WoW Forever Puts a Weekly Cap on PvP Ranks

Heads up: the news here is real and sourced. The read on what it means for the unannounced Riot MMO is ours, and speculative where labelled. RuneGrove covers everything through one lens: what it tells us about the MMO.

Source: Blizzard, “How PvP Progression in World of Warcraft: Forever Works”, with coverage from MMORPG.com, MMOs.com, Massively OP and Blue Tracker.

Image from Blizzard's 'How PvP Progression in World of Warcraft: Forever Works' post (Blizzard Entertainment)

How should a player-versus-player (PvP) ladder reward time without asking for all of it? Blizzard, which laid out its answer on October 7, keeps the classic rank ladder in World of Warcraft: Forever, the new version of the original game launching November 4, and caps how far players can climb it each week.

Brian Holinka, the Riot MMO's principal game designer since June 1, was World of Warcraft's lead PvP designer from 2012 to 2017 and its lead combat designer from 2018 until May 2023.

What Happened

Forever keeps the 14 original ranks, caps weekly rank progress, evens out Honor across battlegrounds and adds seasonal weekly tasks.

14Original ranks kept

3Legacy tasks a season

Oct 22Beta testing ends

Nov 4Forever launches

Two tracks

The currency. Honor is a currency earned from battlegrounds, PvP quests and defeating players, and it buys PvP gear.
The ladder. Rank Points are a separate track that climbs the original game's 14 ranks to High Warlord or Grand Marshal.
A weekly cap. “Ranks have a weekly cap, retaining the foundation of the original system while making the journey more accessible,” Blizzard writes.
Battleground balance. Honor rates were evened out across battlegrounds.

We want players to enjoy the full range of battleground maps without feeling compelled to choose Alterac Valley solely for Honor efficiency.

— Blizzard, How PvP Progression in World of Warcraft: Forever Works, Blizzard's post

Official World of Warcraft: Forever image from Blizzard's class deep dive (Blizzard Entertainment)

Gear and rank rewards

Two gear sets. Honor buys one blue-quality PvP set and one epic-quality set.
The epic upgrade. An epic piece is the blue piece upgraded with an Emboldened Seal, and Seals have rank requirements.
Rewards by rank. A tabard at rank 1, a PvP trinket at rank 2, a battle standard at rank 7, mounts at rank 11 and epic weapons at rank 14.
Gaps filled. MMORPG.com reports new and reworked items for specs that lacked PvP gear; Shamans get healer, melee and caster sets.

Seasons

Weekly tasks. Each PvP season has a journey of weekly tasks that grant Honor and Rank Points.
Tasks that carry over. Three tasks per season also grant a Legacy Point and stay available in later seasons.
Beta end date. The Forever beta's testing period ends October 22, per Warcraft Tavern.

Blizzard has reworked other original systems for Forever too. Every race now has four racials, and a level 30 beta build cut the dungeon quest XP bonus.

Official pageWorld of Warcraft: ForeverTrailer, screenshots, and the full store page

A Riot MMO engineer's guild

The engineer. Orlando Salvatore is a senior engineering manager at Riot, and his X bio puts him on the Riot MMO.
October 1 post. He posted “EXCITED FOR ME AND MATT TO GET THE GUILD BACK TOGETHER FOR WOW FOREVER,” with three photos.
October 3 post. He is restarting his guild for Forever and asked anyone “looking for a PvP Horde guild to level and do the raids with” to contact him.
The timing. Both posts went up before Blizzard published its PvP details, and neither mentions Riot's game.

View post on X

What This Means for the Riot MMO

Riot has said nothing about PvP in its MMO, so Blizzard's rework is context for the team building it, not a preview of Riot's plans.

Weekly pacing. With a weekly cap, playing every night earns no more rank in a week than reaching the cap does.
Rewards steer players. Blizzard evened out Honor so players stop feeling compelled to pick Alterac Valley for efficiency, a problem any MMO reward table can create.
Separate tracks. Honor is spent on gear while Rank Points track progress, so a gear purchase never touches a player's rank.
PvP joins the season. Weekly tasks fold PvP into the season calendar, and the three carry-over tasks stay open, so a player who misses a season can still earn their Legacy Points.

Blizzard pitches the cap as “making the journey more accessible,” while a post from Forever's builder called convenience the death of the journey. The Riot MMO will face the same tradeoff.

Our read. Blizzard kept the original ladder but, with the weekly cap, sided with players who have limited time over players who grind. Riot now employs a designer who spent years on WoW's PvP, but whether Riot's MMO has ranks, caps or battlegrounds at all is unrevealed.