If the abbreviated title isnt enough to give you a nose bleed the topic may be. One of the hottest topics raging across the Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventure (AoC) official forums is that of the Role-play (RP) Player vs Environment (PvE) types wanting their own server to enjoy a Role-play atmosphere without the fear or worry of having a level 50 come and gank them while they are sight seeing in Hyboria. The loudest opposition to this band of Role-players is not that of another play-style, but that of more Role-players.
You would think with over 500,000 members already registered and showing interest in AoC that there would be plenty of people to spread among the soon to be many servers. What would be the harm in giving Role-players a PvE server? To be honest I cant think of anything, but there are a few on the official AoC forums who feel differently and want to have things established in such a way that the only RP server is that of the PvP rule-set.
Many people opposing the launch of a RP-PvE server believe that you cant Role-play without the looming threat of attack around every corner. While the threat of random attacks from other players may add a layer of immersion to the game for some, it can be a quick turn off for others. Believe it or not, there are a lot of people who Role-play without a PvP element lurking over head. Why is that you ask? Simple, there is more to Role-playing a character than having the ability to smite down the person walking by you at a moments notice.
To be fair lets examine some of the arguments for and against this topic discussed in this this thread. In this discussion Komar argues that Role-playing on a PvP server is the way to go. Though later in the thread he does state he is not against the idea of a RP-PvE server.
If you are really an RPer, an RP PvP server should be exactly what you were looking for. One of the largest issues with RP servers is those who show up and simply want to heckle the RPers. On a PvP server the community can actually do something about it...even in an RP style. Komar
Source Post can be viewed here.
Darkmoone feels this way about RP-PvE servers
You see the truth of the matter is that these so called RP-PvEr's take it personal when their pixelated character dies. They don't like to be ganked or griefed. They want to pay 15 a month for what amounts to a single player adventure game. They're excuse is that somehow because I like to bash heads in that Im in some way inferior to their intellect because they want to "explore" the game. I witnessed it in Dark Age OF Camelot for 3 years. Our frontier keeps would be raided and our relics stolen while the RP-PvEr's refused to help because they would rather sit in town participating in crafting competitions. -Darkmoone
Source Post can be viewed here.
Not everyone agrees with the views shared by these two and many others. There are those in support of the RP-PvE server set that have quite the opposite opinion of those protesting this server type. Some even feel the Role-play experience is deeper on a PvE server since you can focus on the elements you choose to without having to worry about someone sticking a knife in your back midway through.
Zealuu makes an argument about the choice of play-style involved with RP-PvE.
It's not "every type of playstyle", it's "roleplayers who are willing to be griefed by kids", and "roleplayers who are not willing to be griefed by kids". By offering fewer selections, you alienate that part of the playerbase who would appreciate selection x. When the selection in question is one that it would be stupidly easy to implement, it makes absolutely no sense to not have them. Zealuu
Source Post can be viewed here.
Khandrak feels there is no reason not to implement a RP-PvE server with an understanding that play-styles vary
Heaven forbid that anyone RPs in a different way than someone else. Why shouldn't there be an RP-PvE server? Because the RP on those servers would be slightly different than your idea of RP? So what? People are different, and have different preferences and interests. That's why they make the option. It's not something that requires a great amount of effort on FC's part, but it makes people happy. - Khandrak
Source Post can be viewed here.
This thread has been in a heated discussion for weeks and it has some great points when you sift through the incessant whining, stereotyping, and generalization posts. While each side puts up a good argument for their view, I can only draw one conclusion. There is no true reason that a RP-PvE server cant be introduced at launch. For years people have played on RP-PvE servers in many Massively Multi-player Online Games (MMOG) long before this one. Everquest, Everquest 2, Dark Age of Camelot, World of Warcraft, and Vanguard all made and still make use of RP based PvE servers. There are more but we will stop there. Some will argue that this isnt one of those games and they would be correct. However, the players that are coming to this game will be comprised largely of veteran players from past games, and many from one of these games. Role-players have thrived and grown on RP-PvE servers for years.
MMOGs thrive on having a diverse player-base. The more people and play-styles they can accommodate, the better off the game will be. Choice is the key to a successful MMOG and if Funcom chooses to accomodate those seeking a RP-PvE server they will only benefit from having another play-style supported. The more people AoC can accommodate, the more people will play it, and the more people that play it will generate more revenue for Funcom. When that happens, all the players benefit as Funcom will have more revenue to invest in newer content and improving the existing world of Hyboria.
This will eventually come down to one of two things happening. Either Funcom will provide a RP-PvE server for the Role-players who prefer the PvE setting with the option of Border Kingdom PvP or those players will simply name an unofficial Role-play PvE server at launch and migrate there. In the grand scheme of things, it wouldn't be too hard for Funcom to simply stick a RP tag at the front of one of their PvE servers. I expect this is more likely to occur than not, but time will tell.
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