The new ParentDish: helping raise kids of all ages
Posts with tag Smurfing

Relmstein explains arena team ratings, and how Blizzard is working to combat exploiting them

Posted May 7th 2008 2:00PM by Daniel Whitcomb
Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, PvP, Arena

Relmstein of The Many Relms of Relmstein has posted an updated version of a post he originally wrote in 2006 that is one of the most concise and clear explanation of how team ratings work and how people exploit them, including how Blizzard's planned arena rule changes will help stop these exploits.

Continue reading Relmstein explains arena team ratings, and how Blizzard is working to combat exploiting them

  • Read
  • Permalink
  • Email this
  • Comments [17]

Blizzard and unintended consequences

Posted Jan 14th 2008 6:00PM by Mike Schramm
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Ranking, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Battlegrounds, Arena

Relmstein has an interesting post about Blizzard and all the "unintended consequences" they seem to run into. He talks mainly about Alterac Valley and Blizzard's recent AFKer battles, as well as the fight against smurfing and selling Arena ratings. Both times, Blizzard implemented fixes that were meant to, well, fix things, but both times, the "fixes" were either completely dodged, or simply lead to more problems.

Now, Relmstein is just thinking critically about Blizzard's actions, and we always encourage that. But at the same time, you can't really blame them for having unintended consequences to their ingame actions-- the law says everyone does. And to go the other way, the mere fact that Blizzard is confronting this stuff (honor exploits and rating sales) while other games are just trying to get PvP or a good Arena system down says that they're way ahead of the game already. They're dealing with specific problems in implementation, while other developers are still just trying to get people to play.

But at the same time, Relmstein is exactly right to call both of these examples Blizzard attacking the symptoms rather than the underlying problem. Why do people sell Arena ratings or AFK in Alterac Valley? Because Blizzard's honor rewards system makes it easier for them to do that rather than actually be good at PvP. If Blizzard attacked the problem (a mixed-up rewards system) rather than the symptoms (AFKers and smurfs), then there would be no dodging their fixes.
  • Read
  • Permalink
  • Email this
  • Comments [29]

Season 3 Arena equipment change stops ratings abuse

Posted Dec 11th 2007 3:47PM by Dan O'Halloran
Filed under: Items, News items, PvP, Arena

Today's maintenance is over, but the Season 3 Arena gear drama has only just begun, or ended depending on your point of view. Late last night, Tyren posted that when the servers came back up there is a new change to purchasing S3 Arena equipment. Before the maintenance, a certain Personal Rating was needed to buy the S3 gear, but now the same gear requires the purchaser's Team Rating to be in the same range.

According to Jagoex at Warlock Therapy, this was done to stop a practice of artificially inflating your Personal Rating. Our own Zach Yonzon explained this smurfing concept. Players would form teams with their main and alts, winning with their mains and losing with their alts, thus ensuring a slow and steady Personal Rating gain. Now that the equivalent Team Rating is required, those people working the system have to play the Arenas the way Blizzard intended.

Tyren also mentioned that though the new purchasing requirements are in effect as of today, they won't be displayed by the in-game vendors yet, but in an "upcoming patch." So though you won't see it listed in-game, the Team Rating is now required.

EDIT: Clarified last sentence.
  • Read
  • Permalink
  • Email this
  • Comments [34]

Arena smurfs are "100% awesome!" according to Blizz

Posted Nov 28th 2007 1:00PM by Zach Yonzon
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Ranking, PvP

Arena Season 3 has just arrived, and players everywhere are enjoying the end-of-season rewards for Season 2. Whether it's a title of Gladiator, Duelist, Rival, or Challenger, or even the Merciless Nether Drake awarded to the upper .5% percentile of the Arena population, this season seems to be have come to another successful close. Or has it?

WoW Insider reported buying the Drake and other interesting sales and trades but it seems that if there's a system, players will find a way to... uh... be creative. A couple of posts over at the PvP forums are hotly debating the latest and greatest technique to achieving the No. 1 Ranking in Arenas -- win trading.

Continue reading Arena smurfs are "100% awesome!" according to Blizz

  • Read
  • Permalink
  • Email this
  • Comments [36]


RESOURCES

Blizzard Events
BlizzCon (190)
Worldwide Invitational (106)
Class Columns
(Druid) Shifting Perspectives (47)
(Hunter) Big Red Kitty (37)
(Hunter) Scattered Shots (21)
(Mage) Arcane Brilliance (43)
(Paladin) The Light and How to Swing It (51)
(Priest) Spiritual Guidance (26)
(Rogue) Encrypted Text (33)
(Shaman) Totem Talk (51)
(Warlock) Blood Pact (31)
(Warrior) The Care and Feeding of Warriors (55)
Gameplay
(Arena PvP) Blood Sport (27)
(BG PvP) The Art of War(craft) (25)
(Casual) WoW, Casually (21)
(Guild Leadership) Officers' Quarters (63)
(Professions) Insider Trader (63)
(Raid Healing) Raid Rx (20)
(Raiding) Raiding 101 (2)
(Raiding) Ready Check (27)
(Roleplaying) All the World's a Stage (44)
Hybrid Theory (20)
New Players' Guide (3)
Tank Talk (6)
AddOns and UI
AddOn Spotlight (89)
Macro Anatomy (14)
Reader UI of the Week (27)
Reader WoWspace of the week (31)
The Creamy GUI Center (14)
Lore and Stories
Around Azeroth (525)
Ask A Lore Nerd (9)
Barrens Chat (9)
Know your Lore (58)
Tales from the Lion's Pride Inn (14)
WoW Moviewatch (518)
Features
15 Minutes of Fame (26)
About the Bloggers (28)
Ask WoW Insider (63)
Azeroth Security Advisor (4)
Breakfast topics (728)
Build Shop (35)
Forum Post of the Day (24)
Gamers on the Street (25)
Guildwatch (82)
He Said She Said (5)
Illusionary Tactics (3)
It came from the Blog (29)
Phat Loot Phriday (92)
The Colosseum (0)
Two Bosses Enter (61)
Well Fed Buff (27)
World of WarCrafts (26)
WoW Crossword (1)
WoW Insider Show (68)
WoW Rookie (41)
[1.Local] (13)
Classes
Death Knight (100)
Druid (320)
Hunter (290)
Mage (182)
Paladin (307)
Priest (256)
Rogue (181)
Shaman (286)
Warlock (198)
Warrior (219)
News
Account Security (25)
AddOns (256)
Analysis / Opinion (3178)
Blizzard (1673)
Bugs (220)
Burning Crusade (378)
Contests (232)
Economy (198)
Events (467)
Expansions (639)
Fan stuff (921)
Features (676)
Forums (289)
Guilds (506)
Hardware (45)
Humor (809)
Interviews (166)
Lore (315)
Mounts (143)
News items (1612)
NPCs (213)
Odds and ends (1724)
Patches (1153)
Podcasting (78)
Ranking (56)
Realm News (298)
Realm Status (247)
RP (177)
Rumors (68)
Virtual selves (685)
WoW Insider Business (306)
WoW Social Conventions (156)
WoW TCG (57)
Wrath of the Lich King (426)
Strategy
Alts (118)
Arena (260)
Battlegrounds (158)
Bosses (362)
Buffs (130)
Cheats (74)
Classes (327)
Enchants (37)
Factions (166)
Guides (407)
How-tos (415)
Instances (685)
Items (884)
Leveling (304)
Making money (194)
PvP (782)
Quests (384)
Raiding (777)
Talents (153)
Tips (588)
Tricks (233)
Walkthroughs (93)
Media
Comics (80)
Fan art (49)
Galleries (195)
Machinima (604)
Podcasts (52)
Polls (67)
Screenshots (675)
Races
Alliance (119)
Draenei (66)
Dwarves (21)
Gnomes (47)
Human (21)
Night Elves (48)
Horde (120)
Blood Elves (72)
Orcs (29)
Tauren (51)
Trolls (27)
Undead (27)
Professions
Alchemy (80)
Blacksmithing (63)
Cooking (76)
Enchanting (77)
Engineering (112)
First Aid (19)
Fishing (63)
Herbalism (51)
Inscription (14)
Jewelcrafting (87)
Leatherworking (66)
Mining (50)
Skinning (31)
Tailoring (71)
Retired
Pimp My Profile (1)
(Engineering) Hoof and Horn Research and Development (17)
Azeroth Interrupted (24)
Back In The Day (3)
World Wide WoW (8)
/silly (14)

RSS NEWSFEEDS

Powered by Blogsmith

    Featured Galleries

    Scarlet Crusade Tabard T-shirt
    Reader UI of the Week 6/29/08
    Worldwide Invitational goodie bag
    WWI08 Costume and Dance Contest
    Worldwide Invitational 2008
    World of WarCrafts: Midsummer magnet
    June 2008 splash screen speculation
    Blizzard splash screen speculation
    Midsummer Fire Festival

     

    Most Commented On (30 days)

    Recent Comments

    Weblogs, Inc. Network

    Other Weblogs Inc. Network blogs you might be interested in:

    PS3 Fanboy
    WOW Insider
    Xbox 360 Fanboy
    Nintendo Wii Fanboy
    DS Fanboy
    PSP Fanboy
    Big Download Blog
    AOL Sports Blog