Why Leveling on a PvP Server is Complete Nonsense

When playing the WoW beta and into the fresh release, the game lacked any real endgame content beyond Blackrock Spire. So, I began leveling on a PvP server. I leveled to about twenty and had to stop — I couldn’t afford the booze to medicate myself from the awful game play. I was killed, camped, killed, camped – did I mention I was killed and camped? So, is there a reason to level on PvP server in WoW?

This is Blizzard’s design philosophies regarding PvP realms:

“(PvP) servers are specifically designed to allow open combat between members of the Horde and the Alliance factions. As such, players on these servers have a greater ability to resolve cross-faction disputes on their own. By choosing to play on a PvP server, you have chosen to move the game difficulty slider from ‘Easy’ to ‘Hard.’ While this makes attaining any goal all the more satisfying, expect the road to be paved with sorrow.”

I find that PvP servers act as sort of a digital lightning rod to collect people who like to cause misery to others. The fact remains that Blizzard has been unable to implement world PvP that works, providing an enjoyable experience for a diverse group of gamers.  Pre-BC, the Eastern Plaguelands and Silithus served as world PvP hubs used almost exclusively for quests and simple diversions. Never did it erupt into anything serious. In TBC, players were given incentives to world PvP in Terokkar Forest and Hellfire Peninsula, but rewards were lackluster and killing lowbies in HP got kind of lame. So, the failed experiments continue.

Also, the population imbalance may have some role to play in this lack of drive for players to do great world PvP.  Faction leaders used to be rarely challenged, yielding bragging rights for the victors in the forums (we killed teh thrallz in yer ogrimmarz). But now, with almost no incentive to do so (aside from monstrous server lag for everyone involved), faction leaders are left alone.

Could it be that these people really just want to invest time to devalue the enjoyment others derive from the game? The Crossroads and Tarren Mill cities hosted epic confrontations pre-BC; they used to exemplify what world PvP could be about, even at the expense of lower level players. These battles raged on for days, some even claimed that Tarren Mill battles went on for months. These things rarely happen for more than a few hours these days.

This is not to mention that endgame content on PvP servers has become a chore. Battling it out in contested zones while players are summoning raid members to them is nothing uncommon. Pre-BC, we had heard stories from friends who had missed actual days of raiding the Molten Core and Blackwing Lair as a result of not being able to zone into the instance. I can think of better ways to waste my time.

In a game accused of going casual, people see PvP servers as a means of maintaining a hardcore status. I am wondering if people see these servers in the converse.  PvP in regulated matches is available at any time to people playing on PvE servers.  So, while the thematic conflict isn’t alive in contested zones, I find that people enjoy the game more when not getting ganked. But we’ll see in time if PvP servers become the hot-spots they’ve promised in WoTLK. Maybe destructible buildings and zones catered to PvP can give a breath of life to otherwise dying servers and fads. So, the answer is no, there is no real reason to level on a PvP server.