(Between dragonflight and midnight)

There are a lot of changes to warrior in Midnight, but in this case I will devide the changes into two categories - relevant and irrelevant. If you’re an old player coming back to the game and want some indebt knowledge about how abilitys have changed and the current state of them I recommend reading here. If ur an active player this season some of this will be irrelevant for you.

Irrelevant:

• Inn for the kill removed (Haste granted during Colussus smash) (Bad)

• Master and commander no longer has a root breaker combined with Battlefield commander(Bad)

• Battlefield commander changed from Pvp talent to Buttom row talent tree ability.

• Thunderous roar removed (Bad)

• Skull splitter removed (Bad - Blizzard could’ve made a unique build here, but lacks the imagination to do so and decides to just remove instead.)

Relevant:

• Ignore pain no longer costs rage and is now on global (Bad)

• Champions spear now covers a bigger area and has an added heroic leap built into it (If you press spear 1 more time after you’ve used it you will automaticly leap into the spear) This change is probably the best change made to Arms in midnight so far.

• Sweeping strikes no longer has a duration and instead gives you stacks that gets consumed when you hit a secondany target with sweeping strikes. Sweeping stacks does NOT get consumed unless you hit a secondary target (good)

• Broad Strokes (New Arms talent) Applies Sweeping strikes automaticly when Colussus smash is used

• You now choose between Fueled by Violence and Ignore pain as choices in the arms talent tree (Bad)

• Stance mastery - New talent added in the bottom row warrior talent tree.

  Battle stance:Increase critical strike damage of your abilitys by 3%

  Defensive stance: When an attack deal 20% damage or more of your maximum health, reduce this damage by 15%.

  The idea behind creating this talent is good and probably on the right track, however the 20% threshold to activate this talent is too high and makes the talent have low value. I hope to see the 20% threshold reduced to maybe 15% in the future.

• Anger management Now reduces the coldown of Colussus smash and Avatar instead of Bladestorm per rage spent. (Bad)

  This is straight up a terrible change and has no synergy with the rest of the warrior toolkit. In my humble warrior opinion instead of Avatar, Anger management should potencially additionally affect Bladestorm or demolish. This would synergize much better with the overall toolkit of warrior and give use more windows for utility and small burst goes.

• Master of Warfare is a new “Hero” talent in the very bottom of the Arms tree with 4 point. Long story short - Your abilitys randomly proc and converts slam into Heroic strike. Each heroic strike gives you a stackable (5 stacks) armor penetration buff AND a stackable (5 stacks) buff that increases the damage taken applied by Colussus smash next time you use it…so just spam Heroic strike whenever u get this proc. (Bad design and low imagination by blizzard)

• Colussus smash:‍ ‍is currently modified in Pvp and only increases damage done to the target by 20% (21% with 2 set). With 5 stacks from the Heroic strike buff you reach 30% (31% with 2set) increased damage even though if you hover over the 5 stack buff it will say “Damage increased by 15%”

  After further testing it seems like every application of the armor penetration buff from Heroic strike has an individual timer from 30 seconds, which makes almost impossible to reach and sustain 5 stacks of this buff (Very bad design and probably not intended by blizzard)

• More to come…

• Rebound is currently bugged and only reflects 1 ability instead of 2 as intended.

• 2 set bonus for arms is nerfed in pvp from 5% damage on Mortal strike and 5% damage taken increased on colussus smash to 2% on both (probably intended) but only gives 1% damage taken increased to colussus smash.

• Berserker Roar sometimes gets consumed without reducing the CC effect (Rare, but happens)

• If you get rooted the same moment you use Champion spear it will cancel out your free Heroic leap during spear

• 17 March:

• Arms:

  • Master of Warfare's final rank Heroic Strike now increases the damage you deal to enemies affected by your next Colossus Smash by an additional 3%. Stacks up to 5 times.

  • All damage dealt increased by 15%.

• 24 March

• Arms:

  • Mortal Strike damage increased by 12%.

  • Execute damage increased by 15%.

  • Cleave damage reduced by 10%.

• 31 March:

• Arms:

  • Battle Stance now reduces the duration of movement impairment effects by 25% in PvP combat (was 10%).

  • Ignore Pain absorption increased by 20% in PvP combat.

  • Practiced strikes reduced from 20% to 15% in PVP combat. (Colussus talent)

• 07 April:

  • All damage increased by 3% in PvP combat.

  • Rend damage increased by 15% in PvP combat.

  • Deep Wounds damage increased by 100% in PvP combat.

  • Colossus: Demolish damage reduced by 15% in PvP combat.

  • Colossus: Celeritous Conclusion now causes the final strike from Demolish to increase the critical strike chance of your next Mortal Strike by 15% (was 100%)

• May 05:

  • Execute damage increased by 20%.

  • Overpower damage increased by 20%.

  • Slayer: Slayer’s Strike damage increased by 40%.

  • Slayer: Reap the Storm damage increased by 30%.

• May 26:

  • Berserker Roar’s duration reduced to 5 seconds (was 10 seconds).

  • All damage reduced by 3% in PvP combat.

• June 30:

  • Mountain of Muscle and Scars reduces damage taken by 3% in PvP combat (was 5%).

    More changes coming later!

I will start off by saying that I do genuinely believe Activision Blizzard had good intentions with adding Solo shuffle to Wow. I also believe they are on the right track with the thoughtprocess of “Wow pvp needs a solo que system” like every other real competetive pvp game out there. Solo shuffle was Blizzard’s first attempt at an Alpha version of a solo que system, and this feature was successfully integrated to the game on October 25, 2022 during the pre-patch for Dragonflight. As an Alpha version and first attempt I would call this a decent success. Players can now que up for arena with minimal effort and without having consistent partners to play with which has been part of the “Barrier enterance” issues for wowpvp, and finally the time has come!

At first everyone was very excited and understandably so, but as weeks and months go by for the players who actively play Solo shuffle on a daily basis, they also become painfully aware about the flaws of the system. These are some of the flaws I can think of on top of my head.

• General bugs (Environmental bugs, lobbys closing before they are finished, both teams ending up in the same starting room etc)

• Que times up to an hour (Consistently 30 minutes) for DPS cause of lack of healers.

• Mmr issues (Mmr not moving up, causing no inflation and creates a feeling of making no progress)

• Mmr distribution

• Rating distribution

• Players ending up on Mmr above their appropriate skill level due to the nature of the system

• An unhealthy way to learn pvp

• Abusing the Mmr system (Leaving the lobby without finishing and only lose rating but not losing Mmr)

• Intentional griefing

• Wintrading

• Cheating (bug abusing, Botting, Third party programs)

• Abusing the report system to get players banned by Blizzard’s automatic system.

• Dividing the pvp playerbase between 2 gamemodes where 1 gamemode doesnt require effort to play.

I think this was kinde how Blizzard went about it in chronological order: They go on to address the General bugs which they consider the most critical of these issues at the time. Then its the Mmr issues where the pvp community had to bring attention to the matter for a long time before Blizzard addressed it, and eventually made adjustments. I also believe they attempted to fix the que times issue by allowing lower mmr healers into higher mmr lobbys. It seems like part of these “adjustments” was to give every lobby hidden personal Mmr rather than a combined Mmr (all players in the same lobby can see different Mmr on the lobby). Forexample for me it can say I am in a 2.8k mmr lobby, but for another player in the same lobby it can show hes in a 2.6k mmr lobby) I might be wrong here if Blizzard has released patch notes about this but I think its probably an intentional hidden change to attempt to make players happier with lower que times. The results however are that the que times might be slightly better, but it backfires by dramaticly increasing the skill gap between players in the lobby and essentionally lowers the quality of the games, and causes great frustration.

Time goes on and here is where Activision Blizzard makes a big mistake…they basicly deem the feature Solo shuffle finished and leave it as is for years to come without properly addressing the remaining issues. You would think that when one of the best game companys in the world creates a new feature to one of their biggest and greatest games in history, they would develop it further. World of Warcraft has the most unique pvp system in the world where no other game can match it, and a Solo que feature which the game so desperately needs get integrated to the game. And then then this Solo que system gets stuck in Alpha stage for years to come. When a company creates a new feature/product and they become aware of the pros and cons of the feature/product, most companys would ask themselves “How can we improve this feature even more, how do we fix/remove these flaws and still keep the positives. This process involves admitting to yourself that maybe something along the way went wrong and its time to go about it from a different angle to achive even greater results. Cause the feature Blizzard created is a good starting point with so much unspent potential, but by far not at it’s peak, and Blizzard has failed to achknowledge this.

In today’s Solo shuffle most of the issues/flaws mentioned above are still there with one or two Band-Aid solutions being implementet occasionally, but the issues keep getting increasingly worse every day. This is also because of lack of enforcing the TOS of the game from Blizzard.

And how I believe Blizzard should approach Arena in the future

participation and comp diversity:

I am no game developer, but for what its worth I have been a loyal World of Warcraft pvper since original Vanilla when there was only Battlegrounds available. Since then I have grown to love World of warcraft with all the good times, friends made along the way and memories from this game. I genuinely want to see the game in its best state possible, especially with its unique pvp. I know Blizzard has a huge focus on earning money (like most companys) but I firmly believe in quality over quantity, and that quality in the long run outperforms quantity economicly when it comes to Wow as a game.

The most important addition to the pvp scene in today’s Wow is definatly a properly working Solo que system, that being said, its NOT this current Alpha version called Solo shuffle. Blizzard has probably at some point tried to address the issues mentioned above without a sufficient solution, and given up. This is completely understandable because there are probably no easy fix for these issues in its current state. In this case Blizzard has to treat the root of the problems, rather than trying to treat the sympthoms. And in my opinion, the issue that needs fixing is the core of the feature itself, Solo shuffle. As Solo shuffle is today I dont see any great solutions to said issues, sure there might be some band-aid solutions here and there to ease the pain a little bit, but in the end of the day the issues are too severe and wont be fixed. I believe its time for Blizzard to admit that the feature Solo shuffle is flawed in its very core and needs a complete rework OR just remove it entirely.

Here is my suggestion:

Either remove Solo shuffle entirely or just keep it as a “for fun” game mode without a competitive ladder and leave it as is. Now instead focus on integrating a functioning Solo AND Duo que option for normal 3vs3 arena. Add a filter option to arena where you can filter out maybe 1 or 2 classes you dont wish to get paired with and create an “Avoid” option where you can add players you dont wish to get paired with. I Estimate that this will improve/fix close to 75% - 80% of the current issues that Solo shuffle has. I will also add here to do the exact same for the 2vs2 format.

• General bugs (Environmental bugs, lobbys closing before they are finished, both teams ending up in the same starting room etc)

  The current normal 3vs3 format is already well established and doesnt have any of these issues. Known issues such as disconnecting on mind control or falling through the environment with fear pathing overruling game texture remains, but these issues have been around for decades and doesnt have anything to do with Solo shuffle spesifically.

• Que times up to an hour (Consistently 30 minutes) for DPS cause of lack of healers.

  This issues gets fixed immediately. Today’s normal 3vs3 que time is everything between instantly to 2 - 3 minutes depending on what mmr and time of day it is. However if the pvp playerbase is not split between shuffle and 3vs3 and solvely on 3vs3 as the only competetive bracket with the Solo and Duo que option (Solo shuffle removed, OR is just a for fun gamemode without a competetive ladder) then the playerbase will automaticly be united under the same Pvp umbrella and improve the activity.

• Mmr issues (Mmr not moving up, causing no inflation and creates a feeling of making no progress)

  Uniting the pvp playerbase will mean more players in normal 3vs3 will cause more healthy competition and naturally inflate the ladder.

• Mmr distribution

  Mmr distribution in the normal 3vs3 format is completely different from Solo shuffle, and does not have the same issues.

• Rating distribution

  Rating distribution in the normal 3vs3 format is completely different from Solo shuffle, and does not have the same issues.

• Players ending up on Mmr above or below their appropriate skill level due to the nature of the system

  This is not an issue in the normal 3vs3 format. However the Solo shuffle format makes it so there are too many factors outside of your control that can make you win or lose the game.

• An unhealthy way to learn pvp

  This issue will partly be solved. The most obvious reason is that Solo shuffle has a very toxic environment due to the design of the system being flawed itself. Most of the time it brings out more frustration from players than joy, which then gets cycled onto other players and it keeps going. It creates an “every man for themselves” mentality completely devoid of teamplay. Because of this there will be a far bigger risk of developing bad habits, and a lower chance of realising these bad habits. Essentially you as a new player will learn to become “bad” at pvp. But If a new player wants to learn pvp, the normal 3vs3 format with integrated Solo and duo que is more likely to team this player up with other players of equal experience, and surely it will be a better learning experience and a better, healthier way of being introduced to pvp.

• Abusing the Mmr system (Leaving the lobby without finishing and only lose rating but not losing Mmr)

  This is not an issue with the normal 3vs3 format in the same way as shuffle. There is an ongoing problem with high rated players dropping their mmr to sell boosts for the Gladiator title, but this is a separate issue thats been around for years and needs a different solution.

• Intentional griefing

  This will be fixed - its not an issue in today’s normal 3vs3 format, and if by chance it happens you can use the “Avoid” option I mentioned earlier and add that player’s name to avoid getting paired in the future.

• Wintrading

  This is one of the worst issues in today’s pvp environment both in Solo shuffle and in normal 3vs3. The only way to fix this issue is for Blizzard to strictly enforce their rules with a zero tolerance policy and put inn time and effort to restore integrity to wowpvp. There is no quickfix for this, and will be a longterm investment for Blizzard to secure the quality and integrity of the game, which will be worth it in the long run.

• Cheating (bug abusing, Botting, Third party programs)

  This is the second biggest issue of today’s pvp scene. Players are not afraid of getting punished anymore due to Blizzard’s lack of enforcing rules in their TOS, and blatantly uses any cheat. bug or unfair advantage they can find to win. This also needs to have a Zero tolerance policy even if its hard to proove.

  I will also add another point here. I think that if anyone gets caught heavily harassing someone with clear hostile intent they should immediately get IP banned from the game. Its the least Blizzard can do to maintain a healthy environment for their players.

• Abusing the report system to get players banned by Blizzard’s automatic ban system.

  This issue will be partly fixed, and by partly I mean this. The normal 3vs3 format does not have this issue, however if Solo and Duo que options gets integrated for normal 3vs3 then this issue could integrate as well, but I would imagine on a much smaller scale than today’s Solo shuffle.

  I will also add an unrelated issue which I think not only the pvp community, but the entire wow community would appreciate - We need REAL humans on costumer support that we can talk to about tickets and bans etc. It seems to me like this department has become collateral damage in the process of trying to save money by Blizzard, but unfortunately its again damaging the quality of the costumer support to the point of a non functioning system. I understand trying out automated solutions, but if it does not work then try something else - or revert back to whats working.

• Dividing the pvp playerbase between 2 or more gamemodes where 1 gamemode doesnt have an entrance barrier to play.

  This issue will be solved. The only reason players are currently leaning towards Solo shuffle rather than the normal 3vs3 format is due to the easy access and no effort needed to find partners to play, instead of going through the LFG tool to find partners they can que up immediately. However if the 3vs3 format also has this option and the enterance barrier removed with Solo and Duo que options integrated my guess is that people will lean towards the normal 3vs3 format. This will cause the majority of the pvp community to have 3vs3 as their main source of arena rather than spreading us thin among different gamemodes.

I mentioned above that Shuffle is a very unhealthy and generally bad way for any new players to get introduced to pvp. The chaos of 6 players with potentially huge skillgap that changes teams each round does not leave much room to understand what’s going on or learn pvp. My solutions with integrated Solo and Duo que options for both 2vs2 and 3vs3 will help this issue as well. Back in the days the way you found partners were to duel people outside of the capital citys of each faction and ask someone if they wanted to play 2vs2. If you hit it off and had a good vibe in 2vs2 you would eventually transition to find a third player for 3vs3.

2vs2 was and probably still is one of the best ways for new players to enter and learn pvp. The phase of 2vs2 is slower than both shuffle, 3vs3 and Rated battlegrounds, so you get more time to think, observe and absorb what is happening. Its the perfect environment for learning and practicing your damage rotation against real players and to understand your class on a deeper level. In today’s arena environment both 2vs2 and 3vs3 are gated behind the LFG system, which in my opinion is outdated and flooded with boosters. If 2vs2 and 3vs3 got the integrated Solo and Duo options this enterance barrier through LFG would be gone, and I bet it would dramaticly improve participation and comp diversity in both brackets. This would create a natural order for new players to approach pvp which would be 2vs2 → learn your class better and find someone to play with → transition with your 2vs2 partner to Duo que 3vs3 when you feel comfortable and ready to take on a bigger challenge → improve with your team and aim for gladiator → keep aiming higher. This will overall create a much better experience for any new players entering pvp and contrary to shuffle, promote Teamplay, understanding of the game and a more constructive environment.