It took almost 2 decades, but now Blizzard is revising the ancient honor system from WoW Classic . Gone are the days of “endless grind”.
The honor system in World of Warcraft Classic is one of the oldest systems in MMORPGs ever. Even back then it was viewed critically, because in its “vanilla” version it is in no way based on skill but solely on answering the question: Who can grind the most and do PvP 24/7 a day? Only characters who earn the most honor within a week can advance to the top ranks.
This has already led to toxic and undesirable behavior in the past. Because if you still wanted to get good PvP rewards with a job or some other type of hobby, you had to use bots or do account sharing to get maximum playing time in PvP.
Even back then it was said mockingly: "If you want rank 14 in PvP, you'd better take 4 weeks of vacation, be unemployed or a student" - and that was more often than not true.
So in order to change the public perception and retain players, Blizzard decided to make a change
What is Blizzard changing now?
Blizzard is removing the “Decay” system, i.e. the automatic decay of honor ranks.
Anyone who has stopped participating in PvP activities has lost ranks over time. So it was almost impossible to maintain around “14th place” for several weeks in a row. This should be easier in the future, as you can simply work on your PvP rank whenever you have a little time. So you can work your way up to rank 14 little by little and play a little more intensively or sometimes a little less.
However, it will probably still take a very intensive week full of PvP to jump from rank 13 to rank 14, as nothing changes in the limits.
However, you will never automatically lose an honor rank. If you have reached rank 12, then you are also rank 12. With one exception:
Can you still lose ranks?
Yes, this is still possible, but only if you accumulate “Dishonorable Kills”. So if you kill defenseless quest giver NPCs or civilians, you can continue to reduce your PvP rank. So in the future, pay attention to who you beat up - and which NPCs might be in the area.
This is how the community reacts:
The topic is being actively discussed in the WoW Classic subreddit and various forums. While some people are of the opinion that “everything can now be thrown at you” because you no longer have to play for 6 weeks in a row without a break, others see the advantages.
Many are looking forward to being able to work towards a high PvP rank at their own pace. The automatic “regress” in PvP feels like a relic from another time and has never been fun.
By the way, the change applies to both the Classic era and the new Classic SoD .