The One Rule

[Hoofhurr]

Pure open world pvp fails for too many reasons. The primary reason for this imo is that successful pvp boils down to numbers or ambush style game play, neither of which are that intellectually engaging. It doesn't take much to bring more players and it doesn't take much to find some place to ambush an unsuspecting player and take his toys or avoid stronger players. Players that want competitive pvp wither from that style of pvp. Players that want to amass wealth and pve fame shy from that type of pvp.

The second reason it fails is the gap between meaningful pvp encounters. Very few players have the patience or real time to sit somewhere for hours without any activity or run around a massive world playing marco polo. Jboot ring camps are a thing of the past imo. Their pvp equivalents are too. Stick me in the ADD generation because when I have time to play I want to be engaged very quickly and maintain that engagement until I run out of time. Massive worlds act detrimentally to open world pvp in my opinion.

The third reason pure open fails is because of the lack of a satisfactory resolution. Most open world encounters seem to go back and forth for hours without any score being kept. It definitely becomes a battle of attrition where attrition is brought on by boredom or real life obligation.

There were definitely nights in EQ where we would spend all night running around looking for someone to pvp against and never find someone. The joy of the kill doesn't balance against the long down times.