LOTRO: PVP Intro

Lord of the Rings Online is primarily a Pve game, but they do provide a mechanism for player vs player combat. There is a region/map called the Ettermoons where PvP takes place. Lotro calls it Monster vs Player. When your character reaches level 40, they are able to enter the Ettermoons. Also, when your character reaches level 10, they have the option of creating a Monster to play in the Ettermoons. This Monster (called creeps) starts out at Level 50, so you can somewhat compete with the players (called freeps). There are 5 different Monster classes:

Warg: Wolf, able to stealth and have bursts of speed
Warleader: Able to Heal and Rez people, but also a fighter
Blackarrow: Ranged bow and arrow attacker
Weaver: Spider, ranged poison attacks and able to web (root)
Reaver: Your pure fighter class, gets in close

The Ettermoons is a persistent region with several castles and areas for either side to capture. It is also filled with NPC animals and soldiers from each side for you to fight. So if you leave with your side owning the map, you may come back and find you lost it.

Once you create a monster, you need to advance him in rank in order to unlock new skills and improvements. Rank is increased by getting Infamy and Infamy is gained by killing a freep. Character skills and improvements are purchased with Destiny Points (DP). You earn DP by completing various quests and killing NPC's in the Ettermoons.

Destiny Points can also be used on your player character to buy temporary buff (i.e. rested XP). This and loot are two reasons why player characters choose to enter the Ettermoons.

I find the PvP pretty interesting and play it a lot now, so more articles will follow.