WAR MODE

WAR MODE

War of Thorns: The Burning of Teldrassil and Battle for Undercity

In the pre-expansion patch, all players will be able to experience the Burning of Teldrassil story line, known in-game as the War of the Thorns. This event will be split up among several weeks.

War Mode will become available in patch 8.0 likely going live on 17th July 2018.

WAR MODE—ARE YOU IN?

We’re introducing a new way of getting into PvP out in the world with a system we’re calling War Mode. War Mode tears down boundaries and server rule-set distinctions, allowing players on any realm to decide when they want to jump into a world PvP experience full of like-minded players in the ongoing battle between Horde and Alliance. – Blizzard

With Battle for Azeroth, we’re making changes to how we’re handling talents in PvP. In Legion’s current Honor Talent system, talents become available as you earn Honor levels through participating in PvP, which puts players looking to get into PvP for the first time at a disadvantage until they earn the tools everyone else already has. In Battle for Azeroth, we’re streamlining the system so that PvP talents will become available as you level, keeping players on more even footing. – Blizzard

Battle for Azeroth Preview: War Mode, PvP Talents, and More

Legion’s Honor system was originally crafted around the idea of earning PvP talents through participation, and then resetting progress to gain Prestige—and cosmetic awards—in the process. Now that PvP talents are instead earned in the regular course of leveling, we’re refocusing the Honor system around open-ended progression that offers various cosmetic rewards for engaging in PvP.

By participating in any type of PvP, you will gain Honor and eventually Honor Levels. As your Honor Level increases, you will earn rewards like titles, pets, mounts, and more. As your Honor Level rises, you will also progress through a series of icons associated with your character frame and displayed prominently on Battleground scoreboards, showing off your accomplishments for all to see. In Battle for Azeroth, Honor and the rewards earned through your participation are all account-wide. All Honor earned by individual characters in Legion will be aggregated into a single account-wide total Honor Level in Battle for Azeroth.

For those who have already earned any of these rewards in Legion, you will retain them regardless of whether you meet any new Honor requirements.

In Legion, PvP talents were organized in rows of three, much like regular class talents; in Battle for Azeroth, players will be able to select any three PvP talents from a large pool of options, along with a special crowd-control-breaking talent (variations on the old “PvP trinket”). – Blizzard

Battle for Azeroth is changing how PvE and PvP realms work. Starting in Patch 8.0, realms won’t have separations as PvE or PvP, but now each player can choose whether they want to engage in War Mode or not. Players in War Mode will be in a separate shard from players without it. In order to toggle War Mode, players must be in a capital city.

Gear Scaling 

During PvP combat, gear will be scaled to a roughly equivalent level between combatants. If a player’s gear is better than the opponent, they will still have a slight advantage, but a reasonable one. – MMORPG

War Mode is a feature that players can enable, only in Stormwind or Orgrimmar, that enables PvP Talents in the open World, increases rewards received, at the cost of enabling World PvP.

REWARDS

Enlisted Buff

Experience gained from killing monsters and completing quests increased by 10%

PvP Talents

New PvP Talent Interface

You’ll earn this crowd-control breaker at level 20, choosing from one of three available options via a fly-out menu. By level 110, all PvP talent options will be available to choose within the Talent pane (N). This system offers more options for customizing your character to suit your play style or your environment, whether that’s world PvP, Battlegrounds, Arenas, or the new Dueler’s Guild (more on that below). As with your class talents, you’ll need to be in a rested area to switch between these. – Blizzard

Conquest

Players will earn Conquest points for open world PVP.

Bounty System

Infamy has its ups—and its downs. You can become infamous in War Mode by killing a certain number of players of the opposite faction without dying. Once you do, you’ll achieve the status of Assassin and gain an increase to your damage and healing by 15%. Congratulations! – Blizzard

Of course, there’s a downside to your newfound infamy. The more players an Assassin kills, the more likely they will show up on the zone map for other players to target and kill to gain a bounty. Players who successfully kill an Assassin of the opposite faction will receive Conquest points as well as other rewards. There can be three (or potentially more) Assassins on any Battle for Azeroth zone map at a time, providing plenty of opportunity for players—or groups of players—to take their revenge on the opposite faction’s Assassins.

The more opponents a player kills during War Mode, the more likely they will be to find themselves with a bounty on their head. Once a Bounty is placed, an announcement will be broadcast to all opposing faction players in the zone and the player with a bounty on them will be marked on the map. – MMORGPG

Air Drops 

From time to time, a flying machine will make its way across the sky. The rumble of its engine is a clear indicator that something is afoot. You’ll want to keep an eagle eye on the sky and watch for a War Supply Crate to drop somewhere in the zone. Similar to the chest in Gurubashi Arena, players can fight over the crate and claim it for their faction. Once a faction has gained control of the crate, anyone of that faction who is within the area will have a short period to open it and collect a piece of personal loot.

YOU COULD BE A CONTENDER: BATTLE IN THE DUELER’S GUILD

Take your duels into the new outdoor arenas in either Boralus or Zuldazar. Similar to the Brawler’s Guild, players can speak with an NPC who will queue them to take part in 1-on-1 duels in the arena. Once in the arena, you’ll battle it out against a rival player to see who continues on. If you lose, you’re out. How far can you go before you’re no longer the top of the heap? Getting far enough through the gauntlet of players will provide some achievements, including Master of Duels, which rewards the title Contender.

You’ll also find the PvP reward chest in the Dueler’s Guild if you’ve filled up your Conquest bar for the week. Read more about it in our Rated PvP Updates post.

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