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Life in World of Warcraft 1.4
The Honor System Arrives
The latest patch to World of Warcraft (WoW), which introduced
the player versus player (PvP) Honor system, has created quite a
buzz in the community, and plenty of that buzz is negative.
Changes to online games are always a touchy subject among users,
but, at the same time, subscribers do expect MMORPGs to evolve
and grow. Here's my view of the impact of patch 1.4 on the game.
Honor in Brief
Blizzard provided a lengthy explanation of Honor and PvP rewards
quite a while ago, but documentation could be better, and there
is still some confusion among players about exactly how the
system works.
Honorable Kills - These are kills of players not more than 12(?)
levels below your own level. In groups and raids, everyone in
the group or raid gets credit for the kill. If multiple groups
contribute to an honorable kill, everyone in all the groups get
an Honorable Kill.
Apart from a few NPC leaders such as Thrall or King Bronzebeard,
you do not get any Honor from killing NPCs.
Dishonorable Kills - You do not, at this point, receive a
Dishonorable Kill for taking out a player below you level range;
you simply don't get an Honorable Kill for it. The only way to
get a Dishonorable Kill at the moment is by killing NPC
"civilian bystanders," essentially meaning certain NPCs that are
not guards. Furthermore, there are no penalties associated with
dishonor at this stage, unless you consider having your
Dishonorable Kill counter go up a penalty.
Contribution Points - This is an experience-like credit that is
based on your contribution to successful PvP battles. We know
that damage dealt is part of the equation, and healers in the
group that do no direct damage to the enemy are also factored
in. It would appear that all nearby group members get some
points, even if they have done nothing, as is the case with
experience when fighting mobs. These points are more important
than your Honorable Kill count, as it is your Contribution
Points that will ultimately determine your PvP ranking, and
hence whether you qualify for the rewards, which come in the
form of special high-status items.
Obviously, this is an incentive-based system. You are rewarded
for victory over enemy characters within your level range, but
you are not deterred from killing players below your level
range. While it may seem rather one-sided, disincentives are
much more difficult to implement than incentives. For instance,
the system has to be flexible enough to allow a high level
character to defend themself against a swarm of players below
their level range, which is a great deal more complicated than
it sounds. Even the strict level limits on combat used by some
MMORPGs are not without problems.
Let the Fight Begin
1.4 has affected PvP servers differently from Normal servers. On
Normal servers you can't be attacked by another player unless
you attack them first. PvP is initiated only by attacking enemy
NPCs or manually turning on your PvP flag. Subsequently, PvP is
entirely consensual on Normal servers. This doesn't mean that
the opposing faction won't try to disrupt the enemy's questing
by attacking key NPCs, merchants, and so on. Still, the impact
of 1.4 on Normal servers has been relatively small. !
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