A pvp environment where you control the scenerio (mabye some kind of arena for implementation's sake). Whether it's 1v1, 3v3, or 20v20 - whatever your preference. You can select from different maps and even control the end-goal of your particular fight (CTF, FFA, w/e). This isn't, by any means, a new idea, but nobody has incorporated it into MMOG's (they've come close, but never really went the distance), yet it is one of the main reasons people still love FPS and RTF's. It keeps it interesting and ensures the odds are never in someone else's favor.
Open pvp and sieging has its place, but it's been done before so many times and quite frankly... it doesn't work. The best example I can come up with is DAoC. It mixes open pvp with castle and tower sieging with faction vs faction (RvR in the case of DAoC, Realm vs Realm), and while it's enjoyable at first, it quickly turns sour if you are unable to fufill the obligations of the "in-croud" in order to be apart of it. By that I mean 8v8 - let me explain.
8v8 was never really intended to be the core premise of rvr but ultimately in such an environment, the players choose how things are run. Technically, you can pvp in DAoC's RvR (faction vs faction) however the hell you want. You can solo, duo, trio, join a fullgroup for some casual roaming, siege, or just zerg the hell out of everything in your wake. When people became more adjusted to RvR, it naturally became more competative and eventually led to the rise of 8v8. 8 people comprises a fullgroup in DAoC, so basically it's just group vs. group, but in a place like RvR there's no set rules so they sort of made up their own as they went along. It's kind of like an honor system, you roam around with your group looking for a fight (primarily against other 8man groups) and if you stumble upon one you engage and fun ensues (or not). You try to avoid engaging in a fights where there's already 2 groups going at it, and at the same to you generally dodge any zergs / sieging.
Sounds like fun doesn't it? WRONG. DAoC has become so competitive, it has literally killed all facets of RvR to the point you cannot compete unless you are in an 8man group yourself, or on the rare occassion, you could hump a zerg and mabye siege a little. So while you CAN solo, duo, trio, casual group, siege... etc. at the same time you cannot. You take 2 steps outside of your realm's primary keep and you get endlessly trampled by stealther groups, 8man group, and just generally... greater numbers and/or superior classes/players. So lets say you're running along and you actually happen to find a solo fight with an enemy player and NOT get steamrolled by every group within clipping range, you still may not win the fight. With all the diverse items, specs, and class imbalances it's just as likely you lose the fight or get ganked by adds before the end of it. It's one big frackin headache.
So why not join an 8man? Well, first off, some people don't prefer that kind of play. Second, it's so competative, you firstly have to be the right class, and once you've got that down, you have to find a group that needs your particular class. You have to not only know all the classes in your realm, but know everything about the other realms as well. You have to have the right gear and be a good player. You need master level abilities, artifacts, and the know-how and it certainly doesn't hurt to have a high pvp ranking (you gain realm points in RvR by killing folk and you can spend them on activate and passive abilities that further enhance your character). Once you've got all that down, you have a CHANCE of getting into a good 8man guild/group. What if you get bored of the class and want to reroll? or the guild/group breaks up... there's plenty of thing that can go wrong and spoil all your hard work. If you don't run with a set guild, you have to form pickup groups or PuG's, which is another nightmare all together.
These are just some of the issues with DAoC. Other games have similar issues in that the developers intend for one thing, but it turns out completely different. Mythic (developers of DAoC) wanted the player to be able to control how they participate in RvR, but yet they are forced into what's generally accepted among the players. There's no real choice involved... it's a good idea but severly flawed. I'm just tired of developers thinking innovation is key when it comes to pvp... just use what works. FPS and RTF are very old genres, with very old titles, some of which people still play just b/c they simply work (there's no back-breaking bullshit involved). People still play Starcraft and Counter Strike - these games are old as hell and yet they just keep going. I've seen the same felgercarb crop up time after time. I've played a million MMOG's on the market and I always end up quitting or moving to a new game, sometimes before I've ever experienced the game in full, just because it sucks to immensely. In conclusion, we want something new... not necessarily different. New classe to play, new items to gain, new areas to explore (changes on the outer or even aesthetic level, not at the core)... it's what makes MMOG's fun - don't try to uproot the genre and label it innovation, it will just flop like the gazillion other MMO's flooding the market. They frackin suck and nobody plays them.
Well... that's my gripe. I know some people won't agree, but it doesn't matter because they're wrong. =O
