Before reading this post I want you, the reader to understand that I am not a top PvP player and that some of the opinions I express might be subjective but I would love comments and feedback regarding my thoughts.
To start off with, I have been playing this game since Cataclysm even if I was terrible back then I still have some memories of what I believe PvP used to be. I understand that times change but I feel like people might agree with some of my thoughts.
When I hit level 60 in shadowlands I had to start with gearing my rogue, I am happy that they brought back the PvP vendor but realised that it will take a lot of time to gear my rogue. What is insane to me is the amount of honor that goes into gearing. For example, if I want to reach 197 ilvl (which is still low) I have to buy all the items and upgrade them to rank 7. Following this article: https://www.wowhead.com/guides/shadowlands-pvp-vendor-rewards-honor-conquest-upgrading-gear, that would cost you about:
trinket(glad) + 2x rings + wrist + cloak + neck: 6 x 4275 = 25650
trinket(dmg) + boots + gloves + shoulder + belt: 5 x 5700 = 28500
chest + helm + legs + 2x weapon(rogue, dagger): 5 x 7125 = 35625
Total: 89775
A total of 89775 honor… That is about: 89775 / 8800 ~ 10.20 honor levels. In order to have HONOR gear. Not conquest gear. Following this post: Fastest Way to Farm Honor in Shadowlands
If you farm Epic bgs constantly, getting that kind of gear if you play five hours a day non-stop will take you about 12 days. And even after that you still get stomped by people who have duelist gear. I have seen both sides and to me it’s not fun from either side. Either you get oneshot or you oneshot someone.
To me, removing the insane amount of farming to progress your gear will make PvP more attractive for new players. The ranking system needs a change. Facing 226 players in either arenas or bgs when you are 197+ does not feel fun for either part, instead I believe they should go back to just honor (no ranks) and conquest (no ranks). Of course gear should matter, but it being unobtainable for a large amount of the player base will just cause major team gaps and won’t be fun.
If blizzard would focus on the server lag in epic bgs and for example make bgs look like Korrak’s revenge I believe it would also make the game more attractive. When I played Korrak’s revenge I felt like what I did actually mattered. Summoning ram riders actually made my team able to push. When classic ashran was back I played that a lot as well since it felt like you could interact more with the bg compared to the ashran we have today that is just a lagfest and people just push for resources or whatever makes them win. I do not think I have seen either team kill the boss in a long time…
PvP balancing is also important of course but if blizzard does not listen to it I believe scaling down the damage and healing would make it more fun in PvP. From a rogue point of view I would rather do more things out of stealth instead of coming out from stealth, one shotting someone and going back. Having longer fights where cooldowns matter more, and reducing off-healing by hybrid classes would in my opinion make the fights more interesting and you have to think more about which cooldowns to use and to save.
I think it was Xaryu who talked about how nowadays it feels like every class has something for everything. I agree with that, make specs more unique and reduce the toolkit for each class. The amount of cc / slows / roots is a good example. Sometimes in bgs it feels like you can barely move due to grips / slows / cc / roots and I understand that setups are important because that allows for skillful plays. But being slowed for 70% over 10 seconds while you can die in less than 5 does not make the game fun for me.
Conclusion: Make CDs more important, reduce healing and damage, allow things in bgs such as ram riders in AV to have significant effects thus maybe changing the rush to boss tactic and change gear farming to make the player feel more progression and also lowering the differences between a duelist and casual player gearwise (make it about the plays they can make).
I would love to hear comments and feedback what you believe can be done in order to improve pvp.
Related: Bg's as a newly dinged character
Related: Casual battlegrounds sucks again :(