Lead Content Designer Cory Stockton sits down for an in-depth interview to discuss the upcoming changes to Battlegrounds. This latest interview, published on the official World of Warcraft website, goes into detail about the upcoming battleground changes in 3.2, and even delves a little bit on what we can expect with battlegrounds going forward.

On Battleground XP:

As it’s something that has been discussed at length for some time now within the community, where are we at with allowing for players to obtain experience through Player vs. Player (PvP) combat and Battlegrounds?

Cory Stockton: We plan to implement this in patch 3.2.0. We have wanted to allow players to earn experience through Battlegrounds for a long time now and it’s great to be able to finally deliver this feature to players. Experience will be granted based on honor gain from actions, not kills. For example, if you capture a flag in Warsong Hold, you would gain experience, but killing a player would not grant experience.

On the future of Battlegrounds:

What are our plans for the future of the Battleground system beyond 3.2, and where do you see non-Arena PvP game play fitting in the World of Warcraft, whether it be through the leveling process or at the endgame?

Cory Stockton: We plan to deliver more Battlegrounds to the players as often as we can. We see Battlegrounds as a very large and important part of the World of Warcraft PvP game and we would like to expand the system as much as we can. I do have a little tidbit that I can share with you guys today, though. We are planning to implement rated Battlegrounds in a future patch. We will be giving more details on this system at BlizzCon.

For the full interview, go here.

 thats kinda cool

I dont know if it was in previous games but to me this looks like they are completly ripping off warhammers pvp elements...what a surprise.

Originally posted by pinkapples69

I dont know if it was in previous games but to me this looks like they are completly ripping off warhammers pvp elements...what a surprise.

Yeah, Experience in Scenarios was one of the things that made WAR unique. They have some really good ways of making PvP more maistream; Just not a really good way of delivering it. Now that WoW has completly stolen their idea, who knows what is to become of Warhammer.  
 

Originally posted by gorillaz951

Originally posted by pinkapples69

I dont know if it was in previous games but to me this looks like they are completly ripping off warhammers pvp elements...what a surprise.

Yeah, Experience in Scenarios was one of the things that made WAR unique. They have some really good ways of making PvP more maistream; Just not a really good way of delivering it. Now that WoW has completly stolen their idea, who knows what is to become of Warhammer.  
 

Which brings a different viewpoint from this general "Will game X kill WoW?" "WoW Clone!"... Will WoW kill Warhammer? "Warhammer clone!" This Q&A indirectly shows they want to do that.

They are probably worried too many good games are appearing on the market, they don't want to suffer a long, slow death if they ignored these games and their good features.

Why just not try to live with Wow being the best? Said this does not mean that I hate War, nope, played pretty a lot ... but for me Wow does not compare to War as Aoc compare to War. And so far AoC for me is winner. So, if I have to make a top 3, they are Wow, Aoc, War.

 To those out there thinking that WoW is *stealing* this idea from WAR, you are WAY off-base.  This topic of having XP-gains from BGs appeared *years* before WAR went live.  Although the implementation is new, the topic (in WoW and WoW-forums) has been around a long time...long BEFORE WAR hit the scene.

To be fair, though, WAR may have been one of the reasons for the implementation of this considered idea.  What better way to *test* a system without changing your game than look at how it's received in another game?  However, there are differences in the PvP-Experience-Earning in WoW compared to WAR.  No XP for killing other players?  Bad idea, imo.  I believe that you should give XP for not only capturing the flag, but also killing players.  If you don't, then you encourage the twinks to PROLONG battleground battles (avoid the *acts* that gain you XP, because what twink wants to risk losing their twink-status?) and encouraging 4-hour kill-da-noob festivities.

Concerning PVP, it gets no better than WAR.  WAR implemented an awesome PVP system, imo.  It actually made (for me) PVP *fun*.  If WAR had more PVE substance, I would definitely drop LotRO...or WoW...or Vanguard...or whatever I'm *in the mood* to play (which is LotRO, atm...if you've not checked it out lately, are a huge PVE fan, you should check out the 10-day trial and the $10.00 offer for LOTRO and MOM with 30 days play, packaged into one beautifal price of 10 bucks...i am being pleasantly surprised at the new content, the game changes made since beta/launch, etc...), to go back to WAR.

I don't mind seeing players of multiple MMO's.  Hey, us MMO players want a fun game packed with interesting quests, pvp scenarios, etc.  However, I have a definite problem with *fan-boys* of a specific MMO bashing another MMO (and it's players) with false statements like those made above.  Just because you don't like a specific MMO, doesn't mean ya have to create lies about it to further your hate-mongering agenda.  Look....either play the game, or don't.  Every MMO out there has implemented ideas from one MMO/game or another.  To *not* do so would be the essence of stupidity.  You take what works and use it.  Sure, you have to come up with new content, new playstyle, to keep it fresh and interesting.  Otherwise you begin to alienate a large number of consumers which means less income, which in essence leads to the death of MMO's.  There's a reason that World of Warcraft has performed well over the years.  Sure, there are things that are aggravating about it, but WoW does what *most* MMO's do *not* do:  appeal to a LARGE number/different types of players.  Ya don't like PVP? Great!  WoW offers excellent selection of PVE material.  Ya like PVP?  WoW offers PVP starting at level 10.  Like being able to SOLO to 80?  WoW gives you that capability (I've done it with several different toons).  More of a group-oriented player?  WoW offers dungeon-delving available as low as level 13 (Horde), or 17 (Alliance), depending on which faction you play.  Another feature of WoW is having a cut-dry, clear-as-crystal, two-faction system.  This is one thing that appealed to myself from the beginning.  You either play Horde or Alliance.  That's it.  No complicated system to figure out.  It's Horde vs Alliance, a throw-back to the original RTS of WARCRAFT, the first game of it's kind on a massive scale (Game of the Year, 1995 I believe).  Not only that, but within each faction are numerous options available to the players (each has different races and classes).   Now, this is also what I love about WAR.  I think that Mythic went a step further and bettered the situation, though.  I love that WAR allows a player to choose only ONE faction per server.  This is definitely an idea that WoW needed to implement years ago.  However, Mythic did it first (to my knowledge...I may be wrong about the first, tho) and kudos to them.  However, I do like the Order vs Destruction (liken unto the tabletop game without the Tomb Lords, Vampire Counts, Skaven, etc).

I've ranted long enough.  But, I had to point out that this wasn't a "Hey!  Ya know, we should steal...er...borrow Mythic's idea and give xp for battlegrounds!".  Nope, I see it something more akin to "Guys?  Ya remember that topic that the players came up with on the forums...oh, I don't know....like 2-3 years ago regarding xp in battlegrounds?  Well, I think it's time.  Kinda like what they're doing over at Mythic/WAR might be something to look at...or, we could just give Honor for certain actions...like Flag Capture, Tower Destroying, Objective's Taken, etc..."

Regardless of *who* or *how* Blizzard came up with it, it's an idea that's been long overdue.  It will be interesting to see how well it's implemented, and how it's received by both Hardcore PVP'ers vs Casual PVP'ers.

To each their own!  Kudos to all that have found an MMO-Home!  It's not easy to find a game that can hold interest and keep interesting the gameplay for an extended period of time.  If WoW is your thing, go for it.  If you prefer WAR, more power to you!  I (at this time) will continue my trek through Middle Earth, attempting to foil the plans of the Witch King, while making the arduous journey to the Mines of Moria!

Later!

Originally posted by cerebrix

 thats kinda cool

Kinda kool? Nahh this awesome, finally we can get exp in Bg'S ^^ It was bout time yeah xD