Risk vs reward
Risk is a healthy thing. Risk makes us value reward. Without risk we would not pursue certain achievements, because anybody could achieve them. Risk makes us have a sense of thrill, or have some sense of anxiety; and those are all emotional responses that get elicited when risk is present. So, risk isn't a bad thing. We like risk, not just in PvP but in PvE as well: when you can't always predict the environment or encounter you are part of, risk is something like 'Ah, I've never seen this boss do that before.' or these adds came at an ill-placed time, there's a trap here that I didn't experience before. There's a lot of elements that risk introduces that keep gameplay less stale; that keep it more dynamic; that introduce environments where the unexpected can occur. That is a good thing.[2] – Steven Sharif
Activities that reward daring adventurers and foster meaningful conflict.
- World PvP | Caravans | Guild wars
- Node sieges | Castle sieges
- Player corruption | Bounty hunters
- Arenas
- Achievements | Leader boards | Trophy park
- Exploration | Treasure hunting
- Stock exchange (sharemarket)
The risk versus reward relationship, when, say for instance, you've dedicated time towards building a node and other players have dedicated that equivalent time towards sieging the node, there's going to be a pitched battle between those players... They spend that time doing this because they care passionately about having access to that content.[3] – Steven Sharif