TLDR
- Make one currency for “effort” instead of separate currencies for PVP and PVE.
- Provide more rewards, or provide more accessible ways of attaining the loot you want, within the game mode you want (PVP or PVE)
The scene
Honor/Conquest - currency to attain items based upon effort in Player vs Player (PVP) activities.
Valor - the currency currently under discussion to attain items based upon effort in Player vs Environment (PVE)
Problem in the game at the moment discussed in several threads across Reddit, WOW forums, WOWhead etc:
A feeling from players of both types of activities PVP and PVE content is not balanced, and/or is not rewarding enough.
Why would that feeling exist?
I wouldn’t know which theme is the most useful, unless I was to scout every single post on the internet. Which sadly I don’t have the motivation to do such an exercise. So I will just sample some of the posts in an effort to help improve the systems if we can.
Time taken for the reward gained (Effort)
For now let’s use the word effort to describe time taken to achieve the result. This “effort”, would also include practice time for the content that would help towards achieving the result. So the content to be explored is as follows:
- Effort being spent in a mythic+ dungeon for the rewards provided
- Effort being spent in a raids for the rewards provided
- Effort spent in PVP battlegrounds for the rewards provided
- Effort spent in PVP 2v2, 3v3 and 5v5
Now this is where things aren’t so clear. One persons effort isn’t the same as another persons effort. Because there will be contributing factors to how much effort is required such as:
- Previous time played in the respective contents
- Game changes, class changes and subsystem changes
- How long you have been doing PVP or PVE content
So you get rewarded with a currency that’s exclusive to the activity you complete. You can’t use it for other activities. This degrades the overall value of the currency of the game type you are playing. Making it less rewarding over time.
This problem is also amplified by the fact if you fancy switching content because you’ve only being doing one form of activity E.g. PVP to PVE, or PVE to PVP, you essentially, in some cases, have to start from scratch.
Get to the point, what do you are you rambling about?
This is where my opinion comes in:
- Why separate the PVP currency and the PVE currency?
Whilst I’m not the best to give things names, but let’s call this universal currency Effort Points for the sake of this discussion. Why not make it easier for people to switch to other forms of content easier?
- Why is the effort to attain anything so cumbersome?
This is definitely going to ruffle a few feathers, but why do you only get one piece of loot for essentially a cumbersome amount of effort? Whilst the answer to some is probably simple, which is probably to keep people playing and paying, which in turn will make the game more active.
Will it drop people off playing the game? Or will they carry on playing to feel overpowered until the next patch? Or help someone else gear up their alt and allow for more alt play and switching. I don’t know the real answer, because it’s a risky choice to make.
Conclusion
Some of makes a game fun for me is the ability to explore other parts of the game, and it becomes inaccessible to some due to mechanics which might be a little over-tuned.
Whilst not the same context, when people got the extra levelling boost during pre-level squash, people loved it and enjoyed the idea of faster, more rewarding progression.
My view is that you should be rewarded for effort you spend in the game, not the amount of effort in a specific content.