Ohh Yeahhh: Return of the Bad Idea Dept.

In honor of the Macho Man Randy Savage, I'm going to again make the argument for entrances in PvP.

To give you an idea of what I'm taking about, this is an entrance.


This is an introduction, possibly the greatest way to make an entrance possible:




I don't think we'll ever see individual entrances in a MMO, but it could be something pretty fun for any game with team PvP. Fun for the players and fun for the devs too, because it's something that you could make profitable.


As it stands now, most games that feature Group v. Group PvP put little to no thought in the build-up to the fight. The way it usually works: players zone into the Scenario / Battleground / Warfront instance and stare at a transparent barrier or ridiculous glowing prison bars for ~45 seconds while everyone files in. This time is generally spent picking your nose, checking buffs, telling dick jokes in Vent. Nothing about it is really any fun or exciting. You watch a clock tick down.

How it could work:

- First off, let's not call it an "entrance" or refer to it as "entrance music". That immediately brings to mind wrestlers wearing feather boas and neon tights. Call it a "War Anthem" or something. Although the inspiration for this is WWF, the actual rationale behind it should be war. In war, you don't play music to rile up a stadium of fans. However, music does have a place in war - whether it be psyching out the enemy with war drums, chants and blaring horns or modern-day soldiers psyching themselves up by blasting Megadeth and Iron Maiden.

- The different elements of the entrance would all be customized by the team/guild leader. It wouldn't have to specifically be some sort of registered arena tournament team, it would be something that takes place any time a full group of guildies enters in a single match. The entrance would all be based on customizations made beforehand in a menu tab, basically 4-5 different things you could select or slot.

- Things you could customize:

• Music. Selected from songs from the game's soundtrack. Probably wouldn't be the largest library in the world to choose from, but most games would offer plenty of good options.

• Heraldry. You could have guild banners flapping in the wind all around you. You could even have this be something you could upgrade with a giant flag in the backdrop that screams "We're better than you", maybe as a PvP reward or microtransaction bullshit.

• FX. A good entrance has some spectacular visual shit going on. Pyrotechnics spitting flamejets into the air, smoke billowing out from the shadows, lasers of red light cutting through the air. All fluff stuff that you could have as PvP rewards or cash shop fodder. Most MMOs have fireworks, why not put them to use and have them automatically fire off in a set entrance display?

• Companions. Usually non-combat "pets" are pretty short-lived fad gimmicks - tiny squirrels and monkeys that trip over your feet. Why not have Entrance Companions to accompany your posse? No, I'm not talking about having little baby penguins flex their muscles and hoot and holler around you. I was thinking more like trumpet-blowing flag bearers and war drummers. Maybe a giant brown bear rearing up and howling, or a pacing tiger, a small phalanx of armored undead, all wearing your team's coat-of-arms and guild colors. You could have your 'mascot' be a pissed-off, life-sized black dragon. All fluff crap you could grind for with PvP 'Renown' or exclusive shit you could buy at the "Entitlements Store".

• War dance. There's usually at least one guy who gets bored at the beginning of a match and does a /dance. Problem is, most dances are designed to look like Travolta or Carlton doing the Hush Puppy, and it's just horrible. Horrible. Death Knights don't do the Dougie.

War dances should look and sound like this. War dances should give you chills and make people shit their pants, not make people roll their eyes and groan.


If a horde is getting ready for an epic fight to the death, you shouldn't see Barbarians standing stock-still, or worse, breaking out into a effete, disco-boogie /dance out of desperate boredom. You should see guys wildly screaming and beating their chests, chanting, offering up blood sacrifices. Have a fucking fiery altar in there. Have Imperial cannons belching death into the sky. Have some fun with it.

PvP players want something to fight for, here's a whole mall of shit they could work for, and none of it is gear that imbalances combat.