I’m still amazed to this day that this is how WoW introduces people to PvP. A mode where premade groups are matched with random groups, without equating anything. If there is some hidden MMR it’s so wide that it may as well not be there and gear discrepancy is usually so big that winner is determined even before the match starts.
As a new player you go to PvP tab and you see ranked matches and this abomination bellow it and think: “Yea, let’s try that, it’s a practice mode.” Boy would you be wrong. I don’t see how anyone experiencing arena skirmishes can come out and think that arena is something you wanna be a part of and get better at. A mode specifically designed for griefers to feel good about themself and deffer new people from participating in PvP part of the game.
I fought this was the job of 1200-1600 bracket in arena. Which is basically this same thing just payed in gold by one side. Where boosters basicly grief people trying to casually participate and learn while “climbing”.
One thing that should be implemented right away is that when you enter a bracket (1600, 1800, 2100…) in arena you will always be matched with people from that bracket. You can lose rating but your getting matches with people of max rating achieved (so if you get low rating, by winning a couple of games you can be get back really fast, but if you got to 2100 you will never be able to
be matched with someone who’s max rating is 1400) and if two people are in team you get to fight opponents of highest achieved rating out of you two. No average max of a team, you pick the highest rating player from team and that is their match bracket. Then you can have hidden MMR, but brackets are made based on max rating achieved.
Otherwise you get guys like this: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVdEqJ5uwhF-94HOM61Ljow
High rated people, basically griefing people by one yes being better in skill then them and then lowering their rating so they can make videos and earn gold, while having 15-20% more versatility than anyone who fights them.
In one of videos he gets outplayed by fire mage, ring into meteor into combust into 3 pyros and how much damage did it do to him less the half of his HP because he outgears mage by 25 ilvls. Fun stuff.
Edit: He seems like I fun guy, I don’t have anything personally against him. But this whole system which he in a away abuses.
I dislike shirmishes, but I do them anyway for weekly anima quest. I can’t describe how angry I feel when I as a Shadow Priest enter one and see 2 rogues on the opposite side. It should not be allowed. Like how do I even cast a spell?
I did 12 arenas on my Warlock. In 3rd match I got Arms Warrior in full elite gear with total score of something 370W-390L. Like what is the point of that match. He is obviously tanking his rating so he can grief low geared players or sell boosts. Why match people who got to 2400 rating with someone playing their 3rd arena ever. How is this a thing is beyond stupid. Just do matchmaking based on highest bracket achieved in season and then have MMR in that given bracket. Fixed both the grifers and boosters.
I guess so, but it would be much more limiting if at any point you must not cross into higher bracket. And you can put them in all modes to be same high bracket but have very low MMR so they get to fight people in same boat. But this has to change somehow. Because this is not an exception its the rule.
I wouldn’t mind highly skilled/geared people at low rating too much. Yeah it sucks to lose. But the way MMR works they won’t stay at that rating too long.
Win streaks increase your MMR really fast, way faster than the actual rating, so after a few matches everyone will get fairer games again.
The points about skirmishes you mentioned are valid. I honestly would encourage everyone that wants to get into arena to practice in ranked instead of skirmish.
I don’t think it’s a huge issue, but as you mentioned it’s kinda a noob trap for new players that think skirmish will be easier.
Random PVP, be it random BGs or arena skirmishes, should have some form of matchmaking, just as you wouldn’t match players randomly from levels 1 to 59, but do it in brackets, mixing PuGs with premades, or 158s and 220s is just another recipe for disaster. Gear should be relevant, obviously, but not the sole determining factor.
Further, not having matchmaking is prone to making things worse, as casuals/PuGs give up and pros/premades see an exploit for easy honor. So the situation becomes more common, and it is rare to find players who want to start their PvP career doing random PvP. Just last laissez faire capitalism leads to instability and inequality. What can possibly go wrong? The system is not gonna regulate itself.
More importantly, not forgetting that this is a game and supposed to be fun, even as you start to get into PvP and join a random group in 158 blues, facing an army of premade navy seals in 220 gear is as fun as eating uranium.
ROFLMAO
This is like the exact situation in 8 out of 10 random BGs or arena skirmishes, nowadays, for my fresh 60s in 158 sinful gear. Except way scarier.
Skirmish is not “practice mode” in a sense of being a playground for beginners.
Personally I use it to try different builds/tactics, not that I’m a pro pvper or anything but i outgear most “newbs”. Most people you see doing skirmishes who are high gear are usually people like me trying to improve via trying different things before hopping off to rated to get destroyed.
Yep. Get your rating. Keep it. Stomp and have fun on other brackets for conquest or just fun. As most will have full gear anyway. Broken system.
Skirmishes are not an entry system. They are as what the above OPs have said. To gather the last few CP you need for a purchase / testing builds to save rating.
This is the prime example. Paragon of PvP community Xaryu, multi Glad “having fun” in 1600 bracket. Then running into someone who is doing the exactly the same thing he is doing and queue in the, OMG OP druid, OMG nerf, I can’t do anything, how is this fair. Coming from fire mage in full gladiator gear while fighting newbies after tanking his own rating. You can’t make this stuff up, someone targeting low geared people complaining about someone fighting back.
Two other people in this match might as well not exist, because of low gear they are irrelevant. This would be even worse if Xaryu got what he wanted undergeared people, then there would be 3 irrelevant people in arena match of 4. You go to LFG you find similar people to you, waste time, then wait for queue and then you get griefer in full Glad gear “flexing” his skill.
It’s like entering Normal raid analogy to 1400 PvP bracket and for some reason every time you pull a boss he has a 75% chance to actually not be normal raid boss but mythic one. Instead of you getting to fight people of your rating you get to fight boosters and youtubers who tanked their arena rating. Who would raid like that. Arena matchmaking must change, abusing the system is no longer an exception that is done by few its a norm. Heck I would like Legion stat templates back, at least guys like this won’t have their gear advantage to such a degree.
Problem is it’s not even your regular smurf where someone starts fresh with a new character. It’s people who tank their rank on a high geared character so it’s not even just a skill matchup issue.
Any possible solution will have its consequences. I know there was an iteration of WoW PvP where gear didn’t matter. Another solution might be decreasing how fast you gain/lose rating. They’re not great but depending on how bad the problem is it can solve ilvl discrepancy in such cases.
Gotta say this is sad. When most people smurf they at least meme/sandbag. Going tryhard with a well geared FOTM class just to own some lowbies… I don’t want to know what is going on with their life that this is the confirmation they need.
