Often referred to as PvP, or Player vs. Player, RvR is the name for inter-faction combat in WAR and often far overshadows the PvE content of the game. Here is where WAR really shines. RvR can take the form of small skirmishes, battles for control of an area, instanced and timed Scenarios, or full scale Campaigns as players fight for control of the other faction’s zones.
Conquests and victories in open-world RvR help your faction to accumulate Victory Points. Build up enough VPs and your faction will be able to assault the opposing capital city, which opens up a series of Scenarios allowing for the attack to be fully detailed and played out. The result will be much looting, burning, and celebrating among the victors, accompanied by the wailing of the defeated.
The RvR experience here is varied enough that players could jump on for anything from a half an hour of intense combat to a full afternoon and evening of bringing the pain to the other side’s hometown. WAR doesn’t require the player to hit max level before the best in RvR is available, either, as there are Scenarios and open-air RvR areas in the very first tier of zones.
The professions in WAR are the one real disappointment here. It’s almost as if a developer was told, “All MMOs have professions” and this was his way of skating by with a C-. It’s a shame, too, since Mythic really got the idea of making professions inter-dependent on each other. Since a character can only take one of the four gathering (Cultivating, Salvaging, Scavenging, and Butchering) and one of the two crafting professions (Apothecary and Talisman Making), players need to either develop a stable of alts or rely on other players for all the materials needed.
Of course, as a wise man once said, “It’s not ‘Make-Your-Own-Pants-Hammer.” Presumably characters in such a violent world are far too busy to be out picking flowers. After all, there are Keeps upon which to lay siege and cities to plunder. If you enjoy large-scale player vs. player content, you really want to answer the call to WAR.