There will be no real PvP system

[Bolty]

A document that really openned my eyes to the world of players in these kinds of games is this one linked here.

http://www.mud.co.uk/richard/hcds.htm

One of the things it discusses is the fact that explorer-type personalities like Lurkers tend to be would actually tend to be the least bothered by player killers, because we as explorers tend to range off into distant lands, while player killers like to stay in zones with a high concentration of potential victims.
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Wow Mongo, that's a really great read. I've gone through it and I'm impressed with the job he did at analyzing populations.

Obviously I lean very, very strongly in the Explorer category - practically 90-95%. The other 5%-10% would be the Achiever category, as I do enjoy eventually building up my characters and seeing them kick rear in a game. (Unfortunately, the moment I achieve "kick butt" status, I become instantly bored with the character, but I'm getting off the point.) And I'm betting most Lurkers closely match my profile, simply because the very nature of this website has always attracted that type of player. While not all of us here are Explorers, a vast majority are.

However, I think you may be taking the term "Explorer" a little too literally. Explorers don't just travel to see "distant" lands (which I'd already all explored anyhow), they experiment with everything in the game. Heck, I joined the PvP server to experiment with the future PvP system that never came. As an Explorer, I wanted to try out many of the classes and be able to compare them as well.

This is very true of WoW, where there are certain zones that have a high concentration of ganking and yet when one travels outside of those zones, the frequency of ganking and griefing drops off precipitously.  Which areas are the worst?  Why, precisely the ones you mentioned -- Hillsbrad, Alterac, and I'll add Stranglethorn Vale to that.  Redridge and Duskwood on occation as players come up from Stranglethorn Vale, (but I would add that I saw plenty of defence of those two zones as well when I ventured in them with my hunter).  Venture outside those zones and you'll see very little of that griefing by level capped players that you complain so much about.
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So, what you're saying is that a level 25-ish character should go to Ashenvale? That's about the only option left. And that was only deserted because the Horde had a handful of quests there that most didn't bother doing. That is (or has already) going to change.

This gets back to the problem I've discussed with you several times -- about how you kept on creating new characters and never saw any of the higher end content.  Of course you saw a lot of griefing -- because you kept starting new characters and throwing yourself at the zones where the most griefing occured!
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And of course I kept starting new characters! I'm an Explorer - I want to see and try everything. I played Warlocks, Priests, Mages, Warriors, and Rogues, and my only regret was that I lacked the time to try out more classes. It IS a very time-consuming game, after all. In the end, I had played over 9 different characters significantly. To me, reaching level 60 and running the same instances over and over again is rediculously dull. Maybe that's why we can't see eye to eye - you are maybe 50% Explorer, 50% Achiever. You can't deny that you spent quite a lot of time running for loot and goodies. I don't mean to demean your playing style - everyone enjoys these games in a different way. However, I found myself getting tired of a character any time it got even close to the level cap. That level 39 mage I had reached the cap early on in the beta and I never played him again, as an example.

I was at a point where I could write solid play guides for 3 different classes and be a knowledgeable source for another. You might argue that one can't write a good guide for a class if they don't get them to level 60, but in reality higher level characters employ very similar tactics that mid level characters do, just in different situations. Since AFAIK only Warlocks have new spells after level 40 currently (pfft), I think I'm justified in that point.

My gameplay behavior has been similar in every other game I play. I must have made over 100 characters for Diablo II over the years, and I never took one above level 85. It seemed silly to me, when I could start with a new character, try something different, and see where it took me.

Anyway, I'm getting off the point...

Once you hit level 30, you have lots of places -- both outdoors and in instance dungeons -- where you can quest and explore without fear of the worst gankers.  Once you hit level 40, you're going to be adventuring in zones where the griefers don't tread and even if one griefer or a group of griefers did come to one zone, you'll have so many places you could go instead -- or so many places to disappear to within a given zone -- that it wouldn't matter.
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Here's my argument - so what? I know what you say is true - my level 44 Warlock in closed beta PvP was only really messed with by Rogues once I got to that level, undead Rogues especially, since I'd own everyone else. But I had to put up with weeks of unnecessary ganking to get there, which served no point other than to slow me down and provide a minor thrill to the ganker. And I don't really count Stranglethorn Vale as a gank zone. I was only killed maybe 8 to 10 times there by gankers (a small number, considering the town "safe area" is a warzone) - most deaths were by "fair" (even-level) PvP fights, which I don't mind at all, because that's what I signed up for when I joined the server.

As an Explorer personality, I'm never really going to be in for the faction raids unless I'm really bored. And if I want to "explore" PvP options, I can go to the Battlegrounds. Gankers are an irritation - I don't get mad at the players so much as I get mad at the system that allows the players to waste an hour-plus of my time while I'm "Exploring," just as you described. My attitude when being ganked is not "that F&*#ing jerk!" It's more like "well, there goes another 5 minutes; sigh..."

I had said before that the PvP server is the superior choice if Blizzard finds a way to stop or slow ganking. Since they haven't, there isn't much else I can really say now, is there, except to repeat arguments that have been given by much better debaters than myself about a hundred times? You know I agree with you about many of the good things in PvP: the heightened comraderie, better on average players, etc (see my original server choice thread).

So, I'll stand by what I said - if you read Mongo's linked article and find you're an Explorer personality like myself, you'll prefer the PvE servers.

-Bolty