V Rising was developed and published by a group of 35 devs from Sweden. The PvP is fun because it has good fundamentals:
1. AoE damage, AoE slows, AoE push/knockback, etc...
It's an open world game, with mechanics for fighting groups of players. AOE is just a basic staple of video game combat that MO2 completely leaves out for some reason.
2. Long CC that breaks on damage.
Another staple of the MMO genre for decades, this type of CC rewards coordination and is inherently anti-zerg - especially when the game has AOE.
Coordinated groups are able to even the odds by keeping enemies in CC longer, whereas auto-pilot zergs are constantly breaking this kind of CC and gain little benefit from it. For some reason, MO2 has no CC of any kind.
3. Kiting and gank-escape
In V Rising, if you play well, you can escape a gank. This is a very important layer of "fairness" for outnumbered PvP that exists in other games like EVE and WoW.
You don't necessarily have to kill everyone 1vX, you just need to play it smart and get away. If you kite the fast guys away from the slow guys, you can get a quick pick and turn the tables. This is bread and butter outnumbered PvP gameplay.
MO2 has Alvarins holding W versus not-Alvarins holding W (Assuming no horses are present for some reason).
In V Rising, people can show up with more gear and more numbers and take your boss, take your camp, push you out. But, you actually stand a good chance of keeping your loot and gear if you know what you're doing. It's similar in EVE. It's the opposite in Mortal.
4. Counter VS. PARRY
V Rising has a number of counter/block abilities that work on the same principle of point number 2. When you counter in V Rising, you counter everyone hitting you and you gain big advantage. The more people spamming stuff at you, the easier it is to get that advantage and the bigger the advantage gets. On the flip side, if you miss your counter you are left vulnerable, and in 1v1s counters are far harder to use and easier to punish.
Parry is the worst feature in all of MO2. It completely breaks 1v1, completely breaks PvE, completely breaks down in 1vX. V Rising counters have the gameplay function that MO2's parry should have.
TLDR: 35 people at Stunlock Studios made some good PvP. Starvault has 5 less people according to Henrik, but they should really take some inspiration from their neighbors and improve the PvP in Mortal. The basic idea behind good open-world PvP? Lots of features that scale in usefulness against uncoordinated zergs. AOE, CC, kiting, parry system that is better against a zergs and worse against a single player.
1. AoE damage, AoE slows, AoE push/knockback, etc...
It's an open world game, with mechanics for fighting groups of players. AOE is just a basic staple of video game combat that MO2 completely leaves out for some reason.
2. Long CC that breaks on damage.
Another staple of the MMO genre for decades, this type of CC rewards coordination and is inherently anti-zerg - especially when the game has AOE.
Coordinated groups are able to even the odds by keeping enemies in CC longer, whereas auto-pilot zergs are constantly breaking this kind of CC and gain little benefit from it. For some reason, MO2 has no CC of any kind.
3. Kiting and gank-escape
In V Rising, if you play well, you can escape a gank. This is a very important layer of "fairness" for outnumbered PvP that exists in other games like EVE and WoW.
You don't necessarily have to kill everyone 1vX, you just need to play it smart and get away. If you kite the fast guys away from the slow guys, you can get a quick pick and turn the tables. This is bread and butter outnumbered PvP gameplay.
MO2 has Alvarins holding W versus not-Alvarins holding W (Assuming no horses are present for some reason).
In V Rising, people can show up with more gear and more numbers and take your boss, take your camp, push you out. But, you actually stand a good chance of keeping your loot and gear if you know what you're doing. It's similar in EVE. It's the opposite in Mortal.
4. Counter VS. PARRY
V Rising has a number of counter/block abilities that work on the same principle of point number 2. When you counter in V Rising, you counter everyone hitting you and you gain big advantage. The more people spamming stuff at you, the easier it is to get that advantage and the bigger the advantage gets. On the flip side, if you miss your counter you are left vulnerable, and in 1v1s counters are far harder to use and easier to punish.
Parry is the worst feature in all of MO2. It completely breaks 1v1, completely breaks PvE, completely breaks down in 1vX. V Rising counters have the gameplay function that MO2's parry should have.
TLDR: 35 people at Stunlock Studios made some good PvP. Starvault has 5 less people according to Henrik, but they should really take some inspiration from their neighbors and improve the PvP in Mortal. The basic idea behind good open-world PvP? Lots of features that scale in usefulness against uncoordinated zergs. AOE, CC, kiting, parry system that is better against a zergs and worse against a single player.
