Feature: This Persistent Life: Save our PvP
#2: PvP tuning takes too long
Rewind back to when the arena system launched: Warrior and Paladin teams were running rampant, forming the backbones of most successful 5v5 teams, and utterly dominating the 2v2 bracket. Fast forward to today, and the balance changes that Blizzard has declared they would implement to mitigate this steamroller of a combination have yet to make it to the game! (To be fair, version 2.2 of the game, which will usher in these changes, looks like it'll be going live on Tuesday the 25th.) Warrior/Paladin teams aren't necessarily dominating anymore, due to players having found ways around them, but the slow reaction on Blizzard's part remains glaringly evident.
These days, it's Warlocks and restoration-spec Druids that are wrecking shop, and if Blizzard's history is any indication, it'll be around, say, five months till any balance changes are realized. This isn't acceptable, and there isn't any other way of putting it.
Blizzard is in the (bad) habit of lumping together all game updates, be they statistical tweaks, content additions, or entirely-new features, into enormous, single updates. Apart from a few scant "hot fixes" which are worked into the game without a patch, players often have to wait months at a time before the game systems are tweaked, due to other, more resource-intensive being scheduled for the same updates. Patch 2.2, which will bring with it the aforementioned Paladin "nerfs" has been months in the making, simply because Blizzard decided to launch its native voice-over IP system in the same update. Chances are 2.3, which is set to include an all-new raid instance, will suffer the same fate. So get used to those Warlock/Druid teams stomping your face in. It's going to be a while before any meaningful changes are brought into play.
The solution: Blizzard needs to be more fluid in regards to game-balance changes. Rather than waiting for a major update to tweak the systems, why not roll them out in smaller, more frequent updates? This would serve two purposes: primarily, it would allow the game to evolve at a much more agreeable clip, helping to ensure that PvP isn't reduced to a mere rock/paper/scissors game when it comes to class balance. Secondly, it'll train players to see the game as the fluid system it should be. Let's say Class X has some of its abilities toned down in an update. If players of said class know that the next update is only a week or two away, this could go very far towards mitigating the nerf-induced grief. Basically, Blizzard is way too risk-averse when it comes to balance changes. The designers could afford to be much more proactive when it comes to this stuff, especially when frequent updates would allow them sufficient chance to undo whatever mistakes they could make. Let's face it: the game feels a bit stagnant right now when in this regard, and that spells death when it comes to PvP.
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