Blizzard has detailed the biggest changes to World of Warcraft's PvP since Southshore got downgraded to a minor tourist attraction. The overhaul was teased at Blizzcon, but an official post yesterday details revamps for everything from the Honor system and gear to arena seasons.
When Legion goes live (or, as may be the case, from the pre-Legion patch), Honor and Conquest will no longer be currencies. Honor is becoming a PvP experience equivalent, increasing your Honor level to a cap of 50 and rewarding you with gold, Artifact Power and Honor Talents that unlock PvP-only abilities.
On loading into a battleground or arena match, your gear will now count for almost nothing. Instead, you'll be given pre-baked stats to match your spec. Blizz argues that improving your gear is crucial to the WoW experience, however, so your average item level will confer a small stat multiplier: 0.1% per level.
There's another facet to the new system: Prestige. Once you hit Honor cap, you'll have to option to reset to zero, losing your Honor Talents but unlocking rewards such as titles, mounts and pets. It's basically New Game+.
The full post contains an enormous dump of information—arena seasons will be shorter, and rewards will now go to the top players of both factions, not of the entire server. If you're at all invested in Warcraftian PvP, read it well.
Thanks, Kotaku.
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