I always say to myself… yea the game looks great but how’s the player vs. player combat? Time and time again it seems this aspect of the game is least looked at and companies spend more time trying to keep me grinding on pve mobs like a frantic Chinese gold farmer living off red bull and cigarettes. In just about every MMO I’ve ever player and anyone I’ve ever know is always in the rush to get to the level cap. Like an Olympic Kenyan sprinter with a rocket up its ass I franticly rush through any and all quest content. If you’re anything like me you don’t even read them. There is a reason for this and that is open world Player vs. Player combat.
People playing MMO’s for OPVP want to gank, grief, and trash talk their adversaries. MMO’S need to have cross faction chat so that after we destroy our opponents, equal level or not, we can relish in the Yosamity Sam style of scrolling text nerd rage and obscenities! I have actually been in guilds where we were encourages to screen shot and post on the guild forum these nerd rage whispers. Nothing is more entertaining than being so infamous that people broadcast out across the realm that you’re out ganking again. This type of environment creates head hunting rivalries and true guild camaraderie that can take any game to a new level of player driven content. This is a style of game play that MMO’s need to fully embrace and stop avoiding. I can only imagine how successful then next huge mmo game will be when it fully endorses open world pvp combat. |
I always find myself getting excited over new games that come out. The latest and greatest thing that has a whole new feel with graphics that I’m sure requires the most ridiculous video cards. The trailers are always exciting and I find myself thinking about what it would be like to play the newest games that the MMO world is all excited about. Usually the trailers are full of the game’s best cut scenes with intense music and combat scenes that gets your attention immediately and leaves you with the urge to rush out and try this stuff out.
The whole concept of open world player vs. player is honestly for one reason. Completely establish virtual control and dominance of an area to prevent the utilization of resources, and NCP availability to the opposing factions. It’s fun, it makes the opposing faction mad, and it creates a reputation of infamy that every hardcore pvper plays for. It seems that mmos are steering more away from this. Like the FEMA for ganked noobs, game developers are catering to the crying masses by taking away these situations and creating Instanced areas were players rush to each other and engage in most epic keyboard spamming, three second fight of their lives. Only to release and start over again, and again, and again, to get points for one piece of gear for your next treadmill of death adventure. This makes pvp casual and grindy as killing 100 hogs for their hides for a crafting quest. I find it horrible that servers are considered PVP when there is no incentive to pvp unless you’re in an instanced area.