Blizzard's already on it, for those of you that haven't seen the videos of the PvP Panel discussion at Blizzcon (they're on YouTube.)
They're adding a new function akin to the "Report for Spam" recently added; simply right click on a player's dot on the minimap and report them for AFKing. If enough people do this, they get a countdown debuff; if they do not enter combat (presumably with players) within the alloted time, they receive a second debuff that halts all honor gain until they enter combat (again, presumably with players.) Obviously, someone could just run to Frostwolf GY and get mauled by the handful of Allies camping there and go back to AFKing, but it's a fairly innovate response to a noticeable problem, and it's not nearly as draconian as some other suggestions you see.
As for the terrain imbalances (and there are glaring imbalances in the AV terrain), the caves will no longer be spawnpoints until your team literally has no other spawnpoints left. Most noticeably, this will help fix the stupid situation at Stormpike GY; since Alliance players will no longer come pouring out of their cave (which happens to lead directly to SPGY), Horde players won't have nearly as hard a time holding SPGY while pushing for Aid Station. No word on if they fixed the horrific imbalances between Frostwolf Village (where you can neatly bypass the majority of the NPCs, either by running by them or leashing them) and Dun Baldar (where you have to kill the majority of the NPCs - including the vendors - while defending the towers, Aid Station, and groups handling Marshals from defending Allies.)
EDIT: Blizzard also mentioned something about modifying the method in which bonus honor is gained: you gain more towards the end of a BG, and less at the beginning; this should hopefully push people to actually finish a battleground instead of turtling on their flagpost for two hours. I'd recommend watching the PvP panel videos from Blizzcon. Besides mentioning what I've listed in much better detail, they also talk about the evolution of the Arena system, their plans for other BGs (and how current ones came about and evolved), and even crack a few pretty funny jokes. They're posted by Lemonsoon; I only watched the first four, so I'm not sure what the other three contain.
They're adding a new function akin to the "Report for Spam" recently added; simply right click on a player's dot on the minimap and report them for AFKing. If enough people do this, they get a countdown debuff; if they do not enter combat (presumably with players) within the alloted time, they receive a second debuff that halts all honor gain until they enter combat (again, presumably with players.) Obviously, someone could just run to Frostwolf GY and get mauled by the handful of Allies camping there and go back to AFKing, but it's a fairly innovate response to a noticeable problem, and it's not nearly as draconian as some other suggestions you see.
As for the terrain imbalances (and there are glaring imbalances in the AV terrain), the caves will no longer be spawnpoints until your team literally has no other spawnpoints left. Most noticeably, this will help fix the stupid situation at Stormpike GY; since Alliance players will no longer come pouring out of their cave (which happens to lead directly to SPGY), Horde players won't have nearly as hard a time holding SPGY while pushing for Aid Station. No word on if they fixed the horrific imbalances between Frostwolf Village (where you can neatly bypass the majority of the NPCs, either by running by them or leashing them) and Dun Baldar (where you have to kill the majority of the NPCs - including the vendors - while defending the towers, Aid Station, and groups handling Marshals from defending Allies.)
EDIT: Blizzard also mentioned something about modifying the method in which bonus honor is gained: you gain more towards the end of a BG, and less at the beginning; this should hopefully push people to actually finish a battleground instead of turtling on their flagpost for two hours. I'd recommend watching the PvP panel videos from Blizzcon. Besides mentioning what I've listed in much better detail, they also talk about the evolution of the Arena system, their plans for other BGs (and how current ones came about and evolved), and even crack a few pretty funny jokes. They're posted by Lemonsoon; I only watched the first four, so I'm not sure what the other three contain.
ArrayPaladins were not meant to sit in the back of the raid staring at health bars all day, spamming heals and listening to eight different classes whine about buffs.[/quote]
The original Heavy Metal Cowâ¢. USDA inspected, FDA approved.
The original Heavy Metal Cowâ¢. USDA inspected, FDA approved.