RPing question

I'm a dedicated RPer, that's a good 90% of the reason I play Anarchy Online, well besides the fact that MOO3 keeps getting delayed, but that's neither here nor there. I do however have a problem. I play a clanner and often get missions to Meetmedere, the problem comes in when I grid in. See I always get a request or two to duel from an Omni. Now I like to PvP from time to time but if I'm out there to do a mission I'm not going to want to take the time to get killed in a fight.

Which is anouther problem, my character doesn't particularly like Omni but I the player knows that I've sacrificed a lot of PvP potential by refusing to use any armor but Vito's, using only tank armor rather then a dress, and using clean slay axes rather then something with a better damage output. My character is all about look and feel rather then what's probably more effective. But how do I incorperate these OOC realities with my characters IC actions? Ironheel would never turn down the chance to fight Omni's even if it's just going to mean some reclaim sickness. However I've already gotten bored with going into a PvP zone and a minute or two later staring at the reclaim.

So my question is what have other RPers out there come up with to deal with this situation?

I think you have got to accept that a lot of what happens in game is not driven by any roleplaying considerations, be it server crashes or players talking about Star Wars Galaxy. Often your only option to remain in-character is to gloss over these things. The same can apply in many instances to PvP duels The simple fact that you are getting requests to duel suggests to this challenge is for the fun of it rather a role-playing device. If someone is not roleplaying to you, you should not feel obligated to roleplay back. Just politely decline and move on.

If you think about it in-character, duels don't make a lot of sense. In war soldiers fight under orders to secure specific objectives (missions?). They rarely take time off to kill the odd enemy soldier for sport. Well, not the sane soldiers, at least. This is not after all an Arthurian themed game where personal honour means more than results.

If you take it one step further, accepting a duel while on mission is probably grounds for a court marshal. What responsible soldier would jeopardise his mission just to kill one, strategically insignificant enemy soldier?

As for your other dilemma, how to roleplay and remain effective in PvP, you might want to create another character of PvP. Keep one character as a pure roleplaying character which you can play on your own terms without having to compromise, and another mercilessly twinked non-rp character to enjoy the more "gamey" aspects of AO. Well, just a thought, anyway.

Sacrificing uber-ness for player feel, yep, thats my gimped enforcer, solitus. I Use Omni-Pol, except boots and sleeves. I have the short-sleeved nomad armor, and Vito boots, plus wonderful tank armor. I use and E-Blade, 5 skills needed but I like it and would rather use it then a hammer. I've lost touch with the thoughts of my character since I've played three characters more recently than him. Once IPR comes in my E-Blade Solitus Enforcer will show people uber-ness.
How to turn down PvP? That does seem rather hard, I mean, if it is for RPing...Anyways, take pride in using an axe, I applaud you already. I try avoiding the hype. I dislike the 'dresses' but my NT uses it or he dies, because he doesn't use a helmet because he doesn't want to mess his hair. I've been searching for an alternative back item but I can't find any. Just my luck.

Thanks for the replies and it's good to everyonce in awhile see someone in game who sacrifices some ability to wear matching armor, hopefully with the up coming changes in tank armor we'll see a decrease in the number of dresses.

I had figured little could be done with turning down duels. I've played in a lot of online RP things before and generally when you get non-RPers or someone who's take on the game is completely different then yours you need to just gloss over that and edit it from your world reality. I was just hoping someone had come up with an excuse to make it more plasible. That's why I like AO over just a chat room for RPing. Having the visual aid and the world presented to you really helps with the suspension of disbelief. Anyways thanks for the replies.