The Warcraft Formula

Have you ever found yourself being ganked by characters from the other faction before you even knew your character had the PvP flag set? Or maybe you were luckier and happened to notice that the PvP icon was set on your character’s portrait for no reason that you knew of? Knowing how your character gets into PvP mode can spell the difference between happily going on your way or making an unplanned trip to the nearest graveyard. Let’s get right to it and see how you can end up in PvP mode.

First, you need to understand that how you get into PvP depends on the kind of server you’re on. If you are playing in a Normal (sometimes called “truce”) realm, the rules are different than there are for a PvP realm. We’ll cover the ways for a Normal realm first.

In a Normal Realm

When playing in a Normal realm, your character will end up in PvP mode if:

• You attack a player character (PC) of the opposite faction and that PC is already in PvP mode.
• You use a beneficial spell or ability on (you help) a PC from your faction who is already in PvP mode.
• You attack a Non-Player Character (NPC) guard or civilian that is a member of the opposing faction.
• You foolishly enter an enemy capital city.
• You enter a battleground.
• You enter Gurubashi Arena or one of the other free-for-all PvP areas where you can attack anyone, even members of your own faction.
• You manually activate PvP mode by typing /pvp. Even if you immediately type /pvp again to exit PvP mode, your character will remain in PvP mode for for at least 5 minutes (see the following explanation).

Regardless of how your character got into PvP mode, they will remain in that mode until 5 minutes after their last action that could put them into PvP mode. So if your character went into Gurubashi Arena, the PvP flag would remain on the entire time your character is in there, not clearing until 5 minutes after they left the arena (unless they did something else to trigger PvP mode).

In a PvP Realm

If your character is in a PvP realm, all the conditions we just talked about apply. In addition, these conditions will also activate your character’s PvP flag:

• Entering a Contested zone.
• Entering an Enemy zone.

Basically in a PvP realm, going anywhere other than Friendly territory or a Sanctuary zone will put your character into PvP mode. After all, this is a PvP realm we’re talking about. So think back to when you discovered that your character was in PvP mode. With a little effort, you can probably figure out which of the above conditions you happened to trigger to set the PvP flag. If nothing else, you’ll at least know what to watch out for next time. Now all you need to know is how best to defend yourself when you are in PvP mode.

Eventually your character will end up in PvP mode, so learning how to fight well when you’re there only makes sense. To get the complete story on PvP, including the most current strategies & tactics you can use, you’ll want to investigate the Warcraft Formula.