PvP
Fighting another player is consensual: you cannot attack anyone who has not been set as your enemy, and who has not set you as theirs. Try it and the game says so and stops the attack.
Who cannot fight whom
- Party members. Never, in any circumstances.
- A hardcore character and an ordinary one. Blocked in both directions.
- Inside the arena, both of you must be down in the same pit.
What a kill is worth, and what it costs
A player kill only counts if all of these hold. If any one of them fails the victim is raised on the spot with no penalty at all, and the killer's party is told the kill was not valid and earns nothing:
- the victim is level 10 or above
- the victim is not carrying an XP debt
- the two were genuinely hostile to each other
- the victim is within the level range the party rules allow - see Parties
- no free resurrection event is running
Where the kill does count, what the killer earns depends on the levels: killing alone, out of level range, someone stronger than you pays the most, and killing someone weaker than you while out of range pays nothing and hands the victim a free resurrection.
A valid PvP death is an ordinary death - see Death for what that means and Resurrection for what coming back costs.
Every player kill is reported to the staff.
The rules around a fight
The engine stops you attacking or casting harm at anyone you have not marked hostile, from the PvP functions in the Player Menu or the hostile button on the players list. What it does not enforce, the staff do.
You may only set someone hostile if they are in your PvP range - except in four situations, which you have to be able to show if you are asked:
- they are behaving badly towards you;
- they are taking your kills, or looting your corpses, without asking to join you;
- they walked into an area where you were already hunting;
- both sides are in parties and both parties are entirely in the fight.
A known thief - someone who has pickpocketed several players - can be set hostile by anyone those players ask for help.
After you kill someone within the rules, you may not touch them again for 12 hours, unless they start something with you first.
What counts as starting it
It is not only an attack. Any of these is a PvP interaction:
- attacking, in melee, at range or with a spell;
- pickpocketing;
- taking loot, whether from inside a party or outside it;
- taking someone's kills from outside their party;
- insulting them.
Do not log out straight after pickpocketing. You have to leave the other player a fair chance to come after you, and this one is punished severely - as is logging out to avoid dying.
Organised PvP
Queued matches are on Battlegrounds. Deaths there are not ordinary deaths: there is no corpse and no penalty, and you press Respawn.