Bringing the "WAR" back to Warcraft (revised 19 Jan)

"ranks 31 Dec.txt", 31 Dec 2006

[i]The simplest explanation for the death of world PvP in WoW is PvE raids...[/i]

It has always been the intention of the folks working at Blizzard to make this game as fun as possible, for as many people as possible. But there are certain realities that must be observed in the continual development of an MMO... one, if not the, most important problems is supplying content at the rate at which players can devour it. This has so far proved to be, and probably will always be a problem.

We agree that the game, as it came out, was fantastic. But this was the result of several years of development, coding, quest-writing. All too soon the majority of players were lvl 60, and bored, with nothing to do but grief lowbies and pick fights with each other... which for some people wasn't so bad =P But progress had been halted, and for an MMO, stagnation means death.

The first Ragnaros kill. Chaos reigned as casters QQ'd about the coming doom of all non-melee classes that would happen as melee got more and more powerful and casters, didn't.

Ragnaros was put on farm status, and with BWL nearing completion, the honor system and battlegrounds were released.

A quick examination of the honor rewards reveals something interesting: [i]the sole purpose of the honor system was to maintain gear parity between those who cared about raiding, and those who didn't[/i]. Just before the honor system was released, the R14 rewards were bumped up from run-of-the-mill iLvl 65 epics to being on par with drops from Rag (iLvl 78), the toughest boss to exist at the time. Perhaps Bliz realized then the grave mistake they had made with the jump in item quality from standard MC epics to Rag's loot (now on farm status)... after all it was their first raid instance with all sorts of incompleteness, even a legendary neck item that they'd forgotten to take out of the loot tables and were only reminded of when it dropped for someone. In any case it was too late; the only thing to do was press on and give BWL even [i]better[/i] epics so players would have a reason to even go there.

*cough* so PvP rewards only exist to balance PvE rewards, but the target item quality is inevitably going to change over time. [i]Unlike ranks, the arena system is specifically designed to scale with raid instances, giving better and better rewards as more difficult raid encounters are released.[/i] They are Blizzard's answer to gear inequality from PvE, and they are not going away.

The arenas aren't really our idea of PvP. But we see that they are necessary, from a gear standpoint (yuck). With a proper understanding of why things are the way they are, we can move on to what can be done within this framework.


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[i][b]The solution, part 1: easily implemented[/b][/i]

Players don't have enough reason to PvP outside of BGs. In TBC, that will just become, players don't have enough reason to PvP outside of BGs or away from a few, forlorn "world PvP objectives". This and several related problems, "players aren't able to have fun PvPing if they haven't got the best gear" and "players are not able to affect the gameworld enough", can be solved by a body of ideas and suggestions mostly revolving around BRINGING BACK RANKS and fixing BGs.

1) finish the matching system. Suggestion: instead of matching based on gear in the bank, just "lock" items that are equipable and banked so players can't take them out. This lets players PvP in less than their best for fun and competition. Can you say, nekkid bracket? =o

2) make killing a faction leader cause their city to ASPLODE into smoke and flames for an hour or two! NPCs are still functional, but maybe with different conversation texts. "Hallo, I am Kreeg the apple seller and OH GODS DID YOU SEE THAT GUY RUN PAST SCREAMING AND COVERED IN FLAMES!?" Also make it give your entire faction a buff for 24 hours that increases honor and contribution point gains by 10%.

3) convert BG rewards into a quest-based system. An example of how it might be done has been posted below. Advantages of the system are that it gives players a reason to win instead of just "losing quickly", forces them to participate to get the rewards instead of just going afk, doesn't compete with rank-based rewards and consumables (see below), makes getting the epic BG rewards truly difficult instead of just more of the same grind, and operates in the same way as PvE blue-reward quests so players don't get lured into the habit of thinking of PvP rewards as an easy, grindable, no-effort alternative to dungeon crawling and questing.

4) remove the ability to multi-queue for BGs. Alliance "pay" for queueing all BGs when they join any one of them, and this makes it difficult to justify queueing from the physical BG entrance where we can duel or even raid the other faction's BG zonein.

5) bring back ranks.

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[i][b]The solution, part 2: harder to implement[/b][/i]

What is power?
[ul][i]"Those who used the Nine Rings became mighty in their day, kings, sorcerers, and warriors of old. They obtained glory and great wealth, yet it turned to their undoing. They had, as it seemed, unending life, yet life became unendurable to them. They could walk, if they would, unseen by all eyes in this world beneath the sun, and they could see things in worlds invisible to mortal men; but too often they beheld only the phantoms and delusions of Sauron. And one by one, sooner or later, according to their native strength and to the good or evil of their wills in the beginning, they fell under the thralldom of the ring that they bore and of the domination of the One which was Sauron's. And they became forever invisible save to him that wore the Ruling Ring, and they entered into the realm of shadows. The Nazgûl were they, the Ringwraiths, the Enemy's most terrible servants; darkness went with them, and they cried with the voices of death."[/i][/ul]
In WoW, there are none with power such as this. We have overpowered... from the perspective of the less-well-geared. We have "normal" for raiders, for whom everyone else is a nub with "trash" gear. The problem is that [i]everyone is expected to compete on the same level[/i].

What we need is a way to categorize those with great power and ability, from those without...


A rank system may be the answer. However, while the old system was mostly a way of distributing rewards, this one would be the means to define and recognize the existence of power in this game, with PvP rewards no more than a cool extra for time and effort spent.

Key features of such a system:
[ul][li]non-decaying ranks
[li]rank determined by quality of PvP, not playtime
[li]not all opponents yield honor
[li]reduced number of titles to ease recognition
[li]not confined to BGs
[/ul]
First, battlegrounds and what can be got from them. As mentioned above, the matching system must be completed before this could work. But another change is needed... [i]some actions would affect rank, and some would only award honor tokens[/i]. Borrowing from the past, actions that affect rank could award "honor", while those that lead to tokens could award "contribution points". Fighting, both in and out of BGs, would award honor. Completing BG objectives and world PvP objectives would award CP. While it is necessary to reward the completion of BG objectives so games have any kind of point instead of just mindless killing, they're not the same thing as skill or power, which is what rank represents. Contribution points could be spent on a wide variety of consumables for players with little or no rank (or excess CP), or a SMALL selection of slotted items for players of higher rank. These rewards cannot intersect with arena rewards! This is because while arena rewards can be updated every season, PvP rewards cannot be regularly updated and must be of relatively static quality for any given rank and level, regardless of future raid instances which raise the level of "best" gear. If each title corresponded to several ranks, an item might require "<title> (Rank X)"... but this is just a suggestion.

Second, the determination of ranks. This is really complicated. The mechanics must ensure a reasonable rank distribution, correlate well with gear and skill, not be exploitable or plain broken, and must encourage instead of discourage world PvP and general enjoyment of the game. Tho the most important thing to remember is: [i][b]all competition is with the other faction, not your own[/b][/i]. IF YOU DON'T LIKE MATH, STOP READING NOW.

[b]**************************************
******* WARNING WARNING *******
*****MATHY STUFF FOLLOWS*****
**************************************[/b]

Killing someone of equal or [i]higher[/i] rank awards honor.

Dying to someone of equal or [i]lower[/i] rank awards dishonor, or just causes you to "lose honor".

Both of these effects are SHARED IN GROUPS (please read that again) yes SHARED IN GROUPS which means that warriors won't get unfairly penalized for always charging in and dying from lack of heals, mages won't get unfairly penalized because they're so squishy and die all the time, healers won't get unfairly penalized because they're always the first ones to get targeted, support classes won't get penalized because their dps is low, hunters won't unfairly benefit from their range (those last two concerns actually not being silly), etc etc. There is also a mechanism to modify dishonor based on unfair odds, see below.


The details of how much honor and dishonor to award in 1v1 situations is the key to balancing the rank distribution and stuffs like that (as well as confidence in the rank system in defining who you can be "expected" to kill, but so much is obvious enough that I won't get into it; this post is already long enough >.<). So! The tuning variables are as follows:
[ul][li]the maximum rank difference that players can be expected to compete at. Ignoring for now SOCIAL implications, the higher the allowable difference is the more the rank distribution can expand. This effect also works to reduce or prevent gaps in the rank distribution.
[li]gear inequality, the difference between "average" gear and raid gear. As well as skill inequality (which however isn't configurable...), the higher this is the more the rank distribution can expand.
[li]the difference between honor for a kill and dishonor for dying at a certain rank. This is positive for the lowest ranks (less penalty for dying) and negative for the higher ranks. The bigger the difference the more the rank distribution contracts, but it also has the much more important effect of defining how fast the rank distribution as a whole can evolve...
[/ul]
If the amount of honor for killing a same-ranked opponent is a linear function [i]ax + b[/i] with [i]a[/i] and [i]b[/i] greater than 0, then defining the amount of dishonor for dying to a same-ranked opponent as [i](a + c)x + b - d[/i] with [i]c[/i] greater than 0 and 0 < [i]d[/i] < [i]b[/i] causes the rank distribution as a whole to move upwards when ranks are generally low, and stabilizes the rank distribution once players start reaching the highest ranks. If this isn't done it would be very difficult for players to get past the lowest ranks. o.0

More math! And another copy/paste from previous posts hehe...

[i]The only problem with this is it would require a lot of calculations... from what I understand, the reason diminishing returns on HKs can't be done in real-time is that it involves large numbers of lists or other data types and the number of procedures required scales up too quickly; the number of calculations implied by this solution may or may not present difficulties of the same magnitude. Any programming types have an answer? [/i][*NOTE: if the load is too great, a simplified system could be used tho at the cost of purity of the meaing of ranks :/][i] Anyway here is the system, in messy form:[/i]

***system of dishonor modification based on threat lists***
"attention" is how much an opponent could reasonably be focusing on you and/or contributing to your death. player-based threat lists were referenced by Blizzard when describing how rep-based tagging worked in BGs; the exact mechanics of these threat lists are unknown, such as how they relate to going out of combat and how they relate to the idea used by Blizzard when describing the honor system of HKs basing honor off proportional damage done by everything "in the past minute" or so. I never did learn whether vanishing cleared a rogue's contribution to damage... yeah. so when a player dies, their threat list is checked. Every player (NOT mob; mobs including guards soak up part of an HK based on damage done without awarding dishonor for their share of damage) on the list is then checked to see how much "attention" they were paying to the killed player:

1/(sum of threats on checked player's threat list, modded for level/rank) = attention
total attention = sum of individual attentions over the killed player's threat list = 1 if 1v1 situation
dishonor = 1/attention * (total honor awarded to others for that death) * (dishonor for a "standard death" vs a same-ranked opponent)/(honor awarded for a "standard kill" vs a same-ranked opponent)

Maybe (1/attention)^0.5 or similar. Changing less...

"Total honor awarded to others on death" accounts for the fact that some of the players who contributed to the killed player's death may not have gotten any honor because their rank was too high, as well as Diminishing Returns.

This dishonor is then shared with teammates. Everyone shares equally in dishonor... hmm, I guess this means that honor must be shared equally too (before DR) to avoid penalizing higher-ranked players in a mixed group... which means that if you're PvPing with a high-ranked player and killing low-ranked opponents, you'll get half the honor as if you were PvPing with a similarly low-ranked friend against the same opponent. (So for dishonor, it's not that "some players aren't getting any honor for killing you" so much that "everyone is getting reduced honor because of the group composition".) Gratz programming all that, Bliz. o.0


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[i]Update 19 Jan[/i]:

Ranks and titles could be awarded by third-party vigilante organizations for both factions. Old PvP titles would be retained as a selectable option. Old rewards would be bought the same way they are now, with honor tokens (from Contribution Points) obtained by running BGs, with no restriction on who can buy what. It might thus be best to rename the old PvP sets to be more in line with the fact that they are no longer exclusive; the idea is that the sets are for a "standard line unit" in that faction's armies. Grunt's leggings, Wizard's Chestpiece, etc... not tied to the old titles anymore.

This might mean removing the old epic rewards... it doesn't make sense for them to exist when similar-quality rewards are not available at lvls 70, 80, etc.

The new "rank" rewards, in contrast, would be dependent on titles or ranks earned from the third-party organizations, and would probably be purchased with gold, not honor tokens.

[b][i]Effects of the rank system[/i][/b]
[ul][li]The idea that "it is always better to have gear, than to not have gear" would NO LONGER BE VALID. With gear quality as a transparent attribute, the prestige of any particular rank would be inversely proportional to the quality of your gear. Achieving a high rank with bad gear is much more impressive than achieving the same title with excellent gear, because it implies a high level of skill to compensate for the gear disadvantage. That, and the greater responsibilities of high-ranked players in grouped PvP, both outside and in BGs. Using the above model of honor and dishonor sharing in groups, having more high-ranked players on your team decreases the honor per kill for [i]everyone[/i] in the vicinity; these players also award more dishonor to your team when killed by high-ranked opponents. A low-ranked player, otoh, penalizes the team much less when killed, and thus has more freedom to e.g. suicide bomb in AV.
[li]similar attitude change towards being high level. Since rank is a relative thing, it would be just as possible to gain rank and prestige at low levels as at high levels. This is twinking, except that non-twinks would not feel the intense pressure to compete that they do with the current system, because with this ranks system [i]non-twinks would not be penalized for being killed by a twink team[/i].
[li]more world PvP, obviously, since it would be as easy or easier for someone to gain honor via world PvP than by BGs where honor is shared, assuming that they have high skill and haven't yet "stabilized" at the appropriate rank. Even if they have, while there would be no reliable [i]net[/i] movement of rank, it's always fun to be able to interact with and affect other players. Anyone whom you could affect would be of similar or higher rank and therefore a respectable opponent, not some lowbie or "bluebie" that you could two-shot, so this kind of world PvP conflict would have gain potential and risk for ALL involved. So this is related to the idea of being able to affect the gameworld; the gameworld, in this case, being other players who are interested in PvP. (on a PvE server, flagging is not automatic so griefing would not be possible.)
[li]the lack of broad rewards for rank, with most PvP rewards coming from alternative venues like the arena system, BG rewards, and the token-based part of the honor system, would actually be an advantage. It would mean that for once, something in this game is mostly about social rewards instead of material rewards. It would mean that carebear PvPers won't feel bad for killing someone, because the only thing they are depriving their victim of is a title, not gear. Titles are for fun, not anything to cry about when you can't get... unlike gear, for some people. So by only offering a few minor reward slots for rank, players would actually be able to have more fun when the system penalizes you for dying. Odd that, eh?
[li]summarizing all the above: more opportunity and potential for fun for all players in the game, regardless of whether or not they've progressed to the latest raid instance and/or have been on a good enough arena team with good enough gear to win for long enough to buy a full set of epics. Decreased barriers to entry for having fun. This is good no matter which way you look at it. Blizzard, if you are reading this, you are almost certainly aware that the PvP potential of the current game is lackluster and uninspiring; if you don't do something to change that, and soon, your PvP playerbase will abandon you for Darkfall or a similar game.
[/ul]

[b][i]Example BG rewards quest system[/i][/b]

Eliminate Marks of Honor. Replace them with Victory Tokens, which are only awarded when you win a BG and only when you have a BG reward quest for a blue item. The preform bracket (this is assuming the matching system has been completed) rewards Victory [i]Medallions[/i], which are used for [i]epic[/i] BG reward quests like The Unstoppable Force. Quests also require a certain number of insignias dropped by other players as a quest item, to prevent players from getting rewards for just sitting in the starting area the whole game.

[u]Example#1[/u]

[b]Armaments of the Silverwing[/b] (requires lvl 18) (PvP quest) -- [i]cannot be done in a non-BGs raid aka preform[/i]
[ul][li]0/30 Outrider Insignia
[li]0/5 Warsong Gulch Victory Token
[/ul]Rewards:

You will be able to choose one of these rewards:
[Lorekeeper's Staff][Outrunner's Bow]
[Protector's Sword][Sentinel's Blade]

Gain:
[ul][li]1750 experience
[li]275 reputation with Silverwing Sentinels
[li]275 reputation with Darnassus
[/ul][u]Example#2[/u]

[b]Adornments of the Silverwing[/b] -- same as above quest but requires only 20 insignias and 3 victory tokens, and gives choice of caster ring/melee ring/agil neck/healer cloak.

[u]Example#3[/u]

[b]Stormpike Sage's Implements[/b] (requires lvl 60) (PvP RAID quest) -- [i]to be done in the AV "preform bracket" vs other preforms[/i]
[ul][li]0/100 Frostwolf Grunt's Insignia
[li]0/12 Alterac Valley Victory Medallion
[/ul]Rewards:

You will be able to choose one of these rewards:
[Lei of the Lifegiver][Therazane's Touch]
[Tome of Arcane Domination][Tome of Fiery Arcana]
[Tome of Shadow Force][Tome of the Ice Lord]

Gain:
[ul][li]8700 experience
[li]525 reputation with Stormpike
[li]525 reputation with Ironforge
[/ul]This means there should be THREE methods of joining a BG: the two that already exist, and a third one to go into the "preform" bracket which avoids all PUGers and awards the better kind of victory medallion when you win. This preform bracket is only necessary because of epic rewards, which are a legacy of the old honor system. Sorry. :/