BlizzCon Day 2 - WoW PvP Panel

We got all videos shown during this panel, they are being uploaded.

From left to right:

• Series of pillars that rise up and down that are TIMED and not RANDOM.
• They  Block Line of Sight
  
•  You can also ride up and down on top of the moving pillars
  

d.    Dynamic Fire Hazard

• Strip of fire on the ground that turns on periodically
• Anyone that runs through it gets a dot that is 10% damage for 3 ticks
  
• The goal for the fire is to create dynamic strategy decisions for players
  

e.    Very Close Starting positions in the Arena

• The players start on a platform that rises up to make the fight go quicker.
• Brings a new dynamic feel to the arena that lends to the philosophy of skill – based play.
  

3 - Dalaran Sewers Arena
a.    Simple Layout

• Very different concept – Small Arena with unique gameplay decisions.
• Located in the central city of LK
  
• Shady area that was inspired by Fight Club
  
• You can look through a grate in the floor to see the actual arena with scripted fights going on
  

b.    The Pillar of Water, which is timed, creates a line of sight blocker in the center of the Arena.

• Area Denial Philosophy in the small arena.

c.    NO MOUNTS ALLOWED IN THE Dalaran Sewers ARENA

• Druid travel form / Shaman Ghost Wolf are still allowed

d.    Starting Areas off limits

• What if someone stays in the pipe? – A: The water spits you out of the pipe if you stay in there too long.

4 - Strand of the Ancients
a.    Attack/Defend concept – Destructible buildings and Siege engines

• Destruction is not biased – can destroy own base
• The better you do in your attacking run the better you do for defense
  
• 10v10 BG
  
• NOW IS A 15 V 15 battleground
  
• Double the Amount of Siege Vehicles!!!
  

b.    Siege Combat

• Dynamic moving spawn points on the boats leading up the strand.
• There are mines that are dropped in front of the walls to do siege damage
  
• For 3 seconds, the mines can be disarmed by other players before they explode
  
• All the walls that are destructible have their own unique icon and unique color to make them recognizable points of interest
  
• Offensive/Defensive siege engines are both destructible
  

5 - Wintergrasp
a.    Non Instanced PVP

• Looking for “Hundreds of players in one zone to undertake in combat”
• Again, Siege Vehicle Combat
  
• Also an attack/defend map
  
• Fortress in the northern part of the map
  
• Must break down walls to get into and conquer the fortress
  
• In order to get the vehicles, you have to earn ranks. Right now, it takes 2 Honor Kills to get into the vehicles
  
• Use Siege Workshops to get into and build different vehicles
  
• There are different types, attributing to the classes—one moves quickly, another has heavy close range damage, and another is heavily armored
  

c.    Destructible Buildings
d.    Attack Defend Mechanics

• Resets every 2 and a half hour.
• When the fortress is captured, it is owned by that faction.
  
• Benefits of owning the fortress are daily quests, a portal from Dalaran, Unique Raid Instance for the winning faction
  

e.    Unique Raid Instance dropping PVE and PVP Loot—On a one-day cooldown.

• The Previous Owner of the fortress has to defend it upon reset.

f.    Shard type currency akin to Spirit Shards in the Bone Waste will be dropped from every raid boss in the game for the faction that controls PVP. that can be traded for Mounts, Gear, Gems, Items.


6. - Tom Chilton on the Future of PVP
a.    Revisit PVP Itemization, including Arena Vs. Battleground Rewards

• Going to award PVP Gear from multiple different areas.
• Not every PVPer likes all types of PVP.
  

b.    Queue from Anywhere will be implemented.

• Players say that they spend their lives in the cities/not out in the world as much.

c.    Competitive battlegrounds or Guild Battlegrounds

• We’re looking at measuring a rating system for Battleground Performance.
• Guild Battlegrounds – Guild vs. Guild combat. They will be fostering a sense of competition to give different guilds a chance to prove who’s the best.
  

d.    Players will be able to level up in the Battlegrounds.

• Experience and Daily Quests will be awarded along with Honor.

Q&A:

1.)    Hunters – Pets? If we are considered a caster, why can’t we shoot in melee range? Why Can’t our pets have resilience?
a.    We’re trying to tread the fine line whether it’s a viable strategy to kill the pet in the first place. If survivability is a concern, spend talent points on defensive skills rather than offense.

2.)    Some of the older battlegrounds – Is there any chance that the old BGs and Arenas will get a facelift? 
a.    We acknowledge the content burnout. We will be trying to introduce more BGs to counteract content burnout.

3.)    Paladins in Arenas – Any future changes to for paladins to stay in melee range while the target is moving away?
a.    Repentance and Hammer of Justice will be enhanced by glyphs to allow for better control.

4.)    Will there be a buff for the faction that has less people in World PVP?
a.    Tenacity is the name of the buff – scales based on the imba of players. Scales your actual damage output and damage intake in terms of a percentage. We’re still tuning the numbers and looking for bugs. It is an effort to help the underdog and to keep people playing against horrible odds.

5.)    What will you do about AFKers in Wintergrasp?
a.    The HK ranking system will reset if you are afk and not in combat.

6.)    Druid PVP – Feral is underrepresented in arena brackets. How will you lower the effectiveness of resto to allow for feral viability?
a.    The lifebloom changes were made to this effect.

7.)    Arenas and Racials? How will they be balanced?
a.    Racials are fun to us. We don’t want to change the rules of the game in a huge way. We want to maintain the integrity as much   as possible. For now will we continue to allow the use of racials.

8.)    Will there be a grouping mechanic in Wintergrasp?
a.    We don’t want people to be able to sit there and get free kills. We have to solve the problem of AFKers and prevent that from happening before we can allow for a grouping mechanic.

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