As of this writing, Blizzard is deciding whether or not to provide a separate PvP server. The purpose of this editorial is to discuss the merits of such a choice. Although this decision—to put it mildly and in non-troll terms—gets disapproving nods from most PvP players, ultimately, for the utility of the game and as a business solution, the move is a sound one.

Blizzard is a company that tries to make everyone happy. You need only to look at Starcraft or the Warcraft series to see the unending stream of “balance this please” from people who can't win with their race, and how Blizzard yields to their pleas through numerous patches to understand their commitment. You need only to see their sense of perfectionism to see that even when something that doesn't need fixing (the match making system in Warcraft III) that they still try to. So everyone can understand that Blizzard wants to make PvP as enjoyable an experience for as large amount of players as they possibly can. But what makes World of Warcraft (WOW) markedly different from Starcraft, Warcraft, or any past game they've made is that this is a pay-to-play game, and although they would like to make everyone happy, they know that this is impossible, so they do the next best thing: make as many people happy as they can.

As mentioned, previously Blizzard has been tinkering with the new match making system for Warcraft III. Although it was originally a good system it still had its flaws, namely smurfing (veteran players creating new accounts, victimizing players who still say “GL HF” and mean it). Blizzard, being the perfectionist company that they are, decided that they wanted to perfect the system and are now experimenting with a percent based system; they are trying to fine tune it perfectly. The Warcraft community is flaming the boards as if they are all ~SoulessDragons. Could you imagine if Bnet players had to pay to play Warcraft three? You would be hearing hundreds and hundreds of threats how they will leave, this suX0rs, and Blizzard you are so stupid. The business model of a free and a profit game are wholly different. Blizzard understands this and does not want people threatening to leave and hence lose income. So Blizzard's task is to make the greatest amount of people happy and at the same time try to lessen the anger of the minority. It's simply a business decision. They can't risk perfecting a pay-per-play game.

Who do you think the majority of WOW players will be? I'll give you a hint: it begins with the letter c and ends in bears. Who do you think the minority of players are? Blizzard is simply predicting future griefing and unsatisfied customers from their majority group. As of this writing, I have not found a single “carebear” complain about the splitting of server. This effectively satisfies the needs of the majority group. Now all that is left is to lessen the anger of the minority.

To do this Blizzard likely does not have a solid plan yet, but has many ideas, many of which they will try out in the beta (that's why it's here). They will likely try to lessen the anger of PvP players by making it tailor suited to PvP players and likely will follow word for word, detail by detail exactly what PvPers want on their servers, and what they write in their forums. I mean would you do after you picked hanging out with your girlfriend over your best friend? You obviously become really nice to him and do whatever he wants you to do. Splitting the servers made the girls happy, now it's up to them to make their best friend happy.

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