Thoughts

[Strix]

I dont even know if its a suggestion or not, but it seems to fit this section best. I dont really expect anything because Ive seen how long it took to see any Sunwell gear changes.

Gear progress:

PvP

s1 - starter
s2 - honor points
s3 - arena points or donation
s4 - arena points (2s rating required)

Arena vendors should have NPC gossip to be used before opening the actual vendor window. Vendor windows should be divided into sections like Heads or Shoulders which should have 2s rating requirement in order to be opened. Such a feature would prevent people from getting arena pieces and legendary weapons through 3s which is less competitive than 2s when it comes to achieving higher rating (as far as I know it may be hard to separate 2s/3s ratings and item purchasing so this is still an alternative).

I suggested to make donors able to get free s3 gear because players with access to donor mall should have something, but I am in favour of donation system focused on vanity rewards instead. Still, anything is better than allowing donors to get full BiS gear for 5$ which stops the entire process of gear progress.

PvE

t4 quality - starter
t5 quality - Badges of Justice
t6 quality - Raids/Raid Tokens

The major problem with this is the current condition of PvE scripts which is not likely to improve any soon.

Legendary weapons

Legendaries are really powerful when compared to the rest of the available gear. I think they should be downgraded to the lower gear level, BT/MH weapons are just fine.

Professions

Profession materials should be redistributed by using honor points and Badges of Justice (or any other suitable PvE/PvP valuables) as the currency. Free materials block the idea of server economy which is bad for Smolderforge.

GM-Playerbase relations

Players should be allowed and encouraged to work with GMs, especially to help them test things and fixes before their release. That would prevent the unwanted side effects of some fixes which have recently destabilized Smolderforge.

Crossfaction Battlegrounds

Difficulties

-Wiping items would cause major drama (we have experienced that before).
-Wiping legendary weapons would be necessary too.
-Effort connected with changing all the instant gear setups (Welcome to Smolderforge NPC) and reworking all existing legendary weapons.
-Bad PvE scripting is the main obstacle which would have to be overcome to redistribute PvE gear effectively.

I don't know, maybe this is some sort of a wake up call? Yes, I do realize that people have been saying for years now that SF is going to die within months or so. I hardly doubt that, however, the population is DECREASING and it is a fact. You might be saying that this system is what makes this place the Smolderforge as we know it. In my opinion the current gear system is a mistake which was made a long time ago and SWP removal was an attempt to fix it. Was it enough? I don't think so.

[Hartun]

PvE

Good luck

[Anneloes]

s4 - arena points (2s rating required)

Don't u know TBC is unbalanced? How many class do u think are able to get s4 if it's rating required Only? Besides it's already rating required.

PvE
t4 quality - starter
t5 quality - Badges of Justice
t6 quality - Raids/Raid Tokens

U want another wiping of gears? This will only cause another decreasing of the players.

[Apuclevercow]

How many class do u think are able to get s4 if it's rating required Only?

9
But if you were never able to get a high rating with an easy class, it's normal that you are not able to get a decent rating with other classes.
The idea is good, not new but way too late imo.

[Strix]

Don't u know TBC is unbalanced? How many class do u think are able to get s4 if it's rating required Only? Besides it's already rating required.

Yes, it requires arena rating already. Thank god people cant donate for it. ;)

U want another wiping of gears? This will only cause another decreasing of the players.

Shiny gear is worthless when there is nobody to play with.


Something I forgot to add is that such a change would be a win/lose one. The gear difference would increase because s2-s4 would change to s1-s4. On the other hand, just the active arena players would have the PvP endgame items.

[Nazarleokas]

As for PVP, i think the state of right now is pretty good. U need rating to get S4 or donate. Running server and keep updating cost money tho. There are people who works for it.

As for PVE, In my opinion T6 should be a lot more expensiver than that is now. Even with voting systeem u almost get full T6 in less than 2 weeks not even mention the ingame badges u get. I would like to see that the T6 shoulders and heads get more worthy, cause back to retail time we all want those two parts just to show off:D.

Suggestion:
Pvp: stays the same as it is.
Pve:
agree for the new players to start with T4.
T5 obtainable with Badges + Honor.
T6 way expensiver than it is now. Maybe 100 badges a piece and shoulders 150?

Apuclevercow"Not new but way too late imo"

Changes are never too late. The server has always been having up and downs. Many players stops play for a while and comes back. This server is surely one of the top tbc server that exist. There will be more players coming.

[Strix]

Suggestion:
Pvp: stays the same as it is.

The non-existent PvP gear progression is the main problem though. It is impossible to have an active arena community here with full PvP endgame being available for 5$.

[Nazarleokas]

The non-existent PvP gear progression is the main problem though.

I think u really misunderstand what arena means for the players. Players who loves arena will even play with or without S4. Cause there's more elements required than just the gear. For example, skill, tactic, timing, and class. In my opinion, making S4 harder to get won't improve the population of arena players.

What about Solo QQ for 2's? :P

[Strix]

I think u really misunderstand what arena means for the players. Players who loves arena will even play with or without S4.

Yeah, and we can see how PvE item vendors promote PvE on Smolderforge. lol
There are arena and PvE minorities here, but can you really call those environments active? Reward is the best motivation.

[Vicarious]

I always thought this was the perfect gear setup for a pserv, starter gear s1, honor for s2, arena points (no rating) for 3, and points/rating for 4. The very values from retail could be used for this. Sadly this is so much work and so many people alreayd have their s4 that it'd reallllllly fuck the server if it was actually implemented. I think removing Sunwell is the best thing that could have happened, but it's also the limit to what we can do.