Earlier this week, I talked about the current PTR patch notes for patch 4.1. While there were a few battleground changes, there was not a lot of talk about something that I have been looking for since they moved all rated BGs to 10 vs. 10. Reworking the 15 man BGs into 10 man BGs.
Nothing against the current 10 vs. 10 battlegrounds, but they are starting to get a little stale. Two of them are played exactly the same while Gilneas is actually a different BG, which may be why I'm enjoying it a little more right now. Here are some ideas I have on making the 15 man BGs into new 10 man rated BGs.
Arathi Basin - Considering defense is gonna be harder spread out over 5 nodes, they need to make flag caps shorter in Arathi Basin, maybe 30 seconds to change faction. That way, it punishes the team that zergs and rewards the team that coordinates. In that case, each node becomes a little 4 vs. 4 or 3 vs. 3 arena match. Playing smart defense would also be necessary. There would be very little incentive to push a 4th node so it would come down to straight PvP.
Strand of the Ancients - Of all the BGs, this would be the hardest to change. (And truth be told, I personally wouldn't be hurt if they didn't change it.) However, since we are dealing with fewer people, the battlefield needs to be shorted slightly. Maybe you only have to break the blue or green gate, then have a wide PvP area leading up to the yellow gate and the relic chamber. In addition, I would take away the time limit for the 1st offense team or at least make it longer since you are dealing with less people. In addition, make the explosive charges do more damage and the demolishers do less or make the demolishers squishy. As of right now, the focus on Strand of the Ancients isn't PvP, it is kill the demolishers. If they upped the damage of the explosive charges, it would be more incentive to PvP, especially if they made it where you drop the charges if you die.
Eye of the Storm - Of all the 15 man BGs, this is the one where they can probably get away with making no changes. Area caps are based on number of alive people. The flag is still in the middle. I can't see any reliable zerg strat that would work. It would probably go into a 2 node vs. 2 node situation with PvP right in the middle for the flag, which means flag caps would likely decide the winner. My one big request in all of this is for Blizzard to do what they do in Tol Barad. Put Slowfall automatically on the players at the start of the game so they don't take fall damage. I know they did not do it at one time, but they set a precedent with Tol Barad for the defense team.
So, I'm hoping, sooner rather than later, that we get the redone 15 man BGs into 10 man rated BGs. I would be happy with even new BGs. (An underwater Vashj'ir BG would be awesome.) If I had to design one, it would be a one flag capture the flag. Each team has a base with multiple entrances. There is a flag in the middle that everyone is going for. You get 100 points per cap, first team to 1000 wins. It would literally be a 10 man versus 10 man arena fight for the flag every time.
2 comments:
I love that last idea to death. Ambushing the flag carrier as they try to get away, setting up your most solid group to hold the flag room, but they have to be ready to break away to escort the carrier. And as terrible as this sounds, the changes to feral druids in specific make that style of map so much more viable.
@Anon
I like it too. As much as I like the new BGs from Cataclysm, they definitely need to come up with something new for the 10 vs. 10 bracket, a new idea anyway. When two of the 10 man BGs involve Capture the Flag, it is time for something new.
You are also right about that setup being valuable for feral druids, who are one of the three classes that should be flag carrying anyway.
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