Kalgan,

Thank you very much for this FAQ; it's definitely the most clear and insightful post on the new system.

In the future, when implementing a new mathematical system into the game (be in in PVP or PVE), I think it would greatly help if this sort of FAQ was done right away. So much of the hatred aimed at the new system came about simply because players did not understand what was going on (I was certainly in that group).

Now that we can see what's going on - and where the system is going in Season 6 - I think players will be a lot happier.

Edit to add: Does each player have a single MMR rating, or a different MMR rating for 2v2, 3v3 and 5v5?

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Q u o t e:
Should I reroll rogue? Paladin? DK? If not, must I find a paladin or a druid partner? I'd like to play with one of my friends.

Can you mark classes at character creation with that classes representation in the top 1000 pvp players on that server?

I think I'm actually fairly decent at pvp. I also think I may have picked the wrong class when I rolled my character. Arena is fun to me, but I don't know that any amount of skill will make a difference when playing against melee dps classes. Sure, I can do almost 5k dps on patchwerk, but when I'm dying (with a healer) before I can come out of stun.... well, it loses some of the fun. Are you planning on making other classes viable?

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I'm sorry to say this, but it's pure FOTM, and unfortunately, this is something that will always exist.

Any feedback on how this system is expected to affect the top of the ladder?

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Q u o t e:
Edit to add: Does each player have a single MMR rating, or a different MMR rating for 2v2, 3v3 and 5v5?

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They've stated each bracket has its own.

Seylis, my questions is not whether a curve exists, you have to have a curve of some sort. My question is whether it is using MMR as the "statistical force" or TR and whether it is using mean or median. Also, my experience seems to show that it isn't actually balanced at this time. I just want a verification that it is being done correctly.

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Q u o t e:
Any feedback on how this system is expected to affect the top of the ladder?

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Well, basically, if you are rated 2650, for sake of argument, and you start a new charter. Your MMR will still match you up against 2650 players even though your new TR is 1500. You are expected to continue going 50/50, with some slight variance, and thus your points from your wins will greatly outweigh your points for your losses. This is designed to spirit you back up to where you belong.

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Q u o t e:
Seylis, my questions is not whether a curve exists, you have to have a curve of some sort. My question is whether it is using MMR as the "statistical force" or TR and whether it is using mean or median. Also, my experience seems to show that it isn't actually balanced at this time. I just want a verification that it is being done correctly.

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Ah, well again, someone posted a chart of said curve in it's current state, and like I said, it's probably lost due to inactivity in that thread. I can understand your concern though; in fact, I shared in it at a time.

From my experience with arena, I leveled my paladin to 80 and joined a 2's team with an RL friend and we got ruined. He was bad and I had/have no gear. After picking up an intelligent partner (my friend picked up an Eff buddy so he doesn't have time to play late at night, which is the only time I can really do arena's due to school, work, and gf), we started playing games and because of my MMR we got matched against a lot of low ranked teams. Obviously, we steam rolled them and gradually my MMR climbed up to be about even with my TR. Now our win ratio is different since this has happened. From this, I feel like the TR is the statistical force since your MMR fluctuates so sporadically and dramatically in order to position a team correctly. I would also venture to guess that the 1500 is a median, and not a mean.

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Q u o t e:
Well, basically, if you are rated 2650, for sake of argument, and you start a new charter. Your MMR will still match you up against 2650 players even though your new TR is 1500. You are expected to continue going 50/50, with some slight variance, and thus your points from your wins will greatly outweigh your points for your losses. This is designed to spirit you back up to where you belong.

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No, I mean a top-rated team that does not reroll. In the previous system it was disheartening to queue up at, say, 2400, and only get 0-2 points per win with the risk of losing 24ish points per loss. Is this still going to be true?

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Q u o t e:


No, I mean a top-rated team that does not reroll. In the previous system it was disheartening to queue up at, say, 2400, and only get 0-2 points per win with the risk of losing 24ish points per loss. Is this still going to be true?

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If you are the top of the battllegroup MMR then your ability to move up will eventually be zero. This is part of my concern about the "statistical force" of the curve. If it isn't done correctly, then if you are at the "top" you would never move up...

If you are the top 5, unless you play one of the top 5 you will be very limited. Unless, the "statistical force" override is well done. I hope they have good math guys....

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Q u o t e:

Q: How good will the furious weapons be? Why would I want one if the PvE weapons are better?

A: In the case of the current deadly gladiator weapons, we simply botched the ilvls since at the time of their design we didn't account properly for the fact that Kel'Thuzad weapons would be as accessible as they are. Had we anticipated this better, the KT weapons wouldn't have been a full tier ahead of pre-KT weapons, and the deadly weapons would have been equivalent in ilvl. We expect that the best season 6 pvp weapons obtainable will be equal in level/quality to the best Ulduar weapons, even if that means we need more than one tier of pvp weapon to do it (ie: a 1750 weapon and a 2200 weapon). Note: the whole trick here is reasonably balancing what percentage of players get raid weapons of X quality versus what percentage of arena players also get a weapon of X quality.

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The main problem of arena weapons is not the DPS or itemlvl, but the current stats. The current attackpower on deadlygladiator weapons is bad for the 2hander users war / dk / ret. thats why PVE weapons are better, death'byte, armagedon or even jawbone have way better stats than the deadlyweapons, not because of kt drops
please dont make more arena weapons with hunter stats on it.

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Q u o t e:
May we discuss the reward system next?

I don't know the exact numbers, but isnt it something like only the top 10-20% of PvPers can get Deadly gear or hateful set gear?

So if you work your rump off in PvP, do your best, but somehow fall short of the top 10-20% due to skill, class choice, teammates, etc, then you have no chance of getting rewarded beyond the blue set?

Yet if you PvE, and get lucky, not only can you get better gear, but you can also get the coveted Deadly/Hateful set gear, without ever having to step into an arena or BG. No PvP experience required. No personal rating required.

So my choices are:

Work my rump off in PvP and get nothing beyond blues and a few off-set hateful, and a huge pile of points that I can never spend.

or

PvE, get lucky, and get the entire set without any PvP, honor, Arenas or rating required.

Seems very discouraging and unfair to those who PvP and try their best every day to improve in PvP.

May i have your thought on this please?

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If you suck, it doesn't matter how hard you work, you're still going to suck, and your suckiness is going to keep you from getting good rewards, regardless of how much effort you put into sucking.

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Q u o t e:
To quickly answer a few common questions that aren't already answered...

Q: How good will the furious weapons be? Why would I want one if the PvE weapons are better?

A: In the case of the current deadly gladiator weapons, we simply botched the ilvls since at the time of their design we didn't account properly for the fact that Kel'Thuzad weapons would be as accessible as they are. Had we anticipated this better, the KT weapons wouldn't have been a full tier ahead of pre-KT weapons, and the deadly weapons would have been equivalent in ilvl. We expect that the best season 6 pvp weapons obtainable will be equal in level/quality to the best Ulduar weapons, even if that means we need more than one tier of pvp weapon to do it (ie: a 1750 weapon and a 2200 weapon). Note: the whole trick here is reasonably balancing what percentage of players get raid weapons of X quality versus what percentage of arena players also get a weapon of X quality.

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You do realize that anyone can squat on a corpse right? Arena isnt about showing up and squating on a corpse, it is based on gear and skill. Those who have the gear already , thanks to retarded gearing options given to PVE'ers, will still continue to climb while those who were not fortunate enough to get in first will be forced to grind for gear still not good enough to topple those already on the monopoly. The solution is to make deadly available to all ASAP and well before the season ending. This way the people who are mediocre with great gear can be dethroned by people who truly deserve to be there.

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Q u o t e:

The main problem of arena weapons is not the DPS or itemlvl, but the current stats. The current attackpower on deadlygladiator weapons is bad for the 2hander users war / dk / ret. thats why PVE weapons are better, death'byte, armagedon or even jawbone have way better stats than the deadlyweapons, not because of kt drops
please dont make more arena weapons with hunter stats on it.

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Exactly, and Kalgan is suggesting that Deadly weapons still have a significant rating. I'm sorry, but that will not prevent the PVE'ers from continuing to dominate arena with their "corpse squat" gear out of Ulduar.

Can you give us some understanding of how the following scenario might work out?

I play with my friend, and we get to the 1600-1700 bracket. Team and personal rating over 100+ games becomes 1650.

I leave the twos team, and join up with my brother who is new to the game. He's just turned level 80 in fact.
We play some matches on his 2s team and get steamrolled against people in the 1200-1300 bracket, losing 9 out of 10 games.

I leave the team, and join up with my friend who previously had the same rating.

What would happen to me and my friend's ratings?

Alternately, what would happen if we were all on the same team?

way to go blizzard you !%@#ing ruined arenas thanks so much u ruined the game

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Q u o t e:



- You win your first game, versus a team the game believes to be about 842 rating (as seen in their MMR above). Your team only gains 1 team rating, because after all your team's visible rating is already 1311, and this win was merely versus a 842 skill team. Your matchmaking rating goes up by 40 points though, as the game thinking there's definitely a chance you're better than 900 rating.

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sooooo why not just get rid of current team ratings and replace them with MMR if thats what your basing who we play and our "skill level" off of. Would make things less complicated .... so far all it seems like youve done is make the number that we can actually see stand for nothing other then the ability to purchase loot or not

This effectivley makes us blind as to where our team stands vs other teams since we cant see the MMR.

Not to mention that it makes it pointless to have 2 sets of numbers....

"while you look like a 1311 team your <really> a 842 team sorry!!!!"

Why not just have an MMR and do away with the old team ratings and make what we purchase based on our mmr instead of TR since TR is apparently worthless and causing more confusion then its worth.

Kalgan, check out my 2v2 team name.

Kalgan, thanks for making arena more dependent on what overpowered class you are, instead of skill.

In these dire economic times, how are you still employed?