wow Rextroy Talks PvP Scaling and How Gems Make You Perform Worse

[Stan 5,240]

The latest video by Rextroy is somewhat unusual. It's not about one-shots. This time, he discusses PvP scaling and how the gems make you perform worse in Battle for Azeroth.

According to Rextroy, PvP scaling is better than PvP templates that we had back in Legion, but the system is not optimal and still riddled with bugs.

In specific scenarios, good items are weaker compared to those with lower item level, which is the case mainly with rings.

Many items, like the item level 450 ring and item level 455 trinket with a Prismatic Socket as seen below are not going to be upgrades.

Rextroy also demonstrates the downsides of PvP scaling through gems. Versatile Dark Opal increases your Versatility by 50, so the gem should make you take less and deal more damage, which is not the case.

Without a socket in his gear, Rextroy took 11,350 damage from Clawing Shadows. His Judgment without a socket inflicts 17,076 damage.

With the same gear and using Versatile Dark Opal, which should make you take less and deal more damage, Rextroy takes 11,383 damage from Clawing Shadows, which is more damage taken than before (11,350). He also deals less damage (17,017) with Judgment, compared to 17,076 without the gem, so the direct opposite is true.

[Yridaa 490]

Item ilvl scaling has always been a mess since the introduction in bfa. Surely you all remember that enemies scale with your ilvl in pve. weapons provide the most stat increase per ilvl and thus having a low average ilvl (unequip rings) with a very high ilvl sword back in early bfa was absolutely the way to go.

 

Dinging and equipping a ring from that quest that just gave you that level would make you less powerful instead.

 

It's been a massive pain in the expletive for blizzard to get a grip on. And to this day, it seems, it's still not fixed.

 

Glad I quit after patch 8.1

[ORCSMASH 29]

Am I missing something here? Comparing a ring and a trinket seems like comparing apples and kiwi fruit to me. I know about stat weight values, etc., but comparing an item with raw stats to one with a proc with no context in the video whatsoever seems a bit foolhardy.

I feel like this point would have been made a lot better by getting two of the same ring, adding a socket to one via Mementos, and then comparing the output (and/or damage taken) differences. However, Rextroy never definitively says at any point that the ring is better than the trinket, so I feel this could be a misinterpretation on the article author's part, as I took it as him just randomly throwing up a blue unsocketed and a purple socketed with a bunch of question marks to indicate the confusion around how these items scale in PvP.

IMHO, it would have been better to include info about his test of the SAME helm at ilvl 465 and 480, or the two pairs of gloves with somewhat comparable stats as he included and spoke about definitive results in those tests, unlike the case of the ring vs. the trinket. Interesting information regardless, especially to someone who hasn't really PvP'ed since Season 2, but I feel the article is a bit confusing in it's presentation of the material. Nonetheless, thank you for boosting this as it is a very important mechanical imbalance that players should be aware of and, again IMHO, should have been corrected by now.

[Mugendai 48]

And that's why a pvp system that relies on gear is just obsolete and will never be balanced. Just make it so everyone has the same ilvl on pvp and only skill matters.

[durdyenglish 298]

9 minutes ago, Mugendai said:

And that's why a pvp system that relies on gear is just obsolete and will never be balanced. Just make it so everyone has the same ilvl on pvp and only skill matters.

In ranked PVP content, this should absolutely be the case. 

[GizmoMKD 0]

34 minutes ago, Mugendai said:

And that's why a pvp system that relies on gear is just obsolete and will never be balanced. Just make it so everyone has the same ilvl on pvp and only skill matters.

agree

[Yojiro 30]

1 hour ago, Mugendai said:

And that's why a pvp system that relies on gear is just obsolete and will never be balanced. Just make it so everyone has the same ilvl on pvp and only skill matters.

I kinda like the thing Guild Wars 2 did where in PvP all iLvl is the same but there's a pvp area/lobby where you can choose the secondary stats on the gear yourself, puts everyone on the same level but still allows some freedom to create builds.   I think that was the biggest problem with PvP templates where you were pretty much beholden to the whims of the PvP balance guy

[Halock 156]

1 hour ago, Yojiro said:

I kinda like the thing Guild Wars 2 did where in PvP all iLvl is the same but there's a pvp area/lobby where you can choose the secondary stats on the gear yourself, puts everyone on the same level but still allows some freedom to create builds.   I think that was the biggest problem with PvP templates where you were pretty much beholden to the whims of the PvP balance guy

This sounds pretty good. I only PvP occasionally, but it always puts me off that I have to not only get the gear but very specific pieces of gear. When the system that awards you stuff is mostly random that's very frustrating. I'm hoping SL's return of quartermasters will resolve that for me because I otherwise find the current system inviting.  

But then I'm not sure we've ever had a system without downsides, have we? Like I say, I like the sound of this. But then it's basically reforging... 

[Koxsos 38]

5 minutes ago, Halock said:

This sounds pretty good. I only PvP occasionally, but it always puts me off that I have to not only get the gear but very specific pieces of gear. When the system that awards you stuff is mostly random that's very frustrating. I'm hoping SL's return of quartermasters will resolve that for me because I otherwise find the current system inviting.  

But then I'm not sure we've ever had a system without downsides, have we? Like I say, I like the sound of this. But then it's basically reforging... 

Well it's not just reforging, it literally means you can enter arenas and not get popooed on by people with double your hp, just cause you are catching up and trying to do your weekly chest. Everyone gets their bis items as needed and they can actually perform on even ground.

[Halock 156]

Just now, Koxsos said:

Well it's not just reforging, it literally means you can enter arenas and not get popooed on by people with double your hp, just cause you are catching up and trying to do your weekly chest. Everyone gets their bis items as needed and they can actually perform on even ground.

Fair, alright. The part I like is basically reforging. ? The complete removal of gear I look at a little more warily.