I have not heard anything positive about this update from the low level pvp community. Regarding the tc level limits in particular and recent low level pvp changes in general, I'm hearing: "rip low level", "I'm going to have to level up", "Wow I sure hope KI has a plan to fix all this", "Seriously???".
"Restored "Opt In" prompt for Rank mismatches". Getting a horribly unfair matchup is now a feature??? The current queue is still serving up incredibly unfair matchups--overlords with several thousand rank vs'ing privates of the same level. Doesn't this show how badly messed up pvp is now?
"Improvements to address matchmaking queue wait times " Many people I talked to in the past few weeks say they are waiting close to an hour for a match and some just gave up--either for the day or they really gave up, they decided it was unplayable and leveled up their wizard--while others selected the rank mismatch. Many of those players could have gotten fair matches if not for the new strict level band limits now in place. Of course it is preferable to match players of similar levels but often this is just not possible and using level to help even out the matches was an essential tool that should not have been discarded. And if the recent changes to pvp were not so unpopular, there would be more players participating and fairer matches for all.
Regarding level bands. What is the purpose of level bands? Doesn't this give unfair advantage to players at the top of the band? What are the implications of these level bands for pvp tournaments? Currently tournaments often bracket across the level bands to get enough players for a bracket, and to allow the most players to participate. The test realm level band limits on tc's will make this a lot more unfair for the lower band players than it currently is. But if level band aren't combined, many of these tournaments won't bracket anymore and players who currently enjoy tournaments will be getting "Diego could not find you a bracket" a lot more often."
Low level enthusiasts enjoy the challenge of figuring out how to win, even against higher level players, despite the limitations of lower stats. Many lower level players used pre-enchanted tc in pvp, but after those were banned (a horribly unpopular decision), they turned to high level tc. Now those won't be useable either. And most of the utility tc are or will soon be not useable. With having both our pre-enchanted hits and now the high level/untility tc taken away, how can we get enough damage to kill anyone? Is the entire game going to be about a pet card or gear card now? Congratulations, KI, you've turned an interesting game that many people were enjoying into a game that few still want to play. You can open it up to non members to feed some more privates into the arena, you can take away our 4th age rank to push us back into the arena to earn back the badges we had, so I expect participation will improve over the dismal situation we had in the past months--but not because the game is better. No one I've talked to likes these changes.
The ELO rank system was bad in first age and I don't see why KI thinks it is going to work now. In first age, high rank low level players would usually vs high level privates, because there were not enough high rank players to give fair same rank matches. I played rank in first age, 1v1 and 2v2, and a win would earn us 1 or 2 rank points. A loss would lose us 20-25 rank points. So we were winning >90 percent of matches but impossible to rank up-- ELO stuck us in a limbo of unfair matches. A good rank system should get players to where they win half, lose half. That's the definition of fair matches. The ELO system did not do anything close to that. I don't see how an ELO system can work well if there are not enough high rank players participating. With the new level bands, the high rank/private matchups are even more unfair than they used to be because the privates no longer have a substantial advantage of high level. It will be impossible for the best players to get fair matches. And very discouraging for all the players in their level band that keep getting beaten by them.
"we’ve been gathering player feedback: both feedback vocalized, and the unspoken feedback in terms of how you’re playing (or not playing) PvP at the moment." Great, but I don't know anyone who feels their feedback on the past year and a half's changes was heard. If there is one thing that all low level pvp enthusiasts agree on it's "KI doesn't care about low level". We haven't been ranking but that "feedback" hasn't made any difference. Can we roll back all these unpopular changes? We have "classic" tournaments. How about allowing us to play "2019" ranked pvp?
Re: Low level pvp June dev diary/test realm response
I completely agree. I do grandmaster and legendary pvp. I go up against the same overpowered ice or death warlord. I literally can’t get above a veteran rank. I wait an hour for matches and eventually give in and accept a “higher match.” I can’t just sit there for hours and stare at the screen. And once I hit accept I get an overlord ice who spams frostbite and satyr constantly. Oh and even if I can survive the entire match, Diego still favors the spamming, no brain strat warlord.
Really starting to lose interest in this game and I typically love pvp. It’s becoming incredibly inaccessible to those who don’t already have an advantage.
Re: Low level pvp June dev diary/test realm response
I agree I have played wiz since just after beta and have pvp’d at most levels. Right now ki is ruining low level pvp. I doubt there will even be a journeyman level pvp after new age. Even the free limited pvp is to start at adept. I have always done 2v2 snd up because I consider pvp a social thing and way more fun with partners. To try and figure out strategies to win. I used to do ranked but it is impossible over the last few years to get 2v2 and up ranked matches without waiting forever and the longer you wait usually the more unfair the matches. I turned to doing tournaments which I love. I started on an ice and then moved to a life. With the changes that are being proposed gor 5 th age life will be basically useless unless as a healer. I am more of an offensive player. I went on test and saw some of the tc that will be available to the different schools at low level. As a journeyman there is basically nothing. Even as an adept the discrepancies between the schools is so high the differences in say 3 pip spells or 5 pip spells is so drastic between the schools. I have worked hard and have all the lore spells on all of my characters. ( took me over 3 years ) but our decks are so small at low levels that with ward pets being allowed killing will be almost impossible. It is also uneven between schools that some have air snd blades while others have neither. I have changed my pvp strategies many times to try and accommodate the changes but I’m not sure this will be possible in 5 th age. It seems to me it will be dependent on pets. I was hit with an efreet from a pet the other day and even though efreet tc have been reduced to -45 the pet spell has -90. After 13 years of pvp and growing up on wiz these new changes might mean I join the ranks of my friends that are leaving wiz. I have done master pvp I have done Gm , legendary and max ( at 125 ) truthfully I prefer journeyman pvp and I don’t think it will be alive. I wish ki the best and I will definitely give it a try before I quit ( they deserve the benefit of the doubt ) but I think if they go through with proposed changes they are nailing the coffin shut for low level pvp and I feel that everyone should have a choice as to what level they prefer to play Also 1 last note everyone who has played new characters since first age ( I have 5 accounts full of characters that have all pvp’d ) has had to fight against fully geared players. It was hard but was also a real badge of honour for your character to receive her wings. They meant something to be proud of. You had won enough battles to get yourself to commander. It was not easy but was well worth it. Now people noisy for wings and I always stitch my wings because to me they have lost the honour that used to be associated with them. I still think one of the prettiest girl outfits in the game :)
