As you may already know, Player-versus-Player combat is now in EverQuest II! It launched simultaneously with Kingdom of Sky, the second EQII expansion. PvP takes place on new PvP-ruleset servers named after famous dragons in Norrath. Everyone will have the opportunity to start fresh on a PvP server and be a part of the escalated conflict between Freeport and Qeynos. The launch of PvP saw dedicated Player-versus-Player ruleset servers for our US, UK, DE, and FR servers. There are now three US PvP servers, one of which is Exchange-enabled. Now that we have the basic facts straight, let's explore how our PvP-ruleset worlds work, shall we?

Gameplay
The general gameplay is as follows: You start off aligned with the city you choose at character creation--Freeport (Evil) or Qeynos (Good). You hunt and battle with members of the opposing alignment to gain experience, status, faction and titles. Further rewards will become available at PvP merchants as you earn standing within your city--you will have the opportunity to purchase items and other rewards from these special merchants.

Nowhere in Norrath is safe, so be on your toes. While you are relatively safe within the protective walls of your home city, you'll have to watch your back nearly everywhere else (see "City PvP"). Let's get that adrenaline pumping!

Communication and Interaction
On EverQuest II PvP-ruleset servers, there is a distinct language barrier between citizens of Qeynos and citizens of Freeport . All players aligned with Qeynos speak Antonican, and all players aligned with Freeport speak Lucanic. This means that members of opposing cities cannot understand each other's language.

Regardless of the language you choose to speak in--be it draconic, oggish, or otherwise--members of the opposing city will be unable to understand what you communicate in /say. Similarly, anything said in /auction, /ooc, and /shout channels will only be seen by members of the same alignment.

Things you CAN NOT do across alignments:

• Group with members outside of your alignment
• Join a guild that is not of your alignment
• Send /tells to characters not of your alignment
• View /auction, /ooc, /shout from characters of another alignment
• Join chat channels created by characters of another alignment
• View members of another alignment in the zone with /who
• Send mail via the Norrathian Express
• Trade items or coin
• /duel or /duelbet

Combat
Spells, combat arts, and combat in general may not function identically to PvE during PvP. We have the ability to define any level of differences in the combat system for PvP, from global changes like "all spells and arts do slightly less damage to players" to specific changes such as "this particular effect on this particular spell works slightly differently in PvP."

Here is a general outline of how combat-related effects are changing on a fairly broad scale. Note that the changes that are described below only have to do with PvP combat, as PvE combat on PvP servers functions the same as on Standard-ruleset servers.

Taunts and Hate Reduction
Taunts have the ability to change players' targets in PvP. They can also keep targets focused on the taunter for short durations of time.

Spells that reduce hostile hate or lower your position on a creature's hate list can force players to completely lose their target. Examples would include a Scout's Evade or Templar's Placate.

Melee Combat
The default maximum range for melee combat has been increased. Positional spells and arts that require the caster to be either behind or flanking the opponent will work if either requirement is met. *Note* This is only the case against other players.

Control Spells
Control spells (Snare, Root, Stun, Fear, Charm, Stifle, Mez, and Pacify) will carry an immunity placed on the target for 2x the duration of the spell. Essentially, if you are rooted for 10 seconds, you will be immune from any root effects for the duration of that root and for 10 seconds after the spell wears off. *Note* You'll only be immune to these effects from other players; these immunities will not protect you from NPC spells.

Spell Range and Interrupts
Spell casts will not fail after the initial cast due to being too far away as long as the target stays within 2x the spell's range. Additionally, spells are less likely to be interrupted by enemy players while you are engaged in a PvP encounters.

Level Differences
Players who are considerably higher level then their target do not gain innate bonuses to the amount of damage they deal (as is the case in PvE), or ease of landing spells and combat arts. The same holds true for lower level players attempting to take down higher opponents. As you level up, you receive additional spell lines with increased damage, new weapons and access to armor that provides increased mitigation and resistances. This alone provides higher level players an upper hand when hunting lower players. Lower level players wishing to take on higher level targets should do so while grouped; there is strength in numbers.

Other
A character that would normally be invisible or stealthed to you will appear with a shadowy outline if within a specified range (currently 20m). Characters that would normally be visible to you (i.e. if they are significantly below your level or you can see-stealth or see-invis) will remain visible with the shadowy outline outside of this range.

Stealth, Invisibility and Feign Death effects cast during combat will force anyone targeting you to lose their target.

Healing or casting beneficial spells on players who are currently hated by another player in PvP combat will open the caster up as a valid target regardless of the level ranges involved.

Upon zoning, players will be immune from PvP combat for 30 seconds OR until they initiate a hostile action. During this period of time, you are free to move about and cast beneficial spells, but any hostile action will remove your immunity. No need to worry about zoneline campers as long as you don't make yourself vulnerable.

A separate inspection option has been included on PvP servers that will allow players to view how Spells and Combat Arts perform in PvP combat (you can access this in the examine window for a spell or art).

Death and Rewards
EverQuest II PvP features a death and reward system different from what you see in the PvE game, and probably different from most PvP games you have played. Below is a summary of how death and rewards for defeating enemies work.

Death
Currently, deaths from PvP kills will result in moderate experience debt. You will not receive any armor damage. *Note* If you are on any creature's hate list at the time of your PvP death, you will take normal PvE death penalties.

How Rewards are Determined
Rewards for engaging in and triumphantly winning a PvP conflict vary depending on how the kill took place. Rewards and definitions for kill types follow.

Honorable Kills: Any kill of the opposing alignment that was engaged while the target had greater then 50% health. All players that generate at least one point of hate with the victim while the victim’s health is above the honorable kill threshold will be eligible to receive rewards, including experience, status, faction, and the ability to loot item or coin dropped by the other player.

Neutral Kills: Any kill of the opposing alignment that was engaged while the target had greater then 20% health. Neutral kills result in moderate faction gain.

Dishonorable Kills: Any kill of the opposing alignment that was first engaged while the target had less than 20% health. Dishonorable kills result in a loss of faction with both your alignment and the opposing city’s. Losing enough faction will cause you to fall out of favor with your alignment, and will restrict or remove any access to the rewards system.

Note: Dishonorable/Neutral status will be removed if the victim’s health goes above the specified thresholds during the course of the fight.

The Kill List: Honorably killing another player will place them on a list tied to your character, designed to reduce friend farming and griefing. Any Honorable subsequent kill of the same player will result in a Neutral kill until you have killed 10 other players. 

• Players will be removed from your list of recent kills after 30 minutes of real time. 
• Killing a player already on your recent kills list will move them to the top of the list and reset their timer.

Coin and Item Loot
In the event of an honorable death, players will drop a percentage of their coin into a chest that can be looted by anyone who gained rewards for the kill (or the player who died if they make it back to the chest in time).

Additionally, there is a chance that players will drop a single item from their non-equipped inventory upon death. These items are of Treasured quality and lower, and cannot be Attuned or No-Trade.

Title Rewards
Players who are especially successful in PvP combat will receive titles as a reward for their infamy. These titles are as follows (in order from the least to most prestigious title):

• Hunter
• Slayer
• Destroyer
• Champion
• Dreadnaught
• Master
• Overlord

You begin without a title in front of your name, and after such time as you earn a title, it will always remain visible to other players. If you begin to find yourself regularly defeated in PvP combat, you can and will lose an earned title for your shameful display of inadequacy.

Respawn Points
Respawn points and evacuation locations are different for citizens of Qeynos and Freeport. If a heated battle erupts in Antonica, for example, defeated members of either faction will not end up respawning at the same location as their enemies. Similarly, using evac spells in an overland zones will take you to a different location depending on your city alignment.

PvP Rules
While PvP servers are, for the most part, very dangerous and intense worlds to live in, there are a few rules that Norrathians must still abide by. These rules are outlined below:

Players under level 10 are protected from and cannot initiate PvP combat. While some players will be ready to have at it swords a-swingin' and spells a-flyin' from the get-go, others will need to familiarize themselves with their character a bit before joining the fight.

Players cannot openly engage in PvP within their city walls under the same rules. This currently refers to both Freeport and Qeynos main zones, districts and villages. PvP within the city walls is handled in the form of City PvP Flagging, which is outlined in the section below.

For the opposing alignment, players’ names will have a red outline indicating that they are a valid hostile target.  By default, any players  +/- up to 8 levels are valid targets, and their names will appear as a color based on the level difference:

• Green: 5-8 levels below you
• Blue: 1-4 levels below you
• White: Even level
• Yellow: 1-4 levels above you
• Orange: 5-8 levels above you
• Player names more than 8 levels below will appear grey
• Player names more than 8 levels above you will appear red and non-aggro

At first, you will not be able to attack any player that cons grey to you unless they attack you first. However, as players travel farther from the city walls, the level range for valid targets increases:

• Nektulos, Thundering Steppes: You may attack players up to 10 levels below you
• Enchanted Lands, Orcish Wastes: You may attack players up to 12 levels below you
• Lavastorm, Everfrost, Feerrott, Rivervale: You may attack players up to 14 levels below you
• Desert of Flames: You may attack all players
• Kingdom of Sky: You may attack all players

Note: While the valid range of players you can kill does increase, the rewards will only be granted for players within the default +/- 8 level range.

As previously mentioned, when you zone you will be immune to PvP combat until you either move or initiate a hostile action. Conversely, you will be unable to attack someone who has just zoned until they either move or perform a hostile action.

Mariner Bells
Players of the opposing alignment cannot use the bell system within Freeport and Qeynos. This also includes bells located in the Adventure Yards, the Commonlands and Antonica. Hunting in these areas is an excellent place to get a quick introduction to what PvP is all about; the thrill of invading the opposing city, as well as defending your home grounds from the constant onslaught by Freeportians and Qeynosians.  Our intention is not to stop players from hunting in these zones, but merely give citizens an advantage when starting their adventures.  You’ll still be able to venture into these areas; it will just require a bit of work and commitment before reaching your final destination.

Zoning While Aggro
If you zone on a PvP server and are on another player's hate list (i.e. you were engaged in PvP combat when you fled to another zone), you will no longer be immune to PvP when you arrive in the new zone. In addition to forgoing immunity, players who zone while actively in combat with another player will not be able to zone again for a short period of time. Additionally, a message is displayed within the vicinity of the zone line indicating which zone and/or instance the target has fled. We all know the pain of battling someone who constantly zones back and forth attempting to take advantage of immunity when they can’t get that quick kill off. Players who fight around zone lines will need to think twice before going for that “easy kill.”

City PvP
PvP within city walls works a little differently than it does in the outside world. The idea is that you are relatively well-protected within the walls of Freeport and Qeynos. Under normal circumstances, a player cannot attack another player within a city unless they are specifically flagged for this to occur. The rules for City PvP are as follows:

• Attacking any NPC in a safe zone (i.e. city) flags the attacker for "City PvP"
• Anyone flagged as "City PvP" can be attacked by anyone of the opposing alignment in any zone who meets the requirements to engage in PvP.
• Anyone that attacks a "City PvP" flagged player also becomes flagged for "City PvP."
• "City PvP" flagging lasts for 15 minutes from the last hostile action taken against a safe zone NPC or another "City PvP" flagged player.

PvP Groups and Raids
The valid range to determine both who you can attack and who can attack you is determined by the highest level member of the group/raid. Grouping with lower level players does not allow you to attack anyone who is normally in their range. Be warned though, as grouping with higher level players will allow anyone who can normally attack them attack you as well. There are no limitations to who you can attack as long as they are higher level or grouped with someone higher of a level. You also cannot join, leave or kick from a group or raid that is engaged in a PvP encounter.

The following designations are in place to inform players of a target’s difficulty: 

• Targets grouped with someone who normally cannot attack you are represented with a single up arrow over their name.  They will appear as non-aggro.
• Targets grouped with someone who you could normally not attack are represented with a single down arrow over their name.
• Anyone grouped carries the Heroic designation. 
• Raids containing more than 7 players carry the designation x2, x3, x4 based on the total amount of players (Raid size is defined by number of members, not group layout).
  

These visual indicators are in place to inform players of the difficulty of an encounter. They do not provide any additional difficulty or rewards.

PvP: Now in EverQuest II
We hope you'll try and enjoy Player-versus-Player conflict within EverQuest II, unleashed on February 21, 2006 along with Live Update #20. Be one of the first to experience traditional PvP action in the world of EverQuest II's Norrath. It's time to heat up the cold war!

PvP Servers
Experience PvP combat in EverQuest II on one of the following servers:

• Nagafen (US)
• Venekor (US RP)
• Darathar (UK)
• Talendor (DE)
• Gorenaire (FR)
• Vox (Station Exchange)

PvP Leaderboards and Stats
When we launched the PvP servers, we also launched a new PvP ranking and ladder system on EQ2Players. You can see who the most impressive PvP combatants are on the PvP Leaderboard, which shows you their name, title, level, kills, deaths, k/d ratio, death streak, kill streak, race, and class at-a-glance. You can also see how you or other specific characters are doing in PvP by checking out a character's PvP Stats in the Character Profile.

Note: Please be aware that this information is accurate as of this writing. Many things, especially specific numbers, may change.

Last Updated: March 03, 2006