There will be no real PvP system

[MongoJerry]

Thus, PvP remains fairly pointless - from my months of play on the PvP server in closed beta, I found that 80-90% of all fights are unwinnable for one of the participants due to level difference, and actual PvP fighting really has no point because nothing is gained by either side.

Nothing is gained, except fun. For my part, I'm having a load of fun right now on the PvP server that I would never have on a PvE server. I've participated in pushing back several raids on Splintertree Outpost in Ashenvale and have joined horde parties to hunt down alliance parties who have hunted down horde parties...

I've also experienced a lot of the commraderie that both you and I have mentioned that comes from complete strangers looking out for one another. For example, a level 34 warrior attacked my level 30 priestess in Thousand Needles today. I did pretty well but was obviously going to barely lose (possibly a mutual death), and then a level 24 undead warlock came along, feared the warrior, and tipped the scales in my favor. And I've experienced the fun that comes from walking upon a fight scene and tipping the scales in favor of someone else.

Now, I know what you're afraid of, and I recognize it's legitimacy. You're afraid that after several months, there will be a huge population of level 60's who will have nothing better to do than to grief all the lowbies. But you know what? The PvP server had been around for several months, and I still had a blast leveling up my hunter from scratch. I still had fun with a small party defending Nesingwary's Expedition from horde griefers. And when I wanted to get away from all the PvP action, there were huge wide open low population territories out there where I could quest largely unmolested. And, of course, instances are completely free from PvP action.

The main question for what the PvP servers will be like months from now is: Will the high level content in the game then be good enough and fresh enough to keep the level capped players from getting bored? If the answer is, "no," then the situation on the PvP server is going to deteriorate quickly. If the answer is, "yes," then things will be fine.

But then again, the same question can be asked on the PvE server. If the answer is, "no," then people will stop playing the game, because there will be nothing more to do. At least on the PvP server, people can make their own entertainment like the constant Tarren Mills--Southshore battles that pervaded the last couple months of the beta.

It's this reason that I think Blizzard is going in the right direction in that they are adding positive content to encourage high-level players to stay in the higher level zones. Will the content be good enough to be effective? We'll have to wait and see. But Blizzard's decision not to add penalties to PvP was the correct decision.