In this lesson we will discuss the proper etiquette to be used when Field Fighting and when Dueling. Etiquette you say! What's that? I haven't seen that displayed! Etiquette is an unwritten set of rules or playstyle that separate the respectable from the disreputable. Not all players will follow these rules, a few will follow some but not others. The more people that follow these guidelines, the more enjoyable the PvP experience will be. Field Fighting There are no guarantees in the field that any etiquette will be shown to you by the opposition. Some people will honor a "fair" fight, and others will use everything at their disposal to defeat you. Here are some things you can expect to see and decide whether or not you should participate in them. Remember you will reap what you sow. Mount Killing: It is considered to be a grief tactic to kill someone's mount after defeating them. It has no specific value or purpose other than to cause grief to the downed player. Ress Killing: This is the killing of a newly resurrected player who has no health or way to defend themselves. If you are resurrected and try to loot your belongings to either get back in the fight or to escape with your loot do not be upset when you get ress killed, you asked for it. Should you die and have no chance at getting back in the fight it would be best to stand near your body as a ghost and let the victors loot what they deem they want. When they are done they may resurrect you and allow you to loot what remains and sometimes offer a gate to a city. Potions: Rarely in the situation that a 1 vs 1 field fight takes place, sometimes both players will acknowledge that the use of potions in a 1 vs 1 setting will drag out the fight forever and they will not use potions for this reason. Do not expect to find this often in the field. The rule is there are no rules in field fighting. Trash Talking: PvP is full of attitude and boasting and trash talking is commonplace. Some players love to rile up others and get under their skin with trash talking. I believe in letting my actions do the talking for me. Dry Looting: To dry loot is to take every single item off of a corpse. This is usually done to grief the victim further. You will not have need for their runes, scissors, empty bottles, etc.. and you run the risk of becoming too heavy to move if you dry loot. It is polite to take what you want and leave the rest for them to recover. Ganking: Ganking is defined when 1 person or a group of persons are killed by a larger force outnumbering them by a large margin. It's PvP, there is no such thing as a gank. If you do not have the numbers then you should either recall or not engage in field fighting. Dueling When dueling there are rules that must be followed. Some are considered a "given" and some are defined before the duel begins. Here is a list of rules that are considered to be "common knowledge". 5X: This is referred to as a basic mage duel using only magery associated skills. No weapons will be allowed. 7X: This is referred to when all skills on your template are allowed to be used. No Pre-Casting or Pre-Buffing: When a duel beings it is initiated by someone casting a Wall of Stone. When the stone wall disappeared the duel begins. During this period before the duel begins you will not pre-cast any spells in advance and you will not use any buffing spells or potions in advance. Once the wall drop you may do as you wish. No Casting Invisibility: Do not cast invisibility in a duel. If hiding is part of your template it will be negated as you will be in such a close area of combat that you will not be able to hide. No Casting Paralyze: It is considered to be bad form to try and para-gank someone in a duel. Sure you can use trapped pouches but that is besides the point. Paralyze in a duel is usually considered a no-no. Deadly Poison: Deadly poison should only be used on weapons in a 7x duel and only if that player has the poisoning skill. It is not acceptable to say "I have 30 poisoning so I use deadly poisoning of my weapons". It is however acceptable to use deadly poison on your weapons with 30 poisoning skill if you apply the poison in the duel. All poison applied to weapons in a duel should be applied once the duel begins and not afterwards. It only takes a macro to accomplish this so there is no excuse. Potions: Do no use potions in a duel unless they are defined as allowable before the duel begins. Most duelers that allow potions will allow all potions except Greater Heal or Greater Cure. The same should apply to explosion potions as deadly poison. If alchemy is your template you should craft the potion in the field before using. No Field Spells: Do not cast spells such fire field, poison field, or energy field. Do Not Summon Creatures: Do not cast Summon Creature or use a ball of summoning to call in a dragon. I don't care if taming is your template. No casting blade spirits either, even though the likelihood of being able to cast that spell is almost zero. Stay in the Ring: This is negated if you use the dueling pits provided but if you set up a makeshift dueling arena then stay inside the area at all times. Running away or teleporting to a safe spot is considered a forfeit and you automatically lose. No Mounts: Dueling will be done on foot only. No Looting: Dueling is for practice, fun, or bragging rights only. There is no looting after a duel and you should resurrect your opponent. As you can see there are a lot of guidelines to learn when it comes to PvP. It is important to familiarize yourself with them, especially dueling etiquette before you engage in a duel. Your reputation as a PvPer, should you care, will be determined by two things: How successful of a PvPer you are in field fighting and in dueling. How you treat others on the field. You will reap what you sow, so don't complain if someone dry loots your, res kills you, and kills your horse if you've been acting like a jackass.
I can honestly say I'm not familiar with the rule "No Feeblemind" in a mage duel since it can be negated with Cunning. But if the community wishes that to be added I can certainly edit it.
I always loot empty bottles. Keeps me from having to ever buy them. Also we (SL) will always mount kill if we kill an opposing factioner as it keeps them out of the fight longer.
I always thought it was proper etiquette to dry loot...don't want someone to come back to a dirty corpse...
Just my 2 yuans... I kill horses for their hides. I also have to kill the mounts of people who fail to drop enough gold, so they are at least out 550gp (assuming they didn't get it for free). It's not griefing, it's mandatory. If I don't kill it, chances are some lame NPC will instead. Agreed, but no gates or resurrections should be expected, ever! Consider it a positive or "nice" action by the person who slayed you. If the rule for field fighting is there are no rules for field fighting, then why did you draw up these rules for field fighting? Agreed! In fact, those who trash talk, get res killed when given the opportunity. Taking bottles is not an act of grief, just saying. Also, I enjoy taking people's runes, marking it next to their corpse, re-naming it to whatever it was called prior (eg Vesper), and leaving the poor sap one of each recall reg. Sometimes I even wait around to watch their reaction. Why isn't this act of kindness listed in this list of yours! If there's no such thing as a gank in PVP, how is there a rule/definition of ganking in PVP in your list? This is flawed on so many levels!
A. your group res kills and mount kills, I'm sorry if you think that you don't B. You can get your stuff, rejoin the fight and heal, poison, interrupt just fine in statloss. I do it all the time and still feel like a major player in a battle. When you're fighting 5v10 there's quite an incentive to prevent people from stepping right back in seconds after they die. The best policy to avoid these things is don't res in the area of a battle, rather than cry about it afterwords.
