difference between PvE and PvP realms?

PvP servers offer the full game experience where as PvE servers are a portion of the game, excluding open world PvP. To this end, you could argue that RP-PvP would be the truest form of the game and how it was likely meant to be played.

If you see an enemy player on a PvE realm, you will not be able to attack them unless they flag themselves for PvP. By typing in /pvp (I think) you can flag yourself. Once one of the two players has flagged, the other can attack them. So for obvious reasons, running around flagged wont be common because you are inviting anyone / everyone to get the jump on you. The only (intelligent/competent) people who will initiate combat with a flagged player on a PvE realm, are those who are certain they will win.

Conversely, on a PvP server you are fair game as soon as you arrive to a contested zone. So for Alliance, when you enter Redridge for example, you will automatically flag for PvP. Everyone in that zone will be flagged and can attack or be attacked at any time by anyone on the opposing faction. The majority of all zones are contested, meaning they flag both horde and alliance players and this is true for all high level zones ingame. In lower level zones, the zones will be assigned to either Alliance or Horde, depending on the low level zone. In these zones, members of the faction who owns the zone will not be flagged for PvP unless they choose to be, however players of the opposing faction will be flagged allowing low level players to quest around without any concern of being ganked.
I want to level without having to be paranoid that some rogue gankers are near. However, it can't be that bad as the majority of players have chosen PvP realms.

It sounds like you would prefer PvE. You will be ganked on PvP servers regularly. With 3k player layers the world will not be as full as on 12k mega servers we saw on private, but it will still be a lot more full than it was on retail vanilla in most cases. When layering is removed, we do not know how populated realms will be, but given their starting populations it has the potential to be similar to some of the larger private servers we have seen in the past. If you dont want to look over your shoulder while playing, and PvP will not add to your experience, avoid PvP realms. That feeling of paranoia you seek to avoid is the EXACT emotion that many players are seeking to feel or to inflict on others. That emotion is real and is true immersion. True anger when you are ganked. True fright when you are fleeing. True joy when you overcome unreasonable odds. True frustration when you are camped for an hour. True vindication and justice when you gank that player back or steal that resource from him. This is the most authentic and genuine immersion you can feel within the game. No amount of lore that was created in a writing room will ever invoke the same reactions as a simple run-in with an enemy player that will lead to your own story; a story that matters and will be personal to you. PvP is the WAR in Warcraft.

Thank you for your detailed answer. Could you spare the time to give some further information regarding this whole contested zone thing? How does this work exactly? I think there are several zones that are / can be contested. Other zones will never be contested (like Elwynn), right? Which factors determine whether alliance or horde are holding the zone? Logically thinking, this would mean that an orc going to Elwynn would automatically be in PvP mode regardless of PvE or PvP realm, right?

And most importantly: Do contested zones have any impact on PvE servers?

Original vanilla launched with 43 PvP / 41 PvE realms in NA and realms were added all the way to August 2006 at an almost even split (few more for PvP).

Early vanilla also had PvP as an afterthought (no Honor system, no HKs or DHKs, no battlegrounds).
When it did acquire a Honor system it was also very poorly thought out (still is to this day)
because it pits you against your own faction more than it does the opposing faction. (by virtue of how the honor calculations work).

The discussion could go in circles for ages as to whether WoW takes more from its Dungeon and Dragons roots (pve dragonkillers) or the early RTS flavor (Orcs vs Humans) and what is the "core" of the game.

For sure the claim you're "not getting the full experience" playing on a PvE realm needs to be taken with a huge grain of salt.
(seeing as you still can pvp out in the world just not against your choice and obviously a lot of normal realm players will engage in BGs when that's in the game)

To answer your specific question:
Contested Zones do not auto-flag you for pvp combat on Normal realms so no they have no effect.

The zone status always remains the same. Elwynn will always be an Alliance zone, Searing Gorge will always be contested etc.

Redridge is an anomaly, I believe its the lowest level contested zone in the game.

In general all zones above level 20 are contested, below level 20 is not.

Going to a hostile zone like Elwynn Forest as an Orc will open him for attack. He will only be able to attack PvP flagged players. Players get flagged by PvPing, buffing/healing a flagged player, being in a battleground, visiting a contested zone on a PvP realm, visiting a hostile zone, or manually flagged. It takes 5 minutes for a PvP flag to wear off. Getting ganked will also reset the 5 minute flag.

PvE and PvP servers are the same in how friendly and hostile zones operate.

And this next part is just my opinion, on PvE the world feels much less alive. Where is the immersion? You are at war with the opposite faction, but you can't attack them? Controlling resources, faction rivalry.. it doesn't really exist on PvE.

I would argue the honor system was well thought out. The snowball effect would be disastrous to servers if honor calculations were cross faction.

Thank you very much!

ah yeah that makes sense with the 2 lowest zones. There's also DM arena as PvA.

Hey guys,

I only played on a PvE server during WotLk for like 6 months so I am quite the newbie. Hence, can someone explain to me the difference between PvE and PvP realms? I know that on my PvE realm at that time we used to raid Orgrimmar so it is definitely possible to kill other players in PvE. So where do they draw the line between PvP and "safe" mode? Are there safe zones in both PvE and PvP servers? Can you only PvP in faction-neutral areas?

Please someone list the differences between PvE and PvP servers. I want to play PvE because I want to level without having to be paranoid that some rogue gankers are near. However, it can't be that bad as the majority of players have chosen PvP realms.

Thank you!

You ask for an explanation of pvp and pve and you answered it yourself in your last sentence. PVE you won't get ganked PVP you will. If you turn pvp on while on a pve server then you already know based on your statements that you could get ganked, because you did it yourself on the pve server you played on attacking Orgrimmar.

PvP servers offer the full game experience where as PvE servers are a portion of the game, excluding open world PvP.

Wrong. PvE servers offer the full game experience whereas PvP servers are a portion of the game, excluding the ability to toggle World PvP on and off.