There was a time in World of Warcraft when entering a Battleground with the wrong equipment was a fairly reliable way to become somebody else's entertainment. You would ride confidently towards the enemy, perhaps imagining yourself as a mighty champion of the Horde or Alliance, only to be introduced to a considerably better-equipped Warrior who had apparently spent the previous six months doing nothing but collecting weapons and developing a personal grudge against your entire faction.
Modern World of Warcraft has made PvP considerably more organised. We have dedicated equipment, seasonal currencies, rating systems and enough different reward tracks to make an accountant feel strangely at home. But one problem has never entirely disappeared: joining a PvP season late can feel like arriving at a dinner party after everybody else has eaten the food and started fighting over the furniture.
Blizzard has now decided to make that particular experience a little less miserable.
As of the October 20 hotfixes, World of Warcraft: Midnight Season 2 has removed the Conquest and Bloody Tokens caps, introduced a 50% bonus to Conquest gains and increased Honor earnings by 40% in Battlegrounds and Arenas. A new Venomous Equipment Chest has also become available from the Conquest quartermaster.
For returning players, freshly levelled characters and anyone who has spent the past two months pretending their neglected alt doesn't exist, this could be one of the most useful PvP changes of the season.
Conquest Is Finally Free of Its Weekly Restrictions
Conquest has always occupied a rather peculiar position in Warcraft's PvP economy. It is the currency players actually want, because it buys the equipment that helps them survive against opponents who already have the equipment they want. Blizzard traditionally limits how much players can earn during the early stages of a season, preventing the most dedicated competitors from immediately obtaining a complete set of powerful gear.
That makes sense when a season is new. It becomes considerably less appealing when the season is several months old and new characters are trying to catch up.
The October 20 changes remove that restriction. Players can now continue earning Conquest without hitting the seasonal currency cap. Bloody Tokens, the currency associated with outdoor PvP rewards, are also uncapped.
This is important because the two currencies support different parts of the PvP experience. Conquest remains central to competitive gearing, while Bloody Tokens give players another reason to participate in the rather less civilised business of fighting other adventurers in the open world.
We previously examined how Midnight's PvP equipment received substantial item-level improvements, partly addressing the difficulty of moving between different gearing stages. Removing the currency caps now tackles another part of the same problem: allowing players to earn the equipment they need without an artificial restriction telling them they have participated quite enough for one week.
There is still the small matter of actually winning your matches, of course.
Blizzard has not yet introduced a system where the opposing team politely hands over its flag because you are several weeks behind on your equipment.
Spoils of War Makes Every Match More Rewarding
Removing the cap would be considerably less exciting if acquiring Conquest remained painfully slow. Fortunately, Blizzard has addressed that as well.
The Spoils of War buff is now active, increasing Conquest gains by 50% and Honor gains by 40% in Battlegrounds and Arenas.
To illustrate the difference, an activity that previously awarded 100 Conquest would award 150 under the bonus, assuming no other modifiers. Similarly, a 100 Honor reward would become 140.
Those are substantial increases, especially for players planning to spend several evenings catching up on seasonal equipment.
Blizzard had actually signalled part of this philosophy before Season 2 began. In the Curse of Ula'tek update notes, the developers explained that the increased Spoils of War Conquest bonus was intended to help players joining the PvP season late.
And this is precisely the stage of the season when such a system becomes valuable.
Players who have been competing since August already possess established equipment sets, practiced team compositions and a fairly detailed understanding of which enemy cooldowns are going to ruin their afternoon. A newcomer cannot acquire all of that experience overnight, but at least the equipment gap should become easier to close.
Venomous Equipment Chests Offer Another Gearing Option
Blizzard has also made the Venomous Equipment Chest available for purchase from Irissa Bloodstar, the Conquest quartermaster.
The official hotfix announcement confirms the chest's availability but does not specify its price or complete item contents. Players should check the vendor directly before spending their currency, particularly if they are targeting a specific upgrade.
It is nevertheless another addition to Midnight's increasingly generous late-season gearing environment.
We have already seen Blizzard experiment with making seasonal equipment more accessible, including changes to the Season 2 Catalyst that preserve an item's original secondary statistics. The broader direction is becoming fairly clear: allow players more opportunities to build useful equipment sets instead of making every new character repeat the entire opening-season grind.
That does not mean careful gearing decisions have disappeared. Conquest remains valuable, and spending it without understanding which equipment you actually need can still be an excellent way to create regret.
Ask any PvP player who bought the wrong weapon five minutes before discovering a considerably better option.
Blizzard Is Also Making the PvP Ladder Easier to Climb
The currency changes are not happening in isolation.
Back in September, Blizzard acknowledged that Midnight Season 2's competitive ratings were progressing more slowly than expected. The developers responded by increasing rating inflation across every rated PvP mode, with particular emphasis on Battleground Blitz, Rated Battlegrounds and 3v3 Arena.
That adjustment made higher rating milestones more attainable as players continued competing. The new currency bonuses address a different problem: the time required to obtain suitable equipment.
Together, these changes should make the later part of Season 2 considerably more welcoming for players who have been absent, switched classes or simply decided that October might be a nice time to remember their Rogue exists.
And there are still reasons to climb beyond obtaining better equipment.
Our earlier look at Midnight Season 2's Venomcoil weapon illusion highlighted one of the rewards available to players reaching the Rival II milestone at 1950 rating. The seasonal reward structure also includes the usual assortment of mounts, appearances and prestige items, which we explored in our preview of Season 2's collectible rewards.
That distinction matters. Better gear may help players compete, but cosmetic rewards give them something to remember the season by after the next expansion makes their expensive equipment look embarrassingly ordinary.
Gear becomes obsolete.
A particularly ugly Gladiator mount remains yours forever.
Who Benefits Most From the October 20 PvP Changes?
The obvious winners are characters that have fallen behind the established Season 2 player base.
Returning players can now spend more time earning Conquest without running into the previous cap. Alts can begin closing the equipment gap more quickly, and dedicated PvP players who prefer experimenting with different classes have a stronger reason to bring another character into Arenas or Battlegrounds.
Outdoor PvP enthusiasts also benefit from the removal of the Bloody Tokens cap, although the new Spoils of War bonuses specifically apply to the Battleground and Arena activities identified in Blizzard's announcement.
For established competitors with complete equipment sets, the immediate benefits may be less dramatic. Those players are more likely to care about rating, class balance and seasonal prestige than simply accumulating additional currency.
Even so, healthier late-season participation can benefit everyone. More players gearing up and entering competitive modes potentially means a larger pool of opponents, more opportunities to experiment with compositions and fewer evenings spent waiting in a queue while wondering whether everybody else has gone to bed.
Whether that actually improves queue times remains to be seen, but making participation more rewarding is a sensible place to begin.
Midnight's PvP Season Is Entering Its Catch-Up Era
There is something slightly amusing about the rhythm of modern World of Warcraft.
Every new season begins with carefully controlled progression. Players race to acquire equipment, calculate their weekly currency allowance and argue over which purchase will deliver the greatest improvement. A few months later, Blizzard starts removing restrictions, increasing rewards and encouraging everybody else to join the party.
It is a familiar pattern, but not necessarily a bad one.
Early-season progression gives dedicated players meaningful goals, while late-season catch-up systems allow the wider community to participate without feeling permanently condemned for having taken a holiday, played another game or committed the unforgivable sin of maintaining a social life.
The October 20 hotfixes represent a substantial step in that direction. Uncapped Conquest, uncapped Bloody Tokens, faster currency earnings and another vendor equipment option all make it easier to enter Midnight's PvP endgame while Season 2 is already underway.
They will not make a new player as experienced as somebody who has spent hundreds of matches learning every class matchup. Nor will they prevent a particularly talented Rogue from turning an unfortunate Arena opponent into a brief lesson in crowd control.
But at least that opponent now has a better chance of wearing the right equipment.
And in World of Warcraft PvP, that is a surprisingly good start.
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