Why is my faction so bad at PVP? Well this article is my attempt to shed some light on the subject.
I used to think only the Alliance were bad at PVP. In reality, either the Horde or Alliance get to play target dummy, depending upon the Battlegroup. In my case, the Vengeance Battlegroup, the Alliance tends to garner the majority of the losses. Recently, I started PVPing again after taking a long break to do 10 man and 25 man raiding. Much to my surprise, we seemed to be losing more often than before! So I decided to collect some data on exactly how bad things had become.
The Data
To measure Alliance success or failure, I recorded the wins and losses for my random pick up groups for July and August. In addition, the ratio of honor kills (HKs) were recorded by comparing the winning teams HKs and to the losing teams HKs. HKs ratios of even (1 to 1), unbalanced (2 to 1), and extremely unbalanced (3 to 1 or greater) were recorded. The HK ratio seems to correlate pretty well to how unbalanced a battleground feels when one side dominates.
The classes and builds used for testing included in no particular order feral druid, discipline priest, shadow priest, arcane mage, prot pally and retribution pally. None of my toons had a resilience greater than 300 when I started the test. My PVP skills are decent and I am better at strategy and tactics than dueling.
The Results
Surprisingly, the data was not as bad as I thought it would be. However, it is still quite a ways from ideal. Based on 66 pick up groups, here are my results.
Alliance Record 24-42 (36.36% Winning Percentage)
Horde Record 42-24 (63.64% Winning Percentage)
Honor Kill Ratios were as follows:
Even (1 to 1): 24 (36.36%)
Unbalanced (2 to 1): 27 (40.91%)
Extremely Unbalanced (3 to 1 or greater) 15 (22.73%)
Ideally, each side would have a winning percentage of 50%. Trying to keep the win ratios between 45% and 55% is a more realistic goal. One side winning only 36% of the matches is not good, but not that far out really. I would have guessed we were only winning 15% to 20% of our matches before I started this little experiment.
The more troubling thing in my mind is how few of the matches are balanced. Getting beat is one thing. Getting crushed 60% of the time is just no fun. Eye of the Storm wins the prize for worst battleground for the alliance 1 win in 11 attempts (9%).
Why are we bad?
Now for the million dollar question. Why are we so bad? Well I think there are a few factors. Please note that much of analysis here is anecdotal. I simply don't have the time to be super rigorous.
(1) Gear
During my analysis, I installed gear score. Before a match, I tried to review alliance gear scores to get an idea of what we had. Then, after a match I would use the armory to review some of the horde player's gear. Generally, Alliance gear is between 4500 and 5500. About half the players have PVP sets. Most alliance pvp sets are level 232 sets obtained with honor and badges.
When the Alliance did get dominated in a battleground, the other team generally had high end raid sets (level 264 and level 277) or high end PVP sets (gear that requires an arena rating). When a team in 10 man raid gear or 232 heroic badge gear goes up against teams in 264 and 277 gear, the odds are stacked against you from the start.
(2) Player skill
So how did the better horde teams get all that level 264 and 277 gear? They earned it by playing. Consequently, they are generally better team players and better players in general.
Generally, the alliance players are terrible. They will not guard flags. They will not kill the other teams healers. They play without logic or reason. I have given up trying to figure out why. We are just bad.
(3) Healing
Horde teams always seem to have 2 or 3 good healers. The alliance seldom has more than 1 healer. With healing being so overpowered currently in the game, this is a big advantage.
One thing I did notice when I tried to PVP on my priest. When I queued as Disc spec, I would end up with 3 or 4 other healers!!!! When I went in as shadow, no healers. Since you can't change after the game starts, this can be really annoying. What the heck is the "matching" system matching?
(4) Group composition and classes
The Horde seems to be able to shift to the best PVP classes more quickly than the alliance. I think this relates back to 2. The better players are able to analyze patches and build toons that are best for PVP. Now horde teams have lots of warlocks, shadow priests, shamans and hunters. When Wrath came out, they were all Death Knights and Ret Pallies.
Possible Solutions
How can the game be improved to provide more PVP balance? Here are my thoughts.
(1) Identical Gear
Create a virtual set of gear that are the same for each class. When you go into PVP, the set is auto equipped. It would put everyone on a level playing field.
(2) Remove the Faction Wall
Remove the faction wall. When you go into a battleground, you get a little flag on your back and the horde and the alliance are all mixed up.
(3) A Real Matching System
Really match players based on their gear levels. Maybe give players a option to wait longer to play against someone at their level. Or give them an option to play against the best geared players if they want.
(4) Tenacity
Add a tenacity system to battlegrounds. If someone comes in with a 2500 gear score, buff them.
Conclusion
Losing all the time is not fun. Losing and having no chance to win is even less fun.
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