A couple of new BGs are planned for Mists of Pandaria, as well as a new Arena in Uldum.
Resilience Change in Mists of Pandaria
Also, resilience is going to become a base stat for all characters, which will be further buffed via gear for those that wish to PvP competitively. The resilience change will make it so that anyone will be able to PvP without the need for PvP gear, however, you’ll likely have better success if you’re wearing PvP gear. 😉 As it stands now, unless you’re a highly skilled DPS class in full high-end tier gear, it’s nearly impossible to survive a BG without PvP gear. This change will fix that. 🙂
New Battlegrounds in Mists of Pandaria
Blizzard has created concepts for three new possible BGs in Mists of Pandaria. It’s doubtful that they will add all three, but here’s a look at the ideas they’re kicking around at the moment.
Stranglethorn Diamond Mines
This would be a new subterranean BG in Northern Stranglethorn. The objective of this BG will be to gather resources by escorting mine cars to various depots within the mine. The first team to reach X number of resources wins.
The mining cars will spawn in the center of the map, with the depots located at opposite ends of the mine. Players will escort the cars down the various rails, with the ability to change their route at certain points along the tracks.
Imagine if Eye of the Storm was won strictly by flag running, and the FCs had to run on a variety of pre-determined routes. That’s kinda what the STV Diamond Mine will be like.
Of course, the theme of this BG will allow for some interesting terrain and pitfalls. Sounds exciting!
Valley of Power
The Valley of Power is going to be an all out combat slugfest – almost like a large arena match. Teams will enter an arena from opposite sides, then compete for the possession of a precious orb that will be located in the center of the arena.
Teams will rush to the orb, grab it, then try and stay alive as the the other team competes for it. The Valley of Power will consist of an open area with 4 pillars, surrounded by a raised platform around the perimeter.
The team possessing the orb will earn points based upon where they are located in relation to the map, as well as how long they hold it. Protecting the orb in the wide open center of the map will rack up the most points. Running to the perimeter of the map will allow for the fewest points.
The longer a team possesses the orb, the more points they’ll acquire. However, it’s also important to note that the orb will do damage to its carrier, increasing over time. It will be very important for the orb holder to have a few healers among their escorts.
The Valley of Power will be located in Pandaria.
Azshara Crater
Blizz hasn’t revealed much about this new BG, so no info on it just yet.
New Arena: Tol’Vir Proving Grounds
The Tol’vir Proving Grounds is going to be a new arena located in Uldum. It shares a similar layout to Nagrand Arena.
I think the new PVP concept is brilliant, it will bring everyone onto an even playing field and allow new players to enjoy the game. I don’t think it will stop some of the nastiness in bgs but they will have a better chance to learn and progress.
I love the idea of the Pandarens and the lore looks great. I really enjoy that side of the game and I think people forget that is designed to enjoy and invoke imagination 🙂
Why so many people complaining about Pandarens? They come from the depth of Warcraft lore and imho they’re absolutely better than a pink haired male gnome. And the new talent system seems great. Much more variety and finally you can really customize your character. Omg you can respec in a very short time whenever you want, that means imma adapt my talents from boss to boss! That’s really amazing!
Hello, I think blizzard fucked everything up, Pandas? They got carried away with a alien (Dranei) , also I seen something else are they changing the name of undead? I like how they are bringing alliance and horde together, but not through a panda in my opinion, Go find a different race. Oh and the talent tree fuck that
I think what Blizzard wants to do is positive… Yet I believe it’s too late to fix all the mess they’ve done so far until now. All the features that are heavily installed in the game, like arena, high end PvE, battlegrounds, etc, are potentially able to ruin all of those ideas. If they stand in the game, there will be many people who will still see no point on going out to play this Horde vs Alliance conflict. Even flying mounts alone can mess the expansion. Flying mounts alone have been responsible of much of the destruction of outdoors pvp that toke place in Vanilla WoW, and they are not going to take it away in MoP. It’s just like Cataclysm idea of bringing back Battlegrounds as a high end pvp way in form of rated BG. The idea sounded great, but I quitted extremely frustrated because the game was already too focused on Arena pvping and the BG fights felt a lot duller than vanilla old school BGs.
A great article Loziah. I think it hits the nail on the head. I’m a Dwarven hunter and am ok at PVE and have a few bits of decent PVP gear. My most prized title has always been “The Explorer”. My pet and I know EVERY part of Azeroth. I don’t think there needs to be a “big bad guy”…..the “bad guys” for me are the Horde. I play a Dwarf because that the race I like best….not because its the best dps. Looking forward to exploring Pandaria on foot………’cuz it looks like there are no flying mounts till lvl 95.
a preview for Mists of Pandaria Monk class http://bit.ly/s9D4Gb
On a PVP related note. How about the just finished Blizzcon arena tournament grandfinale?
MM hunters team won in 3’s, been a looong tiime. Everyone is surprized that a hunter could perform so well. Watch it on youtube, about 45 mins long, 5 games. Amazing.
Could you give us a Link ?? would love to see the hunters play… and maybe find out what im doing wrong… been searching it and i cant find it… thanks
That is a fantastic article with a great perspective on things.
Personally, I like all of the the ideas Blizzard has for the new expansion… Getting players out into the ‘world’, offering more exciting game play options apart from raiding and end-game PvP, the lightening up of the game is great, in my opinion… all of the announcements they’ve made I think are right on the money.
They really are just enriching the experience by making the game even more awesome. They’re adding new content, improving the graphics, giving players more options for things to do… I honestly don’s see why some people would bitch about it. Those that do are probably the players we won’t miss anyway. 😉
Hey Gar,
Since I haven’t bothered signing up yet, I’ll just post it here:
http://seanmalstrom.wordpress.com/2011/10/23/email-wows-friends-opinions-on-pandaria/
It’s a link to an article that I think is a great read, especially for those who believe that “Mists of Pandaria” is going to fail and/or people who are hating on the latest expansion.
I for one believe that MoP is a brilliant move, even before I read that article, but after reading it I now believe that it was simply a stroke of genius! I remember so long ago in Vanilla when people rolled their race and class not to get the best statistics and racials, but because they wanted to PLAY that specific race and class (at least the people I knew). And in those times, faction meant EVERYTHING. When you rolled Horde, you almost never rolled Alliance and vice versa.
When I went into WotLK, I got so irritated with gankers who would make questing so much harder. But then soon I realized, hey this is what the game is about: Alliance vs Horde. Period. Therefore the saying “If it’s red, it’s dead” actually makes sense now. I have to admit myself, sometimes I wish I wasn’t playing on a Normal realm but on a PvP realm instead because whenever an opponent passes my screen I kinda feel sad that I can’t take ’em down cause their flagged down. Of course griefing is another matter entirely.
Anyway, hope people are looking forward to “Mists of Pandaria” as much as I am. I sooooo wanna make a Tauren Brewmaster!! and of course a revamped Tauren Dudu, the new Talent System looks so sexy XD