No more risky than another derivative MMO. At least they have a novelty to set them apart from the crowd, if they play their cards right.
Man, I need a Mount&Blade-like MMORPG where everybody, from the random peasant, to the bandit, to the nation lords and king, is a player.
Peasant would be what everyone starts as, doing insignificant tasks like hunting while they build their skills and know how enough to either join a band or take up arms in a mission or military campaign started by a noble.
Yeah, even though I don't like PvP, I certainly respect this project, since it does not seem like it's a grab for money or anything -- it seems more like the opposite of a mainstream, or streamlined for the masses project.
But I do think it's more risky than even a derivative project. These elements rely heavily on a large, consistent player base.
Other games have PvE for the early stages, since it helps players get established, get to know the world, and to gradually get more familiar with the mechanics -- and most importantly, to maintain their interest long enough for them to get to know other players and form bonds.
PvE also rewards players consistently -- players can easily get new equipment by doing quests whenever, without relying on other people. It also incentivizes exploration -- they can go to a new town and get new quests, etc.
a PvP only system means you have 1 type of opponent, most likely in one, or a few establishments. There's probably no reason to go anywhere unless there's a raid, or skirmish happening. Most players will probably just stick to the first town -- at least until they form a guild/group, and are powerful enough to have their own establishment or town. Not sure if the game supports that though.
There could be stuff to do spread around the world, like NPC's needing help with whatever, but I'm not sure how that would work out with PvP only. Players could just go at a time when there are few players and get whatever rewards there are easily.
I assume this game will work like this; players enter the world, and go to a town where they can meet people. They will then form guilds, teams for a few-player skirmishes to huge raids (I assume it will have both.). But will there always be enough players to warrant a skirmish, or a raid? Where will the components for buildings and crafting come from?
Since there's probably little else to do when you first start out, the only thing you can do is hang around town and hope to find a team or a group of people that you can join. There might be mini-games or something for the crafting systems I suppose.
Unless the layouts and character setup is very simplified, battles might be a bit awkward as well. But there could be training stations or something similar in the towns.
The server setup for this game makes it sound like it's possible that there will always be several players in the world.
