Patch 1.18.1 PvP Rank Progression System was one of the worst changes made by Turtle WoW. Its main intention was to remove race against time.
Instead, it ended up being even worse system than Vanilla one with strong encouragement of more inhuman race against time. New system made it easier for RMT & boosting companies to benefit from these changes.Jamey
Patch 1.18.1
The follow-up patch focuses on broadening PvP's appeal:
Partially rework the current Honor System to reduce the brutal race against the clock at high PvP ranks.
How it looked like in the past, how it looks like now and how it SHOULD look like in the future? I will explain in the following chapters.
It's important for Octo devs to change this system before R14 becomes available because it's current form can be heavily exploited by RMT & boosting organisations (as it happened on TurtleWoW) - this is not something we want to see on Octo WoW.
Abbreviations used in this post for people unfamiliar with the topic:
RP = Rank Points
R14 = Rank 14
Vanilla WoW PvP Rank Progression System
System from 1.12 version of the game during Vanilla in 2005-2006.
- Each week you earned your standing based on amount of Honor farmed in that week among whole playerbase from your server and based on that standing you got RP that moved your PvP Rank forward.
- There is rank decay if you don't reach enough standing within that week.
- The effort put into earning Rank wasn't linear - so there was no point in getting more Honor if you had first standing in your faction. Ultimately, your rank progress was limited.
- Entire progression from R0 to R14 lasted for 3-4 months non-stop assuming that you were in top standing each week.
- Taking a break from PvP would drop your Rank down to R0.
Turtle WoW pre-nerf PvP Rank Progression System
It was essentially the same system as in Classic but the decay was changed a bit so your rank couldn't drop below highest reached level. So if you'd got R14, you keep it forever. But if are R13 and you stop your progress at 90% towards R14, in the next weeks your progress will drop to 0% and stop there.
- Each week you earned your standing based on amount of Honor farmed in that week among whole playerbase from your server and based on that standing you got RP that moved your PvP Rank forward.
- Rank decays still exists but now your Rank couldn't drop below highest reached Rank level.
- The effort put into earning Rank wasn't linear - so there was no point in getting more Honor if you had first standing in your faction. Ultimately, your rank progress was limited.
- Entire progression from R0 to R14 lasted for 3-4 months non-stop assuming that you were in top standing each week.
- You could take pause from the game after reaching certain Rank level and resume your way to R14 in the future.
Turtle WoW post-nerf 1.18.1 PvP Rank Progression System
This one received massive change - the RP that was previously acquired once per week during server reset based on your standing, now applies in real time and is proportional to Honor gained.
- RP are awarded in real time and the amount you get is proportional to Honor you receive. RP is no longer awarded weekly on server reset.
- Rank decays still exists but now your Rank couldn't drop below highest reached Rank level.
- The effort put into earning Rank was linear - proportionally more time spent in PvP = more progress on your Rank. The upper limit of how much RP you could get no longer exists.
- Entire progression from R0 to R14 can be completed in just 1 month.
- You could take pause from the game after reaching certain Rank level and resume your way to R14 in the future.
But the worst consequence of new system is that the optimal way of leveling your Rank is playing as much as possible with no limit. Note that the old system discouraged you from playing 24/7. At certain point, more Honor didn't linearly translate to more RP after reset so spending more time in PvP wasn't necessary - you would still get same amount of RP if you were top1. New system, however, has abolished this limit. Now your only opponent is decay that occurs once a week and burns part of your progress. So the best way to defend against the decay is to play as much as possible before the decay hits. More PvP equals more Rank because it's linear effort now. New system's goal was to reduce the brutal race against time but the effect it's achieved is contrary.
RMT & Boosting Behind The Scenes
And this is where RMT & Boosting problem begins. Because of decay that occurs once a week on your character, is the only enemy, the system encourages you to spend as much time as possible between decays-period. However, human must sleep and can't play 24/7 without serious health problems. This is why sharing account between players becomes the best strategy for Rank progression. The new system is still brutal for a single player... but for organised groups that share account this system becomes heaven. These screenshots were taken from one RMT company that was selling PvP boosts on Turtle WoW Nordanaar server. Note that in pre-nerf system, R0->R14 took 3-4 months even for companies like this.

Getting R14 in just 3 weeks is insane - and it's still impossible for honest players who don't share account to reach R14 in such short time.
Also, here is another screenshot that describes attitude of such companies to this new system:

Such companies openly admit with pride that they exploited this new system on Turtle WoW!
Proposed Solution
My proposed solution should fix the problem originally presented by Jamey and also fix some more. I will later present all pros and cons of all 4 systems compacted in one place.
New system:
- RP acquired in real time.
- Player stops getting RP once they hit weekly 20k Honor cap.
- Whole progression of R0->R14 extended by 5x. Player needs to get 5x more RP than now to make same progress. Early Ranks should be similarly easy to get as now, the most part of this extension should be focused on later Ranks (R10-R14). Each Rank should feel gradually more grindy.
- Decay removed completely.
First of all, RP is acquired in real time as in current system on Octo. In my opinion it's better than getting it once a week which feels clunky design.
Second, there is introduced limit to RP gain each week - same limit as 20k Honor cap that is in the game now. This shift the meta from playing 24/7 to playing reasonable amount of time, that's certainly good for health of the players. It also fixes the problem of sharing accounts so advantage of RMT companies is dulled.
Decay mechanic is removed COMPLETELY. Players who start ranking on Tuesdays shouldn't be punished by the system. So each hour spent in PvP actually matters and no decay can hurt your progress.
To compensate for the decay removal, whole progression becomes 5x longer in terms of RP needed. This essentially also fixes another problem that all previous Rank Progression Systems had: the people who spend crazy amount of time during short period (months) have clear advantage over those who play regularly (years) but spend less time in short period.
For example, in Turtle WoW player could spent 3 months in PvP by playing 8 hours every day, he got R14, then he left and never returned. There is another player who regularly plays PvP 1 hour every day and he is loyal player of Turtle WoW, he has been playing for 6 years. Due to his limited time, his max Rank was R10. Is that fair? I don't think so. Ultimately, the most loyal players whose names we all know should be promoted. This long progression would equalize the effort of both types of players.
It's important that the progression to R14 would be very long path. Potentially, extended even further if 5x isn't enough. It's up to devs to decide on specific number. It's essential if we want to keep prestige and elitism assosiacted with this Rank. It's not good if everyone in Stormwind is R14.
Comparison
Vanilla 1.12 System:
PROS:
- Prestige and elitism of high ranks like R14.
- Player is subjected to a "brutal" race against time.
- Player competes against players from their own faction.
- Player losts their Rank if they don't play enough.
- Decay.
- Player is encouraged to share account if they want to achieve high Rank.
- Player who plays regularly but not much, can't progress at some point.
Turtle Pre-nerf System:
PROS:
- Player can retain Rank permanently.
- Player can take a break from PvP after reaching certain Rank.
- Player is subjected to a "brutal" race against time. Less brutal than in Vanilla though.
- Player competes against players from their own faction.
- Decay.
- Player is encouraged to share account if they want to achieve high Rank.
- R14 becomes more common among the players.
Turtle Post-nerf System (Currently on Octo WoW):
PROS:
- Player can retain Rank permanently.
- Player can take a break from PvP after reaching certain Rank.
- Player no longer competes against players from their own faction.
- Player is subjected to even MORE "brutal" race against time.
- Decay.
- Player is HIGHLY encouraged to share account if they want to achieve high Rank, potential RMT issue.
- R14 becomes MUCH MORE common among the players, whole progression is much easier than ever before.
Proposed Solution:
PROS:
- Player can retain Rank permanently.
- Player can take a break from PvP whenever they want to, progress isn't lost.
- Player no longer competes against players from their own faction.
- Player finally isn't subjected to a "brutal" race against time.
- No decay.
- Player isn't encouraged to share account because of weekly cap & no decay.
CONS:
- R14 could become common after many years.