Only posting this rant on the forums cuz I'm timed out on the moderator discord (deserved btw and unrelated to this)
I joined this server like early Atlas, and I started as a roleplayer, strictly. I hated pvp because people around me hated it, even though I played hypixel and other minigame esque servers all the time. I had no idea why it should be shunned until I asked, then I got a response as 'its a roleplay server'. This was the sentiment in 2018-2019, being that 'It's a roleplay server, pvp has no place in this server.' PVP Default is bad, but, what I think there should be is a mix of PVP and CRP. There should be a cap on CRP fights, 5-8 players, before it defaults to PVP, unless both sides agree of course. Most often in fights I've participated in while banditting, or raiding, the other side is extremely toxic and uninviting. They typically always play dirty and instead of trying to resolve the conflict irp, look for ways to game the system. This is present in pvp too, ESPECIALLY when the ruleset doesn't support this mode of conflict resolution. I've encountered a ton of situations that were fair, until one side just games the ruleset, or lack there of, into a winning fight.
True, it is. More often than not, it devolves into one side rallying until they get enough guys to call pvp and actually roleplay with another side. Or often it's just one side refusing to pvp, or one side arguing rules of whether pvp is allowed here, or not, not really the point, just explaining transitions to rp and pvp take a long time. Better rules that truly support a roleplay-to-pvp idea can help rectify this part of the server. A lot of times when pvp is bound to happen, these sides are rallying not because they don't want to pvp, but rather because they want to win pvp. Rules that would specifically work against this can help more players who wouldn't get into pvp, actually start enjoying it.
Point 2- "My character is a fighter but I suck at pvp"
This a truly valid point that I find really hard to argue against. It's a roleplay server, and if you play as a guard character who's been around and fought in a lot of small fights, they should be a strong fighter. Imagine this, you play a guard for the city of Petra. You've kidnapped many a goon, and many a evil doer but all of a sudden 5 musin show up, and pvp you. You lose to 5 musin, and you're emasculated, GG! I don't claim to know how to fix this, but I do know that these players should be included in this conversation, especially when it comes to the new rules being set up. I don't actually want to see a return to pvp default to handle combat situations, since it alienates players who don't want to participate in pvp at all. It is a roleplay server, and despite taking place on minecraft, people should be allowed to stay away from things they don't want to participate in.
Point 3- "I'm a mage, I wouldn't use a sword or armor in crp, why can't I in PVP?"
Hire, or recruit, coders to support a pvp plugin with magic. Nobody doesn't want this.
Point 4- "Pvp doesn't have any carry over to roleplay"
I've heard this point many times before, but I really disagree completely with this. How well you performed in pvp, as in you slew 300 ferrymen, can directly translate into roleplay. You can brag about the ferrymen you killed by holding up their bandanas, or if you ran away from a fight you can emote running back to a nation and cry out for a medic! Especially if you were downed in the fight. You could explain that you led troops to victory, or you made a decisive action that won the fight. How good of a pvper could mean that your character is that much better of a fighter.
Point 5- "Mission statement says pvp is bad"
Honestly I think this is the most brainmelting statement ever. "We don't want it."
**** you!!!!!!
PVP is a viable way to resolve conflict between two antagonastic parties. With a ruleset that turns their cheek to pvp as a concept, you get the current state of the server where metagaming is encouraged. And defender-default lite is just a way to rally more players until a mod forces pvp anyways, I.E. Urguan-fmen raid, where the whole raid was just fmen raiding, urguan calling crp, rallying 15 guys, then saying "pvp?" before the situation is rightly voided with no conflict resolution. All because someone with a stick up their ass hates pvp!!!!!
Today-I am goonin' around looking for some fun things to do with my friends, then all of a sudden there's a group of 5 guys on patrol! LETS FIGHT THEIR ASS! LETS GO PVP!!
We get halted, then all of a sudden 10 minute timer, they rally 2 horsemen, and its from a 5v4, to a 7v4 because the ruleset doesn't promote any pvp-based interaction. It made my friends feel alienated from wanting to play the server in any regard, and one of them just quit because of this. He roleplayed and pvped, but because there is no pvp rules at all the roleplay behind interactions felt meaningless.
Also I'd like to talk about the sorry state of crp interactions and a very easy way to solve it (it involves pvp)
CRP right now, is just two people who want to win an interaction trying to powergame without getting caught. I saw the Targoth fight, and I've never seen so much powergaming in my life that was just allowed to occur. This guy grabs a burning warhammer with his hand mid-swing, and nobody says anything about it. Just, lets it happen. Disgusting!!!
If people want to win so badly, instead of promoting a ruleset that supports people who type endlessly in Looc, try to re-educate people (thanks ScreamingDingo) to think about narratives and story rather than jsut trying to win because they are the main character. People should be focusing on how their actions might affect other people's roleplay, and that they are in a story like anybody else. We are all roleplaying a character to collaborate and make a story together. A story, that can include pvp!
PVP Should be used in situations where CRP isn't enough to solve it. Banditry for example, is a good place to implement pvp based interactions. I've encountered many people, both bandits and banditees, that have subpar roleplay. When CRP does happen, it usually involves one player calling a mod who can't be assed to deal with a situation, and just rules in favor to end it and get the whole thign voided or shot to pvp. PVP being a secondary choice to where it had wasted a mods time, wasted the players time, and elongated an interaction from 15 minutes up to 3 hours.
Earlier I brought up re-education, and I genuinely believe that the community can be rehabilitated to a point where I can go out and bandit, and actually give a good experience. Vale, for example, had some great roleplay given to us from them, and I gave some great roleplay back. We kidnapped some of their little goons, tied them all up and held them for ransom. We did some goofy shit and made one of them give a speech to calm their nerves, then I started talking to them irply, just some small talk about what they're gonna do after the situation blows over. My character grew from it, and their characters probably grew too, learning a bit about how my character thinks. It's a cool interaction that I wish could be had more. Sadly, I don't think the community as a whole is in a state that could support this on a wider scale.
TL:DR PVP should be implemented because I don't want to CRP with a 15 year old child who can't spell properly and just wants to win a conflict with his self insert.
Also there should be a hard cap on CRP interactions unless both sides agree to keep it in crp.