Blizzard Developers Tom Chilton, Corey Stockton and Greg Street presented a panel on PvP in WoW at BlizzCon over the weekend. They showed us what will be coming in Wrath of the Lich King including the new Arenas and Battleground. Wintergrasp was also discussed during the panel. Here are the highlights from the session:
Ring of Valor
Situated in Orgrimmar, this previously unused arena will be one of the new PvP Arenas in Wrath of the Lich King. Players who take part in this arena rise through the ground on platforms, and will start the match very close to the opposing team.
The Ring of Valor has dynamic Line of Sight features, these include animated platforms that rise and fall. The movement is timed, so it will be possible to judge when the platforms will move, but visible clues are also there in the form of cogs and gears at the sides of the Arena, which start moving before the platforms do. Each platform has a marking on the top, so players can let their team mates know which platform they are at.
Another LoS feature is the strip of fire that periodically rises (timed) across two parts of the arena floor. Any player caught in the fire, or anyone crossing it, will take fire damage over time.
Dalaran Sewers
The sewers of Dalaran make a smaller, more compact Arena than existing ones. For the first time in an arena, players can not use their mounts here, although Druid and Shaman travel forms are fine.
This arena is meant to have a ‘Fight Club’ feel to it, and to also fit into the feeling of Dalaran. On the streets above the sewers in Dalaran, players can actually see through a grate to a scripted ‘Arena’ event.
Players start in pipes high off the ground, which they get knocked out of if they don’t jump down when the game starts. These starting areas can not be reached once a player has jumped down. Dalaran Sewers also features another knock-back mechanic; In the center of the room, a timed jet of water shoots down, knocking back any players who are touching it, or inside it when the water starts. The water also prevents a Line of Sight.
The center section of the room is raised, and is only accessible via 2 entry points, diagonally across from each other. On top of the raised platform is the water jet, and some crates, which also block LoS.
Strand of the Ancients
This new battleground is located on an island off the coast of Dragonblight in Northrend. The island has Titan buildings and technology, which is protecting an artefact. Attacking players start on boats which slowly approach and land on the shore. Defending players start in the buildings. The ares of the buildings are marked by different colors, so players can indicate to team members which area they are attacking/defending, like in Arathi Basin and Alterac Valley.
SoTA has an Attack/Defend strategy, and something new to Battlegrounds which is destructible buildings and siege weaponry, making use of Wintergrasp’s new technology.
The aim of the battleground is to capture or defend the buildings as quickly as possible, depending on your starting position.
Wintergrasp
Wintergrasp is a non instanced PvP zone. Anyone who enters the zone is automatically flagged for PvP, even on Normal realms.
The strategy here is attack/defend again. Blizzard use a ranked PvP system in this zone, so that players who contribute the most will benefit the most, for example, the really active players will have access to the best siege engines. To help the faction with the least players in the zone, the disadvantage side will receive a buff called Tenacity to compensate for it. The buff increases DPS and damage mitigation.
Once a faction has control of the zone, they will gain certain benefits which include daily quests, and a unique raid instance with a boss that drops PvP and PvE loot (the boss has a 1 day cool down). The winning faction also gets a portal in Dalaran that takes them straight to Wintergrasp. While that faction controls Wintergrasp, any bosses in Northrend instances will drop tokens for all members of that faction. These tokens can only be spent in Wintergrasp while they control it. Once Wintergrasp has been captured, there is a two and a half hour cool down until the battle commences again.
Upcoming Changes to Battlegrounds
Blizzard revealed that they have plans for players to be able to queue for battlegrounds from anywhere in the world, not just at battlemasters in cities. They also said that in the near future, they will enable the earning of experience from PvP, by having daily quests in battlegrounds from early levels, and somehow relating honor to experience. They didn’t give any more details about this.
