Quote Originally Posted by Thaze View Post
I disagree that awakes killed pvp. If pvp died because of a pay to win system, pve and the game as a whole would have died too. The game is free to play, so of course it is going to be pay to win. Awakes only ruined low level pvp because no scaling system was introduced from the start. Low level gear should never have been allowed to roll armor and primary stat awakes as high as the awakes you can get at endgame. It resulted in low level characters being nearly unkillable.
If a pvp zone is properly balanced, awakes allow you to craft your class into what you want it to be. A good example of this is the 61-63 zone. At these levels, every class is viable and able to either survive longer OR get quick kills depending on their focus on either armor or primary % stat awakes. This would also be the case at endgame if it werent for all the luck based, ridiculously overpowered, pve-designed procs; which i believe are the actual reason for pvp's decline over the past few expansions.
These procs killed the competitive nature of pvp and should be removed from pvp on all gear post-level 66. The stat increase and additional awake slot(s) on arcane items are enough of an incentive for people to use them in pvp. Without these over-the-top, luck to win, heavily game determining procs, people will feel as if their playstyle, experience, and team synchronization actually matter. Just like they do in the balanced twink levels, and just like they did prior to the lvl 71 expansion.
A secondary problem is the pet power creep. Pet passives and arcane abilities are becoming so strong they are beginning to make even the few remaining balanced pvp zones feel as awful as endgame pvp. Instead of proc-to-win it is becoming have-aa or lose. The room for outplay potential in a situation where you do not have your aa ready and the other person does, is quickly diminishing with new pets being released over time. BUT AT LEAST pressing your pet's aa requires timing unlike the endgame procs. I do not want the focus of this message to be on pets. This is a battle for another day.
It seems like the forums are a cesspool of toxicity and bad ideas that I am not surprised STS has trouble sorting through. I hope this makes it through. Maybe it's already years too late. Maybe too many pvp lovers have already been driven away from the game for it to recover. But it's worth a shot.
I would certainly move to endgame pvp and actively participate if this proc removal change was implemented. But until then, I will remain irregularly active at my balanced twink zone where it's the closest it can get to satisfying, meaningful pvp.



PLS READ! (but TLDR: Procs killed pvp, not awakes. Procs should be removed from pvp post-level 66.)
If procs killed pvp, why 61-63 zone is also dead where procs play not much of a role?

In my opinion, what killed pvp is that there is no meaning to play it. Players have no purpose while playing pvp so eventually more pvp players left playing it. I have been talking some pve players and trying to understand their mindset why they play pve. They play it because they want to be at the top so they compete to be there. What pvp needs is a competition, a purpose and official awareness to pursue this.

Honor mode is a good example what happens when there is a competition. When the end of a season is close, it becomes active because players want to be at the top. So, what we need is a competition that would last the whole season not only for a short period of time.