It's copy-pasted topic from Turtle forum but still up-to-date because Turtle devs didn't have time to fix this.
Read here if you want prettier formatting: https://forum.turtlecraft.gg/viewtopic.php?t=24796
Enjoy!
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Having played in new patch, I have overviewed new PvP Rank progression system and I confront it with the goal devs wanted to achieve with new PvP system. Sadly, I've got no good news. The issue of the old system not only wasn't fixed but what is more suprising - this issue became even deeper. But more on that later...
GOAL OF THE NEW SYSTEM
Here are devs' quote on what new system was going to fix:
So in other words, the idea of new rank progression system was to remove race against time to progress PvP rank. Vanilla was known for having this infamous system where you had to keep playing PvP to preserve your rank. If you stopped playing PvP - rank decay would brutally kill your progress. Turtle kept the core of this system.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.
Patch 1.18.1 changed the system slightly:
One of the biggest changes was that new rank progress updates automatically in the game. In the past it was updated once a week. Decay still remains and happens once a week.Jamey
PvP Ranks
PvP Ranks remain in the game. Every time you would gain Honor points you will also gain a portion of that amount as Rank Points.
Rank Points are immediately credited as well. Having enough Rank Points immediately promotes you to a higher Rank.
Rank Points decay every week, as before. You can't drop Ranks from this decay as before as well.
Rank Point gains are not capped.
Most PvP Rewards that can be bought for Honor will also have a Rank requirement. Buying these items will not consume or drop your Rank.
Second big change is that there is no limit of pushing PvP rank.
In the old system there was a limit of RP you could get. If you were a player with most Honor in your faction, further Honor farm on that week was a waste of time because it wouldn't increase your rank progress at the end of the week. It's ironic that old system that was considered inhuman, had a barrier to stop exploiting top PvPers' mental health.
On Turtle WoW, however, there is literally no limit on how much you progress your rank - and that's core issue why this new system didn't fulfill its expectation. But why?
THE ISSUE
To answer this question, you must understand how ranker's brain works. Ranker wants to optimally progress his rank. In the old system, the only limit was his standing. Having standing 1 was the barrier - further grind didn't make sense. Keeping standing 1 was the challenge of its own because only 1 player could have it. But because usually there weren't many people who farmed Rank at the top and none of them wanted to spend unhealthy amount of hours, they often agreed to set specific Honor cap for the server in that week. That effectively allowed rankers to "save" some time by this informal community agreement.
All of this was in the past. It's no longer relevant in new patch since players no longer compete against each other in new system. Thus, this community-invented limit no longer exists. Instead, now rankers compete against server-set decay. Decay is now the only enemy of ranker.
Ranker's brain wants to get as much rank progress as possible. In the old system, amount of RP was limited so it prevented players from farming 24 hours a day. In the new system, to get progress you just play some PvP and that's it. Each match grants similar amount of RP. So to progress their rank, now PvPer must fill Rank bar to the next level. All of this before decay that occurs once a week kills your progress. So the PvPers still must face race against time - to play as many BGs as possible before decay occurs. WITH NO LIMIT. New system encourages this behaviour.
This problem is especially seen on last ranks where decay is the most impactful. From my experience, from Rank 12 to 13 weekly decay equivalent in honor is about 15 000 Honor (150 000 Honor in the old system). Here is the clue: after hitting this 15 000 Honor barrier, rankers are discouraged from leaving PvP because from now on, they make actual progress beyond that decay. Ideally, you shouldn't go to sleep, shouldn't spend unnecessary time on raiding or farming gold because you lose opportunity to progress your rank beyond decay - you should spend all of this time on further rank grind. Result is that the new system promotes even unhealthier grind on higher ranks that was in the past.
Historically, here is the experimental chart that shows amount of RP awarded based on weekly Honor got in the old system (old screen from OG Vanilla).
You can see that it isn't linear, more Honor doesn't mean proportionally more RP. Though this is only experimental, chart shows that there is no point in spending more time on Honor grind at some point.
New system is linear. More Honor means proportionally more RP.
CONSEQUENCES
New patch was to "reduce the brutal race against the clock at high PvP ranks". It failed to achieve its goal because rankers are encouraged to spend even more time than before when they break decay value.
You can compare that to this imaginary situation: there is a race between multiple runners. Before the change, race course was 50 km long and runners had to keep an average speed of 20 km per hour to win the race. After the change, race course was reduced to 25 km so runners are encouraged to sprint to spend similar effort - let's say an average speed of runner is 30 km per hour now.
Similarly, all of this happened in patch 1.18.1. Rank grind across multiple weeks was reduced but at the cost of spending much more time in a weekly session. Rankers are forced to play even more per week than in the past to quickly progress their rank before decay ruins it.
One of the consequences is clear. Marathoners (rankers who play regularly but can't "sprint") are still being gatekept by this system. Highest ranks are beyond reach for them even if some of them play PvP regularly. Instead, server officially promotes unhealthy grind of 12 hours a day to quickly progress rank. They didn't abolish the need of "sprint", instead they shortened the length of this "sprint".
"Casual" PvPer who got 1 000 000 Honor in one year by playing regularly each week can't have access to highest ranks.
Meanwhile, sweaty PvPer who got only 200 000 Honor total in that year and who spent long hours in BGs during a few weeks can get R14 without a problem. Then he quits the PvP. Is that how this system should work?
RMT AND ACCOUNT BOOSTING
SHADY BACKGROUND OF THE NEW SYSTEM
Another consequence is that account-sharing service becomes optimal way to obtain PvP rank. Decay is set to specific constant value on specific rank. If many people rank on one character, decay is still only one. This has already been abused by boosting companies. The following screenshot might blow your mind and is taken directly from one of these shady websites (it concerns Nordanaar server and is adjusted to patch 1.18.1):
In the old system, obtaining R14 from zero in just one month was impossible. But there is nothing impossible for organised groups. Since account sharing is now optimal, you can imagine how organised groups abuse it and how limited it is for normal players. The old system required spending months on that. One thing is certain - their bussiness is now thriving.
Whether the change of the system was intended to benefit those sites or if it was an effect of pure stupidity of the designer, I'm not certain. But one might connect the dots if they know the past.
