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, 80, 101, 109, 123, 136, and 167
- German: 122
- French: 72
3 Pay-to-play worlds
- English: 26, 65, and 159.
- German: No German P2P worlds.
- French: No French P2P worlds.

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. If a player tries to log in to a PvP world with a borrowed item in their inventory, it will tell the player to bank it first before logging onto 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

Level range for a player with a Combat level of 90.

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

level range = ( 0.1 × Combat level) + 5 + Wilderness level

[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. An example of this happening is when a player with a combat level of 50 attacks a player with a combat level of 40. The former person can do so because his range is 0.1*50+5=10, or combat levels 40-60 while the latter player has a range of 0.1*40+5=9, or combat levels 31-49.

The various Combat level colors:

Green - Lower in Combat level.
Yellow - Equal in Combat level.
Orange - Stronger in Combat level by 1-6 levels
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
All random event locations
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. According to Jagex, this is to prevent players from using "hit and run" tactics.

Safe minigames

Main article: Minigame

"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.

Hot zones

Main article: Hot zone

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 :

Death and Drops (Loot)

File:Large death toll.png

The death tolls in PvP servers are extremely high each day.

Upon being killed in a PvP world, a player will respawn as normal, retaining their 3 most valuable items as long as they aren't skulled (have an image of a skull above your head which indicates that you've attacked another player recently). In either case, the Protect Item prayer may be used to increase the items retained on death by one.

If a player manages to kill another player in a combat, they will receive drops from that player. However, these drops are NOT the items carried by the player. Instead, items are randomly generated by the RuneScape engine. The quality of these drops depend primarily on the factors outlined below.

Drop Potential will increase every 30 minutes you spend on a PvP world outside of a safe zone. Jagex stated is a news post that "These 30 minutes do not have to be consecutive - you can log out or visit safe zones - but the system only counts full minutes." However, it will likely take longer to build up your chances for a "good" drop if you do not spend 30 consecutive minutes outside of safe zones, especially if you keep dying over and over with very little time in between death.

As already explained, hot zones - areas of Ardougne, Varrock, Falador, the Wilderness, etc - will decrease the amount of time it takes for your potential for a "good" drop to increase. The exact numerical benefit of fighting in hot zones is currently unknown, though it is likely to be quite significant.

Members must be carrying at least 75,000GP's (75k) worth of items on them for their "good" drop potential to increase, while free users only need 25,000GP's (25k) worth on them. If a player and their opponent does not fulfill this requirement, their chances of a "good" drop will not increase every 30 minutes, and as such their chances of receiving such a drop decreases dramatically. It should be noted that the 3 items kept upon death do not count towards the 25/75K item price limit.

It is possible to increase drop potential without actually risking any items. Several quest areas are considered non-safe, yet have no risk of death because other players cannot see you. The caves in the Myths of the White Lands is one such example. Players may bring 75,003 coins here and stay for as long as they like, doing emotes to pass the time. A player's POH is also a safe area, but residing here will not increase a player's drop potential as stated by jagex. Thus, It is not possible to train construction here while gaining drop potential. However, better way is to train at a VERY remote location, they are ALMOST as safe, but time will be much, MUCH easier to pass

It is interesting to note that fighting NPCs on a PvP world will also increase your "good" drop potential. Because of this, players are encouraged to fight NPCs and build up their drop potential before battling it out with other players if they wish to get the more desirable drops.

Most of the time, the items dropped are normal equipment, mostly Mithril weapons in most free PvP worlds, such as weapons and armour from non-PvP worlds. However, in rare cases, special PvP-only drops such as Corrupt dragon equipment and Brawling gloves have been reported.

PvP world Tactics

In F2P, many players prefer to fight without armour, as it is very hard to kill a player wearing full rune without special attacks or any of the abilities avaliable to members. Thus, players often fight 'No-arm', short for no-armor. Players doing this carry a Rune scimitar and Rune 2h sword, sometimes a Maple shortbow with Adamant arrows. The rune scimitar or maple shortbow is often used to lower the opponent's health, while the Rune 2h is used to KO (deliver the final blow). These players try to maximize their max hit, by drinking Strength potions and wearing an Amulet of Strength. Sometimes the prayer Ultimate Strength is used to deal incredible amounts of damage.

Skillers sometimes go on PvP worlds to enjoy the lack of competition at non-pk activities such as woodcutting or mining. This is not recommended as there is a high chance of death.

Players attempting to escape into a Safe area (such as a bank) should be advised to turn Auto-retaliate off. This is because the attacker may run into a 'dangerous' area, causing you to retaliate and resetting the timer.

People can get better drops while using one item keeping it safe at the same time if they turn off the protect item prayer when killing an opponent using a weapon of high value such as an abyssal whip.

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(15-30 minutes), 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)

Main article: Ancient Warriors' Equipment

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. IMPORTANT: Level 20 equipment has NO SPECIAL ATTACK

The list of available equipment are as follows:

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 the winner is 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.

On PvP worlds, there are a few general types of players:

Ancienters: These players are players who use ancient magicks on pjers or pkers when they are eating during combat or waiting, they usually wear full the Helm of neitiznot, ahrim's robetop, ahrim's robeskirt, abyssal whip, and either a book of balance, unholy book, or holy book. These usually attack players that have a negative magic defense bonus.
PKers: These players are in PVP to kill others, not to get killed by others. They attack just about anyone. PKer is a shorthand for Player Killer.
Pures: These players have one, two if not three high combat stats, with other combat stats being significantly lower. Example of a Pure: 40 Attack, 60 Strength, High Hitpoints and 1 Defence.
Defenders/ Safers: 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 food at higher than half of hitpoints.
Marauders: Otherwise known as Scavengers. These players go to hot spots like Falador and pick up items lying on the ground (eg. Arrows, drops, etc.), bank the items, then repeat. This is similar to people in Bounty Hunter.
Dharokers: are players who use the Dharok set armor to max on players while not risking anything, they always try to make another player attack them, they always have protect item on, on rare occasions they wear a skill cape to increase loot drops, but they often wear a legends cape instead since it is only 750 gp ea, and a amulet of strength to increase their strength bonus.
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, Falador, POH, etc.), 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 protection prayers if being pile jumped. PJer's may also wait until one of the people fighting to eat and then attack the player that is attacking the eating player. The richest of Pjer's use Dragon Claws as these are almost 95% of the time a one hit kill.
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 no better than PJers.
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*: 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. These players also commonly use the Retribution prayer to cause as much damage as possible.
Hunters: Usually a small team, one player lures the target, acting as bait, the target is then found by the hunters catching them off guard. This usually takes place in remote areas such as the deep wilderness or quest areas.
No Itemers/one itemers: In Lumbridge and other respawn points, players with either no items or only one item randomly attack players: when the player dies, he/she simply respawns and almost immediately runs out to attack other players again. One-itemers usually Protect Item to protect their weapon, such as a Dragon dagger, Dragon Claws or a whip when near death. However, this is not 100% reliable because lag or carelessness may cause the prayer to become unactivated on death. Also, players may use Smite to drain your prayer, disabling the Protect Item prayer. The 1-iteming player will usually get near-worthless drops such as potions and food, sometimes getting mithril or adamant weapons or armor. Because of the drop tables, players who kill the no-itemers can get average drops to cover the expense of food wasted. One itemers can quickly become annoying and harassing, and are generally frowned upon players trying to 'Really PK'.
3 Itemers/ 4 Itemers: similer to the "No Itemers/ One Itemers" but with 3 or 4 items that they protect by not getting skulled, and if they are a 4 itemer they use protect item prayer in addition to this. They generally go out with the following items of the best metal that they can use: platebody, platelegs, and 2h or scimitar or warhammer, (with a kiteshield if they are 4 iteming). The weapon that they use depends on the people they expect to be fighting, their personal preferences, and their stats. If they are a p2p player they might use a poisoned weapon. Sometimes they don't even go out just to PK, they just go out so they can laugh at the pures that come up to them and beg them to take their armor off.
Escape artist: Escape artists are usually equipped with their cheapest quickest means of teleportation, many times a cabbage ring, for upon near death they teleport to a safer area if poisoned they then teleport to their spawn location and drop as many items as possible. The cabbage field is a place where they heal until the poison has gone away, or has been healed with an antipoison potion.

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.^{[source needed]}
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. As of December 9, 2008, Jagex released a PVP world update that improved the drops.
When PvP worlds were introduced, prices for Rune, Dragon, Barrows, and other armour and weapons, runite ore and bars were skyrocketing. They are currently dropping. It is possibly due to the lack of popularity of the worlds.
On the day when PvP worlds were released, prices for many potions also skyrocketed.
When PvP worlds were released, it was possible to auto-login to them. This is now fixed.
On the day PvP worlds were introduced, lobsters, sharks, and swordfish especially, but also many other types of food, were nearly impossible to come by at the Grand Exchange as so many players were buying them.

References

RuneScape Game Guide - PvP Worlds