Solutions for No X-Server and 'Redesigned' Rewards (?)

Let's start with the fact that Bioware has not released any new PvP content in over two years, apart from the most disliked warzone (Quesh Huttball). With no commitment to new PvP content apart some superficial changes in 3.3, it might be the final deathblow for PvP - esspecially for (both S- and T-)Ranked. Let me elaborate:

On the 15th of October Eric Musco promised "something better than cross-server". Cleary, we will never see such a thing. Cross-server would be solution to several problems:

(1) Long que times / No pops
Everyone knows on all servers, apart from the Tomb of Freedom Nadd, Solo Ranked is almost non-existent. If it pops, it only pops on 'primetime' or even 'primetime in the weekends'. Having a larger population and people from different timezones this problem would be solved.


(2) Wintrading
Everyone also knows there is a massive amount of wintraders. In the past seasons a lot of people used T-R to wintrade quickly. T-R is even more dead than S-R. Now, because of the fact that T-R is almost non-existent people that appear with 1600+ rating on the Group Leaderboards actually stand out if they are not 'known players' (which is once again evidence that Ranked is dead). So people have fled to Solo to wintrade.

Solo wintrading is commonly done by two people queueing as healer or tank. Two 'friends' would que sync - ideally outside of 'primetime' and opposite faction -but again - due to the small population even same faction works out. When they simultaneously get a pop, (a) either one leaves the que (making the other end up either 3v4 or against 4 dps - which is a near garantueed win) or (b) both join and one "pretends" to be legit but makes obviously mistakes, e.g. does not heal properly/does not use cooldowns/does not kite/does not switch guard et cetera.

I know a lot of people notice this and a lot of people file tickets against suspected players. As we all know, Bioware does not actually act against wintrading/trolling. If they do, they merely reset the rating at the end of the season. This leaves you with wintraders the entire season and usually they just try again next season.

Musco's claims that they've banned people and seen a decline in this activity around ~50% is highly unlikely. They have not provided any evidence to support this claim. Once again, this could (at least to a large extent) be fixed by X-Server. A larger population in different timezones would increase the amount of healers and tanks in que for Solo Ranked. This would make this stragety near-impossible to be succesful. Obviously, the same reasoning applies to T-R. With a larger population the chances increase that wintrading teams stumble upon actual teams.


(3) Trolling
I reckon we can define this, at least to some extent, what is mentioned under 2b). Experientially there is no real difference - you either end up 3v4 or you end up with a guy that gets globalled on purpose, does random 'friendly pulls' and so forth. There are several well-known trolls on several servers and I am certain there have been dozens of tickets against these people: they simply do not get banned.

This phenomenon is probably the hardest to counter, but, as we will see, it relates to the next (4) problem. Nevertheless, it worth a mention, that a larger population would decrease the chances that people constantly keep getting teamed up with the same troll.


(4) ELO system
This problem obviously relates to everything mentioned above:

(1) No pops equals no opportunity to even get rating.
(2) Here lucks play a factor. Either you're lucky to end up with the 'winner in the trade' or you almost have guaranteed loss of rating. Obviously, wintraders that are 'succesful' and get away with it proves the system is broken. Ranking no longer a strong representation of people their skill.
(3) Same reasoning applies as under (2). If you're on the opposite team you might benefit from it.

Perhaps there is even a bigger problem, namely Musco's logic concerning pops, i.e. "The PvP community just want pops". Due to the small population and the current system people can end up with either 'extreme bads' or 'trolls', with rating literally varying from 10 times up to 300 times lower rating. For instance, I have been in games with people under 15 rating (!) while I was well over 1500.

To put it more straightforward: Yes, Eric, I want pops! But honestly, I rather have no pops than having pops with people that have 100 times lower rating that will end up ruining mine.

With a larger population and a properly functioning system people with equal amounts of rating are more likely to end up with each other. Trolls will end up with other trolls. Good players who want actual competitive PvP will end up with and against other good players. Everyone wins.

Another consequence would be that Solo wintrading will be much harder as well, i.e. the 'losers in the trade' will eventually be on too low rating to end up with their 'partner'. The 'winners in the trade' (who are probably not good - since they feel the necessity to get high rating by wintrading) have a higher chance to end up with other high rated tanks/heals (who are actually good) that will most likely beat them. Once again, chances for 'succesful' wintraders are decreased.


(5) 'Redesigned' rewards
Bioware announced that from S6 on the rewards are not strictly related to rating. You will earn tokens to buy rewards. Even (formerly) Tier 3 players could get Tier 1 rewards - yet "they would have to play alot of games". Obviously, no one knows what "a lot" means. Note, there might be trolls or 'losers in the trade' who literally play hundreds of games. Even though they might end up with really low rating, due to the massive amount of games they can still get rewards. Now, imagine an average player who reaches Tier 2 rating but only with 10-30 games (due to the lack of pops on his server). This player might deserve Tier 1 rewards but will be unable to get them.

Clearly, this 'redesign' is not a solution to any of the problems mentioned above, on the contrary, it will actually pay off for people abusing the current state of the game.


Giving away some cheap character transfers is not gonna cut it in the end. There might be a small shift in populations and PvP activity on certain specific servers. Yet, in the long run none of the problems will be solved.


What would be, according to you, solutions to these problems. Can they be adressed properly without cross-server? If so, elaborate here. Bioware "reads the forums" and "listens the community" - let's benefit from this! :rolleyes: