This page describes the Honor System before Wrath of the Lich King and thus may be out-of-date.

Patch 2.0 Honor System Changes

What is the new player-versus-player (PvP) honor system?
Like the current PvP honor system, the new honor system provides a way for players to participate in PvP combat and obtain rewards by defeating their opponents. The key difference in the new honor system is how the rewards are obtained. With the new honor system, you will obtain honor points that can be accumulated and spent like currency on rewards such as items, weapons, and armor.

Do I need to keep playing to keep my honor points intact?
No, the honor points will accumulate like currency, similar to the gold and silver you can obtain through killing monsters or completing quests, and will not degrade or be lost over time. This allows you to participate in PvP at your own pace, working toward the honor rewards, which you can purchase as soon as you have enough honor points to do so.

There is no longer any ranking associated with the honor system, so you no longer have to worry about maintaining a rank or standing under the honor system. Players still interested in measuring their PvP ability against fellow players will be able to participate in the Arena System, which is a separate, new form of competitive PvP in The Burning Crusade.

Is there a limit to how many honor points I can accumulate?
Yes, there is a limit to how many honor points a character can accumulate, but it is currently set to be approximately twice as much as the most expensive reward. If you max out your honor points, you'll need to spend some before you can earn additional honor points.

The limit of course, is subject to change depending on what works best for long-term game balance.

Are honor points the only thing needed to purchase the rewards?
The battleground marks of honor currently awarded for participating in Warsong Gulch, Arathi Basin, and Alterac Valley will also factor in to the cost for many of the rewards. The amount of honor points and marks of honor required will vary for each reward. However, for most items the honor cost is the most significant part of the item's cost.

How are honor points earned?
Honor points are earned in a very similar manner to the honor rewarded in the current honor system. The game tracks your participation in world PvP as well as PvP within battlegrounds. As you kill enemies and assist your allies against the enemy, you'll earn honor. You will be able to track a rough estimate of your approximate amount of honor points received, and the points will then be calculated and awarded each night.

Will the honor and battleground reputation rewards available in the current system still be available?
All of the same rewards are available in the new honor system, costing both honor points and marks of honor from the appropriate battleground.

What will happen to my current battleground reputations, honor, and rank?
A new title system will display your highest rank achieved under the old honor system, but ranks will no longer play a part in the new honor system. The battleground reputations will carry over to the new system, and still be visible and increase through participation in the various battlegrounds, but the current rewards are now only available through the new honor system. However, you will be able to obtain a special title if you obtain exalted reputation with each battleground faction. This title may be displayed through the new title display system.

How will dishonorable kills factor in to the new honor system?
Although this is subject to change, we are not currently planning to have dishonorable kills play any role in the honor system. The NPCs around the world will no longer be set as civilians, so killing them will not impact your ability to obtain honor points.

Gaining Honor

What is the Honor System?
The Honor System allows players to gain Honor Points based on PvP kills and battles that can be used to spend on special rewards. Players earn Honor Points mainly through Battlegrounds and World Outdoor PvP. For more competative battles, participate in the Arena System.

Can I earn honor if I am in a group?
Yes. When grouped with other players, honor are divided equally amongst the members of the party. Just like in groups for killing monsters, players can gain bonus experience for killing players while in a group. If the character levels of some group members are significantly higher than others, the amount of honor gained by the lower level members will be reduced, just like it is with monster experience.

What if I do less damage than the rest of my group, say through healing, damage over time, or area-of-effect spells? Do I still get the same amount of honor as my group?
Yes. Players who are grouped in a party equally split the honor they earn. The Priest who heals will receive an equal share of points as the Warrior who is swinging away at the target.

What happens if we take out a faction leader in a raid group? Who gets the honor?
Members of the raid group that taps the creature will share the honor points equally. The points will be distributed the same way as experience points. It should be noted, however, that strategic targets are there to promote conflict and role-play between the Alliance and Horde, so players will find that killing enemy leaders will not be a disproportionately large source of honor.

If I am a raid leader, will I receive more honor than other non-leader raid group members?
No. Honor is divided equally among all raid-party members.

If I am on the other end of the battlefield as my party or raid group, will I still get honor for any kills they make?
No. Earning honor falls within the normal rules of experience gain. Players must be in the general area to receive the honor.

Will I get credit for killing guards?
Based on player feedback we have decided to no longer award honorable kills for killing NPCs that are not racial leaders. This will prevent players from feeling as though they need to "grind" NPC kills for honor. This change will also help the honorable kill totals mean more than they otherwise would.

What happens if I am fighting a player and that player runs away, then another player or group finds the player and kills him or her? Do I get any honor having damaged the player first?
No. If a player does not take damage for 1 minute since the last time they were attacked in PvP, any damage done by the first player is null and void. The next player or group who finds and kills the target gets the credit.

Will there be additional honor gained for rapid-fire killing? For instance, three honorable kills in thirty seconds.
There are no current plans to reward players for going on killing sprees, other than the normal honor they earn.

Will there be a survival bonus? For instance, each kill beyond the first without dying equates to more honor.
This will not be a feature upon initial implementation of the Honor System, but is a possible candidate for continued refinement.

Rewards

What incentives do I have to gain Honor Points in the Honor System?
By killing other players and racking up honor, players will gain access to new equipment and weapons. Some of these weapons also require Battleground tokens.

Can I earn Honor Points in Arena Matches?
No. This is a seperate system where players earn Arena Points that can be used on special Arena weapons and equipment.

Honor Decay

Once I gain Honor Points, do I keep it indefinitely, or do I have to keep earning it?
There is a limit to how many honor points a character can accumulate, but it is currently set to be approximately twice as much as the most expensive reward. If you max out your honor points, you'll need to spend some before you can earn additional honor points.

Battlegrounds

How does the Honor System fit in with the Battlegrounds?
In the Battlegrounds players will be fighting primarily against other players which will net honor points. There will also be other methods of earning honor in the Battlegrounds besides player-vs-player battles. Battlegrounds are instances geared towards promoting player-vs-player combat, so players who complete objectives in Battlegrounds will receive honor.

Will killing players in the Battlegrounds automatically result in me getting more honor than if I kill someone on the other parts of the realm?
No. However players participating in Battlegrounds can earn honor in other ways besides killing players.

Misc.

Will one class have an advantage over the others? Some classes seem to be better equipped for gaining honor than others; was that taken into consideration?
During our testing we did not come across any one class that had a distinct advantage over the others. Each class has an equal chance of gaining Honor Points depending on how it is played.

It seems that some realms have way more Alliance than Horde members. How will this affect the Honor System ?
Contrary to popular belief, the numbers of Horde and Alliance are very similar on player-vs-player realms.

How am I supposed to play the game when every where I go someone is waiting to gank me? The graveyard is nice, but I want to see the rest of the world too!
Players who chose to create characters on a PvP realm are supposed to feel a sense of danger where ever they go, that is why we offer player-vs-player realms!

What happened to the old ranks?
Ranks from the previous sytem are now purely cosmetic. They no longer affect anything beyond the name above a character that has previously earned them. Read more here.