So I've been playing this free MMORPG lately called Runes of Magic (RoM). I'm going to assume you already know about it if you're reading this post. If not, it's similar to WoW and is free, so why not give it a try? As with most MMORPG's, there are PvE and PvP servers. This post is designed to give you some advice and ideas for surviving on the PvP servers, since things are a lot tougher than you may be used to on other MMORPG PvP servers.

The Rules

For the official rules of PvP, see the Wiki. Basically, everyone can attack anyone at any time, so long as they're above level 15 and not in their house. If two combatants are within 5 levels of each other, the winner has a roughly 10% chance to loot an item at random from the loser (reputation can change this %). To bring some order to the chaos, there are good, neutral, and evil reputations, which players can become based on their PvP actions. Everyone starts as neutral. Killing good players or neutral players gives you negative points (moving you towards evil). Killing evil players gives you positive points (moving you towards good; so long as you aren't evil already). Evil players have a badge that is a shade of red, good players have a badge that is a shade of blue, and neutral players have a badge that is white. The reputation points are designed to dissuade good players from attacking each other, and players that have become too evil from PK'ing can be attacked by town guards. There are also stat bonuses based on your reputation.

Survival

If you go to the RoM forums you'll hear people complaining about how unbalanced PvP is, and their complaints aren't unwarranted. While the classes are fairly well balanced, the ability to create god-like equipment and twink makes things very difficult for newer players. Experienced players can create gear using transmutation that will make regular drops look like dirt. Furthermore, experienced players sometimes like to camp outside of popular areas with their red twinks and gank people!

The root of the twinking problem, in my opinion, is that low level gear can be imbued with very high level stats. While there are level requirements on all basic equipment, there are no level requirements on runes or +stats. Using transmutation, a level 5 belt with 8 armor can be imbued with +30 str, +100 hp, +50 defense, etc. Doing this isn't easy, but it isn't difficult either once you understand transmutation and can spend some time in the Auction House searching for good gear to use with Fusion Stones (more on this later).

So how do you survive this onslaught? I hate to say it, but as a newer player your best bet is to run from and avoid red players whenever possible. Unless you are sure they are not twinked, it is not wise to attack them. Luckily, in RoM you can roughly determine how twinked a player is based on their level and HP (both of which are viewable by clicking on them). For example, a level 25/25 Rogue/Scout should have somewhere around 1200 to 1500 HP with non-twinked gear. If they have over 2000 HP, they're probably a twink (keep in mind Warriors and Knights will have more base HP than Rogues and Scouts, and Mages have less). I've seen Rogues and Mages in this level range with upwards of 5000 HP, which is the sign of a serious twink. If you see a twink like this, do not try to get the jump on them or ambush them, because it simply won't work.

This creates a ominous atmosphere on Runes of Magic PvP servers. You need to be constantly watching your back, and there isn't a whole lot of fair fighting that goes on. You have to treat twinked reds as though they are elite mobs that have a huge aggro radius, and avoid them accordingly. Once you gain some experience with the game (and learn how to use transmutation to create good gear), you can stand a fighting chance against these twinks.

Transmutation

Transmutation is essential if you really want to stand up to other players (it's also important for PvE), but it is one of the more complicated parts of the game. In a nutshell, it allows you to give any piece of equipment a lot of really useful plus stats (sometimes 8 or more). You do this by combining fusion stones with gear to create mana stones, and then combining 3 mana stones with a single piece of equipment to imbue that item with up to 6 stats.

Check my transmutation guide for a guide and details on transmutation.