wow New PvP Ranking, Ilevel Systems and More Coming to Beta

[Starym 3,800]

 

Some big PvP news today, as we get a rundown of the new ranking system, ilevel rewards, exclusive transmogs and a new weekly conquest system. The big news is the ranking system, as it will more closely resemble that of other Blizzard games, with players sorted and progressing through various skill brackets (like Gold, Platinum etc, but with WoW titles for the brackets). These new changes will be coming to the beta soon, so there's probably more changes to come.

BfA PvP (source)

In BfA we are doing some meaningful re-structuring of the PvP itemization system, as well as the ranking system. We're still massaging the system, but we'd like to share some details which may help alleviate some of your concerns. Keep in mind some of this stuff could still change. No pony promises.

New ranking system
We're updating the ranking system to better mirror the other games at Blizzard. WoW via arena is actually one of the first competitive games at Blizzard to have a rating system, so it's fair to say it's time for an update.

To that end we want to bucket players in rankings similar to StarCraft or Overwatch using labels such as Gold, Platinum etc. (We're still going to have our own titles (Challenger, Rival, Duelist etc.)) We feel these rankings have grown to common verbage in the competitive PvP community so we're happy to bring them to WoW. Keep in mind that you'll still be able to see your rating at end of match and within the UI. And we're also looking to add your actual rank in the UI as well (as in, you're rank #10 in the region).

New iLevel reward scheme
Similar as in Legion, we're going to reward you with better gear based upon your competitive standing. However, in Legion we rewarded you incrementally in a linear fashion. So as you gained more rating, your iLevel gradually increased. We found this didn't reflect the distribution of players very fairly in terms of appropriate reward for effort in the system. (Translation: The iLevel of rewards was generally too low) In result we're changing the distribution instead to be something of a bell curve, to match the new ranking system.

What this means is that players in Challenger/Gold (1600-1800 around) will have a chance at ~Normal raid quality loot, Rival/Platinum (starting around 1800) with Heroic Raid quality loot, and so on.

Epic Appearances and other rewards
Different rewards will be tied to different rankings. In Legion you got the entire Epic appearance when you hit 2000 rating, in BfA this will be gradually rewarded to you at different ranks. And you will instantly get the look after you achieve that rank, rather than a end of season calculation.

We totally get the concerns with potentially too broad of brackets. And we definitely agree the competitive spirit often burns brightest at the highest ratings, so it's something we'll be mindful of. Season Gladiator mounts (and likely glad titles) will still be a % distribution at end of season like in the past, and we could see new rewards for the upper brackets as we shift some of the others (Epic appearances) downwards.

Weekly Conquest
As discussed in the past, we're introducing a conquest system based upon past designs. You will earn conquest from doing PvP activities (mostly rated, but some also from War Mode) that will fill a bar for a reward each week. This is intended to be attractive to the average player.

One of our biggest goals with the new system is to better align the effort and reward in contrast to all of the other parts of the game, especially at the lower rankings who perhaps in Legion (or in the past) didn't see it as worth their time. I think we can all agree that more players doing competitive PvP is a worthwhile goal.

We hope to have these systems live in beta soon, and hope to hear your feedback!

[Reullapool 3]

In legion they moved to a system that was helping casual PVPer to not be too much behind and being trained by everything. Now they revert it back to something that will increase the delta to old levels.

It looks to me that they are simply trying again and again until they are lucky enough to find a decent way to balance a pve game for pvp content.

[Archimage 98]

Finally going to the  bracket ranking system. Hopefully the Gladiator title is rewarded to everyone in that bracket instead of the top 0.5%. 

Better rewards = More participation. 

I'm still confused with what type of scaling is implemented for World PvP (War mode), Battlegrounds and Arena.
Arena & Battleground using PvP Templates and World PvP using item level scaling?

Item level scaling will still feel like rubber banding. 

[Migol 433]

I'm wondering how Battlegrounds (and the rampant bot problems therein) will be included.  

[Abom 31]

Solid changes. Still need a better combat system for WoW as a whole. Hard targetting and current spell telegraphing feels ancient at this point.

[Valks 2,375]

22 hours ago, Reullapool said:

In legion they moved to a system that was helping casual PVPer to not be too much behind and being trained by everything. Now they revert it back to something that will increase the delta to old levels.

It looks to me that they are simply trying again and again until they are lucky enough to find a decent way to balance a pve game for pvp content.

This depends entirely on how they handle item level difference. Also depends on other gear options. Legion was meant to close the gap, but ended up with people being able to jump into a M+15 (or get a boost for what is basically a week or two of using your Order Hall) and get gear that's a higher item level than top PvP gear.

[Neepz 0]

23 hours ago, Migol said:

I'm wondering how Battlegrounds (and the rampant bot problems therein) will be included.  

I haven't seen bots in a bg for ages and I'm in them most days.

 

[Neepz 0]

5 hours ago, Blainie said:

This depends entirely on how they handle item level difference. Also depends on other gear options. Legion was meant to close the gap, but ended up with people being able to jump into a M+15 (or get a boost for what is basically a week or two of using your Order Hall) and get gear that's a higher item level than top PvP gear.

They should have stuck to a rigid pvp template without the % boost per 10 ilvl.

"It's only a couple % it won't matter" 18% boost to stats is quite a wedge over the 800 start area.

Would also have made it a hell of a lot easier to tweak classes in pvp.

Takes ages in bg or arena to gear up from fresh 110 to about 940ilvl as it's a string of low ilvl pish

gear you get for weeks.

Edited May 10, 2018 by Neepz

[Valks 2,375]

23 hours ago, Neepz said:

Takes ages in bg or arena to gear up from fresh 110 to about 940ilvl as it's a string of low ilvl pish

gear you get for weeks.

They won't do much about it since you can very easily get through that early low-gear time by following the story of Argus, for example. You don't even need to do major PvE, such as dungeons (1 run of Seat) or raids. You can clear 910 item level, up to 920 with no warforged stuff, just legendaries, through the argunite system. 

Since it's not forcing you to PvE strictly, I can't see them changing it or moving away from that kind of model.