Battlegrounds are the heart of PvP in WoW: Forever, and the new one is called Darkspear Islands: 15 against 15 off the coast of Dustwallow Marsh, from level 30. On top sits a rank system that keeps the old titles up to High Warlord and Grand Marshal but works differently from 2005. Arenas are not announced.
The battlegrounds
Next to the new Darkspear Islands, the three familiar battlegrounds from Classic are back: Warsong Gulch, Arathi Basin and Alterac Valley. Every ruleset except Hardcore shares the queues, so you will also meet players from Normal or Roleplay.
Each battleground has its own reputation on both sides. Reaching Exalted with one completes the matching Legacy challenge, such as Master of Darkspear Islands. All challenges are listed in the Legacy planner.
Marks of Honor from every battleground stack to 30.
Darkspear Islands up close
On the islands, the Horde's Darkspear Raiders fight the Alliance's Theramore Expeditionary Force. The map has four control points: the Camp, the Ruins, the Abandoned Tower and Shipwreck Cove. A flag waits in the middle. The more points your side holds, the faster your resources climb. The flag adds bonus points when you carry it to a base your team owns. First to 2,000 resources wins.
Two changes have reshaped the battleground since beta:
- Dropping the flag no longer gives you a debuff, so you can pick it straight back up.
- Tauren can no longer build up Plainsrunning during the preparation phase, and the stacks fall off while carrying the flag. Before that, Tauren flag carriers had an unintended speed edge.
Because the control points pay out all the time and the flag is only a bonus, one fast flag runner cannot win a match alone. The side that holds points and grabs the flag on the side comes out ahead.
Honor and rank points
Forever splits PvP into two currencies:
- Honor comes from defeating players, finishing battlegrounds and PvP quests. You spend it on gear. You can hold at most 25,000.
- Rank points come from battlegrounds and PvP quests, not from open-world kills. They raise your rank.
Battleground holiday weeks give more of both. Blizzard also evened out honor between battlegrounds so nobody feels pushed into Alterac Valley just because it pays best.
Your rank and rank points are on the character pane (default key C), on the Player vs. Player tab.
Ranks 1 to 14
The ranks carry the familiar titles, with High Warlord and Grand Marshal at the top. The big difference from Classic: how far you can climb each week is capped, and the cap goes up every week. Nobody reaches rank 14 in the first days, no matter how much they play. Each rank unlocks something to buy:
| Rank | Reward |
|---|---|
| 1 | Tabard |
| 2 | PvP trinket |
| 3 | Cloaks |
| 4 | Necklace |
| 5 | Combat potions |
| 6 | Tabard |
| 7 | Battle standard |
| 8 | Epic bracers and a belt token |
| 9 | Boots token |
| 10 | Gloves token |
| 11 | Mounts |
| 12 | Legs and shoulders tokens |
| 13 | Chest and helm tokens |
| 14 | Epic weapons |
Gear: blue first, then epic
Honor buys a blue set and an epic set. To get an epic piece you need the blue piece plus an Emboldened Seal, which has a rank requirement. So the honor pieces come quickly, and rank over the season is what sets players apart. Some classes get new sets: Shamans, for example, get one each for healing, melee and casting.
Since beta, most PvP pieces cost about 50% more honor, which is why the cap went up from 15,000 to 25,000.
Seasons and weekly tasks
Every PvP season comes with a run of weekly tasks that award honor and rank points. Three of them, in weeks 4, 7 and 10, give one Legacy point each. In game they are called Field of Honor, and they stay available in later seasons, so you cannot miss them for good.
Blizzard has not said when the first season starts or how long it runs. A PvP refresh is announced for spring 2027, and our roadmap tracks it.
Vendors and combat rules
The PvP vendors in Orgrimmar, Stormwind and Dalaran have been switched off temporarily since November 5, and Blizzard hasn't announced when they return. You still earn honor and rank points. When the vendors come back, it will show up in the patch notes.
Two launch changes affect every fight: roots from procs such as Frostbite, Entrapment or Improved Hamstring are subject to diminishing returns, and the deserter debuff now lasts 40 seconds instead of 5 minutes.
Since November 9, Warsong Gulch no longer has an invisible wall on the roof of the Alliance base, so you can get up there.
On the PvP ruleset you can be attacked at any time and play only one faction per account. Since November 9, character creation there increasingly locks the bigger faction, currently the Horde in the Americas and the Alliance on EU Roleplay-PvP. Crowded zones also hold noticeably fewer players at once on the PvP ruleset than on the others. How the rulesets differ is covered in the ruleset overview and the guide to playing with friends.
Frequently asked questions
What level do I need for Darkspear Islands?
Level 30. The battleground is open to levels 30 to 60 and is played with 15 players per side.
Do open-world kills give rank points?
No, only honor. Rank points come from battlegrounds and PvP quests.
Why can't I buy PvP gear?
The PvP vendors in Orgrimmar, Stormwind and Dalaran have been switched off temporarily since launch. Your honor still builds up, to the cap of 25,000.
When does the first PvP season start?
Blizzard has not announced a start or end date for the season yet.