World of Warcraft Honor System Live

Available now from the World of Warcraft Patch servers, the Honor System has been put into production. The Patch Notes are available on the official site and besides the Honor System includes new art, bug fixes, and new live events in Kalimdor and the Gurubashi Arena. There will also be, starting in May, a "Children's Week" celebrated in Orgrimmar and Stormwind. "It is a time to give back to the innocents of war: the orphans!"

Comments

ok, one question comes to mind here....

[Malor]

How can you be an orphan when your parents respawn every 10 minutes?

Take that Blizzard...

[softspokenrevolution]

Well, at least they can't blame this lag on naked night elves dancing in front of the Auction House. Take that patch notes and website server.

Screenshots and info!

[JorenDahn]

PvP Honor ranks and corresponding rewards listed here.

Official images of PvP armor sets Wow, sexy.
Official images of the new mounts
Official listing of PvP weapons No pics though. :(

It Will Be Interesting...

[Chi Hsuan Men]

...to see how this will affect Horde / Alliance relations.

I play on Sargeras, which is a PvP server. Considering that it is a PvP server, there are a lot of clashes between the Horde and Alliance. Raids are constantly led against Horde and Alliance towns alike and in contested areas, "ganking" is a popular activity.

Though the interesting thing to note is when Alliance and Horde play nice. In certain areas, Horde and Alliance co-exist (to a reasonable degree) as they are BOTH attempting to complete quests.

For example, I was in Felwood last night working on a quest and a couple of Horde were right next to me killing MOBs and we pretty much go into a rhythm were I would kill one, then they would kill one, so on and so forth. At the end, we completed our objective (fill the vial with corrupted water), saluted each other, and went on our merry way.

In this example, we played nice with each, because it was mutually beneficial for us to do so, after all, we both needed to complete the quest... ...however, with the new patch, it will be just as beneficial, if not MORE for us to simply kill each other, as that will give us honor points which will eventually translate in p|-|47 l00t.

While the honor system MIGHT curb the rampant "problem" that is ganking (I don't see it as a problem, it's a pvp server, I deal with it) I think it will definitely escalate the desire for Horde and Alliance to kill each other, and make it more difficult to complete quests in contested areas.

Re:It Will Be Interesting...

[linzeal]

I play on the Ner'Zul server and as the rogue class officer for the 3rd largest guild on the server I have been anticipating with dread this move to an Honor System for months. PVP servers now will have an even steeper leveling curve that was not in place when the game went live. Places like Tarren Mills and Southshore will be bloodbaths during primetime and probably well into off time. Many people in my guild are considering dropping the PVE element of the game altogethter to have ganking parties 40 people strong that will kill en masse at the higher level neutral and enemy towns.

The game may change too radically for some and this might force some of the more reticent players on PVP servers to consider how much griefing they will allow in their online experience. When you are paying upwards of 50 bucks for the game and 15 bucks a month for the game the casual player who plays an hour or two a night is not going to be too pleased to not be able to meaningfully interact with the virtual world as he has done for the past 6 months there might be the addition of dishonor points for player kills. Which is what even a lot of us more hardcore folk would consider the minimal insurance that we will not be /spit on , ganked and griefed for the entierity of our online time.

Re:It Will Be Interesting...

[Achoi77]

I too play on a pvp server (Mannoroth), and have tested out the honor system on the test server. To be truthful, the 'phat lewtz' that are given thru pvp awards will be *very* difficult to get, as it is percentage based. The top rank (14) will only be awarded to .1% of all the total population, which translates to 1 out of every 1000. For a server with 30,000, that means only 30. For a smaller server with 10,000, only 10(!!!) will be able to acheive rank 14 and be awarded the big gear.

With such a difficulty ranking, it's better off if you and your guildmates farmed out MC or something.

That said, it will be a rough time for the first few weeks, since people will not realize that the honor system only kicks into high gear for endgame people. What I DO suspect is that the rampant lowbie ganking will ebb quite a bit to acceptable levels, Tarren Mill not withstanding, and that we will see a LOT more raids on the capital cities. (which should be fun!)

Re:It Will Be Interesting...

[meta-monkey]

I don't think it'll be much of a problem for people at lower levels. At level 60, I don't get honor points from ganking level 30s. The honor sytem lewt is only usable by high-level players, and is geared towards them. So there won't be roaming bands of level 40s hunting for level 35s in STV...they're still going to be leveling to get to 60 where the honor system really kicks in.

That said, people level 50-59 are absolutely screwed. They're going to be hunted down mercilessly. A level 50 player is still green (honorable kill worthy) to a level 60, so that guy is gonna get ganked. Then the ganker is going to call in all his guild mates, and they'll camp him and take turns killing him so they each get an honor kill until the guy gives up and logs. Essentially, once you hit 50 you better either hide in an instance or only go outside with a full raid group until you're 60.

Re:It Will Be Interesting...

[meta-monkey]

I don't think there's anything like that...there are diminishing returns for the same player killing the same player over and over again, but not guild. That doesn't matter if you're in a group or not...the first time you'll get 100% of the honor points you would get, based on the group bonuses, and the next time you'll get fewer, and fewer, until probably after you've killed the same guy 4-5 times you won't get any points for killing him at all for a day or so. I don't think guilds have anything to do with it. If that were the case, large guilds woud be a serious disadvantage, and you'd be better off just disbanding your in-game guild but still teaming up over Ventrillo or something.

Re:It Will Be Interesting...

[Minna Kirai]

Though the interesting thing to note is when Alliance and Horde play nice. In certain areas, Horde and Alliance co-exist (to a reasonable degree) as they are BOTH attempting to complete quests.

It's a little interesting to note that the enmity between Horde & Alliance is maintained by what is essentially NPC bigotry. In towns with NPC guards, players of the other factions will automatically be attacked. Fighting back will flag them for PVP, attracting the nearby PCs to come pound on them.

But in the wilderness, there are no NPC faction-members to start fights. And since the two sides aren't warring by default in that situation, they tend to cooperate like you described.

with the new patch, it will be just as beneficial, if not MORE for us to simply kill each other,

The game is called "Warcraft" after all- you're supposed to be at war, and that means attacking on sight. From the perspective of authors trying to make a game world fulfill their longstanding preconceptions, that effect will be exactly what they want.

make it more difficult to complete quests in contested areas.

Hey, if Honor points will be giving better l00t anyhow, why bother questing? The quest location becomes like a meeting-place for Honor battles, with the quest reward a consolation prize for when you're standing around there and don't meet an enemy party.

Not looking forward to this...

[meta-monkey]

I can't say I'm looking forward to this patch. I chose a PvP server to PvP...I still love that. I just don't like the way the rewards are implemented.

I have a wife and a job, and don't have as much time to play as the college students and bums who make up most of my guild. With the PvE stuff, I might not always have my stuff first, but I'd get it eventually. I got to 60 about a month after my friends. They had time to run three instances a day for their class sets. I could only run maybe one before bed, but that was fine. I didn't get my stuff first, but I got it eventually. Now we're working through Molten Core and have killed Onyxia several times, and I've got pieces of my epic class sets. I'll get the rest, eventually, too.

Now with the PvP system, you get your rank determined by the percentage of server-wide kills you got that week. Only a certain percentage of players per server will be able to get the higher PvP ranks. It doesn't matter if I'm the greatest PvP'er who ever lived, I will never get the epic PvP sets, simply because there's no way I can get more kills in the 1-2 hours a night I have to play than the people who have 8 hours a day to play. With the PvE stuff, I wouldn't be there FIRST, but I'd be there EVENTUALLY. With the PvP system, I'll never get there, and will only be somewhere in the middle of the pack, forever. Eh.

Re:Not looking forward to this...

[Daikiki]

You do have a point, of course, but a game like this needs to cater to many types of people. WoW has always been very friendly to the more casual players; much of the content can be taken on solo, and the rest state bonus even gives casual players a bit of a leg up by giving players who aren't online as frequently as some an experience bonus for their kills. As you've said, even as a casual player, you will be able to take on all of the challenges the game has to offer and acquire all of the uber-loot eventually.

Having said that, I think it's perfectly valid to reward the hardcore players for their efforts as well. The gear and perks you can acquire in the PVP honor system are pretty cool, granted, but they're hardly essential to your continued enjoyment of the game. There are people out there who play WoW for 40 hours a week or more, and I think it's fully justified to reward people who put a lot of time and effort into the game with some unique items, benefits, and perks. Simply letting them get the stuff everybody else will eventually get as well, only faster, just won't hold a player's attention. Bear in mind that it doesn't actually take that long to reach the level cap at 60, especially if you're a dedicated player. Until now there hasn't been much of a mechanism to keep players engrossed once they've hit the cap. I think the new honor system should fit the bill nicely without any serious drawbacks to more casual players like us.

Honor with no Dishonor

[agrounds]

The problem is that they have implemented an Honor system, that rewards players for continual ganking, without the supplementary Dishonor system to discourage griefing.

--There are rich rewards to be had for slaughtering any and all opponents of roughly the same level.
--There are no penalties for slaughtering any and all oppenents of lower levels.

While I realize that there was no discouragment before to stop this.. my priest still bears the scars of Stranglethorn Vale, what many fear this will lead to is roaming armadas of factions farming Honor points by killing everything in sight. I see this being the most likely outcome.

The server populations had already become overrun with NightElf and Undead stunlock rogues. There are more rogues than any other single class, as they are vastly overpowered for levelling and moreover singularly designed for wholesale murder (I used to play a rogue myself, before I retired him out of disgust for the easy win). Now, instead of farming instances and working toward saving money for great items, they can simply take the low road and farm players trying to simply quest and level a little.

Blizzard has done a major disservice to the player community, and I feel the ramifications of this will resound within the userbase as characters are dropped in favor of more rogues. They have already nerfed most of the classes into oblivion and back, this just justifies my belief that Blizzard developers do not play on live PvP servers and see what we see. I suspect that my time will be spent on a PvE server very soon.

Before you fire off a reply with a 'STFU n00b' or 'Cry some more' consider carefully how difficult it will be to run Molten Core, Maraudon, Dire Maul, Stratholm, and the like when you have effectively discouraged most other classes from levelling other than rogues.

Re:Honor with no Dishonor

[ildon]

what many fear this will lead to is roaming armadas of factions farming Honor points by killing everything in sight. I see this being the most likely outcome.

You fail to acknowledge that perhaps this was the intended outcome. The game is desinged around player conflict. The non-PvP or "Normal" servers are designed for people who are not interested (or less interested) in this type of conflict.

You don't hop on a game of Quake and start complaining when people kill you, do you?

Re:Honor with no Dishonor

[Chyeld]

Consider this:

People who are already ganking lowbies are doing so for one of two reasons. Either they like being a-holes, or they are bored and have no incentive to do otherwise.

People who are interested in gaining Honor are going to do so for two reasons. They want recognition and they want phat loot.

If someone is already ganking, then the Honor system currently gives them incentive to concentrate on higher targets. So the majority of the bored ones are more than likely going to switch.

If someone isn't already ganking, then the Honor system gives them a reason not to. Not because they will be directly penalized by it, but because wasting time on killing lowbies when others are going for real kills is going to drop them lower in the rankings.

You will never lose the a-holes. Even if you instituted an insta-perma-ban on people who killed anyone grey to them, you'd still have people with too much time on their hands and a fist full of momma's credit cards who are willing to level someone up and get that one kill just to be a dick. But I don't see how this is going to increase their numbers at all.

What I'm really waiting to see is what happens when they finally introduce the Battlegrounds. Once those are in, you really won't have time to PvP outside of them unless you are just waiting for your turn to go in. From what I can tell, the oportunities to gain honor inside the BG will more than outstrip the opportunities outside.