The state of Tol Barad

Recently Blizzard implemented what I consider to be the worst change to any PvP scenario since the introduction of the Easter Plaguelands "World" PvP, namely the increased bonus Honor for winning an assault match in Tol Barad.

To recap; when Tol Barad was launched, the winner got 180 Honor Points. However, the nature of Tol Barad itself with the defenders having a much easier time winning since they only needed to keep one base, while the attackers were forced to capture and hold three at the same time, led Blizzard to patch it. The patch however, was a disaster. They now reward 1800 bonus Honor for winning an assault match, 180 for winning a defense. The result? People join defense matches to lose, to do nothing, and sign up for the assault matches for "free" Honor.

Today I signed for all assault (and defense for that matter) matches the instant they became available. I got into all where the Alliance where defending, and NONE where we were assaulting. Never has this happened to me on this server, neither the first few weeks in Tol Barad, nor anytime in Wintergrasp. We're simply not that many doing these kinds of World PvP objectives. But now, all of a sudden, there's so many signing up, that most of us seasoned PvPers, don't get in. Did we suddenly get several times more dedicated PvPers over night on the server? Doubtful. Clearly this is a case of scrubs signing up for free Honor. And why shouldn't they? Blizzard are handing out a sum every 5th hour to the every faction that equals 10 Battlegrounds or more! Only those lucky enough to get in get that benefit of course.

And here's the even better part: Nobody really does PvP in Tol Barad. Not like they did 5 days ago. Now people lose or win in 5 minutes. Everybody is wintrading, something that ironically enough is considered a bannable offence by the very people that introduced this change in the first place. Blizzard have succesfully ruined their brand new World PvP Zone. As long as this bonus remains, it will remain broken and ruined. The incentive to do PvP should be the love of PvP. Not a free bonus equal to 10 or more Battlegrounds worth of Honor.

This PvPer has left Tol Barad. Increased bonus Honor or not... there is no "Honor" in the wintrading of Tol Barad. It's now a place for honorless scrubs, for bottomfeeders that want the rewards, but not the game or challenges required to get them. They want a trophy for winning a race, without ever having to actually race anybody.