Advancing the battlegrounds
With all of the hubbub around the new LFG interface coming in patch 3.3, we haven't done much thinking lately about that other form of group play in the game, battleground PvP. But Cassandri at HoTs and DoTs has, and she has some interesting insight about what players are doing in the battlegrounds and why. She notes that some people dive off on their own, like Lone Rangers. And she hints that maybe, if these people were so persuaded, things would go better if they fought together, rather than on their own.
An interesting thought, for sure, and probably true -- while there are situations where I aim to be by myself in the battlegrounds (if I'm on my rogue and just want to hunt down some clothies), things almost always go better in there when you work as a team. So here's an idea: why not take the rewards implemented in the LFG system and apply them to better behavior in the battlegrounds?
Certainly, cross-server battlegrounds was an inspiration for the cross-server LFG system -- you can jump in any battleground now almost any time you want. But it'd be good to bring some of the theory back across the aisle, so to speak. Maybe you could choose a role when entering a battleground, and label yourself as offense or defense, so the team could know where to go and when. Maybe veteran battleground players could get the ability to set waypoints or otherwise direct the team. And it would be nice to see Blizzard give rewards for doing it right -- maybe tokens for topping the points meters, or an extra buff when you're working with a team rather than off dying on your own.
These are all ideas for after 3.3, of course -- we're getting tons of nice new upgrades to the LFG system already, and Blizzard will probably have their hands full working out the bugs on those. But let's not forget the other big group activity in the game -- while guild leveling will likely bring at least a few improvements, it will be nice to see even simple upgrades like vote kicking added to the BGs as well.
