Duel rules
by Jennie Lees 
Jan 26th 2006 at 7:00PM
The duel challenge in WoW is like the old-fashioned slap in the face with a glove, although often that's where the similarities end. Reading up on duels (the historical sort), I was surprised by the mechanisms in place to prevent cheating. Opponents have seconds who oversee the duel, choosing a field of honour and the exact rules, and refusing a duel is a mark of dishonour and disrespect.
In WoW, duels are easily avoided (though duel spammers who repeatedly challenge are quite annoying), and no honour is lost if you decline. However, some players have some strange ideas of what makes up a fair fight: using potions is generally seen as cheating (as well as a waste of potions), but what if the character is an alchemist? Does applying a leather armour kit to a chestpiece give a skinner the same advantage as a first aider applying bandages mid-combat?
It's an interesting question of where to draw the line, and having seconds might well help the cries of "Cheat! Cheat!" as well as cut down on the duel spam. Of course, there's little that can be done for those players who cry unfairness at a Priest using a heal in battle, but you can't win them all.
Filed under: WoW Social Conventions, PvP
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Quicksilver Jan 27th 2006 2:19AM
IN my opion duel in wow are jsut a contest to see who has the better player. If healing because of tradeskill or class i think its fine. Duels in real like are different cause we are all basically equal in a sense (cant throw balls of fire at each other) In wow they are unequl. I know this by being a warrior. I get frost nova'd by a mage im screwed cause they sit back and blast me. I think that would an appropriate tiem for a bandage to get me back in the game.
PodMonkeys Jan 27th 2006 8:22AM
I think rules should be stated before hand. If no rules were stated as to what can and can't be used, then you can't call someone a cheat. You should be calling yourself a sore loser if anything.
If you just challenge someone expect an all out brawl of anything goes. If you start handing out a whole slew of rules, expect to spend some time hearing some in return, and spending more time coming to a fair compromise.
srammij Jan 27th 2006 9:48AM
A duel is a duel, and a player should be able to use whatever resources that are available to them. If a player uses a potion, the other should do the same. With the 2min wait on potions, there's only room for one.
Now as far as priest's healing, of course they should be able to. Priest's have a lot less DPS and Armor, so they should use what ever they have. That's the nature of the game, and that is what Blizzard has taken into consideration.
I say.. the only rules that should stand are help from the outside when it's a one on one, that is just common sense. Other than that... no holds barred.
cancerox Jan 27th 2006 1:21PM
You don't get to practice fighting against a horde player if you're alliance or vice versa. Therefore, I see duels as an opportunity to learn the best fighting technique for your character. And as such, all spells and potions are fair game.
Killing NPCs aren't as relevant to player raids or battles since they don't have the unpredictability that players have.
Danger Dan Jan 27th 2006 2:09PM
I dont think there are really any hard and fast rules for dueling. I've been playing WOW since a couple of months after the release and I've engaged in literally hundreds of duels. I have three lvl 60 characters, two AF, one Horde, on three different servers.
If someone uses a Pot (Potion) during the duel health/mana, I'm not gonna say they cheated, but I probably will throw up a "lol, pots?" Bandadges on the other hand are generally considered fair game, and even as a healer class (two 60 druids) I almost always use a bandage in a duel.
As a 300 Engi, I also have several little tricks that sometims piss people off. Is it fair to mindcontrol someone off a ledge or hit em with a deathray? Maybe, but it sure is damn funny. Generally, I wont use engi items and I never use pots. If some idiot keeps spamming duel messages at me, I'm gonna use all my engi tricks to pwn them though.
Finally, I would say that you can use whatever you want in duels, but expect to catch some grief for using those pots.
mancko Jan 27th 2006 5:24PM
Yeah, I got the "nice pot" once, early on. Now, I won't use em, but I'm not sure if that makes sense. I think the rules are often made up by the loser.
I was fighting a priest, I'm a warrior, and he used healing, so I figured, whatever, and I used a pot. I'm an alchemist for crying out loud. What else am I gonna do?
Here's my thought: You click "duel", you deal with the consequences. The number of levels is only part of the equation. The level 10 might be the alt of a multiple level 60, who's dueled 1,000 times already today. He or she may have pots, scrolls, healing spells, whatever. If you challenge. You deal. If you accept, you deal as well. There's rules only if they're put down first, and Jennie Lee points out the problem with that.
In fact, I'm gonna go out on a limb here: YOU CHALLENGE, YOU DON'T CHALLENGE THE RESULTS. YOU ACCEPT, YOU ACCEPT THE RESULTS. If you don't want to lose sometimes, don't play. Don't whine about it, because the fact is, you signed up for it.
And for the record. I'm on a PVE server for my main and a PVP on my alt. My main decides whether he feels like dueling and goes from there. My Alt ALWAYS accepts a duel, and win or lose, says, "thank you. nice duel" no matter the consequences.
You're not dueling the toon. You're dueling the player. And who fraggin knows who that is...
Silvertusk Feb 1st 2006 12:19PM
Yeah, duels shouldn't be fair in the least. Use anything you want and can in order to win.
'cause, y'know, I'm sure your enemy on the battlefield would be more-than-willing to have a fair fight with you.