E4 might be the worst for the PVP mindset I've seen since maybe spires and I have a strong feeling it's because fighting has been so heavily incentivized mechanically. Incredibly boosted XP rates, mastery tokens, Necro/Witch classes and demon/magical beasts. Meanwhile non-PVP mechanics languish, or worse, they get nerfed. See the current state of Faith and Artisan being nerfed for examples.
This also all ties into the longest running problem Eternia has had: Permadeath and might makes right. If you lose a fight and roll a 1? There's a decent chance your character is done for. Either because they've been killed or because with capture rules, the prisoner gets no say in proceedings on what happens to them on an OOC level. They can be tortured and broken into a hollow husk of who they were, they can have their entire themes and personality twisted with the occult (I hate the mental injury antichrist) or they're turned into a puppet.
Hell they can even partly do some of that character assassination if you roll a 1 on a perm. Which is why quite a few people straight up ignore RPing the effects of it following treatment because...Well, it's butchering the person's plans and themes because edgy mcsad boi wants to make everyone else be as depressed as he is.
So this means if you don't want several days or weeks of effort thrown away, you need to be meta. Or else you are going to suffer if someone with a better skill level than you walks up and decides they want to throw down.
Quick edit but: Every war is a settlement destruction raid now so if you lose, you're the reason you no longer have a home and faction.
This also all ties into the longest running problem Eternia has had: Permadeath and might makes right. If you lose a fight and roll a 1? There's a decent chance your character is done for. Either because they've been killed or because with capture rules, the prisoner gets no say in proceedings on what happens to them on an OOC level. They can be tortured and broken into a hollow husk of who they were, they can have their entire themes and personality twisted with the occult (I hate the mental injury antichrist) or they're turned into a puppet.
Hell they can even partly do some of that character assassination if you roll a 1 on a perm. Which is why quite a few people straight up ignore RPing the effects of it following treatment because...Well, it's butchering the person's plans and themes because edgy mcsad boi wants to make everyone else be as depressed as he is.
So this means if you don't want several days or weeks of effort thrown away, you need to be meta. Or else you are going to suffer if someone with a better skill level than you walks up and decides they want to throw down.
Quick edit but: Every war is a settlement destruction raid now so if you lose, you're the reason you no longer have a home and faction.