World of Warcraft Legion Preview: A New Leveling System

Under the new PvP system, players have 50 Honor Levels to earn. As the player’s Honor Level increases, they can unlock new PvP-specific talents like the Wild Protector talent for Beast Mastery Hunters. This talent lets the Hunter’s Dire Beasts protect nearby allies with a 15 percent damage reduction to those within five yards of the pets. Honor talents are only active while a character is engaged in PvP content according to Battle.net, and these talents will function in addition to the player’s PvE talents.

At max level, the player can choose to keep playing with all their talents unlocked, or they can Prestige their level starting over from level one. Choosing to Prestige a character unlocks a few special rewards like unique badges that show up on the player’s nameplates, titles, faction pennants that shows up on the character’s back, new appearances for the character’s Artifact weapon, or new pets and mounts. Prestige and leveling are completely separate from the player’s rating, giving those that enjoy PvP in a less competitive way an avenue for growth and progress. Resetting the Honor Level does mean that a player will lose access to their talents, but re-leveling will grant access to them again.