tbc-classic Same Faction Battlegrounds in Regular Queue Being Tested

[Staff 1,488]

 

Blizzard are looking to alleviate some long battleground queues in BCC by testing out regular queue same-faction conflicts! Tests begin tomorrow and Alterac Valley will not be included.

Battlegrounds (Source)

Hello, Battleground enthusiasts!

As soon as we saw Battleground queue times go way up a few weeks ago, we got to work on our options for addressing the situation. They’ve all been discussed here and elsewhere, as you know, and in addition to following your discussions closely, we looked at game history and data. What was most evident from all of your feedback was: players want to continue to play on their chosen side of the faction conflict, players don’t want to wait in long queues for BGs, and players don’t want a highly convoluted mechanism for getting into a BG.

To solve those issues as best we can, we’ve been internally testing a configuration where the War Games system is used to bring about Horde vs. Horde or Alliance vs. Alliance Battlegrounds from the regular queue, and we’re ready to test it in the live game. Here’s the plan:

• Starting tomorrow (Friday, July 2), we’re going to enable same-faction Battlegrounds.
• You’ll queue for BGs as usual, and the matchmaker will first try to make an opposite-faction match for you.
• If an opposite-faction match cannot be quickly made, you’ll be matched against a team from your faction.
• Rewards such as Honor and Reputation will be assigned as usual.

We’ve been thinking of these like military training exercises, and to help get that feeling across in-game, we’re testing putting masks and tabards on the team playing out of the enemy faction’s base.

Please note that same-faction play won’t be available for Alterac Valley, which was never hooked up for War Games and would be particularly awkward for the team that found themselves fighting alongside a great number of enemy NPCs.

We’ll follow the action closely throughout the weekend, and with scheduled maintenance next week (July 6 in this region), we’re going to return the matchmaker to its regular configuration and analyze what happened.

When same-faction play goes live tomorrow, we’ll open a new feedback thread in this forum. After you’ve played some BGs, please come to that new thread and let us know how it went.

Thank you!

[Arcling 898]

So much for "factions are at the core of game's identity".

[Starym 3,800]

27 minutes ago, Arcling said:

So much for "factions are at the core of game's identity".

I mean if I (or literally anyone) had to choose between "identity" and not being able to play the activity you want for an hour+....

It also makes perfect sense in-world so I'm not sure what the issue could be here?

[Arcling 898]

1 hour ago, Starym said:

I mean if I (or literally anyone) had to choose between "identity" and not being able to play the activity you want for an hour+....

It also makes perfect sense in-world so I'm not sure what the issue could be here?

Yeah, I'm all for it, yet crossfaction still isn't allowed in PvE... Their statements are inconsistent.

In-world, it doesn't make sense. I mean, using base of the other faction to fight your own. But it's purely a gameplay thing.

Edited July 2, 2021 by Arcling

[Stambito 1]

2 hours ago, Arcling said:

Yeah, I'm all for it, yet crossfaction still isn't allowed in PvE... Their statements are inconsistent.

In-world, it doesn't make sense. I mean, using base of the other faction to fight your own. But it's purely a gameplay thing.

I meam you are one little whiner and you will never be happy eventho they try to solve a huge problem.

 

Edited July 2, 2021 by Stambito

[Starym 3,800]

4 hours ago, Arcling said:

Yeah, I'm all for it, yet crossfaction still isn't allowed in PvE... Their statements are inconsistent.

In-world, it doesn't make sense. I mean, using base of the other faction to fight your own. But it's purely a gameplay thing.

Hm yea didn't think of the base thing, I guess we can pretend it's a recreation of the BGs somewhere in the faction's own territory? Maaaybe? 😄

[darkgreenwax 412]

Honestly I would just add some polish like your faction is "training," and add whatever dumb chromie time / naaru tech you want into the mix for how it's possible to simulate locations with same faction 🤷‍♂️😂

[darkgreenwax 412]

I haven't played WoW in quite some time but I remember some nights I'm farming ore or something and I jump out of my seat when that loud BG noise pops, and I forgot that I had queued 2 hours earlier.

[Arcling 898]

5 hours ago, TyZone said:

Honestly I would just add some polish like your faction is "training," and add whatever dumb chromie time / naaru tech you want into the mix for how it's possible to simulate locations with same faction 🤷‍♂️😂

That could work, but you may treat battlegrounds the same way as dungeons. They happened at a certain point in time, returning to them is just a gameplay mechanic.

Edited July 2, 2021 by Arcling

[darkgreenwax 412]

6 hours ago, Arcling said:

That could work, but you may treat battlegrounds the same way as dungeons. They happened at a certain point in time, returning to them is just a gameplay mechanic.

Nothing matters 😭