New Honor Set - Why has this been implimented

#1 - July 6, 2015, 7 a.m.

I have not really read the forums recently, and I did not look too hard but I did not see this topic being covered yet.

Why exactly did the DEVs think it was necessary to add a new honor set of gear which surpasses the stats of the previous season's conquest set for us to grind out before we start rated arenas/BGs this season? This is something that I don't recall ever being done in past updates prior to a new arena season beginning and I would like to know exactly why it was implemented this season. For some players this gearing process may not be a big deal, but for those of us with work/school and/or multiple toons (and some with multiple specs on each toon) to gear up and optimize before we start rated PvP this season, the process is a little more tedious and time consuming.

I have a feeling the reasoning behind this has to do with developers seeking Ashran participation but I'd like to have a response from a member (preferably) or representative of the PvP development team to clarify said reasoning and any confusion among the playerbase.

Lore

Community Manager

#17 - July 6, 2015, 8:38 p.m.

Speaking from personal opinion here, and not specifically on behalf of the dev team:

Personally, I love that Honor gear is relevant even after participating in the previous season. I love doing random BG's, and winning (or even just earning a Bronze or Silver Strongbox) feels a lot more rewarding when there's an actual meaningful reward from it.

I also like that it puts everyone on an even playing field gear-wise from the get-go. It's good to have the opportunity for someone who didn't participate in the previous season (or wants to switch to a character they didn't gear) to not find themselves in an environment where they're already outgeared by most of their opponents. In that first week or two where you're gearing up your Honor set, you're mostly facing opponents who are doing the same. Players are more likely to continue to enjoy PvP when they feel like they actually have a fighting chance.

Ultimately, I think the biggest issue with the Honor re-gear isn't the Honor gear itself, it's the queue times necessary to earn Honor. Gearing my Horde character, I had nearly instant queue times for Random BGs. I was also fortunate to win the majority of the Random BGs I played, and the ones I lost we were generally able to earn a Silver Strongbox. I can totally see how it could have been very frustrating if I had to sit through 20 minute queue times for Random BGs, or potentially hours to get into Ashran.

In the short term, I'm not sure what can be done for Alliance queue times. If there aren't any Horde to fight, the game can't create a match. Longer-term, we have some ideas that we think will help, but we're not ready to share details just yet.

Lore

Community Manager

#44 - July 6, 2015, 9:18 p.m.

Racial balance is certainly a factor, and it's one we intend to improve. We don't think simply balancing racials will automatically fix the current issue, however.

Say, hypothetically speaking, racial balance were to suddenly stop being a factor. Maybe we figured out a way to tune everything perfectly, maybe we just deleted racials forever -- whatever the solution was, racials aren't a consideration for PvP any more. What happens next? Do half of the Alliance decide to faction transfer?

Realistically, queue times are only really a problem for Random Battlegrounds and Ashran (and sometimes in very high-rated play, but that's not a faction-related issue). Once you have full Honor gear, it's pretty much just Ashran that you'll be waiting in queue for. And if you're a serious Alliance PvPer, you've probably made a lot of Alliance friends that you'd no longer be able to play with if you went Horde. Is the faster Ashran queue worth potentially giving that up?

For some people, maybe. For others, maybe not. Like I said, racial balance is something we intend to improve, but we're not sure that fixing racials alone will solve the queue problems. So, we're kicking around some other ideas as well.