World of Warcraft was about to get a major update.
One blue post set the entire server on fire: Blizzard was preparing to turn on the Honor system.
In Gabryell's original timeline, Honor had not arrived until months after launch. This time, thanks to the changes caused by his rebirth, Blizzard was pushing it into the final stretch of open beta.
The world was no longer following the exact patch schedule he remembered.
After several days of forum rumors, Blizzard finally made it official. Honor was coming, and the launch date had been confirmed as well.
Honor would go live in the middle of November.
The official launch date had shifted too.
From this point on, Gabryell had to stop treating his past-life knowledge like a perfect calendar. The broad direction still mattered, but exact dates could no longer be trusted.
"No matter how the schedule changes, as long as the dungeon mechanics stay the same, I still have the advantage."
The faster patch schedule did not bother him much. Progression still came down to boss strategy, execution, and preparation. Judging from the open beta dungeons so far, the mechanics in this world were no different from the ones he remembered.
The world had already changed once. There was no point clinging too tightly to the old timeline.
Gabryell was looking forward to launch. The real World of Warcraft began at level 60. Everything right now was just warm-up: fun, but still limited compared with max-level dungeons, raids, world PvP, and the endless grind waiting after launch.
"Ogabs, I heard WoW starts charging after launch?"
In Fearless's guild chat, everyone was arguing about the announcement.
"Yeah," he typed. "Standard MMO sub. Fifteen bucks a month."
"Fifteen a month isn't nothing if you're broke."
"That's like one night out."
"Speak for yourself. I'm a college student. Fifteen bucks is real money."
"I'm online eight hours a day. If this were pay-by-hour, I'd be dead."
"At least it's monthly. Pay once and play as much as you want."
"Good. Maybe the queues finally calm down after launch."
Some people were happy. Others were worried.
A monthly subscription had obvious downsides. Broke students and casual players would feel it, and plenty of people who had been online all day during open beta would not be able to keep that pace once they had to pay.
The upside was that a sub filtered out tourists. The players who stayed would be the ones with money, free time, or enough obsession to make room for both.
Gabryell did not care about the cost. Fifteen dollars a month meant nothing to him now. Even paying for several key players would not be a problem.
"Once launch hits, levels are going to spread out fast."
That much was easy to predict. Players with more free time would pull ahead. Players with less money or less time would slow down. The first wave to reach level 60 would be the ones with both commitment and the ability to stay online for long hours.
Those players would become the backbone of Fearless's progression team.
"We need to prepare for people dropping off after beta."
From his previous life, Gabryell knew that once the free period ended, plenty of players would vanish. Some friends who had been online every day would suddenly stop logging in. Some would come back later. Some would never return.
Fearless needed a stable raid core, not just a big roster.
From now on, he would watch every guild member carefully: their schedule, attitude, mechanics, and willingness to commit. The best of them would be pulled into a dedicated progression roster.
If necessary, the guild could cover subscription costs for key raiders. During progression, the core team could also receive bonuses for server firsts and major boss kills.
If Fearless wanted to stay ahead, casual enthusiasm would not be enough. They needed a real progression core.
"Ogabs, what exactly is this Honor thing?"
A lot of players had read the announcement but only half understood it.
Gabryell explained patiently, "Once Honor turns on, killing players from the other faction gives you honor. Your weekly standing affects your PvP rank. Higher rank means better rewards."
"So basically kill Horde, get rank, buy gear?"
"Pretty much. But it's not just total kills. It's based on how you place compared with other players on your faction each week. If you want to rank up, you need to farm as much honor as possible and place high in the weekly standings."
According to the post, the first week would only allow ranks up to Rank 3. After that, higher ranks would unlock gradually. Anything above Rank 6 would only become available after launch.
The top ranks had not been announced yet. Gabryell guessed they would come later, probably around the time battlegrounds entered the picture.
The PvP rewards would unlock step by step too. Before launch, only the lower-rank rewards would be available. Anything beyond that would have to wait for future updates.
"On the Alliance side, the early ranks are Private, Corporal, Sergeant, Master Sergeant, Sergeant Major, and Knight," he continued. "Anything past Knight depends on later patches."
It was rare for him to type this much in guild chat. It almost felt like teaching a room full of brand-new players.
"The key thing is weekly standing. If you want a higher rank, kill Horde, keep your honor high, and don't waste time. When the weekly calculation happens, the players with higher standings move up faster."
The Vanilla PvP ranking system was brutal. Most people could reach around Rank 10 if they were persistent, but anything above that was another world. Rank 12 to Rank 14 required a disgusting amount of time. If your skill was not good enough, or your group could not win consistently, even no-lifing might not be enough.
Then he added one more warning.
"Also, do not kill civilian NPCs. Seriously. Don't do it."
"Why?"
"Dishonorable Kills. If someone kills an enemy civilian near you, it can hurt your weekly progress. It's one of the dumbest ways to screw yourself."
Dishonorable Kills were a trap for new players. Plenty of people would see a red-name NPC, kill it without thinking, and then wonder why their ranking progress got wrecked.
Sometimes, it was not even your fault. One idiot in your group could tag a civilian, and everyone nearby would eat the penalty.
Classic bad teammate problem: one guy does something stupid, and the whole group pays for it.
Dreamshade whispered him soon after.
"Ogabs, you saw the post?"
"Of course."
"Once Honor turns on, every contested zone is going to become a warzone."
Gabryell laughed. "Good. Level 60 isn't open yet, and people are already getting bored. Daily dungeon farming only keeps people busy for so long. Give them a reason to hunt Horde and the whole server wakes up."
Running Zul'Farrak and Maraudon every day would get old. Honor gave players an outlet. Instead of grinding dungeons all day, they finally had a proper reason to go looking for the other faction.
Dreamshade replied, "I talked to a few guild leaders. We're thinking of putting together a duel tournament before Honor goes live. Get people warmed up, get the Alliance guilds talking, and maybe stop everyone from killing each other before we start killing Horde."
A duel tournament.
Interesting.
Gabryell was not going to miss something like that.
"I'm in."
"I figured you would be," Dreamshade said. "I'm thinking guild format. Each participating guild sends five players. We fight it out until there's one champion. Whichever guild's player wins, that guild takes the tournament."
"That works. Let me know when you set the time."
Since Dreamshade was organizing Tichondrius's first duel tournament, Gabryell would not try to steal the spotlight.
"I'll contact a few more guilds first," Dreamshade said. "I'll tell you once the time is locked."
"Alright. I'll be there to take first place."
"Win your own bracket first," Dreamshade replied. "If you want the title, you'll have to beat me too."
Gabryell smiled.
The first big Ironforge duel tournament on Tichondrius.
Now that was something worth looking forward to.