So I figured I’d make this thread because Blizzard at least seem somewhat keen to try have some sort of faction balance in TBC.
They have announced that Paladin’s from both factions shall receive both Seal of Blood and Seal of Vengeance and I do believe this is a good move overall.
However I do not think this is going to affect faction balance in the slightest. The thing is Horde win on all fronts come TBC and it’s all down to racial abilities. It wasn’t such an issue in Classic because obtaining ranking gear meant competition against your own faction and in PvE Alliance had salvation which meant threat wasn’t as much as an issue as it was for Horde.
Now with both factions having Paladins and Shamans in PvE it means that both factions are even except that Horde still possess racials that increase damage such as Blood Fury and Berserking so the min maxers who want to push their logs are going to want to play Horde…this however is only minor I don’t see many rerolling for a slightly higher parse but its still a positive for those considering it.
The main reason we will see an even bigger gap in faction balance in TBC is all down to Arena and with it being the only way you can achieve ranking gear/weapons (apart from the pieces you can buy for honor/marks).
Those who are serious about playing in Arena are going to want to go Horde as the racials are far too much of an advantage to pass up - WoTF, War Stomp, Arcane Torrent and even the nerfed Hardiness are just far more useful than anything the Alliance have to offer.
Now I’ll say now that I don’t think faction balance can be fixed at this point - we’re playing a social game and many players have already made social ties with friends and guilds so those already playing Horde will stay Horde for the most part. However there are going to be plenty of Alliance players considering making the switch to Horde which will skew faction balance even further in Horde favour.
I think there is one simple change that Blizzard could make which is to:
Disable racial abilities during Arena matches
I know there will be plenty of people who oppose this but the question to Blizzard would be do you really want a faction imbalance of 20A/80H or perhaps even 10A/90H? Because I believe that’s what private servers are often like and they have to offer players rolling Alliance special gifts to try address faction balance.
Just an idea because faction balance will become more skewed come TBC and with all the min maxers out there Alliance will not have a large player pool.
Oh disabling racials in PVP is something I am all for.
I won’t have to suffer through the garbage that was everyone going EMFHM when that becomes a thing.
Homogenizing the game is bad in my opinion. Even the paladin seal change is a step towards homogenization (I planned to play alliance paladin in tbc even before I’ve heard that i get both seals…) The thing is, if we continue to follow this need of having “fair/balanced” classes and factions means that they should simply become the same. Removing the reason to make decisions in an MMORPG just makes the game boring.
Which is why I suggested it only for arena and not to disable racials altogether. You’d still be able to use them in any other activity including BG’s.
Personally I don’t want major changes made to TBC I don’t want dual spec and I don’t even want the level boost. However I also don’t want to play on a faction with almost no players and far less options for groups and guilds nor do I want to feel like I have to go a certain class/race combo for a better chance to succeed in Arena. I suggest this because in my eyes it’s the only way Alliance will still hold some sort of player base and will help reduce players switching factions based on racials.
I’m sure plenty of Alliance players are currently deciding if they will make the switch to Horde in TBC I know it’s been brought up in conversation when I do some battlegrounds in the evening with friends.
Classic is a worts and all outdated and unbalanced version of the game when it was still an RPG and not a homogenised ESPORTS. Many of us love this about the game and detest retail for losing it’s RPG in favour of this ESPORTS homoginiation to form “balance”.
If that’s what your after you have retail! Leave this golden age representation of an era gone by as it was, to be enjoyed for what it was and let us enjoy it!
People who really are “gladiator” material will get gladiator title, no matter what faction they play. For most players the racials will absolutely not matter because there are a lot of other things that they are not doing well either but people don’t see those things as clearly… racials are just the easiest difference to spot for those players.
Well first off arguing racials won’t matter because players are bad anyway isn’t much of an argument. Regardless an advantage is an advantage and players will take whatever gives them an edge and even if they don’t achieve gladiator it still won’t stop them going Horde so they have an easier time in Arena.
The entire point of the change is to help address faction balance - there are many players who won’t reach Gladiator short of buying a boost but there are plenty of players (Alliance) who will reroll for any advantage they can get in Arena.
There’s plenty of evidence from private servers in regards to faction balance to see how it will end up as it stands currently.
Until Wrath when they become easy mode and all go mysteriously silent on the topic of racials being OP.
Humans getting what was essentially a third trinket slot was bonkers.
Is that when all the Horde players who picked their character because of cosmetics and preferring horde cities and lore suddenly decide that Human cosmetics and Alliance cities and lore is now more appealing?
The funny thing is WoTF is only a slightly worse version of Every man for himself you’ll see plenty of UD rogues in arena not running with an insignia and opting to go all out damage.
I am just saying that this “advantage” isn’t that big as many people claim it is.
People are not getting gladiator because of these racials.
Re rolling just because of racials just seems like a waste of time.
When you add a new racial to a different race that’s basically a free PvP trinket that doesn’t take up a trinket slot? Yeah no duh a lot of people re-rolled.
EMFH was the best racial in the game for PvP bar none, if you weren’t a human you were automatically handicapped, it was an awful feeling.
Because you can do that in Classic, you can’t in TBC or Wrath because resilience makes fights last longer and CC becomes more valuable, that’s what made EMFH so busted.
Instead of losing a slot to your invaluable insignia you could grab an extra damage trinket as well as your glads.
Perception, Stoneform and Escape Artist are actually quite insane as well. Human rogues are going to have a field day with all the horde rogues around, and I’d much rather play a human paladin than blood elf paladin due to the general power of Perception. Paladin mobility is so bad Arcane Torrent is hard to make use of and rogues/druids are going to be in literally every arena match.
Not against disabling racials, but you shouldn’t downplay some of the alliance ones.
Honestly I have always thought arena should be played by equally equiped players. Upon entering everyone should get the same (class specific) arena gear equipped so it’s a fair fight. Disabling racials is part of that. If it realy was about who has the most skill this is the way it should be.