General Discussion

This week in her MMORPG.com Community Forum Spotlight column, Community Manager Laura Genender discusses a user blog involving PvP and what kinds of experiences players are looking for.

High end content in MMOs is basically restricted to one of two paths: raids, which require players to work together against large events or creatures; or PvP, which allows players to generate their own high-end challenges against each other. For our community, at the very least, it is the latter which seems to be catching the most attention.

Perhaps that’s no big surprise; after all, two of the big upcoming giants – Age of Conan and Warhammer Online – are mostly centered around PvP. Current popular games such as World of Warcraft and Guild Wars offer plenty of PvP, too. But for user T0nyd, this isn’t enough.

In a blog entry titled “PVP MMORPGs, are they real?” T0nyd outlines the features he believes are key in any MMO PVP experience:

Read it all here.

I've always enjoyed T0nyd's postings, and of course the features by Stradden. I remember reading the blog and thinking:

Warhammer is pretty much aiming to fill all of those PvP needs.

PvP only from level 1 to level 40 - check

Quests designed for PvP - check

Rewards from PvP - check

Gear from PvP - check

Territorial control in PvP - check

but also with a full PvE game included.

While I would love to see a fun PvP game, I am always wary of the lack of good PvE content. It is hard  to get the proper mix of both play styles and keep most players happy. I would hope that WAR or Conan will bring a play style that can be a perfect blend of both.

There is  nothing that I like more than sticking a caster with an arrow from a hill top or grouping through a good dungeon.

If only more people knew about DAoC. DAoC allows a person to level up from 1-50 in PvP or PvE. I can't think of a better made game than DAoC. Only reason why I don't play it anymore is because of the low population numbers. Which is why I say "If only more people knew about DAoC."

Planetside.

You want PvP 24 x 7? That's all it is. You lvl simply through PvP. I've played many of the MMOs out there and there were none that came close to providing the thrill of the incredible battles in PS. That being said, after all the work of taking over a tower, a base or a planet, going stealth, getting a MAX suit or just sitting back and sniping...it gets old. For this reason you need to have PvE content, to take a break from the same-old-same-old. You need to create value to each of your battles - taking over a base just didn't mean anything after a while in PS because the next day someone else would have it. It's not like there was any tangible benefit to having taken it over, other then whooping the other team - and don't get me wrong - that was a blast. But if that's all there is, it's probably not enough.

When discussing this topic I've always said if they can mix the excitement of PS with a WOW, EQ, etc. then you've got yourself a kick-ass game. Can AOC or War do it? I'm just as eager to find out as everyone else.

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Originally posted by heerobya
I've always enjoyed T0nyd's postings, and of course the features by Stradden. I remember reading the blog and thinking:
Warhammer is pretty much aiming to fill all of those PvP needs.
PvP only from level 1 to level 40 - check
Quests designed for PvP - check
Rewards from PvP - check
Gear from PvP - check
Territorial control in PvP - check
but also with a full PvE game included.

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he was spot on about south shore in wow - i loved the pvp there before pvp even gave you any recognition or reward.  i thought it was a great bit of the game that overlapped pvp with pve and there really should have been some pvp objectives there to complete (if you wanted).  sadly, the implementation of pvp in wow killed the game for me.

as for daoc, when i used to play it you couldn't really do pvp until about level 20 or so, but had a lot of fun when i did get to do pvp.  tthey did introduce pure pvp servers at one point, but i don't remember being able to level by doing pvp - it was a matter of doing pve and hoping you didn't get pasted and hope you got invited to one of the larger guilds for protection.  eventually thugh i got bored before i managed to max out my character, mainly because i was playing on american servers from the uk. 

so thanks to mythic, i am very much looking forward to warhammer online! 

i never really understood why pvp wasn't a bigger part of all mmorpgs really - i mean fps games have always been pvp - so why not rpgs? 

I think the important thing is making PvP matter in the game world.

The concept of having certain quests open up when a town is taken is good - it gives a reason to fight.

Instanced PvP doesnt give this reason and is only good for casual gamer play.

While I think PvP is popular, it is still not as popular as plain ole PvE. While WoW PvP lost its flavor to me I tried to figure out why. My conclusion is that I don't like competing against humans... in RL as well as games. I love a great discussion with humans though because there are opinions that can't be wrong, therefore no winner or loser, just an exchange of ideas. Opinions in games can only be expressed in a textual form but not a game mechanic, unless you're talking about the expression involved with costuming like CoH/V.

Anarchy Online definitely had a super PvP system that involved a changing world as territories changed sides and Notum posession was the holy grail. But like DaoC it went the way of the dodo because by today's standards they are both graphically inept.

SWG had a great system of player killing that allowed leveling up while hunting players (bounty hunter) and would still be sweet if it wasn't for the "big change" it underwent to accomodate kids and their need for "make me a Jedi or I won't play" attitude.