What's it like to play on a PvP server?

[Snorri]

I have been on a PvE server ever since I begun playing WoW. My guild wants to move to a high population PvP server so that they can start 25 man raiding again. It is impossible to do 25 man on our current server. I am sceptical about moving to another server for a couple of reasons. One of them is the fact that it is a PvP server.

I am used to questing and farming in peace without getting attacked by enemy players. I wonder, what's it like to play on a PvP server? Is it common for players of the opposing faction to jump on you as soon as they get the chance? Do you get ambushed by groups of stealthed rogues and druids? Is there a lot of corpse camping? I only have PvP gear as holy offspec. I like PvP, but only in battlegrounds and arenas.

[ttu12]

I have been on a PvE server ever since I begun playing WoW. My guild wants to move to a high population PvP server so that they can start 25 man raiding again. It is impossible to do 25 man on our current server. I am sceptical about moving to another server for a couple of reasons. One of them is the fact that it is a PvP server.

I am used to questing and farming in peace without getting attacked by enemy players. I wonder, what's it like to play on a PvP server? Is it common for players of the opposing faction to jump on you as soon as they get the chance? Do you get ambushed by groups of stealthed rogues and druids? Is there a lot of corpse camping? I only have PvP gear as holy offspec. I like PvP, but only in battlegrounds and arenas.

It's not that big of a deal. You really don't run into people ALL the time or anything. I do suggest getting a dps spec and some pvp gear tho just incase. It's quite fun actually to run across someone when out in the world

[bandet]

Generally, you attack someone, and they fly away on their mount.

[Gorehowl]

usually people will gank you once maybe twice then get bored and fly away, i usually dont gank people because theres nothing to be gained from it, i do keep my mains in whatever zone im leveling my alt in because people do like to gank low levels for some reason.

[Itisamuh]

The difference is very minimal since flying mounts were introduced and destroyed all ground interaction. You will notice no change.

[Nab]

Generally, you attack someone, and they fly away on their mount.

Sorry, but this is the case. :P

[bandet]

usually people will gank you once maybe twice then get bored and fly away, i usually dont gank people because theres nothing to be gained from it, i do keep my mains in whatever zone im leveling my alt in because people do like to gank low levels for some reason.

You have it backwards, my friend. It isn't about what you gain, it is about what they lose:

5 second flight from the graveyard....




Yeah, I laugh at blizzard "Oh we will fix world PvP". Good, remove flying mounts. That is what broke it. No one cares about your stupid world PvP objectives. No one cared in vanilla. No one cared in BC. Surprise: No one will care in MoP!

Firelands daily quest zone demonstrates about how much they care about world PvP: 90% of the quests are within a 5 second run from a sanctuary zone.

Although that zone had one awesome thing going for it... The food that restored 100k hp over 5 seconds. Scatter feign eat. "I AM INVINCIBLE!!!"

[Tholl]

No change from a PvE to a PvP. Everyone sits in a city watching their shoulders smoke and weapons glow. There has not been any real world PvP in WoW on PvP servers since BC days.

Sad truth, and it will not change.

Have your guild mates save their money, don't bother with an x-fer.

[Deleted]

Same shit as pve server, - I dont see the different.

[Deleted]

Well, of course it depends on the pvp server you've chosen, but on my server I don't see lots of ambush ;p

[ophion1990]

You can kill/get killed during dailies or farming... yeah, that sums it up I think. The advantage is that you can kill people going for your mob/node ofcourse.

[Tangster]

More times then not both factions will coexist in the interest of getting farm/dailies done faster. All killing each other accomplishes is making the reason you are in that zone take longer. You'll be fine

[Jahmoon]

As others have said you really won't notice a difference. There is very little world PvP anymore simply because you never come across anybody. Players just zip from node to node or quest to quest on their flying mounts. These days if you get attacked in the world it's actually a nice change of pace. It can definitely be fun... unless of course you are just getting repeatedly ganked. But I haven't seen that happen in ages.

I started playing WoW near the end of Vanilla and I remember how amazing leveling up in a zone like STV was. The dense jungle atmosphere, a healthy population of mobs - who could be fairly strong back in the day, combined with the anxiety of knowing that you WILL be ganked any minute. That place was just crawling with higher level players looking to gank. But it was great. It gave the zone a real personality. I miss that.

[Deleted]

If you went to my pvp server back in the early days: You could not quest. I swear.

Since WOTLK: Attack a player, he CCs you and flies away.

You can get attacked sometimes tho. But be ready, its like only frost mages and rogues that does it. Atleast some months ago, they are so overpowered 1v1 you cant beat them, but if you do, theyll CC you and invis/COS+vanish away.

Like that day, i fought an undead mage outside Stormwind. He ran away and mounted. You know what? If Blizzard werent so bad at pvp they could have added like, after engaging in pvp and failing to kill your target, you will gain a 3 min buff: you cant use flying mounts, but after some time, you can track that player done even if its invis or stealthed. If you kill that target, the buff is gone. Wow that would be awesome.

You dont have to worry i guess. Everyone sits in the major cities and queues for pve all day even if its a pvp server. Seeing 99% of the guys pve geared less-than-4k-lifetime-kills-mains in a pvp server makes me cry. But its OK for me(like you should care about me anyway, its your choice) if you and your guild also pvp and stuffs together. Too bad 99% of the players dont do it in my server, whenever i fight a pve geared guy i dont even have to think for a second, cause they have never experienced pvp.

Shield block my moonfirezzzz!

And, if youre experienced with pvp, theres a chance you will find corpsecamping 10 lifetime kills players entertaining and go 100% pvp.

Well here you go: you dont have to worry about getting ganked, just pick a class that counters frost mages or rogues. BM hunter, IDK.

[Edison]

Generally, you attack someone, and they fly away on their mount.

This looool.
Well in the lower levels you'll get jumped now and then, in the higher levels everybody is flying so you never really encounter any pvp

[Hilde]

I moved from a PvP server to a PvE server and I'm so happy I did. I like leveling alts, questing, hanging out, fishing etc in peace. Now I don't have to worry about gankers. And yes, I did get ganked a lot.

[ablib]

I moved from a PvP server to a PvE server and I'm so happy I did. I like leveling alts, questing, hanging out, fishing etc in peace. Now I don't have to worry about gankers. And yes, I did get ganked a lot.

This!

I guess it really depends on your server. I have Loremaster on my main. And almost 10 85's on my current PvP server. I'm out in the world a lot. I can't stand to sit in capital cities. Ganking is just a normal experience. I'm constantly on my guard, looking around, when I see a shadow of a flying mount above me, I get tense and prepare, looking around erratically.

I've had friends who have transferred to my realm and didn't spend much time at all before transferring off again, because they were tired of being ganked.

[EdisonTrent]

It can be exciting, but if you can't handle people taking every petty advantage they can get (usually being a considerably higher level), you'll very likely get frustrated; Flying mounts are also a massive pain in the ass, allowing people to drop on you without warning.

However, amongst the frustration you may, depending on you as a player, find some of the most fun experiences you've had in the game, period. Personally I've tried both PvE and PvP servers, and I can definitely see the upsides and downsides to the latter. If you desire a more dynamic experience in WoW, and are willing to deal with the occasional lump of bullshit thrown your way, you may very well enjoy the hell out of it.

[Tankitbetter]

I transferred to a pvp server 6 months ago. So far, I've been ganked twice after I went afk questing. Other than that, I've seen no world pvp.

[Kalier]

I generally play on a PVP server. was farming the sprite darter for 6 hours as horde on the grimtotem in eastern feralas, which has the side effect of killing alliance NPCs in the process. around 20 minutes before I quit? ONE alliance person showed up, flew over my head, /wave, and flew off.