Time For WoW PVP To be Rethought. A Loveletter to WoW Devs On How The Scene Can Be Revived.
As many of us here, WoW PVP is our favourite game.
I think PVP has been on the back burner for a long time, but it's clear that categorically - esport styled games are still growing, WoW PVP on the other hand - is not. I believe the WoW dev team has the opportunity to lean into this game mode, not make it a seperate game - but a much cleaner, smarter integration into the base game.
First: Introducing the Champions Crucible. A dedicated PvP hub, for all things PVP. Leaving behind the need for a website to get basic information about the playerbase, we instead have the ability to see the leaderboards (we’ve seen them do this with Dastardly Duos!), remote inspect top players (not proximity based),purchase gear, request crafted items from base game players, and more all directly in the Champions Crucible. It'll be a place where PvPers can congregate, duel, practice, meet new people, a place to call "home". Maybe the centre is dalaran sewers style where people brawl? It’d be great to warm up, do something fun while we wait queues (which ultimately improve if we have more people….).
Having a dedicated hub opens up the pathway for the next step.
Second: F2P with store monetization. Hear me out before blasting me in the comments on this about how Blizzard won't generate profits off this. Games like CS2, LoL, etc are clearly showing good signs of health in a F2P model; surpassing the profits of WoW collectively (PvE + PVP).
If we transition to a F2P model for PVP, it would imply that players would be eligible to create max level toons, BUT be locked to the Champions Crucible and PVP instances. These players would turn to the eshop for cosmetic items (armor, mounts, etc), as they would not be able to access the main game. People paying for the sub, are free to move between the hub and main game as they please.
Win / Win, you get more players to try and play the game for the first time (potentially purchase shop items), and create a pathway for these players to get interested in the base game as well. I think we can all agree that asking someone for a monthly subscription as well as game purchase for $80 is a tall order when there are so many great F2P options available. Let this be the way we fish for new people and enjoy the game mechanics before the intimidating jump head first into the full depth of the game (of which we are 20 years into now). Think about how Warcraft was the precursor to World of Warcraft. Or how LoL has now birthed TV shows based on it's lore (and a rumoured MMO). Start small, get people interested, then hit them with the big guns and the universe of it all.
Third: Battlepass (traverlers log) for retention; think there's some creative thinking that has been done here before that I'd love to see come to fruition. Opportunity to have players earn PvP currency to buy things like enhants, etc.
Fourth: Flex queue 2s/3s (in addition to LFG). It's time to adapt a style (beyond shuffle and blitz) that emulates every other esports game (we technically already have this in the game with skirms). You can make this work by giving MMR advantages to people queued solo, and even give them preferential choices for teammate specs. The LFG system is antiquated, frustrating, and discourages people from participating (points broadly at shuffle population versus 3s). This problem will only continue to get worse without an intervention.
Overall the game has been on trajectory to become new player friendly - I think these changes could setup the pathway to easily double (and beyond) our population in the immediate future. Small amount of dev work for big reward (how many zones get developed in each major patch that just get forgotten about in a few short months? Just the one PvP hub would be needed here with some holiday updates).
With minimal changes needed to content (people have played the same arenas for decades, and will continue to); the audience is evergreen with minimal upkeep between seasons. I can't see a reason at this time why the WoW team doesn't see this opportunity as well (versus constantly fishing for new engagement features each season/expac, the WoW PVP group is super basic, and easy to please. People have been playing Dust2 in counterstrike for decades haha).
Would love to hear your thoughts, and what else you'd see included!
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Edit: RE - responded to a comment WoW about turning profits that I think are valid to the broader conversation:
You're approaching this from the perspective of a loss leader, I'm approaching it from the perspective of an acquisiton funnel. Also, will every single one of those 5% become a F2P player and lose access to the base game? Unlikely.
The truth most likely is some where in the middle. The other thing worth considering are churn numbers & retention of the existing audience, but that's for a separate topic.
What pathway you DO open up; is assuming we sustain a 70% subscriber rate amongst PVP players (for tmogs, PvPers playing m+, raids, etc; data suggest players with rating in PvP are doing other content) - is growing the PvP pool from 350k players to 1 million. Then converting 70% of the incremental players to paid subs. This audience is out there, and some returning players to PvP who remember the glory day, and more importantly new players to the IP all together. I've been to a recent IRL WoW hosted event, and let me tell you - it's deep millenial on average.
The remainder 30%? You can turn profits on them regardless through eshop like any other competitive game out there. But here's the great thing, you're not spending FTEs to develop content for these PvP players every sprint anyways (hell, even every expansion). So it's just server costs. We should be fine to eat that even for the players that never intend to purchase a single thing.
You need to take off the CFO hat for this, and put on a Growth one instead. We're headed only in one direction at current trajectory. My guess here is, we'll be in a better state as a playerbase AND Blizzard turns a healthier profit versus where they're at now. Making a profit on players who don't have an interest in majority of the content you're developing, or perceive it as an obstacle to the content they really want to play - isn't exactly an ideal practice that encourages high liftetime value.
Modes like Plunderstorm aren't exactly positioned from an acqusition perspective - but rather a retention one. It's less about turning a profit, and more about preserving one. Blizzard is in constant defence mode with WoW.
Time to shift the formula. Warcraft's deepest roots are as a competitive, PvP game. Ya know, Horde vs Alliance; capital city raids, etc. Duels in Elywnn Forest or the Barrens, ganking people in Stranglethorn. When did we lose sight of that.