IIRC there was a Blizzard comment about how they regretted the eSports/Arena decision really complicating the balancing issues. E.g., a similar reason to why 2v2s were devalued.

So rBGs at least dilute some of the “nerf xxx” cries; there is nothing worse than PvEing on a class that is OP in PvP – you have some disappointment in your future.

Why do MMOs suffer more from the “get stuck, get frustrated” problem, than ranked play in RTS or FPS? I’d guess it’s because of grinding, queue times, gear playing a role, and extent of getting smushed, i.e. the issues others have identified above. When I played Halo, I was never so outmatched my whole team would be spawn camped 5 games in a row (the game is designed such that it doesn’t really happen, although there are other FPS where it’s more prevalent), I always went into each match with equal gear, queue times were short, I didn’t have to grind anything beforehand, there were lots of rewards like cosmetic gear, avatars, banners, and the core gameplay (to me at least) was pretty fun. There were also loads of maps and game types.

So my solution is:
* Standardise gear load-outs, just like WoW is standardising load-outs (iLvls) for new challenge mode dungeons, removing grinding and gear mismatches
* Add a vast array of rewards that are somewhat easy to get and desirable, but cosmetic, like nice pretty gear with no stats, pets, elite mounts, banners, avatars
* Carefully design maps to prevent abusive / griefing play like spawn-camping
* Also make sure the variety of maps and game types is large
* Make sure at all costs that the gameplay is intrinsically fun
* Create a virtuous circle by using the above points to encourage mass participation, leading to short queue times

Honestly though, the biggest issue is the gearing one. Every truly successful competitive game I have ever seen, whether its football, rugby, Starcraft or Halo, basically has teams enter on an even footing, where ability, dedication and training make or break the team’s performance. The concept of *gear* being important tends to be limited to rich men’s games like golf or sailing.

My WoW guild (and I know this from reading forums) I think was taking some steps into RBG and the most hardcore players (who were organising the training and driving this) left for another guild which had a more competitive PvP ethos. I don’t mean it was a bad decision for them, clearly they were going to be happier with more people around who shared their enthusiasm, but that was it for the RBG.

I have a gut feeling that the ‘best’ type of content for MMOs is something which allows players of different skill and commitment levels to play alongside each other. That’s one of the smart things about LFG when it works, and also about world bosses, zergs in PvP, world events and social events. Because not everyone wants to end up segregated via what type of content they are most obsessed by at the moment.

I haven’t really had any urge to pursue ranked PvP in TOR because the other content keeps me entertained enough. Casual PvP is actually pretty fun because I see very little raging and people always attempt to cooperate, even in randoms, so I don’t necessarily need a fixed team to have a positive warzone experience. Also, in terms of rewards, you can get ranked commendations from normal PvP, it’s just slow. If you’re not hugely competitive, actually playing ranked games currently seems like more hassle than it is worth.

…except for the handful of times we’ve been matched against a team hundreds of points above us, or that one time they were 1000 points above (I stopped reading their individual ratings after 2900, 2900, 2700…). So despite that people say RBGs are to challenge the “hardcore”, I think 1600-level teams like us get faster and more appropriate pairings than the really high end teams. I’m not sure whether a 2200-level team really gets that much more enjoyment out of steamrolling us than steamrolling a standard battleground — I’d expect them to stop queuing if they only face long waits and weak pairings.

I am often on the fence regarding PvP, and I now love running RBGs with my guild. It’s been a real bonding experience, which has helped us be able to shrug off even the tough losses more easily. Especially after Dragon Soul was rendered so bland and repetitive by running it in LFR first, at the moment my epic moments in WoW are way more likely to involve a last-second flag turnover for the win than a last-man-standing boss kill.

Like a tournament which kicks off at specific times, and you play teams in a specific order. Then you give out prizes based on tournament results.

Since there is no arbitrary queue any more, a lot of the issues with queue times and insufficient opponents goes away. However, the tradeoff is that you can’t just queue whenever you feel like it and for however long you want. You have to stick to the tournament structure.

You’re probably right about arenas for TOR, plus you could work it into the lore very easily since I think the Hutts run that sort of thing for bets anyway.

Due to the size of the teams, ranked BG teams work best in a cross server environment. I think that arenas would be smarter implementation for TOR in a server-only situation, but that’s just me.

Since the main value proposition of an MMO is ego inflation in a social setting, this is not attractive.