, it is ).
Incoming 5.3 Gear Changes
With all of this in mind, we’re making some pretty dramatic changes to PvP gear and the PvP environment in 5.3:
- Base Resilience will be set to 65% for all characters level 85 and higher
- Resilience will be removed from nearly all PvP gear
- Players will still be able to use Resilience gems and enchants
- PvP power will remain exclusively on PvP gear
- PvP set bonuses that currently provide Resilience will now provide PvP Power
- Healers
and hybrid-casters will benefit to a greater degree from PvP Power, and
Battle Fatigue will increase to make PvP gear superior for healers.
- Conquest gear will be increased to item level 496 (up from 493).
- Elite gear will be decreased to item level 496. This gear will essentially become a prestige upgrade.
- The Big Change: We will be adding an item level ceiling to gear in unrated Battlegrounds, Rated Battlegrounds and Arenas
- All gear will have its item level scaled down to 496
(Conquest gear item level). This includes even Conquest items that
exceed the ilevel ceiling, such as weapons.
In addition, some of the changes that we’ve discussed previously will also be implemented:
- In patches that don’t include a new season (including
patch 5.3), the seasonal currency requirement of 7,250 Conquest Points
earned will be lifted from weapons. The seasonal currency requirement
must always be met to purchase Elite items, though.
- Once
the 27,000 Conquest Point seasonal currency requirement is reached,
players will be able to purchase Tyrannical Gladiator’s gear with Honor
Points.
- The Conquest Point catch up cap will be
introduced. You can read our PvP Gear in 5.2 and Beyond blog for more
information on these changes.
We’re taking these steps because we want to improve PvP for those
players who love to PvP by providing a richer pool of potential
competitors (which can result in faster queues, and open doors to
queuing refinements later on), and make an incredibly fun element of
World of Warcraft more accessible to a larger audience.
What to Expect
We expect these changes to have a few important effects. First, we feel
that they will still preserve our most important design goal: the best
gear for competitive PvP will come from PvP. Since all other gear will
be scaled down to the Conquest’s item level of 496 as a maximum, the
Conquest gear will always be better by a significant margin because it
will have PvP Power on it (which doesn’t count toward the item’s item
level budget). Even Honor gear, with its considerable amount of PvP
Power, will provide more damage in PvP than normal and heroic raid gear.
For example, a Heroic Thunderforged weapon and a Conquest weapon will
be the same item level in PvP, with the same amount of primary stats,
secondary stats and stamina. While the PvE weapon will do very good
damage, it will still do less damage than the Conquest weapon due to the
presence of PvP power on the PvP weapon.
We also believe that the changes will make it easier for those who
aren’t PvPing now to give it a try or possibly motivate those that play
only rarely to play more often. While they will do less damage than a
player with PvP gear, they will have the same survivability, stamina and
resilience. The damage differences shouldn’t be so great that they will
be ‘insta-gibbed’ by the average opponent in PvP gear either. We expect
the improvements will make PvP more fun for both hardcore players that
want a more even playing field, as well as competitors that just want to
dive in and have some fun without assembling a specialized gear set.
We Want Your Feedback!
This is a pretty massive change for World of Warcraft and while it would
probably be more appropriate at the start of a new season, or even an
expansion, we strongly feel that the current gear situation should be
resolved quickly. We think this solution will help us meet our design
goals and help create a more active, competitive, and fun PvP
environment.
We know that concerns and questions are inevitable, and we look forward
to hearing your thoughts on the subject. We invite you to try these
changes on the PTR for yourself, and we’ll be watching for your feedback
on the PTR Discussion forum and elsewhere.
