Since the inception of the arena system in WoW, players have been very creative in finding ways to boost their ratings. First it was a matter of highly-ranked teams selling slots to less skilled players. Lately the subject of trading wins and losses has been the buzz. Blizzard has taken the steps that they feel necessary, such as instituting the personal rating system, to combat the issue.
In a thread entitled "Selling arena teams ok/not ok?" Legolawls reiterated the subject of team leaders selling off points, and blue posts condoned the behavior. That player feels that selling violates the spirit of the game. This elicited a responses from both Crepe and Turtle (via Auryk) saying that there are currently no rules preventing the sale of an Arena team. Interestingly they even hinted that entire team sales are acceptable. As long as the transaction occurs only in-game it is considered to be a legitimate service. Team captains are free to sell slots or even their entire teams as they see fit. If the team were being sold outside of game, for a real cash sum, the matter would be different.
This means that five seasoned players can pony up the 200 gold to start up a team at a 1500 rating. Then they spend a few weeks working it up, sell it off for a tidy profit, and start over again. This means that players who are skilled and geared enough to be in the top brackets are regularly dropping themselves back to pairings with players who lack the resources to put up a fight. While winning and making gold are fun, it sounds even more tedious than dailies to me- not to mention frustrating for those of us who get rolled by those who significantly outgear us.
This also means easy games for true top ranked teams. They would be matched up with teams of equal rating but lesser skill, which would then inflate their ratings. True, the rating of the purchased team will drop, but if they play only 10 games a week, they'd still have a few weeks to bank inflated arena points.
Apparently, even with the recent changes, arena points are still for sale. I think it would annoy me most if my team leader sold a team out from under me. So what is that Vengeful Gladiator's Waraxe worth to you?
Subscribe
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
2-07-2008 @ 7:04PM
theRaptor said...
Personally I don't see the point in skipping the game to get an entry in a database. The actual game is getting the good gear, and what that gear then allows you to achieve. So buying arena points to get gear that I most likely would not use to achieve anything further, seems extremely pointless to me.
Reply
2-07-2008 @ 7:07PM
Heilige said...
Looks like all you PvP'ers were exactly right. These aren't welfare epics at all. I should just QQ more about my hard-won raid gear being overshadowed by people who don't live in a basement. GG.
Reply
2-08-2008 @ 12:05AM
Ubercharged said...
yeah, raiding is incredibly hard, i mean you have to fight bosses that don't change and follow directions. DIRECTIONS.
2-08-2008 @ 10:26AM
jr said...
Yeah, pvp is hard, cuz we never know what that S3 MS warrior is going to do. Give me a break. The only ones doing anything different are the nubs that are easy to kill.
2-07-2008 @ 7:22PM
Spoony said...
Hey i'd spend 1k gold to have someone farm me up the rep for the 1 handed weapons. I hate pvp too much to do it myself but their currently the highest dps weapons for my class and spec in the game.
Reply
2-07-2008 @ 7:39PM
nearlysober said...
Guilds sell raid spots or BoP raid drops (by inviting potential buyers along) all the time... but when it's PvP it's wrong?
I think buying your PvP points is lame and people do it for all the wrong reasons... but in my mind it's no worse than buying PvE raid drops.
Reply
2-07-2008 @ 7:43PM
Askander said...
All the more reason I say that PvP has little to no place in WoW. Blizzard can't seem to design a cheat resistant system, why bother with it at all.
2-07-2008 @ 8:41PM
theRaptor said...
You can't sell guilds and have the buyers getting epics for wiping on the first trash pull. And unless you really, really have something on farm it is hard to sell raid spots. This isn't pre-BC where good guilds could 25 man most raids and so sell 15 spots. Now days spot buyers need to be competent and semi-geared. Plus you aren't even getting into the top tier raids without the massive rooster block of attunement. If five guys could drag twenty guys in greens through BT, it would be equivalent to arena points selling.
2-07-2008 @ 9:26PM
Vizzad said...
Actually raptor.. selling a 5v5 spot would be like selling 1/5th your raid in BT.. not 4/5ths... and this has been done..
all you gotta do is tell people where to stand..
I remember a time in kara when my guild was young, resto shaman/warrior/paladin finished prince from phrase 3 on?
let me help you out, resto shamans can earth shield to death, with some thrown in mana tides, the paladin could holy shock.. but couldn't cause he was constantly healing
that warrior took prince from something like 30% to dead..
moral of the story.. yea it was hard.. but if 3 people took prince down.. 20/25 can take down parts of a bt raid.
whew, sorry for grammatical errors.. Im to tired to care
2-08-2008 @ 4:15AM
Pzychotix said...
A lot of Hyjal/BT guilds sell spots in SSC/TK farm raids at exorbitant prices. And people buy these spots, given that people need these to get into Hyjal/BT guilds. Guilds with the game on farm sell spots in Hyjal/BT for even higher prices.
People will pay thousands of gold for the plums. More power to the people.
2-07-2008 @ 8:07PM
Johnson Mitchells said...
Ah, the murky world of Arenas continues to disappoint...
I'm biased as I play purely PvE and BGs, but even the most ardent Arena player must surely concede that it does seem to bring out the worst in people.
Reply
2-07-2008 @ 8:29PM
Zechleton said...
This isn't even remotely new. People buying points is almost as old as arenas and yes, it is stupidly lame but if people wanna pay hundreds of gold for a title and a slightly faster mount that's their concern. My problem is with the exploit that allows people to get arena weapons in S3 without having to be skilled enough to earn it legitimately (obviously i won't post it here in case people don't know about it). I can see why Blizzard introduced this system, but frankly it's been an utter failure and they might as well just do away with it.
Reply
2-07-2008 @ 8:41PM
Richard Gumbley said...
I can see this from a money-making perspective of a full vengeful
group of 5 friends, I mean, come on, it cant be hard to inflate a
team and sell it on, splitting the profit between eachother. Although
it would be unfair if the team didn't know about it and the captain
just sold the thing.
Then again, theres the perspective that this is ruining the game for
people who work hard for their rating only to be instantly outranked
buy some (probably) gold buying 14 year old who wants his shiny
vengance gear. This attitude is what is undermining both Arenas and
PvP in general, people who think that they can buy hard work. And the
kicker is that they can, and they get away with it.
Blizzard needs to take a good look at PvP and Arenas and sort
something out.
Swinging The Light
http://swingingthelight.blogspot.com
A paladins blog about respecs, raids, rants and real life.
Reply
2-07-2008 @ 8:46PM
theRaptor said...
The simple method would be to require personal ratings on all the current season gear. Previous season gear would be for reduced personal rating, and previous -1 for honour. Top arena gear should be for the good PVPers, not for people that just fail for a few months. I don't get BT gear by wiping in Kara.
2-08-2008 @ 4:01AM
Pzychotix said...
That's a horrible system. Eventually, there'll be a point where gear will create a ceiling in your rating. Season 1 gear certainly won't cut it at 2200+ ratings. Personal rating on only some of the gear allows newcomers and veterans alike allow everybody to reach the average gear level that would be needed to reach the higher ratings.
2-07-2008 @ 8:59PM
hpavc said...
Nothing wrong IMO, gold is gold ... time is money friend.
Reply
2-07-2008 @ 9:22PM
catherinezetajonesishot said...
"Blizzard has taken the steps that they feel necessary, such as instituting the personal rating system, to combat the issue."
I had rejoiced in this, lol, but I was let down. Kinda.
They tried, but this is an easy thing to bypass. 4ppl on your 2v2 team, 2 suck(on purpose) the other two are good and bring the score back up. Repeat.
Who cares about the 2v2 team's score if its in the dirt, you're 5v5 is where your points are. You're only concerned with your personal rating.
This is the best and most obvious way to bring your rating up. But don't take my word for it, just ask all the satisfied customers.
And remember, the 2 good players, they kinda need to be good. So in a way its like really earning your s3 :)
Reply
2-08-2008 @ 12:27AM
Suzaku said...
Not only is buying and selling arena slots, ratings, teams, whatever, a legitimate in-game economic practice (so long as it remains in-game), it is actually backed by the LORE.
The World of Wacraft comic depicts Reghar Earthfury, Gladiator Master, among other things, buying and selling arena team members.
Reply
2-08-2008 @ 12:29AM
Matt said...
There are always two games: the real game, and the game of getting around the game.
So, even in a game designed to be "fair," street smarts can always get you to the top as fast or faster than skill.
Reply
2-08-2008 @ 8:26AM
bob said...
As long as it is done with gold and not money who cares? How is paying a good team to bring up your rating different from a professional sports team buying a couple of ringers to improve their season?
The problem will always be gear. As long as people want cool epics some of them will bend and break the rules in any way they can figure out to get them. Until someone comes up with some kind of advancement for RPGs other than gear some people will always bend the system. The majority however will just play because they enjoy it.