Getting rid of the gear race

One of the biggest issues and controversies in WoW at the moment is the comparisons between gear.

Is the PvP gear 'welfare epics'? Should all new drops go to tanks/main healers in the first place in a raid? Is the arena rating limitations on S4 arena gear making the 'below 1700' not worth going arena? etc etc.

I think I have the embryo of an idea to solve this.

Let's first explain with arena gear.
With the coming season 4 lots of the gear demands a specific rating, and already there have been a discussion about it killing of the non hardcore arena teams.

First I thought - that’s easily solved. Why not get like 5 different versions of the shoulders which demands specific ratings? Like: none, 1500, 1700, 1900, 2100. This will make it possible for every arena player to slowly achieve better gear according to accomplishment.

And to not make it cost too much, get rid of earned arena points (not rating) and say that chest takes 4 weeks of playing a minimum 10 matches/week to be able to buy. And shoulders 8 weeks.

Here we have options of needing to work toward specific pieces. Like say that each week earns you a merit point which can be put in towards the 4 needed for chest. (A bit like a talent tree where the full tree make you able to wear that piece. Maybe should come with the option of respeccs.) Gettig 'attuned' to wear shoulders makes u able to upgrade to better rating shoulders without putting in the weeks again. A bit of a two way improvement avenue. Rating wise or slot wise.

New arena gear
What will be the result? Well. We would get arena players which all can work toward new gear in two ways. Either by improving their rating or to week by week work towards ability to wear a specific gear slot. More intervals makes it easier to actually get up on the ladder in comparison to now where its a huge difference if u can get the S4 set or not. This would make skill more important but keeping the gear advancement element of play.

But what about PvE then?
Yeah that’s another thing - or is it really? Why not get rid of the old drop system. Let everyone earn PvE rating by downing bosses and clearing instances.

This rating would then make you eligible to buy new gear, much like the arena system.

Wait a minute! Why not grind ZF then to get the best gear!?

Well thats easily solved too. Each boss is wort a number of points, say 60 points for Omor the Unscarred. Say that first time you get 60 points and then we have diminishing returns for him like cutting it to a third each time. 2nd=20, 3rd=7, 4th=3 etc. This to a max of like double the original value for him 120 points. Then you cant grind Omorr any more.

Then we can get phat loot by going in with a good group. Twink runs FTW!

Sure. But if we then add this system with a negative multiplier according to the PvE score of all the individuals in the group/raid? So doing Omorr the Unscarred with a group of BT raiders will diminish the PvE-points gained a lot. That will actually make it worth the time to do the instances with like levelled people.

Ok. I'll save up my points and buy the phattest axe in Azeroth already at lvl 60

Well, you wont. The system will work like the arena system above. The total points make you able to buy better gear. But they will not go away. They are a rating and not spendable points.

What do we get then for PvE?
Players get gear according to accomplishment. There is still a grinding component in there. And there is a motivator for taking on content made for your level.

This will make it meaningless to do Kara badge runs or easy heroics.

There is one drawback though. The thrill of seeing what that boss will drop today. Nothing is as thrilling like seeing that nifty helm drop and checking it out with a ctrl-click.

OK. Suggestion time is over. Please comment if you made it all through =)

PvP - a rush of blood to the head

As you might have noticed I have been playing mostly Lotro for som time now. The other day I had a bit of Lotro fatigue and decided to have a look at the new continent from patch 2.4. (Whats it called Sunwell?)

Well, my first impression was that it was a ton of daily quests in a concentrated area and not much more. Then I experienced the PvP aspect of WoW that Lotro totally lacks.

It was me, an undead rouge and an adrenaline overload...

God what a rush PvP is sometimes. The adrenaline makes your fingers shake... I really need to convince some of my old WoW companions to come back to play some arena again.

The joy of ass wippin'

I have seen the light.

Well, at least I have seen the snows, grass and lightnings of Alterac valley, Arathi basin and Eye of the storm.

After speccin for arena I have had an enormous boost in game satisfaction. Doing arena is tremendous fun since it is short, intense and very demanding on proper tactics.

To be able to fight better I need some decent PvP gear. Luckily I didn't buy the Merciless gladiator shield wall for my points, so now I am waiting for season 3 to start so I can buy at least one piece of S3 armor.

The new season will make season 1 gear possible to buy for honor points, as most probably know, so I am trying to stack points for the release. At the moment I am making about 2k honor a night. Not able to play all nights it will take some time. But I am aiming at 27k honor for the Gladiator Greatsword.
And if I get bored I might just buy something less pricey. But a new weapon would be great.

When it comes to armor - I need a new pair of leggings since I am PvP'ing in my tanking pants for the stamina. But check out the new helm in season 3 (just click the pic above). I already got the Overlords helmet of second sight wich is nice - but the S3 looks mean!!! Too bad S3 shoulders need rating of 2k though, would be a nice match =)

How about you guys - what is the best battleground to get quick honor. AV has this problem with loads of leechers. Up to 10 in one game I have had.

Total disgrace

Right now I am in a bit of a low considering WoW. We are trying to get my youngest son to sleep better and not breast feeding all night through. He is 7 months now, so he has this separation phase which means he is uncomfortable every time he is alone. In reality or just imagined. That includes leaving the room and standing out of view.

As you can imagine this has taken a toll on my wife especially, since she cant sleep that well. And to help out I am going to bed a lot earlier. With max 2 hours of time to play there is little room for WoW at the moment.

Well, I had time to do my arena matches at least. We got a 5 win 5 loss game, which is quite good for being a prot warrior. Our rating is around 1175 though - so not too good competition. Except this one guy...

We arrived at arena start area and realised that only one opponent logged in. 'Easy!' - we thought. He turns out to be this monster shadow priest that dots and kites both me and my pal around the whole arena. Two games in a row we face him, twice we are killed without hesitation.

Total disgrace.

But now I have points to buy the Merciless Gladiator shield wall. I just wonder if it counts as a weapon - or if it will be possible to save the points and buy the season 3 shield when it comes out... (Weapons are said to require arena rating of 2000 to be able to buy)