UPDATE: Feb-1

We’ve readjusted the code so that while you are allowed up to 10 Proximity Kills, we are still going to be limiting your killing blows. If you have 10 or less Kills, we then look at your Killing Blows.

0 Killing Blows = Green Flag
1-2 Killing Blows = Yellow Flag
3+ Killing Blows = Red Flag

Killing Blows are completely avoidable and are not applied to your stats like Proximity Kills are.

Around a month ago, we added code to look for Proximity Kills and updated our rules. Don’t know what PKs are? We’re not talking about Player Kills (for those that remember Diablo 1). Proximity Kills are a feature that was introduced in Warlords of Draenor where merely being near a mob that was killed around you would give you credit for the kill as well as possible loot. This was great for regular game-play and group quests, however, it was devastating for folks running the solo Pacifist Challenge where ANY kill would red-flag you.

We changed that to allow up to 2 kills as long as there were 0 killing blows (KBs).  This meant you could have up to 2 proximity kills and, as long as you didn’t deal the killing blow, would remain green-flagged and could continue on through the challenge. Initially the thought was the allowance would be more applicable to higher level challengers, and indeed, this resulted in our Legion first Pacifist champion Голаяправда, however, now we know without a doubt that these Proximity Kills will happen anywhere in the World of Warcraft. Our example was a Level 30 Pacifist who already had 3 Proximity Kills.

Based on the feedback we’ve received, we’re upping the limit to ten. That being you are allowed ten kills with zero killing blows and you can still remain green-flagged. Overall this is just under 1 proximity kill allowed per ten levels. While it’s fantastic that we’ve had someone make it to 110 with only 2 PKs, overall, we think the change will open the challenge up a bit to more folks but still have it remain challenging.

There was some thought on just removing the check for kills altogether and focus only on killing blows, however, this leaves a pretty large opening for folks to take advantage of groups and having a guard or escort. There is also some thought towards upping the limit to 150, to match the Blood Thirsty Challenge quest cap. Right now, 150 seems a bit on the excessive side and the reasons for quests for Blood Thirsty are quite different for accommodating Proximity Kills.

Overall, we’re leaving it at 10 proximity kills and see how challengers fare. All Pacifist characters have been updated and have had their flags reset if applicable.