Well, your example is for a game that's designed from the start to be based around PVP. I'm not entirely opposed to PVP in games, but FFXIV's mechanics and lore stress working together, open world PVP would feel out of place. In a game like Dark Souls however, I accept and welcome PVP as a challenge because it fits in a world where everyone is a backstabbing scumbag.

In addition, I'm guessing DC didn't have you lose gear on death? My biggest issue here is with the open world PVP AND looting that the OP suggested. One or the other may be fine, but not both. In a game with open world PVP, the death penalty has to not be so harsh as to set you back weeks or months if you die. Dark Souls is a good example of that, as I lose my humanity and risk losing my souls, but usually nothing I can't get back in a few hours of grinding. As for a game with looting, one should keep it only to certain areas. Back when I played RuneScape, I knew that you didn't enter the Wilderness with anything you weren't prepared to lose, and if you did lose stuff up there you could work on recouping your losses in the other areas before giving it another shot. When you combine both of them, death is likely to become a humiliation conga where you're knocked back to square one AND deprived of any opportunity to work your way back up. Especially once there's established players who can and will just pile on newbies for the lulz.