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The Art of War(craft): A Poke in the Eye of the Storm
The Burning Crusade brought in many new things to the World of Warcraft -- new spells, ten new levels, outlandish new zones and more -- quite a lot of things, really. For PvP enthusiasts, BC also ushered in the era of Arenas and introduced a sort of brand new Battleground called Eye of the Storm. I say sort of brand new because even though it's an entirely new map, it rehashes elements from Warsong Gulch, Arathi Basin, and the outdoor PvP objectives in the Eastern Plaguelands. Eye of the Storm fuses resource gathering elements from AB with the capture-the-flag aspect of WSG, creating a familiar feel in a new, almost alien environment. The result is a fast-paced game where fortunes turn very quickly. Unlike the other Battlegrounds, there is no faction associated with Eye of the Storm. There is no Frostwolf Clan defending their territory against the Stormpike Guard; no Defilers and League of Arathor squabbling over resources; there are no outraged Silverwing Sentinels decrying the rampant logging of the Warsong Outriders. Even though Blizzard has stated that Battleground reputations are now obsolete -- you can buy PvP items using relevant Marks of Honor regardless of reputation -- I personally felt that the various Horde- or Alliance-aligned PvP factions added depth and character to the game. While other Battlegrounds have "real" locations one can access through an instance portal, the Eye of the Storm isn't even situated anywhere one can reference -- it's simply, nebulously somewhere in the Netherstorm.
Blood Sport: Gearing up for Arenas
Every Thursday, V'Ming - who thinks that gnome warlocks are travesties of nature and need to be KOSed - shares thoughts and ideas on becoming deadlier at the Arenas. He also dabbles in the dark arts in Blood Pact. Thank you for your comments in my previous article on "How to beat a Warlock". The article must have struck a chord in many players, and I hope to bring similar articles for other classes soon. I started with warlocks mainly because I'm most experienced with playing the class. The fact that they seem to be the most 'hated' class currently, of course, has nothing to do with it. ; )Much have been discussed about 'gear inflation' in PvP. Do new entrants have a chance against more established PvP toons? No. Can newbies gain a foothold eventually? Yes.
The Art of War(craft): Idyllic Arathi Basin
All political leaders love resources. In fact, most wars are waged because of them. Most of them must've read Sun Tzu, who once wrote, "a wise General makes a point of foraging on the enemy. One cartload of the enemy's provisions is equivalent to twenty of one's own, and likewise a single picul of his provender is equivalent to twenty from one's own store." The leaders of the Forsaken Defilers and the League of Arathor must've had The Art of War in their battle chests, too, since they've been at odds for some time now over the resource-rich Arathi Basin. Unlike Alterac Valley, where one of the goals is to destroy enemy resources, Arathi Basin is all about taking them.Arathi Basin is the third Battleground to be introduced in World of Warcraft, a few patches after Warsong Gulch and Alterac Valley. Situated in Arathi Highlands, the basin is the cause of conflict between the Horde-aligned Defilers and the League, who are loyal to the Alliance. The Battleground is a 15-player map consisting of five nodes that can be captured to acquire resources -- the Blacksmith, Farm, Gold Mine, Lumber Mill, and Stables. Each node has a clickable flag that allows your team to capture it; it takes 10 seconds to tag a flag, and tagged flags will convert to your side in one minute. The objective of the game is to be the first team to reach 2000 resources -- If you control a node, your team will accumulate resources. The more nodes you control, the more resources you get at a faster rate. Players can enter Arathi Basin as early as level 20, but the real fun starts at levels 40 and 60 -- when players get apprentice and journeyman Riding skills, respectively. Any sooner and Arathi Basin usually ends up being a lot of running and a little fighting. If you're in the mood to play WoW's version of king of the hill, head over to your nearest Battlemaster and enlist. And don't forget to pack your Riding Crop. You'll need it.
The Art of War(craft): Warsong Gulch, the Broken Battleground
I have a confession to make. I love Warsong Gulch. It's my favorite Battleground. Most people I know abhor the place, but I genuinely enjoy it. The way I see it, Warsong Gulch is a map that's conducive to combat. It's small, straightforward, and fairly uncomplicated. Other Battleground maps are big enough to avoid confrontation. Alterac Valley, in particular, often turns into a race with minimal conflict -- even with the new changes. There are games in Arathi Basin or the Eye of the Storm where one is left guarding a node for the entire game and hardly see combat. On the other hand, it takes a monumental effort to avoid fighting inside Warsong Gulch. Warsong Gulch is situated in the Southern part of Ashenvale and the Northern part of the Barrens. It represents a contested area where Grom Hellscream's Warsong Clan made incursions into Ashenvale with their logging operations, earning the ire of the tree-hugging Silvewing Sentinels. Fighting in Warsong Gulch awards Warsong Gulch Mark of Honor, which is used as currency along with Honor points for various items. Players can fight in Warsong Gulch starting at Level 10, making it the first Battleground players can enter. Warsong Gulch is the domain of the Level 19 twinks, so lower-level players wishing to get a taste of their first Battleground would have it in their best interest to be prepared to face opponents decked out in fully enchanted crafted and twink run blues. As a general rule, it would be best to be at least at the highest even-numbered level of a bracket -- 18, 28, 38, etc. -- when joining the Battleground in order to contribute more.
The hunter's axe which is like a wand
There's a new arena axe out there just for hunters, the [Vengeful Gladiator's Waraxe]. It only costs 1000 Arena points, and it doesn't require any particular personal Arena rating to get. It's the kind of weapon Warriors might sigh for in vain, but it comes relatively cheaply to hunters now. Perhaps someone who got in close to a hunter with this once or twice has been surprised by how hard it can hit.Some people are saying it's totally unfair for hunters to get such a relatively cheap weapon, but Nethaera steps in to point out how a big fancy melee weapon is very different for a hunter than it would be for a melee fighting class: "This is intended and is considered to be more of a stat item much like a wand." And she's right -- any hunter who relied on this weapon for damage would likely be at a disadvantage, unless their regular ranged weapon was really very bad.Even for hunters making difficult choices about how to spend their first Arena points in Season 3, this weapon isn't necessarily the first on your shopping list. For many, the Season 3 armor isn't that much more expensive, and could constitute a much greater stat improvement than this axe can give. Still, it's pretty fancy lookin -- definitely something to plan on getting when the time is right.
PvP reward inflation leaves newcomers in the dust
Ever since Arena Season 3 started, it seems as though everyone else in the battlegrounds has mostly epic gear. I myself have just a few now, but strangely I feel less powerful than I did before all the new gear became available. Perhaps a lot of the people I used to beat had been saving up their honor and arena points a lot longer than I had, so now they all out-gear me by a wider margin. Or maybe I've just been unlucky in the teams I've been matched against.Either way, it strikes me that newcomers and casual gamers just now hitting 70 must be having a terrible time in PvP. They sign up for their first matches with their mix of greens and blues, and find themselves like a mouse before lions, with every opponent decked out in the kind of gear they only dream of attaining. Even if they really want to, is there any chance for them to learn how to PvP when they get killed in just a few seconds? Furthermore, even if they have the dedication for it, they may feel like leech on their team, kind of like a level 61 player in Alterac Valley, who knows all to well that he or she can't really contribute that much -- except the newcomer to level 70 is already at the level cap. The only way they can improve at PvP is to somehow get matched up with good enough teams to carry them trough many many battles until they finally have enough points to buy some good gear. If not, they get virtually nil from losing all the time no matter which battleground they join. Of course they may keep losing at the Arenas for a few months until they finally accumulate enough points to buy a few pieces of gear, but in the meantime their opponents are winning and saving up points a lot faster than they are. If there's no way to shape up, can they only ship out? Are the doors of entry into end-game PvP completely shut off in the face of newcomers? If such a person came to me asking what they should do, I could only suggest they try to maintain a positive attitude, keep doing their best, and possibly get new gear from PvE as much as they can. I might also remind them that another expansion is coming next year, which should level the playing field. How would you advise a new level 70 to get into PvP?
PvP spending questions: Value vs. Cost vs. Time
With Arena Season 3 starting today, as you know, the Season 1 weapons and armor are now available for purchase with Honor. While some people may be able to just walk up and buy everything in the store, most of us have limited points to spend, and the right way to spend them isn't clear. In my case, for example, I find myself facing a difficult choice: Should I get a Season 1 epic weapon now, then spend my arena points on one piece of Season 3 armor? Or should I continue saving up my arena points to buy the even better Season 2 epic weapon later, and then spend my honor points on some Season 1 armor now? What is the real trade-off in terms of the relative value of items, their costs, and the time I'll have available to use them?The particular character in question is my draenei hunter that I just finished leveling about a month and a half ago. I'm having trouble finding good upgrades in any remaining quests, normal instances, or even heroics, but sometimes I still feel quite behind a lot of the other players I see in the battlegrounds and arenas. I'll probably start going to Karazhan with this character soon, but ideally I would love to be able to gear up with PvP and get into my guild's Zul'Aman raids early. I'd like to start being more competitive in Arenas as well -- sooner rather than later. At the current rate I'm going, it'll take me another two months before I have enough Arena points to spend on a Merciless Gladiator's Crossbow of the Phoenix (from Season 2). If I bought the Gladiator's Heavy Crossbow (from Season 1) with Honor today, though, would that help put me on a more even footing with other players sooner? Perhaps I would compete more effectively and gear up in other ways much faster? Or is it really worth the wait for the better weapon? (In case you're wondering, the Season 3 Crossbow requires a 1850 personal rating, so it's something I can't get without serious gear improvements.)What sort of PvP spending quandary are you in? If you're in a situation like mine, feel free to ask your question below, and see if our readers have an reply for you. Hopefully our new commenting features will help facilitate some practical suggestions.
To shop with honor
Although Patch 2.3 arrived two weeks ago, it isn't until today that Arena Season 3 will make its official debut. Just like in fashion, the styles of the previous Seasons will go on sale for low, low prices. In fact, in true Filene's Basement style, the items from Season 1 will become purchasable with Honor and Marks of Honor. The once-shiny gear from Season 2 are being taken off the racks to make way for the latest Vengeful Gladiator's fashions, complemented by Vindicator's accessories. Some players looking ahead have already saved up on the maximum Honor of 75,000 and maximum Arena Points of 5,000 in preparation for the new Season. I think I have an idea of how my wife feels when Mango goes on sale and a new line comes in. It's kind of like the World of Warcraft equivalent of Black Friday.How about you? What's on your Honor shopping list? Will you be buying Season 1 gear or spend it on the new Vindicator items? Will you be buying armor or weapons? Are you trooping over to the Hall of Legends or the Champion's Hall before you head over to Area 52 (with branches now open in Nagrand and Blade's Edge!)? Choices, choices.
The Art of War(craft): Alterac Valley, Part II - A Ronin's Guide to the Ice and Snow
Before we begin, let's get one thing clear: there are no armies in Alterac Valley, only mobs and rabbles and bloodthirsty riffraff who will, under the best circumstances, happen to be in the same vicinity and fight alongside you. Unless Tigole and company decide to bring back group queues to AV, you will often find yourself fighting the war with an over-sized, sometimes uncooperative PUG. In my column last week, I went over the changes made to Alterac Valley and what it meant in terms of gameplay. I had promised for this week to detail some strategy and tactics for the new AV but realized that, after logging countless hours of Alterac Valley since 2.3, in order to actually execute any manner of battle plan, you will need an army. An army the way Sun Tzu sees it; an army with a Commander; an army with will and purpose. Unfortunately, there are no armies in Alterac Valley. There are, however, drifters. Ronin, if you wish. Ronin were the masterless samurai of feudal Japan. In a game of AV, what you will have, essentially, is a band of about forty ronin doing their own thing. That said, there can be no definitive guide to playing Alterac Valley. There will be epic battles where Horde and Alliance will defend and fight raging, bloody battles on the Field of Strife, on top of towers, or beside their Captains; there will also be mindless races with no defense where all towers burn and Generals and Captains die to a frenzied mob. Both methods can win or lose games. You as a masterless warrior -- or Rogue, or Mage, or Shaman (you get the idea) -- can choose to play it either way. There are so many variables involved in Alterac Valley that it makes it almost impossible -- and unwise -- to dictate one particular course of action. While it may not be practical to write a guide for an army's incursion into the valley, it is a rather simple task to draw up some simple reminders for ronin. Because what do not change from game to game are the map's terrain and objectives. In every game of AV, there is a General and a Captain to be slain, towers to be burned, graveyards to be captured, and of course, enemies to be defeated on the field of battle. Depending on your faction, there are particular objectives that are easier to access because of the terrain. Terrain, more than anything else, will dictate the flow of your offense.
The Art of War(craft): Alterac Valley, Part I - Evolution
When Battlegrounds were introduced in Patch 1.5, it changed the entire PvP landscape. With the introduction of the Honor System in the patch before it, which included the now-obsolete ranks and PvP gear, there was suddenly purpose to PvP. In my previous column, I expressed how I preferred my PvP to have some sort of objective or reason. The Battlegrounds made PvP somewhat more meaningful, with thematic goals situated in instanced areas that gave popular war zones such as Hillsbrad and the Barrens relative peace. The first Battlegrounds came in two flavors: Warsong Gulch, which was designed to cater to short skirmishes because of its size and scope; and Alterac Valley, which was designed to be more epic, with a large zone that had numerous geographical features, multiple objectives, and -- unique to this Battleground up to the present -- faction NPCs. Warsong Gulch, although designed to be short, succumbed to a small design flaw that left it prone to unnecessarily lengthy games. I'll discuss WSG at length in a future article but will, for this week and next, focus on the grandeur of Alterac Valley.Of all the Battlegrounds, AV has gone through the most changes, having received fixes and modifications with most of the patches subsequent to its release. Alterac Valley was an extremely ambitious project for the folks at Blizzard, and it was clear from the beginning that they had very high hopes for it. It was supposed to be epic, with the feel of a great war. The size of the zone, complemented by the faction structures and NPCs, certainly added to that ambiance. In terms of gameplay, however, Alterac Valley was flawed on many levels. In the earliest iteration of AV, there was a giant troll named Korrak the Bloodrager in the Field of Strife in the center of the map. The presence of a hostile boss where players would clash proved to be a nightmare. Players spent too much time trying to kite, kill, or flee from Korrak instead of engaging each other. Most of the other NPCs created the same problem, slowing down the game considerably. Subsequent patches saw Korrak moving to Snowfall Graveyard and eventually packing his bags for greener pastures. Blizzard later removed and weakened many of the NPCs, as well, facilitating faster forward movement towards the end goal.In the latest patch, Alterac Valley received its biggest overhaul yet. The latest changes are the most drastic in terms of gameplay because it now gives another means of winning the game, making it the only Battleground with an alternative victory condition. There is now a new mechanic called Reinforcements, with each side receiving a count of 600 at the start of the game. Killing opposing players will reduce their team's Reinforcements on a 1:1 ratio while destroying a pair of towers or killing enemy Captains (Balinda and Galvangar) will reduce it by 100. Killing the enemy General will reduce the opposing team's reinforcements to 0, winning the game. Conversely, reducing an opposing team's reinforcements to 0 will result in the enemy General's death. The changes make Alterac Valley feel like an entirely new game, forcing a shift in strategy and encouraging more player combat. What used to work in previous iterations of AV no longer work so well in AV 2.3. The zerg rush that used to typify AV races have given way to a new kind of thinking: defend, push forward, kill everything in sight. It would seem, at last, that PvP has come to the Valley.
WoW, Casually: The increased benefits of Battlegrounds to casual players
Each week, Robin Torres writes WoW, Casually for the player who has 2 hours or less to play at a time.Happy Patch 2.3! I know that Blizzard gave raiders Zul'Aman, but the rest of the game really became much more casual friendly. This week we're going to talk about many of the Battleground benefits that are there for those of us with limited playtime.First, let's talk about this weekend's Call to Arms. Eye of the Storm is the battleground giving the bonus honor this weekend. Levels 61 and up can participate in EotS and the battles are often only 15 minutes, not including queue time. Or course, one of the benefits of the Call to Arms is the reduced queue times.I can't guarantee that the EotS queue times will be that much lower this weekend, however. The fact that Alterac Valley has recently been changed may mean that a lot of people will be trying that battleground out instead of EotS. Also, whatever battleground is in the PvP Daily Quest may affect queues as well.
Confirmed: Season 1 gear change delayed with Season 3
Drysc has confirmed that moving the Arena Season 1 gear to the honor vendor is part of the Season 3 event and has therefore been delayed along with Season 3. This means that you will be able to purchase Season 1 gear with honor on November 27th when Season 3 begins or on November 28th for European servers.Drysc says there are technical reasons for the delay of purchasing the gear. The event that begins Arena Season 3 is "already tested and locked down" and while they have discussed releasing Season 1 to honor as per the original schedule, they have decided it is not feasible.It was suggested that Blizzard start the event as originally scheduled on the 20th but not start Season 3 until the 27th. But Drysc responded that while it was possible, it would also make Season 3 gear available while Season 2 was still underway. "It's just not going to happen." Do you think delaying the purchase of Season 1 gear with honor as a reasonable delay? Or do you see it as an opportunity to save up more honor for your purchases?
WoW's Arena Season 3 delayed until after Thanksgiving
Bad news for you Arena PvPers in World of Warcraft-- while the original plan was to release patch 2.3 yesterday and kick off Arena Season 3 next week, Blizzard CM Drysc says no dice. WoW Insider has the details-- Blizzard wants to wait until Thanksgiving is over in order to have "all available resources" ready for Arena season 3. So it looks like you'll have to stay at the table and tell Grandma just how good her cranberry sauce next Thursday is rather than running off and ganking clothies with your arena team. For the same reasons, the EU launch won't go down until November 28th.And neither WoW Insider or Drysc says for sure, but I believe this also means the release of Season 1 Arena gear to honor purchases is being pushed back til the same date. Which might not be so bad for some of you-- just means you have more time to hit up those battlegrounds and pick up the honor you need to grab those pieces.
Prices for Arena Season 1 items revealed
As expected, Patch 2.3 will bring Arena Season 1 items down to the battleground mark market, which means that for the first time ever, you'll be able to buy Arena gear with regular battleground honor and marks (good to know-- I've been saving up all my marks for just a day such as this). And MMO Champion has delved into the PTR and come back out with prices for every piece of Gladiator gear, so now you can know exactly what to save up for on the new patch.Almost across the board, you're going to need some EOTS marks, either 10 or 20 for most items. And you'll need to save up honor, too-- it's about eight or nine thousand for low ticket items like the Paladin's Librams and the Shaman Totems, all the way up to 25-27k for the major weapons. That's definitely not impossible, considering how easy it is to get honor in the BGs, but odds are you'll want to get EOTS bonus honor weekends on your calendar (what a coincidence-- this coming weekend is one) and plan to spend some time playing WoW on those days.Sure, the gear's not the latest and greatest (you'll have to get a great Arena rating for that stuff), but if you like the BGs as much as I do, these are still some great items that you can pay for with the points and marks that you're already getting anyway. Oh, and we need some help at Mage, if you can manage it. Thanks.Thanks, Boubouille!
The ten commandments of honorable dueling
Dueling has a bad reputation, I think. Too many players see it either as a way to brag about their own skill (or, more likely, time investment), while many other players see it as a way for the first group of players to do that at their own expense. I love dueling, whether I win or lose, because it's a great chance for me to see if I can use everything in my arsenal to the fullest, as well as see another player working against me, hopefully at their best. A great duel is a chance for two players to duke it out and have a great time without anybody dying, while a terrible duel (and the perception of most duels, I think) can be a humiliating or confusing experience.And so, in my efforts to bring honor back to dueling, I present the Ten Commandments of Honorable Dueling in World of Warcraft. I've split them up into three sections-- Before the Duel, During the Duel, and Post-Duel-- and each one covers a point that has been corrupted or ignored among the worst players in dueling. No longer should we suffer from duel spamming. And no longer should there be jerks who gloat and taunt after a duel has taken place.Dueling is a very interesting form of PvP-- it's not the large scale onslaughts of the battlegrounds or the smaller matchups in the Arenas. Dueling can even be held within factions-- it's a one-on-one skirmish between two players in the game. And unlike the Horde vs. Alliance shenanigans held in world PvP or the BGs, I believe dueling should be an honorable and respectful endeavor. Click the link below to read the Ten Commandments of Honorable Dueling.
Welcome to Alterac Valley, you can go AFK now.
If you don't often visit the PvP battleground Alterac Valley, then you may not know what I'm talking about. But AV seems to be the best place for people to go and collect honor points while safely sitting AFK in at the battleground's starting point. Why Alterac? Well, Alterac offers great honor returns for anyone -- and most of the honor is given out zone-wide, regardless of whether you're near the rest of a group when an objective is captured or a boss is killed. It's just too easy to collect large amounts of honor by just sitting around without doing anything -- much to the chagrin of players who are out there fighting and trying to win the battleground.And while Blizzard has shown themselves quite eager to rid people who are botting or hacking to prevent their AFK flag from coming up when they're not at their keyboard, there's not much they've been able to do about the people who sit in front of their computers watching television and occasionally hitting the space bar. So what's Blizzard to do? There are plenty of suggestions on the PvP forums, though I can't say many of them seem practical. They could remove honor gain from the starting point -- but then players would just learn to idle elsewhere. They could alter the battleground's honor mechanics to give out honor based on a player's range to the objective giving honor -- but this would likely gimp players playing defense by limiting their honor gain (despite the fact that defense makes an important contribution to a match). They could somehow tie honor gains to overall damage or healing done -- though such a change probably isn't a quick fix.What's your solution to the AV AFK problem?
Is there any real honor in PvP?
In reading through my list of video game blogs I came across a fascinating post on Got Game. Andrew Whelps discusses how he views the WoW PvP battle system to be one without honor, since the battle has no real consequence. It's a "dirty war" sort of scenario, wrapped in an idealized fantasy. Interesting to contemplate really. The notion that our battle has no consequence to the real world is valid. We run our battles either in instances, or in the world. In the instances, we have no context as to why we must kill, only know we are there to defeat the enemy. We hate them, therefore they must die. The NPCs will respawn, the opposing faction will resurrect, no harm done. We perform brutal acts that have no affect on our environment. If we raid Crossroads or Lakeshire the towns do not burn, the landscape remains unchanged.
Players deal with even more patch bugs
Bugs aplenty in 2.0.3. We mentioned a few yesterday, including the raid promotion issues and the disappearing target frame issues, but players keep finding more.Peridoc from Daggerspine has collected a bunch of them, including the ones above, delays on some characters in the loading screen, and alignment on the Battlegrounds score sheet.Lots of people (including our good commenters) are mentioning that icons have gone all wacky everywhere-- some icons have completely disappeared and some just show the wrong thing. Some textures have messed up, too. Blizzard is collecting the issues here, along with video card specs, which means it's probably a driver problem-- upgrading the drivers on your videocard wouldn't hurt. If you've got an Nvidia, you can get those here. Just know that it is being worked on.Finally, MBAzeroth (and some more commenters) have said there's a problem in AV (and, I believe AB): flags can be capped from many yards away. Obviously, that makes defense pretty unmanageable. Blizzard knows about the issue, and is, as always, working on it.If you've got more bugs, you can include them below, but don't forget to drop them on Blizzard's tech support site, too-- the quicker they know about them, the quicker we'll see them fixed. Someone said the target frame thing was a problem with CTRaid, so updating addons wouldn't hurt, but most of these are real bugs (I'm guessing they have to do with little upgrades to the actual game engine for the expansion, but that's just a guess). At any rate, when you head out into Azeroth, be ready with your bugspray.
Three funny quickies from WoW Lj
Three quickies from the WoW Livejournal that I found chuckleworthy today:How many GM swords do you see in the picture of the AV loading entrance to the right? I'm a slacker (I haven't done any serious PVP grinding yet), so I haven't gotten mine, but it looks like everyone else is picking up epics aplenty thanks to the new honor system. I'm sure there's a few dual wielding warriors and a few rogues in there, but still-- that's a lot of Grand Marshal blades (and are those the shoulders, too?).I'm still not convinced, however, that they should raise honor prices. Maybe Blizzard should just come up with some new kinds of swords to buy.From the forum sig of a dwarf pally: I'm a little pally short and stout,Here's my hammer, here's my mount.When I see a horde I scream and shout,Pop on ma bubble and hearthstone out. And last but not least, I bet they do. And I bet they play Alliance, too.
More honor points answers from Drysc
Players still have questions about how honor is calculated (both in the estimated screen and at the end of the day), so Drysc answered question after question on the forums today. Because of a previous CM post, players believed this to be true, but it isn't: The recent "honor nerf" is not calculated at the end of the day; it's already counted every time you drop someone. The honor you gain has already been dropped to its appropriate amount-- there are no other specific reductions that your honor should suffer when it's calculated late at night. However, as stated the other day, you may still see your honor a little bit lower from the estimated honor shown on your honor page. The reason for this is because of dimishing returns-- if you kill a player more than 10 times, the honor you earn from them starts to lower in value. The server can't calculate that in real-time, however, so estimated honor is appearing a little higher than actual honor. Bonus honor is now appearing in daily estimated totals. For you math majors, honor can be awarded in fractions-- it is possible, due to bonus honor most likely, to earn .3 or .7 honor points-- those add up and are rounded at the end of the day. And finally, even though the rank titles still show up with every kill (e.c. "HK: Blood Guard" or "HK: Grand Marshal"), Drysc says they have absolutely no bearing (that he knows of) on earning honor. So I'd like to know: why are they still around? Don't get me wrong-- I love murdering a Night Elf and having a nice big yellow crit-looking thing pop up on my screen-- feeds the sense of accomplishment and all that. But why are they still doing that if ranks no longer matter? For all the questions Drysc answered, he still left some untouched.
