The real question is, will they have learned their lesson?

[MrVicchio]

PS was an amazing game, but it suffered what has been the bane of all MMO/PVP games.

"Hey guys, let's attack over here, it's undefended!" Syndrome.

There has been only one MMO that had people attacking AND defending objectives: Dark Age of Camelot. It's spiritual predecessor WAR was a miserable experience of futile "Attack the empty keep for the PVE Reward".

WoW's PVP is much the same, Alterac Valley is a race to the PVE bosses.

I suppose you could make an argument for Eve, but Eve is it's own critter, and the combat, situation and loss/gains are completely different.

So will SOE find a way to make attacking undefended points not worth it? Defense not a "where is everyone?"

This is what will make or break PS2 in terms of game structure. They could nail the lag, make the most awesome classes, the most in-depth abilities, eye candy that blinds...

But if the game is a boring exercise in PVE Objective taking and PVP not happening...


I've often thought about how to make this happen on a real time basis. And there are no good alternatives. If all the good PVP is instanced, the game will feel like CS with some social aspects. If you funnel via bottlenecks.. it will feel forced.

I'll admit, my reading on what's in store is currently lacking, this is my biggest concern, right here, right now.