With the Dark Portal opening, the fastest way to be PvP-ready isn’t waiting for level 70—it’s building Honor now. Early Outland is expensive with mounts, training, and consumables draining gold, while gearing is time-gated. That’s why many players buy TBC Anniversary gold to cover these costs and keep their focus on Honor farming.
To help you navigate this crucial stage, this guide breaks down the PvP progression system—explaining how Honor and Marks work, and showing the most reliable ways to maximize Honor per hour without wasting time on low-value habits.
1. How TBC Anniversary PvP Progression Works
TBC PvP has two parallel tracks:
Track A: Honor (Your Baseline Gear Engine)
Honor Points are earned mostly through Battlegrounds (BGs) and PvP objectives.
Honor is used to buy baseline PvP gear and off-pieces—the items that get you “ready to fight” and, later, help you survive burst thanks to PvP stats like Resilience.
Track B: Arena (Your Competitive Endgame)
Arenas (2v2/3v3/5v5) is the competitive ladder where you improve your rating and earn access to the best PvP rewards over time.
Even if Arena isn’t open yet (or you’re not pushing it immediately), your Honor gear is what makes early Arena practice playable.
Takeaway: Honor is the entry ticket. Arena is the finish line. If you skip Honor prep, you’ll spend your first weeks in Outland undergeared, fragile, and behind.
2. The Pre-Patch Honor Boost (and Why It Changes Everything)
Right now, Honor gains are actively increased:
The current increase is +150% Honor gains (it was previously +100%).
Blizzard Entertainment also added level 51–60 versions of:
“For Great Honor” (Horde)
“Concerted Effort” (Alliance)
These award 400 Honor at level 60, and they’ll be replaced by 61–70 versions after the Dark Portal opens.
What this means for you:
This is one of the best windows to convert time into Honor efficiently—especially if you focus on the BG actions that actually generate Honor (objectives + wins), not just random kills.
3. Honor + Marks: What You’re Actually Farming
In this pre-patch period, PvP gearing commonly involves Honor + Battleground Marks (tokens you earn from completing BGs). Many realms/vendors use Marks as part of the cost for specific PvP items, so you can’t just “AV forever” and expect to buy everything.
A simple, practical way to think about it:
Honor is your main currency (you’re always earning it).
Marks are your bottleneck currency (you need the right ones, not just “more Honor”).
Rule of thumb: if you only spam one BG, you may end up Honor-rich but Mark-poor, delaying purchases.
4. The Honor-Per-Hour Mindset That Separates Fast Farmers from Everyone Else
If your goal is “more Honor,” you must optimize around Honor per minute, not “damage done” or “kills.”
What Actually Increases Honor/Hour
Shorter matches (win fast or lose fast beats 45-minute stalemates)
Objective-based Honor (towers, flags, bases, nodes)
High win rate (winning typically pays better than losing over time)
Low queue downtime (dead time is the silent killer)
What Doesn’t Increase Honor/Hour (as Much as Players Think)
Padding kills in mid-field fights
Chasing lone targets across the map
“Hero plays” that look cool but don’t flip objectives
Play like this: Win conditions first, fights second.
5. Battleground-by-Battleground: Where Honor Comes from and How to Farm It Smarter
Below are the practical tactics that matter most for consistent Honor gains.
Alterac Valley (AV) — the “Steady Paycheck” BG
AV is popular because it often offers reliable Honor/hour, especially when queues are reasonable.
How to earn more Honor in AV
Stick with the main push unless your team clearly needs defense.
Prioritize objective completion (towers/bunkers, lieutenants, map control).
Don’t turn AV into a deathmatch: AV rewards teams that finish.
Common AV mistake: 20 players fighting in the middle while objectives sit untouched.
Arathi Basin (AB) — Fast Honor If You Play the Map, Not Your Ego
AB is a resource race. The goal is simple: control enough bases to drain the enemy first.
How to farm AB efficiently
Fight on flags, not on roads.
If your team has 3 bases, your job is often defense + quick rotations, not chasing a fourth forever.
Small organized groups (even 2–3 players) flipping and holding bases win games.
Common AB mistake: Leaving a base the moment it’s capped, letting one rogue take it back for free.
Warsong Gulch (WSG) — Marks Matter, But Don’t Get Trapped in Marathons
WSG can be great for the Mark you need, but a bad WSG can become long stalemates.
How to keep WSG from wasting your time
Decide quickly if your team is playing for fast caps or stuck in a turtle.
Protect your flag carrier with coordinated peels and heals.
If the match is clearly dragging, focus on closing the game, not farming kills.
Common WSG mistake: Both teams holding flags forever while everyone farms “meaningless” mid fights.
Eye of the Storm (EotS) — High Value When Teams Understand Nodes + Flag
EotS rewards teams that hold nodes and run the flag intelligently.
How to maximize value
Secure 2 nodes first, then coordinate flag runs.
Don’t send 10 players to one node; you need coverage.
Common EotS mistake: Team clumps into one fight while losing nodes behind them.
6. The “Last 2 days” Honor Plan that Actually Works
Here’s a simple plan that doesn’t rely on perfect premades:
Build Momentum and Stabilize Marks
Rotate BGs enough to avoid Mark bottlenecks.
Track which Marks you’re short on and target those BGs.
Push Honor Hard with Your Best Win-Rate BG
Once Marks are stabilized, lean into the BG you win most often (for many players, that’s AV).
Do the available Honor quests (e.g., the 51–60 versions that currently reward Honor and scale by level).
Spend Smart, Not Emotional
Don’t impulse-buy random pieces because you “finally can.”
Double-check vendor costs and buy based on impact.
7. Buying Priorities: What to Purchase First for Real Power
Even without exact prices (they vary by item and realm), purchase logic is stable.
Priority #1: Weapon (if your vendor options make this efficient)
Weapon upgrades often produce the largest immediate performance jump—especially for melee and hunters, and for casters who scale hard with spell power.
Priority #2: Survivability Pieces that Stop You from Getting Erased
Your early PvP pain is usually: “I die in a stun.”
That’s why baseline PvP pieces (often with Resilience) matter so much in TBC-style combat.
Priority #3: Off-Pieces that Stay Useful While Leveling
Cloak/bracers/belt/ring types tend to remain “good enough” through early Outland, letting you save time replacing them.
Avoid this trap: buying five medium-impact armor pieces before your biggest upgrades.
8. Arena Preparation: What Honor Farming Is Really Buying You
Even before you push rating, Honor gear helps you:
Survive openers long enough to respond
Practice comps without being a liability
Learn positioning, cooldown trading, and CC chains in real fights
Players who want to reach a competitive baseline faster often combine Honor farming with safe WoW TBC Anniversary boosting so they can practice Arena sooner instead of spending extra days catching up.
Quick Arena Readiness Checklist
Keybind defensives and trinket
Make sure you can have a reliable line-of-sight (LoS)
Practice focus-target habits now (BGs are fine for this)
Enter Outland with a plan so you don’t arrive broke and undergeared
Final thoughts
If you want to be “Arena ready,” the shortcut isn’t a secret farm—it’s disciplined Honor/hour play, objective focus, and smart spending. With Honor gains currently boosted (+150%) and the temporary 51–60 Honor quests live, this is the perfect window to prepare for PvP more efficiently than it will be later.
You May Also Like:
TBC Anniversary Pre-Patch Leveling Guide 1–60
Boost Level 58 in TBC Pre-Patch? The Ultimate Gear, PvP, and Honor Farming Guide
How to Level from 60 to 70 Fast in TBC Anniversary
