devtrackers.gg
Hey folks,
We’re seeing a lot of chatter about the changes coming to PvP in both the PTS and PvP sub-forums. To consolidate conversations, I’m posting a thread here rather than responding to several threads with similar information. I’ll break down the main points that we’re seeing and address them accordingly.
Why are we making these changes to PvP?
We talked about this during the 7.2 livestream, but I will reiterate the goals here. There are three main goals we want to achieve with this revamp:
- Create a positive and engaging PvP experience for all players
- Increase the overall participation and quality of PvP matches
- Offer new incentives that benefit everyone who participates in PvP
With these goals in mind, this is why we moved to the PvP Revamp as you know it. Which includes the new PvP seasonal structure, queues being condensed into 8v8 (Warzones) and 4v4 (Arenas), and the rest of the changes we have been discussing.
Why not keep some form of the Leaderboards active?
This is a good question and there is a lot that went into this decision so let me talk you through it.
First, a big one, Combat Styles! Our Ranked Leaderboards were built to pretty explicitly take your class into account, hence why it was organized (and rewards even) were based on Class. That got thrown for a big loop in 7.0 as now you could have more than one "class" (now Combat Style) and change between them. This would have meant even just for the leaderboards to continue as is, would have taken a large rewrite to how we handled player data.
Second, the leaderboards did not help in creating a positive environment. We absolutely can attribute quite a bit of this to the top 96 rewards as there was incentive for breaking into the top 3 of each class. However, even with that the leaderboards were very frequently used as a method of harassment against other players. These behaviors led to violations of our Terms of Service, harassment and spam being directed to both players and support staff, and required a substantial amount of moderation and investigation.
These all led to our decision to no longer support leaderboards. Now, with that said we very much understand that being able to flex and compete is a cornerstone of PvP. That is what we are leaning into the Battle Record for, as a way for players to track and share their stats.
The competitive nature of PvP
PvP on any level is naturally competitive as is implied in its own name, Player vs Player. Due to that competition there are always going to be things that happen that aren’t entirely positive. Especially in situations where there are questions of teammates skill or intentions, or just some good ole “smack talking.” We get it. However, our own supporting PvP systems and environment should do everything they can to encourage positive play. The revamp allows us the opportunity to invite more players to participate in PvP while removing sources that generated negative behaviors such as the leaderboards and even PvP flags.
With that in mind I want to end on an important note. This is Season ONE of the PvP revamp. We know it won’t be perfect but that is always the benefit of a live service. It gives us the opportunity to read feedback, see player data, and more to continue to improve the system, its rewards, and even consider additional features to support our goals for PvP. We hope you dive into this first season and we look forward to continuing the conversation on supporting and growing the PvP community going forward.
-eric
EDIT: Adding the PvP Revamp article here for more visibility.