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Patch 5.2 PTR: PvP dailies, and additional rewards for PvE Dailies.

Patch 52 PTR PvE and PvP Dailies

The option to choose between PvE and PvP dailies was mentioned a while back in the first set of patch 5.2 PTR patch notes, and now they're finally live. There's no unlocking required, either, both factions simply need to complete their "Assault on..." scenario -- for the Alliance it's Shaol'Mara, for the Horde, Zeb'Tula. Both scenarios play out exactly the same, speak to either Jaina or Lor'themar to start the solo instance, and fly over the island with your scout, and go from there. I won't spoil it, but a little while and a lot of killing (the Alliance one was quite a bit harder than the Horde one for a fire mage) later, you'll leave the instance and find yourself in either Sunseeker Premontory or Violet Rise, depending on faction.

Once you've unlocked the faction base, you'll need to seek out the Assignment Map to choose your variety of daily quest.



If you're Horde, it's just near Lor'themar, off his platform to the right, with a very minimal blue quest arrow over it. The Alliance one is right next to Jaina, inside the tent. You'll notice from the header image that both quest varieties award a bag or box full of things you might like. However, apart from that, the PvE option awards 24 Lesser Charms, while the PvP one awards 16. The PvP one also awards less reputation, and only 50 conquest compared to the PvE version's 60 valor. To make up for this, the PvP version also gives 525 honor.

The honor for the PvP dailies is awarded by carrying out the quests themselves. Each awards a small number of lesser charms and a small number of honor points, and having completed them all, a further daily quest appears, from either Jaina or Lor'themar.

Patch 52 PTR PvP and PvE Dailies

This quest simply brings up this screen, where Jaina wants to give a poor hard-working mage something for her efforts.

The total number of Lesser Charms awarded by the PvP quests was actually 19, not 16, and my Alliance PTR mage was not in a guild, so one of the two sources for this number is clearly incorrect! I did, however, receive 525 honor points, 50 conquest and the Arcane Trove, which contained 26 gold, a Pandaren Banquet and a Shan'ze ritual stone. The Trove, or Bounty, is awarded for both PvP and PvE quests.


PvP dailies?

The question I wanted answered in this investigation was whether they were really PvP dailies. The answer is, well, sort of. They are definitely inter-faction, as the PvE version pits the player against the Thunder King's forces, largely ignoring the Horde, while the PvP version does the exact opposite. They are PvP in as much as, like the Operation: Shieldwall or Dominance Offensive quests, you're putting yourself in harm's way, to an extent. The trickiest of the quests from the Alliance side was to take out a large battle robot, deep in the heart of the Horde base. It was not an exceptionally easy battle, comparable to about a rank five or six Brawler's Guild boss, and was definitely not helped by the occasional appearance of the opposite faction. Not surprising really, given that it is in their base.

Even on a PvE server, accepting any of the PvP quests will flag you for PvP until all are returned. As a PvP-focused player who also plays on PvE servers, I'm all for this, but I can imagine that few will share my enthusiasm. However, none of the quests actually required the player to kill players of the opposite faction, although one quest on each side counted PvP deaths as well as NPC ones. So, in summary, they're PvP quests simply because they put you in a situation where PvP is likely to occur. If you're around to play at odd times of day, these would be a decent way to grind honor, if there's nobody around from the opposite faction to stand in your way.


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