World of Warcraft PvP: The Bounty System
Introduction
World of Warcraft has developed many ways for a player to satisfy their PvP itch. From battlegrounds, to arenas to world PvP, there are many ways to defeat other people, in game, for fun or for competition. What I hope to introduce is another PvP system that pits horde and alliance against each other in an Azeroth (and Outlands) wide hunt for a bounty. With the new expansion coming out that puts the Horde against the Alliance in a new land, what better time would there be to implement this system? The bounty system will have eligible players hunting other eligible players for gold rewards, new titles, new items and conquest/honor points.
Summary
The Bounty System in World of Warcraft is an idea proposed to achieve 3 objectives:
• To bolster the amount of World PvP, per server, as well as getting people out into the game world.
• To kickstart a system where those, who wish to only use their game time to PvP, are able to keep a steady income just like those who only PvE.
• To help bring together server PvP communities.
How does it work?
Just like how we used to queue for a battleground or arena by talking to an NPC in each capital city, there will be an NPC that will queue the player into the bounty system. Queuing in this case is more like accepting the “term & conditions” of allowing yourself to be hunted and to hunt other players. Once you have accepted, you will not only see how much you are worth but the amount of players, of the opposite faction, that you are able to hunt as well as what they are worth. If a player has a bounty, they will see how many other people are after them. A player must be level 80-90 to sign up for the bounty system. A player may cancel their queue by going back to the NPC, once they have done this they are out of the bounty game and will have to wait a while to get back in. This is to help avoid exploits.
To aid in hunting your target(s), there will be NPCs and bounty hubs, scattered throughout Azeroth and Outlands that aide in tracking a target down by giving hints about their location. Each NPC will give up to 3 hints and depending on the NPC, they will differ. Bounty Hubs are neutral sanctuaries (maybe) and provide a player with rewards via”Head of” token turn in. For now, a player may have as many targets as they want. However, once one of their targets has been killed by another bountyhead, they will lose that target and will have to reaccept their bounty again. The Bounty system only work within the open world. IF you kill your target in a battleground or arena, it does not count.
Each player will be worth a different amount. A new player who has not done much PvP in their character lifetime may only be worth as little as 100g or a small amount of honor and conquest points. If you’ve just killed your server’s only High Warlord/Grand Marshal/Gladiator then they might be worth anywhere from 1000g-3000g and/or a large amount of honor and conquest points, as well as a guaranteed title. There is no cap on the amount of worth you can be at.
The system takes into the account these variables when determining bounty amount:
• Arena Rating (averages the 2v2, 3v3, & 5v5 ratings)
• Battleground Ratings
• Battle ground objectives achieved
• PvP Feats of Strength
• PvP Achievements
• PvP Titles
• Total Honorable Kills
• HK calculation that evens out the disparity of total HKs gained vs HKs gained per “x” vs character creation date.
• Faction Leaders killed
• Factions NPCs killed
• Character Level (In this case, 80s will be worth less than 90s)
Put into action, this is how the system works: An alliance player, Rougerogue, accepts the bounty of an Undead Mage named “Underpowered”, the ally player can see that “Underpowered” is level 90 and that he is worth 2500g. Rougerogue seeks out an NPC that can tell him where Underpowered might. For some reason, Underpowered is killing newbs in STV but the NPC tells Rougerogue that Underpowered was last seen hanging with trolls in a jungle. Rougerogue sets out where he thinks his target is. He searches up and down STV until an icon appears on his map indicated that his target is in range. The only warning that Underpowered gets is seeing a small icon above the head of Rougerogue. Yes, even in stealth. Gold is rewarded for those that kill their bounty head. If Rougerogue manages to kill Underpowered then he can loot the “head of” token from Underpowered and return it to a Bounty Hub for a reward. Technically, if another player turns in that same victim’s “head of” token before you, they can reap the full reward while you get the base. Players’ who are grouped when a bounty is killed, will have the rewards split between them.
When a player’s bounty has been administered, that player’s bounty will be reset to a base amount. A player’s base worth takes into account these variables:
• Character Level
• HK calculation that evens out the disparity of total HKs gained vs HKs gained per “x” vs character creation date.
• Faction Leaders killed
• PvP Titles
• PvP Achievements
• PvP Feats of Strength
Underpowered’s base worth is be 1000 gold. This might be because he is a “Warlord/Duelist and level 90.
Rougerogue’s base worth is 800 gold. This might be because he has a killed every Horde faction leader.
ALL “WORTH” IS CALCULATED AS GOLD.
On PVE realms, being in range of the target flags the target for the bountyhead only. So no one else can join in on the attack unless they too have that same bounty or the victim is in a party so that the group members may help defend their friend.
Rewards
Players will be rewarded for turning in “Heads of” tokens as well as defending themselves against bountyheads.
• Turn “Heads of” tokens in for gold rewards depending on the worth of the bounty.
• Earn Bounty Titles through defeating bounties and bountyheads. “Rougerogue the Bounty Master” or “Underpowered the Bounty Hunter”. Obviously they could come up with better names.
• Receive conquest and honor points for defeating bounties and bountyheads.
• Gain access to more transmogrification gear.
• Buy pvp items unique to the bounty system. Like:
o A trinket that roots and grounds any mount/flying mount, within X range, for X seconds.
o A trinket that allows humanoids to be tracked that works for X seconds.
o An invisibility potion that clears dots
o A potion that works like the engineering rocket boots.
Closing
This system should work to keep people from sitting in capital cities waiting for a queue. It should work to get them out into the world again, at least for those who participate. It should work to get people playing together in the world again and not just instances, whether they are hunting in packs or playing together to watch over a friend. It might kindle friendly competitions, in faction, as people attempt to get the highest bounties. In my opinion it would be nice to actually make money while PvPing, so there’s a plus. If Blizzard implemented this and did it right, I believe it would help start to a fire under WoW’s PvP content in order to get it cooking again.
TL;DR – Bounty system in World of Warcraft that players give consent to be a part of. Yay or Nay?
I'm apologizing now if there are typos.