Poll: How vital is PVP to an MMO?

Page 1 of 4
1
2
3
... LastLast
  1. #1
    Field Marshal Mekanikos's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Dallas, TX
    Posts
    81

    Question How vital is PVP to a MMO?

    My brother and I have opposing views on the need for PVP in a game where everything you do is focused on building, expanding, and exploring. Class balancing and robustness of the game aside, nothing solves dissent like an internet poll... right?

    Thoughts and reasoning behind said thoughts are appreciated.
    Tashar Moondancer
    Adamantoise

    Battlemaster Sabria
    Lightning's Blade
    (H) Protection Paladin

  2. #2
    Warchief Muis's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    Netherlands
    Posts
    2,122
    For me PVP is irrelevant. I don't like PVP, whetever it's during leveling (altho that can be fun if it's somewhat fair playing field) - bg's or arena's.
    Guess it depends on the game. If you get good PVP into an MMO, you'll attract alot of PVP'ers, if you leave it out, all you are left with are PVE'ers .

  3. #3
    i like PVP and it is a nice feature, but only if done extremely well. So I voted completely unnecessary. An MMO can survive strictly off PVE.

  4. #4
    It's not absolutely necessary. Final Fantasy XI barely had PVP that nobody really did, but it was still a very successful MMO.

  5. #5
    Deleted
    It's only "needed" if it's done well, otherwise...meh.

  6. #6
    It's a nice feature.
    But the same goes for PvE.

    A MMO can be anything. It can be an MMORPG, where the game is mostly PvE. It can also be an MMOFPS, with equal PvE (bots) and PvP. It can be an MMORTS/TBS, where everything is always PvP, and PvE is a nice feature.

    All things considered, you can take any of these playstyles, and make a game out of it that is either PvE, PvP, or both.

  7. #7
    Deleted
    certainly depends on the game (for me, personal opinion, etc. )

    i really hated wow pvp ... i really love gw2 pvp
    wow is too bloated with macros, ui-stuff and odd game-mechanics for me ...

  8. #8
    Moderation in all things. Too much and you alienate the PvE crowd. Too little and you alienate the PvP crowd.

    Optional PvP works best.

  9. #9
    Scarab Lord Arkenaw's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    San Antonio, Texas
    Posts
    4,747
    I absolutely hate pvp and I think it ruins the game.


  10. #10
    Deleted
    Well most pvp people dont mind some pve around while pve people can be pure allergic to pvp, and pve people usually hold the power of mmos for some strange reason. Also not many games manage to implement pvp well in their games. Planetside2 is the perfect pvp mmo out there, no pve at all but then it's fps and playing fps dont appeal to all and I guess many mmo players that do enjoy pvp skip that game for that reason. Many people enjoy creating your hero or villain in an mmo, customization and so on which perhaps is hard in fps where you cant see yourself much. Eve online also got it right, but again... having a spaceship as avatar isnt as appealing as being a troll, human, elf or panda or whatev.
    So far there isnt a good working mmo with alive pvp that appeal to most mmo players, the fantasy mmos alive out there now cater to pve players and biggest issue is separation of pvp and pve in terms of skill and balance. GW2 so far had and perhaps still have some potential, wvwvw seems to be a success but however their e-sport spvp is bleeding players but again there isnt any serious competitor being launched anytime soon so with right time management they might get it right just in time to get some of the players... and they already got a decent bunch of pve players in the game so if they manage to fix things in time they can get a strong spot in the market... but as soon as a serious competitor start smelling launch it's probably over.
    However at this point it's either playing half-neglected pvp in mmos, or choose mmos like planetside2 and eve online that has serious pvp but isn't quite the mmos we are used to. Getting good pve probably isnt an issue in any mmo out there, only thing might be some games are updated more regulary than others.

    I do think that pvp in mmos is important, however it seems to be tricky to make it work in a viable enough way. We will see if any other upcoming mmo is brave enough to try to give it a go but as far as I can tell there isnt anything releasing soon. Firefall might be something, but we already got planetside2 that set a higher standard in fps mmo... other than that... next year no news in mmo pvp business... or can I be proven wrong?

  11. #11
    Deleted
    I believe that an MMO could be created and marketed to be PvE only and still be successful - so I've said it's unnecessary. I do think it's nice to have personally and I enjoy it, but I think an MMO could be successful without it.

  12. #12
    The Lightbringer Mandible's Avatar
    15+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    Denmark
    Posts
    3,448
    You can make an mmo that only features pve, but it has to be very well written for people not eventually get really bored. Also you would probably loose out on alot of customers if you didn´t add some sort of pve feature - like hutt ball in sw:tor.

    I do however believe an mmo that emphatized on pvp would get less attration than an mmo that only had pve.
    "Only Jack can zip up."
    The word you want to use is "have" not "of".
    You may have alot of stuff in your country, but we got Lolland.

  13. #13
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by Shamanic View Post
    I believe that an MMO could be created and marketed to be PvE only and still be successful - so I've said it's unnecessary. I do think it's nice to have personally and I enjoy it, but I think an MMO could be successful without it.
    Well as a pve player you can pretty much have a pick on any mmo out there today, and pvp probably wont affect you at all. Current mmo market and especially mmorpg is the pve players world and there are lots of viable games as options. However, if you want pvp as a strong part in mmos and say especially in mmo rpgs... the market isn't very friendly to you =) So it's a matter of what kind of player you are, we have a working mmo market for pve players that should be somewhat satisfying enough... but as a pvp player you are facing lots of obstacles and being treated as a second-citizen player if you try to play, enjoy and affect pvp in most of the big mmo(rpgs) out there

  14. #14
    I think it depends on the type of MMO. Theme Park MMOs need it less as the game is geared toward delivering the player the content. In a sandbox MMO, the content is often times created by the community - the more you open up and allow them to do, the more variety you will have in experience, so in that sense, yes, in a sandbox game, some type of player versus player competition is necessary.

  15. #15
    Brewmaster Syce's Avatar
    15+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Ontario
    Posts
    1,290
    pvp has its ups and downs, its a nice to have feature, but you really need it. it also creates imbalance because the minority of vocal pvpers would say they want balanced pvp yet everyone knows they really just want their class to be overpowered to everyone else.

  16. #16
    I wouldn't play an MMO without it. I love comparing myself against other people. Competitive and what not.
    Why am I back here, I don't even play these games anymore

    The problem with the internet is parallel to its greatest achievement: it has given the little man an outlet where he can be heard. Most of the time however, the little man is a little man because he is not worth hearing.

  17. #17
    "Nice to have". While I do enjoy PVP, if the other aspects of an MMO are sufficient enough to keep me occupied I won't mind a lack of it.

  18. #18
    It all depends on what kind of a game you want to design. You can design a very successful mmo game with either pve or pvp, or even a mixture of both. Therefore, i dont think there is a high level answer to OP's question.

    However if i were to give my personal view on the matter rather than a high level objective conclusion based on the analysis of solid data, i would tell you this story, using wow as my example. I started to play wow during vanilla, before the AQ event. I had no irl friends playing with me on that pure RP realm (moonglade - eu) i joined a guild having some good time leveling until mid 20s. Sometimes i got ganked, and often body camped. Yet i called my guildies or just logged off to play a second character, or just closed wow for 10 mins. This never made me think of quitting the game. Why? Because the game wasn't all about the end game back then. Losing 15-20 mins was not postponing any enjoyment that i could only get when i hit max level; and getting ganked wasnt making me furious. The game during leveling process was plenty of fun already. But a friend told me that if i wanted to do something meaningful after max level (60 back then) i had to spend several hours a day, be on time for events etc etc. that's when i quit the game. Not when i was body camped.

    IMO, It is not PvP that turn PvEers off. it's the time they lose upon death because the game got so result / time / efficiency oriented that losing a few minutes becomes frustrating, infuriating and a deal breaker.
    Last edited by kharyll; 2012-12-29 at 07:07 PM.

  19. #19
    It's about as necessary as it is marketable. Nothing more.

    Akin to sticking a MP map in predominately single player games. Most pubs wouldn't let you ship with out some MP component because its a bullet point you can market.

  20. #20
    I really think I probably wouldn't play an MMO if it had no pvp.

    Thinking back on it I've pvped on every MMO I've played over the last 12 years.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •