The Daily Quest

Arena Season 3 - What is and What is not

Posted Sep 19, 2008 by Indelible

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A lot of hear say and conjecture is going around about Arena Season 3 and what is going to happen about the item sets and weapons and it seems that WoW Insider have said what is, what is not and what could be in this area. Whether I believe them or not is another thing entirely. They have a habit of being, well, wrong.

Areans Season 3 Sets? Possibly

Whether Season 3 will introduce new sets or not is still a big debate and after making a lengthy post about not wanting to make a judgement on this issue, I have some more conjecture to throw into the mix. WoW Insider have said that at BlizzCon it was confirmed that Season 3 will come with brand new sets but I don't recall them saying this is a definite. Under the test realm files there is a set of armour that is apparently season 3 gear and once again we are getting tiered look-a-likes. While I am disappointed at Blizzards laziness in giving PvPer distinct sets to say, "hey! I PvP," I am not to concerned about the look - just the stats. MMOChampion have a thread with what appears to be the Season 3 sets but there has been no confirmation as to whether they are in fact the Season 3 sets and could be implemented in Season 4.

To Fear or Not To Fear

Blizzard have also finally commented on where Fear should be and where it is now, effectively saying they are content with where it is currently. They did go as far as saying that it could be unbalanced in 3v3 and 2v2 but it definitely isn't in 5v5 so I'm not expecting any more changes to the dynamics until the expansion or the patch that implements the 51-point trees. That said however, the player base likes to complain about fear a lot. It seems nobody knows how to use trinkets and abilities to counter its effects. Fear Ward is being given to all priests but what we have to remember is that we don't know what else Blizzard are planning for spells and abilities in WotLK so we can't say that this is an unjustified change.

Be Imba or You Can't Wield Me.

Another controversial change that is set to both please and annoy is the claim that weapons will now require a certain rating before you can purchase them. Whether this is a good change is the controversial bit. Since Season 1, the weapons have been the main reason for most to go into Arena, which is what makes the competition so diverse. That said however, you have to make progress in PvE to get the best items so it is only fair that some such stipulation is placed on Arena and while I think placing a requirement on set pieces would be a step too far, it is fair that you should have to be doing well to get the weapons. While I have heard no confirmation from Blizzard on what the actual rating requirement is, many are spreading around the figure 1900. In 2v2 and 3v3 this is a medium to high rating but in 5v5, you have to be doing stupidly well to even touch on 1900 rating. At least, that is the case on my server. We shall have to wait and see what Blizzard say about this.

You are Not Good Enough to be Arena Gear

Last but not least is the confirmed change that will take Season 1 Arena gear from the Arena vendors to the honour vendors in the capital city of each faction. This will mean that the current blue set available from these vendors will be replaced with the Tier 4 equivalent Gladiators set. This is a good step by Blizzard and I fail to see why they didn't do this in Season 2. This will allow palyers who want average to good PVP gear to stay away from Arena if they really want to and also mean there will be a set there for people who just have some spare honor around. Whether the Season 1 weapons will replace the current weapons doesn't seem to be being taken into account and this would be an interesting move if not a wise one seeing as I'm going to have to have an imba team to get Season 3 weapons.

So these are the confirmed or not-so-confirmed changes coming with Season 3 and whilst I am not looking forward to the rating requirement for the weapons, the rest seem to be good and well though out changes.

One change that is on the table with the player base but has received no confirmation from Blizzard is the inclusion of Arena gems, trinkets and none-set epics. While this would give yet more gear for the teams who want it, it would also negate the need to even consider battlegrounds and so, whilst it would be interesting, I feel it would be bad move in general.

Season 3 is anywhere from 6-10 weeks away, possibly even 12, and with no solid confirmation of the time until it starts, only one question remains - to save my points or not to save my points?

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  • matticus said 
    Tue, Aug 28 2007 2:46 PM ()

    Don't forget, supposedly the Zul'Aman would include items with Resilience on them.

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  • Faena-Gilneas said 
    Tue, Aug 28 2007 2:46 PM ()

    I see the rating requirement as balancing mechanic between PvP and PvE. Many of the arena weapons are well above what the average player is able to wield without PvP. Hypothetically speaking if the arena weapons are equivalent to SSC ones, they should take roughly the same amount of time to get and about the same number of players who have SSC weapons should have arena ones. Amazingly enough, though there are many guilds out there in SSC getting those weapons, they are not by any means the majority of players. I would estimate that at most the top 10% of level 70s have raided SSC successfully to get weapons from there. Arena weapons are available for a month of PvPing to any level 70 in the game. Would it not stand to reason that the top 10% of arena players should have access to weapons of that caliber?

    It may just be my belief, but I prefer that PvP and PvE be separate gear paths for the reasoning that some people hate PvE and others can't stand PvP. One should not give you a leg up on the other unless you really are that good at PvP or PvE. I won't say either one is more difficult than the other because honestly they each have their own challenges. To PvEers, how fast are your reaction times and how well do you deal with being stunlocked by that pesky rogue? To PvPers, how well do you coordinate groups of 10 and 25 people to tackle the most complex mechanics Blizzard's development team has come up with? It all evens out in the end, so why should the rewards for either one be more widely available than the other?

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  • Knard said 
    Tue, Aug 28 2007 2:46 PM ()

    I agree that there should be some kind of equivalence between pvp and pve(raid) gear, but the problem w/ arena gear is that much of it (the Season 2 weapons, specifically) blows anything else in game completely away.

    What's more, Arena gear is, while not necessarily much easier to acquire, is a certain thing. You can figure based your rating when you'll be able to get what item. Where as raiders can slay X boss every week for months with 0 certainty that the item they want will be dropped (and if it is, they'll have to roll against other people who want it just as bad).

    I don't know how to balance this out without dramatically altering some part of the raid or pvp model, but requiring a certain rating for gear strikes me as rather heavy-handed, and also likely to encourage unpleasant behavior from the more anti-social and hyper-competitive people in the game, as the Season 3 gear will become status symbols.

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