parts of the beast

World of Warcraft is a game which actively encourages both PvE and PvP play and to that end it establishes systems of points and rewards specific to both kinds of play. Paricipating in PvP allows players to get in game achievements and gather tokens and points that can be redeemed for rewards. Players can get get titles, gear and rewards from PvP and that's not counting status inside player communities.

PvP occurs at several levels in the game. The most basic level of PvP is the duel, any player can challenge another to a duel, the duel lasts until one player brings the other almost to the point of dying. There is an achievement badge for winning a duel but dueling is largely outside of the honor points system which is one of the official mechanisms by which the game encourages PvP.

As I have said before players are members of on of two warring faction Horde or Alliance, players get honor for killing members of the opposite faction, players and certain NPCs (Non player characters). There are restrictions, one gets honor from killing appropriate level opponents. The honor points system is evident at the levels of instanced PvP and world PvP.

Instanced PvP happens in instances called battlegrounds, players compete in a game, capturing some sort of objective, that causes them to fight. Basically members of both factions work to kill each other while accomplishing a goal and the reward is honor and tokens that can can be redeemed for rewards. Each battle ground is different and each one has different level requirements but the premise is the same, in order to win the BG (battle ground) one has to fight with and defeat members of the opposing faction.

Killing a player of the appropriate level gives one honor, this honor can be redeemed for rewards (I believe) and players also gain reputation with PvP factions fo NPCs. The better one's relationship is with a faction the better items they can trade to you will be, so gaining reputation (rep) is an interesting proposition. In a BG all players are flagged for PvP, but outside of PvP servers one can choose to be flagged or not flag, being flagged for PvP means that members of the opposing faction are free to attack you. Outside of PvP servers where one is automatically flagged one can choose whether or not to participate in PvP.

World PvP happens in the world in general, unlike BGs which are instanced world PvP can happen anywhere. There are zones with world PvP objectives and in the capital cities of the opposing faction are NPCs that are worth a lot of honor. Killing the leaders of the opposite faction by rading their capital cities is an example of world PvP, another example of world PvP is capturing towers in the Plaguelands.

Outside of these more official forms of world PvP there is a less appreciated form or raid where members of one faction attack settlements of the other faction, almost all NPCs are flagged for PvP, those of neutral factions are hostile only if you are at war with them, those of the main player factions are hostile to members of the opposite faction and there are some factions that are hostile to nobody. While NPCs won't randomly attack each other hostile ones will attack players on sight but they don't generally provide honor.

Last but not least there is the arena, the Arena is a place where there are more organized forms of combat, players form teams and compete against each other, players can also engage in free for all battles, winning means getting arena points, which can then be exchanged for gear and other items, and the best ranked arena teams can get rewards for their performance.