World pvp has always been my favorite hobby ever since the beta if UO. However true open world pvp has gone the way of the dodo. I have often wondered if it is possible to bring back the glory days of Open World non instanced pvp.
I cuurently know of only two ways to bring back open world pvp.
1.) FFA(no factions) pvp with objectives. Be it world bosses, a ranking system, armor ect
2. At least three factions with objectives. Be it world bosses, a ranking system, armor ect
Sorry guys two factions do not balance out WOW SWTOR RIFT and countless other games have proven their will always be population inbalances in a two faction game.
Honestly I think no factions doesnt really work unless you work hard and encourage your Playerbase to form Guild factions or whatever so to me it needs:
1) 3 factions. If you want clear distinctions (which I myself am not fussed about, good and evil is just a matter of opinion) they would be Good, Bad & Mercenary.
2) PvP needs a point beyond just farming honour or tokens for pvp gear. Let the players take (siege) and control entire towns, zones or landmarks to the point it actually effects players from other factions. Let A faction control the only convenient bridge or seaside port to another zone, if players from another faction want to come through they have to take the long way around to an alternate crossing or travel overland the long way, this would provide motivation to take it back.
3) If you want to incorporate Open PvP and PvE zones together then maybe do what WAR did with safe PvE areas and Open PvP areas on the same map. Again worthy reasons to enter PvP zones are interesting things to do which you need to provide. Alternatively (though not as good) allow each zone to have a PvE and a PvP instance, if you leave one zone from a PvP instance it sends you to the PvP instance of the one you just moved to etc.
4) System that allows players to post a bounty against other players, this needs to include the ability for multiple players to contribute to and to increase the bounty on targets. ie: if I post a bounty of 500 gold on l337killer and then another player tries to post a bounty of 1000 gold against l337killer the bounty system would give the second player the option to increase the original bounty on l337killer to 1500 gold.
I am really liking your ideas.
We all can only be who we are Nothing more nothing less.
if you want a niche game then go the route of darkfall and make people gankable everywhere. if you want a more mainstream game then you HAVE to go the route of DAOC ....
a complete seperate area set apart but non instanced from the rest of the world where people who want to PVP can go when they want to PVP. then you need to make it the focus of the game and not just tacked on as an optional way to gain "phat lootz".
a seperate area is needed because many people like PVP but not when its forced upon them, many will participate in PVP when THEY want to.
I don't think a completely separate area is even necessary. Many players are fine with and even enjoy that there is some PVP danger, even if extremely minimal, in their PVE gameplay.
I don't buy the 'extemely minimal' bit. If there is non-consensual PvP and another player is in the same area as you, there is a very real danger they will attack you, especially if you are taking on a challenging PvE content and your health is low.
PvP-based games that are trying to attract PvE players by saying that the the chance of PvP is low, are lying. PvP players do not want games with a 'low chance' of PvP which means that the design of the game will have to put the PvE players in harms way to humor the PvPers.
if you want a niche game then go the route of darkfall and make people gankable everywhere. if you want a more mainstream game then you HAVE to go the route of DAOC ....
a complete seperate area set apart but non instanced from the rest of the world where people who want to PVP can go when they want to PVP. then you need to make it the focus of the game and not just tacked on as an optional way to gain "phat lootz".
a seperate area is needed because many people like PVP but not when its forced upon them, many will participate in PVP when THEY want to.
I don't think a completely separate area is even necessary. Many players are fine with and even enjoy that there is some PVP danger, even if extremely minimal, in their PVE gameplay.
Oh, I don't think that's true at all.
PvE players don't tend to like or want pvp danger, even if it is minimal. Heck, look at Aion, so many people up in arms because of a small chance of being ganked and a minimal amount of abyss points taken away.
edit: and pvp players tend to be divided up as well. Some people pvp when and where they want and some like the danger of looking over your shoulder.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
No pve or mobs. The only way to advance your character was by killing others and capturing bases.
Character advancement gave you more options and build choices, but a max lvl character was virtually equal in stats to a brand new character.
All of the recent mmos are trying to please everyone by having extensive pve, raids, world pvp, battlegrounds. They tend to do ok in 1 or 2 areas, but world pvp usually suffers due to lack of content and often has unreliable rewards making it less efficient than instanced stuff which is more predictable.
If you want a world pvp game to work, it needs to be focused mainly on that one area, but it cannot have huge stat imbalances because then you have darkfall where noobs have zero chance and the game kills off its own future revenue stream because there is no one to replace the people who max out and then quit.
Less restrictions is how you make world pvp work..world pvp doesn't work when its a system it has to be a natural occurance.
For the most part that's it.
Make it so that players compete for resources, allow them to hold territory and even use that territory by allowing them to levy taxes and grant allies special bonuses.
There's your world pvp right there.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
World pvp has always been my favorite hobby ever since the beta if UO. However true open world pvp has gone the way of the dodo. I have often wondered if it is possible to bring back the glory days of Open World non instanced pvp.
I curently know of only two ways to bring back open world pvp.
1.) FFA(no factions) pvp with objectives. Be it world bosses, a ranking system, armor ect
2. At least three factions with objectives. Be it world bosses, a ranking system, armor ect
Sorry guys two factions do not balance out WOW SWTOR RIFT and countless other games have proven their will always be population inbalances in a two faction game.
I think you need to fix more than just that. AoC for one game have FFA PvP but it ain´t popular. You need to fix the basic mechanics of the game as well. A few suggestions:
* Lower the gap between noobs and vets. This is very important, the gap is a lot higher now than it was in UO and it means that people easily and without fear of retribution can find people that have zero chanse against them and kill them. The gap should be like it is in most MMOs when you just max out your character against a character in the best gear of the game. Now it is more like a tiny insect Vs a tiger.
* Less focus on gear. The more gear focused a game is the less fun is the PvP. Gear should give an advantage but not so huge that someone in full gear automatically wins against someone with crap gear.
* Rewards for players that keep order. Have player run knight orders that gets bonuses for taking out criminals and murderers but who cannot PvP innocent players. Why have city guards or guardtowers when you can let players keep the orders themselves? A carrot beats a stick every time.
* Get rid of the trinity. Trinity combat works great in PvE but it doesn´t work so well in PvP. PvP and PvE needs to be played the same way to make both as fun as they can be.
No instanced PvP on PvP servers. Splitting up the players like that just doesn´t work, WAR proved that.
Besides that I think the DaoC way is the best way to bring back world PvP. 3+ realms that fight over the control of areas and towns. Preferably towns controlled by guilds or guild alliances.
Bringing back world PvP is possible but it takes a lot work. Just adding FFA PvP to a Wow/EQ clone does not work as it have been proven many times. You need a new game with new mechanics and goals. Sandbox or themepark doesn´t really matter but the whole concept will need a lot of innovation to work.
Make it so that players compete for resources, allow them to hold territory and even use that territory by allowing them to levy taxes and grant allies special bonuses.
There's your world pvp right there.
All great ideas but you need game mechanics to back them up.
World pvp has always been my favorite hobby ever since the beta if UO. However true open world pvp has gone the way of the dodo. I have often wondered if it is possible to bring back the glory days of Open World non instanced pvp.
I cuurently know of only two ways to bring back open world pvp.
1.) FFA(no factions) pvp with objectives. Be it world bosses, a ranking system, armor ect
2. At least three factions with objectives. Be it world bosses, a ranking system, armor ect
Sorry guys two factions do not balance out WOW SWTOR RIFT and countless other games have proven their will always be population inbalances in a two faction game.
It is simple to bring back... let Players control the game world, like we do In EvE, make people drop items and have other harsh deathpenelties.. problem solved.. Open world PvP was the only thing we did when I played linage2 the instance wasent invented accept for Castle raids.. and you know what players owned the castles...
You dont need fractions you just need a reason for people to fight in said AREA.. the Reason can be Resources, PRIDE, land or any other thing that one player can take from another and you get lots of Open world pvp...
But sadly I think most gamers prefer the mouse wheel BG for ITEMS.. they are just not interested in fighting for a cause...
ps as Loke666 said Gear cant be a factor.. the less gear dependent combat is the better the open world PvP will be..
as much as i loved World pvp when i hit of level to actually be able to do it. i remember the countless times we would have the other faction in our area 3-4 times higher level than us in a big group.
im sorry but just because you cant kill somone equal to your level doesnt mean that you should pick on the little guys.
dont get me wrong open world pvp is great, sandbox works well since everyone usually sits around the same strength. themepark oh god no. the second levels are added into the game, the most open world pvp will tend to happen with lvl 80's vs lvl 20's because the 80s dont wanna take on 80s. people are too afriad of losing so they face off against people who dont have a chance.
if they can make say a landmass for open world and then a landmass for leveling purposes great, however those 2 things need to stay seperate or else your just gonna end up frustrated when you have 5 lvl 80 waiting for you to kill a lvl 10 rat.
Because i can. I'm Hopeful For Every Game, Until the Fan Boys Attack My Games. Then the Knives Come Out. Logic every gamers worst enemy.
if you want a niche game then go the route of darkfall and make people gankable everywhere. if you want a more mainstream game then you HAVE to go the route of DAOC ....
a complete seperate area set apart but non instanced from the rest of the world where people who want to PVP can go when they want to PVP. then you need to make it the focus of the game and not just tacked on as an optional way to gain "phat lootz".
a seperate area is needed because many people like PVP but not when its forced upon them, many will participate in PVP when THEY want to.
I don't think a completely separate area is even necessary. Many players are fine with and even enjoy that there is some PVP danger, even if extremely minimal, in their PVE gameplay.
I don't buy the 'extemely minimal' bit. If there is non-consensual PvP and another player is in the same area as you, there is a very real danger they will attack you, especially if you are taking on a challenging PvE content and your health is low.
PvP-based games that are trying to attract PvE players by saying that the the chance of PvP is low, are lying. PvP players do not want games with a 'low chance' of PvP which means that the design of the game will have to put the PvE players in harms way to humor the PvPers.
My 2 cents on this
I been playing since the TRS80 days, played all kinds of games. I enjoy MMO's as well as single player games, if you want WORLD PVP to work IMO you need to make it a close fight. By that I mean that the lvl 55 or 90 something with +15 PVP gear and weapons can not even target the lvl 20 player in all white gear. Even a lv 35 in all +15 gear can not attack a lvl 35 in all white gear. In a gear dependant game the gear should be a close match that can go either way depending on SKILL of the palyer. Saying that, after you leave Newbie Isle it is an open world, but not a gank/grief fest. Two faction or Three, no big deal. I do like the idea of controling cities and land for resources. Make crafting mean something, I have a Master Alchemist and Master Armor Smith, I get better drops most of the time. The potions are nice to make and sell pretty well. Spend 3.5 Mil to make a piece of armor and it doesn't proc, sell it to merchand for 100k cause no one will but it they want GOLD armor. Make 5 peices of armor and MAYBE get 1 to proc and sell it for 15 mil, or 500k if no proc. I digress, World PVP needs to be balanced to work, I know that will piss off the 12 yr old twink with mommy's credit card and an open line of credit. Probably some 20 somethings too, but gank/grief fest is no fun unless you're doing the ganking / griefing. Imagine your doing a progresion quest, kill 15 X, you get ganked by a +15 gear enemy, who camps your corpse. You use your entire skill bar doing negligable damage to them and they 2 shot you. You go back to town, run back to your X mosters and promptly get killed again. After several attempts you give up for today. Who is this fun for exactly? The one who knows you have no chance of hurting them, or the one just trying to get the mandatory progression quest done? Just wondering?
A fight where I might win or loose? That's PvP. Ganked or being ganked is not PvP.
WAY 1: Make another copy world without pvp, in the same server, in a similar way uo did with trammel/felluca, but unlike UO the non-PVE world is 100% like the pvp one, not 99.9999%, 100% like the pvp one. Whey they add new areas to pvp world, they add the EXACT same aread to pve one. Also NO instancied zones or duels.
PROS:With this idea the guys that hate full pvp can just go to the pve area. The fact that both areas are 100% equal when the game start, means that the pve player will not get angry because he is losing something from the pvp area and the pvp guys will not comaplain about that he will need to go to pve area to do somethings, but he hate pve only, think it ruins the game..
CONS: You will have less guys on pvp area. But, its better have few guys on that area, than no full pvp area on game. The developer could have made the game only pvp, but many pvp haters would complain ALOT about it instead of just playing other games.
Some pvp guys will go to pve area, to get gear and stats more easily.
Some pvp gamers will see the info about the game without reading it carefully and will think about post-tramel uo, where the worlds are not 100% similar and new world are being added without pvp, and will not want to read more info about the game.
WAY 2: Very similar to way 1, players start at full pvp world. When they die, they go to after death world, this death world is 100% equal to fulll pvp world, but its pve only. You can go back to real world in a easy way.
PROS:Same as WAY 1. Also PVE players will need to start on full pvp world, and some may discover that they in fact like pvp and continue to pvp. You will need to die to go to PVE world, and this will make going to pve world to get items and skills a little harder (but players can just save their things in bank and kill themselfs).
CONS: Same as way 1. You will need to die to go to PVE world, pve will need to actually die one time before they can go to pve world and stay there. Also players some will think this game is pvp only because they will not read the faq or info carefully and so will not play the game.
Also if the game has some sort of permadeath system or skill/ level loss while if you die in real world, the players would need to lose level, skill, or death count to go to pvp world.
If permadeath and skill loss only happen on real world (the pvp one), some pve world players that like those gameplay features, would hate that they would need to play without it to be able to play without pvp, this could be easily fixed by adding those features to both worlds.
WAY 3:Dont add pvp, instead add world RVR (wihout being able to kill players from the same race/team/country), teams, races, countries.... battle against each other. If someone is killing you, a guy from the same race/country/team will help you, in fact he will not help you, he will just play the game and playing the game means that he kills enemy guys, a thing that the guy killing you is. PS: NO INSTANCIED ZONE
PROS: There is no ganking, in this game because every battle will be consensual. You will be forced to help lowbies and friends because of the gameplay concept, because the idea of the game is to kill enemy players.
CONS: Some dont like WORLD PVP. Thats is not a problem, because those guys can just play other games, but they will complain about it.
WAY 4: You can't see other players stats, you cant see other players names. You can maybe create a system were the players need/can to write by himself the name of the other player.
PROS: You can't know if the player is powerfull or not (excluding by looking at gear), so pk players need to be more careful while trying to pk someone.
CONS: Some WILL complain about the fact they can't see other guys names. Those will problably be the ones that hates pvp, and wants to avoid pvp and if they were able to see the enemy name they would be able just see the name and try to avoid pks (they would problably think that a pk not being able to know if you are a good player or not would not make pks think two times before ganking).
1) on leave can attack anything not factional cant be harmed by pvp or factional npc's. (Good for pve'ers).
2) Combatant can attack everything and factional npc's and not be harmed by pvpers. (good for pvers that wish to take part in the war but not the risk of getting their butts handed to them).
3) Special forces can attack anything including other players of opposite faction(s). (Good for those that wish to have it all).
Everyone can share the same world, dont need to seperate the player base. Obviously you can change the names.
Limiting and segregation is not the key to any good mmo. Open world pvp is fun (im a crafter btw), it gives me a chance to do something different once in awhile when i need a break from crafting or harvesting.
And i notie a lot of people like to go out in the world flagged and solo. Get caught with their pants down, then cry the game is a gankfest of sucks. Lot of misconceptions in open world pvp.
Originally posted by OnomasLimiting and segregation is not the key to any good mmo. Open world pvp is fun (im a crafter btw), it gives me a chance to do something different once in awhile when i need a break from crafting or harvesting.
And i notie a lot of people like to go out in the world flagged and solo. Get caught with their pants down, then cry the game is a gankfest of sucks. Lot of misconceptions in open world pvp.
With the 100% equal, multiple worlds I am not limiting people or creating segregation.
Imagine a guy create a full pvp mmorpg, now imagine another guy create a mmorpg with only pve. Some mmorpg gamers will play one game, others gamers will play the other, and some will play both.
My idea is the same thing but inside just one game, in this way both full pvp players and pve games will be able to enjoy the game. Its like 2 games into one.
You could just make the game full pvp and let the "I hate pvp" play all the other games without pvp or with instancied PVP out there, but many of those players would go to forum and complain about it, like they do in darkfall forums or when someone post a idea of a full pvp game here or on another place. Fuck they even complained when a Warhammer online asked what they would think if they created a new server (just one) without instancied battles.
Comments
I am really liking your ideas.
We all can only be who we are Nothing more nothing less.
I don't buy the 'extemely minimal' bit. If there is non-consensual PvP and another player is in the same area as you, there is a very real danger they will attack you, especially if you are taking on a challenging PvE content and your health is low.
PvP-based games that are trying to attract PvE players by saying that the the chance of PvP is low, are lying. PvP players do not want games with a 'low chance' of PvP which means that the design of the game will have to put the PvE players in harms way to humor the PvPers.
Oh, I don't think that's true at all.
PvE players don't tend to like or want pvp danger, even if it is minimal. Heck, look at Aion, so many people up in arms because of a small chance of being ganked and a minimal amount of abyss points taken away.
edit: and pvp players tend to be divided up as well. Some people pvp when and where they want and some like the danger of looking over your shoulder.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
Less restrictions is how you make world pvp work..world pvp doesn't work when its a system it has to be a natural occurance.
The best world pvp game was Planetside 1.
No pve or mobs. The only way to advance your character was by killing others and capturing bases.
Character advancement gave you more options and build choices, but a max lvl character was virtually equal in stats to a brand new character.
All of the recent mmos are trying to please everyone by having extensive pve, raids, world pvp, battlegrounds. They tend to do ok in 1 or 2 areas, but world pvp usually suffers due to lack of content and often has unreliable rewards making it less efficient than instanced stuff which is more predictable.
If you want a world pvp game to work, it needs to be focused mainly on that one area, but it cannot have huge stat imbalances because then you have darkfall where noobs have zero chance and the game kills off its own future revenue stream because there is no one to replace the people who max out and then quit.
For the most part that's it.
Make it so that players compete for resources, allow them to hold territory and even use that territory by allowing them to levy taxes and grant allies special bonuses.
There's your world pvp right there.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
I think you need to fix more than just that. AoC for one game have FFA PvP but it ain´t popular. You need to fix the basic mechanics of the game as well. A few suggestions:
* Lower the gap between noobs and vets. This is very important, the gap is a lot higher now than it was in UO and it means that people easily and without fear of retribution can find people that have zero chanse against them and kill them. The gap should be like it is in most MMOs when you just max out your character against a character in the best gear of the game. Now it is more like a tiny insect Vs a tiger.
* Less focus on gear. The more gear focused a game is the less fun is the PvP. Gear should give an advantage but not so huge that someone in full gear automatically wins against someone with crap gear.
* Rewards for players that keep order. Have player run knight orders that gets bonuses for taking out criminals and murderers but who cannot PvP innocent players. Why have city guards or guardtowers when you can let players keep the orders themselves? A carrot beats a stick every time.
* Get rid of the trinity. Trinity combat works great in PvE but it doesn´t work so well in PvP. PvP and PvE needs to be played the same way to make both as fun as they can be.
No instanced PvP on PvP servers. Splitting up the players like that just doesn´t work, WAR proved that.
Besides that I think the DaoC way is the best way to bring back world PvP. 3+ realms that fight over the control of areas and towns. Preferably towns controlled by guilds or guild alliances.
Bringing back world PvP is possible but it takes a lot work. Just adding FFA PvP to a Wow/EQ clone does not work as it have been proven many times. You need a new game with new mechanics and goals. Sandbox or themepark doesn´t really matter but the whole concept will need a lot of innovation to work.
All great ideas but you need game mechanics to back them up.
Here's an easy one: Don't have instanced PvP.
I think you'd have to go back in time, back when people didn't need instant gratification.
It is simple to bring back... let Players control the game world, like we do In EvE, make people drop items and have other harsh deathpenelties.. problem solved.. Open world PvP was the only thing we did when I played linage2 the instance wasent invented accept for Castle raids.. and you know what players owned the castles...
You dont need fractions you just need a reason for people to fight in said AREA.. the Reason can be Resources, PRIDE, land or any other thing that one player can take from another and you get lots of Open world pvp...
But sadly I think most gamers prefer the mouse wheel BG for ITEMS.. they are just not interested in fighting for a cause...
ps as Loke666 said Gear cant be a factor.. the less gear dependent combat is the better the open world PvP will be..
I wanted to create a open debate about world pvp and I want to say thank you to the community for their feedback.
I come away with alot of useful ideas and some very constructive feedback, so once again thank you and please keep it comming.
We all can only be who we are Nothing more nothing less.
Don't fix what is not broken.
You can obsessed with world pvp all you want. There are a lot of players who don't want it.
as much as i loved World pvp when i hit of level to actually be able to do it. i remember the countless times we would have the other faction in our area 3-4 times higher level than us in a big group.
im sorry but just because you cant kill somone equal to your level doesnt mean that you should pick on the little guys.
dont get me wrong open world pvp is great, sandbox works well since everyone usually sits around the same strength. themepark oh god no. the second levels are added into the game, the most open world pvp will tend to happen with lvl 80's vs lvl 20's because the 80s dont wanna take on 80s. people are too afriad of losing so they face off against people who dont have a chance.
if they can make say a landmass for open world and then a landmass for leveling purposes great, however those 2 things need to stay seperate or else your just gonna end up frustrated when you have 5 lvl 80 waiting for you to kill a lvl 10 rat.
Because i can.
I'm Hopeful For Every Game, Until the Fan Boys Attack My Games. Then the Knives Come Out.
Logic every gamers worst enemy.
copy DAOC - that worked
or
copy EVE - that worked
or
copy AC darktide - that worked
or
come up with something completley new
but
don't copy WOW - that doesn't work
My 2 cents on this
I been playing since the TRS80 days, played all kinds of games. I enjoy MMO's as well as single player games, if you want WORLD PVP to work IMO you need to make it a close fight. By that I mean that the lvl 55 or 90 something with +15 PVP gear and weapons can not even target the lvl 20 player in all white gear. Even a lv 35 in all +15 gear can not attack a lvl 35 in all white gear. In a gear dependant game the gear should be a close match that can go either way depending on SKILL of the palyer. Saying that, after you leave Newbie Isle it is an open world, but not a gank/grief fest. Two faction or Three, no big deal. I do like the idea of controling cities and land for resources. Make crafting mean something, I have a Master Alchemist and Master Armor Smith, I get better drops most of the time. The potions are nice to make and sell pretty well. Spend 3.5 Mil to make a piece of armor and it doesn't proc, sell it to merchand for 100k cause no one will but it they want GOLD armor. Make 5 peices of armor and MAYBE get 1 to proc and sell it for 15 mil, or 500k if no proc. I digress, World PVP needs to be balanced to work, I know that will piss off the 12 yr old twink with mommy's credit card and an open line of credit. Probably some 20 somethings too, but gank/grief fest is no fun unless you're doing the ganking / griefing. Imagine your doing a progresion quest, kill 15 X, you get ganked by a +15 gear enemy, who camps your corpse. You use your entire skill bar doing negligable damage to them and they 2 shot you. You go back to town, run back to your X mosters and promptly get killed again. After several attempts you give up for today. Who is this fun for exactly? The one who knows you have no chance of hurting them, or the one just trying to get the mandatory progression quest done? Just wondering?
A fight where I might win or loose? That's PvP. Ganked or being ganked is not PvP.
Maybe some ways to make it work.
WAY 1: Make another copy world without pvp, in the same server, in a similar way uo did with trammel/felluca, but unlike UO the non-PVE world is 100% like the pvp one, not 99.9999%, 100% like the pvp one. Whey they add new areas to pvp world, they add the EXACT same aread to pve one. Also NO instancied zones or duels.
PROS:With this idea the guys that hate full pvp can just go to the pve area. The fact that both areas are 100% equal when the game start, means that the pve player will not get angry because he is losing something from the pvp area and the pvp guys will not comaplain about that he will need to go to pve area to do somethings, but he hate pve only, think it ruins the game..
CONS: You will have less guys on pvp area. But, its better have few guys on that area, than no full pvp area on game. The developer could have made the game only pvp, but many pvp haters would complain ALOT about it instead of just playing other games.
Some pvp guys will go to pve area, to get gear and stats more easily.
Some pvp gamers will see the info about the game without reading it carefully and will think about post-tramel uo, where the worlds are not 100% similar and new world are being added without pvp, and will not want to read more info about the game.
WAY 2: Very similar to way 1, players start at full pvp world. When they die, they go to after death world, this death world is 100% equal to fulll pvp world, but its pve only. You can go back to real world in a easy way.
PROS:Same as WAY 1. Also PVE players will need to start on full pvp world, and some may discover that they in fact like pvp and continue to pvp. You will need to die to go to PVE world, and this will make going to pve world to get items and skills a little harder (but players can just save their things in bank and kill themselfs).
CONS: Same as way 1. You will need to die to go to PVE world, pve will need to actually die one time before they can go to pve world and stay there. Also players some will think this game is pvp only because they will not read the faq or info carefully and so will not play the game.
Also if the game has some sort of permadeath system or skill/ level loss while if you die in real world, the players would need to lose level, skill, or death count to go to pvp world.
If permadeath and skill loss only happen on real world (the pvp one), some pve world players that like those gameplay features, would hate that they would need to play without it to be able to play without pvp, this could be easily fixed by adding those features to both worlds.
WAY 3:Dont add pvp, instead add world RVR (wihout being able to kill players from the same race/team/country), teams, races, countries.... battle against each other. If someone is killing you, a guy from the same race/country/team will help you, in fact he will not help you, he will just play the game and playing the game means that he kills enemy guys, a thing that the guy killing you is. PS: NO INSTANCIED ZONE
PROS: There is no ganking, in this game because every battle will be consensual. You will be forced to help lowbies and friends because of the gameplay concept, because the idea of the game is to kill enemy players.
CONS: Some dont like WORLD PVP. Thats is not a problem, because those guys can just play other games, but they will complain about it.
WAY 4: You can't see other players stats, you cant see other players names. You can maybe create a system were the players need/can to write by himself the name of the other player.
PROS: You can't know if the player is powerfull or not (excluding by looking at gear), so pk players need to be more careful while trying to pk someone.
CONS: Some WILL complain about the fact they can't see other guys names. Those will problably be the ones that hates pvp, and wants to avoid pvp and if they were able to see the enemy name they would be able just see the name and try to avoid pks (they would problably think that a pk not being able to know if you are a good player or not would not make pks think two times before ganking).
Easier solution could be copied from SWG.
Same would but three stages in game.
1) on leave can attack anything not factional cant be harmed by pvp or factional npc's. (Good for pve'ers).
2) Combatant can attack everything and factional npc's and not be harmed by pvpers. (good for pvers that wish to take part in the war but not the risk of getting their butts handed to them).
3) Special forces can attack anything including other players of opposite faction(s). (Good for those that wish to have it all).
Everyone can share the same world, dont need to seperate the player base. Obviously you can change the names.
Limiting and segregation is not the key to any good mmo. Open world pvp is fun (im a crafter btw), it gives me a chance to do something different once in awhile when i need a break from crafting or harvesting.
And i notie a lot of people like to go out in the world flagged and solo. Get caught with their pants down, then cry the game is a gankfest of sucks. Lot of misconceptions in open world pvp.
With the 100% equal, multiple worlds I am not limiting people or creating segregation.
Imagine a guy create a full pvp mmorpg, now imagine another guy create a mmorpg with only pve. Some mmorpg gamers will play one game, others gamers will play the other, and some will play both.
My idea is the same thing but inside just one game, in this way both full pvp players and pve games will be able to enjoy the game. Its like 2 games into one.
You could just make the game full pvp and let the "I hate pvp" play all the other games without pvp or with instancied PVP out there, but many of those players would go to forum and complain about it, like they do in darkfall forums or when someone post a idea of a full pvp game here or on another place. Fuck they even complained when a Warhammer online asked what they would think if they created a new server (just one) without instancied battles.