Blizzard Details WoW Forever PvP: Rank Rewards and the Darkspear Islands

Honor buys gear, Rank Points raise your rank

Until now, what we knew about PvP progression came from a Kotaku interview, the September 17 Live Q&A and the beta client’s tables. Blizzard’s article How PvP Progression Works is the first official account, and it splits the system in two.

• Honor is a currency. It comes from defeating other players, completing battlegrounds and finishing PvP quests, and you spend it on PvP gear. A battleground gives more during its holiday week.
• Rank Points come from battlegrounds and PvP quests, again with a holiday-week boost. They move you through the ranks of the original game, up to High Warlord for the Horde and Grand Marshal for the Alliance.
• A weekly cap. Ranks have a weekly cap. Blizzard gives no schedule; the week-by-week curve on our PvP guide is beta client data.
• Honor evened out. Honor gains were reviewed so that rates are more consistent across battlegrounds, and nobody has to pick Alterac Valley for Honor alone.
• Where to look. Open the character pane (C) and pick the Player vs. Player tab: it shows your rank, your Rank Points and the rewards your rank lets you buy.

The reward at each of the 14 ranks

Blizzard lists what each rank unlocks. Beside its list, the table shows what the beta client already had: the rank screen’s wording, the Rank Points each rank takes and the titles. The two agree rank for rank; the client is only more specific about the tabard at rank 6, the mounts at rank 11 and the weapons at rank 14.

Two PvP sets and the Emboldened Seal

• Two sets, both for Honor. One is blue quality, one is epic quality.
• Epic is an upgrade. An epic piece is the blue piece plus an Emboldened Seal, and each seal has a rank you must reach before you can buy it: the upgrade tokens of ranks 8 to 13 in the table above.
• Sets for every specialization. New and reworked items fill gaps: Shamans, for example, now have healer, melee and caster PvP sets.
• In the beta client the seals are eight items, one per armor slot, named like Premier Emboldened Wrist Seal. Every PvP set the client holds is on the WoW Forever sets page.

Seasons, weekly tasks and Legacy Points

You climb the ranks and earn Honor during a PvP season. Each season has a journey of weekly tasks that grant Honor and Rank Points, and three of them also grant a Legacy Point each. Because those belong to the Legacy system, they stay available in later seasons: a point you miss this season isn’t lost. That fits the three season journey quests in Blizzard’s Legacy challenge list, which the WoW Forever Legacy planner tracks.

Darkspear Islands: 15v15, levels 30–60, first to 2,000

Type

15 vs 15

capture points and a flag

Where

Dustwallow Marsh

off its shores

Levels

30–60

the same in Blizzard’s article and the beta client’s queue

To win

2,000

points, first team

Capture points

4

the more you hold, the faster you score

Flag

1

in the middle; carry it to a base your team holds

Horde

Darkspear Raiders

base at the Merchant Coast, the Barrens

Alliance

Theramore Expeditionary Force

base at Northwatch, the Barrens

• How it plays. Teams score from four capture points, faster with every point they hold. A flag in the middle of the map can be carried to a base your team has captured for more points.
• How to queue. At a battlemaster in any major capital city, or through the portal at your side’s base in the Barrens: the Darkspear Raiders at the Merchant Coast for the Horde, the Theramore Expeditionary Force at Northwatch for the Alliance.
• Reputations. Each side has a reputation with vendors at its base: trinkets, rings, cloaks, weapons, armor pieces and consumables at different standings. Marks of Honor are turned in for reputation quests, and at Exalted a short questline rewards the faction’s tabard.

What changed against what we knew

What this means for you

• Play the battleground you like. With Honor evened out, Alterac Valley isn’t the only sensible pick, and each battleground’s holiday week pays more Honor and Rank Points.
• Plan epic gear by rank. Buy the blue piece first; the seal that upgrades it opens at rank 8 for bracers and belt and at rank 13 for chest and helm. The full ladder is on our WoW Forever PvP guide.
• The rank 11 mounts are no longer a rumor. The WoW Forever mounts page has the black war mounts the beta client lists there.
• Don’t rush the season’s Legacy tasks. The three that grant Legacy Points stay available in later seasons.
• Level 30 is enough for the new battleground. You can queue for the Darkspear Islands from level 30; Alterac Valley’s queue starts at 51 in the beta client.

Related WoW Forever guides

• PvP
• Item sets
• Mounts
• Legacy System