PvP in Legion Isn’t Gonna Suck, Here’s Why

Oh what’s that? You want more Legion coverage? SAY NO MORE FAM.

Considering the astronomical popularity of MOBAs lately, Blizzard knew it needed to make some changes to keep World of Warcraft as a contender as one of the most popular online PvP titles in the industry.

For a long time, PvP has been adored by veterans looking to measure, extend, and show off their e-peens (electronic penises) to the world. PvP has long been a tough side of the game to get into for the casual player, so Blizzard is looking to find new ways to keep Vets hooked, but to allow new players to venture outside of PvE and start stabbing real people instead of computer-controlled ones… In the game, of course. Here’s just a few reasons why PvP in Legion is primed to kick your MOBA’s dick in.

No More Currency

Since forever, Honor and Conquest have been PvP earned currencies that you received from killing things, winning objectives, and other fun (read: infuriating) activities. Well, not anymore. Level capped players will now earn Honor Points from competing in Battlegrounds or Arenas, the same way everyone else earns XP at lower levels. This will work to increase your Honor Level up to the Level 50 cap, and also reward players with loot and bonuses that help them in both PvE and PvP.

Honor Talents Are Dope

So, Talents are the great divider between your Rogue and my Rogue (mine’s better). You unlock a few, pick one, and wait a few levels until you get more. Now, PvP has its own set of talents that are unlocked and set just like your regular ones are. These talents are only active in PvP, but work in tandem with all of your other non-Honor Talents. These can give you stat increases, passive mechanical changes to existing skills, or new abilities altogether, which is really fucking great. So to put it plainly, if you’re not PvP’ing, you’re really not gonna see the entirety of what your class is capable of!

Gear (Kinda) Doesn’t Matter

Instead of having season-specific sets of PvP gear, every single Specialization will now have a standardized, pre-determined set of stats, similar to “Loadouts” in FPS games. Your character’s Artifact and its related Artifact Powers will remain active, but other than that, your existing gear’s stats and special abilities are disabled while you’re zoned into PvP.

You will, however, get a small modified based on your item level, meaning if you’ve got better gear, you’re still going to be stronger – but the difference between life and death is still going to be who’s got the faster hands, and who’s better at playing their role. Personally, I fucking love this, because its leveling the playing field. No excuses if you die, and you’ll still want to attain Honor Talents to get more cool skills and distinguish yourself from other players (both on the scoreboard and in your moves).

Although PvP-specific gear has been a hallmark of World of Warcraft, their mantra this time around is that “gear is gear”, regardless of where you earned it. If you’re the hardest motherfucker in your raid, or the baddest dude in the arena, you’re still gonna have a slight leg up. You still need to be good at the game, y’know.

Get Your Gold Crosses Heeeeah!

At the Honor Level cap (50), you’ll bee given the option to Prestige, which will reset your Honor Level back to 1, and resets all of your Honor Talent progression. As with other games with prestige-style systems, you’ll have access to a number of rewards by doing this, such as unique badges that appear on your Battleground and Arena scoreboard for everyone to see, as well as on your nameplate and unit frame. You also can unlock Prestige Level-specific titles, new pennants, unique mounts, pets, and new appearances for your Artifact. All in all, it sounds worth it to me.

So there you have it. WoW’s dedication to making PvP amazing has come a long, long way – but it sounds to me like these changes will prompt a rapid increase in the number of players participating in the other half of the game.

What’re your thoughts on WoW’s PvP changes? Love ’em? Hate ’em? Scream at us on Twitter at @WickedGoodGames and let us know.