World Of Warcraft: Legion Overhauling PvP, Blizzard Explain How In Lengthy Blog
The ways of PvP in the World of Warcraft universe are set to change with the latest legion expansion as Honor and Conquest will no longer be currency used for purchasing PvP gear. It is time to brandish the pitchforks and torches?
Blizzard Entertainment sure hope not and so have posted a lengthy explanation and breakdown of exactly how the PvP system will be working once Legion is upon us. Honor Points are the new hip and cool thing players will be collecting once they've achieved maximum level, and they come from Battlegrounds or Arenas. It's similar, they say, to low-level characters earning XP.
"As you earn Honor Points, you will increase your Honor Level, up to the maximum Honor Level of 50. Along the way, you'll earn a number of rewards, including Gold, Artifact Power, and a brand new set of PvP-only Honor Talents."
"Honor Talents are a special set of Talents that are only active when a player is in a PvP instance (such as a Battleground or Arena) or otherwise engaged in PvP combat, and work in addition to your normal Talents. They are unlocked, one at a time, as your Honor Level increases. So, by Honor Level 10, you'll have one option available in each row, but as you continue to increase your Honor Level, more and more options will become available for you to change up how you approach PvP gameplay."
Another major change is doing away with gear that influences strength in PvP. Now it's all tied to specialisations. It seems Blizzard are moving away from gear-focused PvP and instead equalising the playing field through these Honor levels.
"In Legion, as soon as you zone into a PvP instance, the stats on your gear will be nullified, and you'll be given a pre-determined set of stats that's uniquely configured for your specialization. Furthermore, any set bonuses, enchants, Legendary bonuses, or trinket effects will be deactivated (although your Artifact and its related Artifact Powers will remain active)."
"The only contribution your gear will make to your overall power is through a small modifier based on your average item level. For every point that your average item level increases, your pre-determined PvP stats will increase by 0.1%. That means a 25 item level difference between two players only results in a 2.5% difference in stats, compared to the 25% difference it makes today. There’s still a little incentive to improve your gear – a concept we think is important for World of Warcraft – but the benefits are much less pronounced."
Check out the lengthy Battle.net blog to learn more about World of Warcraft: Legion's PvP changes.
World of Warcraft: Legion releases on PC sometime mid-2016.