04-24-2008, 11:52 PM
Quote:People place a lot in the illusion that they may be able to obtain something. Especially something like arena armor, which previously was 100% attainable as long as you put in the time each week to pick up your arena points. The ratings of Season 3 put some fractures in this illusion, and the proposed ratings of S4 have shattered it.
Since, in my experience, no matter what the majority of the people actually say, gear matters and is important to them. That carrot has to be dangled. I "could" get T6 gear, if I could just get a raiding group together. I 'could' get arena gear, if I just played 10 games a week.
With Arena, imo, it's even easier than that. The major draw is the gear and only the gear. At least with PvE, you can claim to be interested in the content, story and lore of a place in addition to the gear. With PvP...what's the point, if not to get better gear to stomp people more quickly? Look at how all the sudden interest "took off" in PvP, with the addition of easy to acquire gear, for instance. Pretty much since it's inception, arena was seen as the easiest path to great gear. Now Blizz is changing that. This move will, imo, have huge ramifications in the PvP circuit.
Well, okay, but you can still buy free awesome epics with the points. All the S3 gear is still out there, now with lower needed ratings, and that's still BT quality gear. S4 gear is also obtainable. Anyone can still do 3-4 weeks and get some killer gloves, and with a little luck and skill, start moving up to the next couple of pieces.
Is that not enough of a carrot? It's still free gear for 10 games a week. Why would you stop just because a larger share of the rewards are getting out of reach? Are people *that* sensitive to the change in potential rewards, that they'll completely abandon a whole mode of play just on the basis that it's slightly harder to get S4 weapons and some armours?
-Jester