World of Warcraft's appeal as a competitive game is in a mess
currently and is in need of radical PVP revisions to gain acceptance
as an e-Sport. In light of additions from the Burning Crusade (the
arena PVP system, resilience, changes in itemization) that have
improved the PVP environment, the game clearly shows the momentum to
be steered in the right direction. The key deterministic factors
impairing its ability to be better recognized can be covered from
numerous aspects.
The threshold of skill in competitive play is at times trivialized by
factors outside of the player's control; when the capabilities of a
player are voided by factors the player has absolutely no control
over, a questioning of confidence in the game's interactivity arises.
In short, these problems arise from the game's reliance on chance
instead of player control; this is the fundamental issue that must be
rationally revised over time.
Radical as it may sound, all random number generators that exist in
the gameplay mechanics of WoW need to be reworked or removed
exclusively for the PVP environment. Parries/blocks/dodges need
revisions to be less intensive on chance and be made more reliable;
Blizzard showed the momentum to revise chance and to opt towards more
control with the implementation of resilience to rebalance the role of
critical strikes in PVP environments. With similar fine-tuning
(although in obviously different means), a solution could be surmised
to add a similar level of predictability the aforementioned facets.
Resists and misses need to be entirely removed from PVP aspects of the
game, they serve for no other purpose than to instate a randomized
chance to dictate the outcome of a match; thus effectively robbing the
player from control and forcing it to be resolved with chance instead
of skill.
Gear acquisition roadblocks such as farming honor for long investments
of time to gain tertiary pieces of gear and farming gold for long
investments of time to gain the same enchants/gems for gear serve to
block out a crowd who would rather play the game for the merits of the
game itself and also does well to insult the existing crowd of players
who must devote large time investments routine every arena season in
order to remain competitive. Change(s) must be made to gear
acquisition to change the emphasis on time investment to activities
that are more pertinent to the merits of the game instead of
indirectly becoming an additional cost of admission.
Marginalization (or removal if possible) made to chance-based
mechanics and revamping gear acquisition in the PVP scope of WoW,
would best serve to expand the game's competitive atmosphere, and
would grant it the ability to be better accepted by competitive
leagues as an e-Sport.
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