Patch 2.0 Honor System Changes

What is the new player-versus-player (PvP) honor system?
The new honor system provides a way for players to participate in PvP combat and obtain rewards by defeating their opponents. With the new honor system, you obtain honor points that can be accumulated and spent like currency on rewards such as items, weapons, and armor.

Do I need to keep playing to keep my honor points intact?
No, honor points will accumulate like currency, similar to the gold and silver you obtain through killing monsters or completing quests, and will not decay over time. This allows you to participate in PvP at your own pace, working toward the honor rewards, which you can purchase as soon as you have enough honor points to do so.

There is no longer any ranking associated with the honor system, so you no longer have to worry about maintaining a rank or standing under the honor system. Players still interested in measuring their PvP ability against fellow players can participate in the Arena System, which is a separate, new form of competitive PvP in The Burning Crusade.

Is there a limit to how many honor points I can accumulate?
Yes, there is a limit to how many honor points a character can accumulate, and it is currently set to 75,000 honor points.

The limit is subject to change depending on what works best for long-term game balance.

Are honor points the only thing needed to purchase the rewards?
For some items, an Arena Rating is also required. The amount of honor points required vary for each reward. However, for most items the honor cost is the most significant part of the item's cost.

How are honor points earned?
Honor points are earned in a very similar manner to the old honor system. The game tracks your participation in world PvP as well as PvP within battlegrounds. As you kill enemies and assist your allies against the enemy, you earn honor. You can also earn honor points by daily quests and one repeatable quest.

What happened to my battleground reputations, honor, and rank earned in the old system?
A new title system displays your highest rank achieved under the old honor system, but ranks do not play a part in the new honor system. The battleground reputations carry over to the new system, and still increase through participation in the various battlegrounds, but the current rewards are now only available through the new honor system. However, you can obtain a special title if you obtain exalted reputation with each battleground faction. This title may be displayed through the new title display system.

How do dishonorable kills factor into the new honor system?
Although this is subject to change, dishonorable kills do not currently play any role in the honor system. The NPCs around the world are no longer set as civilians, so killing them will not impact your ability to obtain honor points.

Gaining Honor

What is the Honor System?
The Honor System allows players to gain Honor Points based on PvP kills and battles that can be used to spend on special rewards. Players earn Honor Points mainly through Battlegrounds and World Outdoor PvP. For more competitive battles, participate in the Arena System.

Can I earn honor if I am in a group?
Yes. When grouped with other players, honor is divided equally between the members of the party. Just like the bonus experience gained when killing monsters in a group, players gain bonus honor for killing players while in a group. If the character levels of some group members are significantly higher than others, the amount of honor gained by the lower level members will be reduced, as it is with monster experience.

What if I do less damage than the rest of my group, say through healing, damage over time, or area-of-effect spells? Do I still get the same amount of honor as my group?
Yes. Players who are grouped in a party equally split the honor they earn. The Priest who heals will receive an equal share of points as the Warrior who is swinging away at the target.

What happens if we take out a faction leader in a raid group? Who gets the honor?
Members of the raid group that taps the creature will share the honor points equally. The points will be distributed the same way as experience points. It should be noted, however, that strategic targets exist to promote conflict and role-play between the Alliance and Horde, so killing enemy leaders will not be a disproportionately large source of honor.

If I am a raid leader, do I receive more honor than other non-leader raid group members?
No. Honor is divided equally among all raid and party members.

If I am on the other end of the battlefield as my party or raid group, do I still get honor for any kills they make?
No. Earning honor falls within the rules of experience gain. Thus, players must be in the general proximity of an honor gain to receive a share of the honor.

Do I get honor for killing guards or other NPCs?
No honor is rewarded for killing NPCs that are not racial leaders. Among other reasons, this is to prevent players from feeling as though they need to "grind" NPC kills for honor.

What happens if I am fighting a player and that player runs away, then another player or group later finds the player and kills him or her? Do I get any honor having damaged the player first?
If a player does not take damage for one minute since the last time they were attacked in PvP, any damage done by the first player is null and void. After one minute has expired, the next player or group who finds and kills the target gets the full credit.

Rewards

What incentives do I have to gain Honor Points in the Honor System?
By killing other players and racking up honor, players can purchase rewards such as special equipment and weapons. Some of these rewards also require an arena rating.

Can I earn Honor Points in Arena matches?
No. The Arena System is a separate system altogether with its own currency, Arena Points, that can be used to purchase special Arena weapons and equipment.

Honor Decay

Once I gain Honor Points, do I keep them indefinitely, or do they decay over time?
You keep them until you spend them, and they do not decay. The current maximum Honor you can have at any one time (also referred to as the "honor cap") is 75,000 Honor.

Battlegrounds

How does the Honor System fit in with the Battlegrounds?
In the Battlegrounds, players gain honor from defeating other players. However, there are also other methods of earning honor in the Battlegrounds besides player-vs-player battles. Every battleground has special objectives that grant bonus honor to an entire side upon completion. For example, defeating an opposing side's faction leaders in Alterac Valley, or capturing a flag in Warsong Gulch, grants bonus honor to the entire faction's battleground team.

Does killing players in Battlegrounds automatically result in me getting more honor than if I kill someone in world PvP?
Not necessarily. However, players participating in Battlegrounds can earn honor in other ways besides killing players. Thus, Battlegrounds are generally a more reliable way to gain honor than world PvP.

Misc.

Does any single class have an advantage over the others? Some classes seem to be better equipped for gaining honor than others; was that taken into consideration?
During our testing we did not come across any one class that had a distinct advantage over the others for purposes of gaining honor. Each class has an equal chance of gaining Honor Points depending on how it is played.

It seems that some realms have way more Alliance than Horde (or vice versa). How does this affect the Honor System?
Contrary to popular belief, the numbers of Horde and Alliance are very similar on player-vs-player realms.

How am I supposed to play the game when everywhere I go someone is waiting to gank me? The graveyard is nice, but I want to see the rest of the world too!
Players who chose to create characters on a PvP realm are supposed to feel a sense of danger where ever they go, that is why we offer player-vs-player realms!

What happened to the old ranks again?
Ranks from the previous system are now purely cosmetic. They no longer affect anything besides what appears before your character's name as it appears to others in the game world (read more).