Gaining Honor

What is the Honor System? The Honor System allows players to gain rankings based on their PvP performance, with lucrative rewards for those who distinguish themselves on the field of battle! Read more about the PvP Honor System .
How do I gain rank in the Honor System? Players advance in rank by helping to defeat players of the opposite faction (Horde/Alliance), or by vanquishing special target NPC's in the game, which ultimately confers honor.
The amount of damage a player deals to their target determines the amount of honor they earn. Contributing more damage yields more points, and less honor yields fewer points. Causing slight damage to multiple targets may not net as many points as causing severe damage to a single target. Also, the target must die and the kill must be honorable in order for honor points to be awarded.
What is an honorable kill? An honorable kill occurs when a player takes part in the killing of an appropriate player or NPC in the player's level range. The color system for players works the same as it does for monsters. Grey level players will not yield an honorable kill.
Also, only specific NPC's will yield honorable kills. These are special target NPC's that are extremely difficult for players to attack, as they are some of the main leaders of each player faction. Defeating these NPC's will require a large force of players.
What is a 'Dishonorable kill'? Any NPC that is marked with the green word 'Civilian' in its tooltip is considered a 'dishonorable kill'. The 'Civilian' marking will be applied to general NPC's such as vendors and quest NPCs as the level of the player begins to exceed the level of the NPC. This means that players of the appropriate level are allowed to kill general NPC's that are considered to present a fair fight.
Can I earn honor if I am in a group? Yes. When grouped with other players, honor are divided equally amongst the members of the party. Just like in groups for killing monsters, players can gain bonus experience for killing players while in a group. If the character levels of some group members are significantly higher than others, the amount of honor gained by the lower level members will be reduced, just like it is with monster experience.
What if I do less damage than the rest of my group, say through healing, damage over time, or area-of-effect spells? Do I still get the same amount of honor as my group? Yes. Players who are grouped in a party equally split the honor they earn. The Priest who heals will receive an equal share of points as the Warrior who is swinging away at the target.
What happens if we take out a faction leader in a raid group? Who gets the honor? Members of the raid group that taps the creature will share the honor points equally. The points will be distributed the same way as experience points. It should be noted, however, that strategic targets are there to promote conflict and role-play between the Alliance and Horde, so players will find that killing enemy leaders will not be a disproportionately large source of honor.
If I am a raid leader, will I receive more honor than other non-leader raid group members? No. Honor is divided equally among all raid-party members.
If I am on the other end of the battlefield as my party or raid group, will I still get honor for any kills they make? No. Earning honor falls within the normal rules of experience gain. Players must be in the general area to receive the honor.
How many points do I need to get my next rank? This is one area where the PvP and normal experience system differ. There is no set amount of honor needed to reach a certain level. The PvP ranking system is based on the number of players engaging in PvP combat, and how good each player is in relation to other players.
Think of the PvP rankings as a curve, where the highest ranks will encompass the top percentage of players. While there are a finite amount of players who can be in the top ranks, the actual number will depend on how many other characters on the server are involved in PvP. The more players competing, the more players will be able to reach the top ranks.
How does my PvP Rank update? PvP ranks are compiled once a week, and will coincide with the weekly server maintenance. There is a minimum number of honorable kills per week required for eligibility; this number is flexible and depends on the average number of honorable kills for your realm that week.
Based on the number of honor received per week and the amount of people involved in PvP combat, a rating value is assessed for each player. This value is used to determine progression through the PvP ranks.
Will I get credit for killing guards? Based on player feedback we have decided to no longer award honorable kills for killing NPCs that are not racial leaders. This will prevent players from feeling as though they need to "grind" NPC kills for honor. This change will also help the honorable kill totals mean more than they otherwise would.
What happens if I am fighting a player and that player runs away, then another player or group finds the player and kills him or her? Do I get any honor having damaged the player first? No. If a player does not take damage for 1 minute since the last time they were attacked in PvP, any damage done by the first player is null and void. The next player or group who finds and kills the target gets the credit.
Will there be additional honor gained for rapid-fire killing? For instance, three honorable kills in thirty seconds. There are no current plans to reward players for going on killing sprees, other than the normal honor they earn.
Will there be a survival bonus? For instance, each kill beyond the first without dying equates to more honor. This will not be a feature upon initial implementation of the Honor System, but is a possible candidate for continued refinement.
So far it seems like the Honor System is designed for players who can devote large amounts of time to the game. What if I am a casual player who cannot devote so much time? Since the majority of players in WoW are casual gamers, the majority of player will be competing against players of a similar skill level and playtime. We expect many players to be surprised at how viable they will be in the Honor System.
Rewards
What incentives do I have to gain high ranks in the Honor System? By killing other players and racking up honor, players will gain access to the Officer's barracks in Orgrimmar and Stormwind City. Each new rank players gain will open up new items, weapons, and armor for them to use. Along with the new items players will also have their current Honor Rank displayed for all to see. Here is a list of the ranks and rewards given per rank:
Rank
Icon
Alliance Title
Horde Title
Reward
14
Grand Marshal
High Warlord
Epic-quality weapon and shield
13
Field Marshal
Warlord
Epic-quality helm, shoulder armor, and gloves
12
Marshal
General
Epic-quality chest armor, leggings, and boots
11
Commander
Lieutenant General
Commander's epic mount
10
Lieutenant Commander
Champion
Superior-quality helm and shoulder armor
9
Knight-Champion
Centurion
8
Knight-Captain
Legionnare
Superior-quality chest armor and leggings
7
Knight-Lieutenant
Blood Guard
Superior-quality boots and gloves
6
Knight
Stone Guard
Access to officer's barracks, officer's tabard, and potions
5
Sergeant Major
First Sergeant
Superior-quality bracers
4
Master Sergeant
Senior Sergeant
Superior-quality necklace
3
Sergeant
Sergeant
Superior-quality cloak, 10% discount on all goods and repairs from your faction's NPCs
2
Corporal
Grunt
Team insignia trinket
1
Private
Scout
Tabard
printable version
Will the rewards ever include new spells or talents for characters of higher ranks? No. Currently we do not have any plans to reward players with new talents or spells.
Will my title be visible to those around me? Yes. Players will be able to see other player titles as part of their names. In addition, players may view others' honor tabs through the inspect feature.
The previews on the website showed a few weapons and armor. Is that all we will be able to obtain? No. The preview displayed just a few of the rewards. More rewards will be available in game.