This (http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-general&t=5286625&p=1&tmp=1#post5286625) is the best post I have seen on the subject of decay and pvp ranks.
Man, would be great if there was no decay like in DAOC. I definately liked that part of the pvp system there a bit better.
One problem with the DAOC system though, is that if you didn't start at the beginning, you could never catch up. Under the WoW system, you can be caught up to other people in about ten weeks of consistent performance.
In daoc tho, catching up is not a problem cause pvp is non exclusionary..
To be economic, pvp in Wow is a private good, pvp in daoc is a public good
(Edited by Kirin at 7:42 pm on Jan. 11, 2006)
Are you saying pvp in daoc was not exclusionary?
Well, they took steps to make it less exclusionary, by adding level and RP caps to the BGs. However, as with all elements of MMORPGs, the people who can afford to spend the most time in-game will have an advantage even over the most naturally-talented casual players.
non exclusionary as in someone earning rp towards their rank does not hinder someone elses rank yea.. pvp in daoc is free, anyone can go out into the frontiers and kill somoene and rank independatly of the amount of rps that the uber gorups are getting.. a guy who pulls in 1 million in one week does not hinder in any the guy who pulls in 10k a week, for the purpose of acheiving ranks
It's not a ladder, so you're right that people in daoc didn't feel like their competition was members of their own team more than the guys they're killing.
The hardest thing to get used to is the opaqueness of wow's system. It's hard to tell exactly what's going on under the covers. I mean, it's been a year and people are finally figuring parts of this system out.
I'm hoping after time i will understand the wow pvp system a bit better. that link definately helped. maybe i just feel daoc was easier/simpler because i became familiar with it. and i like the fact that once you earn a rank, you kept it. in wow, it's like you get demoted if you don't continually pvp. which almost makes it like you HAVE to pvp, unlike in daoc.