The first concern we had with this issue was one of keeping true to Tolkien. Our game is set during the same time period as the Trilogy. During that time it’s unnatural to hear of Dwarves, Elves, Men and Hobbits at open war with each other. The sight of a Hobbit (or a group of Hobbits) assaulting and slaying an Elf right outside the Shire would be plain wrong. The time of the trilogy is a time of reconciliation for the races of Middle-earth. Some of the most powerful moments in the story are those when characters put aside the weight of aeons of anger and pride to join in battle against the Enemy. The characters from those races that fall under the thrall of the Shadow - Gryma, Bill Ferny, Boromir and Gollum, act covertly, seeming fair while being foul. Often they seem to serve the light but they do so under cover of a dark shadow and never openly.

On the other hand, an online RPG without any PvP would lose a lot of its fun as a game. PvP is inherently a social form of play and no online RPG would be complete without it. We believe that at its heart PvP is one of the oldest forms of play (heck chess and checkers are ‘PvP’) and denying people the ability to have a fun, competitive experience would do no one any good.

So to answer the question we will have PvP, even on our regular worlds.