PVP decision

dwarfus

I apologize in advance for the long post.

I started playing MMORPGs with Wow about 2 years ago.  I joined with some friends because the PVP aspects of the game seemed interesting to me. Time has gone by and I love Wow and the arenas and instanced battlefields. That said, the same arenas / battlefields in Wow are getting a bit stale at this point. When I read about the DAoCs and EVEs of the world, their open world PVP sounds amazing, but these world PVP battles are something Wow will probably never steer back towards. 

So I tried Rift thinking it is such an open beautiful world and there would be plenty of Rifts to fight over, but I found that their instanced warfronts left low PVP player numbers in the open world and the ones left were questing or PvEing. Let's just say I hope I learned some from Rift.

I also tried other games I didn't like:

• 
  Eve - I realized I really relate to the character models of the aforementioned games and playing Captain Kirk without ever seeing him doesn't appeal enough to me.
• 
  Global Agenda - F2P and along the lines of something I may like but read extensively about a lack of depth as the game progressed and I wasn't overly thrilled with the graphics
• 
  Heroes of Three Kingdoms, Aika, Kingdom Hearts - tried these F2P with Asian twists. Like the asian modeling and themes, but these three in particular did not have good enough graphics and they all felt like games the producers had no choice but to make free. Additionally, some of them have cash shop PVP item issues.
• 
  League of Legends - too RTS for my taste...didn't like the click,click,click of Warcraft and this felt the same

To summarize exactly what I'm looking for - an open world PVP based game with good to great graphics in a world that feels alive. Bonuses would include fairly balanced gameplay, open character specializations (EVE) or at least variety of class talent selections (Rift / GW), more than 2 factions, different aspects of PVP with no necessarily instanced PVP, potentially large scale PVP where players must work together, and some thought or unique angle put into the crafting aspect.  I realize there may not be a game with all the bonuses I listed. I don't have a need for any dungeons, raids, or specific PvE content and actually for the most part do not particularily enjoy these.

Yeah, pretty limiting.....I've tried to find what I'm looking for and came up with a short list I am now trying out.

• 
  Aion - I tried Aion's free trial and  the world is amazingly gorgeous. I'm a little scared to dive into it considering I currently have the 50% faster EXP bonus they are giving out and it still seems very grindy. I also find its crafting mindnumbing.
• 
  Fallen Earth - on my list and tried to download it yesterday, but it got hung up. 
• 
  Age of Conan - it seems from what I've read the major problems with this game were release bugs, promised and undelivered content on release, and griefing from PVPers in the open world. The company made 4 of its classes F2P and I am currently downloading this game. My concern is it my be too much like Wow.
• 
  Warhammer - Many reviewers rank this very high on PVP. One concern I have is the population dropoff (which can be said about most of these options). Another concern I have is Rift players frequently left Warhammer and would just summarize it by claiming it was going to die. Like AOC, it my be too much like Wow.

Does anyone have additional insight into the Aion, FE, AOC, Warhammer choices? Any other suggestions? Thanks so much!

Creslin321

Hi Dwarfus,

Well before I go into the specifics I just want to give my take on the whole open-world PvP thing, because I, like you, enjoy the concept of open-world PvP.  However, I think with how MMORPGs are today, it only really works if it is somehow restricted with specific PvP areas (DAoC/WAR).  If open-world PvP is "no holds barred" then the game will degenerate into a gankfest.  Unless you enjoy runing people's fun by killing someone who has no chance against you and doesn't want to fight, then I really wouldn't recommend an FFA open-world PvP game like Darkfall or MO.

That said here is what I think about the games you listed:

Aion:  Played this, it is VERY PvE grindy.  You will be grinding A LOT.  I quit at like level 23 so I didn't PvP much (it starts at 20).  It looked kind of DAoC-esque with the keep sieges and all.  Could be good if you don't mind the grind.

FE:  Never played

AoC:  Played this to 80 (max level).  It's a WoW-esque PvE grinder with PvP servers.  When I played, the PvP was unrestricted, open-world, so it devolved into ganking as you may expect.  Even at high levels, a group of gankers would just run around killing solo players.  I wouldn't recommend it if you're looking for a good PvP experience unless it has changed significantly since I last played.

WAR:  This game is all about Battleground PvP, probably not what you are looking for.  It does have open-world PvP with keep sieges, but it wasn't designed well.  First of all, there are only two factions, so whoever has the most players will almost always win.  Also, and even worse, you are rewarded handsomely for "taking" keeps, but there's no real incentive to keep them once you have them.  Sometimes the two opposing factions will even tacitly collude and just run around in a circle taking a keep then letting the other faction take it back while they take another.  Kind of like ring around the rosey.  The BG PvP isn't bad though.

So basically, I think you may be in the same boat as the rest of us, waiting for something better.  I have high hopes for GW2.  It's going to have "open-world" PvP in the form of weekly server vs. server vs. server (3 server FFA) matches that take place in a special open world PvP zone called "The Mists."  Hopefully it will be good.