Take a seat, and pour yourself a drink.
[b]A little about me[/b]
First a little about myself, to give you some context on my history, my knowledge, and my place on the "casual vs. hardcore" continuum.
I do not claim to be a WoW expert, but I have been playing this game "casually", off and on, since the very end of Vanilla. By "casually", I mean I play really only to kill time. I play a lot, but I don't really care enough to want to be the "best of the best" gear wise. By the "end of Vanilla" I mean I rolled my first character, a Human paladin, a few weeks before BC dropped.
I rarely raid, I have a love-hate relationship with PvP, and I am slightly into Paladin lore. I have played every class to at least 30. I have had multiple hunters, multiple paladins, a rogue or two, a death knight, and some casters. I have played at the various iterations of max level over the years, on various classes, and have witnessed the fundamental changes to the classes I am most familiar with, as well as the fundamental changes to the game as a whole. More on this below.
I have had some twinks, and played my fair share of "cheap ambush/vanish rogues", so I'd like to think I'm relatively objective and impartial on my opinion on PvP as a whole, as bad as I am at it.
I do not take this game that seriously (indifference really), but I understand the importance of "knowing fights" and pulling appropriate DPS.
In a phrase, I am a "casual veteran". Just a guy, with a time consuming, possibly unhealthy hobby.
[b]The History of PvP[/b]
For my next trick, I will attempt to explain the evolution of PvP, to provide a basis for what I see to be the ultimate solution to fixing the aberration PvP has become. If I make a mistake anywhere in the chronological order of things, correct me.
Most people would agree that PvP is broken, for one or many reasons. So, if you disagree that it is broken, you are either trolling, ignorant, or simply part of the minority. Or a rogue. The latter two are legitimate reasons. The first two are not. If you are ignorant, play a couple battlegrounds in various brackets. Then report back to this thread, tear stained handkerchief in hand. If you are trolling, remember this: trolling is a art.
Moving on.
Back in the "good ol days" PvP consisted exclusively of world PvP (e.g. Tarren Mill vs. Hillsbrad), and ganking (ah, Stranglethorn). It existed from the very beginning, depending on the configuration of the realm. Some realms had it enabled by default, and some realms allowed you to chose to flag. It still works that way. And that is the problem.
The difference between then and now is, there was no Resilience, no Arenas, and no Battlegrounds.
So, along comes Warsong Gulch. Wee, fun! Capture the flag! Some classes are better than others, but burst isn't as much of a problem. PvP damage mitigation is largely irrelevant. Just have fun!
Eventually, along comes the Level 60 cap, and Alterac Valley. Again, some classes are better than others, but burst isn't as much of a problem. PvP damage mitigation is still largely irrelevant. CC/stuns/silences/trinkets are not that big of an issue. Just have fun (for days on end even). All AV really is, is a combination of a Raid (against the base leaders), a DPS race (against the opposing faction), map control, minor questing, and PvP combat. The honor and reputation grind, as with everything else in Vanilla, is in full effect.
What's this? EPIC GEAR I CAN BUY WITH HONOR POINTS? YOU MEAN I CAN POTENTIALLY FARM HONOR TO BUY GEAR, SO I CAN RAID ONY, BWL AND MC? OH WHAT A GLORIOUS DAY! WHAT? YOU MEAN THIS GEAR I BUY LOOKS AWESOME, AND WILL ALSO GIVE ME A COMPETITIVE EDGE IN ALL BATTLEGROUNDS, NOT ONLY AV? RAD!
So, the Level 60 honor gear is the true first step towards the PvP aspect of World of Warcraft.
Along comes the Burning Crusade. And Resilience gear. And Arenas. In other words, along comes truly competitive PvP. With it, it's nasty side effect: the perpetual nerf/buff arms race between PvP class mechanics and PvE class mechanics, and, indirectly, a thorn in the side of Blizzard. Massive health pools. Fundamental changes to the Paladin, and other classes. Arenas are a success. Battlegrounds becoming broken.
WotLK drops. Resilience is changed somehow. Blah blah blah. All classes get new abilities. All classes get "balanced" again. Talent trees change. Even more massive heath pools. The arms race continues, just as expected. Rogues, DKs, and hunters fill 80% of Battlegrounds. DKs receive massive nerfs. Arenas still a success. Battlegrounds eve more broken.
Cata drops. Insane health pools. Moar new abilities. Heals that actually have to use the right spell for mana longevity. Pallies way overpowered. Nerfed. Rogues way over powered. Not nerfed (still not). Cat druids way over powered (still are). Arenas still badass. Battlegrounds, especially lowbie battlegrounds, a complete joke. Resilience is a make it or break it stat. No point in fighting against a dedicated Arena team who decide to troll people in regular battlegrounds. Arms race worse than ever.
[b]FINALLY, THE SOLUTION![/b]
What the next expansion needs to do is to, by having exclusively PvE and exclusively PvP servers. Yes, this means SEGREGATION. Yes, this probably means two development teams.
[li]The internet dragon slayers can obtain their "accomplishments" without having to be affected by nerfs arising from balance issues in PvP.[/li]
The compe
Read on, if you like, to allow me to extrapolate.
Currently, it is based on an obsolete, outdated format. That "obsolete, outdated format" basically comes down to something called World PvP, and no, it does not include Resilience.
Originally, the basic purpose of a PvP server was to allow for World PvP? Conversely, the original purpose of the Normal server was basically to [i]disallow[/i] for World PvP.
When was the last time you World PvP'd though?
Isn't the ultimate "point" of legitimate PvP to compete with other players in a more direct fashion (as opposed to the competition involved with the raid and content progression race to world first)? Why then does Blizzard mix PvP and PvE in the same pot? Wouldn't it make more sense to make all "Normal" realms PURELY and EXCLUSIVELY PvE based, with questing, dungeons, heroics, raids, PvE itemization, etc., while having "PvP" servers be PURELY PvP servers
You see, the reason PvP is "broken" is because the current concept of PvP was never meant to be mixed with what WoW is by nature: a character buiding, dragon slaying journey.
With the recent popularity of so called "e-sports" however, Blizzard listened to the customers, and gave them what they wanted. Great. Good customer service. Where it went wrong, was them not thinking far enough ahead, or critically enough about that decision.
Questions like: "Hmm, how popular could PvP get? What will it mean for PvE?" "Hmm, if we change/add a spell to PvE, how will that affect class balance in PvP?"
These questions did not appear to be answered, let alone asked, when Resilience based PvP was originally in development and eventually implemented. [ul][/ul] [li][/li] [b][/b]