With patch 5.2 and all its new nasty boss creatures out in the wild, Blizzard have turned their attention to the World of Warcraft update. Patch 5.3 is set to shake up World of Warcraft’s PvP as Blizzard attempt to close the gear gap between veteran level 90 players and those who have freshly hit the top level.
Writing in a blog post, Blizzard community manager Nik Gianozakos detailed the problem, “we have always had a hard time balancing PvP gear against PvE gear, as these two areas of the game have very different gear design goals. In PvP, we want gear to matter, but we don’t want gear to become the overwhelming reason someone wins a match. For PvE, the difference in power between tiers has to be significant enough that players really feel rewarded and more powerful when they upgrade.
“The competitive nature of PvP means that highly geared players can serve as a deterrent to players who are looking into trying PvP for the first time. Trying to keep pace with the escalating level of PvE gear has proven quite difficult for PvP.”
Gianozakos detailed the currently planned changes:
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Base Resilience will be set to 65% for all characters level 85 and higher
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Resilience will be removed from nearly all PvP gear
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Players will still be able to use Resilience gems and enchants
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PvP power will remain exclusively on PvP gear
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PvP set bonuses that currently provide Resilience will now provide PvP Power
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Healers and hybrid-casters will benefit to a greater degree from PvP Power, and Battle Fatigue will increase to make PvP gear superior for healers.
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Conquest gear will be increased to item level 496 (up from 493).
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Elite gear will be decreased to item level 496. This gear will essentially become a prestige upgrade.
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The Big Change: We will be adding an item level ceiling to gear in unrated Battlegrounds, Rated Battlegrounds and Arenas
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All gear will have its item level scaled down to 496 (Conquest gear item level). This includes even Conquest items that exceed the ilevel ceiling, such as weapons.
In addition, some of the changes that we’ve discussed previously will also be implemented:
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In patches that don’t include a new season (including patch 5.3), the seasonal currency requirement of 7,250 Conquest Points earned will be lifted from weapons. The seasonal currency requirement must always be met to purchase Elite items, though.
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Once the 27,000 Conquest Point seasonal currency requirement is reached, players will be able to purchase Tyrannical Gladiator’s gear with Honor Points.
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The Conquest Point catch up cap will be introduced. You can read our PvP Gear in 5.2 and Beyond blog for more information on these changes.
Blizzard hope these changes will “preserve our most important design goal: the best gear for competitive PvP will come from PvP” but “also believe that the changes will make it easier for those who aren’t PvPing now to give it a try or possibly motivate those that play only rarely to play more often. While they will do less damage than a player with PvP gear, they will have the same survivability, stamina and resilience. The damage differences shouldn’t be so great that they will be ‘insta-gibbed’ by the average opponent in PvP gear either.”
There is currently no announced release date for patch 5.3.