If you are planning to level on a PvP realm in World of Warcraft: Forever, get ready to watch your back. Blizzard has confirmed it has no plans to add protection for low-level players who get ganked or camped by higher-level characters.
The topic came up in the latest episode of the official WoW: Forever Podcast, a PvP-focused installment featuring content creators Savix and Tips Out alongside Senior Game Designer Josh "Aggrend" Greenfield and Lead Designer Tim Jones. Savix asked whether Blizzard planned anything to stop level 60 players from camping low-level characters, and Aggrend did not leave much room for doubt.
"The short answer is: no. PvP occurs on a PvP server. It has been true for 22 years of this game. That's something you gotta look inward and ask yourself if you are ok with.... You may have a frustrating game session because that just happens."
Why Blizzard Is Leaving It Alone
According to the developers, drawing a clear line between normal world PvP and excessive camping is extremely hard to do fairly. They also said they would rather that frustration push players toward guilds and friends who can come to the rescue, which has been a big part of what makes world PvP memorable since the original game launched in 2004.
Blizzard did say it will still act on exploits and cheating. Ganking a lower-level player on its own just will not count as either.
There is one small exception the team left open. For world PvP events that Blizzard switches on itself, it could use a short immunity after resurrecting, similar to what Season of Discovery used during its Blood Moon events.
Pick Your Realm Carefully
This makes your ruleset choice at launch especially important. Forever will launch with Normal, PvP and Roleplaying rulesets, and the Roleplaying option does not have open world PvP. You choose a ruleset when you create a character, and moving characters between rulesets is not expected to be an option, so think it through before you hit create.
The same episode also confirmed there are no current plans for an RP-PvP ruleset, though Aggrend added "never say never." That has frustrated a vocal group of players on the official forums, where requests for RP-PvP have filled multiple threads with thousands of posts.
Other PvP Changes From The Episode
The podcast covered a lot more than ganking. Here are some of the other highlights:
- Premade groups will be matched against other premades in battlegrounds, so solo players should not be thrown in against organized teams.
- Blizzard is very wary of adding arenas or rated battlegrounds and wants battlegrounds to stay casual.
- Alterac Valley will award less honor, while honor from the other battlegrounds will be increased, so Warsong Gulch and Arathi Basin are worth queuing for.
- New battleground maps are planned in place of arenas.
Forever Launches Soon
World of Warcraft: Forever launches globally a little over two weeks from now (November 4th) at 3 p.m. Pacific. The beta runs through this Wednesday (October 21st), and access to Forever is included with a World of Warcraft subscription or Game Time.
Forever is set after the events of Warcraft III Reforged: Forsaken Kingdom and before Molten Core, taking players back to the original continents with a level 60 cap and new stories and updates along the way. For a lot of veterans, the danger of a PvP realm is part of that classic experience. For everyone else, there is always the Normal ruleset.
Are you rolling on a PvP realm in World of Warcraft: Forever, or sticking to Normal to avoid the gankers?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.