I think it is interesting that people think that PvP should NOT incorporate the Player's skills as well as the Character's skills. You see, the Player adds in skills more than just physical. It would be practically impossible to completely separate the Player's abilities from the Character, because the Player's tactics and strategy come into play, as well as fast reactions or accurate timing.
There are many ways to use tactics in PvP that don't rely on physical abilities, but on mental. Here are some examples:
I hit someone in a duel, knocking them down to 5%. They can kill you in one hit, so it's very risky to try to hit them a second time, so I fall back and fire an arrow to finish them off from a safe distance. Of course, a few players who have not bothered to train in magic might call me a cheater because I used a tactic they didn't expect, but that's just using tactics.
I fight someone far, far more trained than I. The moment it starts, I run and hide, and shoot missiles or arrows at them, knowing I have no possible way to scratch through their armor. (I did this several times when I was a brand new character). Run, hide, shoot. Run hide, shoot. It isn't easy, it takes a LOT of tactics (on the part of the Player), but it is possible to beat someone who's Character is highly trained in combat, but the Player is not. Again, those that haven't bothered to learn the use of magic and prefer to just stand still and slog it out without tactics might whine.
Using the terrain to your advantage: Someone challenges, you accept, then circle around to a rock, ledge or couter and hop up on it. Now they have to circle around to reach you, so you can jump down as they go past, and whack them while they are facing away.
These are only a few examples of *mental* strategies that incorporate the Player's skills rather than the Character's skills, and can often make the difference between a win and a loss.
I look forward to the day when other spells become useful. Right now, Freeze, Meteor, Weakness, Darkness and many other spells are useless. But suppose they fix the magic system, so Freeze slows you down, Meteor (a very high level spell that is very slow to cast) kills you in one hit if you give the caster enough time to cast it. Suppose Weakness actually weakened you, making your unable to do much damage, and could be cast from more then touch distance away. Suppose Darkness would surround the target, causing them to not be able to see well for a period of time, instead of following the caster (how silly is that? Look! I can use magic to blind myself! Woohoo!)
If and when these other existing spells are made more useful and balanced, I think there will be much more variety in duels, and will give advantage to the Character that takes the time to train them, and to the Player the practices their use, and knows when to use which spell.
Again, it is pretty close to impossible to completely remove the Player's abilities and tactics from the game, without reducing it to a simple "let's roll the dice, and the one who rolls the lower number types /die" type of combat. If this happens, I am 100% sure that I will leave Planeshift, and so will many other of our most active RPers.
-Roahn
