Recently, a change was made that affects how long characters stay “in combat” after a kill in PvP. Previously, combat would drop very shortly after an enemy was killed in most PvP scenarios. After the recent change, characters ALWAYS stay in combat for at least 5 seconds, preventing actions like eating, drinking, stealthing, charging, etc for a very long time. This happens regardless of the number of participants in a fight. Even in a simple 1v1, combat persists for at least 5 seconds after one player is killed. This new behavior differs both from earlier versions of classic WoW, and from recorded videos of vanilla.
I’m not suggesting that the combat flag should always drop immediately after a kill in PvP. However, with the recent change, combat NEVER drops earlier than 5 seconds after the kill – sometimes longer. At the very least, some clarification should be given about the expected behavior. This bug makes playing certain classes extremely frustrating.
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I see through you, rogue main on a hunter alt…I see through you.
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This is the side effect of a bug they fixed recently. Before the fix, it was possible to drop combat while having multiple people beating on you if you managed to kill your current target. It was also possible to drop combat right after using a gouge or blind sometimes (not always). The whole thing was an absurdly overpowered mess.
The current behavior is not how it should be either though, and it needs to be looked at again.
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This is the side effect of a bug they fixed recently. Before the fix, it was possible to drop combat while having multiple people beating on you if you managed to kill your current target.
I agree, something was overly forgiving, but there is some evidence that combat should still drop quickly even outside of a 1v1. For instance, in this clip, the rogue is attacked by player B right before killing player A, and then immediately exits combat.
This is most likely due to the fact that the rogue vanishes to force himself out of combat right before the kill. Still, there is some nuance with how this all works which is absent from classic’s current state.
I see through you, rogue main on a hunter alt…I see through you.
Warrior main, actually 
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The delayed combat drop is an artifact of the Legion 7.3 client that classic runs off of (see numerous threads from 2-4 years ago of retail players being stuck in combat due to global auras).
The instant combat drop was a vanilla mechanic that they “fixed” because it was not working correctly with the Legion client mechanics.
So rather than spending actual effort in identifying both problems and fixing them they err on the side of least abusable and band-aid fix it instead.
They say 5 seconds because that is the vanilla combat drop for pvp from the last attack and because it looks clever in their patch notes. The actual implementation is they set the Legion combat drop mechanic to a minimum of 5 seconds and sometimes it takes longer because of numerous unfixed interactions.
Don’t expect this to be fixed. Blizzard never goes over the same “bug fixes” twice unless there is an unproportional amount of negative backlash.
it’s like blizzard only puts thought into the stuff we HAVEN’T payed for yet lmao.
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I’m pretty sure that isn’t the case since the auras that would trigger that mechanic are not in classic. The majority of those aura’s were Artifacts, Legendaries, Azerite Powers, and DoTs. I am sure the mechanic is still lodged into the client but without the appropriate triggers that doesn’t sound like the problem.
It actually sounds like a communication delay between actions which results in a prolonged sequence of dropping combat.
I have had this same problem a lot recently… it is taking like 8-10 seconds to drop combat after a kill in PvP, I tested on a few PvE mobs and combat seems to drop pretty fast after a kill so this only happening to me in PvP.
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I’ve noticed this too, you used to be able to safely gouge and restealth even without creating big distance, it’s quite difficult now as generally people can retag you with something after the gouge finishes and you’re still waiting for stealth to activate. That’s a 5.5s gouge too, while in general PvP attacking a target then moving a good distance off, say to stay out of a warriors range because they’ll practically GCD you, while your ranged take care of them now takes 8-10 seconds to drop combat even moving out to 30-40+ yards distance.
It’s not just PvP though. Healers get stuck in combat for EXTENDED periods of time, ie they’ll obviously heal melee where combat has ended, but they get stuck in combat for much longer, well after all the DPS have dropped combat. That can make it impossible to drink easily between pulls, and causes various issues.
I know this is an old thread now, but its sad this has not yet been fixed.
The “Vanilla” combat drop after a PvP as i remember it was basically after the target died.
There was in classic 2019 a bug that if your target died; even if you were in combat would put you in an out of combat state, absolutely amusing on a warrior because charge would light up making things very fun. Obviously a bug and no longer a thing, but the persistence of “In combat state” after pvp victory is also every bit as dumb because its now preventing drinking / eating that can be crucial to living…
So I can shed some light on this whole issue.
I’ve been going through Warcraft Movies and it seems like everyone instant drops combat up to at least 1.11.1. If you have 2 people on you and you kill 1, even if the second one just hit you - you’ll drop combat.
But when I look at 1.12.0 videos they don’t drop combat instantly after a kill. This was around the time there were fixes to combat dropping with clicking off Bloodrage etc.
My 1.12.3 client also has 5-7 seconds before dropping combat just like all post 1.12 videos.
So this looks like whatever is in the old Warcraft Movies got fixed around 1.12 so it takes 5-7 seconds to drop combat, which is accurate to the patch that Classic, and Era are based on.
Now this is kind of related but Rogues specifically during 2019 classic actually retained the old pre 1.12 behavior of dropping combat on enemy kill. This was a bug that never got fixed in classic vanilla but was discovered later.
So TL;DR:
For almost all of original vanilla wow you left combat immediately upon player kill, until around 1.12 which was the last few months of that version of the game.
From then on it was 5-7 seconds after a kill to drop combat.
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5 sec sounds about right, I remember that from 2.0 or around there…
The problem I am having is its persisting way longer, sometimes 15 to 20 sec, and when you’re OOM and want to get a fast drink before the enemy recovers is painful.
Whatever the intended 1.12 behaviour is supposed to be is cool, I believe that your research is right, was just pointing out how 2019 ran for its entirety, and that this is likeTBC behaviour except that it oftentimes lasts way too long.
Can the extended combat be fixed?
Next question, why not use 2019 (bulk of vanilla) behaviour where combat drops immediately after pvp kill or 4-5 sec after contact ends?
Seems like that would be more “vanilla” and since they made what I think are 2.0+changes, where I can’t buff “friendly” NPC if they’re not faction.
Just some questions about direction of game play, in a way we are kinda playing classic+
Ohhh one more thing, can you guys put R1 pvp rank points on every single level 55+ character so that the botters are juicy targets for PvP players?
Is the extended combat really lasting 15 to 20 seconds? I haven’t gotten it to be over 7 seconds (which will feel like a LOT of time). The only time 15-20 should happen is if you are still continuously casting after combat drops. If there is a really lengthy combat going over 7 seconds then that should be looked at, and ofc videos are always welcome.
So to answer your first question - if it is happening, then it’ll get looked into.
For your second question - it kind of relies on the 1st one: the PTR to my knowledge is the 2019 behavior but without the instant drop after kill bug.
Not sure what you mean by you can’t buff ‘friendly’ NPCs if they’re not faction. Can you give examples of what you’re supposed to be able to do, and what you can’t do now?
For the last question - I can’t really speak on that. I’m not involved in the honor changes so I’m not sure how much even killing a player will be worth based on their rank.
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So Verick was right about you, he said you really do care and I’m seeing that; gives me hope.
Yes happens occasionally but I have zero idea what the trigger is, I legit have no idea, only that in combat state can persist for a really long time on occasion.
“friendly NPC” like the humans if you are alliance in Hillsbrad or the ones south of Ratchet on the coast. Now this will sound kinda mean, but I use to buff these with might, or Kings in original vanilla or heal them with R1 FoL, and was looking forward to this “activity” again, but alas its not possible. Maybe this is another 1.12-ism, but I remember this being a 2.0 thing, tho I could be wrong.
Rank 1 (scout / private) is in gross about 200 points, the points are divided roughly on number of players in participatinggroup and % of damage done if not in group.
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I’ll poke around the combat issue. If that’s happening it’s pretty egregious. Please send anything over that you find!
I’ll check out npc interactions in past 1.12 and let you know what I find.
Oh sorry I misread, are they not work rank 1 honor when killed? I think another issue is they have honorless target when they leave an instance most of the time they’re vulnerable to PvP.
Ill try and get more on the outa combat.
Ohhh that may be it., never thought about the hororless targrt debuff… Man, May consider killing that off the honorless target thing… Tho come to think of it, some bots zone out and I get points, others I don’t. I thought it was because they’re non-ranked… Maybe its two things, I should have done more research First on this, ill get back to you on this one.
