Blizzard has explained how PvP (player versus player, where players fight each other) works in World of Warcraft: Forever, Blizzard's new version of its online game World of Warcraft. In its post of 7 October, progression has two parts. Honor is a currency you spend on PvP gear. Rank Points climb you through the ranks, 1 to 14 in Blizzard's reward list, with a weekly cap.

A second post the same day describes a 15 against 15 battleground, the Darkspear Islands. A battleground is a map where teams of players fight each other, and Forever's ranks are the familiar ones from the original game, Blizzard says.

What are Honor and Rank Points?

Honor is the currency. You earn it from PvP, including beating other players, finishing battlegrounds and doing PvP quests, the set tasks the game hands out. Battlegrounds highlighted during their holiday weeks, special weeks for a given battleground, pay more Honor. Blizzard says it reviewed Honor gains across battlegrounds so the rates are more consistent. It wants players not to feel pushed into Alterac Valley, one of the game's battlegrounds, just for the Honor.

Rank Points are what move you up. They come from PvP activities such as battlegrounds and PvP quests, with a boost in holiday-week battlegrounds too. The top of the ladder is High Warlord for the Horde and Grand Marshal for the Alliance, the game's two sides. Ranks have a weekly cap, a limit on how far you climb each week. Blizzard calls that keeping the original system's base while making the climb more accessible.

To check where you are, open your character pane (press C) and pick the Player vs. Player tab. It shows your rank, your Rank Points and what you can buy at your rank.

What does each rank unlock?

An upgrade token is an item that upgrades a piece of gear in the named slot, and epic is the higher of the two PvP gear grades. A tabard is the cloth worn over armour, a trinket is a small worn item with its own effect, and a mount is an animal you ride. The post doesn't say what the potions or the battle standard do. The last column is ours: Blizzard's Legacy post says reaching ranks 3, 7, 10, 13 and 14 each earns a Legacy Point, the account-wide points of Forever's Legacy System.

How does PvP gear work?

Honor buys two sets of PvP gear: a blue-quality set and an epic-quality set. Blue and epic are the two PvP gear grades here, and the epic set is the upgrade. To get an epic piece, you need the blue piece plus an Emboldened Seal, an item that upgrades it.

The seals have rank requirements you must reach before you can buy them. The post doesn't say whether the seals are the upgrade tokens in the table above.

Blizzard also added new and reworked items for specialisations that were missing options before. A class is a character's type, and a specialisation is the role it picks inside that class. Blizzard's example: Shamans, one of the game's classes, now get healer, melee and caster sets. That's one for keeping allies alive, one for fighting up close and one for casting spells.

What is the Darkspear Islands battleground?

Darkspear Islands sits off the coast of Dustwallow Marsh, a zone of the game's world. The Horde's Darkspear Raiders fight the Alliance's Theramore Expeditionary Force there.

A capture point is a spot on the map a team takes and defends. The more of them your team holds, the faster your points come in. The flag sits in the middle of the map. Grab it and bring it to a base your team has taken for more points.

You can queue in two ways. Talk to a battlemaster, the person who signs you up for battlegrounds, in any major capital city. Or go to the Barrens, a zone in Kalimdor, one of the game's continents. The Horde base is at the Merchant Coast and the Alliance base is at Northwatch, and a portal there takes you into the fight. Those bases also sell reputation rewards and give out quests for the battleground.

Reputation is your standing with a group in the game, and each side here has its own. Higher standing unlocks trinkets, rings, cloaks, weapons, armour and consumables (items that get used up) to buy. Blizzard's post also ties the reputation quests to Marks of Honor, an item, but its wording doesn't make clear whether you hand them in or earn them. At Exalted, one of the game's reputation levels, a short questline, a chain of quests, earns that side's own tabard.

How do PvP seasons work?

A PvP season is a stretch of time with its own goals. During one you climb the ranks and earn Honor. Each season also has a journey of weekly tasks. Finishing them gives Honor and Rank Points. Three tasks each season also give a Legacy Point, the account-wide points of Forever's Legacy System. Because those tasks are tied to that system, Blizzard says they stay open to finish in future seasons.

Compared: the 12 PvP Legacy Points, by name

The Legacy System, Forever's account-wide progress system, gives 12 of its points for PvP. Blizzard's Legacy post lists them. Our Legacy Challenges list reads their names from the files of the beta, a test version of a game people can play before release, for build 1.60.1.70450. The beta client, the game program players install, names each one and says what it asks for. Here are the two side by side.

The client settles one thing the posts leave open: Darkspear Islands' reputation, either side's, is one of the four battleground reputations, so reaching Exalted there is worth a Legacy Point of its own. And by Blizzard's two posts, rank 14 also unlocks epic weapons and earns the last of the five Legacy Points for rank. Our Legacy System piece does the maths on reaching the 16-point cap.

Our take: earned by playing

We like what we read. Our reading of the two PvP posts is that every reward in them comes from playing PvP: Honor, Rank Points, reputation and quests. You buy gear with Honor or unlock it through reputation, and nothing in either PvP post mentions buying a rank or gear with real money.

Our reading is that the weekly cap on ranks favours steady play over marathon weeks, which fits a game that respects a player's time.