S1 bought with honor.

[Synir]

I was thinking... the difference in gear between s2 and s3 doesn't seem that profound in the sets themselves so far. A little more stamina, same resilience, etc.

Given that just about anyone can buy a whole set of s1 now with a weekend in AV or two, do you expect to see changes in the ladder system since people will have near-instant access to some quite decent (if not cutting edge) PvP gear?

[Dimachaeri]

Well, first let me start by saying that the difference between season 1 and season 3 gear is almost as large as the difference between kara and black temple gear. You also have to take into account that these items will still take many days of grinding, and on top of that new players will need to get their season 3 epic bg gear which also costs a considerable amount of honor. All of this will take a considerable amount of time -- so much so, in fact, that very few will be willing to commit themselves to grinding BGs for so long. All this without mentioning all the heroic badges they'll need, also. All my arena allies have a hard enough time grinding out the honor needed for the epic BG gear alone. Just wanted to make it clear that these items are not that good and are by no means easy to aquire.

With that said, answering your main question: no, I don't expect to see any changes in the ladder system. Quality players will do reasonably well in arenas, even if they have a gear disadvantage. This will allow them to slowly get enough arena points to buy their season 3 epics, while also working for their BG epics and pvp-oriented heroic epics. These type of players are going to advance in their rating over time, and not those who purchase their season 1 gear with honor.

If there is any change in arenas, it will be in the sub 1700 rating, where players just get too few points that they might be willing to tolerate the ordeal of purchasing season one gear. That might mean a few better geared players around 1700 and below, but nothing I'd consider a major shift in the ladder system. As I mentioned, very few players will actually purchase season one gear with honor, and virtually none of them will be the type of player that can make good use of their gear.

[Synir]

Hrm, you might be right.

I just know several players who are quite skilled and due to a number of reasons they are never quite willing to play catch up; for example a healer doing PvE will be MS fodder for many weeks when he first tries arenas due to very low resilience. So the speed of getting to the top in terms of gear will be lessened considerably.

But while I agree with you that the difference between s1 and s3 means little on its own since low quality people in epics will still die horribly to well tuned teams made up of skilled players, I do think that honor is much faster to gain than you might think. I have a shaman alt who, in all of two AV weekends, got more than 90k honor to spend on gear.

If anything, something else that might come up is experienced people running alts through arenas. Which can be a significant factor, since playing one character doesn't take that long so that having more than that is quite workable.

[Immolatte]

Meh, players that haven't competed in s1 or s2 will still be terrible after they buy all their s1 gear. They simply don't have the experience, skill, nor the teamwork to successfully compete in the higher ratings.

[Taffy]

unless they're warlocks...

old friend form level 60 days reactivated, afcaved for a month or so, and in what was basically his first week of arena, wearing veterans and full pvp blue set, my 2v + him went to about 40th place in 3v.

we're still trying to teach him how to use drain life. (he still tries to run away vs warriors)

i dont understand the question though. change the ladder? i think qiuck access to gear is great. people with skill but no gear will be under-rated a few weeks less than before, but as it stand its only a matter of time before anyone who wants it gets the gear.

people who suck will still have the exact same full sets of gear and be stuck at 1450 rating, just like it is now. season 2 has gone on so effing long that anyone who doesn't have all the gear just hasn't been playing, and if you don't play, you're certainly not going to have 150k honor to blow come next season.

it basically just helps people like us who can play gear up alts and get competetive way faster without having to go through all the bullshit we did with our mains to get started.

[Ahti]

I don't think this will affect the top of the ladder too much aside from a handful of players. If people in full s2/3 are bumped down by people in s1 gear, they don't deserve that place anyways

[Taffy]

of course bg's are a different story.

won't be as easy to tear people down 2v8 at blacksmith, or tower point :P

[Glave]

Gear does NOT GIVE PLAYERS SKILL

[Vivec]

Gear does NOT GIVE PLAYERS SKILL

While that does remain true for the most part, the role of gear is greatly different on a per class basis.

Gear doesn't necessarily reflect experience at all, but moreso the amount of time invested into that particular character. That being said, season one gear will hardly make any difference once season three is well under way.

[Xyo]

of course bg's are a different story.

won't be as easy to tear people down 2v8 at blacksmith, or tower point :P

XD that's why i love the bgs right now, resilience makes warriors sad QQ

[Arcturas]

I'm sorry to sound elitist, but why would this sort of post be on these forums? Upgrades are upgrades. I look for upgrades to even out the playing field so my opponents don't have an edge over me.

[Warlokk]

Well my priest alt "Praer" from Doomhammer is in alt greens "of the Physician" and have a 1900 rating.

Saving all my points for season 3 that way, I will have 3 pieces of season 3 armor, and just about all the stuff I need from BG's for my boots, writs, belt, necklace, and ring.