New-ish player's 2 copper take: gearing isn't the gate, the community is (from a Deadlock/Marvel Rivals player)
Foreword - I've grown to love WoW, primarily the community. I'm fortunate to have found some of my closest friends in a CE guild and its what keeps me logging in. I spent a crap load of time editing this in word so I hope you endure my slog because it comes from a genuine place of care.
So I've lurked this subreddit for a bit and started PVP-ing for the first time in Midnight. TWW was my first real expac and foray into WoW and I raided and did mythic plus with maybe 2 or 3 rounds of PVP. I've seen old-heads talk about the "gearing" being the gate or it being overly 'complex' (maybe). To me, the BIGGEST and WORST gate is the community, and this is coming from a Deadlock and Marvel Rivals player. A secondary bonus is it's just not fun enough to ignore those problems.
Full disclosure before I get into it: I lied about never PVPing. My actual first experience was TBC Classic (work friends and ppl from Overwatch got me to try it) and I did some Disc arena casually. At least in the beginning of the season, while it was janky, the people I played with were cool, and fun. (I can't speak for later seasons, I only did it up through Karazhan.) Keep that in mind for later.
My experience this season
Starting Midnight, I actually made it a point that instead of mythic plus I would focus on PVPing outside of CE raiding (thanks M+ community for gate-keeping my Prevoker). The start of the season and for the 2-3 weeks following, I played about 400 rounds of solo shuffle and 15 rounds of BGB as a Disc Priest, Warrior, and Prevoker.
On the Pres Evoker I went 124 out of 235 (through week 3 of patch). For 3/4ths of these games, I was put up against Gladiator mounted players and R1 title holders nearly every game from 1500-1600. Having a slightly above 50% winrate made me LOSE rating... something I've NEVER experienced in my life in a competitive game coming from Marvel Rivals, Overwatch, and Deadlock. This effectively made me completely put off PVP (for good, I told myself).
My buddy, a former Glad, really wanted me to play my Prevoker with him for a Gladiator push and I EVENTUALLY gave it another go. I went in completely rusty and blind (on Solo Shuffle to learn to play):
- First 6 rounds I went 1-5 and was told to "keep myself safe" (thanks buddy!)
- Next I went 3-3 with one giga-chad DK going 6-0
- Eventually it stabilized to a 51-ish percent winrate over 30ish rounds
My MMR went from 2550!! to stabilizing at 2350-2400 over the wins and losses, with my rating after that night of gaming going from 1583 to 2120!
The MMR problem
Now, this isn't the community (aside from the safety conscious player), and I'm aware of the MMR inflation/deflation. But if anyone is aware of Marvel Rivals' issues (which it has MANY, and also of a similar vein), MMR and ranking is the worst thing about it, and this game handles ranking even worse. (also wtf game says 'im 2.3k outside of Chess?)
Going from 1500 to 2100 did not feel good. I did not feel like I was playing competitive games. It felt like it was either against 'smurfs' or new players, with most of them being a 3-3 and my rating only shooting up. This 2100 doesn't make me feel like I earned it (but then again, I actually don't even understand what the skill ceiling and floor really is).
The massive Elekk in the room (or Brontosaurus or w/e the WoW equivalent is): the community
I really wanted to put effort into playing this game because I'm the type of person who doesn't play a competitive game as a half-measure. I looked up guides and came across Skill-Capped videos, as I'm sure most 'normies' looking up "how to play wow arena" do. I opened my wallet and got the subscription.
The website is... fine. The formatting and backend is amateur at best, with QOL things like prompting me to subscribe when I'm already subbed, and the website format itself being both overly designed and undercooked. But the content was actually useful to me. Whether it is worth the money, IDK, but in-depth information is so sparse that this paywalled site is the best you have, pretty much (which connects to another community-adjacent issue: see below). I will say that their addon packs and github link is genuinely useful and probably better than the PVE wow-up packages.
I'm the WC Logs and class Discord lurker for PVE, so my next step was joining the Discord communities, including Skill-Capped's, to get with the "pros". Color me shocked when their Discord is a graveyard of EU-primarily players (sorry EU its just my anecdotal experience from my engagement in there) whose only real responses are gateways to "Carry Services" (for GOLD ofc, except not really, I entertained them in DMs and it's almost comedically double speak for "what's your cashapp").
Which brings me back to the community. It seems as though the top bracket has this cartel where they are incentivized to keep the high rankings and "top 500s" incestuous and paywall it behind money or gold (lol).
Deadlock and Marvel Rivals both have gatekeeping, but more often than not, the top players feel belonging and genuinely love their game and WANT new blood. In Deadlock I would be told I'm trash, then have the same guys teach me laning and phases like the disgruntled mentor. In WoW, you will be called trash (by the people who DO talk), told to quit the game, and that's all. Remember my TBC Classic experience from the top of this post? At least back then, the people were cool. I have genuinely never met a worse community.
The solution, which through lurking here I've learned, isn't to "turn off chat". Because honestly, this game's PVP just isn't fun enough (sorry, it's 'fun' just not FUN enough or brand insulated enough like Marvel Rivals or Overwatch) for the preponderance of players to overlook that. A frustrated player will actually read "quit the game" as solid advice and follow through. Sure, the developers putting PVP in the backseat doesn't help, but the core draw (in an MMO especially) AND problem are the players.
Like Deadlock, when the game clicks (taking like 10+ hours to not be a troglodyte), it becomes fun in its own way. However, the complexity, which has been talked about to death mind you, can't flourish without a genuinely positive and welcoming community.
On gearing (the red herring)
Now, from the perspective of a newish player, I don't mind the gearing. I think in an MMO, especially if you literally just have players that want to PVP, you need a power progression.
On a side note, another game, which exploded in popularity last year, Where Winds Meet, blows the whole gear argument out of the water, with gear mattering more than anything, being forced to PVE to stand a chance, and the power progression being insane, like a 200% power differential. But it was fun enough and the community was positive enough for it to be a non-issue.
For gearing though, I think being able to progress faster in casual modes and making them more rewarding would help. My side note power progression suggestions:
- Be able to get full conquest in like 10 or so BGs / 20-ish skirmishes - like literally skip the worthless honor gear and just make it Conquest. (gearing is almost free in PVE theres literally 0 reason to gatekeep or attempting to stop cross-over hemorrhage from PVE sweatlords going every avenue for .01% extra power)
- Use excess conquest to roll for chances to get specific slots with secondaries like leech and speed (probably less than 1-2 percent power differential, but it gives a carrot and a feel-good hit with that 'lucky' roll)
- Or a better perks system like COD
- Or obviously a seasonal renown system like literally every single pillar that can infinitely progress for carrot worthy rewards. (Like genuinely WTF is honor level???)
But the point is, gear and complexity is the red herring. It's a game's community that kills or elevates a game.
Just my $.02
We can't control what Blizz devs do, but we can push as a community to bring in new players without the parasitic push to monetize the accomplishments.
To wrap it up, this is purely anecdotal as a player desperately pushing past the blemishes. I'd love to know the thoughts of 'veterans' and other 'new-ish' players or if this is uniquely my YMMV experience?
TL;DR: New-ish PVPer coming from Deadlock/Rivals/OW. The MMR system is bad (lost rating at a 50%+ winrate, then jumped 1500 to 2100 in a night and it felt unearned), but the real gate is a community where the top bracket paywalls knowledge behind carry services and the only "advice" is to quit the game. Gearing is fine and even fixable. The community is what kills or elevates a game.