alterac-valley
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Blizzard and unintended consequences
Relmstein has an interesting post about Blizzard and all the "unintended consequences" they seem to run into. He talks mainly about Alterac Valley and Blizzard's recent AFKer battles, as well as the fight against smurfing and selling Arena ratings. Both times, Blizzard implemented fixes that were meant to, well, fix things, but both times, the "fixes" were either completely dodged, or simply lead to more problems.Now, Relmstein is just thinking critically about Blizzard's actions, and we always encourage that. But at the same time, you can't really blame them for having unintended consequences to their ingame actions-- the law says everyone does. And to go the other way, the mere fact that Blizzard is confronting this stuff (honor exploits and rating sales) while other games are just trying to get PvP or a good Arena system down says that they're way ahead of the game already. They're dealing with specific problems in implementation, while other developers are still just trying to get people to play.But at the same time, Relmstein is exactly right to call both of these examples Blizzard attacking the symptoms rather than the underlying problem. Why do people sell Arena ratings or AFK in Alterac Valley? Because Blizzard's honor rewards system makes it easier for them to do that rather than actually be good at PvP. If Blizzard attacked the problem (a mixed-up rewards system) rather than the symptoms (AFKers and smurfs), then there would be no dodging their fixes.
WoW Insider Show Episode 20: Droods and drama
The 20th episode of our podcast is now live for your listening pleasure over on WoW Radio's site. On Saturday afternoon, Turpster, John Patricelli (our Druid blogger) and I sat down and talked about the last week in WoW. We hit on: A little listener email, including more Alliance slogans, and we helped a listener compare the different DPS caster classes. We talked a little bit with John about his other blog, Big Bear Butt, and how he started blogging for us here Playing the game in weird ways, including my idea to play a mute character If last week's AV changes will finally fix things Drama in a column about drama World PvP and how Blizzard could reward it And we just generally got a little silly in the second half-- Turpster recorded a funny gnome voice, and we all made our predictions for the year that's coming. Definitely give it a listen, as I think this is one of the best podcasts we've done yet. If you've got feedback of your own (or Fandral Staghelm downing pictures, because I hate that guy), send it along to theshow@wow.com.And don't forget that we do this every week. If you couldn't tune in to listen last Saturday, mark your calendars for this coming Saturday at 3:30pm EST to show up at WoW Radio and check the show out.
AFK punishment is still just a band-aid
The AFK problem has been with us for a long time now, and ever so suddenly Blizzard has decided to step up and enforce a new form of punishment on their side, to take away honor and PvP rewards from people who have been reported AFK a lot. Definitely this is an improvement, and it should help to discourage this unfair practice, yet at the same time it's not a true solution.As Drysc said, the problem isn't just a matter of punishing people who break the rules, it's finding out why they are doing this, and change their incentives, so that they don't want to break the rules in the first place. Our reader Aviel has some insights as to why people AFK and how to fix it, and she (or he) has posted her excellent analysis on the official WoW forums.In short her argument is that, while Blizzard is trying to develop PvP content that is "fun, competitive, and compelling," players are generally making "game theory" decisions, about how to maximize their honor gain in the time they have to play. Fun is definitely an element, but overall, if people can't earn enough honor to make their time worthwhile in a particular battleground, they will quit or seek alternatives. She points out that as long as honor is a kind of currency to be spent, people will choose the method with the easiest honor gain over the one they enjoy most (which can lead to get-rich-quick schemes such as AFKing). She leaves her solutions to this problem for the Suggestions forum (though I could not find her actual post there), but posters in that thread share some ideas, and there are many other player suggestions out there as well. Of course Blizzard is tight-lipped about their own solutions so far, but we can rest assured that they care about the issue and plan to do something about it.
Breakfast Topic: Alterac Valley, day one
It hasn't been long since Blizzard announced they were implementing harsher policies on Alterac Valley AFKers, but being as it's the weekend and, I imagine, many people are using their off hours to get in some honor-grinding time, today we're asking whether you think it's helping. The change is already getting mixed reviews on the forums with responses ranging from "I won't play AV anymore for fear of getting banned" to "Thank you, Blizzard! This is everything we wanted!" So what's your opinion -- is this change going to solve the problem of AFKers in AV or just cause new problems? Jump into AV for a while and tell us what you think!
Harsher penalties for AV AFKers
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/Blizzard_cracks_down_on_AV_AFKers'; Leeching in Alterac Valley -- or, as Blizzard puts it, "non-participation in Battleground games" -- has been a problem for about as long as the new Honor system has been in place (not so new now). In patch 2.2, a feature was put in place where players who were obviously not participating could be reported, and would end up getting a debuff if they got enough reports. This helped, but the problem is far from solved. Many people think the debuff is simply not a strong enough penalty to defer the unscrupulous from reaping free honor. Well, if you are one of those people, you should be pleased. Bornakk just announced that, as of right now, warnings and penalties will be issued to those who receive too many reports. The penalties include account suspensions and the removal of honor points and honor rewards. He says they'll be "taking action against thousands of accounts immediately," and of course we are all reminded to keep on reporting people that seem to be out of the action for too long. This looks like a big step in the right direction. Will the AFKer problems be solved, or are additional measures required? I guess we'll see.
More Alterac Valley changes on the horizon
As we've noted before, a sizeable portion of Alterac Valley players are growing more disgruntled each day about the AFK'd players that leech honor and, given enough, cripple the team's efforts. The main unfortunate side effect of all of this frustration has been extra long queue times on many servers, which is only serving to fuel the fire.When the ability to report a player as AFK was first introduced, there were mixed reactions. The tool did seem to reduce the volume of moochers in any given battleground, but it also put the onus on the honest, responsible fighters to take the time to locate and report the individual. Because of the fact that no action would be taken against any AFK'd player until a sufficient number of reports had been received, AFK'ing continued, and went back on the rise. To combat this, Blizzard hotfixed the reports, lowering the threshold required before the debuff would be planted.
Player suggestions for fixing Alterac Valley
In response to a post-patch-2.3 post about the limitations and issues with the new AFK reporting feature for battlegrounds, many people commented with some interesting ideas for improvement. They vary greatly from fairly lenient to quite harsh, making it ever more apparent that this is a controversial topic. Many of you agreed that the system should automatically report players that are AFK, rather than relying on those of us who are fighting and defending to point them out. There also seemed to be an agreement that AFK'd players should not be allowed to remain so; after a certain period of time, they should indeed be booted from the battleground. In order to avoid harsh penalties in a legitimate and unavoidable AFK situation, jr suggests that whatever punishment is implemented, it should not be so for manually /AFK'ing oneself, or when the player is disconnected. Our own Matthew Rossi does point out; however much we might like to impose a more aggressive system of punishment, players will find a way to exploit and abuse it. Malachi145 also pointed out that, no matter what, AFK'd players should not be gaining credit for the daily battleground quests. Several players even outlined complete systems that could be implemented in a future patch to further reduce the problem that AFK'd players in battlegrounds pose for their teammates.
Breakfast Topic: Quitting battlegrounds
Battlegrounds, one of the main resources for PvP action in World of Warcraft, may be growing less popular with the average player. On the flip side, they may be gaining in popularity for players who are new to the whole experience. Why are so many avid battlegrounders boycotting the queues? The most popular battleground that is off-limits is Alterac Valley, and many are getting fed up with the afk'ers and Blizzard's attempts to solve the problem they create. In fact, ever since the dynamics of AV changed in patch 2.3, some people have been longing for the honor grind to return. Queue, run north/south for 10 minutes, gain much honor. Not everyone is enjoying the actual PvP action they're seeing. The recently explained honor calculations have also been causing controversy, especially regarding holiday weekends. At the same time, many battleground regulars are becoming annoyed with the increased population of players new to the grounds popping in, either for arena season one gear, or for the daily battleground quests. Some are even spewing their opinions on the subject rampantly in /bg chat, making the experience less fun for everyone. How much time do you, or have you, devote to battlegrounding? How are you feeling about battlegrounds these days?
Nethaera explains Honor calculations
Ever since Patch 2.3 was released, there have been some honor controversies -- particularly with Alterac Valley. The way AV honor was calculated was changed and, for a while, not working. Though honor is working as intended now, people are still confused. This is understandable because it took quite a long forum post for Nethaera to explain how the whole thing works. Here are the main points: Diminishing Returns: In all PvP in WoW, every time you kill the same player, you get 10% less honor. After you kill the same person 10 times, you stop getting honor for the kill. Estimated Honor: This number does not take into account Diminishing Returns. Also, all fractions of honor are rounded up to 1, causing the Estimated Honor to be inflated. And the time of day that you view your Estimated Honor could affect the accuracy because the honor just earned may actually not be added until the next day's honor. Battleground Bonus Honor on Call to Arms or Holiday weekends: Bonus Honor is not a percentage of honor earned in a Battleground on a holiday weekend, but it is instead awarded for accomplishing certain specific Battleground objectives. Nethaera posted a long chart detailing all of the objectives for the Battlegrounds for Normal days and Holiday weekends. I've broken out the specific Holiday objectives and the Bonus Honor each awards as well as included the entire chart after the jump.
AFK Gamer reviews post-2.3 Alterac Valley
In a great post called 'Let's Swap', Foton of the AFK Gamer blog breaks down the post-2.3 changes to the Alterac Valley Battleground in World of Warcraft. After several weeks of post-patch gaming, Foton laid into the new 'improved' PvP experience. While he acknowledges that honor awards for the BG were a bit off (I knew it, you knew it, they knew it), I think his complaint that he earned just 20 bonus honor for his time vs. '600+' for the victorious Horde is a valid one. He runs down the usual excuses, debunking them as he goes: maturity, class targeting, organization, gear, skillz ... and finds them all wanting. In the end, he says, he want to put this argument to rest once and for all. The best way to answer the question "Is the Alterac Valley map inherently mismatched?" is to swap sides.Sure, it'd be a pain to code, but it would settle the arguments and dispell the myths - from both sides. I'll assault Dun Baldur with my merry band of crappy paladins, and you Horde can assault Frostwolf Keep with your stomping cows and after a few weeks, we can see who's crying then ... or still. Mostly this would be to satisfy my own curiosity, because whether the map is or isn't at fault in Alterac Valley, it will be the same result: players will not queue for a battleground that won't put out. Losers need more for their time than, umm, ZERO, unless there's absolutely no other alternate activity. Fortunately, there is such an alternative. Salvation, thy name is Eye of the Storm. What say you, WoW players? Does the Horde have an unfair advantage in AV? Or is the Alliance just full of sour grapes? An even bigger issue: does AV offer up enough reward to make it worthwhile to play?
Alterac Valley is now awarding honor correctly
Ever since patch 2.3 dropped, there has been speculation that battlegrounds have not been awarding honor properly. Because of the confusion over how the bonus honor from the daily battleground quests are awarded, I merrily ignored such debates and popped into Alterac Valley, as well as other BGs, like nothing was happening (hey, I wanted arena season one gear). It soon became clear that at the very least, Alterac Valley was not shelling out honor as intended. You may have even noticed recently, a message delivered upon log-in, stating that the development team was currently working to resolve the issue. Fortunately, Eyonix has confirmed that the situation has been fixed and AV is once more running smoothly.At this point, players all over the forums are requesting that honor be retroactively awarded. While I'm not sure if this is even possible, I doubt that we'll see it. Were you affected by the reduced honor, or did you not even notice? Are you seeking lost honor, or were you having fun in spite of the problem?
Defense wins all but one Alterac Valley node
On Monday, the Horde of Retaliation managed to capture every node in Alterac Valley except the Stormpike Aid Station (and the bugged Irondeep Mine), whittling the Alliance down to 0 reinforcements and almost no honor. Surprising to many, this coup was achieved because of a strong, co-ordinated defensive team. This was not achieved through a premade, and voice chats were not used.As we have mentioned before, playing defensively is not everyone's cup of tea. Recently, as players are adapting to the new Alterac Valley, we are starting to see new defensive maneuvers take shape. In fact, the strategy has actually become a great way to farm some HKs, gain more overall honor from each win, and see some unpredictable action. At the beginning of the match, defense met up at the Iceblood Graveyard, Garrison and Tower. After being initially pushed down to Frostwolf Graveyard due to Alliance players breaking south, several players managed to monopolize the Field of Strife while offense pushed steadily forward. Soon after, defense reclaimed Iceblood and suddenly the Alliance had nowhere to resurrect except the Stormpike Aid Station. Defense quickly rode through midfield toward Icewing Bunker. About a third stayed there, hindering the progress of any opposition that tried to slip through by walking past the lake rather than on the road. Another third road forward to help push north with offense, as the Alliance had retaken Stormpike Graveyard by this point. Even though the Horde was forced to resurrect at Stonehearth Graveyard, we managed to push back to Stormpike in no time.
How to lose in Alterac Valley
It has come to my attention, as the kind of masochist who is trying to get Gladiator's gear for five level 70's before taking them into the Arenas (one team already created and one more incoming) that I run a lot of Battlegrounds now. And of all the BG's I play in, AV is the one that seems to have all that you need for a really exhilarating, awesome good time, full of close matches and hard fought victories.Luckily my fellow players have often stepped in to prevent any enjoyment whatsoever. Out of a sense of gratitude, I thought I would compile some of the ways my fellow Horde or Alliance (depending on who I'm playing) have conspired to help keep me safely mired in a total bog of withering boredom.Part One - We need more armchair generals, please.Seriously, don't actually play the game. Don't make the mistake of going out there and capturing graveyards, defending towers until they burn, or even killing enemy faction players. Don't waste your time. You're a strategist. You have to share your time tested battle plans, preferable in all caps, and leave out as many vowels as you can when you do so. "Frgt IBGY, rsh RH, DON STOP FOR TWESR." While no one in the group will know who Don Stop is, much less why he seems to be running for the office of the Twesr of all Alterac Valley, you will have managed to convey your intricate strategems to the whole battlegroup. Money and accolades will no doubt follow. It is especially important to do this as a counterpoint to six or seven other people who are offering opposing battle plans in caps, how else will you convince them of the rightness of your cause?
Breakfast Topic: Why do we hate playing defense?
After a bad run of battlegrounds recently, I began wondering why so many players are so reluctant to play defensively. I myself generally prefer offensive maneuvers, but I see the value in having a solid defensive base. I personally have neglected to play defense, because every time I do, I feel like everyone else thought "oh good! now I don't have to". Then my character gets zerged, and spanked. Hard. Sometimes there is laughing.Of course, this sort of begs the question doesn't it? If we're all not playing defense because we feel we'd end up alone, then we are ensuring any defense will indeed go it alone (and fail). Are we suffering from poor leadership, or are there other reasons why so many of us are so genuinely reluctant?When speaking with some of my guildmates on the issue, they mentioned that you don't feel very useful when you are run over by a group from the other side. It's hardly how one wants to spend an evening. Offense also sees more continuous action, as defensive positions sometimes have long periods of time where there is no one to kill. Failing that, you may also spend a great portion of the match being killed. We have previously talked about how you might go about designing a new battleground. Would there be any merit to designing one where defense is more important, to force players to learn its value and its technique? Or, on the other hand, would it be beneficial and interesting if we had a battleground based solely on offensive maneuvers? Do you prefer defense, or offense, and why? Why do you think the defensive seems to be the least popular choice? What do you think, if anything, could be done about it?
Blizz still evaluating afk reporting feature
In patch 2.2, Blizzard introduced a reporting system to help players tackle the issue of teammates going AFK in battlegrounds, especially Alterac Valley. While this was a good start, it has several major flaws, and players have been worrying that the system may not see any improvements. Fortunately, Nethaera has confirmed that in fact, Blizzard is studying the performance of the new reporting feature very closely. So far, the system has not been operating consistently, and the issue continues to be evaluated. With any luck, we'll see some changes soon. What exactly are the current limitations and problems with the reporting feature? Here is a quick summary: A reported player is merely unable to gain honor, and not removed from the battleground itself. This is meant to deter players from willfully entering AV with the sole intent of going AFK and gaining honor without doing any work. Unfortunately, any players who end up AFK, whether on purpose or not, stay in the game. The remaining team members are still short-handed. Players need to physically report AFKers. This takes time, effort, and is considered by some an annoyance. After all, a battleground is for battling, and not for running around trying to find AFK players. Many of the AFKers are bots that can be programmed to keep the character in the battleground, by moving enough to avoid going AFK, or other such maneuvers.
Do BG's need diminishing returns?
As we all know, with the changes to Alterac Valley in patch 2.3 have come changes to the tactical balance of the game. Specifically, if you're not willing to put some real effort into defense, you're not going to win, and you can end up in a turtle game waiting for one side to run out of reinforcements. Which leads me to wonder: if the games are inherently limited by the reinforcement factor... if by killing opposing players you will eventually win the game and as result there's no way the games can last indefinitely... then what do we need diminishing returns on honor for? Battlegrounds are limited in that you have no real choice but to kill the same people over and over again, after all.There's never going to be a setup where one side agrees to be honor famed by the other in AV now, if that ever happened in the first place. One side is going to lose, the game is going to end, and a new game start up: but if you've played in a lot of AV's lately where one side put up a vigorous defense and the two factions clashed for a significant melee, then you may have noticed as I have that your estimated honor for the day will often be wildly overstated. For instance, yesterday I managed to squeeze about 4k honor out. But when I went to bed, it said I had almost 6k honor estimated. I understand what estimated means, that it's not accurate, but the idea that the system estimated an additional 2k honor over what I had actually earned made me wonder if there was a way to improve this. With Arena 3 coming out tomorrow, people have either acquired the honor they want or will be working to do so, so it seems like a good time to consider if we need what seems to be an outdated means of preventing repeated ganking or honor farming.Then again, I suppose you could do it in Warsong still. AB and EoTS also have their limiting factors built in, but Warsong keeps going until someone caps 3 flags. Maybe we could just eliminate the honor decay in the other three BG's? That might make Warsong drop in popularity, though. What do you think? Do we need diminishing returns on honor in battlegrounds?
Alterac Valley practical jokes
I am writing this while I wait for my Deserter debuff to wear off. No, I didn't exit a Battleground because it was going badly (I don't do that). No, I didn't have to leave because my daughter needed me (she's fine). I have the debuff because I am absurdly gullible. Yes, I just fell for the latest Alterac Valley practical joke and I'm pretty angry at myself about it.Orange is the emote color. I know this. Yet, I still fell for it when someone emoted that I had been reported for AFK and to type /AFK Report to find out why. I couldn't believe someone would have reported me for being AFK before the game even started! (Can you even do that?) And so I immediately typed /AFK report, hit enter and got slapped in the face with the loading screen. My husband tried to stop me, but he was too late. So now he's snickering. I feel so stupid.
The enemy within the Alliance
It used to be that Alliance players thought of Alterac Valley as the only battleground in which they had a fighting chance, an advantage to make up for their apparent inability to win any of the other battlegrounds. With the changes to Alterac Valley in patch 2.3, however, the idea is gradually spreading like an infectious disease among Alliance players that Blizzard loves the Horde most and purposely lets the Horde get speedier access to lots of Honor rewards. Just visit your nearest Alliance battleground match to hear the latest crying and whining about how all the other Alliance players are stupid noobs who can't tell how bad they suck and are going to lose every time. Alliance: please, get real. The more people there are in either faction, whining and moaning about how hopeless things are, the more likely that faction will lose. The whiners are spending all their time typing out their useless babble, not leading, fighting or healing. To boot, they're also demoralizing the whole group, breaking down all sense of coordination, cooperation, and confidence. If you encounter such a moaner/whiner, do not engage in any long discussion with them -- just put them in their place, "/ignore" them, and encourage others to do the same. They whiners are dead set on depressing themselves and anyone who will listen and no matter how witty your comebacks may be, and the more energy is wasted on them, the less is going into the game.If it is in fact true that the Horde wins battlegrounds more often, then this is itself the reason. The "For the Horde" mentality bolsters the idea that the Horde is good at PvP. If you think your side is more naturally good at something, you're much less likely to think "Blizzard hates us!" when you lose, and much more likely to try and improve on your game for the benefit of your faction. Yes, there are plenty of Horde-side players who moan and whine too, but these don't fit in with the "For the Horde" spirit of the group as a whole -- and everyone knows it.
The Art of War(craft): Alterac Valley, Part II - A Ronin's Guide to the Ice and Snow
Before we begin, let's get one thing clear: there are no armies in Alterac Valley, only mobs and rabbles and bloodthirsty riffraff who will, under the best circumstances, happen to be in the same vicinity and fight alongside you. Unless Tigole and company decide to bring back group queues to AV, you will often find yourself fighting the war with an over-sized, sometimes uncooperative PUG. In my column last week, I went over the changes made to Alterac Valley and what it meant in terms of gameplay. I had promised for this week to detail some strategy and tactics for the new AV but realized that, after logging countless hours of Alterac Valley since 2.3, in order to actually execute any manner of battle plan, you will need an army. An army the way Sun Tzu sees it; an army with a Commander; an army with will and purpose. Unfortunately, there are no armies in Alterac Valley. There are, however, drifters. Ronin, if you wish. Ronin were the masterless samurai of feudal Japan. In a game of AV, what you will have, essentially, is a band of about forty ronin doing their own thing. That said, there can be no definitive guide to playing Alterac Valley. There will be epic battles where Horde and Alliance will defend and fight raging, bloody battles on the Field of Strife, on top of towers, or beside their Captains; there will also be mindless races with no defense where all towers burn and Generals and Captains die to a frenzied mob. Both methods can win or lose games. You as a masterless warrior -- or Rogue, or Mage, or Shaman (you get the idea) -- can choose to play it either way. There are so many variables involved in Alterac Valley that it makes it almost impossible -- and unwise -- to dictate one particular course of action. While it may not be practical to write a guide for an army's incursion into the valley, it is a rather simple task to draw up some simple reminders for ronin. Because what do not change from game to game are the map's terrain and objectives. In every game of AV, there is a General and a Captain to be slain, towers to be burned, graveyards to be captured, and of course, enemies to be defeated on the field of battle. Depending on your faction, there are particular objectives that are easier to access because of the terrain. Terrain, more than anything else, will dictate the flow of your offense.
WoW, Casually: Thanksgiving edition
Each week, Robin Torres writes WoW, Casually for the player who has 2 hours or less to play at a time.I hope everyone had a drama-free Thanksgiving (void where prohibited). And for those of you in retail, it's been nice knowing you. We'll see you at Christmas.This weekend, the Call to Arms is for Alterac Valley. I expect AV to be packed with people because of the holiday weekend. Those of you who have some extra playtime this weekend should take advantage of the lower queues for AV in order to save up more honor for the Season 1 gear that will be available for honor purchase on Tuesday. Those purplez will be the best gear available for the playtime challenged, so if you are at all PvP inclined, go forth and play in the snows of Alterac Valley this weekend.
