Due for launch in little over a month, Battle for Azeroth, the latest World of Warcraft expansion, is due to make some big changes to PvP starting with the abolishing of PvP dedicated servers. This might sound quite extreme but in their place will be a feature called War Mode which will allow any player on any server to engage in open world PvP. Players will be able to turn War Mode on and off while in their factions main city and will then only be visible to other players who chose the same setting.
Also implemented in the new zones, for those with War Mode active, will be a bounty hunter feature which can be triggered by a player killing a certain number of players. This will flag them as infamous and will allow their location, name and faction to appear on the local map for all to see. The player will also gain a 15% boost to damage and healing and the status of Assassin, but will also likely become big target for players of the opposite faction, as Conquest points will be gained for any Assassin killed by the opposite faction.
Air drops will also be implemented in the new zones, with war supply crates being dropped from the sky which can be fought over and claimed for a faction. Once claimed any player of that faction can loot the crate for items over a short period of time.
A new feature for one on one battles will also be implemented through the new Dueler’s guild. This will allow players to queue to take part in one on one battles in an arena. The winning player will stay in and face further players with achievements for surviving a certain number of bouts.
Honour level and PvP talents are also being revamped. Players will no longer gain PvP talents by raising their honour level but will gain them as a part of standard levelling, with all PvP talents unlocked by level 110. The idea is to give a more even playing field for those players new to PvP. Instead of gaining new talents through PvP participation, players will receive cosmetic rewards, such as pets and mounts. Honour points will also be made account wide, with honour points gained by all characters being funnelled into one account-wide single honour level. If only they’d do this for faction reputation too…
This is a pretty extensive revamp of the PvP system, and many players would agree that it was sorely needed. I, myself, have only dabbled in PvP over the years, due to the fact that being instant killed by players with better PvP gear is not a fun thing. Perhaps, this revamp will bring some balance and make PvP more newcomer friendly, but I’ll wait to see it in practice before I pass my final judgement.
