Would PvP destroy the camaraderie of FFXIV

[Kaedan]

With the glut of PvP MMOs out there at the moment, FFXIV is filling a very important niche. Any direction you look you can find an MMO with open world PvP... but it's a lot harder to find a pure PvE MMO.

I think everyone would be fine with a competitive sport-type PvP like Ballista in FFXI. But once you start talking about Arenas, there's where a large split forms. And whether or not that split happens depends upon how the arena is implemented.

If the Arena is implemented in a way that PvP skills and balance are kept separate from PvE, then that works fine. Essentially, once you enter an Arena area, you change to "PvP mode". The way your skills and powers interact with other players changes. But once you leave, it reverts back to "normal". This way, PvP never negatively effects PvE, and I believe most people would be fine with this.

It's when there isn't any separation between PvP and PvE that things get nasty. PvPers b**** and moan that "so and so is OP" and start demanding class changes to "balance" the PvP. And that inevitably negatively effects PvE as well.

Which brings us to Open world PvP. You will never see it in FFXI or FFXIV. Why? Because it doesn't make sense for the MMO. The concept is cooperation and teamwork to fight against the greater forces of evil seeking to destroy/oppress. You can't have cooperation and teamwork if everyone is constantly ganking each other. And while the races have their prejudices and dislikes of one another, they are not openly hostile to one another and there aren't any current wars. It just wouldn't make sense.

[gifthorse]

Which brings us to Open world PvP. You will never see it in FFXI or FFXIV. Why? Because it doesn't make sense for the MMO. The concept is cooperation and teamwork to fight against the greater forces of evil seeking to destroy/oppress. You can't have cooperation and teamwork if everyone is constantly ganking each other. And while the races have their prejudices and dislikes of one another, they are not openly hostile to one another and there aren't any current wars. It just wouldn't make sense.

Or so you think. It's perfectly possible to have a cooperative and teamwork-oriented game even in the face of open world PvP, especially if the MMO has systems in place to punish senseless Pkers. It's about finding a good balance. Many game-improving systems only work on the basis of PvP. For example, player-built cities can't really function without including possible destruction of said housing. Ubran sprawl becomes a problem.

Anyways, in case you haven't noticed, there are already NPCs which are the playable races and which are "forces of evil" as you put it: The Garlean Empire, rogues, bandits, pirates, etc. So PvP actually already makes sense within the lore of the game world.

And you don't need a war to have PvP. You don't need a game tellling you what side youre on. You just make the choice yourself of whether you want to kill someone or not. It's called freedom.

Providing there are limiting factors to senseless ganking, there could still be the elements of cooperation and teamwork in FFXIV even if it had OWPvP. In fact, PKers could just be another "force of evil" for players to band against.

The upcoming game ArcheAge has a system where if players rack up enough murder-counts they can be imprisoned in a jail after their capture and are required to do menial jobs until they are released. So in that system, PKing is definitely not encouraged. Also, Pkers aren't allowed access to cities and towns without facing the arm of the law.

Can you imagine how difficult it would be to play FFXIV as a PKer if you weren't allowed access to the 3 main cities without being attacked by guards or other players?

Mortal Online had a system where red-players (Pkers) could be killed by anyone without becoming Pkers themselves. So there was honor in being a anti-PKer and no punishment.

And anyway, there's no reason SE can't open different servers with different rule-sets for both types of players: PvPers and PvEers alike.

[Rowyne]

With the glut of PvP MMOs out there at the moment, FFXIV is filling a very important niche. Any direction you look you can find an MMO with open world PvP... but it's a lot harder to find a pure PvE MMO.

Agreed. That's one reason I'm here. I want to get away from PvP and get back to PvE with a focus on cooperation.

If world PvP was implemented, this would no longer be a game I'm interested in playing.

The point is moot. Yoshi-P said there will be no PKing. And if there will be no separate servers for region, platform or playstyle (such as RP), I seriously doubt a PvP server will happen, either.