Differences between PvP in WoW and Lotro

Question

I'm looking to start playing a mmorpg sometime in the near future and graphics, lore, and questing aside, i'm most interested in finding a game with a good and populated PvP system.

I know a question like, "Which PvP system is the best" would be closed immediately, so instead im going to ask for the key differences and defining characteristics of the PvP systems in WoW and Lotro.

Edit: Examples of PvP modeled game play in both Lotro and WoW would be helpful, as i'm trying to compare and contrast them.

I'm picking WoW and Lotro as my primary interests because i have friends who play both, and im unsure as to what the other 'mainstream' mmo's are. If there is another mmo whose PvP stands out above the rest, please feel free to mention it as well.

Thanks!

Answer 1

LOTRO doesn't have a PVP system, it has a MvP system.

You level your PlayerCharacter and spend some the proceeds of that /played toward a MonsterCharacter. When you unlock you MonsterCharacter you are able to level it through questing and what not in a sandbox environment. In that environment you are able to kill players and they can kill you. This character is separate from your PlayerCharacter entirely.

This is not a 'faction' difference such as WoW has. If WoW had such a system, lets say everyone played Alliance, then after level '10' or something you could start playing Horde, however only play Horde in a few zones.

There is no 'eSport' aspect to MvP, and that aspect is growing with WoW all the time. The new 40man bg should be its first real entrance into the media, other than the streamed tournament arena games.