WoW PVP Guide

Changes that have made PvP (player versus player) combat a much bigger part of the World of Warcraft. That’s probably why you’re reading this right now. And that’s why you need the PvP Bible, the leading WoW PvP guide.

World of Warcraft currently offers 3 types of server for players to play on, each offering a different ruleset in terms of how PvP is implemented in the game. These are called the “Standard Player vs. Environment Server” and the “Horde vs. Alliance Race War Server” which we will abbreviate to PvE and PvP (Player V Player) server respectively. On both servers, players will not able to attack other players on their own faction other than through a duel, keeping in line with the game world and lore.

The PvE servers are further split into two – PvE standard and PvE Role-playing both have the same combat rulesets however players have an expectation to roleplay there character when typing text on a role-playing server. For simplicity in this guide both
PvE servers will come under the one heading – PvE.

Terminology

Honorable Kill (HK) - An honorable kill is gained when you kill an opposing faction member of a similar level. This varies and is very similar to the experience point system. Characters who are more than 12 levels lower than yourself at level 60 will not give you any HKs. This scales down slightly for lower level players. HK’s give players Honor Points (HP) which are essential for progression in the PvP ranking system.

Honor Points (HP) – Honor points were formerly known as contribution points. Once a player obtains a HK he will be assigned some honor points. Honor points can be gained in three ways : (1) Killing players of a similar level to yourself. (2) Killing racial faction leaders. (3) winning objectives in battlegrounds / killing NPCs in Battlegrounds.

A level 60 player killing another level 60 player will get more honor points than a level 30 player killing another level 30 player. The only NPCs which give out honor are special faction NPCs you cannot gain honor from killing normal mobs / or normal NPCs.

Dishonorable Kill (DK) – A Dishonorable kill is obtained by killing a low rank NPC character from the opposing faction. These characters are usually quest givers, vendors etc. DK’s reduce your PvP ranking significantly so they should be avoided at all costs. More on Dishonorable kills later on.

Mobs – Mobs is a term used to describe PvE opponents, for example spiders, kobolds, orcs etc. A mob is any computer controlled opponent.

PvP Ranking System – Players who compete in battlegrounds and who hunt down and kill players on the opposing faction will move up rank. The first level is rank 1, all the way upto rank 14. It should be noted that it is very difficult to do well in the PvP system unless you are very high level, 60 is recommended. That’s not saying that your task to get to rank 14 at level 50 is not impossible, its just it is very difficult and that your time would be best spent obtaining a high level before you participate in the PvP system full time.

Battlegrounds – Currently there are two Battlegrounds. Alterac Valley is located in Alterac and can be entered from either on site in person, or you can sign up through a Battele master at either Iron Forge (Alliance) or Ogrimmer (Horde) Warsong Gulch can be found on the border of Ashenvale forest and the Barrens and can be entered in a similar fashion.

Warsong Gulch – This is a 10V10 capture the flag style battleground on a fairly small map. This Battleground is designed for very fast play and can usually be won in around the 15-45 minute mark. More on WSG later on.

Alterac Valley – This is a 40 man V 40 man battleground and is designed for more strategic play where players can capture guard towers, graveyards and call in air strikes. Alterac takes a lot longer to complete, anywhere from 1 hour 15 to 6 hours depending on your team. It is also advisable to join Alterac during peak time as on some servers it can be hard to get in due to the 60 players required to start one.

The following actions will enable a player’s PvP flag on the PvE server:

• Attacking an NPC of the opposing faction (NPCs with a faction are clearly marked)
• Attacking a player who attacked an NPC
• Aiding a player engaged in PvP
• Enable PvP by using the /pvp command
• Walking into an enemy faction city

Once PvP has been enabled by a player regardless of the method, it will remain in effect for five minutes and players from the opposing faction will be able to attack him.

Additionally, Area of Effect spells will not activate PvP. This means that if a player of the opposing faction with PvP enabled walks into your AoE spell effects while you are fighting monsters, your spell will not damage them and activate PvP for you. If your PvP flag is already on, your AoE spell will damage enemy players (those with PvP enabled) as normal.

The whole scoop is that you are not forced to participate in PvP unless you willingly join in such a fight. However, there will be times where some NPCs will not be available because they have been killed by the opposing faction. In such situations, players will have to wait for the NPC to respawn, which typically takes about 5 minutes. Note that it is illegal to camp and kill the same NPC repeatedly.

Player Vs. Player Servers

The PvP server is designed for players who wish to be able to participate in PvP while adventuring throughout the lands. Players from opposing factions will be able to attack each other on sight in most parts of the world, lending to a much more rewarding and exciting experience because you are always constantly in danger of being attacked by other players. This is truly the World of Warcraft, where the races are in constant conflict with each other.

Some players will recognise this system of PvP as being Faction vs Faction (FvF). For the purposes of World of Warcraft, the FvF and PvP mean the same thing, even Blizzard calls their servers “PvP servers”, it’s just a metter of semantics.

However, there are many things to consider before deciding to play on the PvP server. You will be killed by players 30 levels higher than you. You will be corpse camped.

Your questing might be disrupted completely. Hide and seek is a common game. If you are strongly against many of the unfair PvP combats and encounters that will occur randomly whenever Alliance and Horde players see each other, this server is
not for you. While all this does sound discouraging, Blizzard has many policies against griefing.

On the PvP server, various zones will be designated as Friendly, Contested or Enemy territories, coloured Green, Orange and Red respectively. When you enter a new zone, you will be informed of its status. The mini-map is also colour coded to indicate who controls the current zone.

• Players in friendly territories are safe unless they decide to engage an opposing faction player in combat.
• Players in enemy territories will always be at risk and can be attacked by all players that belong in the territory.
• All players can be attacked in neutral (contested) territories.