When I first PVP’d back in the 90s in online games, the mentality is that you played in a non-PVP environment first. Thus there was no such thing as a newbie in PVP. My first taste of PVP in a MMO setting was Everquest. There if you were low level, you had to watch for certain races in your town/city. For example if you were a Wood Elf in Kelethin and a Dark Elf or Ogre showed up, you had to run and hide. Sure you could run to a guard. But if they were level 45-50 (or higher depending on expansion), they would simply kill the guard.
One of the issues I see with more modern gamers is this expectation of ‘fair play’. They want their PVP to be highly regulated, either by the game mechanics themselves or by community practices. This unfortunately turns PVP into PVE with extra steps.
Like looking at this thread, I see a number of issues with the community. Sure some of it might be some carebears (if people are going to use casual and hardcore, I’m gonna use the old carebear term) chiming in. But many actual PVPers have been so indoctrinated by WoW’s Non-PVP system (aka battlegrounds) that they think that is more or less the standard. Its not. Nor should it be.
For example, the idea you shouldn’t take a whole clan and wipe some solo player out. We gotta protect the solo players! In a multiplayer game? What? That does seem to be some sort of prevailing mindset, the solo player must be nurtured, they must be protected, they must be coddled, at all costs.
I don’t understand why it is wrong to see smaller groups of players or even solo players as a source of tribute. What is stopping that solo player from going to one of these larger clans and asking for mercy, requesting that they leave them alone in exchange for giving them a portion of resources found. That my friends is true PVP. But for some reason none of you will usually do it. Some of you might, but I guarantee most are thinking that’s below your dignity.
You came off the cross naked, if you want dignity, you gotta earn it.
The way I see it, a player is a player. Level 1 or 60 doesn’t matter to me. I may not consider raiding a sandstone hut for the reasons Rekt gave just above this. But don’t think that wouldn’t change in a heartbeat if there was any inkling of thought of any sort of underhandedness, betrayal, etc. Because one thing I have learned about people in general, the world over (I’ve been on several different continents), is that people love to take Kindness as Weakness.
Does this mean I’m a ruthless noob killer in these games? No, I usually somewhat ignore them (with a caveat). Despite my forum persona (at times), I’m usually one of the more helpful and nicer people in these sorts of games. At least until crossed. Then you get to see some real nastiness until reoperations are paid in full. Course when that happens then its as if nothing happens.
No grudges, no silly duels. General courteous until provoked, then scorched earth until debts are paid, then back to normal. That’s how PVP really ought to be.
I would say this. Instead of talking about noobs being wrecked by elites, why not let your actions speak instead of words? Words don’t mean anything in PVP, only actions. If you see an alpha clan picking on peeps in sandstone, zero them out. Reduce every building they have until you can walk over every space they have without having to jump or climb. Otherwise, I doubt you’re being serious here and are just trying to sit on a high horse of no substance.