As a long-time World of Warcraft player and high-ranking arena competitor, I’ve found myself increasingly frustrated with the current gearing system. After returning from a break, it’s clear that the game’s approach to gear acquisition significantly diminishes the enjoyment and accessibility of PvP content. Unlike games like League of Legends or CS: GO, where players can log in and immediately compete on an equal footing, WoW’s gear grind creates unnecessary barriers to fun and fair competition.
Here are the key reasons why the current gearing system is detrimental:
Unequal Playing Field: In WoW, gear disparity gives an overwhelming advantage to those who have invested more time in farming conquest points. This undermines the competitive integrity of arenas, where matches should be decided by skill, not gear.
Time-Consuming Grind: The need to farm for gear before being able to compete at a high level is tedious and discouraging. For players who return after a break, this grind is especially disheartening, making it difficult to re-engage with the game.
Burnout and Frustration: The constant cycle of farming for gear leads to burnout. WoW should be a source of enjoyment, not an additional chore. Players want to log in and immediately enjoy high-stakes PvP, not spend hours grinding to be competitive.
Barrier to Returning Players: The current system is particularly harsh on returning players. Knowing they must endure a long gear grind before they can compete on equal terms discourages many from coming back at all.
In games like League of Legends and CS: GO, players can jump into the action with their full skill set available, ensuring that competition is fair and based on player ability. Adopting a similar system in WoW would greatly enhance the PvP experience, making it more accessible and enjoyable for everyone.
Blizzard, it’s time to reconsider the gearing system for arenas. Let’s create an environment where players can focus on their skills and strategies, not on their gear. This change would not only revitalize the current player base but also attract returning and new players eager for fair and thrilling competition.
hot take here:
1st. You’re a plate enjoyer. Opinion rejected. ( you also probably watch lots of Marvel and DC and paint figurines like Warhammer 50k, just a normal assumption, nothing personal)
2nd. You’re a paladin, you already want it easy, dont you see the pattern?
3th. You’re playing an MMO, gear will always be part of the culture and it should stay that way.
4th. Gear is not hard to obtain. With proper knowledge and strategy gearing is NOT difficult AT ALL. Lets expand one bit to prove to you how right i am:
Once you level to a freshly 70 you got 2 options: Buy gear from AH or go do the world quests, theres always 1 time a week 500 bloody coins weekly world quest along with other 3 daily ones who give 100+ bloody coins per completion + sometimes a gear award as well.
If you were smart you would also pick up all the pvp quests along with the TROPHY OF STRIFE one which also gives 300 bloody coins along with TROPHY OF STRIFE which you can complete just by looting Treasures like any other sane person does.
So far you spent 30- 45 minutes and you’re almost full starter gear along with 2 BIS gear pieces (usually belt and bracers), so you buy 2 pvp trinkets from the honor you got from the pvp quests and you go to finish the pvp quests, and a single win from each battleground + skirmish and brawls.
This can cost u up to a few hours like 1 at best to 2 at worst.
When you finish you should have enough conquest to buy 1 or even 2 set bonus.
Dont tell me you have no gold because by the time you level 70 you end up with enough gold to buy a piece of crafting gear so you do that.
Now you’re fit for a Battleground Blitz where you can do it 5x times for all the bonus conquest so you do that for another 1-2 hours and ta-da you’re almost fully geared.
The only thing you need to grind away is some 10-20k gold for the second crafting piece.
(ignoring the fact that you are transmoged with a set that costs literal milions of gold ofc)
You literally fully gear in a day.
IN A DAY.
League of legends is a moba and also gear is a main component of the progression.
You can win on gear, its not just the skill either.
And you also lose your gear once the match ends, no matter if you won or not.
Can you imagine if your gear in WoW is lost or gained during how much you PvE’d during the arena?
I CANT EITHER BECAUSE ITS A COMPLETELY DIFFEREND GAME.
A shooter.
Wow is a MMORPG, its not a MOBA , its not a SHOOTER.
Its like complaining that Nokia 3310s Snake game doesnt drift like you can in Need For Speed.
Hope you understand how r i d i c u l o u s you sound.
But hey… thats todays plate gladiators.
Sorry for repeating myself.
No it does not.
You’re in a Roleplaying game demanding a complete rewrite of the culture and the core of the game.
You constantly describe other games and how they’re doing it better though they’re a completely different genre but they’re the same genre in your mind so why dont you just go play them if they’re doing so well ? Because they’re not it.
Now imagine you’re in the center of the world, milions of people pass you by as you cry and moan that you work for 26 hours a week and not get paid as people who work 48 hours a week.
Dude just because you can be anyone in a fantasy world doesnt mean you have to be a communist.
Time-consuming grind. Spoken so dramatically.
If you dont have a few hours the prepare your character and have fun while you doing it, id assume you either a) dont have time for games anyway b) you grew up out of the game and you dont find it fun anymore but your ego eats you up because you dont want to feel like a boomer c) you’re ignorant about the games you want to play. you clearly want to play League of Legends and CS. You’re a closeted League of Legends player. Lmao.
Then take a break?
As I said its entirely an ego problem.
The game doesnt make you do anything.
Its your ego thats driving you to hurry and eat up the content in one go.
Its your ego thats beating you up when you have no patience towards yourself and your toon.
Its your ego thats saying “the grass is greener on the other side” (the comparison with league and cs, the infomous games for their extreme toxicity and “no chill”)
The problem is you- not the game.
Take a break.
Thats the sickness of the instant gratification addicted minds.
Also if players wanted that classic servers wouldnt be booming for decades.
Thats not even comparable neither truthful.
In league every level gives you stats, if you outlevel your enemy you got advantage of having more spells and more powerful ranks of spells too along with gear.
CS isnt even comparable.
Dude you talk a lot about skill from your paladin main.
Dude just because you couldnt get the Fyrakk axe doesnt mean your skills cant carry you to gladiator.
We all should just drop the act and say it as it is:
This guy is salty because he came too late to get the Axe from Fyrakk.
Which is fair enough- i also hate the fact that the Axe and the legendary fist weapon or hunter bow are present in todays wow.
The only issue regarding this is PvE items being more powerful than PvP items in PvP scenario.
Nerf them into uselessness and we got no problems here.
But to sit here and pretend that gearing doesnt take a single day to complete, acting like a wounded bird is just pathetic.
The epitome of skill cant complete a few questies to get his gear going. ;-;
wiege of wegends > wuw = confiwmed ? uwu ?
Dude it literally costs 10k. A WQ that takes 30 seconds to complete gives 1600.
Stop being dramatic.
pve players complete progressively escalating content to gain gear.
same with pvp players >world pvp quest > non-rated pvp > rated pvp >dueling at elwyn forest.
Thats not even the reason. You think a milion of players quited just because gearing is so difficult ? dude we never had it easier.
players quit because:
-classes that require low skill to play get highly rewarded while others who are difficult to play are not only being punished but smashed.
-addon bloat. too many addons.
-too many buffs debuffs and cds to track.
-pvp is too complicated
-gladiators, griefters, boosters, premaders.
-too much elitism and linkedinism.
there is gear scaling … on the gear itself. stop spreading misinformation already.
also blitz has a MMR system embeded into it.
chances that you get qued into someone that outgears you means hes really bad.
Yes, and you being against it is a reason why PvP has been stagnant for years and will continue to be so. The barrier to entry for PvP is already extremely high, especially for new players. Anything to lighten the load is ultimately a good thing.
When you don’t have gear at first you will see a lot of progress, just because of your gear.
When you are fully geared it’s harder to progress because it’s harder to confront yourself and the errors in your gameplay than simply go to the vendor and become more powerful.
I think a lot of players lose interest when they see no progress, would be interesting if there where some kind of data on how long players continue on their characters after they get gear or most quit their characters when it becomes harder for them to gain rating.
Well League and CS are completely different genre and i know some players in pvp are playing these games constantly. WoW in the matter of fact IS MMORPG, it’s so much different on it’s base than games you mentioned. We are talking about different worlds even here.
I feel the opposite way.
In games like WoW (which is completely different from LoL) character progression is fundamental to the experience.
Imagine going in a raid full gear from the get-go, what do you get from it? Nothing, just as in pvp.
I loved the feeling of spending 50k honor, farmed for days, to get a single piece and watch my stats increase. Now you can get full honor gear in a day… Imo blizz should reduce the difference in stats between honor and conquest gear, but make them longer to acquire. PvP crafted gear should be a way to craft a basic gear, weaker then honor gear, to get people to start playing.
And btw, if pvp dies after a bit is because people get full conq fast and go play something else.
Sir, if you go to Tango dancing, you’re dancing Tango.
Thats the style of the game and if that changes its no longer a traditional MMORPG.
Another thing i want to comment is the other segment of your comment, namely this:
I whole-heartedly agree with this but PvP gearing isnt the reason for that at all.
This is completely false otherwise “fun” serveres wouldve been booming back in the day.
And they were not. (reference: private servers with instant max level and gear).
And gearing requiring a day or two to be completed isnt an extreme load or a thing that needs hyperfocusing either. You’re completely turning the narrative around and insisting that the devs need to focus on little details instead of the big picture and this never works, neither in painting, nor sculpture, not in real life too.
I kind of get this but also gear isnt difficult to come by. In fact it is extremely easy to get and if we compare the time spent on a character to be at 80% completion compared to classic, bc, wotlk, cataclysm or even pandaria. This 80% complete character would be around level 40 let alone be at max level and gearing.
The main issues of the game is the issue with systems uppon systems, the addon bloat and the need for them, the extreme overwhelm of things you need to be aware of along with gladiators griefers and boosters invading the beginner and casual spaces.
Another thing , and its not me alone saying it that chases fresh blood from entering the PvP bracket is elitism. The community itself banishes the casual and new players.
If anything - gearing at least keeps them entertained until they get smashed into a wall while fully geared and having nothing else to do but to just “take it”.
With this one reason or without it PvP would be in the same state, your point is irrelevent.
Its like saying having a nice garden infront of your office would attract more customers and then that business depends entirely on the flower garden. Yes it probably will not at a noticable scale. For the lack of a better example.
Its idiotic.
Ok , what do you think would have a better effect on the game- giving free gear and killing battlegrounds entirely or making the game more digestable(button bloat, debuff/buff bloating, extremely complex mechanics, increasing visual ques) , banning premades who pray on the new and casual players, gladiators in starter rating, banning addons except for quality of life ones, and mostly promoting healthy moral so elitism is reduced to a minimum, even pros are saying that the community killed the game with their huge inflated egos (you will see often a 2.2 xp player whos playing at 1.4 and wont take a 1.9 experienced player to push for 1.8 becausehes lower XP than him), RBG teams constantly gather only HOTA XP’d people, along with stacking the most meta and easiest Zugy-zug-zug classes of the same XP.
Non of you have objective look on reality and it shows.
