In WoW, Battlegrounds are separated by level brackets, for example: 20-29, 30-39. It seems like a reasonable breakdown, not too broad and not too narrow. However in practice it does not work very well. What ends up happening is only players near the top of their level bracket end up playing. This is due to the fact they have superior stats, health, mana, skills and equipment. Players lower in the bracket actually end up being liabilities since they take up a slot.
WAR has taken a similar, but different apprach to their RvR. RvR and Scenarios are broken up into tiers (which are separated by level brackets). Where they diverge from WoW is that they introduced Battle Ranks. Not much is known about Battle Ranks, except what has been seen in videos. Battle Ranks seem to adjust stats, health and such.
When you enter a RvR area (or scenario), all players get a temporary increase in their Battle Rank to the ceiling for that tier. It will only last while in an RvR area and all exp/renown is based on your Battle Rank. You do not get any additional skills from this temporary increase, but you will be on par with everybody else as far as things like attributes.
This seems like a great solution to the problems that level brackets introduce. A Level 2 player should be able to compete in a scenario with Level 9's. They will lack skills and some equipment, but it should still be an enjoyable experience for the player. No longer will folks groan, "It's over, we have 3 Level 22's and the enemy is all level 29!"
I look forward to hearing if it works as good as it sounds once the NDA drops!
Reflections on 20 Years of World of Warcraft
5 hours ago
1 comments:
They already have such a system in the PvP zones in City of Heroes. You must be a minimum level to enter, but on entry you are "sidekicked" up to the maximum level of the zone.
For example, a lvl 18 chap goes into Bloody Bay. He will fight as though he is a level 25. A level 50 goes in, he too becomes level 25. Obviously there is still the advantage to the higher levels as they have more powers and options, but that's only fair.
A level 2 in WAR will compete with a level 9, but the 9 will have more options tactically speaking.
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