MMORPG
Character
Monuments

Introduction
Don’t call it a comeback. I’ve been here for Years!! (Music to kill by!). That’s my feeling on PvP. Fueled from my first experience on EQ1 and seasoned in games like DAOC and SWG. However, WoW became the dominant force in MMOs for 3 years and as such, WoW PvP became the standard ...but was it an improvement? For me, it seemed to fit well with the theme of World of Warcraft…grinding for loot. Without purpose and eventually confined to instance games where nothing is truly won or lost.

AoC has come. The playerbase is working their way up, guilds have been forged and cities are being built. We all know that conflict is coming …but will it be a true break from the past? Here is to hoping.

This article is a primer on strategies for your survival in PvP on the PvP servers or as clashes erupt on PVE. It will not make you the dominant player on your server, but it is my hope that it will give you insight and clues as to how to handle yourself against a worthy enemy…your peers. Below gives you a place to begin and a few tips and tricks from PvP players. Don’t think that we are being nice or motherly. No, we are tired of culling the herd of the weak. Read this, work hard, and give us a challenge!

To see other articles I wrote about Age of Conan, try these
Reviews
Age of Conan Review: "A great game with a fatal Flaw"
Age of Conan Vs Warhammmer Online
Leveling guides
Age of Conan Leveling guide: Level 1-20 "Tortage, its not just for breakfast anymore"
Age of Conan Leveling guide: Level 20-40 "Life as a Hyborian Tween"
Age of Conan Leveling guide: Level 40-60 "Mommy, are we there yet?...No!"
Age of Conan Leveling guide: Level 60-80 "And your journey to the Dark Side will be complete! "
Aoc Guides
Age of Conan Crafting guide: "Harvesting for the decapitated"
Age of Conan PvP Guide: "Mama Said Knock You Out!"

So, with that introduction, lets begin.

Setting the stage for PvP
Note that PvE skill does not correspond to PvP skill. This is the one of the most obvious facts to those who have played PvP before. Yet is the most common mistake players first make. I know we have been grinding for 80 levels and are used to charging in to 2-3 mobs and defeating them with over half our HP remaining. I know that Conan himself is used to killing armies while sipping latte (DON’T SIP LATTE!). PvP is different. Consider every other player like a elite mob ...one wrong move and your dead.

However AoC is a significant break from past MMOs (DAOC, WOW, Etc). In those games as you gained in levels you significantly increased in power over those lower level that you. NOT THE CASE in AOC! You gain a level and you get a few more HP (perhaps 30) and that’s about it! No more superior evasion and huge damage bonuses because your 1 level over somebody else. Consider yourself potential prey to those 2 to 3 levels below you and stay on guard.

Prepare yourself
The best PvPers are the ones who are never out of the PvP mindset. Surprise is one of the biggest attacks out there and with everyone having the Stealth ability it is equal across the board (somewhat). You should always be ready for combat any time you leave the cities (where PvP cannot take place), entering an instance, speaking with a quest NPC, walking leisurely down the path smelling roses (DON’T SMELL THE ROSES!) and even when you rez. Attacks can and do come at all these times. Be ready!

Your ability BAR
The first thing you need to do is setup your PVP UI. You should have a BAR dedicated to PVP and a separate one for PVE (As a caster I had a third one just for buffs). Often I keep my PVP bar on Bar 0 (SHIFT-0), and PVE on Bar 1 (SHIFT-1). Use whichever works best for you. The PVP bar should be set up so that you can easily activate abilities and items as you see fit. I kept my attacks on the main bar (1,2,3,Q,E) and spot 4 and 5 were set for Potions.

Potions
Buy potions. Always buy potions. They're cheap, and will save your life. Use potions, Always use potions. This is not like some other games where players say using potions somehow lessens the victory. Pots should always be used…and used early! Potions work over time, do not save them to the end, if you’ve been ATTACKED the first things you should hit (even before looking to see who attacked you) are your potions.

Using Health potions is obvious. For PvP, Stamina runs a close second. Even for casters stamina may make the difference between keeping distance from your foe and finding how well you don’t melee with that piece of bamboo you call a staff. Although it varies from player to player, I honestly don’t find that Mana potions are all that useful in PvP even for casters and obviously not for pure melee. Usually a fight over quickly and often with mana to spare (especially for one on one). The main exceptions are in Group PvP which last longer or if your a caster without a singificant amount of burst DPS (priests). But, if your ability bar space is limited…If there is one potion you could do without, its likely mana pots.

Camera, keyboard, and graphics setup
At this point in time there is no way to macro sequences and moves. Keyboard binding is limited but you should make take advantage of whatever you can. Speed is a major factor in PvP. You want abilities bound to keys, accessible at a single push of a button and NOT have to visually search, select and click icons.

Go into Camera options and change the camera following mode to "NEVER" from smart. This way you can spin the camera at will and it won't keep snapping back to the zero position by default. It is a handy way to immediately turn direction with a simple click of the mouse. Use and practice this.

For casters, work on moves like running, spinning the camera 180 degrees, targeting people chasing you, and then instantly turning around by clicking both mouse buttons at once + starting a spell cast. Then during your spell cast spinning the camera another 180 degrees and the second your spell finishes casting click both mouse buttons to run the way you were originally going again with zero time spent turning around.

For melee, Unbind "turn left and right" from the A and D keys and re-bind these keys to strafe left and right. you NEVER turn with your keyboard ever. It's substantially slower than mouse turning. From here on out , steering of your character should be with the mouse. Using A and D strafing along with the mouse look will allow you to turn around your opponents in a circular motion …this is called circle strafe.

Many players, particularly in melee combat, use Circle Strafe. This seems to be an effective technique for both avoiding damage and keeping your opponent off balance. It takes practice and skill to pull off effectively. Melee classes should use and practice this.

Because the game is graphically intense, you do not want the system to lag you out as you are fighting. Make sure you set your graphics to the minimal amount of fluff yet the largest amount to see players at a distance. It may be a good option to maximize your view distance but minimize the high quality view distance and the particle effect distance in Advanced video controls. Also disable grass and foliage around your character. Increasing the contrast usually makes it easier to see foes in the shadows of night.

PvP Gear, Gems and Equipment
Gear and equipment are surely to change over the short and long term of this game. Right now there is a belief that gear does not effect PvP situations. This mostly stems from the dev posting HERE. However this is not entirely acurate. When people look at PvP equipment they mainly look at Attack Rating, Defense Rating, Magic Rating (this includes specialized Magic Ratings) and Magical Resist. However, the positive or negative damage multipliers normally associated with offensive and defensive rating comparisons are completely ignored. All other stats work normally in PvP. It is simply that "scaler" functionality which is normally in place to dynamically adjust gameplay based on level differences is removed in PvP to allow for a fairer matchup of player skill and ability.

So in the end, +defense wont help you that much, nor will +attack. However, +health, +mana regen, +dex and all the other stats will work normally. This does cater to the more casual gamer. For those who does not have the time to run raids and pick up some of the higher tier items. The effect of quipment is lessened ..perhaps a little too much. This means your skill in play is going to be paramount.

The main gear for pvP is crafted gear with a lot of gems placed. I wont go into the specifics of each type of crafted weapons and armor (Consider it your homework...on my desk..Monday!). However its not the armor itself that makes it usful when putting your life on the line, its the gem sockets. Gems are how you load up on melee and magic resistance, damage modifiers, perception, stamina and more. Most PvP gears are set for high invulnerabilities and evasion. Some evasion gear was stacked so high that rumor had it Funcom banned players above 40%. However, recently the gem modifiers were "revised for longer PvP enjoyment" ...for those who dont speak developer, it means "hit with the nerf bat...although Nerf doesnt really produce bats anymore and seems to favor the Nerf N-Strike Vulcan EBF-25 Blaster ...THAT, my friends, is a TOY!!!)

On to the Gems...following the visible spectrum of rainbows(Data stolen..er, liberated...er, borrowed...er, pilfered...OK, OK ..give the props to Uilamin's Gem Cutting 101 HERE!)

Red Gems	Orange Gems	Yellow Gems
Modifies Melee Weapon Damage, Health Modifiers, Strength, and Melee Invulnerabilities	Modifies Fire Damage, and Cold Immunity	Modifies Holy and General Spell Damage, Casting Concentration, Unholy and Poison Invulnerability, and Hate Reduction
Spinel Jasper Garnet Blood Opal Ruby Star Ruby	Carnelian Tiger Eye Chalcedony Sunstone Fire Agate Padpaasahsa	Citrine Chrysoberyl Sagenite Topaz Heliodor Golden Beryl

Green Gems	Blue Gems	Violet Gems
Modifies Ranged Weapon, General Physical, and Dagger Damage, Dexterity, Fatality Chance, Off-Hand Chance, Stamina Modifiers, and Evasion	Modifies Cold Damage, Mana Modifiers, Intelligence, Wisdom, Attribute Taps from spells, Fire Immunity, and Magic Evasion	Modifies Hate Generation, and Magic Invulnerabilities
Chrysoprase Malachite Peridot Sphene Jade Emerald	Azurite Lapis Lazuli Turquoise Aquamarine Sapphire Star Sapphire	Rose Quartz Iolite Amethyst Duskstone Royal Azel Tyrian Sapphire

White Gems	Black Gems
Modifies Electrical Damage, Perception, and Electrical Invulnerability	Modifies Unholy and Poison Damage, Hiding, and Holy Immunity
Quartz Zircon Moonstone Achronite White Opal Diamond	Obsidian Onyx Jet Black Jasper Nightstar Black Diamond

My reccomendation is that even with the Nerf, load up on evasion, magic evasion, melee invulnerability. After that select the +damage modifier of your preference and load up as much as you can. IN the end, Green, Red and Blue are the gems of choice ..expect them to be costly on the Trader. You would think that perception would be a good PvP bonus to have, but in its current form its not.

Know thy Enemy
The most important paths to PvP success is knowing what you can about your opponent. You should want to identify his/her class based on first look. Knowing that, then you should know exactly what they are capable of. As in all MMOs, things change. I will work to keep up this list but it is ultimately up to you to stay on top of changes to your enemies class. I know there are some areas that are blank below. As I gather more information and review the comments made to this article I will update them. So check back!

Necromancers (aka Necros)	Demonologists (aka Demos)	Heralds of Xotli (aka HoX ..if female ‘Hot mama’)
Recognized By: Posse of zombies	Recognized By: Posse of Demons	Recognized By: Anyone wearing cloth and trying to melee..especially with a 2H sword or Axe
HP: ~3000 Biggest Damage: Lots of pets (2 point pets normaly) Grip of Death Weakness: Lack of burst DPS, Low HP, Stinks at 1V 1, dependency on pets.	HP: ~3100 Biggest Damage: Fires of Gehenna Weakness: little defense, weak against holy damage, lack of CC	HP: ~4000 Biggest Damage: Molten Steel Slash Pillar of Flame Weakness: Only 1 stun, lack of ranged attacks, utter dependence on DPS for survival, weak against CC, Cast bars on Combos

Tempest of Set (aka ToS...aka FOTM-1)	Priest of Mitra (aka PoM ...aka FOTM-2)	Bear Shaman (aka …er...bear shaman)
Recognized By: Stygian caster in armor	Recognized By: Aquillonian caster in armor	Recognized By: Cimmerian caster in armor
HP: ~4000 Biggest Damage: Storm Field Weakness: Timer dependency for dps, weak against CC	HP: ~4000 Biggest Damage: Smite Repulse Weakness: Lack of burst DPS. low HP	HP: ~4.1k Biggest Damage: Shrewd Blow Armor crush Weakness: Lack of HP, lack of DPS, lack of ranged attacks

Rangers (aka Legolas Wannabe)	Assassins (aka sins)	Barbarians (aka Conan Wannabe)
Recognized By: Anyone who using a bow against you	Recognized By: Anyone who dual wields daggers	Recognized By: Anyone who dual wields or uses a 2H yet doesn't have shiny metal armor
HP: ~5000 Biggest Damage: Salvo Heartseeker Weakness: Low armor, Susceptible to stun, Mez and snare trap durations are short. Cannot use mez arrow while in combat.	HP: ~3400 Biggest Damage: Swift Strikes Weakness: Lack of defense, Low HP, daggers have small attack radius making it difficult to hit moving targets, No snare	HP: ~4200 Biggest Damage: Cyclone of Steel Savage rage Weakness: Difficulty to catch classes at range, Relies heavily on CC (stuns and knockdowns), Low defense and no healing

Conqueror (aka Conqs)	Dark Templar (aka DTs)	Guardian (aka G-men or FOTM-3)
Recognized By:	Recognized By: Anyone who willingly wears a shield and lifetaps you in PvP	Recognized By: Anyone wielding a polearm
HP: ~7500 Biggest Damage: Whirlwind Hail of Furious Strikes Weakness: Difficult to catch classes at range, charge on 1 min cooldown	HP: ~6100 Biggest Damage: Mystical Bane Blood for Aid Weakness: Difficulty to catch classes at range. Lack of ways to get out of CCs. Low DPS	HP: ~8500 Biggest Damage: Dulling Blow Weakness: Difficulty to catch classes at range. Lack of sustained DPS

Know thyself
Its easy to think you have the edge in PvP if you know your opponent. And its true, however the best PvP players also know the limits of what they can do. Understand your class better than anyone else. Think outside the box. As in all MMOs, things change. I will work to keep up this list but it is ultimately up to you to stay on top of changes to your class. I know there are some areas that are blank below. As I gather more information and review the comments made to this article I will update them. So check back!

Necromancers	Demonologists	Heralds of Xotli
Harder Targets: Tempest of Set, Priest of Mitra, Rangers, DPS classes Easier Targets: Assassins Useful feats for PvP: Master of dead, Unholy Hands	Harder Targets: Healer and Mage classes Easier Targets: Most Melee Classes Useful feats for PvP: Wicked bolt, Purge, Lore of Skeletos, Tome of Elrik, Possesion	Harder Targets: Demonologists, Barbarians, Range classes Easier Targets: Assassins Useful feats for PvP: Improved hellfire breath, Avatar of Xotli, Fire Lance, Visage of Xotli, Burning words, Mindless brute
Useful PvP Strategies: Set pets on people and run, drain all their endurance/mana Set pets and hide on a very high hard to reach area Single target healers in Group vs Group and take out a groups healing. With 8 pets you can even divide them(given enough time) onto two healers and still get them to the point where they are useless	Useful PvP Strategies: Perform Fiery torment --> storm chains Conflag and gates of hell will own most opponents if you live through the salvo and can get behind them	Useful PvP Strategies: When fighting Necros, cast Avatar of Xotli then Phoenix cloak then AoE down the pets. Don't stand still in PvP combat unless your combo cast bar is up.

Tempest of Set	Priest of Mitra	Bear Shaman
Harder Targets: Herald of Xotli (well played), Guardians, Necromancers Easier Targets: Barbarian, Assassin, Demonologists, Herald of Xotli (poorly played) Useful feats for PvP: Improved Cobra strike, Visions of Hatred, Puppets of Set	Harder Targets: Barbarians, Tempest of Set, Guardian Easier Targets: Conqueror, Herald of Xotli Useful feats for PvP: Avatar of Mitra, Vengeance of Gods, Improved Repulse, presence of mind,	Harder Targets: Soldier Classes, Mage Classes Easier Targets: Assassins, Rangers, ToS, Demo Useful feats for PvP: Rune of grounding, Improved Spirit of the Bear, Improved Grizzle Hide, presence of mind
Useful PvP Strategies: Lightning strike --> stun --> Lightning Strike --> Column lightning --> Lightning strike	Useful PvP Strategies: Vengeance of Gods --> Clarity of Minds --> Smite Condemn --> Clarity of Mind --> Smite Rotate the CC stay out of melee	Useful PvP Strategies: Range damage when in melee combat to trigger renewal then sprint to gain distance for healing. Your knockdown doesn't last long enough to get behind someone, it's your ONLY defense against stopping someone's heal/attack/etc. Use it when you see an animation/ability you want to stop

Rangers	Assassins	Barbarians
Harder Targets: Easier Targets: Useful feats for PvP: Sniper Stance, Agile Mind, Excellent Balance, Escape Artist	Harder Targets: Guardians, ToS, Conquerors, HoX (played well) Easier Targets: Bear Shaman, Demos, Barbarians Useful feats for PvP: Lunge, From the darkness, Death’s Gaze, Avatar of Death, Excellent Balance, Escape Artist, Agile mind, snap kick, Curse of the lotus, golden lotus	Harder Targets: Any Caster Class Easier Targets: Assassins, Rangers Useful feats for PvP:Paralysis, Insanity, Earth Shatter, Unstable Mind, Scatter Foes, Thirst For Blood, Excellent balance, Escape artist, Agile mind
Useful PvP Strategies: Focused Fire --> Critical Aim --> Marked for death. Make sure you get the first hit, if you don't get it, trap the melee players then run away and hide. Attack targets from behind from a good range with the slow shot then unload all your dps	Useful PvP Strategies: Lunge + From the darkness --> Swift Strikes, Death gaze --> Any Combo Corrupting Strikes + Avatar of death + Lunge --> Swift Strikes Work on being able to move and circle strafe while executing combos Grim Corruption --> swift strikes Use Lotus extract + cats paw + excellent balance early to get heals early in fight.	Useful PvP Strategies: For Casters: Clobber > Finishing Blow > decap. If you miss your Clobber-- Stunning Punch (w/ comatose) > CoS > earth shatter In PvP, unfeated CoS hits practically as hard as a feated CoS, consider this when you chose your feats.

Conqueror	Dark Templar	Guardian
Harder Targets: All Caster Classes Easier Targets: Assassins, Rangers Useful feats for PvP: Cunning Deflection, Improved Frenzy, Cunning Deflection, Annihilate, Improved Inspire	Harder Targets: most DPS Classes Easier Targets: Rangers, Assassisn, Necromancers Useful feats for PvP: dark Burden, Mind Wrack, Mind Shatter, Dooming Presence	Harder Targets:Tos, PoM Easier Targets: Assassins, barbarians Useful feats for PvP: Bloody Vengeance, Momentum, Skewer
Useful PvP Strategies: Burst of Aggression --> Charge --> any Combo -- > Stun again Know when and how to change stances in combat Spec Carnage for most PvP useful feats Great Strategies HERE	Useful PvP Strategies: For Necromancers , Improved Aura of infusion with all there pets hitting us doing shitty damage just makes our health go up faster than they can take it down Stay in the back of your pvp group spamming martydom and wait for your teammates to do all the damage and when someones at like 25% pop on frenzy and attack Use blood for aid 5 + frenzy and attack, stun with mind shatter then MBIV	Useful PvP Strategies: Use Momentum+Overreach, Bloody vengeance and Strike and Guard. You should really include Bloody Vengeance its too good to give up. To attempt to one-shot a player try Frenzy + Juggernaut + Momentum + Overreach Volcanic rage -->Juggernaut --> Stunning Charge --> Knockdown --> High hitting Combo

Key Strategy: The use of the generic STUN BUFF is rarely used by the melee classes. Double tap 'W' (as described below) and your next hit is very likely to stun. When chargeing a caster, hit the W twice before you arrive, and you have the chance to interupt the spell that caster is tring to throw at you.

In the fight!
You are attacking!
That’s my boy...sniff sniff, they grow up so fast. There are a few things you should always know about the battle. First is that PvP should not be a “lets see what happens” kind of experience. You should know what your going to do before you engage. Your moves should be as second nature as they are in PVE grinding. Practice your moves! Know your sequence, anticipate what your opponent may do and easily transition to plan B and C. Don’t worry about the ADD. If someone unexpected attacks you …it sucks, it happens. CC em if you got em otherwise keep your focus on your main target. Don’t ever switch targets (except for CC).

Hide, Hide, Hide. H is the default key for hide. You will drain stamina if you move while hiding unless you are a rogue class. But you can remain stationary in hide for as long as you want. The best way NOT to be targeted is not to be a target! This is especially true in group PvP. Healers and casters stay out of sight for the first seconds of combat. The first seconds is where everyone looks to find the healers and "easy pickings' ..if you are either of these, staying stealthed even for a fraction of a second longer may mean you are passed over and thats is a VERY nice place for any caster (or ranger) to be. The best way to succeed is to choose your location and your opponent AND have first SHOT.

If you are fighting then you should be MOVING. This aint checkers! Dance around and move around. Stay still only when you have to. A stationary target is your foes best friend...DON'T BE HIS FRIEND! This is why stamina is so important.

Key Strategy: You can preload combos, hit the combo and then swing at dead air, then go in range for the last hit and then hit the person and the combo will land for full damage

You are attacked.
Oh no! What will I do…who, what, where, why…what about my children! Do I have enough insurance?!?! These are all questions that should NOT be going through your head (curse you Metlife!!)!! This is your time to shine…bear that evil grin…someone just made a mistake!

In AoC players have control over the chance to dodge, parry, active block, and missed attacks yet they are rarely used! This may come from our last 3 years of WoW’s Autoattack PvP..where many fights were players walking up to each other and enjoying stationary autoattacking...then the one with the best equipment wins. AoC is striving for tactics >> class >> equipment. I'm not sure we are there yet. But you should use everything this game gives you to win…nothing is an automatic loss.
When you are attacked hold down ‘x’ to active block. Significantly cuts down the incoming damage, but you can’t attack, cast or move. This costs stamina and that’s being covered by your stam pot. Use this ability while you locate your opponent.

If you are attacked by a melee (Assassin, barbarian, tank), Double tap ’s’ (back) to get a short 5 second buff that increases your evade chances. It costs a small amount of stamina. Casters should sprint out of melee combat and zigzag with quick changes in direction, this requires a percentage of your stamina to use but does affects your melee attacker (whose sprinting to catch up) a LOT more than it does you.

Set your shields! We are all aware of PVE mobs have shields up to diminish the damage coming from melee. Well, so do we! Its defaulted to 1 shield  equally on the left, right , and top ..this is exactly what you DON’T want. Obviously you cannot anticipate every move and change your shielding before the next strike. However, you can put up three shields on one spot specifically to take away your melee opponent’s big move. Shields are easily and quickly set by hitting Ctrl-1 (3 shields left), Ctrl-2 (3 shields top) and Ctrl-3 (3 shields right). When you see someone melee-ing you, you want to quickly identify what class and set your shields to STOP their big move.

Dark Templar	Set shields UP (CTRL-2)
Conqueror	Set shields Right (CTRL-3)
Rangers	Set shields Up if bow (CTRL-2), Right if Crossbow (CTRL-3)
Herald of Xotli	Set shields Up or to Left (CTRL- 1 or 2)
Assassins	Set Shields Up (CTRL-2)
Barbarians	Set shields Up or to Right (CTRL-2 or 3)
Guardians	Set shields to Right (CTRL-3)
Bear Shamen	Set Shields to Left (CTRL- 2)

Key Strategy: For me, As I travel about I always have my shields set as 3 up top Ctrl-2 to prevent as must damage from from Assassin’s major stealth attack. Also on average , it just seems a better choice.

If you are attacked out of stealth by a caster (Mage nuking from afar), Double tap ‘a’ or ‘d’ (left or right)  to get a short 5 sec immunity buff that increases your resistance. It also costs a small amount of stamina. If you’re a melee (muy machismo) fighter, I like to move in with a double tap ‘w’ (forward) to get a short buff that increases the change of stunning your target. Even if your already face to face with him. Costs a relatively small amount of stamina and stuns can be a difference maker.

PvP Server Insight
Travel in a pack. This one is probably the most obvious. There is strength in numbers, and four people in your group will make that ganker five levels above you think twice before trying to kill you. Make friends and get into a guild. Makes the above suggestion much easier to accomplish.

Hide early and often. While not every class gets Hide at an early level, it is the single easiest way to avoid unwanted confrontation.

Use nearby zone borders to escape. Often upon zoning into a new area you will encounter a battle already underway or someone waiting to try and kill you. If you feel overmatched don't be afraid to zone right back out and run for it. Some might think it cheap, but it's a better chance at survival.

Never stand still. All those stealthers around you don't move very fast when hidden. Don't give them a chance to line up that perfect strike!

Use the environment (trees, vegetation) to hide

If being repeatedly ganked when rezzing, change rez points, if still being ganked at all Rez points, change instances.

If you have stances, always travel in a defensive stance

The Fugitive/Notoriety system
Now entering the ring in the Blue corner and wearing maroon boxers,  sponsored by Wonder bread…The Fugitive System. This is a system to stem the rampant griefing that emerged soon after the games release…presented in a set titles defining your fugitive status. A player is flagged in three different ways using this system: innocent, criminal, and murderer.

Everyone is by default classified as “innocent” (and cuddly), but your actions as a player killer will affect your fugitive rating. Performing a hostile action on an Innocent player will flag you as a Criminal for 5 minutes. Any further Criminal acts during the 5 minute time will refresh your Criminal Status. However, attacking (and perchance killing) criminal players will not flag you as criminal and will not cause you to gain murder points.

If you kill someone way under your level, you will notice that you will very quickly move to murderer. So will actions such as killing someone repeatedly, or other general unfairness. The more serious the crime, the quicker you rise in fugitive. In a nutshell, if you kill gray players over and over you get a lot of bad karma points. Criminals and Murderers will have an icon showing their status.

There are several ways to lose some of these Bad mojo points.
You lose 1 point every RL hour
You lose 3 points if your killed and lose PvP XP (see below)
Grinding mobs which yield XP will reduce your murder score at a rate of 1 point per 1% of a level worth of XP (I expect some players are already scoping out a good grind spot)

Being a naughty boy murderer will be quite painful.
Murderers cannot access traders or vendors.
Guard NPCs will attack murderers on sight.
Dying while flagged as a murderer results in an increased loss of PvP XP, increased PvP XP for the person killing you (We in the biz call that ...incentive), increased chance of dropping an item ( We in the biz call that ...incentive)
Any players interacting or grouping with a Criminal or Murderer (that includes grouping with them or trading with them) will be flagged as a Criminal (We in the biz call that ...disincentive).
Any team member performing a criminal act will flag the entire team in the vicinity as a criminal (We in the biz call that .../Boot )

PvP Levels
There are plans to  now activate PvP levels. Soon you will be able to gain PvP levels by simply engaging in such activities, and there will be 10 such PvP levels in total. Fighting other players will lead to gaining PvP levels, just like fighting Mobs will lead to gaining of XP levels. All players are worth 100 PvP XP when killed by a similar level player limit and there is a limit on how many times one player can gain PvP XP from someone. However, when you die in PvP, you lose PvP XP (Boooooo). You also gain PVE XP when you PVP kill (about 10% of the XP given by a mob the same level)

Once you have reached the 10th PvP level you will be able to earn special PvP ranks beyond that. These are supposedly hard to acquire, and you will lose ranks if you get defeated so it’s a constant battle to keep you rank up. And you will want to both gain PvP levels and keep your PvP rank up, as this will give you very exclusive benefits…which I have it on good authority they will be giving out exclusive Webkinz! Ok, Ok its actually PvP specific gear out a special vendor which I hate to say…sounds very much like World of Warcraft (Boooooo). PvP gear will come in all shapes and sizes and some will be class and race specific. You buy PVP items with normal money (The all powerful Aquillonian peso!). However, your PvP level will have to meet the requirements (if any) on any items you wish to use. I expect that PvP gear will be some of the most expensive in the game so time to make a lot of money (Use my gathering guide or the AoC Gold Guide). I also expect players to rush to as high a PvP level as they can, abuy all the pvp gear and then never take it off.

Siege and Battlekeeps!
Expect something about the siege system here soon. However because there are still a lot of issues and its kinda developing as we play the game. No reason for me to write something and then have to change it/ revise it every week. Once things seem stable I'll put something more involved together. Here are the basics which I must give credit to Darkwavve of the Doomsayer server.

Claiming a Vacant BattleKeep Lot
Your guild must have a tier 3 keep. Then your GM simply walks up to the unclaimed plot with the necessary T1 mats and clicks build. You now have a battlekeep. No keep plan is necessary, just the mats. Same for every structure.

Upgrading Battlekeeps
To get your battlekeep itself, and the other buildings to tier 2 and 3, you must wait a certain amount of time after claiming or capturing the keep. Currently it appears the timer is one week. When the timer is up, you are allowed to pay the necessary materials to upgrade your buildings to tier 2, and I assume eventually t3. No plans are necessary when upgrading.

Setting your Battlekeeps Vulnerability
Every three days your battlekeep is vulnerable. At the end of each vulnerability window, assuming you still control the keep, the guild leader may change the slot in which his keep will be vulnerable on the predetermined day. You cannot pick what day of the week, only what time your window starts. You can start your vulnerability at 7, 9 or 11 est

Attacking another guild's Battlekeep
To declare an attack on another guild's keep you open up the pvp tab by zoning into the border kingdom, or typing /setoption massive_pvp_window 1. (type up to massive, then hit tab and it will autocomplete, then type 1 and hit enter). Assuming you own a T3 keep, you then have the option to click on a keep's vulnerability window and declare an attack. You can not declare an attack once the window has started. It costs a guild pvp points to declare an attack.

The Siege Battle
The winner of a siege battle is determined by a point system. The defender starts with points based on the number of buildings, including walls, in their plot. The attacker starts with zero. The attacker gets points for destroying buildings, and for killing defending players (For example: Destroying a wall segment seems to give around 70 points, Killing an enemy player gives 1 point) . When they destroy a building they "steal" points from the defender, kill points are not "conserved". The defender gets kill points as well. The attacker can build siege tents in predetermined plots from which he can spawn siege engines such as trebuchets and catapults.

Walls and buildings are difficult to destroy by hand so use siege engines.To build seige engines you purchase the plans from a seige vendor, which should be located in your PvE city keep. Then simply click on your seige tent and it constructs itself. Trebuchets and catapults can be built by the attacker. Ballista can be built by the defenders by talking to npcs on towers.Walls and buildings have cool partially destroyed and destroyed models that change as they take damage.

At the end of the vulnerability window the side with the most points wins.

Summary
--Always be ready for a fight
--Always use potions in a fight
--Identify the class of your attacker quickly. Know the other classes strengths and weaknesses. Know yours as well
--If you are being melee'd, always set your shields to limit their burst damage
--PvP is better with friends. Groups are the best way to PvP success
--Don't Gank gray con players.
--Be Fearless. Nothing is won by the timid. Being fearful in PvP leads to your death from behind

For more in depth guides for PvP, try some of the professional Strategy Guides

Good Luck and I hope this helps.

Want to contact me? Email me at Admin@TheBurialGrounds.Com

Level Quickly! Class specific PvP Tactics! The AoC Class and Strategy guide!	Make your Age of Conan life easier by using the AoC Gold Guide
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