Open World PvP

Overview

This overview is based on my personal experience playing RIFT Beta 3 and Beta 4.

Definitions Applicable To This Page

There are varying definitions of Open World PvP found in every MMO. What follows are the definitions I have used for creation of this page.

Definition: Open World PvP

Combat can occur between players in a non-instanced fashion anywhere in the game world where permitted by the server ruleset. Virtually all Open World PvP games place some limit on where and/or when this type of PvP can occur. This is typically done by zone, area, or character level. Regardless of restriction, if this type of combat can occur, it is considered Open World PvP.

Definition: Objective Based Open World PvP

For purposes of this page, Objective Based Open World PvP is defined as PvP which occurs for control of something in game. It may be a keep, a castle, a town, a game area which yields high value materials, etc... Though gaining personal experience, personal favor or faction benefits, loot, and drops may be thought of as objectives, for purposes of this page they are not.

Server Rulesets and Impact on Open World PvP

Rift provides servers with a PvP ruleset and servers with a PvE ruleset. Roleplay(RP) versions of these servers are also available.

PvE Ruleset

A player may only attack another player if the subject of the attack has manually flagged themselves as a PvP player by typing /PVP in their chat window. If they have flagged themselves for PVP their player tag will be displayed as a yellow tag. You may attack a yellow flagged player which in turn automatically flags you as a PvP player. A PvP player may un-flag, but un-flagging is subject to a cooldown timer.

A player may flag themselves for PvP anywhere in the game world without restriction.

As such, on a PvE server, it is possible for Open World PvP to occur, but only between players that have knowingly flagged for PvP.

There is no Objective Based Open World PvP on a PvE server as NPC's cannot be attacked and towns cannot be controlled.

PvP Ruleset

Players are automatically flagged for Open World PvP if they enter a zone where PvP can occur. In RIFT's case, a zone equates to a province and all provinces in the world, with the exception of the starting province for each faction, are auto flag PvP zones.

It is only possible to unflag for PvP if you are in the Defiant or Guardians starting province and wait out the PvP cooldown timer.

PvP can occur in the starting province if players manually flag as described in the PvE Ruleset section.

Objective Based Open World PvP occurs in RIFT as follows. Major towns in a province provide services such as crafting stations, quest givers, general goods merchants, rare planar goods merchants, trainers, etc ... One side can contest a town in an opposing province which in turn denies the use of any of that towns services as long as the town remains contested. As this is a significant impact on play for those currently playing in the province, it becomes the focal point for larger scale battles as the defender must respond to bring those services back on line.

There are currently no additional objectives in the game such as keeps, castles, or guild halls to fight over.

Open World PvP Mechanics

Though a player can walk or ride a mount from province to province, grouping and getting involved with a large scale Open World PvP battle is typically accomplished by using 'fast travel' tokens which are purchasable from specific merchants. These tokens will get you into the province but you may still have to ride or walk to the site of the battle. A more reliable route is to use guild tokens, purchasable at nominal cost from a guild merchant. Guild tokens allow you to fast travel to a placed guild banner which is ideally placed near the battle site.

Note that fast travel tokens have a substantial cooldown and are not really useable to get you right back into the battle if you die. I am still unclear how the game determines where you respawn when you die, but it appears to be at the nearest respawn point you have actually uncovered. Thus, if you use a token to initially spawn into a province you have not explored, you will likely not even respawn in that province if you die. This needs confirmation.