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World of Warcraft Battlegrounds, Chinese Launch

Posted by Zonk on from the they're-liquid-metal dept.

World of Warcraft continues its roll across the globe, with a successful Chinese launch of the MMORPG. More than 500,000 players participated in the beta test, and the launch statistics are expected to be impressive. Meanwhile, those of us who've been playing for a while have much to look forward to as the Battlegrounds of Alterac Valley and Warsong Gulch move into production. From the press release: "World of Warcraft's Battlegrounds are PvP-enabled zones where players compete against each other to achieve victory, Honor points, and valuable in-game rewards. Each Battleground has different goals and gameplay styles, providing an addictively engaging experience for participants. The two initial Battlegrounds now available to the public are Alterac Valley, a high-end zone designed for large groups of experienced players, and Warsong Gulch, a more casual zone designed for all players level 21 and up."

52 of 77 comments (clear)

  1. Inevitable censorship... by kongjie · · Score: 1

    I wonder how long it will be until games like WOW are required by control-crazy governments like the PRC to alter content. Something that commands the attention of youth for multiple hours per day is likely to come under attack eventually, just like books, music and film have in the past. But in the case of a movie, the officially released version can simply have some edits. It will be harder to "edit" WOW content, I think.

    1. Re:Inevitable censorship... by Ayaress · · Score: 1

      I guess that's the advantage of WoW separating regional versions. If it comes to that, they can censor the Chinese version without changing it for American or European players.

    2. Re:Inevitable censorship... by Hythlodaeus · · Score: 1

      This has already happened. Originally Ultima Online included the ability to dismember human corpses, get paid bounties for turning in criminals' heads to town guards, and if one were so inclined, to make human jerky. All that had to go for the game to be legal in Germany.

      You're less likely to see such things ever be an issue in current/future games. Whereas UO began as a crazy experiment no one expected to take off, MMOGs now are designed from the beginning to be mass-market behemoths with suits, marketing, and the legal department fully involved at every step.

      --
      For great justice.
    3. Re:Inevitable censorship... by Alcilbiades · · Score: 1

      well being a WoW player I can tell you that you might censor game content but you cant censor dialogue between players. I see lots of Chinese people going about their daily jobs farming gold in WoW and their is no way the government can censor that besides just banning chinese access to WoW servers located outside China.

    4. Re:Inevitable censorship... by DerWulf · · Score: 1

      Technically they probably took it out to not get an 'indexed' rating which doesn't mean that the game is illegal. Games that are 'indexed' just can't be adverised or displayed in stores (nor sold to minors, obviously). The consequence of course being that the game will sell like crap because they couldn't make the customers aware it even exits.

      --

      ___
      No power in the 'verse can stop me
    5. Re:Inevitable censorship... by arkanes · · Score: 1

      Interestingly, WoW features the ability to turn in heads (and other body parts) in exchange for bounties, and I understand it's quite popular in Germany.

    6. Re:Inevitable censorship... by DerWulf · · Score: 1

      The rating standards of the youth-protection agency are somewhat mysterious. WoW is rated for teenagers in germany for these reasons, I think:
      - you are nor actually doing (or seeing) the act of seperating a body part
      - total lack of gore
      - killing actual humans is not strictly the only way to play the game

      --

      ___
      No power in the 'verse can stop me
  2. Another interesting thing from the changelog by Ayaress · · Score: 1

    The honor system is actually a system now. You lose honor for dishonorable kills, instead of only gaining for honorable kills. It didn't make sense to me that this wasn't part of the system to begin with, since the honor system was touted as a means to punish people who slaughter players 20 levels below them.

    1. Re:Another interesting thing from the changelog by kaellinn18 · · Score: 1

      I could be wrong, but I believe that killing someone 20 levels below you isn't a dishonorable kill. Only killing civilians is dishonorable. If a mob of level 20s attacks a level 60, he has to defend himself, right? If you're level 20 and don't want to get your ass handed to you, don't go PvP unless you're sure there aren't higher levels about.

      --

      --------
      This isn't the sig you're looking for. Move along.
    2. Re:Another interesting thing from the changelog by BuCKsWorld · · Score: 2, Informative

      I'm pretty sure the "dishonor" part of the honor system now only applies to NPCs. If you're 60, and you kill a level 10 player, you still don't get dishonor.

    3. Re:Another interesting thing from the changelog by geminidomino · · Score: 1

      No, this is worthless.

      1) Lvl 12 orc Shammie runs halfway across the barrens for his Fire Totem quest.

      2) Lvl 58 Human Priest ganks Orc Shammie as he just barely beats off a pushy Lv 14 mob, just to be a dick.

      3) Orc Shammie loses 20 more minutes.

      4) Orc Shammie player tells friends who talked him into playing on a PvP server to go to hell, moves to RP server.

      Dishonor is worthless if it doesnt apply to PCs.

    4. Re:Another interesting thing from the changelog by Pofy · · Score: 2, Funny

      >Dishonor is worthless if it doesnt apply to PCs.

      And your proposed system works how? SPecifically so that there is no easy ways to abuse such a system. For example, low level players just standing/running arround together with high level ones (not initiating or even making any attacks to prevent systems were such a thing removes the dishonorable part). Should area effect spells not be usable there? Should you have to carefully look so your cursor is not on that level 20 player who just jumped out amogn the level 50 you was fighting? Should using low level chars as shields be the way to do it then?

    5. Re:Another interesting thing from the changelog by TwistedSquare · · Score: 2, Funny

      That is only true on PvE servers; on PvP you are always vulnerable to being attacked by a level 60 who doesn't like the look on your level 30 face ;-)

    6. Re:Another interesting thing from the changelog by ildon · · Score: 1

      Explain to me why this level 12 orc shaman was pvp flagged in the barrens?

    7. Re:Another interesting thing from the changelog by Damvan · · Score: 1

      Uh, No. On PvP servers, if you are in a contested zone, you are vulnerable. But if you are in non-contested zone, and not flagged for PvP, you don't have to worry about that level 60 at all.

      As Horde, Alliance cannot attack me in a zone such as The Barrens, or Durotar.

    8. Re:Another interesting thing from the changelog by Damvan · · Score: 1

      Exactly! Seems about half the posts here about PvP are by people who don't know the PvP rules, and most likely don't play on a PvP server.

    9. Re:Another interesting thing from the changelog by TwistedSquare · · Score: 1

      True, but once you get to about level 20, you are usually only in uncontested zones when you are headed to/from a big city. When you're out questing, you're vulnerable. And that's when you'll get attacked/ganked.

    10. Re:Another interesting thing from the changelog by geminidomino · · Score: 1

      Explain to me why this level 12 orc shaman was pvp flagged in the barrens?

      You can't un-flag on Lightning's Blade. It's a PvP server.

      And before someone offers the oh-so-sage advice of "stop playing on a PvP server" I've already done that (see #4) much to the chaigrin of the buddies I was playing with. They find it fun, I don't.

    11. Re:Another interesting thing from the changelog by geminidomino · · Score: 1

      In small doses, dishonor is as pointless as honor. This is a good thing. You need 25 honorable kills to even get a rank for the week, IIRC. 2 Honorable doesn't get you a thing, so 2 dishonorable kills shouldn't get you any penalty. That way those little "mistakes" don't cripple you, but camping on the road from Razor Hill to Org, shooting the little level 8 orcs coming from the Valley of Trials with a gun that does 300+ damage would be somewhat... discouraged.

      That said, I don't care much anymore. I've decided to leave the PvP server for an RP server and see if I like that better(I don't like PvP, but as I said above, a friend of mine was on it and talked me into it). If not, I'll jsut cancel before my trial is up.

    12. Re:Another interesting thing from the changelog by ildon · · Score: 1

      Actually, the barrens is considered Horde territory, and horde players are not flagged within it unless they choose to be. You can get to level 25 quite easily on both factions without ever becoming pvp flagged if you don't want to.

  3. 2 million subscribers by SirBruce · · Score: 4, Informative

    FYI, my next update on my web site will have WoW at 2 million subscribers according to inside sources.

    Bruce
    http://www.mmogchart.com/

  4. In the Chinese version by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    will all gold collected be evenly distributed among
    the players for the greater glory of Chinese WoW players?

    1. Re:In the Chinese version by patio11 · · Score: 1

      No, in the Chinese version Americans farm the gold and then sell it to the Chinese players.

      --
      Help poke pirates in the eyepatch, arr.
  5. Now that China has WoW... by alvinrod · · Score: 1
    ... maybe a lot of the Chinese gold farmers on the US Servers will go play on the Chinese servers. I don't intend to sound racist against Chinese people playing the game, but when they farm gold and sell it, it ruins the economy of the game.

    Here's to wishful thinking!

    1. Re:Now that China has WoW... by smileyy · · Score: 1

      That's right! We only want American gold farmers selling to Americans!

      --
      pooptruck
    2. Re:Now that China has WoW... by HaloZero · · Score: 1

      It not only ruins the economy, but also ruins some players experiences.

      Par exampla, I was in a party on our way into Maraudon. One of our players simply couldn't or wouldn't communicate with the rest of us. He kept running ahead, and eventually lead to our team getting wiped out. He finally told us that he didn't know very much English (this was long after we entered the instance...) We had also previously agreed to a need-before-gree loot system, such that if you need it, you can roll on it. It's yours if it's an upgrade. I don't know how many times he broke that condition, but I know that the rest of us got very little in terms of spoils from that run.

      --
      Informatus Technologicus
    3. Re:Now that China has WoW... by OglinTatas · · Score: 1

      even in an instance, can't the group leader boot a player who is screwing the party? I think if you are not in a group, you get teleported to the surface. I think it is better to go with 4 tight adventurers, than 4 guys and a loose cannon getting everyone killed regularly.

      --
      More music, fewer hits
    4. Re:Now that China has WoW... by Dachannien · · Score: 1

      This will only happen if Blizzard forces people in China off the US servers. There's no money to be made farming gold to sell to other people in China, and the sweatshop bosses in North America are well aware of that.

      On the other hand, forcing the Chinese to play on the Chinese servers ruins the gold farming sweatshops, because the margins would be too low hiring North American gold farmers to do all the grunt work. The sweatshop bosses would just drop it and go back to spamming or identity phishing or whatever they did before WoW.

      I'm normally happy to play the game along with anybody in the world who wants to play, but the benefits in terms of shutting down the gold farming sweatshops is great enough that forcing the separation based upon geography is probably a good idea. Besides, most people in China who actually want to *play* the game are probably going to prefer the localized version anyway, so it's not like it'd inconvenience that many people.

    5. Re:Now that China has WoW... by analog_line · · Score: 1

      This will only happen if Blizzard forces people in China off the US servers.

      This is completely impossible. Proxy server in the US. Next stupid idea?

    6. Re:Now that China has WoW... by Inali · · Score: 1

      You can boot them from your party, but you have to wait 60 seconds til they are evicted from the instance. Unfortunately that gives the soon-to-be-evicted enough time to make the rest of the instance impossible to complete if he works quick. That threat alone can be enough to keep them in the party after the rest have discovered their intentions.

    7. Re:Now that China has WoW... by The+Analog+Kid · · Score: 1

      Good tip to prevent "ninja looters" atleast for bosses who you know will drops blues, is to switch to master looter before you take the boss on, and then /random 1-100 for each item, and if someone rolls who clearly does not need it, can be ignored.

    8. Re:Now that China has WoW... by Dachannien · · Score: 2, Funny

      "Hey, Bill, check this out. The last six gold farmers we've banned have all been logged in from the same IP address at the same time."

      "Is anybody else logging in from that IP?"

      "No."

      "...Then your mission is clear."

      Pwned.

    9. Re:Now that China has WoW... by ildon · · Score: 1

      Unfortunately Master Looter is extremely bugged and often anyone can just loot an item from the mob.

  6. Dec 2004 or earlier by AHumbleOpinion · · Score: 1

    Dec 2004 or earlier

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6667257/

  7. BGs by 222 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Having played on the test server for a bit, I can tell you that the battlegrounds are a BLAST.

    The 10v10 CTF are a blast (especially as a rogue) and the 40vs40 maps are seriously epic, with quests that can turn the tides of battle.

    They allow you to upgrade the levels of npc defenders, summon epic mobs (around MC trash difficulty) etc. Reminds me of the ToB, DoTA maps I loved on battle.net. Good stuff!

  8. Hey, what's with all the orc noobs? by borkus · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Interestingly, most players up through now have been playing the Alliance side - Humans and Night Elves being the most popular with Dwarfs and Gnomes coming in later. On my server, the ratio is at least 3:1 Alliance versus Horde. This is going to be a problem on the WoW Battlegrounds. For every Horde player who wants to get on the battleground, there will be three Alliance players waiting to play. Since these areas are balanced (you only enter when both sides have equal numbers), Alliance players are going to find it harder to get into the battlegrounds - there just won't be enough horde players to fight against them.

    I expect that you're going to see many players re-rolling Horde alts so they can PvP.

    1. Re:Hey, what's with all the orc noobs? by Maserati · · Score: 1

      You mean the same high-level Alliance jerks who have been ganking me since launch will find Battlegrounds to be a frustrating experience ?

      HA HA !!

      --
      Veteran, Bermuda Triangle Expeditionary Force, 1992-1951
    2. Re:Hey, what's with all the orc noobs? by blackicye · · Score: 1

      I call your bluff, what server is this you're playing on?

      Let us know and we'll come check it out, I want to see a server with a 2:1 Horde majority.

    3. Re:Hey, what's with all the orc noobs? by rhennigan · · Score: 1

      I wish that were the case on my server (Blackrock), but I was in queue for Warsong Gulch for over an hour before giving up. There were massive amounts of players waiting to get in on both sides (I went over and took a peek at the Alliance line), however so I'm wondering if there is a limit to how many instances will spawn.

    4. Re:Hey, what's with all the orc noobs? by kiddygrinder · · Score: 1

      There are a couple, i think blackrock has more horde. Mostly because it's moderately well known that there are more horde there and other horde players join because of this.

      --
      This is a joke. I am joking. Joke joke joke.
    5. Re:Hey, what's with all the orc noobs? by kiddygrinder · · Score: 1

      Not all of blizzard recite this obvious lie, almost all servers have about 2-3 alliance for each horde player. Check out some of Caydiem's posts in the forums where she talks about how battlegrounds should still be fair in spite of the imbalance in sides. What i'd like to know is why it is so? Don't people like being the bad guy? do they just not like some of the horde char models (I'll admit this annoyed me a bit, the female tauren is damned ugly, female orc not much better)

      --
      This is a joke. I am joking. Joke joke joke.
    6. Re:Hey, what's with all the orc noobs? by geminidomino · · Score: 1

      Dammit, get out of my head! XD

    7. Re:Hey, what's with all the orc noobs? by geminidomino · · Score: 1

      'll admit this annoyed me a bit, the female tauren is damned ugly, female orc not much better

      This may be hard to believe, -- especially given the Female Night Elf /dance -- but you're supposed to play the game, not spank to the models.

    8. Re:Hey, what's with all the orc noobs? by Cais · · Score: 1

      Yep, and the same horde assholes who think 5 level 60's versus a level 42 is a fair fight will also find it frustrating.

    9. Re:Hey, what's with all the orc noobs? by RudyG13 · · Score: 1

      Mal Ganis has a 4:1 or 5:1 horde:alliance ratio. I left playing alliance on that server to play horde on Burning Legion.

    10. Re:Hey, what's with all the orc noobs? by ockegheim · · Score: 1

      The first time I took my undead mage alt to Oggrimar, I remember thinking the female orc guards were not bad looking. Of course I'd been hanging around with undead for 10 levels by then...

      The biggest difference between Alliance and Horde is that Alliance are pretty and Horde are ugly. Heresay says Horde players are more mature, and my mage's guild had lots of guys in their 30s like me. A little extra maturity would definitely help team play in battlegrounds.

      New players would be more likely to choose pretty Alliance characters. My first character is a bald gnome version of me, and my second is a (stacked) human version of my girlfriend. If I'd done some research my initial choices may have been different, but I came to WoW from Starcraft and WC3, so was a total noob to MMORPGs.

      --
      I’m old enough to remember 16K of memory being described as “whopping”
    11. Re:Hey, what's with all the orc noobs? by kiddygrinder · · Score: 1

      I don't spank to the models, I just want to be either hot or badass, preferably both. Hence i just went ud female. Which is neither, but it's as good as i could find.

      --
      This is a joke. I am joking. Joke joke joke.
  9. two words: by Roland+Piguepaille · · Score: 1

    LEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEROY JENKINS!

    --
    To confirm you're not a script, please piss in my ear.
  10. Re:I'm dissapointed by grumpygrodyguy · · Score: 1

    WoW for me is one of the biggest dissapointments. Not because it's bad, but because it's very well done if you're willing to play hardcore.

    Actually I found the opposite to be true. I recently quit my account because Blizzard has been glacial *cough* about improving single-player advancement for 'hardcore' gamers. EQ used to expand the level range from 55-60, and 60-65 every few months to keep the hardcore folks satisfied.

    If you're concerned about surviving pvp, it's much more important to have a good group of players working with you, using voicechat, and exercising pre-determined strategies etc.

    A few more stamina points on your boots isn't going to mean a whole lot when a party of 5 orcs flanks you in a well executed pincer move.

    --
    The government has a defect: it's potentially democratic. Corporations have no defect: they're pure tyrannies. -Chomsky
  11. Re:Mirror? by Bigthecat · · Score: 2, Informative

    Hey, Ausgamers are great for stuff like this. Get it here

  12. Re:Mirror? by kiddygrinder · · Score: 1

    Good work, you broke Ausgamers :(

    --
    This is a joke. I am joking. Joke joke joke.
  13. Re:I'm dissapointed by Jaeph · · Score: 1

    "A few more stamina points on your boots isn't going to mean a whole lot when a party of 5 orcs flanks you in a well executed pincer move."

    It's not "a few". If you do not do instances and just survive on the greens, you will be around 100 attribute points behind (or resistance, or special ability). Just compare set items from the instances to "of the bear" or "of the monkey" stuff that you can find.

    Actually, I'll grab a couple real quick:

    green - http://www.thottbot.com/?i=5355
    blue - http://www.thottbot.com/?i=20124

    Your green is (at best) +17 str & stm. That's 34 attr.

    Your blue is 48 atr (19 & 20 stm, 9 spi) and +10 frost resist. It's also 617 armor vs 570.

    Now, do this for every piece of equipment on a person. Head, kneck, shoulders, chest, legs, hands, feet, belt, bracer, ring, ring, trinket, trinket, weapon, off-hand. If someone plays religiously, they will build up an enormous advantage in not only attribute points, but minor special powers and resistances as well.

    Finally, note I only used a blue vs green. The reality will be purple or better (or blue set items, which is roughly purple anyways), vs green and random blue sellable drops.

    -Jeff

    P.S. I grant that tactics can and do make a difference, but equipment is vastly more important than you indicated.

    --
    Please learn the difference between a dissenting opinion and a troll before you moderate.