What War Games would let you do

War Games are a way to pick your opponents. When the panel asked whether premade groups could deliberately queue into each other, a developer said around 47:57 that the War Game system should still function and that the team will try to have it working. As described, your group targets one specific group and challenges it to a match, instead of waiting for matchmaking to pair you with strangers.

The developer mentioned that a challenge is issued through a chat command. The podcast did not name the command, and this page does not guess at one. Wait for Blizzard's notes or the game's own help once the feature is confirmed in Forever.

War Games sit beside a separate change to ordinary queues. Around 46:10 the developers said premade groups should be matched against other premades, while solo players and very small groups face each other. That decides who you meet when you queue; War Games are about choosing who you meet.

Ink-and-parchment scene of two long wooden benches, a blue banner behind one and a red banner behind the other, with a shield standing between them. A rolled challenge with a red wax seal travels from the blue side to the red side and opens into a written page. Dee watches from the left; labels read Group challenge and Timing not confirmed.
One group names its opponent. When that works in Forever is still open.

Will War Games work at launch?

Not confirmed. The same developer was unsure whether War Games would work at launch, which a guest's closing plug in the same episode puts on 4 November, and believed they should follow fairly soon after. That is a dated intention from the 15 October podcast, not a feature tested in the beta client or a launch-day commitment.

If your guild wants to settle a rivalry in the first weeks, keep a simpler plan in reserve. Queuing together as a premade should put you against other premade groups under the matchmaking the developers described, although you cannot choose which one.

Do War Games give Honor or Rank Points?

Nothing on air said they would. Straight after the War Games answer, the panel raised the obvious problem: if an arranged match paid Honor, friends could agree the result in advance. The exchange treated that as an invitation to win trading. It was not a formal ruling, but it is a clear signal to treat War Games as practice and bragging rights rather than progression.

Blizzard's 7 October progression article lists defeating players, completing battlegrounds and relevant PvP quests as Honor sources, and battlegrounds and relevant quests as Rank Point sources. It does not mention arranged matches at all, so it neither includes War Games nor rules them out. Until Blizzard says otherwise, build your rank and gear plans around regular queues.

Guild against guild: what is still open

Around 48:17 a full 40-versus-40 Alterac Valley match between two guilds was floated on the panel with obvious enthusiasm. Nobody confirmed which battlegrounds War Games will support, how large each side can be, or whether a guild-sized challenge is possible. Treat the 40-player version as a wish for now.

Group rules still apply. Blizzard's ruleset guide says players group and raid only with others on the same ruleset, Horde and Alliance cannot group together, and battlegrounds may mix players from different rulesets except Hardcore. The podcast did not say whether a challenge can reach a group on another ruleset.

  1. Watch Blizzard's patch notes and development updates for War Games before scheduling a challenge.
  2. Form each team as a normal group on one ruleset, since cross-ruleset grouping is not supported.
  3. Agree the battleground and team size with your rivals once the supported formats are known.
  4. Expect the result to count for pride, not Honor or Rank Points, unless Blizzard announces otherwise.

Still to come

Not yet settled by our sources or tested in game:

  • Whether War Games work on 4 November or arrive in a later patch, and how a challenge is issued in the Forever client.
  • Which battlegrounds and team sizes War Games support, including whether a full Alterac Valley match between two guilds is possible.
  • Whether a challenge can target a group from the opposing faction or from another ruleset.

Sources

Beta notes are dated because Forever is still changing.