The downside of reading through this thread, from my perspective, is that I think to myself "oh, I could write a column about this." Then I realized I already did.
Generally speaking, for PvP to work as a fully proper mechanic, you have to either be willing to accept an outcome based on which character/class/whatever is better suited to PvP matches, or you have to go in with an expectation of one party or the other winning and then take actions to back it up. Neither one creates a very compelling game state. It's not that PvP can't work well as an addition to RP, merely that it generally doesn't.
That being said, if there's a way to make it clear that your character is accomplished in PvP, it would make sense that you're a bit better in a duel against another player than someone who spends all of their time fighting monsters.
Generally speaking, for PvP to work as a fully proper mechanic, you have to either be willing to accept an outcome based on which character/class/whatever is better suited to PvP matches, or you have to go in with an expectation of one party or the other winning and then take actions to back it up. Neither one creates a very compelling game state. It's not that PvP can't work well as an addition to RP, merely that it generally doesn't.
That being said, if there's a way to make it clear that your character is accomplished in PvP, it would make sense that you're a bit better in a duel against another player than someone who spends all of their time fighting monsters.
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