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Blood Sport: An overview of WotLK arena systems
Want to crush your enemies, see them driven before you and hear the lamentation of their women? Blood Sport investigates the entirety of all things arena for gladiators and challengers alike. C. Christian Moore, multiple rank 1 gladiator, examines the latest arena strategy, trends, compositions and more in WoW.com's arena column. Also, apparently, arena history is discussed as well, as evidenced by these last three articles. Mmm arena history -- the tastiest kind. Listening Music: Sufjan Stevens with Chicago. Someone recommend me an awesome band for next week in the comments plz, kkthnx. Last Week: We talked about personal ratings at the tail-end of The Burning Crusade. This Week: We've spent the last two weeks looking at arena with a rating system that was originally designed for chess matches. Let's talk a little about Wrath of the Lich King and some very significant matchmaking changes. MMR: The new frontier. MMR (matchmaking rating) was designed to prevent high-rated teams from stomping low-rated teams game after game. Arenas are generally more competitive if teams are evenly matched -- therefore, competition is greatest if teams are evenly matched all the time. In case you haven't set foot in arena for the past three or four seasons, matchmaking rating is often called the most important rating in arena. Why, you ask? Arena points, titles, and mounts are based on your TR (Team Rating). PR (Personal Rating), if you recall correctly, is a qualifier that says you do or do not deserve the benefits of your team rating. Matchmaking rating, however, is what makes your TR and PR go up or down. The higher your MMR is, the more points you will win from teams if your TR is vastly lower than your MMR. Likewise, if your MMR is very low, it will be harder for you to get to those gladiator ratings. Interesting, right?
The new Arena system explained
One of the many changes that came along with Patch 3.0.8 was a new and nebulous Arena matchmaking and rating system that nobody was aware of except, perhaps, the guys over at Blizzard. When the new system debuted, it was met with mixed reactions and Blizzard was forced to suspend Arena play for a few days while they straightened out the kinks. The system was back a few days later, with ratings rolled back to pre-maintenance numbers and Achievements reset. Some players report being able to keep the items bought during that period, despite Blizzard stating that these would be removed and Arena points refunded.Blizzard poster Aratil dropped by the PvP forums earlier to explain -- in layman's terms -- the new Arena system. The new system is supposed to match players according to skill, rather than gear. Exactly how the system determines skill wasn't made clear, although Kalgan explained that the system uses a Gaussian Density Filter. New to the system is a 'hidden rating' that's different from either the personal or team rating, and is unique to the player regardless of how many Arena teams he or she plays with.What's clear from Aratil's post is that the change was intended to "promote the enjoyment of Arenas". Under the new system, highly skilled players will be matched up against other teams that provide a challenge while newer players just starting Arenas won't feel shut out. In a way, this can be likened to the low barrier of entry for raiding in Wrath of the Lich King. They're still tweaking the system, specially as far as ratings losses and gains are concerned, but the overall goal is to make Arenas more fun. I think we can all agree that more fun is always good. As long as it's working as intended, that is.
