PvP world

PvP worlds (also known as Player-versus-Player worlds) were released on 15 October 2008. They allow players to clash almost anywhere, except for certain safe areas like banks, respawn points, and the Grand Exchange. A few things that were removed after the wilderness removal of December 2007 now have been added back to the game, such as the spell Teleblock and death drops. Because Jagex added the revenants only to replace dangerous PKers, they do not appear on PvP servers. High leveled players, or players confident in their ability often go without armor to skilling areas, as the areas are usually empty, or less populated, hence less competition.

Requirements

 * Minimum of level 20 Combat (not including Summoning) to enter any PvP world.

Worlds

 * 12 Free-to-play worlds
 * English: 21, 32, 55, 63, 72, 80, 101, 109, 123, 136, and 167
 * German: 122
 * 8 Pay-to-play worlds
 * English: 23, 26, 65, 111, 137, 159, and 163
 * German: 150

Getting started
When logging into a PvP world, players are warned and given the option to return to the log-in screen to select another world.


 * The first ever time players enter a PvP world, they will be teleported to Lumbridge Castle. After the first time, you will appear in the same spot you left as before.
 * The Pvp worlds manual will appear in the inventory, and if lost, may be replaced by talking to the Doomsayer. He will also be able to turn off the warning interface for the "wealth carried" information.
 * No borrowed items are allowed into a PvP world.
 * A period of "immunity" is given to players to prepare for combat after logging in. During this period, players cannot be attacked by others.
 * The "immunity" also works during teleportation and travel (such as while in a boat). However, to prevent abuse, this will not work for a short period of time whenever it is used too often.

Combat level
Any player within a particular level range of Combat level can be attacked. The range is calculated with this formula:

[Note that the result is always rounded down]

For example, a player with a Combat level of 100 may attack players with Combat levels between 85 to 115 (a 15-level range). If the player is in the Wilderness, the range increases as the player travels deeper, (directly based off the level of Wilderness the player is in).

Note: A player CAN be attacked by another player outside their range, if the other player has the player within their range. This player CAN of course retaliate if they are attacked this way, even though the other player is outside their level range.

The various Combat level colors:


 * Green - Lower in Combat level
 * Yellow - Equal in Combat level
 * Red - Higher in Combat level
 * White - Cannot be attacked (i.e. outside the Combat level range)

Safe zones
There are a number of "safe zones" within a PvP world where players are not allowed to attack one another. Some of these areas are as follows:


 * Banks
 * Grand Exchange
 * Entrana
 * Respawn points - i.e. Lumbridge, Falador, Camelot
 * Skill Guilds
 * Fishing Trawler beach (where the trawler sinks)
 * Falador Party Room

Countdown timer
If a player runs into a safe zone while in combat, a 10-second countdown timer appears. During this time, the player can still be attacked and killed even if they are within the safe zone. Only when the timers expire is the player truly safe from attacks. This is to prevent players from using "hit and run" tactics.

Safe minigames
"Safe" minigames also allow player-versus player combat. Nevertheless, when a player is killed, the player loses nothing and will appear back at the start point.

Non-PvP minigames
These minigames are closed for player-versus-player attacks.


 * Barbarian Assault
 * Bounty Hunter
 * Castle Wars
 * Clan Wars
 * Duel Arena
 * Fist of Guthix
 * Tears of Guthix
 * Trouble Brewing
 * TzHaar Fight Pit
 * Vinesweeper

Hot zones
There are certain areas in RuneScape called "hot zones". These places are considered very dangerous as they are popular for players to come and kill each other. Many of these areas have monsters as well. A "flaming skull" icon will appear on the screen to notify players when they enter these areas.

Hot zones give players an advantage because there is a higher chance for killed opponents to drop better items in these areas, as opposed to killing players outside the hot zones. Hot zones are more dangerous, however, due to the larger number of players in these areas who will hunt you for the improved drops they can get.

Hot zones include, but are not limited to :


 * Varrock
 * Falador
 * Wilderness
 * Lumbridge
 * Seers' Village
 * Ardougne

Death and Drops (Loot)


Upon being killed in a PvP world, a player will respawn as normal, retaining their 3 most valuable items if not skulled (you will get skulled if you attack another player on a PvP world). The Protect Item may be used to increase the retained items by one.

If a player manages to kill another in a combat, they will get drops from the killed player. However, these drops are NOT the items carried by the player, but items randomly generated by the RuneScape game. These drops depends on several factors:
 * Value of items carried by both players
 * If the value of items carried is more than 75,000 coins in pay-to-play worlds, or 25,000 coins in free-to-play worlds, the chance of getting a better drop is increased. However, a Jagex mod has stated on the Official Forums that this is a "minimal" factor, or it is not very important in the process of determining what drop a player will get. Also, Jagex has stated that any amount over 75,000 coins will NOT contribute to the reward.
 * Difference between Combat level
 * The higher difference between levels, the better drops are gained by the player.
 * Survival time (outside of "safe zones")
 * A longer survival time contributes to better drops. Surviving longer in "hot zones" will give you an even better chance of a special drop. This had been stated by a Jagex mod to be one of the most important factors.
 * Kill count
 * When a player with a high kill count is killed, the drops are better than a player with a low kill count.
 * Hot zone
 * If the player is killed in a "Hot zone", the rewards are better than those killed elsewhere.

Most of the time, the items dropped are normal equipment, such as items from non-PvP RuneScape worlds. However, there are rare special PvP-only drops such as Corrupt dragon equipment and Brawling gloves.

Special PvP drops
These are special items that can be obtained as drops from PvP worlds. All but a strict few other items in RuneScape can also be dropped much more commonly and in greater numbers from these special PvP drops.

Corrupt dragon equipment
Corrupt dragon equipment have the same stats and boosts as normal dragon equipment, but have a limited amount of time to use, and are available to free-to-play players.

Brawling gloves (m)
There are 13 kinds of Brawling gloves. These gloves add experience to certain skills while training in PvP worlds. They provide as much 300% bonus to experience, quadrupling the usual experience gained.

Ancient Warriors' Equipment (m)
The equipment all come in two states:
 * Level 78 requirements that will last 1 hour of combat - skill requirement depends on the individual items
 * Level 20 requirements that will last 15 minutes.

The list of available equipment are as follows:
 * Statius's Equipment
 * Vesta's Equipment
 * Zuriel's Equipment
 * Morrigan's Equipment

Rare Equipment
On rare occasions, a player may drop extremely rare items such as the fabled Dragon Full Helm, the Dragonfire Shield, and Dragon Chainbody if both players are risking at least 75,000 gp worth of items. If the winner is lucky enough, and has met the requirements for the desired drop, they may just receive one of these prized items.

Types of Players
''Disclaimer: These terms do not strictly follow these definitions. Some people refer to a PKer as anyone who kills a player on a PvP world.''

On PvP worlds, there are a few general types of players:
 * PKers: These players only PK players who are lower to equal their combat level. They use prayers such as Incredible Reflexes to change the tide of the battle. If losing, they will flee to a safe spot or teleport.
 * Slayers*: These players are similar to the PKers, but also attack players of higher level.
 * Defenders: These players try to play RuneScape on PvP worlds like any other world, but fight players who attack them. They will flee from the battle if losing, and use prayers like Rapid Heal and Retribution if it's hopeless.
 * Marauders: These players go to hot spots like Falador and pick up items lying on the ground (eg. Arrows, drops, ect), bank the items, then repeat. This is similar to people in Bounty Hunter.
 * Farcasters*: These players will camp an area that players will often visit to travel more quickly or recharge prayer. A couple examples of this include prayer altars and teleport spots.  Always be wary when teleporting or recharging prayer in a PVP world, especially while skulled.  These types of players are frowned upon in many cases. These types of players usually attack by freezing their opponent in place with magic such as bind or ice barrage, walks away a few steps, and continues to use ranged/magic attacks to attack their opponent. If the opponent is not using range or magic, they cannot strike back until they move once the freeze time is up.
 * Base campers*: These players will camp at spawn points (eg. Lumbridge, POH, ect), to wait for an unsuspecting person to come and attempt to kill them.
 * PJer's*: Also known as pile jumpers, these players wait for a battle to end, and then kill the victor of the battle while they are weak and before they can pick up the spoils/heal themselves*. Another example of a PJer is someone who will wait for an opening to attack while two people fight, and use this opening to unleash special attacks on an unlucky player. There is a high chance of death for the player being attacked, so it is best advised to use the "Protect From Melee" prayer, if being pile jumped.
 * Anti PJer's: These players are much like PJer's, but will only attack those who attempt to pile jump, and most likely follow it with an insult. They are the crime fighters of the PKing community.
 * Energy wasters (AKA Hit & Runners)*: These players will attempt to attack another person without getting hit and keep running until the target is out of energy. Usually they use ranged or magic attacks.
 * Suicide Bombers (AKA Juggernauts)*: These players will come in with a single, quick and powerful weapon (usually a dragon dagger (p++)) and the Protect Items prayer. They will fight to the death, losing nothing because of their one-item scheme. They typically fight near respawn points, and continually attack a single person so as not to give their target a time to rest before being attacked again.
 * No Itemers/one itemers. In Lumbridge and other respawn points, players with either no items or only one item repeatedly attack a certain player for XP. When the player dies, he/she simply respawns and almost immediately runs out to attack the same player again. This yields some average XP for lower and mid levelled characters training to be PK Pures. However because of the drop tables, the person who keeps killing the no-itemers can get average drops to cover the expense of food wasted. Mithril items are quite common, however sometimes no and one itemers can quickly become annoying and harassing, and are generally fronwed upon players trying to 'Really PK'

Note: * = Be careful of these players.

Trivia

 * Jagex had said that they were planning to release PvP worlds in September, but instead released it a month late on 15 October 2008.
 * The randomly generated drops have been criticized by players who feel that they are not sufficient rewards for the time and danger involved in obtaining them.
 * Prices for Rune, Dragon, Barrows, and other armour and weapons are skyrocketing, except for Treasure trails items, although they have risen a bit. People are now selling and buying the items very quickly before prices deflate again.