Angry Grimace said:
Over-Glorified Dueling is pretty much it. Arena/PvPtards like to go on and on about "scripted encounters," but 90% of duels could basically be on a script in terms of what Class X vs. Class Y does.
My problem with Arenas is that often, it feels like a silly dance. There's a lot of jumping around, pillar-humping, etc. that represents 'skill' while the majority of victories lie solely upon composition. Of course, I'm not a huge fan of the scripted encounters either (I think the entire concept of aggro management is silly), but they're at least more entertaining.
Angry Grimace said:
Battlegrounds are fun, but they aren't nearly as fun as they would be if players tried harder and paid more attention.
I agree; it drives me up the wall to see people say "Let them win" after a single flag cap, or simply resort to farming kills because we lost Blacksmith 5 minutes into a AB. There's no incentive to play harder yet, which is why I share your anticipation of rated BGs. Hopefully people will take it a bit more seriously and try to make a comeback even after an initial loss.
Let's just hope it doesn't end up turning BGs into "premade-vs-premade or gtfo." Which will probably happen, but we can hope for the best, at least.
Angry Grimace said:
There's nothing less fun that playing Disc Priest in a Battleground and getting blown the fuck up, because Penance's animation draws every single opposing player to blow you the fuck up and NOBODY bothers to CC those guys and/or keep them off you while you heal them.
Healer survivability is a problem, and it really shows how little people actually pay attention during PVP,
especially since healers can pretty much single-handedly determine most fights at Flags / Towers. Rated BGs should help.
As far as Penance's animation goes... I've felt that too, somewhat. Forbearance = "I blew my cooldown, come kill me!". Also fun to have Avenging Wrath wiped away, but at least it doesn't invoke Forbearance anymore.
Angry Grimace said:
I guess I just find the whole concept of WoW PvP silly; in a game where gear makes such a big difference, it makes for inherently unfair fights.
Because of the randomized nature of facing opponents in PVP, the cracks in stat-based progression really start to show. You might as well be turning over cards to see who wins by drawing the highest number.
Angry Grimace said:
Wintergrasp is a step in a direction for PvP that I like. I just wish I didnt' have to wait 2 hours in between matches. I'm hoping Tol Barad is set to the hour that WG isn't on, although WG will have no real relevant rewards anymore come Cataclysm.
Ideally, the best thing they could do is establish multiple PVP zones across the world that come under fire at different times. Maybe Deathwing sends his dragons to attack zones across the world, similar to the Undead Invasion event that launched WotLK. But instead, entire zones come under fire, and there's sort of a Horde vs. Alliance vs. Dragons fight going on. And these attacks just randomly spring up anywhere in the world.
To make it work; phase the invaded zones so low level players or players who opt out aren't exposed to it... but because it's an event, allow them to contribute in their own way. Maybe they're on the ground putting out fires as a quest, while the high level players are in a different phase beating each other up trying to kill each other and NPC dragons.