Please reconsider/tweak the november 2 changelog modifications to the BG bracets
Suggestion in short:
Please refine the drastic, extreme measures aimed at "lower braceting" 80's that have been introduced since mid October, 2021. Please allow what you refer to as twinking on the lower gear bracets be continued, even if this implies any non-drastic penalties to twinks. At least in the mid bracet.
Suggestion detailed and explained:
Recently, some changes hit a small community of players very hard, and was successful in first, greatly disrupting what has become part of the game, and secondly, resulting in "unique" responses that suggest a long-term ongoing conflict between intentions. Twink-category characters of twink-category players are again, and perhaps will, for the unforseeable future, still be present in the two affected bracets, while it has unquestionably become far more time-consuming of the more dedicated ones to represent themselves.
The changes to the BG system I am referring to is what has been vaguely discussed in the changelog of November 2:
[...]
Battlegrounds
[...]
Reworked the Gear brackets on level 80, they will now be more fair especially for lower geared players
Implemented more anti-twinking measures on the lower Gear Brackets
Prevent non-seasonal Blackrock characters from entering the lower gear brackets
[...]
One of the main fundamental backgrounds for my arguement lies in a widely and openly stated staff viewpoints:
"Battlegrounds were never meant to be fair, and a multitude of suggestions aiming at any form of incorporated fairness have been turned down."
So, why us? Are we beyond "not fair?"
Our "community" is far too scarce to even be deemed an "organized", "functioning" one (such as, say lvl 19, 60, 70, 79, etc twinks, a number of whom actively communicate with their opposite faction counterparts as friends), we mostly know each other by performance and the occasional /wave and armory checks. Very seldom are the known examlpes of 2-3 players partying up - nearly everyone is a solo player, doing what they enjoy. More importantly though, we have become quite balanced out by september. There is a nearly identical amount of these 80-twinks in BG's: "faction dedicated"
players are heavily balanced out by mercing ones - and we quite often end up nuking the living life out of each other and have a good laugh about it in SW afterwards. The extent of this goes as far as having achieved NO active pvp guilds, NO known 2-man-plus premades, and only TWO instances of a multiboxer appearing for an observable (and in both cases, moving on) in either lower geared bracet TO DATE. If anything in warmane's realms of pvp, these two bracets have been considered to be both fair and nostalgic.
Having twinks in an ungeared and mostly unskilled bracet may sound unfair at first, with an undeniable truth that we DO have a better chance at achieving whatever we want than a full-green player.
However...
- BOTH sides have us, nearly equally, with mercenary mode actually working as a balancing factor. Any part of the day, in nearly any BG. With even the initial "daytime: Alliance, evening: Horde victories" phases being blurred. You do NOT get evened-out matches at this rate in the BiS bracet. One-side, bracet-famous premades vs 10/15/40 randoms, one-sided co-joining multiboxers, etc... up to date you didn't have either mainstreamed in lower bracets, and the only reason we even dare bring our issues to the forums now (and thus, potentially alerting any unwanted attention of said groups) is because after the changes, we literally spend as much time creating chars and accounts as we play the bracets.
- Doesn't multiboxing sound just as unfair? It is still allowed, despite all real or believed damage it causes, to exist. Currently, they can appreciate an official praise from staff, with any limitations being "unfortunate". "We also understand that it takes skill to be a multiboxer. Just setting up multiple programs and macros and making your set-up run normally requires a lot more than what a normal player does. We also understand that it is not easy to be a multiboxer, with both limitations of the battlegrounds that they have at their disposal and of course with the increased negativity of the community as of late." (Direct quote from Proterean). In what way are we twinks (fundamentally) different (apart from understanding and operating an external software on a rig that may be fit to mine bitcoins)? "Ensuring both multiboxing to exist and to ensure at least some modicum of fairness in the gameplay:" - Why can't we recieve a nearly identical sentence, with just multiboxing changed to lower-gear-bracet-twinking?
- Doesn't premade-play sound just as unfair? It is still allowed and encouraged - WoW is focused and built around team organising, in all game aspects. Any party successful at this is only to be praised and appreciated - and any who abuse the merc system are not only not considered a deviant behaviour to also be dealt with, but are only met with further comments "why play solo? Why the QQ? Join them, git gud.". Why does this not apply to a simple, quickly-obtainable character type controlled by a player who for whatever reason, wants to play differently, and stay where he feels comfortable, without breaking any rules?
I am unclear of any moral highground (apart from having every right to do so developer-side), OR any widespread twink-related occurance which may have resulted in a gamestyle being targeted for COMPLETE ANNIHILATION. (There may be one single related issue that comes to mind, but the actions and incredible feats of one particular Paladin-player who posted these on the forum, and who may have probably recieved reports regarding his play should not in any way be linked to,- or result in collective punishment, deserved or not, to an entire community, but instead be observed as a special, unique case of that player) I would like to remind the fact that up to date, There are far more complaints on the forum about multiboxers and premades than "80 twinks or any of the correlating metaphores", yet they are allowed to strive.
What did we do to, after such a long time to get the banhammer? How do we disrupt the game more than any other known "nuissance" of lvl 80 BG pvp to recieve not limitations, but complete erasing - and that even in a non-direct, subtle manner of three lines in the changelog instead of a website-headline, like the multiboxer teams being reduced to 5-man groups at maximum?
One of the main reasons that we "twinks" share for staying mid and low is because we want to avoid the horrors a solo player faces in BiS (multiboxing, premades, scripters by the many). Yes, there weren't bracets back in original WOTLK. But after the vast amounts of related arguments on the forum here, there weren't warmane-specific occurances either that determine the current BG landscape here. Low-gear-bracet twinking is NOT (just) about sealclubbing/GY camping. There is a far more efficient and CHEAPER way to do that: level up, join a pvp guild, and premade till dusk. There's a reason none of our community's members made it in the top 50 HK farmers on Icecrown, or on Lordaeron (while the latter has at least two 79's making the grade, although that twink bracet is also a non-24/7-operating one). It's because you don't join and wait 10-15 minutes to have a GY-fest and kill the bracet for an hour. We actually have fun. Sorry about that.
Specific suggestions:
- Generally, in both low and mid bracet, allow twinks (a.k.a. permanent participants of the bracet) with openly stated gear-limitations of 1 tier lower-than-bracet-maximum to keep playing. Say, in "furious season" (patch 3.1.1.9806) only items of or prior to the "deadly season" (patch 3.0.2.8962) may be owned and accessible by any character wishing to be exempt from "anti twink measures". Ownership of any non-compatible item would immediately suspend "anti twink measure immunity", but this occurance can be reversed by permanently losing access to the item (destroying it, dropping it, selling it and relogging, etc). Seasonal changes to bracets also apply.
- Although already an eybrow-raiser, okay, exclude twinks from low-bracet if you must. Leave that to TRULY new characters...Keep any anti-twink measures you can come up with operational. Though never perfect and exceptions will always occur, most of us would happily agree to leave that zone a "no fly zone".
- Return the mid-bracet to what it was in mid-October. There is no sane explanation to how a "new player" (NOT a new character) can get into mid-gear without any form of dedication or previous experience. (IRL Purchase of goods in a quantity sufficient for qualification into the bracet already suggests dedication - to the extent that typical high-end gearing may instantly result in actually BiS bracet MM, such as a SHM-purchase. In-game, auction-house purchases also suggest a background of financial experience by another character of the given player or family member.) The symbiosis of Icecrown, Lordaeron, and (unabused) fresh Blackrock characters never meant a problem, and when finally reaching our content, Frostmourne wouldn't have either. The mid-bracet had perhaps the most balance, with all participants having some combination of skill and gear, where twinks would still stand out, but actual "solo carry" heroes rarely emerged - since in most cases, the opposition had twinks, too. Also, it should be noted that the average BG had 1-2 twinks for 10 players in this bracet (not counting fresh Blackrock players who could be of any skill level before and if we would get to know them).
- Please communicate in detail any specific changes to bracet MM. Subtle and silent countermeasures against a long-existing phenomenon instead of openly condemning us isn't only as unfair as not targeting other "advantage-maximizing pvp endeavours" - it's perhaps more unfair. At this point, I'm not even sure precisely WHAT is intended to being abolished.
- Creating a safe haven in any bracet could, for some part be desirable, but to achieve this, secure it from everything that can hurt a new player. No twinks, but also no multiboxers, no premades, perhaps even removing party joining. Or, accordingly and equally limit them.
Especially, regarding the first suggestion, but in general, the entire issue at hand, I would like to repeat two sentences from earlier on:
"Ensuring both multiboxing to exist and to ensure at least some modicum of fairness in the gameplay:" - Why can't we recieve a nearly identical sentence, with just multiboxing changed to lower-gear-bracet-twinking?
3 weeks from now, a new season dawns on Frostmourne. This may be a good time to communicate about what exactly happened. It would also be greatly appreciated if constructive comments would keep the thread on rails, please don't troll with "just go level up and premade if you want to hk-farm" or "BG's were meant to be unfair. BOOM-you're out of your game, all of you. There's your share of unfairness, dear 80 twinkorwhatevers." On the other hand, giving us true insight to how we have proven to be more damaging than any other BG phenomenon to be awarded with such a targeted response, or how any agreement could be achieved would all be welcome.
