“Life’s a journey, not a destination.”
Was consensual PvE dueling intended?
“Life’s a journey, not a destination.”
Yeah I dunno about that, I don’t think that was ever in their design philosophy. The sparring NPC’s are surely just for ambiance, although I’d be curious to see which dialogue you are referring to.
As someone who followed the game since it was first announce, I’ve never heard Anet say anything about it. Consider the setting for a second – of course there will be arenas. It doesn’t mean that they were intended for us.
Annoyingly it’s not on the wiki. There’s an NPC at the Butcher’s Yard who gives you a lot of detail on how combat there works, the limitations and the types of rules that are typically applied to fights.
I don’t remember the exact wording but it’s a lot more than I’d expect for simple flavour text and exactly the sort of thing I’d expect as an in-character introduction to an activity players can participate in.
“Life’s a journey, not a destination.”
The only quote I could find about dueling was this one: http://www.junkiesnation.com/2012/06/07/reddit-ama-distilled-developer-chat-all-of-your-questions-answered/
Re: “Can we, or are you planning on implementing – a way for players to duel each other?”
“We intend to have dueling post release, but when will depend on how demanded it is and how easy it is for us to get it into the game. ECHO!
Jon P”
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Maybe the places like the Bane were made as possible place holders if they got PvE dueling set up.
I’m pretty sure I read something awhile back that they want to add dueling into the game, but it wasn’t close to a priority.