Yes, I Really Am That Powerful

So yesterday I blogged about the current state of Arenas, and why I thought Arenas were seeing a decline in popularity.

Blizzard recently announced some changes to Season 6. It's obvious to me that the Developers made these changes due to my excellent blog post. (We'll choose to ignore the fact that the blue post was likely written before my blog was posted.)

With Arena Season 6, arena teams will start at 0 rating instead of 1500, which will allow teams to have more continuous progression throughout the arena season. In addition, we reevaluated item purchases and felt many of them were too difficult to obtain so we will be altering the rating requirements needed to purchase the latest arena items. For example, items with a rating requirement will now be obtainable starting at 1250 rating.

As with the current system, the matchmaking system will attempt to match teams against opponents who are closest to their average matchmaking rating. Starting with Arena Season 6, a team’s average matchmaking rating will be shown in the scoreboard at the end of each match so that you can see where your team stands compared to the opposing team you just faced.

All arena teams that are below a 1500 arena rating will always earn arena points as a 1500 rated team. (bolding mine) This will allow teams to continue to build up arena points while working on gaining the ratings needed to purchase items.

Basically you can get full Hateful and the Deadly accessories with no Rating Requirement. The the Requirement goes up from there. Furious pieces start at 1400.

This will help address the gear gulf that exists as well as giving players some nice items to buy with their Honor Points EVEN if they don't Arena.

You will also be able to see the Match Making rating which will help you understand whey you got or lost the points you did. You'll still have those moments of 'how did those guys have a matchmaking rating near us?'

The best change is the one I bolded. Even if you are sub 1500, you will still earn points like a 1500 rated team. This will help you have the points you need as your rating improves.

These changes are sufficient to make me want to try Arena again, they get me "back on the path".

I had already planned on making my Dual Spec Protection/Retribution. Now I need to figure out if I can make the spec that can work in both PVE and PVP. I'm thinking something like http://ptr.wowhead.com/?talent=sZVGzhZVfMtbIuGdIfsu might work. It could use two points in Improved Hammer of Justice. I love the idea of Divine Sacrifice in PVP because as soon as I bubble, the other team is going to go after my partner.

Now I just need to find some teammates and get ready for Season 6.

Comments

Anonymous said…
As soon as you "bubble" against a warriors new ability where they can break bubbles and ice block you mean :P
Honors Code said…
Warriors and Priests may require some altered strategy.
Anonymous said…
Can you recommend a site for pvp protection spec. Also if one was to build up arena points now do the carry over to use for the next season?
Honors Code said…
The PVP Protection spec is Spec Ret. Sorry. PVP Protection (at least for Paladins) just isn't viable yet.

Blizzard has announced on the forums that Arena points will reset, so there's no point in hording them. Honor, on the other hand...
Anonymous said…
i'm pretty happy about the way season 6 is looking. everyone will start out at the exact same rating (which should have happened when the rating changes were implemented mid-season 5), lower rated teams will still get decent points, and FINALLY ppl will realize that the MMR is not borken because they will be able to see it for themselves. no more QQ all over the forums (or at least not as much)!

the drop in rating requirements for the gear is a little deceiving though, imo. till mid-season 5 blizz has assumed that the average arena team will be rated around 1500. with the new system they estimate the average team would sit around 1300-1350. either way, it will still be easier to get the BiS pvp gear. blizz still has the mount as the reward for the top pvpers, so the gear rating drop doesn't bother me too much. ppl who are good are still being rewarded.

i can't check your spec out atm b/c i'm at work. :( however if you want to go place in arena as a pally, you really need to go holy. if you don't like the holy "play style", ret is still a much stronger choice than prot. however, you should come up with a "pure" pvp spec as opposed to one could be either pvp or pve. don't gimp your team; it's a free spec! if you do end up going w/ a half pvp/half pve ret spec, though, hopefully you have made skills b/c you would be playing a weak class which you specced even weaker. just my thoughts. = P
Anonymous said…
Honors - actually, some of the highest-ranked PvPers out there are Prot spec. I'm surprised you haven't heard; it has been discussed on Maintankadin and one of them has been featured on WoWInsider's regular column where they interview various Arena gods.


Fedaykin98
Honors Code said…
I'm not sure how I missed the dicussion on Maintankadin.

/mulligan
Anonymous said…
@ anonymous: none of the highest rated pvpers are specced prot. there are about 3-5 ret paladins in the top 100 2v2 and the number is a little higher for 3s and 5s. however, there are virtually no prot paladins in the top-rated arenas. by top rated i mean 2200+ in 2v2, 2k+ 3v3, and 1900 5v5. the reason for this is b/c their dmg output is no where near what a ret pallys is and the extra survivability isn't necessary as pallys have bubble/wear plate/ and will be sitting w/ at least 600 resil once they are geared.

i'm going to go check tankspot after work and see what in the world they are posting.

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