WoW PvP Is No Longer Fun or Rewarding – Feedback from a Frustrated Player

I’ve been playing World of Warcraft for a long time, and I came back hoping that Patch 11.1.5 would bring some improvement, especially in PvP. I focused on playing smart, avoiding deaths, and trying to survive in battlegrounds and 1v1 situations. But after seriously trying multiple classes and builds, the experience has been extremely disappointing.

• Balance feels completely off — many specs are either glass cannons or have zero kill potential.

• Classes like BM Hunter, which should offer safe ranged gameplay, feel totally weak in solo PvP.

• Fights often feel decided by burst cooldowns or cheese, not skill or strategy.

• The game’s design punishes solo or casual PvP players, and 1v1 duels are nearly pointless without Mortal Strike or healing reduction.

• Survivability often means hiding, not outplaying.

I’ve tried hard to enjoy PvP in this patch, but it’s not fun anymore. There’s no reward for smart gameplay or tactical movement. The balance between damage, healing, and defensives is just not there.

If you’re not stacking meta comps or blowing everything in a GCD window, you’re just cannon fodder.

I want to care about this game, but it’s getting harder. WoW used to be about strategy, outplaying, and having fun. Now it feels like a numbers game full of frustration.

I hope Blizzard seriously listens to solo PvP players again — not just rated or arena metas.

5 Likes

If you are looking for “fair 1v1s” as a BM hunter in random BGs, you just set yourself up for disappointment. If you want duels, try to find duel partners near the PVP vendors. If you want tactical gameplay, then play BG Blitz. There is plenty of succesful hunters there. Random bgs are always a mixed bag, and you get what you get.

I get where you’re coming from, but just to clarify — my frustration isn’t about BM Hunter specifically. I’ve tried multiple classes, including specs with Mortal Strike effects and better 1v1 potential. The issue I’m talking about is PvP in general and how bad the gameplay has felt overall.

It’s not just about losing fights — it’s how the game systems don’t reward smart or tactical play anymore, whether in random BGs or duels. A lot of PvP just boils down to who pops cooldowns first, who has more gear, or who cheesed the better comp. Surviving in a fight often means disengaging or hiding, not outplaying.

I’ve done BG Blitz too — and yeah, there are some decent games — but even there, the class balance and burst meta make it feel stale. There’s no consistency or satisfaction when you’re trying to play well but the systems don’t support it.

I just miss when PvP felt fun, skill-based, and rewarding — not like a numbers-check with flashy effects.

The point that I can agree with is the power level of cooldowns. With CDs, everyone has rocket launchers, without them, you hit like a wet noodle. Unfortunately, WoW is mostly balanced around M+ nowadays and its 60s - 120s pull timers.

Yeah, I fully agree on the cooldown issue — it’s like everyone has a mini-nuke and then goes back to tickling each other for 90 seconds. That’s not satisfying PvP.

But honestly, PvE isn’t any better right now. If you compare it to older WoW expansions, the content might technically be “harder,” but it’s way less fun and more frustrating.

Dungeon Finder feels terrible — if you’re not playing a meta spec, you’re just auto-declined.

• Classes feel overtuned or underbaked, and if you’re not in the flavor-of-the-month group, it’s like you don’t even exist.

• There’s no sense of adventure or reward, just timers, skipping trash, and praying someone doesn’t leave the second things go wrong.

The whole game just feels like it lost its spark. Whether it’s PvP or PvE, everything’s more restricted, more sweaty, and somehow less satisfying — like you’re chasing numbers instead of fun.

I don’t think it’s just a skill issue either — it’s a design direction problem that’s been growing for years.

There is a game just for you who enjoy 1vs1.
Its called for honor. You should try it.

That is the problem of many in this game and that to this day they cannot understand. The game has never been balanced in 1v1, and never will be. The sooner you accept this, the less frustrated you will be with the game.

I get that — I’m not asking for perfect 1v1 balance. WoW was never an esports-style dueling game, and I’m not expecting mirror matchups or 50/50 winrates across all specs.

What I’m pointing out is deeper than that. The real issue is that even outside of 1v1, PvP (and PvE too) just isn’t fun or rewarding anymore:

Gameplay feels hollow — everything revolves around cooldowns and borrowed power instead of smart positioning, pressure, or counterplay.

• Class design lacks depth, and most fights are either a burst trade or a drag with no agency.

• Whether you’re doing BGs or dungeons, it’s like you either play the meta or get ignored.

So yeah, I’ve accepted 1v1 will never be balanced — that’s not the issue. The issue is that WoW has lost its fun, and the design choices across the board feel soulless compared to older expansions.

You can accept imbalance and still want better design. That’s where I’m coming from.

Also Appreciate the game suggestion — I’ve actually heard of For Honor, and I might give it a try at some point. Sounds like it could scratch a certain itch.

That said, I’m not looking for a pure 1v1 arena-style game. I’m looking for a better-designed MMORPG, where PvP — including 1v1 moments, small fights, or battlegrounds — feels engaging, strategic, and rewarding.

WoW used to deliver that, even without perfect balance. You could outplay people with CC, positioning, and awareness. Now, too often, it just feels like cooldown trading and burst windows. No real flow, no depth.

I’m not complaining because I expect dueling perfection. I’m frustrated because WoW’s overall quality — both in PvP and PvE — has clearly dropped, and it’s hard to enjoy when gameplay lacks spark, reward, or variety.

So again, thanks for the tip — but I still believe speaking up here matters. If no one calls out these issues, we just get more of the same.

2 Likes

There are plenty of better competitive PVP games than wow would ever be. They should not try to catch up the competitive market because they don’t have the faculties to.

They should just aim to make things not real messed up and have some creativity about :

  • Better design and variety of bg and arena maps. (bring back Strand of the Ancient)
  • Events in bgs that may change the way you have to play it. (idk time or score events about the environment or npcs)
  • More rewards not made for top players.
  • Better queues and matchmaking.

But i don’t think that would ever happend, they too lazy and don’t care.

2 Likes

I agree with a lot of what you said. WoW was never meant to compete with purely competitive PvP titles, and trying to force that direction would probably backfire. But you’re absolutely right — what it can and should do is focus on improving the experience for the broader player base.

Bringing back creative and fun BGs like Strand of the Ancients, or even adding dynamic environmental events in battlegrounds, could really bring back that spark that’s been missing. And yeah, rewards for casual and mid-tier players are so important — right now it’s way too top-heavy.

I also think better matchmaking and queue systems would go a long way in making PvP feel less frustrating and more accessible. Sadly, as you said, it feels like Blizzard just doesn’t prioritize these aspects anymore.

Still, I hope they wake up and realize the PvP scene doesn’t need to be esports-level — just engaging, rewarding, and fun again.

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I maintain PVP should move to a trading post seasonal long track journey style rewards systems. You just get rewards for playing. The end of track could be a saddle and a mog.

Remove competitive pvp full stop. This isnt the game for it. Sure keep titles, tabards and some other visual aids to show how leet you are, kinda like overwatch.

If people yearn for competitive pvp wow style then make it a standalone game with stat templates. Unless youve been playing for years then pvp is not fun or easy to get into. The people who say it is need a wake up.

The sad part is that I actually agree with a lot of what you said — not because it’s great, but because that’s how low expectations have gotten. PvP in WoW is a mess unless you’ve been grinding it for years, and PvE isn’t much better. It’s all turned into meta-chasing, gatekeeping, and no real sense of reward or creativity anymore. Everything feels harder, but not more fun.

The idea of turning PvP into a Trading Post-style reward track actually just proves how far the game has fallen. Players are desperate for any kind of system that makes it feel like time spent in PvP is worth something — because right now it’s just frustration unless you’re at the top.

Competitive PvP in this game clearly doesn’t work. It’s not balanced, not fair, and not fun for most people. But instead of improving that or creating a separate mode with templates, Blizzard just leaves it to rot.

And PvE is no safe zone either. Try queuing without being the meta spec — good luck. The whole game feels like it’s actively pushing people away unless they tick every box.

So yeah, if all we can hope for now is a casual participation reward track to make PvP bearable, that says a lot about where WoW is at.

Exactly!

I hate hate how badly its gatekept as well. Pretending that if you aren’t 2200 then you are some trash gamer and should quit. Remember some people may be trying it out and it may take 100s of games to even get the fundamentals down.

Theres far too many classes, specs, procs, buttons, addons and other barriers to entry. Gear is the best its ever been but still terrible. I mean if you are a new player and haven’t picked a meta class then its back to level one to level again just to try it out. It puts people off. Least with proper E sports game you pick a character, theres no specs and limited buttons. You dont like the char then change. Competitive game play in an mmo just isn’t it. Its killing the rpg and fantasy elements.

We shouldnt need to crate farm, crafting isnt accessible and isnt explained very well. My friend plowed crests into his gear pvp gear because he thought it upgraded it in pvp. I was too late to tell him but i shouldnt need too.

At least back in the day you knew that you could play and get stomped until you earned enough gear and slowly progress. Theres nothing more soul destroying than losing 2 games in a row and it take more games to win to claw it back.

I mean bar the well documented problems with pvp look at epic bgs. AV is barely pvp these days, its just a race to the end. There needs to be incentive for playing objectives like a stacking conquest increase buff or rating increase if you take and defend objectives with a radius of it.

Seasonal Fomo needs to go as well. Sure if you havent obtained this expansion then you cant get it but iy should be available next expansion purchasable for a token if you achieve rating again.

The only people that say pvp is fine are people who have been playing for years and dont want it to change because it suits them and they are frightened someone will take it away. For the good of the game it needs an overhaul.

P.s. how hard would it be to add more capture the flag maps in every expansion.

On a separate pve topic, competitive pve has ruined the chances of dungeons like BRD and Gnomeregan and more story driven dungeons. Now its all design for mythic plus and gogogo mentality. Its not an adventure anymore.

They should add a World PvP zone with daily quests, an Ashran-like permanent Battleground (40vs40) catching up gear system for freshly new alts with additional mini events within the area (just like Ashran did in WoD with the racing, apexis gathering underground, or the bonfires) and for every mini event completed you are awarded 25 conquest points, if you kill the mini boss (Jeron or Rilay aka the Ashran Mages) you are awarded 50 conquest points and for every time you kill the Boss you are awarded 100 conquest points, ultimately, you have to control flags until reaching to the final boss so the game can automatically reset to square one once the team has finally killed the final boss which can be achieved once a week.

I believe this will encourage people to play and gear up consistently and for the faction wars enjoyers this will be an Horde vs Alliance scenario.

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Ive always found the problem with epic or large scale pvp is it becomes a zerg fest that only benefits ranged.

I prefered TBC world pvp objectives, usually it was small scale but fun when it happened. Just needed more incentive and zone wide incentive to do them. Bringing something similar back and including them within warmode would be cool but it has to worth doing it.

Ashran used to be good but now most groups ignore the objectives and it turns into a 30 min zerg fest in which you rarely kill the boss to achieve the daily quest. That and the rewards dont reflect the time investment especially if you lose.

If they want to encourage pvp then they need to make conquest rewards better and more readily available so you can try different stat combos and built sets up for different specs. The conquest cap takes all the fun out of that until its scrapped.

Even then, if you go 10 games without a win and no conquest the fun drains out of it every fast. Same goes for saddle progression. It would be nice to get better conquest gains out with rated so you aren’t stepping foot into rated under geared.

I’m honestly done with this game. Everything I do in it feels like a waste of time. PvP is a complete mess, PvE is just as bad, and the entire experience leaves me more angry and irritated than anything else. Nothing feels rewarding, nothing feels fun — it’s all just grind, frustration, and broken systems.

Every patch it gets worse. The people making this game clearly have no idea what they’re doing anymore, or they just don’t care. It’s like they’re actively making it less enjoyable. The balance is trash, the design is lazy, and the only thing that works properly is the cash shop.

I’m tired of pretending it’s going to get better. I’m not here to give “constructive feedback” anymore — I’m here to say this game is ruined, and I’m beyond fed up with it.

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Thats how i feel, theres always a catch to something. I cant remember the last time i played content just to enjoy it.

Back in the day once you got that gear piece you were desperate to jump back in and see the difference. Back when you built your character.

Now i feel like we ar ein the endless cycle of fomo events, or stand alone events that ruin the immersion of the expansions story, or an endless cycle of chores to do before you can even do what you actually want to do.