During a Q&A involving James Ohlen, SWTOR Game Director at NYCC, a question of ganking was brought up and Ohlen said something very interesting:
We have put some game mechanics in so that you can’t possibly be ganked.
He said that since there is so much epic storytelling going on, they don’t want to let another player prevent you from proceeding through the story line by being repeatedly ganking you. So there may be times where characters are in a PvP active area, yet untouchable for a period of time.
I love and hate PvP servers. I love the added level of immersion that comes with a PvP server and I love world PvP. The ONE thing that I hate about it, is being camped and forced to play another character or go to another zone. Let me define my terms before continuing:
Ganked – Being defeated by another character 5 or more levels above your character. I don’t consider getting the drop on someone, close to your level ganking.
Camped – A character repeatedly ganking your character.
Now if you have played an MMO on a PvP server you have been ganked and ganked someone, stop lying, you have. I despise ganking, but I admit, I have indulged in squashing a lowbie here and there. I have never camped a lowbie though, that is just a serious character flaw IMO. This is the only thing that has made me play PvE servers in the past.
I had always hoped that an MMO would institute a mechanic that wouldn’t let you attack a character 10 levels or more below your character’s level. Or if you do, not allow you to do more than once an hour. Now it doesn’t sound like this is what Bioware is doing, but it does sound like you will be protected on a pvp server in certain locations. It isn’t what I am looking for, but it does show me how much listening to the MMO community as a whole they have been doing.
This is an idea I am all for. I would hate to be watching an integral storyline dialogue between two NPCs, only to miss it because I got jumped by some lvl 50 Sith Inquisitor who has it out for lowbie Jedi. Now, you might be thinking, “Don’t play on a pvp server!” I understand and I’ve played on PvE servers. However, I think, with just a little engine tweak, I would only play PvP servers.
As I said before, I like world PvP. What I don’t like is being killed repeatedly by a character I can’t even hit, because their level is so much higher than mine. I was already planning on playing on PvP server at launch, but seeing how Bioware is committed to their story telling, even if it gets in the way of world pvp, I think this seals the deal for me.
