What's the difference?

chriss23 · April 2014

Please could someone enlighten me and any other very green gamers out there what the difference is between PvP and PvE (at the moment I think that the letters stand for Player versus player and Player versus enemy but I may well be wrong!!). I know there is also RPG but I think I understand that. What's the difference in gameplay etc? - and please forgive me if you think I should know more before I launch into an MMO like this but I just like playing games and this happens to be my first MMO!

Nasuradin_ESO · April 2014

PvP is player vs player and it is a situation where you will be up against other players. (Cyrodiil)
PvE is player vs environment and you will be up only against non-player characters or NPCs for short (Everything not Cyrodiil)

As for whats the difference gameplay wise? in PvE you will be running around completing quests and defeating monsters at your own pace.

In PvP you will be running around and encountering hostile enemy players who are not as dumb as NPCs who will stand there letting you hit them as you will. Cyrodiil's objective is to fight for and capture resources, keeps, and elder scrolls which will give your entire faction a buff for as long as your faction own the scrolls. Although Cyrodiil does have its own quests, you will be questing with the chance to encounter hostile players. This would technically be called be called PvPvE.

Shimond · April 2014

PVP - I kill your character (player controlled character)
PVE - I kill a mob (computer controlled character/creature)

Pastor25 · April 2014

Typically PvP is You vs other Humans where as PvE is you vs any AI enemy.

nerevarine1138 · April 2014

You're correct about the meanings of the acronyms.

The primary difference is that your opponent (and your ally) in PvP is a living, breathing human being with all the advantages and drawbacks that brings. In general, PvP-focused players will tend to have their skills spread out between survivability and damage (or healing), while PvE players can be a little more specialized. For example, a pure damage build in PvE with absolutely no skills geared towards survival might actually work, while the same build in PvP will get you killed extremely quickly.

There's less of a clear line in ESO when it comes to skills, though. So the main difference is that you'll be playing against other people.