World of Warcraft Classic Hardcore will release in summer 2023 and the devs are already hard at work refining both new and old features with each PTR update. This week, we found out that Duels to Death will have major punishments for all players who flee them.
On July 27, Blizzard Entertainment announced WoW Hardcore‘s new feature for Duels to Death that will stop players from acting like cowards and fleeing from the fight. If you run away from an honorable duel to death on WoW Hardcore, you’ll get a three-day-long debuff that will decrease your attributes, damage dealt, armor, and resistance by 20 percent. The debuff is, as you might have imagined, called Coward!
Blizzard explained how this debuff is meant to be “incredibly punishing,” although it won’t be applied if under the effects of crow control, to prevent unfair deaths.
Related: When does WoW Hardcore release? PTR release date
In addition to this, the devs are planning to increase the total duel area for Duels of Death because, in some cases, they can end abruptly due to hard CC abilities like Charm and Fear. The devs are thinking of adding special announcements for Duels to Death, Guild Deaths, and level 60 announcements. Although it wasn’t detailed, I assume this will mean server-wide announcements with all players getting the same notification to make these events even more epic.
If Blizzard were to ask me how should it approach this, I’d say that instead of giving a debuff to the fleeing cowards, all NPCs should become entirely hostile to the player, making it entirely impossible to continue playing the game. The debuff can easily be waited out, but this would mark them for life.
