Where will RP move????

[starhunterceo]

See you Sunday!

[Urzra]

I've never understood how you can have any meaningful RP on a PVP server. The two seem opposed. RPers want content and character interaction aside from combat, while PVPers want bodycount, bragging, and KDR scores. The few times I've been involved in RP-PVP, it's always been the case the people trying to RP were used as target practice, or the RP itself was only an excuse to set up a PVP battle (i.e. if the RP didn't involve everyone ending up in a PVP fight, it had no worth).

I admit to thinking of transferring to Fury just to see what going around and hack-and-slashing every moment and everyone you meet might be like, but as I don't get a free transfer back if I don't like it, and as I'm a RPer first and foremost, I don't think I'll be leaving Crom anytime soon.

Good luck for those that do, though. Hope it works! The game only gets better with RP.

[Kurt2013]

It gives you more opportunities for example. There are many types of rp and especially how people solve conflicts...(some use a test of wits and write what they intend, letting the other decide, if done well...others do it without intending, but godemoting, others use dices and others use ingame mechanics).

Using ingame mechanics is questionable imo, since it limits you a lot (like no lvl16 warrior will defeat a lvl74 and seriously: you have to grind to RP???) and it can break the atmosphere easily (magic, hopbunnies, drama). But it still has its uses, if both sides agree upon terms up front, for example you can have ICly duels for ascension, staged fights between players or pets and take bets etc.. All this you can not really do in a pure pve server.

[-Numi-]

I've never understood how you can have any meaningful RP on a PVP server. The two seem opposed. RPers want content and character interaction aside from combat, while PVPers want bodycount, bragging, and KDR scores. The few times I've been involved in RP-PVP, it's always been the case the people trying to RP were used as target practice, or the RP itself was only an excuse to set up a PVP battle (i.e. if the RP didn't involve everyone ending up in a PVP fight, it had no worth).

I admit to thinking of transferring to Fury just to see what going around and hack-and-slashing every moment and everyone you meet might be like, but as I don't get a free transfer back if I don't like it, and as I'm a RPer first and foremost, I don't think I'll be leaving Crom anytime soon.

Good luck for those that do, though. Hope it works! The game only gets better with RP.

There are those that enjoy all the content of the game, RP, PVE and PVP and those people can have great and meaningful, involving RP stories that not always need to include fights. As far as RP-PVP is concerned, we organised and participated in some great events, a couple of examples: a tournament in the honor of a Stygian couple that just got engaged, a rescue party for someone who's hiding place was discovered by opponents (both parties had fighting and non fighting RPers, reporting back the results of fights and taking care of the wounded was part of the story), bringing a princess through bandit ridden territory (the princess not making things easy by insisting she wants to see some of the countryside )Cimmerian clans fighting each other, an adventure group finding themselves in a bandit hideout with the bandits returning, caravans with valuable goods traveling through Hyboria and getting raided by groups hired by competitors etc Of course you could emote all these fights, but it's great fun, if organised well, to use game mechanics for them. And like Kurt said, there are many more ways to use it.

So as far as I'm concerned they are far from mutually exclusive and I hope to keep having great RP and RP-PVP on Fury

[Urzra]

It gives you more opportunities for example. There are many types of rp and especially how people solve conflicts...(some use a test of wits and write what they intend, letting the other decide, if done well...others do it without intending, but godemoting, others use dices and others use ingame mechanics).

Using ingame mechanics is questionable imo, since it limits you a lot (like no lvl16 warrior will defeat a lvl74 and seriously: you have to grind to RP???) and it can break the atmosphere easily (magic, hopbunnies, drama). But it still has its uses, if both sides agree upon terms up front, for example you can have ICly duels for ascension, staged fights between players or pets and take bets etc.. All this you can not really do in a pure pve server.

Hmmm...I'd have thought that organized PVP is exactly what you could do on a PVE server, since you have to organize in order to have the PVP, whereas agreement between sides is anything but needed on a PVP server when anyone can walk up and grief any RP you might be trying to do anytime they feel like it, and to the winds with any agreement you might have with anyone (as happened in the RP-PVP events I have attended in PVP areas on the PVE servers).

I admit I haven't tried open-world PVP in AoC (I have been in a few in other games), but as the penalty for electing to try it is quite steep (loss of one of my two lvl 80s), it's hard for me to see the point. It seems to me that the only thing open-world PVP allows is unrestricted griefing and encouragement to avoid RP in favor of combat.

Still, I grant that everyone has their own preferences as to how they like to play. It simply seems rather contrary to go to a PVP server if your intent is to RP, because it is specifically set up to allow the very things that work against holding RP. It seems like all the RP events people have listed in response to my post were all designed to result in fighting, so I don't see much to contradict my impressions.

[-Numi-]

Of course RP-PVP events are designed to result in some fighting between at least some of the participants, otherwise they would just be RP events, of which we have plenty as well. Our RP-PVP events were usually the result of long stories, months of RP events without a single fight. I merely listed them to show that RP-PVP is not just lets all fight, but that it's a joining of two parts of the game, just like doing RP-PVE events, where you make an IC dungeon run with a story to support it and loads of RP before, during and after is joining two parts. If it doesn't suit people, that's fine, but it's in no way more or less RP than what you prefer

[Urzra]

Of course RP-PVP events are designed to result in some fighting between at least some of the participants, otherwise they would just be RP events, of which we have plenty as well. Our RP-PVP events were usually the result of long stories, months of RP events without a single fight. I merely listed them to show that RP-PVP is not just lets all fight, but that it's a joining of two parts of the game, just like doing RP-PVE events, where you make an IC dungeon run with a story to support it and loads of RP before, during and after is joining two parts. If it doesn't suit people, that's fine, but it's in no way more or less RP than what you prefer

Hmmm. I see what you are saying. I don't see how you can have a lot of non-fighting RP on a server where people are dedicated to attacking anything that moves (or doesn't) and the situation encourages griefing, but I suppose that may just be my own experience with PVP in AoC talking. Certainly, I've never seen any such effort work, and it seems counter-intuitive that any serious RP could exist in a PVP server environment. If you somehow make that possible, than I'm not one to contradict the facts.

Certainly, I applaud anyone who can promote RP in the game, given how many players seem to make it their purpose to run RPers out of the game. Good luck in your efforts!

[Kurt2013]

Just as an example:

When we rp'd an announced event in open pvp, we kept a couple of OOC guards around...even some low levels for dirty tactics to drive off anyone disrupting the event. And it actually worked...the disruption was not worse, than on a pve server where you can do nothing against a spellweaving atmosphere breaking mage who keeps shouting "lolz! lolz! lolz!" Also you grouped up and ressed people if they were ganked, so the disruption was limited and temporarily.

A peaceful example:
Some like to act out things as close on the screen as emoted. So, if you have pvp enabled you can knock back (including animation), stun or fear people as additional "emotes".

[Urzra]

Just as an example:

When we rp'd an announced event in open pvp, we kept a couple of OOC guards around...even some low levels for dirty tactics to drive off anyone disrupting the event. And it actually worked...the disruption was not worse, than on a pve server where you can do nothing against a spellweaving atmosphere breaking mage who keeps shouting "lolz! lolz! lolz!" Also you grouped up and ressed people if they were ganked, so the disruption was limited and temporarily.

A peaceful example:
Some like to act out things as close on the screen as emoted. So, if you have pvp enabled you can knock back (including animation), stun or fear people as additional "emotes".

That may be fine for highly-organized events where you have a large enough number of people uninterested in RP that you can keep enough non-RP guards standing around. But how does that work for open-world and small-group RP (say 3 people)? Granted, you can't kill a griefer on a PVE server, but at the same time, they cannot mob up and wipe you out as well as grief you, so it does have some additional safeguards in place. All they get from interfering is a waste of their time, as opposed to a PVP server where they are actually rewarded every time they disrupt you.

As I said, my experience with this kind of RP is probably coloring my attempt to see how it could work and others obviously have gotten something together, as well it may just be my own preferences for less-organized RP encounters. I'll defer to those who enjoy PVP with their RP that they can make it work, but for those who don't necessarily want PVP every time they RP, it seems going to a PVP server isn't what comes to mind as a good idea.

[-Numi-]

I suck at pvp and I seldom pvp during RP, I enjoy it a lot and do both organised and non organised RP and all that on a pvp server, because really, it's not that big a deal. A lot of non RPers still respect RP and people who enjoy both are great fun to RP with. I wouldn't want it any other way