Turbine Spilled PvP on My PvE!

By Darkgolem

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Well, it had to happen. I knew it was coming, and I blocked it out of my mind, hoping it wouldn't happen. The developers in Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach (DDO) are planning to institute player-versus player (PvP) combat.

The announcement came at E3, on 5/10. Mark that date as the day that the developers got their PvP all over my RP (roleplaying). The following is from the press release by Jefferey Anderson, president and Ceo of Turbine, inc.: “We are committed to delivering future DDO modules that include features that continue to expand the game, such as additional character levels and player-versus-player battles.”  Wonderful. Time for me to go to my happy place.

Why is this such a big deal to me?  The developers have commented that all PvP will be by consent only and in specific areas. A player would have to actively seek out PvP to have it, so it shouldn't affect people who are not interested in PvP.

This is accurate, in theory, but inaccurate in implementation. The fact is that PvP cannot be implemented without affecting players who are not interested in participating in PvP. I understand that I have agreed to live with “game experience changing in play” because DDO is a massively-multiplayer online game (MMOG)—and therefore a flexible situation. Spells have to change. Feats have to change. Classes have to be modified.

But PvP is different. It affects all of the people who don't want PvP to provide a PvP experience for those who want it. Turbine (and developers of other MMOGs, for that matter) contends that they will only change the game from its Dungeons & Dragons roots if it isn't fun. But this isn't the case when Turbine changes a game for PvP. In effect, the developers are making the game less fun for the players not interested in PvP to create what the developers think will be fun for the players who want PvP. Changes in the game that I play that affect me, if not done for coding, and if providing a more enjoyable experience for OTHER players is taking the money I spend for enjoyment, and giving it to another.

Evidently, the views of those who don't want PvP are not as important to the developers of Turbine as the views of those who want PvP. My response to that isn't something my editor will let me print, but you can imagine what I have to say about it.
 
Now, if you notice, I haven't yet given you my views on why changing a game to have PvP has to affect the players not interested in PvP. These are listed below:

PvP Forces Changes to Mechanics or Character Building

The abilities that are useful in PvP are different than in player vs. environment (PvE). This seems innocent enough, but is has wide consequences. For example, if a spell that is not particularly useful in PvE situations, such as Cause Fear, turns out to be useful in PvP, then people will take it. So a person making a sorcerer who intends to use this character for PvP will take Cause Fear. Then the person wishes to level his character, which can only be accomplished in PvE. The result is that you are recruiting a sorcerer who has substandard spells into your party. You, who are not participating in PvP, have been affected by PvP. Of course, this not only applies to spells, but Feats, Skills and so on.

PvP Forces Changes to Loot

There is a conflict of interest in serving PvP and PvE players. For example, Vault of Night (VoN) items might be found to be too powerful if used in PvP, and the PvP players will be upset about their being limited in availability. So the developers might choose to change VoN to be harder to complete, or perhaps to change the items found in VoN to be less interesting. Of course, this again affects PvE players who are not interested in PvP.

PvP Forces Changes to Playstyle Even in PvE

Players who play PvP will have motivations to play different quests than players who are not interested in PvP. For example, if an item in a particular quest is particularly good for PvP, then PvP players will want to play that particular quest. What this means is that other players will not be able to group with those people as often since those people will want to do the “good PvP item” quests.

PvP Forces Turbine to Divide Limited Resources

Coding resources will be split up, or the game will be changed to accommodate PvP. PvP can be handled two ways. Spells, Feats, Skills and other features can be changed to be balanced for PvP, affecting all players. Or spells, Feats, Skills and other features can be changed to have a different affect in the PvP areas. This of course pulls developers and coders away from PvE projects, meaning the money of someone spent paying for DDO who does not want PvP is paying for PvP.



There's no way around it; PvP affects people not interested in PvP. The sad thing about this is that it's certainty. There is no question that PvP will be brought to the game. The decision to implement PvP was decided at a meeting well before they mentioned it along side the Module 2 announcement. They wouldn't have mentioned it otherwise. What's more, the problems and affects to players not interested in PvP, like myself, have surfaced before in other MMOGs—something Turbine surely knows.

So the developers of DDO know that they are spending my payments to them, in part, to change my game to cater to someone else. And that's something that I'll keep in mind.

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