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A Detailed Analysis of PVP Rankings

Using data from the Official PVP Rankings I've created my own customized rankings charts specifically for the Earthen Ring server. These charts can be viewed here.

Once the charts were completed, I noticed some interesting facts that might not be apparent to most players. For instance, players who do not participate in PVP for an entire week lose 2,500 Rating Points (which are not the same as Honor Points/Contribution Points.)

According to the PvP Ladder Stats Page FAQ, "Each character’s rating is calculated by how many honor points they have, compared against all other characters on that realm." For every 5,000 ratings points, you gain a rank in PVP. So, being inactive for an entire week means that you lose 1/2 of a rank.

In the lower ranks, the loss of 1/2 of a rank isn't such a big deal, since many players can gain 1-2 ranks back in a single week. However, at higher ranks, the loss of 1/2 of a rank can be truly devasatating.

If you look at the Alliance section of my Officer Rankings Chart you'll see only 1 player out of 26 higher than rank 8 was able to get more than 2,500 ratings points for that week. The other 25 players each gained less than 2,000 and many even lost ratings points. On average, those players only gained 584 ratings points for that week. So, at higher PVP ranks, if you take a break or go on vacation for a week, then you can expect to have to play for 1-4 weeks just to get back the 2,500 ratings points you lost!

Which brings me to my next point....just how many kills does it take to get honor points? Well, that's a tricky question, because honor points aren't just calculated by kills, but also include other objectives like capturing the flag and winning a game in Battlegrounds. According to the PvP Ladder Stats Page FAQ, "The honor points a character receives from honorable kills are added to other factors, including honor points received for completing objectives in battlegrounds, to determine overall standing."

So, if you have a lot of kills in games where you achieve few or no objectives, then you may see little or no affect on your overall ratings points. As a matter of fact, you may actually see a decrease in your rating points!

Looking at my chart, you'll see that players like Field Marshal Tamarine and Knight-Champion Tumult amassed over 2,000 honorable kills each, but both suffered a loss of ratings points for that week! On the other hand, players like Knight-Captain Czarnazarii and Knight-Captain Tirr were able to get more than 2,000 Ratings points with less than 1,000 kills each.

So, what does all this mean? It means that if you intend to rise up to the highest ranks in PVP, then expect to play many long hours to get there, and you'd better hope that you're playing on a good team who can achieve plenty of objectives and win with regularity. Good luck...

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