The war mode of WoW: Battle for Azeroth works a little differently on RP servers. Cortyn reveals why this is not a good idea.
This is the new war mode: With World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth, there are no more PvP servers. Instead, the war mode awaits. Here, you only encounter players who are also marked for PvP and receive a small reward in the form of additional experience points. A good system that can hardly be criticized – if it weren’t for the special case of role-playing servers. I would like to explain in this post why I consider the system here to be flawed.
Special Features on RP Servers
Role-players are protected: Role-playing servers are a special feature in World of Warcraft. Players on these realms are largely shielded from other players and, for example, see only teammates from their own server in the major cities. This makes sense, as it prevents “non-role-players” from ruining the day for role-players and disturbing their roleplay. However, this also applies to the war mode!
This is what happens when you activate the war mode on RP servers: From now on, if you switch to “PvP mode” on an RP server, you can only see players from the same server who have also activated PvP. On “normal” realms, you mix with players from other servers. The system automatically ensures a fair balance between the two factions – but not on RP servers.
Aside from that, there are no significant restrictions. RP servers can also team up with players from all other realms through the group finder or manual invitations.
“Role-Player Protection” Makes No Sense in War Mode
No role-playing in war mode: The strongest argument against a war mode on RP servers is that role-players will not use the war mode for role-playing anyway. The RP community will not risk being cut down by non-role-players at an RP event, which is why most (if not all) RP events take place in the normal phase and not in the war mode variant.
But even role-players don’t only role-play: They also quest, complete dungeons, or may want to have a proper fight in PvP. This will not be possible in a fair manner when the war mode only includes players from the same server. On my server, about 67% of the players are on the Alliance side while 33% are on the Horde side. This means that in the war mode, there will effectively be twice as many Alliance players as Horde players – the Horde will almost always fall behind due to the sheer mass of Alliance players. A balanced PvP environment looks different.
On other servers, this would not be the case. Here, players with characters from other realms end up in a phase, ensuring that there is always a rough balance between Horde and Alliance. In theory, the conditions are balanced.
RP Servers Particularly Attractive for Non-RPers
Another problem, power leveling tourism: Due to the seclusion of role-players, these servers become particularly attractive leveling opportunities. You simply join the numerically superior faction and level a character in war mode – there is hardly any serious threat here.
This situation makes RP servers particularly attractive for players who have nothing to do with RP at all, and this needs to be avoided.
The Solution: Cross-Realm with War Mode Activated
Remove the limit in war mode: Because one should not only complain, I also want to offer a simple, obvious solution: In war mode, RP servers should be mixed with players from other realms. This would solve two problems at once.
- First, there would be no incentive for non-RPers to level on a role-playing server – the threat would be the same.
- Secondly, role-players who want to engage in proper open-world PvP would have a fair chance and would not have to struggle with an imbalance of factions.
There would be practically no disadvantages, except that the “RP player bonus” when leveling in war mode would disappear. But role-players would surely be happy to forgo that if they are not bothered by further nuisances.
What do you think about the war mode on RP servers? Did Blizzard handle this well? Or should the developers adjust this further?
