Hardcore PvPers, you need to sit down: there are big changes coming to arenas in World of Warcraft patch 5.4. Many of you are going to like the changes, but just as many of you are going to hate them.
Prior to WoW 5.4, you had to be on a team to participate in arenas. Starting with this upcoming patch, you will no longer have to do that. Instead of creating a team and having a team score, players will be able to queue up as a party, much like Rated Battlegrounds, and join with anyone, as the team system has been abolished.
Players will have a personal arena rating. This will be averaged with the rest of your arena party when queueing up for a match.
Battlegroups no longer matter for arenas; players are now competing on a region wide basis and can queue up for arenas with people from different servers.
Blizzard says that the conquest point cap will now be based on your personal rating, although this is not exactly specified in their statement on the arena changes. Furthermore, the ratings required to purchase special PvP items will be, of course, based on your personal rating.
Blizzard is enacting these changes because they think it will make the arena game “more convenient and competitive than ever before.”
As is to be expected, the player base has reacted to this with mixed reviews. Some players say they are going to miss the team system and think that this will take a lot of the social aspect ouf of doing competitive PvP. Others think that this is the greatest change to happen to PvP in a long time.
I personally think this is great. I only run arenas casually, but that was because my friends were always on teams with high ratings and I was too much of a scrub to join them. Now I’ll have an increased chance of playing with them and finally being able to actually go up the ladder, maybe even get the scout title.
Scrubby Warlock looking for more for arena party in WoW 5.4. Psst for invite.
