Would you play on an actual PvP server?

[Feranor]

Looking at the MMOs that have launched since DAoC, the vast majority of them, with the exception of WAR, have not even tried to create an environment for good PvP to happen. They all focused on PvE and banished PvP into instanced minigames that have little to no influence on the outside world.

Is it because, from a business perspective, supporting PvP just isn't worth the necessary efforts?

Let's say Blizz announced a new type of server tomorrow, with the following features:

- no Arena
- no Battlegrounds
- no high end raid instances (so that it doesn't mess with PvE progress)
- no Outland
- no flying mounts
- no corpse running, respawn similar to Tol Barad
- lots of XP for killing enemy players
- gold and loot for killing enemy players (similar to what you'd get for questing/grinding)
- gear for honor
- towns, outposts and such can be captured by the opposing faction for rewards and zone control
- guards scale with the attackers' level (i.e. they're always balanced around the highest level opponent in the vicinity)
- a system to prevent severe population imbalances
(- whatever I forgot)

- weekly PvP events for all players, e.g. something like "Garrosh wants to crush the Alliance at Warsong Lumber Camp, Horde must assist him, Alliance must kill him.", basically what Alterac Valley was originally advertised to be like, epic large scale battles with lots of minor objectives, e.g. "collect Gnome heads so that <evil Forsaken scientist> can finish constructing his new creation."

- a bounty point system: the more players you kill, the higher the bounty on your head. Whoever kills you collects (and resets) the bounty. Bounty points can be spent on crafting materials, recipes and such.

- Dishonorable Kills: if you kill grey players while there's not at least 1 "green" enemy nearby, you'll get a Dishonorable Kill. If you rack up too many of those, the opposing faction will see your approximate location on their world map and your stealth level will be decreased. Also, you'll be worth more gold, XP, honor and bounty points. Getting killed by an enemy player or killing players that are at least your level will reduce your Dishonorable Kills.

___

What do you think? Would you play on a server like that? Do you think that most players actually prefer the current state of PvP?

[ImEveryCliche]

I think there's some great ideas in there. I love the bounty points idea, that would be really cool. And the dishonorable kills idea would stop most of the low level ganking.

+1 sir.

Its a shame Blizzard would never implement an idea this cool.

[Nolan]

lol being on a pvp server and lvling is rough but its fun

[Cursingmonk]

In your proposed system the game would never really change or be fresh. Killing other players gets dull after a bit, except for rolling people with low skill cap toons and watching them rage. Seriously go play battlegrounds everyday for at least 2-3 hours (or more) and do that for a month straight. Then log on and make a post about how excited you are to resubscribe. If that doesn't make the point sink in repeat for a few months. Most players would be server xferring off the pvp realm after a few months, especially with no pve alternative.

From a business prospective why would you actively try to market to such a small percentage of your monthly income? PvE is by far the biggest cash cow for Blizzard, hence why you are seeing easy mode raids for players who want to play more casually or "practice" for actual raids. There are some serious pvpers out there, and RBGs have brought a lot more raiding guilds to the pvp scene but it is still far behind.

[ophion1990]

Its a nice idea but remove guards imo. I had some fun world PvP in cata a few months ago with a mage/priest who were gannking people in Ramkahen. In the end i just gave up fighting them since guards were hitting for 40k. :/

Also removing bg's might not be to great. Just keep TP/AB/EOTS (these are my favorites, strands, ioc, av suck atm imo. ) World PvP is about actually fighting a bunch of people but playing some capture the flag is fun aswell.

[ImEveryCliche]

In your proposed system the game would never really change or be fresh. Killing other players gets dull after a bit, except for rolling people with low skill cap toons and watching them rage. Seriously go play battlegrounds everyday for at least 2-3 hours (or more) and do that for a month straight. Then log on and make a post about how excited you are to resubscribe. If that doesn't make the point sink in repeat for a few months. Most players would be server xferring off the pvp realm after a few months, especially with no pve alternative.

From a business prospective why would you actively try to market to such a small percentage of your monthly income? PvE is by far the biggest cash cow for Blizzard, hence why you are seeing easy mode raids for players who want to play more casually or "practice" for actual raids. There are some serious pvpers out there, and RBGs have brought a lot more raiding guilds to the pvp scene but it is still far behind.

I can see some valid points in there. While I was first excited to hear the idea, I think it would get stale after a while. An interesting idea though.

[Feranor]

In your proposed system the game would never really change or be fresh. Killing other players gets dull after a bit, except for rolling people with low skill cap toons and watching them rage. Seriously go play battlegrounds everyday for at least 2-3 hours (or more) and do that for a month straight. Then log on and make a post about how excited you are to resubscribe. If that doesn't make the point sink in repeat for a few months. Most players would be server xferring off the pvp realm after a few months, especially with no pve alternative.

From a business prospective why would you actively try to market to such a small percentage of your monthly income? PvE is by far the biggest cash cow for Blizzard, hence why you are seeing easy mode raids for players who want to play more casually or "practice" for actual raids. There are some serious pvpers out there, and RBGs have brought a lot more raiding guilds to the pvp scene but it is still far behind.

I don't necessarily disagree, but how does this not apply to the current situation? I mean, you're saying it yourself, doing the same battlegrounds over and over again gets boring quickly, and I'd say this applies to the much smaller and much more homogenous arenas even moreso. Yet this is the endgame PvP right now.

True, PvE is the primary cash cow. But there is a market for PvP, too. Why else would there be so many people waiting for GW2? Basically everyone I know from playing DAoC gave every MMO since a try, only to quit after 1-2 months because there wasn't good PvP. There currently is no MMO with an actual PvP system (even DAoC is almost dead by now), yet no one's even trying to fill this niche (GW2 being the only (albeit future) exception).

Besides, nothing I proposed takes an extraordinary amount of effort to implement. Designing a couple of daily quests would require more resources than that. The only problem might be having two different versions of WoW at the same time.

[Deadmedic]

i think the major flaw is trying to create a server that essentially removes all of the content current servers have.
why remove battlegrounds, raids and the like? if anything ADD your ideas to the current game, this gives ppl more things to do in addition to the current stuff, which i think no one would mind.

there are some good ideas in there, i think the DHK system you suggest is really cool, because it allows the players to police themselves

what will ultimately be your downfall is that there are alot ppl who would really just prefer wow to be a solo game, where you quest and shit all on your own. maybe not all the time, but i think everyone gets to a point where its like, man, screw other ppl i just want my alt to get to the next lvl. and that is the mentality that ruins world pvp.

[Stanton Biston]

Looking at the MMOs that have launched since DAoC, the vast majority of them, with the exception of WAR, have not even tried to create an environment for good PvP to happen. They all focused on PvE and banished PvP into instanced minigames that have little to no influence on the outside world.

First- WAR ended up like WoW with regards to PvP: Instanced BGs and then city sieges that were glorified AVs complete with NPC raiding.

Is it because, from a business perspective, supporting PvP just isn't worth the necessary efforts?

I would implore you to read this forum, especially the topics about world pvp. There was some topics not that long ago where people were having hot debates over what world pvp actually is. The people who say that they really like pvp tend to be like people who say they like Jolly Ranchers: They don't like every flavor, just one. The people who like pvp, as a base of players, is so fractured and overly emotional, that it's hard to cater to them.

Let's say Blizz announced a new type of server tomorrow, with the following features:

- no Arena
- no Battlegrounds
- no high end raid instances (so that it doesn't mess with PvE progress)
- no Outland
- no flying mounts
- no corpse running, respawn similar to Tol Barad
- lots of XP for killing enemy players
- gold and loot for killing enemy players (similar to what you'd get for questing/grinding)
- gear for honor
- towns, outposts and such can be captured by the opposing faction for rewards and zone control
- guards scale with the attackers' level (i.e. they're always balanced around the highest level opponent in the vicinity)
- a system to prevent severe population imbalances
(- whatever I forgot)

- weekly PvP events for all players, e.g. something like "Garrosh wants to crush the Alliance at Warsong Lumber Camp, Horde must assist him, Alliance must kill him.", basically what Alterac Valley was originally advertised to be like, epic large scale battles with lots of minor objectives, e.g. "collect Gnome heads so that <evil Forsaken scientist> can finish constructing his new creation."

- a bounty point system: the more players you kill, the higher the bounty on your head. Whoever kills you collects (and resets) the bounty. Bounty points can be spent on crafting materials, recipes and such.

- Dishonorable Kills: if you kill grey players while there's not at least 1 "green" enemy nearby, you'll get a Dishonorable Kill. If you rack up too many of those, the opposing faction will see your approximate location on their world map and your stealth level will be decreased. Also, you'll be worth more gold, XP, honor and bounty points. Getting killed by an enemy player or killing players that are at least your level will reduce your Dishonorable Kills.

___

What do you think? Would you play on a server like that? Do you think that most players actually prefer the current state of PvP?

It would be neat for a while, but the lack of any sort of real character building, which is what WoW is truly a game about, would kill it.