Player vs. Crusade
The World of Warcraft expansion - The Burning Crusade along with careful and precise prodding from a friend have convinced me to give the MMORPG another shot. Final Fantasy XI will always be my first love, but my play style there is extremely casual and I have not really advanced very quickly. WoW on the other hand, I have been tearing through, racing my spiffy new Blood Elf Paladin to 70, where my friend insists "Is where the game really gets started". The game has consumed quite a good deal of my time, and repaid me with moderate enjoyment. As of this writing I sit at level 54 with about 10 days played (that's 240 hours - yikes!). The game is largely unchanged from the first time I gave it a casual effort shortly after it's release in the winter of 2004.
One of the main differences between this and the first time I played WoW is that I'm now playing on a "PvP" (Player vs. Player) server as opposed to a "PvE" (Player vs. Environment) server. The player community on any given server is divided into two opposing sides - the Horde and Alliance. Blizzard (the makers of WoW) have designed the game to encourage conflict between these two sides - it is not possible to provide help directly to the other side, nor is it possible to directly communicate with them. On a PvE server, the players on the other side cannot attack you without your consent in most situations. On a PvP server they can and often do.
The character that I play is on the Horde side of the warring factions. The Horde is comprised of all of the races that would traditionally be though of as "bad guys". You have trolls, zombies (undead), orcs, minotar (tauren) etc... Blizzard has taken measures to de-demonize these races by crafting sympathetic back stories. The Alliance, on the other hand, has all of the traditionally heroic races - humans, dwarves, elves, gnomes etc...
The lack of communication between sides makes it difficult to tell for certain what the motivation is, but the Alliance players seem to be convinced that they are the "good guys" in this fantasy war. This is evident by the fact that on average, the Alliance players outnumber the Horde players by something like 4 to 1; the Alliance players will attack without provocation, but they will not attack unless the odds are obscenely in their own favor.
Of the time I have spent in the game, I have only initiated PvP one time and that was against a player 4 levels above me - I had very little chance of defeating him. Of the Alliance that have attacked me, none were less than two levels above me, except when a group decided to attack me.
My own PvP experience may not be indicative of the norm, but I have been assured by numerous fellow Horde players that it is.
It is no mistake that this creates a hostile environment among the players - there is nothing more annoying about getting killed in a video game than getting killed by another player being arbitrarily antagonistic. It will either challenge you to improve your skills or make you want to kill someone in real life - possibly both.
The switch to PvP has very little to do with the Burning Crusade itself - PvP servers have been around since the beginning, but for me it has been part of the new experience.
One of the main differences between this and the first time I played WoW is that I'm now playing on a "PvP" (Player vs. Player) server as opposed to a "PvE" (Player vs. Environment) server. The player community on any given server is divided into two opposing sides - the Horde and Alliance. Blizzard (the makers of WoW) have designed the game to encourage conflict between these two sides - it is not possible to provide help directly to the other side, nor is it possible to directly communicate with them. On a PvE server, the players on the other side cannot attack you without your consent in most situations. On a PvP server they can and often do.
The character that I play is on the Horde side of the warring factions. The Horde is comprised of all of the races that would traditionally be though of as "bad guys". You have trolls, zombies (undead), orcs, minotar (tauren) etc... Blizzard has taken measures to de-demonize these races by crafting sympathetic back stories. The Alliance, on the other hand, has all of the traditionally heroic races - humans, dwarves, elves, gnomes etc...
The lack of communication between sides makes it difficult to tell for certain what the motivation is, but the Alliance players seem to be convinced that they are the "good guys" in this fantasy war. This is evident by the fact that on average, the Alliance players outnumber the Horde players by something like 4 to 1; the Alliance players will attack without provocation, but they will not attack unless the odds are obscenely in their own favor.
Of the time I have spent in the game, I have only initiated PvP one time and that was against a player 4 levels above me - I had very little chance of defeating him. Of the Alliance that have attacked me, none were less than two levels above me, except when a group decided to attack me.
My own PvP experience may not be indicative of the norm, but I have been assured by numerous fellow Horde players that it is.
It is no mistake that this creates a hostile environment among the players - there is nothing more annoying about getting killed in a video game than getting killed by another player being arbitrarily antagonistic. It will either challenge you to improve your skills or make you want to kill someone in real life - possibly both.
The switch to PvP has very little to do with the Burning Crusade itself - PvP servers have been around since the beginning, but for me it has been part of the new experience.
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