Mine was EQ2 (before those stupid arenas). Factional pvp anywhere at anytime. Guards protected the lowbie zones, but it was still possible to sneak around em' and fight. The distance between Qeynos and Freeport was so great, that it really felt like infiltration. So fun.
as player of eve online since time, i can say his pvp is really fun, outrageous, intrigant and with a lot of courtesie most of the time but you ll die a lot if you just go and rush)
a lot of tools can help you to hunt and survive before the infamous "oh sh.t!"
and it's as good as single player than group!
Holy hell. As a part of the 1% who played ESO pvp since it's first pvp beta test to Morrowind, I disagree. A top 5 pvp mmo doesn't have a decaying pvp population that's almost unrecognizable. ZOS's casual pve/rp and cash shop direction took them away from any interest in pvp long ago. ESO pvpers are stuck with 3.5+ year old content that never changes and has only become less balanced, more laggy, less populated, and had it's population caps reduced 4-5 times.
The only post-launch pvp expansion, Imperial City, was released in the exact opposite way they said they would release it, and it catered to pve players. This meant they were supposed to require having to pvp to control inner circle emp keeps to get into I.C. and respawn there, they went back on their word and never did that. The only way you could put ESO in a top 5 pvp list is if you never played it past the casual phase and in that case should be outsourcing to a hardcore pvp player.
Haxus Council Member 21 year MMO veteran PvP Raid Leader Lover of The Witcher & CD Projekt Red
Great list! I agree with the picks. My first thought was that the list would be open world PvP only games like L2 but this is actually a good list as I have played just about all of them as a PvE person and can say the PvE and PvP wasn't bad.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
Whenever these lists are generated, I always want to know the criteria for how they were ranked.
So, WAR for example. I played for the first 6 months, then returned a couple of times over the next 2 years. I'm not certain it would make the list for me, though with little competition it may well still do so.
You see, WAR had amazing class design perfectly suited for PvP. There was great interdependence between classes with tanks actually being able to protect others in PvP, shit loads of CC and collision detection all adding to the potential of WAR.
But the actual day-to-day gameplay sucked most of the time. The power gaps destroyed the experience for a lot of people (a RR70 healer having more mitigation than a RR50 tank is not ok!), but beyond that sieges were boring for most people who weren't rdps and premade groups/raids were just so powerful that soloing was impossible for a lot of us.
So yeh, would be great to see what criteria is being used if possible.
ESO and WoW on best PvP of all time lists? WAR? Seriously? I mean... what? Lineage doesn't even make the list? In what world does Lineage not make the best pvp of all time list and WoW/ESO/WAR does??! Does the author smoke crack cocaine?!
PvP in EVE transcends to levels others never achieved. Earned the first place on both lists rightfully.
Constantine, The Console Poster
"One of the most difficult tasks men can perform, however much others may despise it, is the invention of good games and it cannot be done by men out of touch with their instinctive selves." - Carl Jung
Warhammer Online is doing decent on its private server - I never fully decided to try it out but I wish it didn’t release then and tank but rather released now with just a bit more time. I think releasing now would have seen a significant change.
Also always rooting for my Lineage 2 PvP!
Guild Wars 1 belongs on that list before GW2 because even though it's revenue is small compared to the latter it was played for the pvp and has great pvp systems. GW1 had e-sports, something neither GW2 or ESO has pulled off much to their chagrin, and had spectator modes that were popular with non-pvp players.
Maan I still remember how much time I had spend watching guild battles. If only GW1 was realeased during the Twitch/youtube era it would have been much bigger game with a lot of pvp following. The game was extremely good watchers imo.
Great list! I agree with the picks. My first thought was that the list would be open world PvP only games like L2 but this is actually a good list as I have played just about all of them as a PvE person and can say the PvE and PvP wasn't bad.
I disagree it's a great list. It's a horrible list of the 5 "best pvp mmos". WAR was an abysmal failure and deeply flawed in a couple places. Both GW2 and ESO struggle to maintain a pvp community. It would be a great list of the top 5 mmos with some of the most interesting pvp mechanics or systems, but not the greatest list.
WoW does belong on the list because even on pve servers people still engage in world pvp. There are opposite players attacking NPCs and flagged to fight. If you didn't open the dungeon finders in GW2 and ESO you might not even know those games have PvP.
Guild Wars 1 belongs on that list before GW2 because even though it's revenue is small compared to the latter it was played for the pvp and has great pvp systems. GW1 had e-sports, something neither GW2 or ESO has pulled off much to their chagrin, and had spectator modes that were popular with non-pvp players.
There are several other MMOs that would make a better fit for the list. For one thing both GW2 and ESO aren't even mmo pvp. They're instanced map pvp in an mmo. You'd get better pvp from a Destiny 2 or CoD: WW2 battleground.
The problem with the list isn't that those are bad games or that their pvp is bad. They aren't and it's not. It's that their not great pvp games and there are greater pvp mmos and mmo-lites.
Great List from the viewpoint of a PvE'er who does occasional PvP.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
I know everybody feels his or her game should make the list, but I was kind of hoping to see Shadowbane on it. It's the only MMO I know of that actually let you lay siege to cities with hundreds of people within close vicinity without too many hickups.
I can't help but giggle any time I see GW 2 listed as a supposedly good PvP game. That usually just tells me that whoever wrote this list didn't play the original Guild Wars - you know, where your skill bar was completely up to you, and the skills in PvP were balanced separately. GW 2 is a directionless mess and always has been.
"We are all as God made us, and many of us much worse." - Don Quixote
Comments
I dont really care about PvP, most of the time it becomes very toxic and thus not fun anymore so i try to avoid it
a lot of tools can help you to hunt and survive before the infamous "oh sh.t!"
and it's as good as single player than group!
how can eve be a number pvp mmo
Their spreadsheet combat is complete shit
omg
I doubt it this site has swung serious pro PVP, rarely do you see any promotion of PVE Mmo's.
To be fare most the mmo's being made are majority PVP. And even when they are not this site seems to promote the PVP side of said MMO.
Look out....we got a badass here. Loved Warhammer Online, so much better than the f2p crap out today.
The only post-launch pvp expansion, Imperial City, was released in the exact opposite way they said they would release it, and it catered to pve players. This meant they were supposed to require having to pvp to control inner circle emp keeps to get into I.C. and respawn there, they went back on their word and never did that. The only way you could put ESO in a top 5 pvp list is if you never played it past the casual phase and in that case should be outsourcing to a hardcore pvp player.
21 year MMO veteran
PvP Raid Leader
Lover of The Witcher & CD Projekt Red
I wanted to like GW2 and ESO pvp but the lag during large fights killed it for me. Perhaps they are in a better place now.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
So, WAR for example. I played for the first 6 months, then returned a couple of times over the next 2 years. I'm not certain it would make the list for me, though with little competition it may well still do so.
You see, WAR had amazing class design perfectly suited for PvP. There was great interdependence between classes with tanks actually being able to protect others in PvP, shit loads of CC and collision detection all adding to the potential of WAR.
But the actual day-to-day gameplay sucked most of the time. The power gaps destroyed the experience for a lot of people (a RR70 healer having more mitigation than a RR50 tank is not ok!), but beyond that sieges were boring for most people who weren't rdps and premade groups/raids were just so powerful that soloing was impossible for a lot of us.
So yeh, would be great to see what criteria is being used if possible.
Also always rooting for my Lineage 2 PvP!
~Greatness~
Currently Playing:
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"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
"If I offended you, you needed it" -Corey Taylor
1. GW2
2. WoW
3. SWG (original)
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests