TenTonHammer's First Look at World PvP in the Burning Crusade

This weeks look at the Burning Crusade is a little bit of a stretch for me since it is to look at the world PvP element being added.  It’s a stretch since normally I don’t care for PvP in MMO’s and avoid it like the plague.  I was asked to give it a look over though and to provide my first impressions.  How fitting that my Undead Priest Mallaria was copied over to the beta and is currently trying out shadow form, so here it goes…

In what I assume is an effort to make PvP a bigger and more important part of the game, Blizzard has established what they call world PvP goals in each zone of the Burning Crusade.  Many players will be familiar with the concept as it is very similar to what is in place now in Silithus and the Eastern Plaguelands. 

Right from the start in the Burning Crusade you will have the world PvP aspects thrown at you.  As soon as you enter a zone you will see the objectives for that zone in the top middle of your screen.  Also if your faction is winning you will see a really good buff sitting in your buff bar. 

The buff so far is the same from zone to zone, but this may change upon release. Currently (in the beta) if your faction has achieved the world pvp objective of the zone, everyone of your faction in the zone will get +5% to all damage.  This is huge bonus and can make a very large difference in a groups damage output. 

Best of all, this bonus applies to you while in the instances and raids in the zone!  Yes, this means that you can take your guild, and go out to capture the zones PvP objective, and then go on a raid with a 5% damage bonus.  Obviously the other faction will be trying the same thing though, so it will be a running battle to maintain control.

I think that these changes could make for some very interesting guild dynamics and / or mergers.  With many worried about their place in a guild now that raids will only require 25 people, this may provide space in a guild for additional players.  It will also help provide a place for PvP and Raiding in the same guild.  I can imagine coordination either with another guild or another element of the same guild to go and capture a PvP element to help with a raid.  The PvP’ers would have to capture the world PvP element in a specific zone at a specific time to coordinate with a guild raid going on to give that guild an edge in the raid.  This could be critical for things such as first attempts or speed runs though a raid or instance.

Blizzard has also implemented some nice reward items for the World PvP objectives.  Basically each time you capture an object you get a token, when you have enough tokens you can spend them as cash at the appropriate vendor for rewards.  Many of the rewards are very nice and well worth the effort to get, especially since you also get the bonus of a buff in the region for the next little while.

I headed out to the Hellfire Peninsula to give the whole system a try.  In this zone you must capture three separate objectives that are in close proximity to each other.  If done with a group you should be able to capture all three in less than 10 minutes, unless there is really strong opposition from the enemy faction.

I found though that since you are rewarded (at least initially) for capturing them, there was some sense in letting them fall so that you could get them again…  Maybe it’s just my devious rotting mind thinking that way, but who cares if a few guards die!

Before long, I was involved in a rolling battle back and forth with the Alliance.  In truth I had a lot of fun and before I realized it several hours had passed.  God Forbid, I was having fun in PvP in an MMO!  I could see this being entertaining for quite a while especially if higher priced rewards where added at some point down the line. 

Next up was the Twin Spires PvP system in Zangarmarsh to the west.  When I got there, there was next to no Alliance activity, so it wasn’t so much PvP as capture the objectives.  I got to kill 2 Alliance players, but that was it.  At least I got to see how the system worked though.

The Twin Spire Ruins lay between The Horde town of Zabra’Jin and the Alliance town of Telredor.  It is a huge ruin that is comprised of two tower like spire temples, and a central grave yard.  To capture each spire you must have more of your faction in its immediate area to gain control slowly.  It took about 5 minutes to gain control from full Alliance control to Full Horde Control of each one. 

Once you control both spires you will get a message that your standard bearer in your town is giving out standards.  You need someone to go and get one to plant at the center of the grave yard.  Once you do, you gain control of the graveyard as well, and grant everyone that is your faction in the zone the twin spires blessing which is +5% damage.

Again the system is setup to be fast and furious and seems like it would be a ton of fun with two guilds battling it out.  I will have to head back again to see what its like with more than just light resistance.

My only real issue with the system was after participating, I went to go questing for a while and was quickly ganked, due to my PvP flag still being on.  It takes too long in a non-pvp environment for this to turn off for my liking.  I would prefer a system where you could auto flag off of PvP as soon as you left the area.  This would allow you to participate and then immediately go adventure or raid with friends when you were done.

Each of the new zones has a different twist on the objectives that you need to accomplish to gain the zone bonus or get rewards. This setup made it feel more like an ongoing battle while in the regular game, instead of having to head to a battle ground. It seemed fast and fun, even for someone who dislikes PvP. I think a lot of people will be happy with this new setup.

For even more images of some of the World PvP available in the BC beta head over to our gallery! You can find a ton of additional screen here: TenTonHammer World PvP Preview Gallery.

Comments or questions? Email me ([email protected]) or post on our forums!