Not just that but you have to do X pvp(Arena) to do get Y pvp gear(BGs).
Thats even worse because most people (myself included) still enjoy BGs even over arenas yet we are limited and required to do arena.

Not only that but as nice as it is to be on the winning side, you're sure to end up on the losing side and that's when it stings the most.

Personally I think anyone that is willing to AFK or BS their way through a BG needs to quit playing. Exploiting a loose-fit system that Blizzard apparently won't do anything about and screwing everyone else over, and when you talk to them about it they resort to the boring default "QQ MOAR" or some other stupid response.

It's just a proven fact that players only care about themselves for the most part.

These same asshats that exploit the system are the ones that cry a river when it happens to them, which I find quite poetical but it doesn't solve the problem.

bliz has already said that they consider it non-participation and will act on it (Even just the act of advertising for losing premades).

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=5103808526&postId=52354833827&sid=1#1

Last post is from a blue clarifying it very clearly:

"It is against our rules, so please don't do it. Our policies are subject to modification, and while it is unlikely, they may change; in the meantime, if you see players forming a pre-made group to lose, please report them. "

Earlier the same blue posted that you should report any losing premades, and I've been actively doing that myself anytime I see them, and referring the people who are advertising for them to the thread referencing it being a TOS violation.

btw, there are numerous other blizzard blue posts on the forums that clearly state that losing premades are violations of the non-participation rules and that they will act on them.

For example....
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=5281957697&postId=53773300167&sid=1#38

99.9% of WOW is just a grinding session.

Grind dailies for gold, instances for badges/drops, rep, marks, honor. its all the same.

when you have a game based on rewarding repetative tasks, mindless grinding is the outcome.

For me, i cant have fun unless I care about how I play. I am full epic PVP and love BG now more than ever. I dont even need the honor, but I like that I can almost single handedly change the outcome.

Winning is the only thing.

While you can chalk a lot of things up to pre-expansion, this isn't one of them. This started when welfare epics came out and it won't stop until something is done. Hell I think it may have started before then, I'm not sure.

That's like saying in order to solve boredom, go do something else that's boring too.

That's when this started: Pre-BC. There was previously an effort-based rank system in order to get PvP gear (which was flawed, admittedly), and Blizzard decided to take it away and let anyone get any of the gear they wanted for honor/marks.

Once this happened, you started to get your major influx of AFK PvPers who were just there for marks and trickle honor. Before this patch happened, there were AFKers, certainly, but they were never able to achieve max ranks using that tactic, and thus never got the option to get any and all PvP gear available.

It will last until Blizzard changes how BGs work.

Right now you are REWARDED for quitting if you are going to lose anyway or if the game is going to be close. If you can lose in 10 minutes and get 1 mark or player for 30 minutes and get 1 mark, then many people will conclude the former is better. Now quitting goes against the nature of a lot of people (I never quit, for instance), but there are plenty that will give up if it gets them where they want to go faster.

To elaborate further, consider even a close game where both teams are playing very, very well. The losing side still only gets 1 mark, despite doing much, much better than a quitter team. The losing side spent a lot of time on that for no benefit. The losers there are punished harshly for even TRYING to win.

What Blizzard really needs to do is make bonus honor and marks scale depending how long the game lasts. If a game goes on for an hour then you should get twice as much bonus honor and marks than if it went for half an hour. That way people won't be punished for trying (and in fact they are rewarded since a longer game avoids as much queuing time).

/agree with MisterMoose. Investing so much time and effort only to receive the same reward as a minimum of effort is completely illogical; that truly is beating your head on the wall.

Scaling rewards on performance makes the most sense, as there's nothing more demotivating than losing an hour-long WSG for 1 mark and 150 honor.

It's nice that you fill up your group at least. I've been one of a few that got stuck with a bunch of losers dancing naked in Trollbane Hall. I understand the appeal of this practice, but I can't feel good about giving the Horde three marks and the bonus honor.

I think it would be really funny if two losing premades faced off. How long would it take them to realize it?

You do realize that while you're optimizing the time it takes for you to get 1 mark, you're also optimizing the time it takes for the other side to get 3 marks?

Over time this will lead to the other side getting better gear faster. It's great that you're not screwing over anyone on your team, but you're essentially screwing over your whole battlegroup.

It also screws over the players on the other side who wanted to actually play a game against other people, and earn a vicory through superior teamwork, strategy, and resolve.

I have to disagree on the cool-looking comment... many of those gears are just butt fugly!

Why do Hunters need to look they're Halloween rejects??

I'm just glad Druid gear looks pretty good!

That would be a nightmare. It's bad enough that I'm forced to play BG's I hate (such as WSG) to get the marks... your "solution" would make me have to play (at least) twice as many matches of a BG I'd rather not be playing at all. And in some cases, it would make some gear impossible to get... there was a stretch during the Alliance boycott of AV where I was on the losing side about 30 times in a row.

No thanks.