Greetings, all!
No, I didn't read this whole thread, just a page every ten pages to try and get a feeling for it.
So, here's my feeling for it:
If you want to unite the PvP and PvE people all in one grand game, with no barriers and no borders between zones and no discrimination of content, the answer is simple--or seems so to me.
Flags.
You like PvP, you flag yourself as PvP. You don't, you don't--and you are immune in every way, shape, and form from PvP. Everybody lives in the same zone, everybody has the same content, those who like pvP can; those who don't can avoid it completely.
Now. I'm not a developer, not a games theory specialist, not an expert of any kind, so it's possible that this has been discussed to death elsewhere and, for legitimate reasons, just won't work. If so, mea culpa--it still seems like a workable idea to me.
Oh, and no, it's not original with me. As I recall, the original EQ had exactly that system--if you wanted to PvP, you could, on any server in the game, simply by raising your flag. And I never once heard anyone in that game complain that that system did not work for them.
As a side comment, my personal 2 inf on PvP is simple, and has been stated elsewhere in this very thread: being ganked is not fun. People who find ganking other people fun disturb me. Being ganked is, by my definition, harassment if it happens more than once in a one-hour period by the same parties and to the same parties. The instant I can set the number and type of PvPrs that are allowed to attack me at any given time will be the same instant that I develop even a mild interest in PvP.
My only argument with PvP in this game is a simple one and based on one aspect of play: badges. I have 3 50s, 4 or 5 40s, any number of 20s and 30s, and teens without end (I just today recieved my 36th month vet reward). I have something like 7 slots total across all the servers that are still unused. In short, I have played this game start to finish (hero side) more than once, and the ONLY time I have ever set foot in a PvP zone is for badges.
PvE does not, and never has, bored me for more than a day or so at a time.
If the Devs took all PvE badges (exploration, kill X, time spent) out of the PvP zones, I would have absolutely no opinion on PvP in this game whatever, because it would not effect me. As long as this is not the case, as long as I have no choice but to enter PvP zones in order to do PvE activities, PvP will concern me however unwillingly.
Summing up, if you want to stop hearing from me and people like me in terms of PvP comments, the fix seems simple. Flags and/or remove any incentive (aside from PvP itself) for people to even think about going into PvP zones.
Ll
