World of Warcraft: PvP

Welcome to the final segment of my three part series on the epic hit World of Warcraft. Player versus player combat, aka PvP, is the topic of this post, and it is also the reason I continue to play WoW. I simply find the encounters with the opposing faction incessantly changing and challenging.

PvP lives and breathes in Battlegrounds, Arena Matches, and World PvP. Each offer a unique experience, but only Battlegrounds and Arena Matches produce epic gear. Players can play in four different Battlegrounds to earn Honor Points and Battleground Tokens. These are “cashed in” with various vendors that sell a variety of items like potions, mounts, and weapons. The four Battlegrounds offer a host of objective games that reward team work and coordination. Also, each weekend offers the opportunity to earn double honor points for a particular Battleground. In lieu of a more detailed explanation I put together this sexy little video to highlight the four different Battlegrounds.

Looks fun doesn’t it? Out of all the Battlegrounds Alterac Valley (AV) yields the greatest amount of Honor Points. There is simply more objectives to complete, and people to kill in this game type. Players from across the world would tend to agree. There is never a shortage of AV games, and during AV weekends I’ve seen up to thirty games going at once. That’s pretty impressive when you consider that AV games consist of eighty human players each. Unfortunately there is a downside to the Battleground system. There are only four maps to play, and after three years they tend to get old. There have been many posts on this subject on the World of Warcraft official website, and it is unfortunate that Blizzard hasn’t produced new maps.

The other route for epic PvP gear is the Arena. Here players compete in a 2v2, 3v3, or 5v5 death match. In the Arena factions do not matter—Horde can fight Horde and Alliance will fight Alliance. Goblins run this brutal sport, and they never miss an opportunity to earn a profit. Players will have to fork up some gold to form an Arena team before stepping into the ring. Teams are ranked based on there win/loss ratio, and must play a minimum of ten games a week to get points. The more wins a team gets the more points they will earn every Tuesday. Also the bigger teams yield more points so finding a good 5v5 is the fastest way to epics. The gear and weapons that the Arena points can buy is simply phenomenal. Players in Arena gear are something to be feared. The Goblins give you all the tools you need to kick ass. Tons of stamina and resilience keeps you alive, and the damage kills whatever crosses your path. There is also healing gear for those who enjoy that important aspect of the game. This weapon http://www.wowhead.com/?item=34540 is a great example of the power of the Arena rewards.

The final place to get your PvP fix is…well…anywhere. On any server players can gear up in Battlground and Arena games, and then show off their epic gear by raiding towns, cities, or outposts. Players don’t necessarily have to have good gear to participate in World PvP, but it defiantly helps. One of the more famous places for World PvP is Southshore and Tarren Mill. I’ve seen dozens and dozens of players near these towns continue to slaughter each other for no particular reason. It’s awesome! Some zones encourage PvP with objective games. In Nagrand, for example, factions can control the center island Halaa. To gain control of Halaa, players take off from four different flight points to throw bombs onto the opposing factions elite guards. After all the guards die the attackers must remain near the center of Halaa for a brief time before their own elite guards spawn. During all of this the opposing faction will attempt to kill you and destroy the various flight points. Players who participate in this World PvP action are rewarded with gear, bags, and a unique mount called the Talbuk. Finally, if this whole objective PvP bores the average player, there is the option to invade a capital city. Rumors float around that if a raid successfully kills the leader of a city, they are able to rename the capital as they see fit. The name change supposedly lasts twenty-four hours.

With so much variety WoW’s PvP content could of easily earned a 5 out of 5. This, however, would ignore the lack of new maps for the various Battlegrounds. The resulting repetition from the same old maps warrants a lower score: 4.9 out of 5. Hopefully a patch in the near future will rectify this situation. Until then I’ll just have to settle with killing the Alliance in the same old places.

PvE in the World of Warcraft!

Hello to all my dedicated readers out there. I know the two of you are probably curious as to why I haven’t been posting lately, and if you haven’t, just shut up and let me have my fantasy. Recently I was hired by EA games as a Quality Assurance Tester. That’s just a fancy way to say that I test video games for a living. This means I might actually have a shot at making a career in the video game industry, or at the very least get some insider info on upcoming titles. Don’t expect anything top secret, but you can bet that I will have a few posts about the games I’m working on. Another ramification of my new job is less free time. This is not a bad thing for my personal life, but it does mean that this blog will not be updated as frequently as before. Worry not avid readers. Today, I will continue my series on the epic MMORPG: World of Warcraft.

Many WoW veterans would attest that the game changes once a player reaches the level cap at seventy. In the beginning players are focused on leveling up to receive new spells, abilities, and to explore new lands. With all the spells and abilities unlocked, the only thing left to do is to improve the effectiveness of a hero’s role in the Holy Trinity (see previous post for description), and to continue to investigate the vast lands of Outland and Azeroth.

For players who are serious about end game content it is vital to understand the various mechanics that create successful encounters. Players need gear, coordinated team work, and detailed knowledge of the dangers throughout the World of Warcraft. It isn’t necessary to be all knowing, especially if a guild has good raid leaders, but it is vital for players to know there role. The ultimate goal for PvE content is centered on a guild’s progression through the various high level dungeons or instances. There are dozens and dozens of dungeons. This website http://www.wowwiki.com/Instance will provide you with a nice chart of all the possible instances available at this time. Note that new content is continually added to this game, and this list will get bigger in the near future.

Dungeons progression is based on how powerful the rewards are, and the difficulty of the encounters. Upon reaching seventy players will have to access there own gear, and determine which dungeons will provide challenging yet not impossible experience. If a player has uncommon (green font) and rare (blue font) items, than they are probably not ready to attempt a twenty-five man raid. Do not worry. There are dozens of instances to experience and all dungeons in Outlands, and a few in Azeroth, can be experienced on a Heroic difficulty. This increases the difficulty and improves the rewards of the dungeon. Players can collect Heroic tokens that drop off bosses to exchange for epic (purple font) gear, and the bosses themselves can drop better than average loot. Even epic gear has its own progression system. Players can achieve various Tier sets to denote there current participation in high end dungeons. Do not get confused about the numbering system. Before the expansion was released, Tiers 1-3 were sets that players achieved when the level cap was sixty. These epic sets are now obsolete, and many players will not experience the dungeons they drop in.

Players at seventy often begin raiding with the ten-man dungeon Karazhan. This place is chalk full of unique encounters, and its completion is considered the first major milestone for guild progression. The first few pieces of the Tier 4 set are collected here along with other powerful rewards. I can remember the early days of the expansion when this place was THE challenge for my server. Now a days it is just a small stepping stone that shouldn’t be a problem for any decent guild. There are tons of unique encounters, and many of the bosses provide great experience for higher end content. Some of my personal favorites are the Opera Event, the Chess Event, and the fight against Shade of Aran. Like most end game content there is also a rich and detailed history that unlocks some interesting lore about the various inhabitants of Karazhan. Unfortunately, for me, Karazhan is the only high end dungeon that I have successfully completed. There are many reasons for this, but I will not bore you with my tale. Just know that the information to follow is simply observed and not played personally by me.

A good friend of mine plays a Warlock named Roors, and he got into the only competent raiding guild on the Drak’thul server: Eternal. I had the pleasure of watching him for four hours—yes raids take anywhere from two to six hours—as Eternal cleared the twenty-five man raid Hyjal Summit. This encounter rewards players with their Tier 6 set pieces along with other very powerful equipment.

Hyjal Summit is divided into three parts: the Alliance Camp, the Horde Camp, and the Tree of Life. Each camp faces wave and wave of invading enemies and two bosses. The last place is where players find the final boss Archimonde. There is a ton of lore that ties into this encounter that relates to events in both the World of Warcraft and the RTS Warcraft III. Also the amount of coordination necessary to succeed is simply amazing. Every player must know there role, and perform it flawlessly or else everyone dies. At any given time there where over fifty characters on the screen—both enemies and allies. The battle felt as huge as the any epic battle seen in movies like Lord of the Rings. Eternal was able to clear the entire instance with only two wipes. Impressive!

Many players will never see Hyjal Summit. This will either be a personal choice, or they will simply never find the other twenty-four competent players to be successful. This doesn’t mean that players can’t enjoy end game content. There are numerous dungeons with unique encounters that will often keep raiders busy seven days a week. Blizzard as done an excellent job of providing fun and challenging dungeons that provide months of entertainment. Finally new instances are consistently released providing the next challenge for the top guilds. With so much variety, potential, and fun the PvE content of World of Warcraft scores 5 out of 5.