As European players of Blizzard's hugely popular MMORPG were having their first taste of the game's controversial Honor system over the weekend, World of Warcraft's lead designer, Kalgan, told the game's official site forums that Blizzard are considering implementing a dishonor system to counter some of the problems that players have experienced since the Honor patch was introduced.
The Honor system, which offers rewards for killing members of the enemy faction, has been widely opposed by many gamers in the US who are of the opinion that it has upset the game's balance, with widespread 'ganking' (gangs of high level players attacking lower level players in quest zones) becoming a favourite pursuit, and certain classes, such as Mage, being at a huge advantage over other player types.
Commenting on how the problems inherent in the Honor system will be addressed, Kalgan told forumites that Blizzard were taking their first step towards a dishonor system, upon the release of the next patch.
"Trivial civilian NPCs such as quest givers and vendors will now give dishonour points to players that prey upon them. We haven't decided upon a specific penalty but it will be enough that the majority of players will not wish to engage in combat with those NPCs."
He also explained that Blizzard would remain committed to analysing the Honor system and to improving it until they were "satisfied with the way it's working".
The large player versus player battles have also been causing extreme latency, although Kalgan assured gamers that optimisations were being made to improve the situation, and predicted that the problems would be "short-lived".
Whether Europeans will share the same negative sentiments about the Honor system as those of a considerable portion of the US WoW community remains to be seen, although judging by the game's recent re-entry into the (straight back in at number seven), reports from across the pond haven't been enough to deter UK gamers.
World of Warcraft is available for PC now
As Ultima Online approaches its 28th birthday, former creative lead reveals what it takes for an MMO to last for decades, and why they sometimes fail: "Content does not last forever"
Former Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies dev says MMOs have "been in a rut for a long time" after World of Warcraft's popularity narrowed down "a much more diverse genre"
