PvP

Okay, I'm sure you have all seen the PvP poll on the official forums. Quylein the Mage also ably covered the subject already. I'll just add a few comments.

One thing I've learned at work is that you never give your clients a set date for the completion of a project unless you have to. Sometimes things just take longer than you expect no matter hard you try. While SOE doesn't give an exact date, saying that a new PvP system will come "in the near future" is a mistake in my opinion. It's just setting an unnecessary and arbitrary time deadline for yourself.

And I hope they take the time to get it right. I honestly can't say if PvP is balanced right now because I haven't dueled or played in the Arena enough. But I find it hard to believe it's perfectly balanced at this point. I would rather see the new PvP go live as balanced as possible rather than see SOE introduce a system and then have to do major revamps and tweaks.

It is also difficult for people to make a choice in a poll when they have so little information to go on about how the system will work and how it will effect the usual gameplay.

The truth is that some PvP is on every server now. It's just limited to dueling and the Arena. I hope SOE doesn't consider the Arena a failed experiment on the basis of how many people are using it at this time. Sure, it seemed pretty dead the few times I have been there. But there's a reason for this. The expansion recently came out and people are busy leveling and doing quests. I bet that when more people reach 60 the Arena will become more popular.

I'd also like to remind SOE that the people who vote on a forums poll may not accurately represent the majority of the player base.

Okay, on to the issue at hand. I don't think SOE should introduce widespread PvP onto existing servers. EQII is, at heart, a PvE game, and it was billed as such. It would be unfair to bother those who prefer PvE with widespread PvP style play.

Would I like a PvP ruleset server? Of course. More options are always good and I would love to play the game in a different way. I'm not saying I would abandon my main or transfer to a PvP server. But, I can guarantee that the day the PvP Server opens, I will roll an alt there.

I don't really see any negatives. Okay, I know the one argument people will hit me with is that SOE should focus their resources on other aspects of gameplay. But that argument is unfair and could be applied to any new feature introduced to the game. Yes, SOE has to continually work on and improve the current game. If you read my Community Summit coverage you will know they are quite focused on making the new player experience better. And that's just one example. They are not going to stop fixing bugs just to introduce PvP. People are assigned to work on different aspects of the game. Adding new features is a necessity for MMO companies.

I would also like to remind people that the poll does not necessarily mean open PvP warfare in the manner people assume. I have absolutely no idea what the "new PvP system" entails. It might not be as far-ranging as we think. Perhaps there will only be PvP in certain limited zones or under certain conditions. We'll just have to wait and see on this one. Is it the near future yet?