I'm looking forward to the new PvP mechanics. Just a note to say that what Ozy mentioned in server chat yesterday (?) seems to be something different/additional to that which is listed in the guild raids thread on this forum, so this is a plea that whatever the changes, please make sure they are listed somewhere very clearly and unambiguously. The executive summary proved in the launch patch notes isn't usually detailed enough.

A second point, which I expect to get thumbed down, but what the hell, is this: as well as there being little to gain from PvP as it stands, I think people are also reluctant to PvP because loss in even the most finely-balanced fight, whether by luck or skill, will result in the deaths of all your fighters and damage to all your gear. Previously there was a system whereby hitting exit paralysed your fighters for 20 (30?) turns, giving enemy a chance to hit them and certainly kill one if they focussed on it. This would give you a chance to get one or more fighters out if it was going badly. Perhaps this, or some variant, can only be offered once one fighter has been killed, or there is some other way of guaranteeing one fighter loss, I certainly don't want this to be exploited, but at the moment people either don't want to PvP or don't want to wear their best gear to PvP because every single item will get dura loss if you lose.

reducing death penalties won't help. People avoid pvp because you need spare set of items for pvp. Or spare leveled fighters. Items are very cheap, you can get R3 pvp set with minimal investment, problem is limited inventory size and time spent on swapping equipement. I keep dozen of spare fighters myself for that reason.
Second reason ppl avoid pvp is you need high lvl fighters for guild raids or defence. Only handful of players didn't ascend their fighters. And lvl 15 fighters are no match for lvl 20 ones. There could be solution by promoting PVP in low level zones. There's lot of pvp for nodes, but most of it is raiding. It's not reasonable to sit on map and wait for someone to run across with node. Cause one node can last 3-4 days in GH, so a guild needs 1-2 fresh nodes per day. And if you know spawning rules for nodes you can somewhat control the process. Therefore your chances to catch someone hauling node are slim. Not good for pvp. I honestly think all nodes should be reduced in size, like max size for massive node to 500 units. And spawning rules a bit randomized. There should be some vivid ressource movement on map for pvp to prospere.
Luck in this game in PVP is like in poker. You have 30% hit chance, but if you connect, you kill enemy dps and likely win, if you miss, you leave your fighter vulnerable in bad position. Should you take your chances? Luck is also something that allows you to engage stronger opponents, who knows, maybe you'll get lucky.

Yup, fair points Voro. Whatever the reason, PvP is rare, and PvP outside of guild halls extremely rare. The population density is low (because the world is so huge), its pretty rare for me (being in Europe) to run into *anyone* unless its a very popular quest or a guild raid. There also remains not that much reason to co-op so most people are simply playing this game in isolation (apart from the chat therapy). I kind of think the game would be more intense if the world were just smaller...
p.s. at the risk of causing a collective aneurysm at spellbook towers, I realllllly need a bigger inventory. I may have mentioned this before.