Hey guys, long time player here (joined back in molten days in deathwing realm (2nd one after neltharion)). i also used to play in abyss-wow(AT/blackrock) and was there in the glory days. anyway, what brings me here is not the state of arena (remember that 3.3.5b patch? yeah those days were good..), but actully the state of Battlegrounds.
Battlegrounds should be the core place for newbies/more casual players to develop their skillset and learn the pvp game better, but this is not the case on warmane atm. I believe the reason is not as much the smourne squad, but actually the matchmaking/premades. Premades are an awful experience for one of the two teams so much that it makes you quit playing wow for good and especially so in Warmane.
Usually premades consist top end geared pvpers who want to farm honor faster in big groups and it is only a welcome sight for the regular bg if your team is a premade aswell . Otherwise you get graveyard camped to oblivion and start thinking about the wrong choices you made in life (like queing bg on warmane).
I have an idea how to make BGs a better place. Just make them unavailable for queing while in a group (or max 2players, but i believe no groups is the best) and we can have amazing, balanced BG experience on both teams with close games and actual pvp happening.
Also for those premade players who really want to get in as an organized bg team and win games - just make "Rated Battlegrounds" a thing where you can que in groups of 5/10/15 and get matched against others teams of players with the same high end gear and comps.
que times shouldnt be a problem especially if a system is in place so you get paired with other 5man parties to form the whole bg team if it has to be done (for example you que AB with 5man party and get in a team with a 10man premade, or other two 5man parties).
i think this is really important,because BGs are usually one of the most important aspects of the experience of a PVP player ( healthy BG meta usually makes for a healthy PVP experience in general)and you dont want to actually make the solo or less experienced players just quit because of the terrible system in place.