Even the PvE demon Cortyn suddenly plays PvP in WoW: Dragonflight. The reason? The entry is simpler than ever.
If you are like me, you haven’t thought much of PvP in World of Warcraft until now. I’ll be honest, since the days of “Vanilla”, when we engaged in zergs in the same Alterac Valley for 6 hours, I rarely warmed up to PvP. Sometimes I have to “torture” myself into it when I see a nice reward, like an exclusive mount that is only available for a short time. However, it is clearly my collector’s instinct in the foreground, not the fun of PvP.
With Dragonflight, World of Warcraft has done a lot right and I suddenly found enjoyment in content that I previously found tedious. Therefore, I even gave PvP a chance – and it is as pleasant and easy as it hasn’t been in years.
PvP gear is essential, but easy to obtain
Anyone wanting to start PvP in Dragonflight should urgently acquire a PvP set. This is not a “recommendation” but an absolute necessity if you want even the slightest chance. The reason is that all PvP gear in battlegrounds and arenas scales to a higher item level. Even the green gear crafted from professions, which only has an item level of 340 in PvE, suddenly has an item level of 398 in PvP.
Another factor is that PvP gear almost always has “Versatility” and the trinkets even have a set bonus that grants even more stamina and stats.
So don’t expect to have even the slightest chance in PvP with your PvE gear – generally, other players, even with good PvE gear, will have around 100,000 hit points more when they use PvP gear.
What PvP equipment is available?
In principle, there are 5 different armor sets to play PvP in Dragonflight. The differences are quite small, but represent a simple and easily understandable progression.
- Crafted (green) PvP armor: PvP item level 398
- War Mode gear for Bloody Tokens: PvP item level 408
- Honor gear: PvP item level 411
- Upgraded War Mode gear: PvP item level 421
- Conquest gear: PvP item level 424
Note that PvP armors from world quests can have different item levels. However, this only affects the “PvE” item level of the armor. The PvP portion is always the same and does not change. So you do not have to rely on random upgrades.
Similar applies to Honor and Conquest gear. You can upgrade these for honor points, but that only improves the PvE portion of the item. The PvP value of the armor remains identical when upgrading.
In other words: If you once bought an item for honor or conquest, it already has its full effectiveness in PvP. You do not have to spend time painstakingly upgrading gear or fighting for every item level.
PvP gear in Dragonflight is surprisingly simple and that makes the entry easy.
The first 5 hours are the worst
The only “problem” is that you first need solid starting gear. You cannot avoid earning this in one way or another.
Bloody beginners who have some gold can simply buy the 398 gear in the auction house or commission a craftsman of your choice. The materials are quite cheap, but currently very few craftsmen have the necessary recipes.
Those who leveled in War Mode and regularly collected an “Air Drop” can buy a solid set at item level 408 in Valdrakken in the PvP vault for Bloody Tokens or at least plug gaps in their gear.
If you have a high tolerance for frustration, you can also simply play battlegrounds to earn honor and directly buy the honor set for item level 411. However, keep in mind that you might rather be a burden on your team if you are only wearing PvE gear.
If you choose the honor path, the experience at first is rather painful, as other players simply run over you. However, this changes drastically as soon as you have collected your honor gear. Then battles become significantly fairer and you can also confidently dive into other modes, such as the arena or the “Mixed Solo”.
The “Mixed Solo” is much better than I feared
I’ll say it frankly: I’m a loser in PvP. While I still put up a decent figure as a demon hunter, I mostly feel like I have a big target on my head with my shadow priest and get blown away within 5 seconds without being able to cast a single spell.
At least that was my shadow priest experience over the last 10 years. Thanks to the new talent system, which also allows multiple saveable configurations, I now have a pure PvP build, which is really fun.
Especially the “Mixed Solo”, a game mode that you can only sign up for alone and where you compete against each other in ever-changing groups, is a lot of fun. Each round usually lasts only a few seconds, as the match ends when a single player is defeated.
If even I was able to casually reach a rating of 1475 in one evening (which, with all due respect, isn’t high, but more than I expected), then you can too. Especially since that’s enough to get an item with an item level of 392 from the weekly chest.
If you’re a PvP grump – give it a try with Dragonflight. It’s really worth it and could lead you to discover a whole new way of playing in World of Warcraft.
