Why Valheim PvP doesn’t work when you’re thinking inside the box

We've been there: we enter a regular Valheim PvP server expecting some sort of fun, engaging, impactful pvp. The reality that players face is that they're hitting for minuscule, laughable damage values, and they don't understand why.

The issue is not the player; the issue is the server and whoever is responsible for setting it up. Setting up a Valheim PvP server takes a lot of work. It requires a list of mandatory mods, and it requires someone to dedicate time to designing a pvp system with balance.

When you join a regular Valheim PvP server, there are a few red flags that you should look for right away. These are indications that whoever is setting up the configs have very little understanding of Valheim's in-game formulas & mechanics: the relationship between skill level and damage, the damage to armor formula, and damage multipliers.

1) Press Tab and look at your skills as soon as you create a new character. Check if your skills are at 0.

2) Power level and see if skill gain is accelerated compared to vanilla; if it's not, it's a problem.

3) Gain some exp and kill yourself. If your skill level drains, your time is being disrespected.

4) If the server is using mods that add weapons, check the values in game and compare it to the values listed in the config client side. If all the values match, it means it's the default; therefore, not balanced.

5) Swing with a sword. Perform a dodge: if the stamina consumption is vanilla, it's a really big problem.

6) Check if the modpack contains the skillcapper mod; if it doesn't, then don't play.

Why are these red flags important? These are indications that your pvp experience in this server will be imbalanced and disrespectful to your time and effort as a player.

Consider how much time you need to invest in skilling one damage category to at least 75. 75 is the golden number because you can actually hit for the maximum amount of damage listed on a weapon.

This number is important because it opens up the viability of Valheim PvP from naked tier all the way to blackmetal tier in a relatively consistent way; you can actually do damage against other players. But the problem is that the requirement in order to have impactful pvp in all tiers is a huge time sink and waste of effort.

Not many players are going to start grinding skills up to 75 every time they create a new character every time a new season opens. To expect players to grind skills just to pvp makes 0 sense in servers dedicated to pvp.

Skill progression in Valheim is one dimensional. It doesn't add any new abilities like nukes or crowd control. All it does is raise your min-max damage range and lower stamina consumption.

PvP in Valheim is firstly skill dependent and then gear dependent. When I say skill in this game, it's always referring to the skill level of a weapon category. Even with the best mechanical skill you can offer, skill level will always dictate the pace with gear coming secondary.

What that means is that players who have more time to play than you will always hold the damage advantage. For regular adults who have to balance their time between work, family, life engagements, possibly children, etc, an unbalanced Valheim PvP server is not for you.

An imbalanced pvp server is just not worth playing because it doesn't conform to a player's projected expectation of a simple pvp game.

Valheim pvp isn't complicated from a playing point of view. You see your opponent. You attack your opponent. Skilled players will examine animations and look for attack windows. Others will track stamina usage. A few handful will animation cancel. But overall, it's a simple system. There's no crowd control. There are no "nukes" or ultimate abilities. It's just a crudely simple aim based game.

But the fact that you have to grind these skills just to participate impactfully in this simple game just makes no sense. It's not worth it. After a while, you're telling yourself it's a waste of time.

The objective of people responsible for running pvp servers for a game where a pvp system wasn't designed for, is to design a system themselves, or at the very least, assign some thoughtful values into the configs that facilitates a reasonable, impactful pvp game.

This involves damage balance, stamina-to-damage ratios, combat fluidity, animation speed variances, animation type variances, crowd control, status effects, custom armor, custom weapons, potions, etc.

Look for yourselves on youtube: type in "Valheim PvP" and look at how many videos catfish you with exciting music, sound effects, and an epic atmosphere, but you watch a bit more, and there's no damage being done.

Look at videos where server owners have opted into "hunger games" or "naked arenas" just because they don't want to deal with the configs and the balance, taking the easy way out by forcing players to be naked.

PvP only works when there are a sufficient amount of players. But most importantly, pvp in this game only works when players have a real chance at dying in game even if they're fully decked out in max blackmetal.

And this is important because it gives the thrill of dying or victory to the players anytime and anywhere on both the aggressor and defender. Why play a pvp game when you can't experience these emotions fully?