As promised, we met with Lead Designer Kalgan and presented him with the following questions. Please sit back, relax and take a moment to review the information he has provided. As always, you're constructive feedback is appreciated. Enjoy!
Epic Battles = Epic Lag?
Since the Honor System encourages players to take part in player vs. player combat, large scale battles are forming in areas such as Hillsbrad and the Barrens. This has been causing extreme latency, which is frustrating for both those participating and those that aren't. Do you see this as a problem, and are there plans in motion to address this issue?
The current lag being generated by the large PvP battles is unfortunate. Although optimizations are being made to improve the play experience in high-density battles, we suspect that much of the current behavior will be very short lived. The Honor system has sparked great interest, and seeing that areas such as Hillsbrad and the Barrens were already hotspots for player vs. player combat it isn't surprising that players rush to either locations in order to check out the new system.
We feel the largest contributing factor in the reduction to the latency in these hotspots is the fact that Battlegrounds will be ready for release next patch! Yes, that's right, I said next patch, and yes, I said Battlegrounds...plural! The implementation of Battlegrounds will draw players away from towns and into instanced environments designed for either small-scale or epic battles between evenly matched teams (well be sure to get you more information soon about how the instancing works). With many players taking their PvP action into battlegrounds (due to both the fun-factor and the contribution points for completing objectives), we expect that combat in the outdoor world will be of a much more manageable size.
Battlegrounds plural?! What does Kalgan mean?!! Hmm...
Uh, Kalgan?
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How Do I Quest at a Grave Yard?
The new Honor system seems engaging, but many times I would prefer to simply quest. How am I supposed to enjoy the other aspects of the game and avoid player vs. player combat when the majority of the population is hunting other players in an attempt to gain honor?
We're fairly certain that once Battlegrounds are released, players will notice that the player vs. player combat taking place in contested zones will be substantially reduced. As described earlier, players will generally find it advantageous to their honor score to fight in battlegrounds. I would also like to make mention that players on a PvP realm should always feel some sense of danger when questing in a contested zone, as such is part of what makes this realm type fun and exciting, assuming it is at a reasonable amount. Once players understand how Honor System works and how they should best be utilizing their time in order to gain its rewards, we expect that you will not be in any more danger than you were before the addition of Honor System (possibly less).
Orcs vs. Human?
Since the Horde vs. Alliance ratio on certain realms is not perfectly balanced, don't you think that the faction with larger numbers will be at a significant advantage?
Despite a very common misconception, Horde and Alliance numbers are pretty well balanced on PvP realms. Since most players will be building up their Honor ranking by fighting in a Battleground environment, where sides are evenly matched, realm imbalance shouldn't factor in to either faction's ability to progress in the Honor system.
That being said we are investigating other solutions in the short to mid term to help the Horde vs. Alliance imbalance. Yet nothing we can discuss at this time.
Why Won't You Punish Us?
You've stated on many occasions that you will analyze the Honor system and only add a system of dishonor if player actions necessitate such. While this is a noble cause, it seems as if having no system of checks and balances in place that punishes players for "unfair" tactics will only result in frequent and unwanted trips to the local graveyard. Now that you've seen the system working on the test realm, have your thoughts on this changed?
We're taking our first step towards a dishonor system upon the release of the next patch. Trivial civilian NPCs such as quest givers and vendors will now give dishonor points to players that prey upon them. We haven't decided upon a specific penalty but it will be enough that the majority of players will not wish to engage in combat with those NPCs. This combined with the fact that upon the release of Battlegrounds most players will not be targeting towns or unsuspecting adventurers nearly as often, should reduce the need to add too much more in the way of a penalty, or dishonor.
With that being said, I would like to reiterate that just as we added this small addition of dishonor as result of seeing the system in action, we will continue to analyze the Honor system and make improvements until we're satisfied with the way its working.
Equal Opportunity Classes?
Does each class have an equal opportunity to advance in the Honor system? It seems that the Mage has a greater advantage over the Warrior due to their area effect spells and their ability to dish out a ton of damage in a short space of time.
The initial data has not indicated that any one class has dramatic advantages over another. I believe this train of thought to be spawned from the confusion surrounding how players rise in rank. Keep in mind, an Honorable Kill does not determine the rate at which you progress under this system, only that the kill itself was considered to be fair, and that you received contribution points for that kill. A players total contribution points, which take into account many factors to determine the value of a kill (as described in other previews and FAQs), are the more relevant factor in determining a characters advances in rank at the end of the week.
Warriors for example, are an extremely durable class that are capable of doing good damage and (depending on the scenario) often have a greater survivability rate than cloth classes. The data weve seen thus far indicates that the most important factor lies in how well a player uses the advantages of their class. As a side note, one of the things we're adding in the next patch along with Battlegrounds is a new combat log message which will appear after each kill informing you of your estimated contribution points for a kill when it happens. This number will be slightly crude, as it doesn't factor in players killed under the diminishing return rule but it will provide players with a better understanding of how the system works and how valuable a given kill is.
