Let’s face it, PvP in MMOs up to this point has been pretty scarce, and most forms implemented have been pretty terrible. I know there are all those old school MUD and Ultima Online players out there, but I’m crediting the original Everquest with being the first MMO of the modern era. They first gave PvP a go with the straight-up slugfest “Red” servers, which was a novelty at best. It’s very difficult to implement PvP in a game designed around PvE. It’s just a fact.

EQ1
No PvP at launch, but eventually had the “Red” servers for people to play on. They were a novelty at best. You just can’t devote resources to PvP in a PvE game.

DAoC
First MMO to really go after the PvP/RvR content. Mythic had its growing pains as all MMOs do, but the PvP worked. Actual objectives and a purpose for participating. DAoC laid the ground work for much of the PvP aspects of games to come.

EQ2
No PvP at launch but eventually opened up some PvP servers with some itemization and balance changes all their own. But in the end, you just can’t build PvP into a PvE game successfully.

WoW
As far as I’m concerned, this is the first game to pointlessly divide their player base at launch to support PvP, when really the game is about PvE. Often it’s a live action version of MySpace. Logging in sometimes feels more like going to the mall than playing an MMO.

I know there are lots of other MMOs that I skipped, but it’s my site and my rules.