World of Warcraft (en) Forums -> [BlizzCon 09] Systems Panel

Thyvene

Blizzard Poster

0. [BlizzCon 09] Systems Panel 22/08/2009 12:36:23 PDT

Rated Battlegrounds

This section discussed changes being made to Battlegrounds. We realize that players want a bit more out of the Battlegrounds, or don’t necessarily want to actively participate in Arenas to acquire some of the best gear in the game. We’re changing this by providing an alternate method to acquiring Arena rating. We’ve introduced rated Battlegrounds, which will allow players to acquire rating for very powerful gear without setting foot into an Arena, so each player can enjoy whichever PvP activity he or she prefers.

We plan to include featured weekly Battlegrounds for players to enjoy; coupled with the changes made, this will help keeps the gameplay changing from week to week.

The way the new rated Battlegrounds work is pretty straightforward. The more games you win, the higher the rating you acquire.

In order to participate in rated Battlegrounds, players will be required to join battles as full groups. However these groups do not need to be committed teams as in the Arena system; rather, the group simply needs to have the required amount of players for whichever Battleground they’re entering. As an example, one would need to join the queue as a group for Warsong Gulch with any nine additional players to qualify for a rating.

[ Post edited by Ancilorn ]

Community Team - French

Thyvene

Blizzard Poster

1. Re: [BlizzCon 09] Systems Panel 22/08/2009 12:36:44 PDT

Guild Advancement

We continued with the presentation discussing exciting new features that will provide guilds with avenues to further advance, both on an individual basis and as a whole that culminates into a more immersive level of guild development. With these upcoming guild advancement features, guilds will be able to acquire talents and provide guild members with leveling benefits, as well as acquire guild achievements, guild professions, and other cool features.

Guild Leveling and Talents
We’ve introduced a new guild feature that will provide options for players to earn guild experience in a variety of ways. Players can earn guild experience through leveling, reputation ranks, boss kills, Battleground and Arena wins, and profession ranks. The top twenty earners from the guild per day will contribute to the guild experience total.
With every acquired level, guilds will receive talent points that they can then spend towards their guild talent tree, which affects all guild members in the guild.

Additionally, guild experience is converted into guild currency that can be used to purchase a wide variety of rewards, such as guild profession plans and reagents, vanity items, and talent respecs.

Guild Professions
Guilds that use guild currency to purchase profession plans will be able to share any purchased plan with the rest of the guild via a vendor and skill trainer. Guilds are also able to create guild heirlooms; these items bind to the guild so that anyone in the guild will be able to acquire them. Just like the normal heirloom items, guild heirloom items will also scale with level and will support all armor and weapons.

Guild members will also be able to take advantage of being able to create guild-specific versions of items that require fewer or different reagents. The new reagents are purchased from guild vendors via guild currency, and there will be support for all professions.

Looking for Guild
With the Looking for Guild feature, we’re making it easier for players to find a guild. We’re also looking to provide guild leaders more options to make it easier to recruit new members. The new tool will provide filters based on various requirements and will have a simple and easy-to-use interface.

Guild Achievements
Players can earn achievements as a guild, with each requiring a minimum ratio of guild members to complete. We’ve also introduced new achievements that guilds can partake in. One example is becoming Grand Master in all professions.

Features
Guilds will receive a special guild news-feed that will show them updates on happenings within the guild such as achievements, boss kills, etc. Guilds will also have access to profession info for their members and more. In addition to these features, guilds will also be able to acquire a percentage of gold looted on boss kills that will go directly to the guild bank. Additionally, guilds will be able to invite other guilds to events.

Community Team - French

Thyvene

Blizzard Poster

2. Re: [BlizzCon 09] Systems Panel 22/08/2009 12:37:05 PDT

Mastery
This segment of the panel discussed a new and exciting feature called Mastery. With this feature, we want to make class talent trees simple throughout, but we also want to make them a lot more fun. We feel that while talent trees are pretty cool, they’re becoming larger and more complicated. We see this by the talents available, as many talents try to perform three different things and passive bonuses compete against fun or utility talents.

So while we will add some new talents for Cataclysm, we also want to prune passive and mandatory talents so that you have more points available for fun or utility talents. Our goal is to have talent trees that are simpler, less cookie-cutter and more fun. Under the new plan, you’ll get passive bonuses just for spending points in the appropriate tree.

Passive bonuses are things that increase stats such as damage, healing, and tanking, as well as stat-like attributes such as haste or crit. We really want to give something unique for your spec -- and the Mastery stat incorporates this.

An example of a passive bonus for Assassination rogues would be increased poison damage the more points they spend in Assassination. Likewise, a rogue specialized in Subtlety will receive an energy cost bonus, Beastmaster hunters would receive bonuses to their pet’s damage output, and Marksmanship hunters would receive focus regeneration bonuses, as well. These are just some examples of how passive bonuses bolster each spec of every class.

Path of the Titans
Path of the Titans is another great new feature we covered that encompasses rewarding progression at max level. This new feature implements a third new type of glyph called “Ancient Glyph,” and as you can see, it is themed after the titans. These special glyphs are not associated with the Inscription tradeskill, and are also not specific to any class.

You’re able to unlock a path and progress within that path as you continuously engage in different aspects of the game. As you advance, you will be able to unlock special glyph sockets for your character. You can also respec your path at any time, in case you decide to change your path.
You earn these ancient glyphs by using the new Archaeology secondary profession to recover and trade in titan artifacts. Each path will have 2-3 choices per rank, and again, you can respec if you decide to go down another path.

• Path of Aman’Thul, the High Father
• Path of Eonar, the Lifebinder
• Path of Norgannon, the Dreamweaver
• Path of Khaz’Goroth, the Shaper
• Path of Aggramar, the Avenger
• Path of Golganneth, the Thunderer

You can earn progress down any of these paths by doing things such as questing, raiding, PvP, trade skills, etc., with a possible weekly cap for maximum progress. Over time, you’ll be able to unlock new ancient glyphs that will greatly benefit your character.

This new system will be accessible to all players at max level. Players will eventually be able to reach new ranks for ancient glyphs, encouraging them to further develop their characters. There is also a possibility that we will introduce whole new paths in future content patches.

That’s it for this year’s Systems panel. See you next BlizzCon!

Community Team - French

Serned

Arathi

3. Re: [BlizzCon 09] Systems Panel 22/08/2009 12:50:47 PDT

Really interesting, at least it develop the points I was been asking for.

For the "Mastery" system, that's a nice choice for the rogues :P

[ Reserving this for more analysis, not yet finished in fact. ]

[ Post edited by Serned ]

(\__/)
(o':'o)

Adya

< Reclaimed >

Sylvanas

4. Re: [BlizzCon 09] Systems Panel 22/08/2009 13:02:30 PDT

Whats the purpose of the mastery system to tanks and healers?
0/0/76 talent specs?

Milkmilk

The Maelstrom

7. Re: [BlizzCon 09] Systems Panel 22/08/2009 13:28:02 PDT

Sounds nice, but I wonder something about the Battleground rating.

1. If you are going to do Arathi basin and there are 15 alliance players and 14 horde players, will the horde players get rating?

2. The currency will still be honor I guess, but will the Mark of honor still be a turn in quest for honor or are we going to use them for purchase?

3. With this new rating, will there be new Titles for reaching a specific rating?

That's all my questions about this

You can do whatever you want, but you can't stop me from the forums. I... AM... ETERNAL!

Asmodian

< Fallen Saints >

Ghostlands

8. Re: [BlizzCon 09] Systems Panel 22/08/2009 13:33:09 PDT

Everything sounds good in theory. Time can only tell what the implementation will look like.

Nine out of ten internet statistics don't read the whole sentence.

Better to reign in hell, than serve in heaven.
Paradise Lost

Aiaoai

< Defenders of Eternia >

Aszune

9. Re: [BlizzCon 09] Systems Panel 22/08/2009 14:45:05 PDT

Interesting to see how this is gona work

"Grant me the strength to accept the things that I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference."

Nervos

Zenedar

10. Re: [BlizzCon 09] Systems Panel 22/08/2009 15:19:54 PDT

Q u o t e:
The way the new rated Battlegrounds work is pretty straightforward. The more games you win, the higher the rating you acquire; conversely, the more games you lose, the lower your rating will be.

That is just not going to work. Picture this:
-Alliance wins 80% AV => horde never enter => AV dead
-Horde wins 70% AB => alliance rarely enter => giant que => AB dead
-EOTS and the rest vary from server to server but as soon as they favor 1 side, the other never joins again....

BTW i hope you make the new expansion as hard as first months of TBC (with revered heroics and no craftable epics or badges) because all the elite players have left and left behind a degrading society with a lower overall IQ / average age (causing the "medium elite" ppl to leave)....causing a cascade effect

I remember the times i actually had to WORK to get decent blues to get in heroics to get in kara ...and so on....looking forward and admiring the ppl who did super hard raids (best time in my life). The achievements system is just a cheap marketing scheme to implement easy modes for casuals IMO, witch led to everyone having the same gear no Mather what the skill :(

[ Post edited by Nervos ]

Skapie

< The servers are down >

Thunderhorn

11. Re: [BlizzCon 09] Systems Panel 23/08/2009 05:02:45 PDT

Q u o t e:

That is just not going to work. Picture this:
-Alliance wins 80% AV => horde never enter => AV dead
-Horde wins 70% AB => alliance rarely enter => giant que => AB dead
-EOTS and the rest vary from server to server but as soon as they favor 1 side, the other never joins again....

BTW i hope you make the new expansion as hard as first months of TBC (with revered heroics and no craftable epics or badges) because all the elite players have left and left behind a degrading society with a lower overall IQ / average age (causing the "medium elite" ppl to leave)....causing a cascade effect

I remember the times i actually had to WORK to get decent blues to get in heroics to get in kara ...and so on....looking forward and admiring the ppl who did super hard raids (best time in my life). The achievements system is just a cheap marketing scheme to implement easy modes for casuals IMO, witch led to everyone having the same gear no Mather what the skill :(

Erm you are aware that for RATED games you they could also make you meet teams from your own faction, same way its in arena?

Fkiakas

Draenor

12. Re: [BlizzCon 09] Systems Panel 23/08/2009 05:59:39 PDT

I have mixed feelings based on what they announced about the rated BGs, a feature that I really wanted to see in WoW.

My biggest concern is the need to have a pre-made team in order to participate in rated BGs. That, along with a limitation in the number of rated matches per week, could make things very difficult for non-hardcore players to get rated matches or lift themselves from zero rating. I mean if the "pros" were ignoring the 5vs5 arena slot because they couldn't get a team together on a regular basis, how is someone who has 1hr or 2 to play get 10, 15 or 40 people together in order to participate in rated BGs, even if it's just for 1 game?

Also WSG will practically become the new 10vs10 arena bracket (if the rewards are deemed worthy), hopefully the others will be too much of a pain to organise so you won't be getting "link gear, stats, rating, title, achievemnt, home address, bank account details etc etc" to get you in our uber team for a rated game. But with only 6 games per week allowed, you can't really blame the hardcore players, can you?

As far as I can see for this suggested system atm, it doesn't really do much for many ppl that enjoy mostly BGs at present. Maybe an alternative would be to have lower rewards (in terms of arena points), more rated games allowed per week and not require (but still allow) premade teams. So the "pros" would still probably get the same rewards but the casuals would be allowed (practically) to participate as well. The rating you would get should be based on your skill and not exclusively on available time to organise practically a raid.

Idea

< The Love Squad >

Darksorrow

13. Re: [BlizzCon 09] Systems Panel 23/08/2009 06:43:58 PDT

Rated Battlegrounds: Please explain

Issues:

1. Limit = 6 or more matches. It took me in 2v2 arround 150 matches to find out how my combo works and get to 1850 for weapons ... With 6 matches in a week ... its going to take around Half a year to get that rating wich is totaly bad and broken system. Arenas dont have a limited amount of matches played, why should Rated BGs have .. it should be an equivalent to get rating and high end PVP rewards, wich with a limit will BE NOT! Second, how can I enjoy aquiring rating through BGs when Im very limited and what if I lose in one week a lot of those matches and I have the time and will to get it back ... but I cant because of the limit .. and I can only wait for the next week and pray that it will go super good because I dont get the opportunity to show how good I am.

2. It was said that we shouldnt be punished for running into a bad group. So we wont lose rating, but will get no points. And now you said for a loss we will lose rating. Can you please clarify how its going to work? Another thing, if we dont lose rating, how do you want to prevent people inelegiable to get a certain rating from getting it?

3. You multiple times said that it is hard to define who contributes to win in the BG. So will you still implement some kind of measurment system to define who contributes to the win and who is simply brainless HK farming.

4. We have to queue with a group. That means a lot of people in a lot of groups will be random. What happens when one person leaves the rated BG? Will it remain for example 14vs15? Players cannot join solo so a new player will not come. How are you planing to adress this issue?

I think thats all for now, but there are probably more serious issues that I didint thought about now. Can you please explain or inform us how will these issues be solved? Thank you

Lasinra

< serilas brotherhood >

Stormscale

14. Re: [BlizzCon 09] Systems Panel 23/08/2009 12:46:41 PDT

I watched Blizzcon 2009 via directTV and during the Game systems panel when the developers were talking more about the guild achievement system coming soon and also mainly the talent rewards for progressing the guild rank.

During the Q&A a guy from the audience mentioned about a guild that does more then one thing i.e pve and pvp, but yet you can only talent to cater for one specific thing as i understood, so why not incoorperate a duel talent for the guild talent systems brought by experience???

Q u o t e:

If you're referring to yourself when you say "no one", then I agree with you on that :)

Viriato

< Damnation >

Anachronos

15. Re: [BlizzCon 09] Systems Panel 23/08/2009 15:46:10 PDT

Blizz do you have a camera with a mic in my house or something?? cuz ya probably heard me talking with my dad a few months ago bout some way to improve the guild.

we though of the same system as the one Blizz just announced lol!!! all the exact same details!!!

Blizz you should pay me to give you some more ideas

You see, there's this thing called "Agrro". It's a very complicated, very technical roleplaying expression.
Loosely translated, it means "the priest dies".

Arakmai

< Nocturnal Dawn >

Bloodhoof

16. Re: [BlizzCon 09] Systems Panel 23/08/2009 16:18:55 PDT

Q u o t e:
Rated Battlegrounds: Please explain

Issues:

1. Limit = 6 or more matches. It took me in 2v2 arround 150 matches to find out how my combo works and get to 1850 for weapons ... With 6 matches in a week ... its going to take around Half a year to get that rating wich is totaly bad and broken system. Arenas dont have a limited amount of matches played, why should Rated BGs have .. it should be an equivalent to get rating and high end PVP rewards, wich with a limit will BE NOT! Second, how can I enjoy aquiring rating through BGs when Im very limited and what if I lose in one week a lot of those matches and I have the time and will to get it back ... but I cant because of the limit .. and I can only wait for the next week and pray that it will go super good because I dont get the opportunity to show how good I am.

There is no limit on matches you play . But there is a limit on how many points you can acquire during 1 week to prevent the farming

Idea

< The Love Squad >

Darksorrow

17. Re: [BlizzCon 09] Systems Panel 23/08/2009 20:36:03 PDT

Q u o t e:

There is no limit on matches you play . But there is a limit on how many points you can acquire during 1 week to prevent the farming

Look at the blue post above. It says: " We’re looking at setting a cap of six or more battles per week."

And a littleupdate I discovered.
On the EU forums, we have this post and it says something like when we lose, we will lose rating, but on the US forums theres this exact same post but it says instead that they dont want to punish us so we wont lose rating ... seems theres a bit chaos ... I dont mind if they make a mistake .. I just want to know how the system should work

Demrot

< Alehouse Tan >

Nagrand

18. Re: [BlizzCon 09] Systems Panel 24/08/2009 03:32:14 PDT

A few comments based on my recollection of watching the live streams, rather than the typed up notes above, which seem to contradict the panel in places:

Q u o t e:
Whats the purpose of the mastery system to tanks and healers?
0/0/76 talent specs?

They said there'd be diminishing returns, so I imagine this would be a bad idea.

Q u o t e:
That is just not going to work. Picture this:
-Alliance wins 80% AV => horde never enter => AV dead
-Horde wins 70% AB => alliance rarely enter => giant que => AB dead
-EOTS and the rest vary from server to server but as soon as they favor 1 side, the other never joins again....

There'll only be one rated battleground available at a time, rotating on a weekly basis with the holiday weekend battlegrounds.

Q u o t e:
My biggest concern is the need to have a pre-made team in order to participate in rated BGs. That, along with a limitation in the number of rated matches per week, could make things very difficult for non-hardcore players to get rated matches...

I too am a little concerned about this, and hope they add a decent 'looking for group' feature to help form teams without having to trade spam.

Q u o t e:
1. Limit = 6 or more matches. It took me in 2v2 arround 150 matches to find out how my combo works and get to 1850 for weapons

They said there's be a cap on how many points you could gain each week through rated battlegrounds, but I don't remember them mentioning a cap on how many times you could compete.

Q u o t e:
2. It was said that we shouldnt be punished for running into a bad group. So we wont lose rating, but will get no points. And now you said for a loss we will lose rating. Can you please clarify how its going to work? Another thing, if we dont lose rating, how do you want to prevent people inelegiable to get a certain rating from getting it?

In the panel they said that your hidden 'matchmaking' rating will fall if your team loses (so you'll potentially face weaker opposition next time), but your actual visible rating will not fall.

Stag

< Special Circumstance… >

Lightning's Blade

19. Re: [BlizzCon 09] Systems Panel 24/08/2009 04:09:21 PDT

Okay, I'm not a troll or a complainer and I'm looking forward to 99.999999% of Cataclysm... however.

Spending talent points in a tree automatically affects relevant skills
--I wonder where they got that idea.
Guild ranking and bonuses
--I wonder where they got that idea.
New talent path thing (PotT)
--Sounds almost like a talent tree in a similar game....

If I wanted to play WAR, I'd play WAR! ;)

Ah, who am I kidding? I don't give a flying sexual act about it! Bring on the expansion, I can't wait! :)