Every few days there’s a new thread asking for dishonor penalties for killing low-level players. I get why, but I think a hard penalty would take away from what makes PvP realms fun. So here’s a middle ground.
The key is that the consequences should be boring, not exciting. Gankers want attention and fights, so anything that turns them into a target just rewards them. Instead, killing players who are gray to you could give a short debuff with small, annoying inconveniences:
- No honor, same as now.
- Faction guards turn hostile toward you for a while.
- No flight paths until it wears off.
- Longer graveyard run or spirit healer wait if you die.
- The debuff grows the more lowbies you kill, and fades if you stop.
Why this works:
- PvP stays free, and nobody gets punished for fighting.
- There’s no spotlight, no map marker and no “wanted” status for gankers to enjoy.
- Camping lowbies just becomes tedious, and that’s the best way to make people stop.
- Lowbies still get to level without being farmed endlessly.
What do you think? Anything you’d add or change?
EDIT: I originally suggested a bounty system, but people rightly pointed out that gankers would see being hunted as a reward. Thanks for the feedback. Changed it to quiet consequences instead.