#0 - June 8, 2008, 1:44 p.m.
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I'm curious as to why this game shouldn't be balanced around 1v1? If you read this forum you'll come across lots of posts about the fact that the game isn't balanced around 1v1 or 2v2. Not many of them state it that clearly, because most of them are written by infuriated people leaving an arena or BG where they've torn apart by their anticlasses.
It's very easy to realize how difficult it is to balance a game like this at all. There are so many factors you have to consider. The number of possible transmuations are probably infinate if you try to balance the game around anything but 1v1.
The game wouldn't be fun if there weren't some class imbalance. The fact is that the simple rock paper scissor design is ingenious... if it wasn't for the fact that some classes couldn't possibly kill their anticlasses. To mention a few... being a mage I find it utterly hopeless to kill a SL/SL-lock or any healing speced class. I can imagine warlocks being tired of pretty much any melee class.
The game is supposed to be fun. When you don't have any chance at all, it ain't fun. As simple as that. The only way to solve this very apparent balance problem in WoW is to focus on 1v1.
What amazes me is the number of people playing the FOTM-classes who think that lower rated people shouldn't open their mouths until they've reached a 2K+ rating. These people seem to have forgotten that it's not only skill and gear, but class imbalance that have made it possible for them to reach their current rating. And now Blizzard is introducing personal rating on more than the ordinary arena gear. This will only make the FOTM-classes even stronger and the game more imbalanced.
I understand the feeling high rated players have when they see people with good arena gear even tho they're not very skilled. But then I urge you to think about how fun this game would be if you could kill just about anyone without an effort. It wouldn't be fun, would it?
A solution to part of the problem would be to have some sort of upgrading system, making it impossible for people who are new to BGs and arenas to get the very best gear at once. Force them start with less good gear and make that gear upgradable.
I also think a lot of people are a bit angry with the fact that old PvP items get useless after a while. Perhaps you should be able to sell them for let's say 1/4 of the honor/arena points?
My fuzzy chain of thoughts and my two cents...
