Bornakk tries to clarify fair play in Arena PvP
by Mike Schramm 
Jul 31st 2008 at 5:30PM
Bornakk has laid down a "clarification" on what's fair in the Arenas over on the forums -- he says that there's been a lot of questions lately over what constitutes fair play in Arena PvP, especially in terms of win trading.Unfortunately, his clarification isn't all that clear -- he reiterates that win trading (the act of exploiting the queue in some way to face a chosen opponent, or face the same team multiple times) is against the spirit of the game and against Blizzard's wishes (though his wording gets a little strange when he brings the Terms of Service into it -- we think that by "these actions all fall in line with our fair use clause," he actually means that they violate the clause). He does, however, go on to say that there are certain places in the system where facing an opponent multiple times will happen, and that that's obviously not the fault of players. So that, it seems, is the confusion: players were worried that because of the lack of population in the queue or other factors, that they would be accused of win trading, and Bornakk is saying that's not the case.
Not that Blizzard hasn't been cracking down on win trading as much as possible lately, but the fact is that if there's a way to exploit the system, players will find it and do it. Blizzard says they're working on squashing "agreements" between players, but even then, Arenas may never end up being completely fair.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Cheats, Blizzard, PvP, Arena
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Leandar Jul 31st 2008 5:41PM
They could not allow you to fight the same team sevrel times in a row. Be nice not to have to fight that same S3/4 team 3 times lossing about 20 rating against a team you have no chance.
Candina@WH Jul 31st 2008 6:02PM
I don't understand the attraction of the Arena's. To me,
Arena's are the worst parts of world PVP rolled into a system that perpetuates only the worst parts of world PVP.
Staintd Jul 31st 2008 6:43PM
Arena also has the biggest rewards for PVP.
....thats about it.
Schadow Jul 31st 2008 7:30PM
I think Arena caters to the people who are, on the whole, more likely to exploit loopholes.
Sh Jul 31st 2008 8:20PM
People love arena because it takes much more individual skill and strategy than a BG or world PvP. The fun is in learning to work together as a team and being the best that you personally can in order to contribute better to the team. You learn strategies when fighting teams, in the end if you do well you have rewards to prove it. It also offers the most fair and skill appropriate matches for you through the rating system so that you are constantly challenged.
Like you said though, the worst of class balancing really starts to shine. It sucks when you realize that 90% of the top 10 teams are Warrior/Druid or Rogue/Druid and that there is really no way for another team of equal skill to overcome the massive class balancing issues. Even still, it is alot of fun for those who take it seriously.
lolatyou Aug 1st 2008 2:07AM
Wow, for people that hate arena so much, you don't know much about it.
Candina@WH Aug 1st 2008 7:25AM
To SH. I am glad you like them. But skill differential is a much smaller part than Gear differential. I don't care how skilled you are, if the gear differential between you team is big (S3 versus Quest gear) then you will lose. I don't care how good you are. You want to learn to work as a team? Raiding is good for that also.
LOLATU: You user name tells me you are a great arena fan. and pretty much sums up my biggest problem with the Arena's, they cater to the jerks in the game and make the jerks more powerful.
lolatyou Aug 1st 2008 1:10PM
Good to see you back up your anti-arena argument with reason. You dislike people who do arena which means it's bad, nice logic.
It certainly does have problems with balance but the whole game is full of balance issues, PvE and PvP, ever wonder why some classes are more popular in raids? Exploits? Lol, the top PvE guild on my server was banned for exploiting ZA bear runs.
Provide some facts rather than insults and whining and maybe you wont be the one coming off as a jerk in your comments. ;)
Candina@WH Aug 1st 2008 2:01PM
Lolatu: You asked for it then. :-)
Arena's cater to the fast twitch teener crowd. It turns WoW into a FPS like Battlefield Earth. Simply playing enough means you earn gear, win or lose.
Since the reason I play wow is I dislike the whole FPS game, having Blizz add this element to the game makes me 'unhappy'.
I like BG PVP. Because the PVP is goal oriented, not just 'pwn the noobs' twitch fests.
What I hate most about the arena's is that they reward people disproportionate to others (BG epics are a long grind, Arena epics 1/2 the time, PVE epics 2x the time). And they reward the socially 'worst' players.
So yeah, I hate arena's because I hate the people who get off on them.
Jagoex Jul 31st 2008 8:37PM
Sadly, when considering the game's two distinct design road maps, I think it is safe to say that the current model of Arena PvP will never be fair, and nor is it a good measure of a player's skill. And while all PvP systems have been exploited in the past, the Arena is by far the most exploit-heavy.
Things will need to change big time if it should one day be considered a serious competitive platform.
Radiophonic Aug 1st 2008 12:16AM
Arena stinks. My opinion is further enforced by some of the teams I've heard about. For example: 5 mages, that's just stupid. There has to be some limitations, such as no more than 2 of the same class on a 5v5.
That 5 mage team simply owned everyone they went up against. I call unfair advantage and, oh yeah, arena stinks.
lolatyou Aug 1st 2008 1:56AM
Actually all the top 5 teams are a mix of all different classes... Just because you don't like arena doesn't mean you can make up crap and pass it off as true, a 5 mage team would get dominated by any team with teamwork, lol, clothies.
dart Aug 1st 2008 11:25AM
Actually, 5 shaman were top of a Battlegroup.
And yes, 5 Mages are bad.